Wrong Hospital Niko Bellic
By: Sorren
Part Five
Niko and Rainbow walked along the outskirts of town, near the edge of the forest. Despite the amount of wine he had consumed, Niko only had a slight buzz. While Berry’s wine was, to his surprise, very good, it wasn’t very high on alcohol. It seemed more like slightly alcoholic grape juice than wine. It was good, but nothing like the whiskey on his first night here.
Rainbow however, proved to have been more affected by the sweet drink. She walked, slightly unsteadily, by his side.
She looked up at him and frowned. “Why do you have to be so tall?” She wondered. “Look at you.” She waved a hoof at him and almost lost her balance. She staggered forward clumsily to regain herself. “You’re like two ponies, then another one cut in half, all stacked on top of each other.”
Niko shrugged. “What can I say? I am big guy.”
“You got that,” she agreed. “You and your dead animal jacket.”
“Look, I am sorry for wearing dead animal. But I have to say, it is comfortable.”
Rainbow gazed up at him intently for a minute before bursting out in laughter. “You’re weird.” Niko joined in, although he didn’t know why. Maybe it was because he was in one of his better moods.
“Okay, I have question for you.” He looked curiously at the rainbow pony, who nodded for him to continue. “I have seen color of every pony all around town. But why are you every color of pony in one?”
Rainbow looked thoughtful for a minute, seriously contemplating the question. She stood up tall and brought a forehoof across her front. “Cause’ I’m Rainbow Dash,” she replied haughtily. “I’m just cool like that.”
Niko nodded slowly. “That is understandable.”
A loud boom sounded from the skies above. Niko jumped. Rainbow let out a startled yell and tripped. Niko held out a quick hand and managed to fasten it in her mane. It kept the mare form landing on her face. Instead she half-fell to the ground and rolled onto her side. Niko released her mane, not wanting to pull out any of the rainbow strands.
She scrambled to her hooves and looked around frantically. “What was that?”
Niko looked around. “You mean big boom in sky?” He glanced up curiously for the source.
“Yeah, that one.” Rainbow looked up at the starry sky. She pointed a hoof to a patch of sky over the forest. “What are those lights?” she asked.
Niko looked to where she was pointing. He could see both red and green blinking lights against the night sky. That and they were rapidly moving towards Niko and Rainbow. He could hear a certain unnatural sound now. A dark silhouette formed, blocking out a section of starlight.
“What the hay is that thing?” Rainbow wondered aloud.
Niko figured out what it was. He knew that sound well. “It is helicopter,” he answered.
Rainbow cast him a curious glance. “Heliwhatnow?”
The sound of the enclosing flying machine was now almost deafening in the quiet night air. The unique “thwacka thwacka thwacka” of the rotor blades sliced through the air. He could also identify the high pitched whine of the rotary mechanism and the lower, more guttural roar of the engine. The shape came close enough to be viewed and Niko saw that it was, in fact, a helicopter. A blue Maverick to be precise.
The helicopter blared by, no more than ten feet over their heads. It banked around, curving through the air and sending a groan of protest through the rotor blades. Niko had no idea why a helicopter would be here of all places. He was slightly worried. Something was wrong with the helicopter. It flew by to their left, heading back towards the forest. Niko got a good look at it. The whole machine turned sideways in the air and dropped dangerously towards the ground. It regained control and lifted back up to about fifty feet.
“That is not good.” Niko muttered.
Rainbow Dash shot him a worried glance. “Why, what’s wrong?”
“Helicopter is going to crash.” The tail section was badly bent and black smoke billowed from the exhaust vents above the engine. Flame licked the edges of the motor casing. Niko could hear the misfiring of the engine. “Come on,” he said hurriedly, running after the crippled helicopter.
“Hey,” Rainbow called out. In a bolt of rainbow color she was by his side. Niko had to awe at the sight. He had never seen her do that trick before.
The helicopter drifted almost lazily out over the forest to be hidden from view by the dense foliage. Niko ran into the trees, tracking it by sound rather than sight. A moment later, he heard the runners brushing the treetops. This was followed by a deafening crash. The sound of breaking tree limbs and carnage filled the air.
A six foot shard of rotor blade whirled through a gap in the trees and embedded itself in a tree trunk.
He skidded to a stop to marvel at the sight. “Holy shit,” he whispered to himself.
“Hey!” Rainbow waved a hoof at him. “Didn’t you hear me? I said you probably shouldn’t go running out into the Everfree forest at night.” Niko was amazed at how well the mare had seemed to sober up in a state of urgency.
“Why not?” Niko asked. He doubled over, refreshing his breath. Feeling slightly less winded, he set off again.
Rainbow flew at his side. “Because,” she replied importantly. “Bad things live in here.”
Niko smirked. “I thought you were not scared of anything.”
“Yeah, well…” Rainbow struggled for words. “Well… most ponies are scared of the Everfree forest.”
Niko didn’t reply. He could see the wreck through the trees. Ahead, lodged up against the trunk of a monster tree, was the mangled body of the Maverick. The tail section was caught in a branch fifty feet above. The nose of the helicopter was up in the air, propped against the tree. One of the runners had been torn off, along with half of the aluminum paneling on the underbelly. Smoke still poured from the damaged engine. A vital beeping came from the cockpit. Both front windows had been shattered.
“Jeez,” Rainbow said. “That thing crashes harder than I do.”
The door to the cockpit swung open and a human shape flopped out onto the ground. Niko ran over to help, but the man was already climbing to his feet. He wore tan slacks and a black shirt patterned with various squares and circles. He had short, brown receding hair that had previously been combed. He also sported a goatee.
“Roman!?” Niko gasped.
“Niko!” he called cheerfully. Pain tinged his voice. Niko thought he looked pretty good for having just climbed out of a crashed helicopter.
Niko looked around in confusion. “Roman, what are you doing here?”
Roman scratched his head. There were several small cuts on his face and his left eye was slowly going red. “I do not know.” He laughed once but it ended with a moan. “It is hard to explain.”
“Here.” Niko took his cousin’s arm and led him away from the crash. Rainbow watched silently all the while. “Sit down before you fall over,” he commanded. He helped Roman take a seat against a tree and sat down to face him.
“Shit my head hurts,” Roman groaned. He was caressing his arm as if it were hurt as well. “I must be dizzy. All of the colors look like coloring book.
Rainbow trotted over curiously and sat down beside Niko. Niko still felt awkward when he was at the same eye level of a pony.
Roman looked at the cyan pegasus and his eyebrow disappeared into his hairline, which was quite a task, considering it had receded a few inches in the years. He tilted his head to the side and his jaw fell open.
“Do not say anything,” Niko whispered to Rainbow. “He is in shock. Talking pony might kill him.” She nodded and said nothing.
Roman continued to balk at Rainbow Dash. Finally, he waved his good arm dismissively at her. “Bah!” he exclaimed. “I must have hit my head.” He chuckled. “Right Niko?”
“Roman?” Niko persisted.
“Yes cousin?” Roman shot another look at Rainbow Dash, probably wondering why she was still there.
“What happened? Why were you flying helicopter?”
Roman raised a finger like a college teacher about to begin a lecture. “It is funny story actually, that I will tell you.” He waited, finger still poised.
Niko made an impatient gesture for him to continue.
“Okay, okay.” Roman held up his arms defensively. He winced and quickly caressed his injured arm. “Let’s see, how should I put this? Oh yes.” Roman positioned himself in a more comfortable position. “It all started early this morning,” he began. “Brucie calls me on cellular phone and says, ‘Hey Roman, let us go for helicopter ride with prostitutes,’ but not like that. He says it the way Brucie would say it. So of course, I say yes.”
Niko looked over at Rainbow. She scrunched her face curiously and mouthed, “prostitutes?” Niko waved a dismissive hand at her and focused back on Roman’s story.
“So I drive over to Brucie’s place and we go up in helicopter. We were flying around big fat green lady with coffee cup when the controls went all crazy. I know this because Brucie started screaming at the helicopter. So I sit in passenger seat and scream while Brucie screams trying to fly broken helicopter. Then Brucie gets really mad because it will not work and hits his head on steering wheel and passes out.” Roman laughed once. “I am sorry,” he apologized. “This should not be funny.” Roman took a minute to regain himself. After a moment, he continued. “So Brucie is asleep in pilot seat, the girls are in back of helicopter screaming, I am screaming. So now I am stuck in broken helicopter with two screaming hookers. The helicopter starts flying funny and we crash into coffee cup. Now this next part is pretty bad. One of the girls comes out of helicopter and gets her head in the propeller on top. Next thing I know blood is spraying all over the place and other hooker is screaming even louder and Brucie is drooling on steering wheel.”
Rainbow gasped. Niko looked over at her. The cyan pony seemed to be rather unnerved by Roman’s story. He reached out a hand and patted her on the head. She frowned for a second then shot him a thankful glance.
Roman paid them no attention, not even bothering to stop his story. “…so I scream to other hooker, ‘Get out of here and stop screaming in my ear!’ So she grabs Brucie and they both fall out of helicopter.” He paused. “But this is where things get weird. Helicopter comes back around and flies at big statues boobs. And all I can think is, ‘Oh my god I am going motorboat the fat ugly boobies of this ugly green piece of Liberty City propaganda in a helicopter and die.’ So helicopter hits fat boobies and I close my eyes. But instead of crash, I hear big boom. But I do not die. So I open my eyes and it is all dark out. Then I fly around here for a minute and crash.” Roman clapped his hands together with satisfaction, then winced. “The end,” he finished climactically.
Niko looked over at Rainbow, who looked like she didn’t know whether to be shocked or confused.
Roman had started to gaze off into space. He put on a false smile. “This is really bad.” He chuckled. “Isn’t it?”
Rainbow stood up and stretched her wings. Roman pointed a slightly irritated finger at her. “Niko, please tell me why pony with Brucie paintjob is still here?”
Niko sighed and looked at rainbow. She looked back. He nodded.
She turned and addressed Roman. “Because I’m real.”
Roman blinked in surprise. “It speaks!” he exclaimed. “The midget horse speaks!?” Rainbow glared.
“It is okay,” Niko reassure Roman. “After little while you get used to it.”
“You know,” Rainbow said persistently. “We really shouldn’t be hanging around the Everfree forest, especially at night.”
Roman laughed. Niko assumed he still wasn’t taking the situation seriously. “What?” he chuckled. “It’s not like there are any big scary monsters or something.”
Rainbow laughed nervously. “Actually, there are.”
Niko raised an eyebrow at her. “Ponies have monsters? I thought all ponies do is eat vegetables and be nice to each other.”
Rainbow laughed sincerely this time. “Oh no, we have monsters. Let’s see…” She rolled her eyes to the top of her skull, thinking. “There are dragons, Minotaurs, water serpents, Timberwolves, Discord; but there’s only one of him. Parasprites are kinda’ like monsters… Yeah.” She finished. “We got plenty of monsters.”
Roman pushed himself to his feet. “Niko,” he said, rubbing his head. “Could you please tell me what the hell is going on? We are standing in the middle of forest talking to rainbow painted mini-horse.”
“She is a pony,” Niko corrected. “They do not like being called horses.”
Roman looked at his cousin as if he had gone crazy. “Niko, you are talking about it as if it is a person.” He snorted. “Did you get into Jacob’s stuff?”
Niko rolled his eyes. “No Roman, you know I don’t like Jacob’s stuff.” To make a point, he bent down and picked up Rainbow.
“Hey!” she protested.
“I am trying to make point,” he reassured. He hefted the indignant pony and walked over to Roman. “See, look.” He held out Rainbow Dash like one would a gift basket. She still didn’t seem too keen about being held by him. “She is real. She talks like person. She acts like person. She has feelings like person. She is person.” Niko could hardly believe what he was saying himself. Only two days ago he had been acting the way Roman was now. He knew now that ponies were people. Well, they weren’t actually people, but the human equivalent of people. It was crazy, only two days with the little ponies and he was treating them just like he would a kind hearted person.
“Niko,” Roman said seriously. He paused for a minute, looking him in the eye. “It! Is! A! Little! Horse!” He waved his arms around. Annunciating his speech and pausing after every word.
Niko sighed. “You will understand eventually.”
“Could you put me down now?” Rainbow asked, sounding mildly irritated.
He hurriedly set her down and clapped his hands together. “Okay,” He looked around. “Let us get out of forest before we are eaten by big scary monster.”
* * *
“I think we are lost,” Niko said aloud. They walked through the dark forest, Rainbow in the lead.
“Yes,” Roman put in. “We have been walking for at least an hour; I agree with cousin.”
Rainbow Dash, who had been hovering above the ground, landed and turned to face them. “Look, I’m sorry,” she said, sounding frustrated. “I’ve never been in the Everfree forest alone before. It’s kinda’ hard to tell where you’re going.”
Niko frowned. “It is okay, you know more than me about this place.” He paused. “I have idea.” Rainbow cast him a curious glance. Niko pointed his finger at the dense foliage above. “You can fly up and see which way town is.”
“So what?” Roman butt in. “Are you just going to pretend I do not exist?”
Niko rolled his eyes. “That was plan.”
Roman pointed at Rainbow Dash. “How about rainbow pony?”
Rainbow looked uncomfortably to the left and right. “Actually,” she answered slowly. “You kind of come off as really annoying.”
Roman scowled and stomped his foot. “Great,” he scoffed. “I crash helicopter in crazy land of colorful drug addicts and even rainbow pony does not like me.”
“It’s not that I don’t like you,” she reassured. “I just think you’re annoying. That doesn’t mean I don’t like you.” She thought for a moment. “Well, I don’t exactly like you, but I don’t hate you either.”
Roman spun his finger in the air. “Oh, so the feeling is mutual.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow agreed.
Niko couldn’t help but smirk to himself at Roman’s suspense. Roman may have been his cousin; but he was such a joke. “So will that work?” he asked, drawing Rainbow’s attention away from his sulking cousin and back to the situation at hand. “Flying up to look for town?” he prodded.
She unfurled her wings. “Yeah, it’ll work.” She looked up at the thick foliage of the trees above. The sky couldn’t even be seen. “Yeah,” she said in reassurance. “I can do that.”
Niko watched as she sprung into the air and circled up to the leafy ceiling. She squeezed through a gap between two branches and disappeared from view.
“Niko,” Roman said quietly. “Please tell me this is not real. I just crashed in helicopter and hit my head, right?” He clasped is head in his hands and walked around in a flustered circle. “How do we get back to Liberty? We can get back, right?”
Niko shook his head. “I do not know Roman.”
“Where are we anyways?” Roman asked.
Niko shook his head again. “I am not sure exactly. All I know is that this is called Ponyville, and it is in land of Equestria. But I do not think humans are supposed to exist here.
His cousin listened disbelievingly “What about Liberty?” Roman went pale. He stumbled backwards into a tree and slid down the trunk until he was sitting. “What about the depot? What about Mallorie?”
Niko could do nothing but watch Roman fret. He was never much for supplying confidence or support. He tried to ignore the sound of his cousin making worried and confused noises to himself. He figured he had to at least try something.
“Look Roman,” he began awkwardly. “If we cannot get back to Liberty, there are plenty of friendly ponies here. Besides…” He hesitated. Niko looked up at the tree line, then to the surrounding forest. “What if we do not need to leave?” he finished quietly.
His cousin looked up. “What?”
“I mean, what if it is not that important to get back to Liberty City.” Niko tried to speak as casually as possible, but to no effect.
Roman balked. “You crazy Niko Bellic!”
Niko sat down in front of Roman. He felt crazy himself. “I know you do not understand.” He sighed, still not believing he was about to say this. “My whole reason of leaving old country was to start new life. I wanted to get away from shit back home. I thought I would find that in Liberty. I thought I would be able to start over. Then you get in trouble with loan sharks. And I try to help you… Vlad was a dick. He was going to hurt you. You know why I killed Vlad, to end it. But, killing Vlad pissed off every mob boss in city, and their grandmothers.”
Roman shot him a look. “I never wished for you to kill Vlad.”
Niko ignored him. “Whole point is. I came to new country and fucked it up. I made it almost as bad as old country.” He paused, thinking. He had never poured his heart out like this before. “In Liberty, people are always killing, hating. I have been here with ponies for two days now. They have no gangs, no guns, no killing, no hate. This is happy place. This is what I was looking for in liberty. Some of the ponies do not like me. But they are nice, not like people from the city of opportunity. Even the mean ones are mean in nice way.”
Roman laughed disbelievingly. “Cousin, listen to yourself! This is crazy talk!”
Niko stood up. “I know it is crazy. But look at way I see it. It is nice here.”
He was interrupted by a yell and the sound of breaking branches. He looked up in time to see a rainbow streak plummeting directly down at him from above. With reaction alone, he leaned back and raised his arms, but they came up too late. Rainbow struck him in the chest like a sack of flour. He was thrown off his feet and landed hard on his back.
Niko gasped as the air was knocked out of him. The forest above was spinning due to the fact his head had met the ground rather generously. He lifted his head to glare at the cyan pony on his chest.
She furled her wings and chucked nervously. “Hey there…” Rainbow’s eyes gleamed with barely suppressed laughter. “You okay?”
Niko reached out an arm and rolled the pony off of his chest. She landed awkwardly on the luscious forest floor.
Roman pointed a finger at him and laughed. “She used you as landing pad.” Niko marveled at how quickly Roman could change moods. One moment he was having a panic attack, then the next he was laughing.
Niko stood up and brushed himself off. He looked down at Rainbow, who was snickering quietly to herself.
Niko scolded her like an angry college professor. “Why did you not land on Roman?” he asked in a firm tone. “He is fat and makes good cushion.”
“Hey!” Roman exclaimed indignantly.
Rainbow shrugged. “Because I know you better.”
Niko frowned. “I thought you were good flyer.”
She glared at him. “I am, but the branch broke under me; and you can’t exactly unfurl your wings when you’re falling through a bunch of trees.”
She unfolded her wings and gave them an experimental flap. “Thanks for breaking my fall Niko. Probably saved me from having to go to the hospital again.”
“Again?” Roman asked. “You ponies have hospitals too?” She nodded in response.
“So you are pony who falls a lot?” Niko asked.
“Hey,” she said defensively. “For the amount of time I spend flying, I don’t crash that much.” The cyan pony flapped her wings and flew up to his eye level. “After all, I am the best flyer in all of Ponyville.”
“I am not so sure,” Niko teased, putting on a mock thoughtful look. “When Roman landed helicopter up tree he showed good flying skills.”
Roman waved an arm at him. “Bah! Shut up.”
Rainbow flew next to Niko and whispered. “Is he always this annoying?” she asked.
“Pretty much,” he replied.
“What are you two whispering about?” Roman asked.
“Nothing,” they replied in unison.
Niko remembered why she had been flying in the first place. “So did you find way to go?”
“Yep,” she replied proudly. She did a summersault in the air. Niko had grown used to this movement by now but Roman scoffed as if he found it funny. Niko had also thought it funny the first time as well. “We were walking totally the wrong way. We’re like a mile away from Ponyville.”
Niko shrugged. “I am good at long walks.”
Roman rather clumsily pushed himself to his feet. “I’m guessing I do not get rest?”
“Not unless you want to get left in dark forest.” Niko replied.
Rainbow pointed the way they needed to go and they set off. Roman really must be annoying, Niko thought. If he could annoy a friendly pony, he could annoy anybody.
* * *
Roman froze. “Did you hear that?”
Niko turned back to face him. “Hear what?”
“I heard stick break.” Roman was looking around at the dark forest nervously.
Rainbow Dash, who had just noticed they had stopped, flew over to them, landing neatly next to Niko. “It was probably some woodland creature. We’re pretty close to Ponyville now; there’s bound to be some of Fluttershy’s animals near here.”
“Maybe you stepped on stick Roman,” Niko suggested.
Roman spoke quietly, with both fear and irritation. “No, I did not step on stick. Right now, I am in weird colored place with my crazy cousin and a talking rainbow horse. I am going to get scared if I hear a sound in the woods!”
Rainbow trotted up to him. “Okay, jeez, calm down.”
Roman pointed frantically at her. “No! You do not tell me to calm down.” He spun around in a frantic circle, eyes clouded with fear.
Niko stepped towards his panicking cousin, “Roman.” He froze; his planned words wiped from his mind. He could see a pair of yellow eyes over Roman’s shoulder. They were glowing, literally glowing. He raised a finger and pointed at the dark shape. “What is that?” he asked worriedly.
Rainbow followed the path of his finger. She tensed. Slowly, she turned to face whatever it was and began slowly backing away. “Nopony make any sudden movements,” she whispered with quiet urgency.
Roman turned like he was mounted to a turntable. His gaze fell upon the so far unmoving eyes. Rainbow grabbed his shirt in her jaws and tugged him back. “What is that?” he squeaked.
“I think it’s a timberwolf,” she whispered.
“Well that is okay then,” Niko added. “Wolves are more scared of people than people are scared of them.”
“Yeah sure,” Rainbow shot back sarcastically. “The only problem is that I’m a tasty looking pony and wolves here don’t even know what humans are.”
“I see problem,” Niko muttered dejectedly.
The creature stepped out of the dark shadow of the trees. The moon cast it into eerie detail. Niko balked. It was made of wood. It was a wolf made out of assorted branches and logs. And he had thought the idea of talking ponies was crazy.
Roman opened his mouth wide, eyes popping. Nothing but a choked squeal escaped his mouth. He gasped and took a rapid intake of breath.
Niko’s eyes widened, realizing what his cousin was about to do. “No Roman—”
“Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuun!” he bellowed. The wood-wolf-thing to a step towards them, its wooden limbs creaking menacingly. It growled deep in its throat.
In one quick movement, Rainbow was off the ground and hovering ten feet up in the air. Roman turned and ran. Niko, with no other options, did the same. He ran after Roman, who had a good ten foot head start. He could still hear his cousin screaming at the top of his lungs.
Rainbow appeared next to Niko as he ran, flying at head height. “You should probably run faster,” she said urgently. Niko didn’t need to be told. He could hear the heavy footfalls of the monster behind him. He followed Roman through a gap in some bushes and a moment later heard the sound of the beast tearing through them like cobwebs. He was never scared of people. But this was a big wooden wolf. How were you supposed to fight a wolf made of wood?
Niko was finding it rather hard to concentrate with the wooden beast barking and snarling behind him. Roman screaming his lungs out ahead of him wasn’t helping either. If only he had his guns, a quick grenade and the problem would be dealt with. He understood completely why he didn’t, and shouldn’t have his weapons. But he really missed them.
Roman ran out of breath and his scream trailed off. He inhaled heavily and stared again. With every exhale of breath he would scream, only stopping to inhale. Niko could see slivers of light from the distant town poking through gaps in the trees. The edge of the forest had to be near now.
He dared a look back. To his terror, the beast was no less than feet behind him. It lunged forward, its splintery teeth ready to remove a generous chunk of his back. A cyan blur collided heavily with its head and the wooden beast crashed to the ground.
The timberwolf tumbled a good ten feet before coming to a stop. Rainbow sprung away, simultaneously unfurling her wings. Before she could clear herself of the beast, it snapped its heavy jaws down on her tail and she was pulled back to the ground.
Without thinking, Niko slid to a stop and ran to Rainbow’s aid. Roman’s cries faded into the distance as Niko neared Rainbow. She tried to pull herself away but the wolf tugged hard on her tail and she was yanked backwards to land on her back. Her soft underbelly was exposed to the creature. If it could have salivated, Niko guessed it would have been doing so now.
She tried to roll to her hooves but it placed a scrabbly paw on her belly. “Let me go!” she demanded angrily, to no avail from the beast. Niko didn’t know how the creature could digest anything, due to the fact that it was wood. But he certainly didn’t want to wait and find out.
He sprinted with every bit of speed he could muster and closed the remaining distance between him and the two. He swung his leg and planted it hard in the creature’s side. There was a splintering crunch as his foot sank into its wooden hide. He pulled his foot out of the beast. A few splinters stuck out of his boot. The wolf let out a guttural roar of anger and pain and toppled sideways. Rainbow scrambled to her hooves and backed up hurriedly.
The wolf picked itself up and fixed its murderous gaze on Niko. “Maybe, that was not best idea,” he said worriedly, backing away. Roman’s faint screams could be heard somewhere in the distance. He figured Roman was still heading the right way. He turned as quickly as he could and sprinted away, towards the faint sound of his cousin’s voice. Rainbow flew by his side. She could have easily overtaken him. Niko knew this. But instead, she was flying by his side.
“Thanks!” she gasped. She whirled in the air to avoid a low tree branch.
“You saved my first,” Niko said back with what little breath he had.
“Yeah,” she replied. “But you saved me second.”
He could hear the sound of the wolf tramping along behind them once again. Niko got an idea. He grabbed the thick bough of a tree as he ran. It snapped off in his hands. Rainbow gave him a look that seemed to ask, What was that supposed to do? “I was going to pull it back and let go like in Scooby Doo,” he replied to her implied question. He examined the branch as he ran. It was about the thickness of a pony’s hoof and the height of him. He hefted it like a javelin and hurled it at the inclosing timberwolf.
Niko was pleasantly surprised by his aim. The thrown branch stuck the beast in the right eye. Instead of it bouncing off, as Niko had anticipated, it stuck in its head. The head of the wolf literally fell apart, followed by the rest of its body. Sticks and branches tumbled everywhere as the once menacing beast disintegrated.
“Yeah!” Rainbow jeered. “Nice throw Niko!”
Niko slowed his pace, no longer feeling the need to run. “It was lucky throw,” he replied modestly, looking back at the heap of sticks that had been a timberwolf
“I didn’t even think you could kill a timberwolf,” Rainbow awed.
They walked the rest of the way from the forest to find Roman waiting for them at the edge of the tree line. “Holy shit!” Roman exclaimed. “Niko, I thought you were dead.”
“And I thought you would be passed out screaming by now,” he replied sourly.
Roman flushed. “What are you talking about? I was not screaming. I was exercising my lungs.”
Rainbow stumbled around in a little circle before sitting down hard. “I’m feeling a little dizzy,” she moaned.
“Well, you probably are still drunk,” Niko replied. “Now that adrenaline has stopped you probably feel the booze again."
She rolled onto her back and gazed up at the stars. “Tonight has been totally awesome,” she said quietly. She chuckled and rolled over onto her belly.
“Maybe we should go find place to sleep?” Niko suggested.
Rainbow nodded from the ground. “Yeah, but I don’t want to walk anywhere.”
“You sound as lazy as Roman,” Niko laughed.
Rainbow, only half-willingly, pushed herself to her hooves. “Fine,” she sighed. “I’ll take us to Twi’s… again.”
<Sorry about the delay on this one. Writing Undead Equestria, this, and What’s Under the Ground all at the same time may not have been the best idea. And for you MOAR capslocking+Pinkiesmile+flutterscream ponies… I love you too. Even if you do make me want to facepalm until I bloody my nose.
<The tenth of april is my birthday. So tomorrow I am going to take a break from reading and have a "Magic the Gathering" party with my friends. <<Not even joking
~Sorren