"The Other Side" Chapter 18- Rising Storm

(NOTE)
(Oh... Guh... Uhm... Yeah. Torture chapter. By the way... RESEND YOUR DAMN OCs! Unless I've told you or you've already resent them, please PM me them again. All of my old messages got deleted. If you don't resubmit them, they won't be in the story. I'm sorry, but my memory is shit.)

Dylan hardly noticed the looks that Twilight and Fluttershy were giving him; he was so focused on preparing for the griffons' return that the whole of his concentration was devoted to walking to the town.

"Dylan! You're hurt!"

Fluttershy's voice snapped him out of his trance, causing him to turn and look at the butter-colored pony who he felt nothing but love for. His face had been hard and angry, but his expression seemed to soften when he saw the affectionate concern in the eyes of his new -and second- love. He seemed to project an aura of unworried confidence as he looked at her.

"Ehhh... Tis but a flesh wound."

It wasn't; the arrow jutting from between his ribs dead-center in his chest clearly meant he was dead... yet he wasn't. The long cut in his side also should have been enough to kill him, yet both wounds seemed to have little effect on him.

The Celtic-descended human looked down at the arrow skewering through his breast with complete astonishment. In his mind, Dylan was hysterical; he should be dead right now. He remembered he had almost died at least four times now since he had arrived, and in all of them, he miraculously survived.

As he thought about his current state of unnatural resilience, Fluttershy slowly walked up to him and began speaking again. "Uhm... Oh... Oh my... That looks-" Dylan reached down with the hand that wasn't holding the unconscious body of Devinn and grabbed the shaft of the arrow.

"Let's see if this works..."

Fluttershy gasped and tried to stop Dylan, but she was too late. "Dylan, n-" The sound of flesh ripping and metal grinding against bone could be clearly heard by all five of them. Twilight held a hoof up to her mouth and began to gag, trying to hold back her vomit. Apple Bloom squealed and tried to look away. Big Macintosh covered his sister's eyes and looked quite shocked, his jaw hanging open in stunned surprise. Fluttershy gasped, her pupils narrowing in fear as she watched the gruesome sight before her. Dylan pulled the arrow sharply, accidentally getting the barbs stuck on one of his ribs. He gritted his teeth and cursed under his breath. "Motherfucker." He grunted in pain, moving the arrow around to unhook it from the bone. It came loose and ripped the rest of its way back out of his chest with a vile tearing noise. "GAAAAH! Hell's asshole, that fffff- AAARGH!" Dylan looked at the arrow in his hands; what looked like shards of bone and chunks of flesh clung to it, sticky with his blood. A few shreds of flesh in particular caught his attention.

"Mother of God..."

Dylan could tell what the veiny pieces of red tissue that hung to the arrow were. He stared at them in frozen terror, letting forth a shuddering breath as he stared at what was stuck on the wickedly-barbed arrowhead; pieces of his heart.

Dylan's hairs stood on end as he realized it fully now; he should be dead. He should be spewing blood out of the hole in his chest and be dead in seconds. He looked down at the hole that the projectile had put in him, staring in disbelief as only a few drops of red streamed down his coat. He felt something strange and proceeded to feel at the hole. It was no longer there. His wound had sealed, the flesh knitting itself back together like nothing had happened. Nothing remained of the wound.

"Dylan! Oh, mercy! D-don't move!"

Fluttershy moved closer to Dylan, her eyes still full of uncomprehending horror. She knew that the human she loved should be dead; she saw where the arrow had been. She knew where his heart and most of his organs were, thanks to Twilight, herself and the town doctor examining him while he was unconscious. The wound was mortal, she knew that much. She tried desperately to help her very close friend.

With a quick movement that Fluttershy barely even noticed, he wiped the arrowhead off against the inside of his coat, hiding the gruesome evidence that had clung to it just moments before. He pulled his coat closed, moving it over the lack of damage to his chest. The slash in his gut had sealed itself as well, and he attempted to hide the repaired flesh as well.

"I'm okay, Fluttershy. I'm okay."

"N-no you're not! You... You shouldn't be! You can't be!"

"I am, don't worry. Let's get back to town."

"No, I need to check you out-"

"Later."

With this, Dylan shot her a dirty look -bedroom dirty, that is- and winked. Dylan was trying his best to distract the caring pegasus; he knew that if she saw that he was healed again, she would lose control of herself. He wasn't about to give her any more mental trauma than he'd already caused. Fluttershy blushed and looked taken aback. She had obviously not been expecting her human companion to be making flirtatious jokes right now.

Twilight's vomiting could be clearly heard in the background. It sounded as is the librarian were trying to regurgitate her entire digestive system.

"I'll be alright, trust me. Go check on Mac and Apple Bloom, and maybe Twilight; she looks a little greener than her usual lavender-colored self."

Fluttershy looked like she was about to protest, but she closed her mouth and nodded at him. She trotted over to her other three friends and began looking them over. Twilight had just ceased vomiting when Fluttershy arrived.

Dylan once again asked himself the same question:

What the fuck am I?

***

The diamond dog interrogator had been working his craft for hours on the work pony's. He had tried all methods of torture that he knew, from the hot iron poker to other more... insidious tools of the trade.

Applejack bore dozens of ragged, bleeding cuts all along her body, along with burns, bruises and chafe-marks. She looked like a complete mess; her face was stained with tears of pain, her head hung low in shame and the look in her eyes was one of agony and exhaustion. Her breathing was low and rasping. Applejack stopped her wheezing breaths from time to time to cough up blood onto the chamber's already bloody stone floor.

So far, she had revealed nothing. The farm pony's resolve was far greater than Tanning or the diamond dogs had expected. It frustrated the griffon warlord beyond words. As a matter of fact, it sent him into a frothing rage.

Tanning's anger had already caused him to inflict a considerable amount of damage on his prisoner. He had struck her multiple times out of fury, but the equine refused to give up. This further infuriated him until he realized exactly what it was he needed to break her. He wanted to watch her suffer first, before he broke her.

Tanning turned to the torturer with a monstrous look of cruelty present on his face. He licked his beak as he hissed, malevolence dripping from each word.

"Tell your dogsss to... have sssome fun... I'm sssure our... friend will appreciate the affection."

The torturer looked confused for a few seconds, then a knowing grin spread across his long, canine face. He waved his assistants forward, then told them to gather some of the guards.

After a group of around a dozen of the dogs assembled, the torturer grinned as he explained what it was exactly that they were supposed to do. Within moments, the torturer's grin had spread infectiously to the other diamond dogs. He waved the first one forward, who rubbed his paws together and stepped forward.

Applejack looked up wearily with heavy-lidded green eyes. She was in so much pain that she could barely move, and even raising her head caused fresh suffering to well up and blot out her thoughts with its stinging, burning, aching feelings. She stared up with exhausted eyes at the diamond dog before her. She was about to spit an insult at him, but what happened next stopped her before she could speak. The diamond dog wedged her legs apart with his knees and grabbed her shoulders. Applejack's eyes suddenly looked wide awake as the diamond dog slammed his rock-hard testament of masculinity deep inside her. She gasped in surprise as the diamond dog thrust into her over and over again, not caring how rough he was with the pony in the slightest. He bayed and howled as he took her forcefully. Over and over again he bucked his hips against hers, ramming deep into her insides as he barked rabidly.

After he was finished, he pulled himself out of her with a sigh, readjusted himself, and began to walk away. Before he could, Applejack snarled an insult at the dog.

"Ah bet ya' feel real tough, takin' me when ah'm all tied up, dont'cha? Y'all are nothin' but a bunch a' flea-bitten, crotch-lickin', ass-sniffin' cowards. "

The dog growled as he walked away, patting one of his comrades on the shoulder. The comrade in question rolled his shoulders and walked toward his method of entertainment for the next few minutes.

Blood wasn't the only thing pooling on the floor now. The whole of the group had already had their way with Applejack, and yet they were still looking at the farmpony with lustful hunger in their eyes. Tanning stepped forward and placed a hand on Applejack's shoulder from behind. Her breathing was even more ragged than before. She hung low, the energy drained from her body completely.

"Ready to talk yet, are we?"

Tanning's voice seemed to drip with cruelty and sadistic pleasure. He was certain that he had finally broken her, and his face showed this.

When she didn't respond, he hissed and advanced towards her. He grabbed her face in his hands and stared deep into her eyes, glaring knives at her in frustration.

"SSSSPEAK OR YOU WILL REGRET IT!"

Applejack simply looked at Tanning with an unimpressed look on her face. Outside she looked determined, unwavering and full of courage. On the inside she was screaming in pain, begging for it all to stop. She opened her lips; she would tell him. She began to speak, then something seemed to explode her chest.

You were going to tell him... You selfish little coward... Do you have any strength left to defend your friends? Would you tell this... this... scum what happened? Would you throw Dylan to the dogs!? You bucking piece of shit. You worthless bitch... Fight. FIGHT FOR HIM! HE FOUGHT FOR YOU!

Applejack was stunned. The tirade of words had come from herself; she knew they had. Some part of her mind completely rejected the possibility of surrendering; to do so would make everything she had done mean nothing. If she gave up now, Tanning would hunt down Dylan. She knew that he Tanning already knew what a threat he was, and planned to eliminate him. But if he found out that he knew where his sister was, there would be no stopping him.

"What wasss that? What did you sssay?"

Applejack realized that she had been about to speak. She licked her parched and cracked lips, breathed in and spoke.

"Ah'll talk..."

Tanning's grin was one of victory. He was so full of satisfaction that he failed to notice the hint of smugness in Applejack's ragged voice.

"Wh- when yer' dead."

Tanning's eyes flashed again, this time with a black rage that seemed to well up from deep inside him. An unnatural black glow seemed to emanate from his eyes and his stone arm.

"THAT'SSS THE LASSST MISTAKE YOU'LL EVER MAKE, WRETCH."

***

Lyra was sitting under one of the umbrellas of Ponyville's cafe. It had been a normal day for her, except for one thing; finding four dead griffons lying in the middle of the street. She inspected the scene and found something quite unusual: There appeared to be human shoeprints.

Lyra had went completely hysterical. She had completely missed the news of Dylan's arrival in town; she had just returned from a trip to Canterlot. Seeing proof of human existence pushed her into a frenzy. Lyra searched up and down Ponyville, but couldn't find the human. She realized too late that the human had run in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. She had ducked under one of the umbrellas of the cafe to hide from the rain. Just then she noticed a massive pillar of smoke rising from the direction of the apple farm.

"Sweet Celes-"

She was cut short by something even more shocking. In the distance Lyra spotted a number of shapes coming from the farm. Five figures walked up the road into town, the black cloud smearing the starry night sky behind them. One of the figures carried an unmoving body over its shoulder. The most amazing thing about the figure's shoulders was that they had arms attached to them instead of legs; the figure was human. Lyra was too dumbfounded to move a muscle.

The black-cloaked human with red hair walked right past Lyra. In one hand he was clutching a bloodied sword as the other held onto the griffon he was carrying. He gave a quick glance at Lyra with his deep blue eyes and then moved on. He seemed to be seething with anger so palpable that Lyra began to tremble.

"Y-y-y-you're a h-h-human!"

Dylan stopped and turned at his waist to look back at the unicorn.

"I am. But right now I-"

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! You're totally a human! Oh WOW! Your hands are so cool! And what's that on your face? Is that a beard? Oh! Oh! Oh! Wow! This is so cool! How are you-"

Dylan gave Lyra an impatient look and frowned as he interrupted her.

"I don't have time for this."

He continued walking, his face a stern expression. He grunted as he adjusted the limp form on his shoulders, letting out a long and heavy breath. Lyra looked shocked for a moment, then began following the human and the four ponies with a confused look on her face.

"What's going on?"

She was answered by Twilight Sparkle, who was currently looking very worried and distressed. "Griffons abducted Applejack and burned down the farm... He thinks he can get this griffon to lead us to where they're hiding."

Lyra's jaw dropped, and her eyes seemed to bulge from her head. "Wh-why?!"

Twilight shook her head. "They... I think one of them was looking for someone... He... He must have thought Applejack knew where they were. Big Mac's pretty torn up."

Lyra looked at Big Macintosh, who was currently being cared for tenderly by an anxious and scared-looking Fluttershy. Two arrows stuck out from the red farmer's hide, one in his back and one in his shoulder.It looked like everybody was shocked out of their minds except Big Mac and Dylan. The two shared a grim determination, stone-faced and cold-eyed. They shrugged off any pain and worry that they normally would have had. Applejack was both the Dylan's and Big Mac's focus at the moment, and powerfully so; they both seemed to be coiled like springs, building up tension to be released in a uncontrollable explosion of violence.

The group walked into Ponyville's veterinary clinic. Dylan stepped up to the front desk and received some stunned looks from the receptionist.The hospital would have been preferred, but it was too far away and it wasn't certain if they would have been able to get to it in time.

"Where's the doctor?" Dylan asked with an urgent and frustrated tone to his voice.

The mare on duty looked as if her jaw was going to hit the counter. The human had just walked through the front door carrying a body and asked where the doctor was. She blinked and tried to speak, but could only stutter.

"Y-y-yr t-th h-h-h-hu-"

Dylan growled in frustration and leaned over the counter to stare right into the receptionist's face.

"The doctor. Get... Him... NOW."

Fear and amazement was his only answer. He slammed his fist on the counter, sword still in hand. "We don't have time! Get the fucking doctor or my friend is going to die! If he dies because of you..." Dylan clenched his fingers into a white-knuckle grip around the sword's hilt. He bared his teeth at the completely terrified mare standing behind the clinic's reception desk. She practically fell out of her chair and scrambled to a nearby door before opening it and slamming it behind her. Muffled and frantic voices could be heard coming from behind the door, followed by a crash. It sounded like a whole tray of medical tools had just been knocked to the floor with a thunderous clatter. A string of words from a male voice could be heard before the door opened again.

The veterinarian barely had time to open his mouth before Dylan pushed past him into the room. The stallion looked taken aback and annoyed. "Well, excuse me! What do you think-" Dylan growled and bared his teeth as he gazed bloody murder at the doctor. "- you're... doing?" The last word was a fearful squeak, barely audible. Dylan glared at him for another second before walking over to an operating table and unceremoniously placing Devinn's unconscious and beaten body onto it.

"What needs to be done." Dylan's voice was completely serious, with not the slightest trace of doubt. The veterinarian's assistant trembled slightly in the back of the room, trying to hide behind a cart laden with medical trays. One of the trays had been knocked off the cart; scalpels, needles, forceps and other medical tools were scattered haphazardly across the floor. The veterinarian gingerly stepped around them, then glared at his receptionist, urging her to clean them up. He looked at the body on the table in shock; the griffon had multiple broken ribs, a shattered jaw, two broken knees and ruined wings. It was obvious that he would probably never fly again.

"Is... Is this your friend?"

Dylan gave a dark chuckle and shook his head, looking down at the unconscious form with a mixture of disgust and hatred.
"No. He's just some lowlife piece of shit." Dylan pointed at the red stallion being carried by Fluttershy. "This is my friend. Fix him up. And this fucking scumbag... just keep him strapped down... and make sure he's at least slightly alive. I'll pay you, but now, I have to go." He walked up to Big Mac, patted him on his good shoulder and gave him a grim look, one that needed no words to accompany it. The look's meaning was clear: We'll make them pay. Big Mac nodded and let the doctor help him to another operating table while the assistant strapped the unconscious griffon onto his own.

Dylan walked back out the door, passing by everyone else before exiting the clinic. "Come on. Twilight, follow me. Fluttershy, Apple Bloom, I need you two here with Mac."

The new pony spoke up. "What about me?"

Dylan cast her a measuring glance, working his jaw slowly. After a few moments, he nodded. "You can come too... but I don't exactly need your help at the moment." Lyra smiled excitedly and nodded. She was going to spend time with a human. It was amazing that she was composed at all. If the situation were any different , she would probably be jumping around and screaming her head off in joy. It was Dylan's air of urgency and determination that helped her keep her emotions in check.

The three of them walked through the muddy streets, passing by only a few townsfolk that were out of their homes and places of business. It was night after all. They were lucky that the veterinary clinic wasn't closed; it was just about to when they arrived. Everybody they passed seemed to regard Dylan with a mixture of fear and awe; The red-spattered blade in his hand probably had something to do with it. Twilight was the first to speak.

"Where are we going?"

The sentence was spoken in a tone of confusion. The lavender-coated unicorn frowned, uncomprehending curiosity written all over her face, as obvious as if it had been written in ink.

"There."

Dylan's calloused and scarred hand pointed upwards and forwards, his index finger extended; He was pointing at the Town Hall. Understanding dawned on Twilight's face, but Lyra still had no idea why they were headed to the mayor's place of office.

"What're we going to do there?" Lyra asked, furrowing her brow in contemplation.

"Talk to the mayor." Dylan said as he continued walking. He carried himself like he was ready for a fight; he generally was. There was blue flash of light, followed by a loud crack of thunder overhead. Dylan glanced up at the storm clouds brewing in the skies above, then looked back down. He saw something move in the dark, which came flying through the air and landed several feet in front of him. Dylan twitched, his sword rising a few inches before he stopped.

His stance changed from an aggressive one to one of relief in a split second. He sighed as he saw that it was Rainbow Dash, and relaxed immediately. Her hair was drenched and hung from her face in heavy, wet strands. She looked like she had just flown through the heart of the storm.

"Dylan, I need to tell you something..." Her face had a slight reddish tinge to it, barely noticeable in the dark. She flinched when she saw Twilight and Lyra standing behind him. "W- Hey, what're you guys doing out here?" Rainbow Dash said, looking at the two ponies.

"We're following Dylan. He wants to talk to the mayor." Twilight responded as calmly as she could, despite current events.

"Well, this weather wasn't scheduled by Cloudsdale, so I don't know what the hay is causing it. Wait... Why do you want to talk to the mayor?"

Dylan swallowed, narrowing his eyes and looking away from Rainbow Dash. He gritted his teeth and winced, rolling his shoulders.

"Why're you acting so weird?"

"Rainbow... Applejack's..." Dylan bit his lip in internal pain, cursing his own weakness. He should've been able to protect her... he knew he should've.

"Applejack's what?" Rainbow Dash raised her eyebrows, fear slowly moving across her face like a veil.

"She's... she's been kidnapped, Dash. They killed Granny Smith, almost killed Big Mac, and burned down the house... I... I couldn't stop them all..."

Rainbow Dash stumbled back a step, tears welling up in the normally hardened pegasus' eyes. She tried to look tough, but inside, she was weeping like a child. Her fear was hidden behind her next actions. Her mouth twisted in an angry snarl as she clenched her teeth and held her hooves at her sides.

"Who?"

She looked like she was ready to smash something's face in. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were fierce rivals, but they shared a close bond. They were comrades, friends... almost sisters. All of her friends were close, but she had something different with Applejack; as the two strongest of their group of friends, they constantly tried to outdo the other.

"Griffons." Twilight said, looking her friend up and down. She didn't share Rainbow Dash's angry regret, but instead possessed a fearful and wizened concern.

"I killed most of the bastards... Most..." Dylan raised his sword, turning it in the rain. Some of the blood began to wash off in the downpour, falling down the steel in dark crimson rivers. "Now... Let's go say hi to the mayor."

***

Evil; Tanning's face was full of it. He was going to make Applejack tell him where Gilda was if he had to break every last bone in her body. His only sister and the closest person to him in his life, and this bitch refused to tell him what she knew about her. He would enjoy every last second of making her suffer.

She was bleeding from every possible place, including between her legs. The dogs had ridden her raw, their savagery causing indescribable pain for the orange farmpony. She was horribly and painfully bruised across her face and chest, caused by constant punches, slaps, and strikes. Her back was completely torn, furrowed red trenches streaking across it like a grotesque new pattern to her fur.

After the numerous rapes, whippings, beatings, and other vicious methods of torture, Tanning knew what would break the pony. It was something that would make any pony break down into a sobbing, screaming mess. He snapped his fingers. The diamond dog torturer was at his side in seconds. He pulled the dog close and leaned towards his ear.

"Bring one in."

The dog looked at Tanning from underneath his goggled black hood and smiled. He walked over to some of the idle guards and began chattering to them authoritatively. They nodded, saluted and left the chamber.

"Whatever yer' doin', it ain't gonna work, shithead."

"I assssure you it will."

"Heh, ya' said that about everythin' else ya've done t' me... I think yer' nothin' but a liar."

Tanning scowled. "That isss one thing I can sssay that I am not."

Applejack responded with a mean-spirited chuckle. "Yer' never gonna find out, ya' know that? Ah ain't sayin' shit."

"You will... You will..." Tanning's confidence seemed to roll off him in waves, along with a strange black glow that came from his eyes and stone arm.

A few seconds later the chamber's door screeched open with the sound of grinding iron. Two diamond dogs stepped inside, carrying a struggling pony between them. The pony's ribs were completely visible, the skin drawn taught against the bone. It was obvious that prisoners in the fortress were barely fed. The pony was a stallion, but not a large one. He had a black coat, a grey mane, and blue eyes. His cutie mark was a stack of logs and a large axe.

"Ready to talk?" Tanning said with a venomous tone.

"Go buck yerself'. Ah don't think he can tell you anythin' either."

"It'ssss not him that'ssss going to tell me anything... I thought you were sssmarter than that. I guessss I was wrong." Tanning sneered, taking a step towards the pony.

While the two guards held the pony in place, Tanning held his face gently in his stone claws. The fear in the stallion's eyes hit Applejack like a slap to the face. The pony was shaking, trying desperately to mutter something.

"H-h-h-h-he-he-he-help m-m-me."

"We'll ssssee if ssshe doesss." Tanning turned and looked back at Applejack, a malevolent grin spreading across his face. "Sssso... Are you ready to tell me where Gilda is?"

Applejack grunted and adjusted herself in her chair. She didn't seem fazed at all. Nothing Tanning said would make her talk, she knew that with every fibre of her being.

"Ah'm not tellin' you where she is."

"We'll sssee about that."

By this time, the pony in Tanning's grip was practically twitching in absolute terror, trying desperately to get out of his grasp. Applejack knew the pony; he was one of the town's woodcutters.

"One lassst chance... Ready to tell me?" Tanning's eyes were filled with a great and terrible darkness as he said this, the likes of which made the most hardened soldiers quake in their boots.

"NO." Applejack growled loud enough to send drops of blood and spit spraying through the air in front of her.

Tanning regarded this for a moment, then smiled. The griffon looked more like a devil than anything else.

"What a ssshame..."

Moments after he said this, he looked into Applejack's eyes with grotesque pleasure. The anger and hatred pouring from his gaze was so powerful that it seemed to fill the entire room. He smiled cruelly as he squeezed his claws together around the woodcutter's skull. Sickening cracking was what Applejack heard, along with a wet splattering. He had crushed his head like it was nothing. The stallion's dead eyes seemed to stare into Applejack's own, blood pouring from their corners like tears.

Applejack shuddered and screamed as she watched the blood pooling from the split open head of the corpse in front of her. Tanning's stone talons had torn gaping holes in the sides of the stallion's crumpled head, which oozed the skull's contents out onto the floor below. The entire head looked like a crushed eggshell, with various fragments breaking off and splitting in various places. The two guards holding the cadaver released their hold, letting the body fall to the ground with a resounding thud.

"Bring in another one." Tanning said, growling confidently. "I'm sure our friend here doesn't mind if I have some more fun..."

The guards dragged away the dead body by its rear legs, giving each other unnerved looks as they did so. They left a trail of deep crimson on the floor as they pulled the body. One of the guards near the entrance pulled open the door for them to pass. He tried to look away from the corpse as the two diamond dogs exited the room.

Applejack was sobbing. She hadn't really known the pony, but it was traumatic in spite of that fact. She didn't even totally remember his name. It could have been Oakmane or maybe Wood Strider, but she didn't remember. She was too horrified by what had just transpired to care much about his name. She tried desperately to hold herself together, to be strong, to show no weakness. She failed miserably.

The guards returned, carrying a new pony between them. This one was a mare, and she looked even more frightened than the last prisoner.

"No! Let me go! S-somepony g-get these damn dogs off of m-"

She was silenced by Tanning slamming his natural fist into her jaw. The mare coughed and began to yell. The griffon's punch had knocked a few teeth loose, which clattered to the floor, falling into the blood of the last prisoner to enter the chamber.

The mare was small, but wasn't as starved or thin-looking as the stallion that had just left the room with a splintered skull. It was obvious that the dogs fed the females more substantially for... obvious reasons. The two guards holding the prisoner looked a little reluctant to lose one of their prime sources of... entertainment, but they knew that if they didn't follow orders, the madman standing in front of them would send them to the grave.
She was light brown with a dark chestnut mane. Her cutie mark was a grapevine over a winepress. She had been a winemaker in Ponyville, but Applejack hadn't known her much at all before this, only passing by her on the streets every so often to say a word or two.

"Heh. Ssshall we continue, Missss Applejack?" Tanning's eyes rolled slowly sideways to give the country mare all their twisted glee.

"Ngh... N... Hhh..." Applejack was panicking, still staring at the blood staining the stone floor like a slick carpet of rich red.

"Tell me... Or I will kill her. Ssspeak now, or another death will be on your hoovesss." Tanning looked completely serious, as was demonstrated by the claw around the pony's neck. His taloned fingers brushed at the soft flesh of the mare's throat, barely touching it. He smiled in the most disturbing way possible; with the insane brutality that lurks inside all beings of darkness.

"H-help me!" The winemaker squealed. This only resulted in enjoyment from her captor.

"Yesss, Applejack... HELP HER!" Tanning's voice boomed across the chamber, making a few of the guards flinch. He began to laugh. Bregan stood completely still, like a statue. His cold, aged eyes regarded everything with a calm readiness that came from experience. This was not the first time that Bregan had witnessed Tanning's brutality, and it would assuredly not be the last. Applejack looked down at her hooves, frowning sadly. Tears were slowly running down each of her cheeks. The hopeless resignation was plainly seen on her face. She couldn't let more suffering happen to someone else, even someone she barely knew. What little she knew about Dylan told her that he would want it to end as well.

"Ah... Ah'll... Tell you..."

Tanning grinned. His victory for the moment was assured.

"Yesss?"

"G-Gilda... L-left town..."

"RRRRGH! No! Tell me EVERYTHING!"

"Ah... Ah'm doin' that... She left town after... getting in a fight."

"With who?!"

"He's... He's a human... the human..."

This only brought confusion to Tanning's face. He had no idea what a human was.

"What in the name of the godsss are you talking about?!"

"H-he's... The one that you fought at the farm..." Applejack collapsed in her chair, completely defeated. Her tears mixed with the blood, filth and muck on the floor under her chair. She stared down in shame, shuddering with each mournful sob she made.

"Ah..." Tanning looked intimidated, enraged and pleased at the same time. The thing that had killed a dozen of his warriors knew where his sister was. He felt fury bubble up from inside him, realizing that the solution to all his problems had fallen through his grasp. He would not make the same mistake twice.

"Where doesss he live?"

"H... Guh... Near th' c-center a' town..."

"Which houssse?"

Applejack told him exactly where Dylan's house was. She slumped forwards in her chair as if a terrible weight had just been thrust upon her.

"Good... I'll keep my word; I won't kill her."

Tanning lowered his claws from the mare's throat and stepped back. He ran a taloned hand through the feathers on his head.

"Oh, mercy..." The prisoner's shoulders relaxed and her breathing slowed.

Oh, thank goodness... At least she's-

Tanning's head bobbed ever so slightly, a hellish grin breaking across his scarred face; He had just nodded to his lieutenant. The sound of talons clacking on stone echoed throughout the chamber as Bregan stepped forward. The air was broken by the terrifying sound of a blade being drawn from its sheath. The griffon lieutenant grabbed the mare by the chin and tilted her head violently upwards. With a sickly shhleck sound, Bregan drew the knife across the winemaker's throat. Blood flowed freely from the gutter the knife had carved in the pony's throat. The winemaker let out a gurgling scream and began to thrash. The fear in her eyes was enough to make Applejack break out into a screaming, wailing fit of tears. Within seconds, the mare collapsed to the floor dead.

Bregan wiped the blood off of his knife with a dirty rag, then replaced it in its sheath. Tanning and Bregan left the sobbing and screeching Applejack alone with the diamond dog guards.

"Sssend word to Rover and the ressst of the company. We march on Ponyville at dawn."

Bregan saluted and looked into his friend's eyes with a knowing coolness, despite the atrocity he had just committed. "Yes, Captain."

"Old friend?" Tanning said quietly, looking down at his feet.

"Yes... Captain?" Bregan said in the same icy cold tone he always used. He shuffled his feet, but it was barely noticeable.

"My sssiss-"

"We'll get her back, Tanning. We will."

The griffon captain solemnly nodded at his comrade-in-arms, who he had fought beside for years. He almost never addressed him by name.

"Thank you, friend. Bregan... I... I must ask if you-"

"Hrmph... Yes. Yes I do." Bregan swallowed, glancing down at the floor and then back up.

"I thought asss much... But I swear, if you-"

"Its me, Tanning. Me. I wouldn't ever hurt her."

Tanning nodded, grinning. "Yesss... It isss you... We'll make these bastards pay."

"Yes sir..."

***

The mayor was sitting at her desk, passing over another completely pointless and incredibly boring piece of paperwork. She sipped idly at a cup of tea as she looked through the piece of paperwork one last time.

"Why is it that nothing exciting ever happens around here?!"

As if by divine power, she was answered almost immediately by shouting from the floor below her office. It sounded like one of her guards was yelling a warning to someone. There was a response by a naggingly familiar but altogether alien voice. The words were so loud they could be heard as clearly as if the speaker had been standing next to her.

"THE MAYOR, NOW! INEED TO SPEAK TO HER!"

The guards shouted something back, but from the sound of their voices they were obviously intimidated.

"NO! I WILL NOT LEAVE! IF YOU WISH TO KEEP YOUR LIVES, YOU WILL MOVE!"

The guards seemed to quiet down. The mayor listened intently, her heart beating rapidly in her chest. She was afraid; very afraid. She didn't have much time to be, as the door opened with a low creak. One of her guards had pushed it open. He was shoved out of the way by the same drunkard creature that she had met the night earlier.

"Miss Mayor." Dylan said this with a bow. He looked as if he had been through an unimaginable amount of punishment. He was covered in mud, his clothes were torn in places, and he was completely drenched.

The mayor simply stared in astonishment for a moment, then began to speak rather frantically.

"What is your reason for being here?! What could you possibly want from me?!"

Dylan realized he still had a bloody sword in his hand. He wiped the blade clean on the inside of his coat and slipped it through his belt.

"I need to talk to you. Something very horrible has just occurred, and if we don't do something about it, the town will be destroyed."

"Wh-what?! What's happened?"

Dylan gritted his teeth in anger and looked out the mayor's office window. A flash of lightning lit up his face with bizarre ghost-light.

"Applejack has been taken."

The mayor stared in shock at Dylan, jaw agape.

"T-that's impossible! /Nothing/ of this sort has ever happened in Ponyville!"

"Well, it has now. They also burned down Sweet Apple Acres and killed Granny Smith."

The mayor and the guards all shared expressions of horror.

"That's... Oh-" The mayor looked like she was about to vomit, but she managed to hold herself together. "Who is they?"

"Griffons." Dylan growled the word angrily; the creatures had earned his eternal spite.

"Griffons?! What are griffons doing in Ponyville?!"

"They're looking for someone, but that's not important now. I need you to do something for me."

The mayor looked at Dylan with an expression of confused curiosity.

"What do you need me to do, exactly?"

"Assemble everyone."

"Wh-why?!"

Dylan narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath. He looked out into the night with a grim understanding.

"Because we're gonna kill the bastards that took her... Every last one..."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Shit's gettin' real, boys and girls, or if you happen to be of equine race, fillies and colts. I'm still -and will be until I say I'M NOT- taking OC requests. If you have an idea, look up the template in my blog post 'More OC's? OH, THE MADNESS!' fill it out, and PM me. Cheers.

Stay bloodthirsty my friends.

~Chuckles