"The Other Side" Chapter 3- Introductions of a Darker Kind

Utter blackness, then a voice,

"Rise and shine, boy. We've got some talking to do. I did just save your life, after all."

The voice was very masculine, possessing an aura of dark humor and traces of an incredible intelligence. Darkness seemed to roll of of it like a fog, roiling with each word he spoke. It laughed quietly, a sharp mocking bark that shook the soul. Dylan cringed at the unexpected sound, his heart pounding like a drum. He didn't remember how he arrived in the darkness. He didn't remember standing up either, but his feet were both placed firmly on the ground.

He heard the sharp tapping of metal on stone from behind him. He spun around with anger in his eyes,

"I am no boy! Who are you and what do you want with me, you bastard?"

He could almost hear a smile, such was the sense of sick amusement radiating off of the voice.

"All right, Dylan. First things first-"

The crack of metal smashing bone sounded out as Dylan's kneecap shattered. He screamed, dropping to the ground with a look of pure agony on his face.

"Do not... disrespect me. I saved your life, therefore, you shall address me as "Master", or "My Lord" or there shall be... repercussions."

"Fuck. You."

Dylan growled from the ground, trying to stand up and charge his attacker. He fell down again as something long and metal bashed in his teeth. The sick crunching noise of teeth breaking reverberated inside his head.
Splinters of white littered the ground around Dylan. He sucked in sharply, breathing in cold and stale smoke-filled air. He kneeled there for a few seconds, holding his face in his hands. The blackness lit up with a deep blood red glow, the light illuminating the room. The room was simply a giant stone chamber with a rounded roof, and no doors or windows. The light also brought a figure into focus.

It was a man, around seven feet tall, very thin, and wearing a fine black three-piece suit with a tie. The tie was the same bloody crimson as the light, and he wore a white shirt underneath the suit. The suit had red cuffs, and a golden badge was pinned to the left breast. The badge had on it of a dying red sun and a shattered black moon. He was also wearing an ornate belt, on which was a giant golden eye. He carried a long steel cane in his hands. It was spattered red with blood, although everything seemed bloody because of the light. A golden snake seemed to twist around the cane, impossibly alive and hissing. At its tip was a small obsidian goat's skull with horns. The skull's empty eye sockets appeared to be emitting the disturbing light. The man's head was completely shaven, except for a thick white beard, which he was now stroking. His features were very angular, like those of a bird of prey, and the look his red eyes were giving looked as if it could burn smoking holes in whatever they turned their attention to. His wickedly sharp teeth were bared in a mirthless smile, and he licked one of his canines with his tongue eagerly.

"You are incredibly stubborn, aren't you, Dylan? Got that from your mother, did you? She was a tough one, but she died screaming anyway. It was hilarious."

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

Dylan was an animal; the man talking about his mother like that put to death what little he had left of his self control. He swung his fist faster and more powerfully than he had ever before in his life. He drove it right into the center of the man's evilly grinning face. The man's head literally exploded into a thousand pieces with a disgusting splattering noise. Brain matter, eyeballs, bits of skull and spine along with a torrent of blood covered the stone floor. The man's corpse stood there, still standing. It began to shake, blood spurting out of the arteries in his neck and falling to the ground with a foul splattering sound.

Dylan panted and snarled with rage, and if there had been someone to see him, they would have noticed something horribly disturbing;
Dylan's entire body was literally on fire, his teeth had lengthened into vicious- but still broken -fangs, and his hair had grown to a wild length. His face had elongated, and vicious black claws had grown out of his fingers and toes. He exuded an aura of bottomless, burning anger so fierce his body felt as if it would rip itself apart. He stood there, breathing out puffs of smoke, a bestial intelligence now controlling his mind. His thoughts were still his, but they were unrecognizable feral things, and they seemed to focus entirely on one thing: Rage. The Dylan-Thing howled a bloodcurdling war cry into the air, shaking violently with the lust of death.

It somehow realized that a sound had been nagging at the back of its awareness: Laughing. The laughing was coming from the open, broken throat of the bald man's corpse. With a sick fizzling sound, every piece of the man's head slowly drifted back into place. It reformed perfectly with a burning hiss, coming back together without a trace of damage; not one drop of blood remained on the floor of the chamber. He smiled. The man's smile was completely demonic, and his teeth were now serrated fangs.

"Good! That's exactly what I wanted to see. Show me your rage, Dylan, show the WORLD!"

The man's laugh was demonic now too, echoing in upon itself. He raised his cane and pointed it at Dylan. A wave of black energy pulsated out, repairing Dylan's damaged body.

"WHAT... IS...THIS...POWER?!"

The Dylan-Thing was looking at its hands, growling excitedly. The man looked completely pleased, his eyebrows moving close together in a look of fulfilled expectation. His smile stretched as far as it could possibly go.

"It was in you all along, I just brought it out so you could use it. You've seen for yourself how strong you are. But you'd do well not to forget who is the more powerful of the two of us. Now... tell me, what is my name?"

The Dylan-Thing raised its burning red eyes to the man's face, the skin of its mouth drawing back away from its predatory teeth in its own hellish grin.

"MASTER." The rough barking word seemed to crawl up from the depths of the Dylan-Thing's throat.

The bald man quaked in a fit of body-shaking laughter, raising his head to look at the ceiling.

"Good. You must learn to use your power well." He looked back down at the bestial form before him. "When you are ready, I will speak with you again."

The Dylan-Thing nodded, looking down once again at his fiercely burning hands. With a look of complete satisfaction, the man walked a single step toward what had once been Dylan.

"One last thing before you wake..." the man leaned close to the Dylan-Thing, and whispered into his ear with the darkest of tones.

"Have some fun..."

The Dylan-Thing roared at the ceiling, shaking his fists in approval and opening his maw wide as fire seemed to course through his very soul.
The blackness, the man, and the room all disappeared in a flash of white light.

***

Dylan awoke with a start, and realized that he had forgotten whatever nightmare he had just experienced. He kicked away the covers of the bed he was laying in, then looked down at his body. What he saw chilled him to the core; There was not one scar, not one injury, not even one bruise upon his entire body. As a matter of fact, he felt better than he had in years. It scared him, as he did not have any explanation for the complete healing of his body.

He leapt out of bed, then realized that a rather sorrowful-looking Fluttershy was sitting next to his bed, along with a grim-faced Applejack and a flat-haired Pinkie Pie. The other three ponies he had seen were not in the room, but he could hear their voices outside. Pinkie Pie gasped with joy as she saw Dylan get up out if bed. Her mane inflated immediately and she started talking at almost the same time.

"You're OK! You're... really OK... Uhhh..."

"What the /buck/?" Applejack blurted.

"Oh! My goodness..." Fluttershy looked completely surprised, and her usual blush took effect.

"What, are you all looking at? Is it my giant- Oh... yeah... I don't know shit about that either."

Fluttershy now looked like a beet, Applejack was slack-jawed, and Pinkie Pie was bouncing like a jackhammer,

"Heyweshouldhaveagiantpartywithballoonsandcakeandsomepantsforyoubecauseyou'renakedyousillysillythinganditlooksrealkyfunny!"

Dylan looked like he was about to piss himself laughing. He thought not wrecking another hospital room was a better idea.

"Yeah, I'd love some pants. Who's the top crotch-covering specialist here in... where the fuck am I again?"

Applejack looked at Dylan with a surprised look on her face.

"Ponyville... How the buck are all yer' injuries gone?"

Applejack's eyes were still wide, but she had closed her jaw. Fluttershy was trying to look in the opposite direction, attempting to hide behind a cart with trays of food on it. She continued to blush, and Dylan was beginning to think that she would remain in a perpetual state of embarrassment. Pinkie Pie was, well... Pinkie Pie.

Dylan looked at Fluttershy.

"Is she always this shy? I mean, it's just a pe-"

Pinkie Pie interrupted him before he could finish his sentence.

"You need to eat, you're probably starving!"

"Yeah, actually, I'm so hungry I could eat a hor-" At that, all three ponies looked horrified,

"Uh... h-horkin' big sandwich! Yeah..." Dylan grinned, and he blushed a tiny bit.

Shit. Shit. Shit.. Well, at least I got even, what with the yellow one sounding like she wanted to eat me and all...

"Oh. Phew, I thought you were going to say hors-" Pinkie's mouth was clamped shut by Applejack, who pressed a hoof to her friend's lips.

"Excuse us fer' a minute, sugar."

Applejack opened the room's door and dragged Pinkie Pie outside. Pinkie pie had an annoyed look on her face and she was trying to talk, but all that was audible was a muffled whining. Dylan turned to Fluttershy, but she flew out the door with such speed that it shut closed behind her with a slam.

"Oh. Hey, a sandwich!" Dylan said as he picked up the aforementioned food before taking a bite.

He immediately wished he hadn't.

"Is this fucking straw/?! Are you all trying to kill me all over again?!" Dylan yelled, then sighed as he sat down on the bed.

Worst. Sandwich. Ever.

After some poking and prodding- not literal, of course- Dylan explained his diet, which normally would have included meat, but, understandably, ponies did not hunt or raise animals for meat. They were nervous around him for a while after that, but they brought him a plate of fried potatoes, an egg salad sandwich, and a mug of apple cider.

"Made from the best darn apples in all a' Equestria, right here in Ponyville. Ah' work at Sweet Apple Acres, where they're grown."

Dylan sipped at his glass of homemade apple cider. He looked up at Applejack and said "I don't know about the best apple cider in Equestria, but it's the best apple cider I've ever tasted."

Applejack smiled warmly, then blushed. "Uh, sorry about, uh... kicking you in the tenders... I hope you're... OK down there?"

"I'm not... too bad..." He shrugged awkwardly. "Wasn't planning on making any babies any time soon, and there's not a human in sight, anyways. But if you do that again, I will shove your damn cowboy hat down your throat."

Applejack gulped, then laughed nervously. "I don't doubt it..."

"So, what are you exactly?" Twilight Sparkle asked, a quill and paper floating in the air just in front of her. Both were surrounded by a purplish glow.

"Holy crap! Why are those things fucking floating?" Dylan looked completely shocked, despite speaking to TALKING PONIES.

"Oh, it's just magic." Twilight stated nonchalantly.

"Magic! Remind me not to... burn you all for witchcraft..." those last five words were whispered to himself, but he didn't really mean them.

"Just... don't turn me into a frog or shit like that. Anyways, I'm a human. You know, homo sapien; man; earthling; damn dirty human?"

"You Maniacs! You burned it all down!"

Once again, Dylan looked shocked and confused as pinkie pie said something inexplicable for the third time since he had arrived.

"How does she-"

"Don't ask, darling, that's just Pinkie's way." said Rarity, rolling her eyes.

Twilight coughed, trying to catch Dylan's attention again.

"Anything interesting we should know about humans?"

Dylan looked thoughtful for a moment, running his hands through his beard.

"Uh. We're all pretty much- more or less- evil." Dylan said, shrugging.

All six of them looked like they were going to faint at that. They backed away a few feet.

"Wai-wai-wait, I'm not finished. But a few of us try to be good, but most don't succeed." Dylan looked like he knew that from experience.

"Why are you telling us this?" Rainbow Dash asked, wrinkling an eyebrow.

"Well, I guess I consider myself to be one of the ones who at least tries to be good. If you want proof, ask Fluttershy why she's not cat food."

"Good point..." Twilight noted, writing down a few things on her paper.

"What are some major human accomplishments?" Twilight asked.

"We flew to our moon, for one."

"Flew... to your moon!?" Rainbow Dash said, completely excited.

"That's horse feathers, Dylan, you ain't got no wings!" Applejack commented wryly.

"Spacecraft do."

"Spacecraft?" All six of them said at once.

"Yeah, rockets, wings, the whole shebang. Some other... accomplishments would have to be flying to other planets in said spacecraft."

The ponies' jaws literally fell open as far as they could go now.

"Sweet Celestia..." Rarity intoned.

"That's Awesome! Not as awesome as me, though. I bet I can beat one in a race!" RD boasted.

Dylan simply chuckled, then looked back at Twilight. He now had a grim look written all over his face.

"Our greatest achievement has got to be killing each other over and over again, just because we're different than one another. Totally rational. But we're really good at it, so why stop, right?" Sarcasm was something Dylan practiced occasionally.

Once again, horror on the six ponies faces.

"On a lighter note, we have a very rich amount of world culture. Without a rather important piece of it, I probably wouldn't have gone back for Fluttershy."

"What piece of culture made you want to do that?" Fluttershy quietly asked.

"It's a book, called the bible. Bible literally means /book./ Essentially, all of modern culture and values- well, most anyways -from laws, to ownership, to pretty much not blowing every last one of us to kingdom come, came from this book. Its said to have been written by God himself, through a bunch of different humans. Although some 'experts' care to disagree on whether or not it's true. I for one believe it is." Dylan said confidently.

"God?" Fluttershy spoke up quietly, her voice hushed.

"Yeah. Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omniprescent deity of Christianity and Judaism. Never heard of him? Figured so."

"Well... we have the Princesses," Twilight smiled as she talked, "Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They control the Sun and the Moon, respectively."

"Names kind of gave that away; I'm a quick thinker. Celestial, is related to stars, but in this case, the sun. And Lunar, is related to moons, of course. Don't sound like goddesses. More like caretakers of your planet if you ask me."

Twilight spoke back up, "All right, then... What did you do, back where you came from? Earth, was it?"

"Yeah. I didn't really do much after things got..." Dylan looked like he would burst into tears for a moment, but he composed himself the best that he could. "bad... Before that, I guess I was a writer of sorts."

"Ooh, do you like books?" Twilight said excitedly.

"Yes, actually. I wouldn't be an author if I wasn't. They're kinda like /crack/ to me."

"What's /crack/?" Fluttershy asked, with a naïve and puzzled expression on her face. Of all of them, why did the cutest, most innocent one ask that!?

"Uhh... looks kinda like snow... Moving on..."

"I love snow!" Pinkie Pie giggled, "It's so fluffy, and cool, and-"

"Moving on. I don't know what else to tell you, besides this: can I have some fucking pants, please?! I've been holding my hands over my /crotch/ for half a bloody hour!"

He got his pants. Rarity made a quick apology for not realizing sooner, then proceeded to take him to her shop and get straight to work. After she made the pants, (very, very quickly) which were black, she realized undergarments were needed too, as well as a belt. She made those with spectacular grace and speed as well. A plain white undershirt, a black jacket and a well-made dark grey overcoat completed the outfit. Dylan also explained shoes to Rarity. She wasn't a cobbler, but she did the best that she could. He ended up getting a rather tough but fashionable pair of heavy shoes.

Dylan fished through his new, albeit empty pockets out of habit.

"How much?"

"Free of charge, you did save Fluttershy from that horrid, ghastly manticore." She shivered and made a disgusted look. "It had been harrassing us for weeks! It's strange though, as we rarely get any trouble from the forest's denizens out here in Ponyville."

Dylan looked genuinely surprised and somewhat distressed at not having to pay. "You're giving me all this for free? This looks really damn expensive."

"Yes, dear, of course. You're rather... rugged, and your vocabulary could use a little less... well... harsh words, but you obviously possess a great bit of chivalry."

"Chivalry? Me? You did hear- never mind. Thank you for the clothes, and the compliments... but are you sure you can't accept a generous-"

"No, no, no, no, no! Accept the gift, please. You have a nice day, now! Ta-taaaa! Ugh! And have a shower or something, please, you smell horrible."

Dylan was pushed softly and politely out of the Carousel Boutique.

"That's just my manly odor!" Dylan laughed, then sniffed his armpit. He cringed, then looked sour. Heh, shower it is.

***

Walking through the streets of Ponyville, Dylan quickly noticed the fearful and curious stares from essentially every pony in the town. Stares weren't the only things he was aware of; He heard hushed but excited talking as well. Things such as

'I heard that he eats ponies!' 'He killed a manticore by ripping its eyes right out of its head!' 'That's nothing! He fell from a twelve-story building and survived!' it was mostly uninformed gossip, but a few conversations were not far from the truth.

Some that were more accurate included 'He and Rainbow Dash were fighting, and it looked like he was winning.' 'Oh? He saved Fluttershy, though, he can't be that bad.' 'Huh. I Heard that he's a human... whatever that is.'

Dylan didn't really care much about what the townsponies were saying, instead continuing to take in the town's layout as he walked. As he saw from inside the hospital, the majority of the buildings were houses with thatched roofs. They were quite rustic, despite some (in Dylan's opinion) distasteful pink hearts on some of the buildings.

Color murder for my eyes... Who puts big pink hearts on a house that looks great already? Especially a house with a thatched roof... Dylan thought with a grimace.

Dylan's wanderings soon brought him to the edge of what looked like a field with giant rows of apple trees, a farmhouse, a barn, and various other farm buildings. He stopped at the gate of the fence which separated the orchard from the rest of the town. Next to the gate was a sign that read, Sweet Apple Acres in big red letters. Underneath that was another line of words, written in still-wet white paint: Best cider that a human's ever tasted! Dylan smiled, shaking his head slowly.

"Man, word travels fast in small towns... especially when they're inhabited by quadrupeds..."

Dylan lifted the latch on the gate, then walked through and headed towards the farmhouse in the distance. When he was about halfway to the farmhouse, he noticed a red work pony with half of a golden apple on his rear thigh, who was pulling a cart with several buckets of ruby red apples stacked in the back.
As Dylan walked up to the stallion he assumed was Big Macintosh, he was thinking of away to remedy his empty pockets. It didn't seem like there was much of a call for creative writing in Ponyville, so working at the apple orchard seemed like a good enough idea.

"Good afternoon. How's the work goin'?" Dylan asked, eyeing the heavy-laden cart with admiration.

Big Macintosh's ears perked up, then he turned his head to look at Dylan. He smiled sincerely, "Oh, hello there. You must be the new po- excuse me - human in town."

"Well, there aren't many of us around." Dylan's lips curled back in a smile of his own "It's good to talk to another male for once today, I was gettin' all 'hormoned out' with all the females in town."

Big Mac chuckled, continuing to pull the cart with surprising ease.

"Eeyup, I know how that feels. It's good to see fresh faces in Ponyville; we don't get many visitors."

"Say, Mac- Can I call ya' Mac?"

"I Don't see rightly why not."

Big Mac's voice was slow, deep and controlled, which contrasted with Dylan's somewhat faster pacing and how he skipped the endings of some words.

"Funny, my last name is MacLauchlan. Guess we're the two Macs." Dylan smiled back. "First name's Dylan, though."

"Nice to make an acquaintance with you, Dylan."

Big Mac's genuinely warm personality was one of the many reasons why he was so well liked.
Dylan's experiences had generally taught him that people like Big Mac were rare and far in between. It seemed as if almost everyone he met in Ponyville was extremely kind to one another. In Dylan's own thoughts, There are no jerks at all in this town...

Dylan and Mac walked together for a few minutes, chatting about their homes, their jobs, and whatever else seemed interesting. Inevitably, girlfriends and fillyfriends came up, Dylan being the first to speak up.

"Well, I used to like this girl, we were friends and all, but she never really got as serious as I did. She sort of pretended to like me romantically, and, long story short, she broke my heart. Used me like a damn fool." Dylan looked like he was going to cry.

Moisture was welling up in his eyes, making them shine brightly in the sunlight. "I woulda taken a bullet for her, and she just thought I had some stupid fucking elementary school crush on her. She broke it off, but tried to keep me as a friend. I didn't like it; I didn't like the pain of being around her. So I pretty much told her that I was done with her making me miserable. I loved her, she didn't love me."

Mac looked sad as well, his typical smile now a slight frown. His eyes seemed to soften, and he looked down at the ground.

That particular example of female callousness had held a grip on Dylan's heart for years, and his anger, sadness and pain showed in his voice. Big Mac replied to Dylan's story with genuine care in his voice.

"I'm... sorry to hear about that. Maybe you'll find somepony new someday?"

Dylan sighed as stress twisted a knot of tension inside him.

"Tried. It didn't work. Sure, I met people, but it was... never the same. I'm just not sure I can take any more disappointment."
Mac seemed to mull that over for a minute as the two walked in silence.

"Eeyup," he finally said, nodding slowly, "That's tough."

"Damn straight."

Dylan was crossing his arms over his chest, his posture slouched over, as if he was literally weighed down by his pain.

"Well, uh..." Big Mac suddenly got very shy as he realized what was expected from him next.

"Hey, come on... you got a... uh... special mare in your life?"

Mac's cheeks flared deep red, somehow able to be seen even with his red coat.

"Eeyup... She's nice..."

Dylan looked expectant for a moment, then confused. "Come on, give me more. Is she good-looking? Smart? Funny? Are you shy, Mr. Big and tough ol' Macintosh? Tell me, come on... you know can trust me."

"Uh... Well- Oh look! We're at the storage barn. I've gotta unload these here apples. Yeah... that's it..."

Mac seemed to disappear in a cloud of dust, running into the barn as quickly as if his life depended on it. Dylan laughed heartily, holding a hand up to his face and shaking his head. "Knew it. Big softie."

AUTHOR'S NOTE
Methinks the dream sequence was awesome. Good morning, afternoon, evening, night or whatever time it is where you are. Chill times, Bronies and Pegasisters. Chuckles out.