Azure Haze laughed as the bodyguard got his ass knocked through the wall above him, the splinters raining down doing nothing to quell his mirth. Their trump card, a minotaur they hired on the border to the Badlands, huffed in satisfaction. Azure thought he heard him say his name was Stone Striker earlier, but he didn't really care about who he was, only what he could do, and by the gods, he could do a lot judging from the hole in the wall.

As the brute walked through the door to Azure's left he got a good look at his compatriots, Boulder and Havoc Wind laid motionless in the pool of blood that had coalesced from both their cooling bodies. Azure felt a bit sad over their demise, but they knew what they were getting into and were still willing to sacrifice themselves for the Lunar Queen. Boulder had been the most devout out the trio, always praying at nightfall for hours on end, while he and Havoc only followed the doctrine laid down after the Queen's fall, the secrecy and subterfuge a part of their lives since they could walk.

Azure heard some talking after the civilian's screaming faded in the next car over, the royal students bodyguard seemingly trying to talk down the bull, only to be followed by more screaming and the shattering of yet more wood. Seems it was going about as well as he expected to.

"That's for my hand, asshole," Azure grabbed the hilt of the sword embedded into said hand and the wall behind him. The creation of the hole had loosened the blade's position, any movement he made shook it just a bit looser. Azure gritted his teeth and ripped the sword out, his vision grew dark as he tried to fight off his own brain's defenses. Azure took a few uneasy breaths as he tried to stand, his head still dizzy after getting hit by the metal tray the bodyguard. He spat a glob of blood and mucus from his mouth and cleared out his nose, his mouth bright red at this point, and begun to stagger down the damaged hall until he saw a head pop out of the door the bodyguard came from, lavender hair obscuring their face.

"Oh gods, Spike, stay away from the doors, and keep your eyes closed!" The target spoke shakily to her companion.

A pale face came into view as she scanned her eyes over the carnage before her and eventually locked her purple eyes on the wounded archer, her pupils shrank before she retreated back into the cabin, slamming the sliding door shut. Azure smiled sadistically at her fear, amused that even in his bloodied state he could still be intimidating. He had hoped for an easy kill, and if not for the bodyguard it would've been, but like rookies, they overestimated themselves and underestimated the target, just like they had been taught not too.

Though, looking at the slaughter before him, their parents would have likely been lenient when facing such an opponent.

'All that training and this is what it led up to. Fucking great.' Azure groaned in general annoyance at his situation, down in a hand and most of his back-up. Turing his attention back to the woman cowering behind an iced window and a wooden door.

"Come out bitch, no need to drag this out any longer!" Azure yelled, picking up one his fallen brother's knives. "I'd say I'll make it quick, but I'm not in a lying mood!"

Azure grabbed the doors handle with his sliced hand, hissing as he did and opened it to blazing purple light.

"Ah, right." Azure clicked his tongue. "Mage." An invisible force struck him in his chest, sending him flying into the corpse of his bulky brother.

The wind knocked out of him, Azure rolled off the still warming body, a laugh only coming out as a wheeze.

"Ahhhh fuck!" He half groaned, half laughed. "That's a broken rib!" He opened his unsteady eyes to the shaking point of a dagger as black as night.

"D-don't move!"

"Oh, oh, a stick up now! Damn, how the turn tables!"

"Wh- Wha-I-uh" Twilight faltered, her mind trying it's best to adapt in the hectic situation she found herself in. "Wh-Who sent you?! Who, uh, who hired you to attack us!?" Twilight glanced down the hall to see the mess she had only heard, a hole punched into the end of the hall, the light from the dining car on the other side shining beyond the splintered wood. "What happened to Tyrian?"

"Oh, him? Probably getting his ass handed to him by the biggest minotaur this side of Equestria."

~ ~ ~

Tyrian was currently getting his ass handed to him by a massive minotaur.

He had managed to get a few good blows in, but the bull seemingly shrugged off anything he managed to do to it. Tyrian still had his dagger, but that was a toothpick to Stone. Tyrian flexed, the pain from his chest when he breathed being drowned out by the adrenalin coursing through his system.

"Hey, bud, could you die for me? I swear I'll put in a good word for you to the Reaper, we're good friends!" Tyrian ducked a swing, the log of an arm breezing past his head by mere inches. "Well, friends might be stretching things, so let's go with co-workers." Tyrian spun the blade in his hand, bringing it in parallel with his arm. "Come on, I'll show you the office." He said with a grin.

Sidestepping a straight, Tyrian glided the dagger along the minotaur's arm, trailing red down as he went. A quick stab under the arm drew a howl from the horned mercenary as well as a hook into Tyrian's side, a dull crack resonating through his body as the air escaped him. Tyrian retaliated with a punch of his own directly into the snout of the attacker, the hook harmlessly bouncing off the surprisingly squishy nose. The bull reached around the staggered man and grabbed his throat, lifting him into the air. Tyrian brought his blade down on the minotaurs arm, cutting into bone. The minotaur threw him through an open doorway, past cowering train passengers hiding in the nooks and crannies of the train car to avoid the fight.

Tyrian rolled onto the rattling wood of an exposed shipping car, the sudden sound of the strong winds shaking him as the train continued its path past the plains as it neared the mountain separating the county of both the Ponyville township and the land around Canterlot in half. Tyrian recovered at the end of the roll, painfully righting himself into a prone battle stance, raising his head to the blur of the bloodthirsty bull barreling towards him. A quick scan of his surroundings showed him his options, a pulley to his left and a loose and broken and jagged wooden board in front of him, just barely hanging on to the last rusted nail.

The bull quickly gaining, Tyrian stood and brought his foot down on the board, the shattered point of the wood jutting up at gut height to the minotaur. Recognizing the sudden risk, the bloody and exhausted bovine came to a screeching halt as his hooves tried to gain leverage to stop his immense momentum. Tyrian took this opportunity to use what was left of his stamina to run to his left, jumping onto the pulley with outstretched hands, the mechanism spinning around in a three-sixty.

Tyrian swung his body forward as he came around to the bull's back, it's body still reacting to the jagged wood that risked impalement. With all the force he could muster, Tyrian kicked the bull into the board, who was just staggered enough to lose his footing and fall forward, his heavy frame doing most of the work as the wood pushed through his tough flesh. Stone Striker screamed in agony as the wood eviscerated his organs, the ruined wood almost splintering under his immense weight. Blood and viscera fell from the writhing mercenary as it tried to pull itself off the spike, his efforts only allowing more of his internals to spill out.

Tyrian let himself drop from the pulley with a pained grunt, the sharp pain from his breathing not fading as he hoped it would. His dagger still in hand somehow, Tyrian cockily sauntered into the bull's blurry vision, the sight of him only made the dying mercenary grunt tiredly. Tyrian brought this dagger up to his adversary's throat, a smile that radiated malice grew on his bruised face. Heaving out his diminishing breath, Stone Striker looked into the eyes of his killer, searching for any mercy.

Instead, he only found amusement, the glint in his eyes reminiscent of a child who finally got the toy they wanted. Sick at the sight, he brought his head back down, feeling the wet blade push even harder against his throat.

"Aw, what's wrong big guy? Tired?" Tyrian cooed. Bringing the point to his chin, Tyrian raised the exhausted and sickly pale head, earning a pained sigh from it. Fluttering his increasingly tired eyes open, he forced out a few words.

"Who...are you?" He whispered, his lungs trying to claw the air escaping his lips back in a futile attempt to keep his body functioning.

"Who am I?" Tyrian chuckled a bit at the question, thinking it was a bit late for introductions. "That's a long question, friend, so here's the short version." Tyrian grew closer, close enough to feel the hot breath from Stone's dying lungs on his neck.

"My name's Tyrian Shadegale, mercenary, assassin, killer, and all-around Fixer. Fixer of problems such as little shits like you and the ménage à trois back there. Speaking of which-" Tyrian pushed the blade into the bull's neck, but not before a black fist wrapped itself around his neck, what strength remained in it dedicated to choking the life out of him, the knife in their jugular gone ignored.

"Are you f-HUCK-ing kidding me?!" Tyrian choked out, bringing his hands to try and pry the calloused fingers apart to no avail.

The shuddering breaths of Stone Striker from a minute ago were replaced by a low, deep, and gurgling growl as he focused solely on ending the upstart in front of him. His tunnel vision obscured the bloody hands retreating from his own and to the pouches on his target's leatherbound chest. Tyrian felt around his emergency pouch for the one item he had he knew could put the rabid bull down. He felt his hand graze a small metal capsule, grasping it in his weakening grip and pressing the tiny button on its tip, the metal surrounding it growing hot to the touch. Tyrian brought his hand out from his pocket and jammed his fist into the heaving maw of the minotaur, depositing the capsule and ripping his hand out before the confused bull could clamp down on his forearm.

His rage lost in the shock of the unconventional tactic and more focused on the growing heat in his throat, which had quickly gone from uncomfortable to searing in a matter of milliseconds. He released his death grip and began attempting to make himself throw up, only to remember half of his stomach had been filled with jagged wood. Steam and smoke began to billow out of his nostrils and gagging mouth as the melting metal burned a hole into his flesh in his convulsing gullet.

Tyrian pushed himself backward, pulling himself further away from the panicking minotaur in anticipation of the coming fireworks.

With a terrified whimper, Stone Striker's head and the upper parts of his torso exploded in a shower of gore and sparks as the raw magic from the explosive escaped its container in an extremely violent manner. The profusely bleeding corpse of Stone Striker fell forward, whatever resistance it had was gone as it collapsed onto the wood with a wet thud. Blood drained down through the cracks of the wood, leaving a trail of blood behind the train as it sped ever closer to a tunnel carved through a mountain.

Tyrian coughed the discomfort in his throat away, which only added to the soreness of his chest. Now that he had a few seconds to himself, he pressed down on where he had been struck minutes earlier, only to pull away with a hiss as extra pain shot through his chest. A broken rib, maybe two, and along with the still bleeding stab wound in his arm, Tyrian had a lot of problems. He looked down on the eviscerated corpse at his feet, satisfied with his victory. It had been a bit hairy there for a couple of seconds, but Tyrian had been in far worse situations, the dismantling of the Manehattan Underground being one of the worst, some of the bloodiest things he's had to do happened only a week ago. If not for his experience and sword, he likely would have died many times over.

'Speaking of which, where is Oathkee-'

"Oh, shi- TWILIGHT!" Tyrian broke into a dead sprint, hopping over the still cooling corpse of a now forgotten enemy.

~ ~ ~

"So, uh, you just going to stand there with a knife in my face or you gonna kill me?" Azure coughed.

"Why are you so calm?! HOW are you so calm?!." Twilight yelled. Azure shrugged and nodded to the broken bodies around him.

"This was a suicide mission anyway, but I don't think any of us expected it to go south so quickly. When death is certain, it's best to forget it exists at all. At least, that's what my 'family' taught me." Azure tried to make air quotes but winced in pain as he flexed his hand, the bones in his mangled palm the only thing keeping it in place.

"You willingly chose to go on a suicide mission? Why are you doing this?!" Twilight yelled, jabbing the dagger even closer to his nose, which only brought a smile to his face.

"'Cause if I don't, the new god of this fetid world will skin me alive. Thankfully that's after she's done with all of you sun-slaves." Azure flexed his good hand and focused his gaze on her hands.

"Twilight? Can I open my eyes now?" Spike called from the corner of the cabin behind Twilight.

"Keep them closed, Spike! Open them only when I tell you too!" The second Twilight turned her back to the dragon, Azure's dry hand shot up and wrapped its self around Twilight's wrist. She screamed in fear, trying to pull away from the man's grip fruitlessly as he tried desperately to pry the dagger from her hands. Twilight took a step backward, her foot catching the head of the body of Havoc Wind and fell over him, the shock causing her to lose her grip on the dagger. Twilight's head struck the sliding door, sending her vision into a blurry mess.

Twilight groaned, her head throbbing along with her adrenalin fueled heart, and began scrambling for the dropped dagger only for her hand to be crushed by a boot heel. A scream tore its way past her throat once again and she was sure she had a broken finger. She looked up to her attacker, her disheveled hair obscuring her vision slightly. Azure Haze stood above her, black and gold dagger in hand with a sick smile in his mug.

"Nice try, hun, but you're way outta your league." He twirled the dagger in his fingers, his eyes now focused squarely on her. "Keep your eyes open, I like to watch people fade." His red smile paralyzed Twilight, the predator's maw now ready to snap shut on her neck.

A purple blur shot over her head, latching itself onto the Azure's face, the dagger flying through the air harmlessly as Azure panicked and thrashed about.

"GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER!" Spike yelled as he clawed the attacker with claws made to cut through solid stone, each swipe cutting deep, gouging bone and severing muscle. Azure tried to pry the furious baby dragon from his profusely bleeding head, only for the claws to dig into his skull in resistance. With a deep inhale, the dragon blew emerald flames into the assassin's face, scorching his flesh and turning hair into smoke. Screams filled the air, which quickly grew hoarse and strained as Azure Haze inhaled the searing fire.

Lots of screaming and angry yelling met Tyrian's swollen ears as he finally entered the residence car, the ache and exhaustion from the beating he took slowly fading in. The sight of the green flaming skull of the archer he had fought earlier taking him by surprise, the dragon clinging to said head looked frenzied, desperate, but mostly scared. His grip on the liquidating flesh faltered and he fell, straight into a stray pool of blood, the purple and green scales being overtaken by a sticky red layer. Tyrian silently thanked the baby dragon for making his job that much easier and focused on his green target.

Tyrian charged the screaming man, his shoulder colliding with Azure's bloody chest. Both men fell to the ground, but only one had the cognizance to reach for a weapon. Tyrian's hand found a familiar grip of a dagger, his fingers wrapping around it with an almost tailored fit. Tyrian, sick of the screaming and burning, shoved the point of the pitch black blade into Azure's temple, the flesh and bone parting as the anguished yells died out immediately. Azure's gaping mouth went slack and his scorched skin cracked and popped as the flames licked the air above his smoldering skull.

Tyrian ripped the blade out and pulled away as fast as he could, expecting his fingerless gloves to be engulfed by the same flames, but to his confusion, he found none. His hand was a cool as the blood seeping into the carpet beneath him, an impossible scenario in his mind until he looked back to the abnormally colored flames. Tyrian cautiously swiped his hand through the fire, feeling nothing but the wind through his fingertips.

'Strange fire, strange dragon. Guess that makes sense.' Tyrian went in for another swipe but was stopped by the pain in his chest. It had been lingering on the fringes of his mind, but now it roared to life, taking his breath away in an instant, the veritable ocean of adrenalin he had relied on dissipating. He pushed himself off the smoldering body, the flames dying as the flesh they had been feeding on turned black and charred. Tyrian put his back to the wooden wall separating his cabin and the one next to them and propped himself up. Sniffing the smokey air, the smell of burnt flesh reminiscent of bacon and ham cooking on an open fire being both alluring and sicking at the same time. He looked to his left, past his blood-stained coat collar and saw Twilight, the baby dragon in her arms, his claws and face covered in red.

They were crying, and Tyrian didn't know why.

Author's Note

I listened to an artist called Zack Hemsey while writing this. He creates epics, trailer music, rap ballads, etc. He's really good and I suggest listening to a few of his songs.

My favorite so far is "I'll Find A Way"