Dark Iron Kingdom

I rocked back and forth as the train continued on this little ride to a place I had no desire going to. Eventually my mind drifted off for quite the unknown amount of time as I sat alone in one of the train cars. But sooner or later I noticed something small yet odd. My right eye, still blind from Death using it for his own vision, seemed to be staring intently at my right held up hoof.

"Is something the matter, Death?" I said as he continued to stare at my right hoof. But after a few seconds my right eye blinked a few times as if somepony was snapping back to reality.

"Hmm? Oh yes...I...hmm...how does one put into words such things? Is this what it truly feels like to be alive?" he replied in a distant sort of voice.

An odd question to say the least and at first I was a bit taken aback by his statement. We had admittedly been under quite the amount of stress as of late but questioning the mental state of somepony or somebeing such as him normally would be unthinkable. However, after a second or so my intrigue eventually won out over my sense of worry when I replied with, "What do you mean alive?"

My body took a deep breath and then it took another one in response before Death said in that same distant voice, "That...that right there. I...you...are breathing. I...I can also feel your heartbeat. Even your limited vision compared to mine is strange and yet...so very interesting."

I raised my left eyebrow in reply before I stated, "Death, you have controlled my body many times in the past. Most of them even involved a certain...interesting activity. I figured such things would be old hat for you by now if you will."

Death scrunched my face at this before my head shook. "No...it is not the same. It would be as if you were holding your hooves over your ears and then pulled them away. Like a dullness of sensation that has been lifted. I can feel everything and I...am actually...a little envious," Death said and then sighed before adding, "But before you start yes yes I know my duties and I know my responsibilities and I will not abandon them. But I suppose...I suppose it is just nice for once to feel so...alive."

I did not know what to say to such statements. I mean what do you tell a near eternal being to help ease their apparent existential crisis. In turn with little other options at hoof I just wrapped my forelegs around myself as at least some small measure of comfort.

But after a few minutes of this my body moved my forelegs back to their original state before my right forehoof wiped a tear from my right eye. "I apologize for my behavior, Blood Moon. I am the spirit of Death. I should be reaping the souls of the worthy and unworthy not pouting like some pathetic creature," Death said in a sorrowful tone.

I frowned at this for I too have experienced such hardship. For when you wear the burden of responsibility and duty sometimes you begin to dream about ways to ease such weight even if such methods are absurd or paradoxical in Death's case. As such I wanted to try to discover at least some way to cheer him up. And it was at this point a mischievous grin soon crawled up my face.

"Death, you stated you can feel everything I feel right now, but to a greater degree than before, correct?" I inquired still wearing my little mischievous grin.

"Yes, that is indeed correct. What do you have in mind?" Death replied clearly puzzled.

"Well being as we have around three more hours until we reach the gate of Tartarus I say we put that extra 'feeling' to good use hmm?" I said.

Needless to say it did not take long for Death to reply with, "What are you...oh Oh ooooooh..." before I felt the other side of my mouth crawled up and turn my mischievous grin into a mischievous smile.

And so began our task at attempting to find a certain purple alicorn princess and her own tag-along spirit. But to my great surprise it actually took the better part of fifteen minutes to locate them. To clarify, this train only had six train cars and the engine itself. Now one would assume the ease of finding somepony in here would be trivial especially Twilight who I thought would be buried in a book somewhere or planning our next moves. But no we only managed to discover where they were after hearing a strange muffled giggling.

"Ooooo that was delicious!" I heard Life's voice behind a particular closed door.

This was then followed by Twilight stating, "Yeah that was gooooood. I wonder how this one tastes," before a dual "Mmmmm" emanated from the same door.

But after i rolled my left eye I pushed open the door to the train kitchen and walked in. It was then Death and I discovered the source of their pleasing experiences. For Twilight and Life had been raiding the dessert cart it seemed. Needless to say it looked quite amusing watching Twilight spin around to stare at us fork still in her mouth. Though given the looks from both of her eyes I was not certain whether Twilight or Life appeared more guilty.

A few seconds of silence then followed before Twilight held up the plate of the most recently pilfered dessert I assumed and said "Cake?"

I just half narrowed my left eye in reply and I could feel Death do the same for my right. "I see you too Twilight had discovered that your little tag-along spirit can feel your body's sensations to a greater degree. Though I find it amusing you went straight for the desserts heh heh heh," I said before chuckling.

Twilight in return just gave me one of the grandest winning smiles she probably could summon before stabbing another bite of cake into her mouth. Now normally if I had enough time I may have been a tad more subtle with my plans, to gauge the water if you will. But given the fact that the window of opportunity we possessed was rapidly closing I in turn decided to just cut to the chase.

"Anyway in reference to the previously mentioned 'increased sensations' I was wondering if the two of you would like to engage in a different sort of...activity," I said giving a winning smile of my own.

This in turn was when things got a tad interesting if you will. For while I knew that Twilight had quite the...healthy...sex drive given she was Life's advocate. What I did not know however was what state said "drive" was in until what happened next.

Needless to say Twilight did not even hesitate in placing her plate down before I felt a surge of energy surround me. Then upon getting my bearings again I realized she had teleported us into one of the adjacent train car rooms. A room that seemed to not only be pitch black from the windows being covered, but also because all the lights had been extinguished. This darkness however was soon contrasted by a pair of glowing slitted eyes, one purple, and the other green. Both of which were staring at Death and myself in somewhat of a predatory gaze.

"Umm Twilight...what is going on?" I gulped.

"It took this long for you boys to come to the 'extra sensation' discovery, really?" Twilight cooed in reply.

Then not a second later Life in a similar tone stated, "We've been booooiling waiting for you two ever since I entered Twilight's body. And here I was thinking this would've been the one of the first things you two would've thought of. But no matter...you're all ours now..."

A cold shiver raced down my spine and I could even feel Death's spirit shutter inside me before he croaked out in my mind, 'Ummm...Blood Moon I thought we were the pursuer in this pursuer/pursued dynamic. At least this time anyway.'

I gulped heavily in a bizarre mixture of fear and excitement as I said back, 'Well dear friend it appears the proverbial tables have been turned upon us. I wholly suggest we roll with it if you will.'

However this was all I could process before the previously mentioned purple and green slitted eyes were on us. And by that I mean I was soon pinned on my back before I felt Twilight gently nibble at the base of my neck. But right before Twilight was about to sink her fangs in a pool of fear welled up in my stomach.

"Twilight wait!" I almost shouted out before my left eye darted around the room looking for any source of danger. Then not a second later my head and chest flared with pain. Even Death seemed to be heavily affected by this for I heard his voice howl in my mind in some sort of shared agony.

Then not even a second later Twilight who had been on top of me rolled off and writhed around on the ground like I did before I choked out, "Death...what...in...Tartarus...is...happening," in a desperate attempt to keep on breathing.

My response from Death however was nothing but three words, "Something...breaking...through," before I heard one of the loudest distant roars I have ever experienced in my entire life.

The pain in turn stopped almost instantly after said roaring but it still took a few moments to gather myself. Then in a horribly uncoordinated attempt I more or less crawled over the train car room window and slammed it open. It was then I was greeted to the sight of something truly humongous swimming in and out of the earth as if the ground itself was made out of water.

Needless to say that pool of fear from before turned into a variable ocean as my left eye threaten to pop out of my head from opening so wide. "BY THE STARS AND FUCKING MOON WHAT IN TARTARUS IS THAT?!" I shouted still half outside the window.

However again I only received a minimal amount of words from Death as he stated, "A leviathan..broke...through..."

Now I did not possess an extensive knowledge about such a creature. Leviathans are more or less creatures of legend and for what little I could remember I believe they were some sort of sea monster. However given the fact this creature was also able to bore through the ground as if it were water only added to my abundant ignorance on such a beast. But regardless of that one thing I truly did know was that if we did not do something and soon we would likely end up as that leviathan's next meal.

Needless to say I dragged Twilight to her hooves and we begin to hobble to front of the train. This of course proved to be a difficult task as everypony in said train seem to be in various states of panic. Now at any other time I probably would have done something to ease that but we unfortunately did not have time for such things as we continued on our urgent task.

Eventually with no small amount of luck we managed to somewhat literally bump into my two children Growth and Decay and Growth's bestfriend Blaze Runner along the way. And being they were the only ones free at the moment we had them aid us by almost dragging our barely functioning bodies to the train engine. This however ended in a rather unpleasant set of circumstances.

"What do you mean you are already going at full steam?!" I shouted over the roar of the train engine.

"I told ya! I'm givin' her all she's got!" shouted back the train engineer. Truth be told his name is "Flash Runner" and he is the father of my daughter's bestfriend Blaze Runner. He is also the grandson of an old friend named Break Runner whose family turned out be our royal "go to"s for much of our transportation needs. This was mainly in part in that every single one of them in their family line are a bunch of "need for speed" lunatics. A valuable asset given we somehow managed to find ourselves running for our lives on a regular basis. And today it appeared was certainly no exception.

"Well that is not good enough! For if I am correct in what is currently chasing us we are all going to consumed alive!" I shouted again with ever increasing desperation.

"I'm sorry but we are really outta options at the moment...unless...oh Celestia I hope I don't gotta use that thing," he yelled back over his shoulder while holding whatever lever I imagined controlled the train's speed.

However before I was able to make a reply something truly big rammed itself into the side of the train. And while most of us were able to keep our hoofing Flash Runner had not. For nearly without warning he was launched right out of his train engineer's chair. He then slammed hard into the left wall of the train engine and collapsed to the floor motionless.

"DAD!" I heard Blaze Runner shout next to me before she ran over to her father's side. And while I could tell by the relieved look on her face that he was still living, the mask of deep worry that soon overtook her only served to prove my assumptions. He was out cold if you will.

In turn this made our situation all the worse. For not only were we getting actively attacked by a creature of legend, but our train was currently not being controlled by anypony. Panic quickly spread over me when I realized this as I began to scramble to think of any possible solutions. But in the end there seemed to only be one at the current moment.

"Blaze Runner...can you drive this train?" I yelled over the roar of the train engine.

In quick response she looked at me like I had two additional heads growing out of my neck before she blurted out, "What?! No! I'm just a junior engineer! My dad only just started teaching me how to really run this thing last year! It usually takes a few years at least to even get the feeling of how to work this thing!"

"Well if you had not noticed we do not have much of a choice. Right now no one but you and your father have any knowledge of trains and he is currently unconscious," I said trying to hide my fear before adding a simple, "please."

Needless to say it did not take a detective to see the overwhelming doubt in her eyes, but she quickly jumped into the engineer's seat regardless. She then seemed to cycle through the different various levers and the such before settling on what I believed to be the throttle and the brake levers. Then with with an extremely shaky voice she yelled out, "Somepony start shoveling wood into the boiler's firebox! The fire door pedal is right in front of it!", then in odd change of tone she snarled out mostly to herself, "You're not getting us that easy you fucking monster! Eat my smoke clouds!"

Now any other time I probably would have scolded her on her language but this was surely not it. Regardless though me and Twilight were still too weakened to do anything so my two children took up the mantle. They each grabbed a shovel by the wood pile behind us and started shoveling wood into what I assumed was the firebox of the boiler. Blaze Runner on the other hoof franticly shifted through various knobs and levers all while glancing back and forth at different gauges.

Another hard hit soon shook the train again nearly tossing a few of us out of the train engine. What followed however was a long stream of obscenities before Blaze Runner yelled out, "Celestia damnit! My dad was right! We're going nearly as fast as this scrap heap will take us!"

I narrowed my eyes as I thought about exactly what she had stated. And in my quick thinking I picked out an important word in all that..."Nearly". I in turn bit my lip and shouted, "What do you mean 'Nearly'?" Though I probably knew I was not going to like the answer.

A few seconds later Blaze Runner shouted back "There's only one way to get this rig to go faster and still keep all the train cars connected. But...but my dad said it was only to be used in extreme emergencies! And I mean an absolute last ditch effort!

Not missing a beat I blurted back, "I think getting devoured by a giant monster of legend fits that requirement!"

In response Blaze runner sat unmoving for a few seconds before darting out of her seat nearly toppling over my two children shoveling wood. She then violently smashed the small box on the wall right above her unconscious father. Afterwards she grabbed the small cylinder inside it and began to savagely smash the cylinder on the floor.

An angry red glow began emanating from the cylinder itself as a result before Blaze Runner shook it a few times and tossed it right into firebox of the train's boiler. And for lack of a better description the very mood of the train engine itself rapidly changed. It was as if it went from frantic mechanical clockwork to boiling chaotic rage. This was then soon followed by a red glow flaring from the firedoor of the boiler before the train lurched forward even faster.

So fast that all of us were violently thrown into the wood pile behind us. But thankfully with no small amount of luck I managed to catch Flash Runner along the way before we all collided into the chopped wood. Then in nearly blind panic after I got my bearings I shouted, "Blaze Runner! What in the damned pits of Tartarus did you throw into the Train's firebox?!"

The only words she managed to croak out in reply was, "An unstable fire crystal," before my heart sunk right into the bottom of my hooves. To elaborate on the gravity of the situation fire crystals in their stable form are quite useful. You can use them for heating, cooking, and various other fire related applications. However in their unstable form they, well to put it simply, expel most of their energy rapidly in the most violent ways possible. In other words this can all be summed up when I screeched out, "By the stars and fucking moon! We just turned this train engine INTO A TICKING TIMEBOMB!"

This was honestly a prime example of out of the pan and into the fire if you will. On one hoof we had a giant ravenous monster desiring to make a meal out of us. And on the other hoof we are about to be turned into a raging fireball. Needless to say my sheer panic and terror truly crescendoed at this point, well, at least until a wicked idea had crept into my head. A wicked idea that was actually quite insane to be honest, but I rarely let little things like sanity and survival instincts get in the way of such. So with little delay I said in my mind, 'Death, I am going to require your aid and you are going to have to trust me on this'.

Death almost made my body gulp in response before he replied with,'I am not certain I enjoy that tone in your voice. For I have heard it before. However, as we currently have limited options, what do you have in mind?'

I scrambled through my thoughts afterwards before blurting out my frenzied plan in my mind. Death did not seem to enjoy it all that much and to be fair neither did I. But yet again we had truly limited options so horrible plan it was. In turn I first started by tracking the leviathan's movement through the ground. This resulted in finding a certain pattern where it would leap out and burrow deep into the ground before it would lunge and snap at us.

As such I waited for the right time as I had only a small window of opportunity. Then just as the creature leapt up and burrowed into the ground I had Death pull out his thin black tendrils from my back. Next I had him wait like a coiled spring for the very correct moment. Then the creature, as if on cue, jumped out of the ground and lunged at us opening its mouth to snap at us yet again.

In response Death and I reacted to this in near unison. I stomped on the firebox floor pedal right before Death lunged his black tendrils forward and yanked the unstable fire crystal out. Then while both of us endured some of the most unfathomable pain in existence we threw that blasted little crystal right into the snapping maw of the leviathan.

Now, to be honest, I was not sure what was going through that monster's mind at the time as it snapped down. But what I could assume shortly afterwards was that it must have experienced some heavy regret. Because the act of closing its mouth seemed to have crushed the unstable fire crystal thus causing it to detonate. A gruesome shower of flesh and bone quickly followed what sounded like a world shattering boom as the crystal exploded.

Afterwards what was left of said leviathan had ground to screeching halt as we left it in the proverbial dust. But just when I thought the worst was behind us a gigantic glob of leviathan meat blasted straight from the sky. It then proceeded to fire right through the train engine taking yours truly for quite the unwanted ride. This of course resulted in me getting flung from the train engine and plowing through a great deal of trees before I cracked my head on something along the way. The only thing I remembered after that was vaguely watching the train speed away before darkness took me.