//------------------------------//
// Chapter Interlude: Record I 
// Story: Project Haven: The snow 
// by Jakomi of the Rose 
//------------------------------//

Luminous didn’t really know how long it’s been since she started listening to the reports. An hour? Maybe two? All she knew was that it seemed to have an endless list of logs and the name of the other gauntlet’s owner, which seemed to be Temper, was all that she had learned. She poured herself a steaming mug of coffee and sat down once again. She had learned that it scrolled down but with her hooves it was a bit tedious. But once she figured it out it made her grin.
She sipped her coffee and looked through the logs. One named “Before Relocation” made her stop the mug half tilt. It was not an audio but it had a “vid” at the end. Shrugging she pushed it and sipped the coffee. A warm and bitter feeling washed down her throat and made her sigh in content… until the screen widened and almost made her choke.
On the screen she could see a bipedal dragon that seemed to be checking his gauntlet and then looking at her. He nodded and closed the gauntlet down, but the screen still focused on him. She noticed that his face looked like a black iguana with what looked like patches of armor similar to hers only grey clothing underneath. The quality was bad but she did see that he had a horn on his nose. He had slim built and no wings. What she had seen of dragons she noticed lack of wings. A subspecies maybe?
He looked off and another one of the dragons entered; it wore a tight suit and had black skin and traces of iguana… wait. She looked closer on the newly arrived dragon and… it looked identical to the former. All down to the horn on its nose. The one with the glove seemed to smile at the arrival.
“Axione! Welcome! How are you?” The one she had guessed was Axinite greeted happily.
His voice was the same as the recording but now she could hear that his was just a pitch higher than bass. The other shook his claw and stood at attention.
“Good. Your equipment is ready for the transfer.” Axione replied, his voice the same as Axinite but more monotone.
“Good. All ready for the ice cube.” He sighed. “Where is Axton and Axtre?” He asked while typing on his gauntlet. It flared up with something she didn’t see clearly but it disappeared after a few seconds.

“Two is still working on his repairs. Three should be done at any moment.” Axione responded, his claws behind his back.
Luminous didn’t know what to make of this. This was a dragon who looked exactly like the other but the names made less sense. What she figured was that they were copies; Axion, Axton and Axtre was a synonym for one, two and three… but why?
The one by the wall nodded and tapped his gauntlet again, the light beeping that sounded made her ear twitch but when the screen faded away he turned towards the walls… screen and tapped a few buttons.
“I’m glad things are going as planned before I leave. But still; I’m not a miner. I’m a techie.” He complained while he tapped more buttons then left it alone.
The other Axinite still stood. Idly waiting for… whatever. This was noticed as Axinite glanced back at him and just… stared at each other. Luminous sipped her coffee and blanched when it had grown cold.
“Is something wrong?” Axinite asked while she walked to warm her cup.
Axion seemed to look at the floor for a brief moment. Then he met the other’s gaze and it seemed, for the first time since he arrived, that he showed a hint of emotion.
“I overheard Iona and Chris speaking about something. What was the Half-Millennium War?”
It was quiet. Quiet enough for Luminous to suspect that the audio was broken. After a long silence Axinite sighed and leaned to the wall and beckoned Axion to his side. He complied.
“How should I tell this?” Axinite asked himself more so than Axion. “Long time ago, we were normal dragons. Our king, Kristal, absorbed a crystal and changed. He gave us, his clan, crystals he himself managed to create with this power. It changed us. Turned us from mindless beasts into intelligent beings. However, what he didn’t know was that the crystals he created killed the soil. As the soil died, the quality of the crystals decreased; turning a feast into mere crumbs. He asked the ponies’ king for help but they died from the radiation. When he denied us help we went to war. A war that lasted for almost a half millennium. Hence the name.” His explanation came to an end while Axion didn’t move an inch.
Luminous however just stared at the glove with wide eyes. A war? Did Princess Celestia know? She had little time to think before Axinite spoke again.
“In the end, we were promised a land of ourselves. He showed us a portal… which led us to a dead world.” He looked angrily at Axion before looking at the floor. “Before our King murdered theirs we were banished. Our King sacrificed himself so that we could live for a short while.”

Axione looked at the floor for the longest time before looking back at him.
“How do we fit in?” He asked, first signs of emotion evident in his curiosity.
Axinite thought for a moment. This was something that bothered him. Like an old wound being re-opened.
“How… about I tell you that another time, eh? For now, let’s just get things done.” He tried to sound convincing and if the copy doubted him then he didn’t show signs of it.

The video was cut off after that and Luminous sat down, the mug still in her magical grip. She scrolled down the files and noted several more files. But the name still in her mind was the ‘Half-Millennium War’. Was there really a war that lasted that long? And did the Princess know about?