The blinding light finally ceased, and Axton found himself upon the floor of the cavern outside of the invisible light door in which he and only he had walked through. Of course, this flashy entrance warranted a yelp from a certain Apple family filly that happened to be sleeping nearby. Surprised, to say the least, Apple Bloom flew about six feet in the air with a look of terror on her face, before landing on her flank. At least, by then she had a surprised look on her face. Axton chuckled a little, before grabbing her and giving her a small hug; no words were needed, he guessed he had been gone at least a day, and Apple Bloom looked as if she hadn’t seen him in an eternity. Her cheeks were stained were tears, probably from worry Axton guessed, and her mane was a bit messy, the stray hair sticking out of it. Yet in Axton’s eyes, she still looked beautiful.
“A-Axton, ah missed y’ ” She sniffled, her eyes twinkling “Y’all alright?” She hugged him in a bone-crushing hug, before she noticed him gasping for air. She quickly let him go, with a small blush on her cheeks.
“I’m alright; I’ll tell you what happened when we get the others round the campfire. Anything happen while I was gone?” Axton inquired with an open mind; the sudden teleportation from the Chamber of the Gods had left him rejuvenated, and wide awake. His eyes had also taken an odd change; instead of their usual colour, they were now a steel grey; the colour of his aura.
Walking up to the campfire, they were met by Scootaloo, who was walking very close to Defensive. They seemed to walk together with a type of unity. Upon seeing Axton, Defensive gave a sheepish grin and uttered “Not a word, cogs, not a word.”
Axton rolled his eyes; ‘cogs’ was the new nickname Defensive had called Axton a lot round the house, rather like a codename. In a likewise manner, Axton had taken to calling Defensive ‘fangs’, due to the pointy half-dragon canines that Defensive had.
When the entire group had gathered round the campfire or what remained of it, Axton had sat down, and the others were looking at him expectantly. He spoke up “All right, what I’m about to tell you does not go beyond this cave, ok?” When they all agreed, he continued and proceeded to tell them about what had conspired within the chamber, and the corridors that lead to it. Silence reigned in the cave for what seemed like hours, the story clearly having an effect upon everypony there. Emotions on the others faces ranged from awe and wonder, to fear and a little confusion.
Dark was the first one to speak “So is that what that saddlebag over there’s for?” He motioned to a saddlebag which lay by the entrance to Axton and Defensive’s tent. The bag was a steel grey colour, with a bronze-gold secondary outline which ran along the edges of the bag. The clasp was made of a familiar looking bronze metal which was in the shape of a cog. “We all tried opening it, even Defensive, but the thing wouldn’t budge. From what you’ve told us, you can probably open it.”
Axton walked over to the saddlebag that lay beside his tent, next to his other two. Curiosity overcame him, and he reached towards the saddlebag, to find all his gear in there. Along with it, came a little note; it read ‘Good thing we enchanted this, your friend Dark is a curious one.’
He let out a little chuckle before closing the saddlebag. These items would definitely come in handy later. Looking back at the camp, he nodded in thought to himself ‘So, now what?’
Before long, the camp, and the tents that came with it had been packed away, and the group of six were ready to move out of the cave and go back to Ponyville. As the six made their way towards Sweet Apple Acres, they heard Applejack calling “Apple Bloom! Ah swear to Celestia, if somethin’ has happened to her, ah’ll never forgive mahself!”
At Applejack’s calling, Apple Bloom piped up “Over here, sis! Don’t worry, we’re all ok.” Applejack turned towards the sound, and before long, came rushing through the fields towards them.
Upon reaching them, she came up to her little sister with a small frown on her face, and used her back legs to get Apple Bloom on her back, before walking off, lecturing her “Apple Bloom, ya are in SO much trouble. Granny Smith was worried sick, and don’t get me started on Big Mac! Ya are comin’ with me, young lady!” Apple Bloom sat helplessly on Applejack’s back, squirming helplessly and giving the odd whine.
Axton simply looked bemused at this sudden turn of events, before giving Apple Bloom a small smile and a wave as if to say ‘See you later!’
At this, Apple Bloom stopped squirming and gave Axton a small wink before the two sisters were out of sight.
Axton turned towards the rest of the group and shrugged before saying “All right, it’s probably best if you get yourselves home for some rest and a wash. We’ll meet up again at the clubhouse ok? Dark, as you don’t know where the clubhouse is, we’ll come pick you up in the afternoon.” Fortunately, the others couldn’t spot the small heat in his cheeks.
Dark nodded before quickly filling in Axton on his address. Funnily enough, as soon as he had told them, he rushed off towards Ponyville. ‘Honestly’ Axton thought to himself ‘Is there no end to his energy? He’d been camping out for a day, trekked miles and STILL has boundless energy’.
Sweetie Belle soon left the others as she told them, with a small shudder “Need to get the dirt off of my hooves; otherwise Rarity will throw a fit.” With that, she left the group, along with Scootaloo, who gave Defensive a small kiss on the cheek before running off down the street, presumably towards where she lived.
Axton and Defensive returned to Axton’s house shortly, before washing. They received small “humph, kids these days!” from Axton’s mother, which warranted a small chuckle from Axton father. Before long, the two had gone upstairs to generally chat about things.
Axton’s room, a few hours after returning (13:50)
“So, you and Scoots, huh?” Axton questioned looking across at Defensive with a smirk.
“Yeah, we kinda had a thing for each other from the get go” Defensive said with a small redness in his cheeks.
“All right, whatever you say” Axton jibed at Defensive a little before going to the door of the room “I’m gonna do a bit of research on all this ‘machine heart and the machine gods’ stuff, so I’ll catch you later, ok?”
Defensive nodded “All right, tell me if anything comes up, let me know if you need any help” Axton nodded to Defensive, a sign of appreciation, before going out of the door to their room and out of the house.
Ponyville Library, 5minutes later...
Axton walked into the library, the earthy scent of books and tree bark filling his nostrils. He always felt calm here, for some reason. Maybe it was the feeling of tranquillity he got by being around so much knowledge, or whether it was just him. However, before he could put anymore thought to it, a young dragon poked his head in his face.
“Hey, Axton! Watcha doing here?” Spike had his face right up in the colt’s face, an eyebrow raised. Of course, this surprised said colt, making him fly about six feet in the air and unceremoniously falling flat on his flank. After a few minutes, Axton composed himself once more and stood up back on his hooves to reply.
“I need to find a book on ancient Equestrian history and Gods.” Axton replied evenly “Have you got one?”
Axton had met Spike after he had moved into Ponyville, during the Hearts and Hooves day project. He took a liking to the baby dragon’s eagerness to help, and his kindness. He also found it hilarious that Spike had a crush on Rarity, but only gave the odd jibe to Spike, in which Spike would end up flushing a bright crimson.
“Ancient Equestrian history and Gods...” Spike browsed the bookcases, and soon came across the book he was looking for “Ah! Ancient Equestria; A time of Gods and Magic. That sound good?” Spike called down from upon a rather large step ladder.
“That sounds perfect. Thanks Spike!” Axton grabbed the book with his magical grip, causing Spike to fall from his step ladder. He wasn’t particularly hurt, but a couple of books comically fell from above and knocked him on his head, making his eyes roll around in his head.
Satisfied from the book, Axton didn’t notice this and walked towards another side of the library, setting the book down upon a small reading desk. He read devotedly through the pages, before somepony interrupted his thoughts.
“My, yer jus’ like Twi when she gets into a book.” Applejack stated with a small snicker from beside him. This made Axton jump a little.
“Gah! Don’t sneak up on me like that!” Axton exclaimed, before noticing it was Applejack, and replying hurriedly “You’re not mad at me are you, Y’know, for camping out for a day with possible dangers to Apple Bloom?”
Applejack waited until Axton had finished before saying “Heh, actually I was gonna thank y’ fer not getting Apple Bloom hurt. Ah was also wonderin’ whether y’ wanted t’ come to the barn raisin’ that’s goin’ on tomorrah. We don’t normally use magic, but the rest of the crusades will be there so ah was wonderin’ if y’ wanted to.” She gave a small lopsided smile, as Axton stammered for an answer.
“Oh, yeah! I would love to help out at the barn and see Apple Bloom- er; I mean help out at the barn in general, yeah Haha...” Axton rubbed his mane with his hoof and chuckled nervously.
“Ah’ll take that as a yes. Be at the barn at seven in th’ mornin’ alright?” Applejack nodded before Axton could give an answer. She walked off and had a small thought before chuckling to herself ‘Apple Bloom sure knows how t’ pick ‘em’.