Axton awoke to the sounds of screaming and muffled booms outside. Thuds echoed through the streets as citizens ran for their lives from the demonic giant that roared loudly, a roar as loud as a hundred fold Canterlot voice. He slowly but steadily stumbled to his hooves, wiping the tiredness away with a frantic shake of his head. He already knew who it was.
‘Mortem.’ He thought bitterly, knowing he would eventually have to fight the gargantuan death lord. He raised himself to his hooves, gathering his stuff that he needed to use. He eventually got kitted up; the Minotaurian gauntlets shone in the low light of his house, the Robe of the Hunter shimmered faintly. Then there was the last piece of the magical items at his disposal; the Circlet given to him by the Machine God of Justice, Abraham. He looked at himself in the mirror, seeing the reflection that stared back at him.
He stood quite tall for his age, his coat its usually rusty brown, his mane just a tone darker, making it a chocolate brown. The magical artifacts that adorned him made him look like some sort of prince, or king. ‘King Axton Coglink. I like it. Has a ring to it.’ He was quite worried about where his family were, but he HAD to deal with Mortem first, otherwise it would become much more terrible for the town of Ponyville. He dashed out the door to see the Death Lord, his rippling dark and shadowy back turned to him, a shadowy curtain of hatred broiling in the sunlight. He seemed to be terrorizing the town hall, or at least he was about to. Axton was not gonna let that happen, not if there were innocent ponies were in there. He readied his magic, shouting out.
“Hey, big dumb and ugly! Looking for somepony?” Axton yelled, firing off three high powered magic orbs at the Death Lord’s face. Said Death Lord received these orbs to the face after turning to face him, roaring in rage as they tore large chunks out of his tough skin, black oily blood falling down his gruesome features.
“There you are, mortal. Ha, the pony who wants to let everypony live, come to die. If you surrender, I may be merciful.” He stomped over towards Axton, throwing an earth shattering fist down upon the floor where Axton stood, only for Axton to dodge, putting his robed hood up, and disappearing from the fray with the help of the Hunter’s robes.
Mortem swung around angrily like a bull in a china shop, smashing a few buildings to pieces. In his anger, the gargantuan demon didn’t notice the robe clad colt jump on his back, digging his hooves in for a better grip. However, Mortem did notice the very painful tap on his shoulder.
Said tap came from a rather large magic emitting colt who grinned and announced “Sup?” before landing a very heavy hoof on his face, making him stumble back. Axton merely laughed a little at Mortem’s disorientation, jumping from a roof, then onto a ledge and back onto the floor, ready for the next attack. Before he could get a word in, he was shoved aside by a fist, slamming him into a wall. Even with his hastily made shield, he was still embedded into the concrete and bricks like a ragdoll stuck into a casing.
Try as he did, Axton could not escape the stranglehold the wall was keeping him in. He did not even have time to react to the giant fist that slammed him through the wall, knocking him back and wounding him badly, scarring him with multiple large cuts. His vision blurred before he collapsed, the world turning to black.
He awoke in the chamber of the Machine Gods once more, but it was empty, the gods not there. He trotted over to the centre of the chamber, seeing that by the pedestal were three altars. One housed a red crystal, while the second one held a blue crystal. The final one held a green crystal.
Axton comptemplated what each one meant; then suddenly, it came to him. These were his choices. The red one was most likely the least moral option, where he gains the demonic powers of Mortem, enabling him to destroy him and become an Overlord. While that amount of power was quite tempting, he didn’t want to do that. He looked at the green crystal, its soft green light bathing him in calmness. This must have been the Ascension choice, allowing him to become an all-powerful Alicorn. Even though the prospect of becoming an Alicorn was quite welcoming, he knew he could not do it; it would mean out-living Apple Bloom, and that was something he could not bear to think about.
And then there was one.
The last crystal, which emanated a soft blue light, literally called to him; Axton knew what taking this crystal meant. He would sacrifice a large portion of his life force in order to gain enough power to have a chance at defeating Mortem. Of course it also meant he’d have a 50/50 chance at living... was it worth it? Then again, the other two options weren’t really something he wanted to go through with, so this was his only realistic choice.
‘Alright, Axton... this is it. For home. For Apple Bloom. For Equestria.’ He thought to himself as he grabbed the blue crystal in his magic aura, walking towards the white glowing crystal at the pedestal. The white crystal had a chip in it for some reason, which was the exact same shape as each of the crystals.
As he walked towards it, the crystal shuddered in his grasp, breaking free and sticking to the white crystal. All of a sudden, the crystal let a blue mist into the white crystal, turning it an azure blue, emanating an aura of Justice. A thousand voices whispered to him.
“Sacrifice... Sacrifice... Sacrifice” A blue light blinding Axton more and more as the word repeated over and over in his head.
Axton awoke from a pile of rubble, knocking the stones aside so he stood on all four hooves. He stood before Mortem, who was staring at him incredulously.
“But... You died! I saw it! How is this possible?!” He bellowed; his voice was full of shock and fury. He shook his large head, horns glinting in the sunshine “Never mind... I shall kill you for real this time! Then you shall join me as one of my Undead Minions!” He laughed; the sound was like a hundred screams that echoed across the plains.
Axton dodged another flying fist, and leaped ferociously up to a ledge, the crystal’s power allowing him to perform nigh-on-impossible feats. Mortem roared, throwing his giant fist into the ledge, making Axton fly up into the air. He twisted in the air like an acrobat, landing onto Mortem’s arm, running up it.
While the Death Lord thrashed around, Axton charged up his and the crystal’s power to full, and as he charged up the demonic arm, a point of energy began focusing into his vision. After three seconds, he was a fully charged magical and deadly dart, a bringer of Justice in the form of pain. As he reached the Death Lord’s head, he burst through it, dark oily blood spouting like an oil well around him as he flashed and back down to the ground.
Mortem roared in pain, bellowing “This isn’t over Machine Heart!!!! I will Retuuuuuuurrrrrrnn....... GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” He roared in pain once more, exploding in a black explosion which ravaged the landscape.
Axton clung on for dear life upon the ground, the shadows eating away at his energy reserves. When the explosion finally stopped, he finally collapsed, allowing his vision to tumble down into a black abyss of darkness.
Six Months Later...
Axton awoke in the hospital of Canterlot, his friends and family surrounding him. How many times had he been in a hospital? Three? Four? He lost count after ten, that’s how many times.
“Alright, ponies get out of the way!” A nurse burst through the crowd before checking his vitals, and making sure he was mentally stable, walked off to file a medical report.
Apple Bloom ran up to him, hugging him while his friends cheered at his return to life. “Don’t you ever, ever do that again, Axton! Ah want you to promise me.” Apple Bloom sniffled a little, giving him puppy eyes.
‘Damnit! Why is she so Celestia-damned cute?!’ He thought before answering.
“I can’t promise anything, beautiful. What I can tell you though that this is not the end. It’s only the start of another Great Adventure.”