The Axton and Zero Chronicle

Axton's Universe, Equestria; a year after Axton's Victory and Ascension

Another day in the workings of the universe, another day on Equestria; Celestia's sun shone down upon the surprisingly tranquil-for-once Ponyville, its rays glimmering in the dew of the morning and blessing the awake inhabitants of the small time town turned Friendship Capital with warmth and the gentle feeling of security that only a deity driven object could give. In the Coglink Residence, a young Axton Coglink was awakened by said rays of the sunlight having danced onto his eyelids, which caused him to groan and lumber from his bed with the attitude every child would have from being awakened from a relaxing and rather pleasant dream. With this, he went and got showered; this was always just as effectively pleasing as breakfast due to the fact that they no longer had to pay bills (saving Equestria has its perks after all). As the young pony got out of the shower, having just dried his feet (water always got stuck in his coat on them, it was really annoying him), the smell of food wafted toward him through the humidity of steam and smell of shower soap. As such, today's specialty smelled like a royally good fry up of hay fries, complete with salad, fruit and cereal. Noticing this, he scrunched his nose up; he wasn't particularly accustomed, even after a year, to his heightened Alicorn senses and abilities (not that they were particularly trained, but a growing colt will always develop, as will most his age).

After having dressed in the norm of fashion for his age (blue jeans, black shirt and the style of also having black socks and headphones around his neck leading into said jeans), he also equipped his tool belt and put his belongings in his pockets. At this point, he ran downstairs, with a stomach hungry for food as his driving force; and at a rare occasion, found all his family in the kitchen-come-dining room that was opposite the stairwell facing him. Now, this would be a common occasion were it not for the fact that his brother, Eagle Eyes was incredibly lazy; three years older than the now 10 year old Axton, his brother was prone to sleeping throughout the entirety of the morning and into the afternoon if not awoken up sternly by his mother, Bright Mane or even more sternly by his father Axel Wrench. Considering this was a family breakfast, Axton approached calmly, noted his seat and sat down across from his still groggy looking brother.

"Morning mum, dad." He grinned, then turned his head in an almost bored fashion to his brother, "Morning, Lazybones." and returned to the matters of his plate, which was subsequently filled with hay fries, salad and a banana (gotta keep that 'nutrition' up after all.)

"Morning, Ax" His mother greeted him as she looked and read her daily tabloid mail; his father, unfortunately kept himself quite to his reading of the financial paper whilst alternating between that and a few work and legal documents. A lukewarm cup of tea levitated to his left, the document and paper on the table having taken up the spot of the coaster. Eagle Eyes didn't reply to Axton instead having occupied himself with the scoffing of foodstuffs on his plate; this was naturally one of his favorite activities along with gaming, sleeping and hanging out around town.

As Axton ate, he enjoyed the normality of having breakfast at home, with his family; this was always a gentle and harsh reminder that through every day, he had to work alongside Twilight in studying magic, who was also an alicorn. Unlike her, his powers developed every day at a more alarming rate to the point he could rival any known Unicorn beside the Princess of Friendship herself; this included his own father, Axel Wrench, who was immensely proud and told him near every time the young colt used his magical powers in practice or function. His Pegasus mother, Bright Mane taught him flying, which the young colt also grasped within a month or so of practice; by three months, he could fly half as fast as Rainbow Dash. A good scenario from the average outlook, but a harsh reminder nonetheless that he was different amongst the rest of Ponyville.

With breakfast over, the family started the following chores which involved but not necessarily in this order; Washing and Drying the plates, Cleaning the rooms, Making the Beds, Polishing (literally most things in the house, which was incredibly tedious even WITH magic) and other various dusting and organizing for the day. For one, Axton and Eagle Eyes did not have to go to school, as it was the summer holiday and school was currently closed; the latter lumbered off to bed with a tired groan and a small wave to his mother and father and a disgruntled nod to his brother. The pegasus seemed to emulate Rainbow Dash in the sense that he cared very much about his sleep and food; this was noted quite often by Axton, who often watched the pegasus alongside Scootaloo.

As the family was halfway through its chores, a loud banging knock sounded at the door, with a command up "Open up in the name of the Lunar Guard!"; this caused quite a panic throughout the family, minus the father of the family, Axel Wrench who answered the door with a stony face and calm expression. Two Lunar guards, Thestral in blood and appearance, stood at the door to the Coglink residence with equally stony and stern expressions; one stood more forward than its comrade, with a held out palm as if to calm Axel.

"Calm before we speak; we mean no harm to you or your family. Princess Luna requests the presence of one Axton Coglink in the Royal Lunar wing of Canterlot Castle. This is mandatory and denial to do so will result in consequence." The main guard proclaimed with a voice of calm authority. To which Axel Wrench nodded and look to his son, who had shadowed his father, stood a few feet behind him; the young alicorn, nervous, walked along with the two armored guards to a magically charged chariot, led by what seemed to be shadowed horse forms. The chariot was all black and dark indigo/blue in color, reflecting the very night that its deity belonged to.

With this, the young colt traveled in said carriage, to the bustling city of Canterlot and its Royal Castle; his nervous heart pounding, his excitement building.

The City of Canterlot, 3 hours post leaving Ponyville...

The carriage pulled to a stop in the Canterlot Stables, with the shadow beasts which pulled said transportation having disappeared; a young Axton stepped out, nervousness and excitement built within his small bipedal form. The low light painted him in a gentle yet dull bronze coloration true to his name and magical heritage as the two guards beside him were a color umber and dark like their namesake/title. With this, the two flanking guards took the lead and began their escort of the young colt throughout the streets of the bustling city; the city in itself dazzled Axton as he stepped out into it.

Having been raised in Ponyville and Oatsralia (both in equally rustic locations), Axton marveled at the surround urban environment. Rooftops and parapets gleamed in the coming sunlight which hung high above the city of Canterlot with the varying shades of purple and yellow that were signature in connotation to the diarchy. Equally, the marble of the city's buildings glared in one's vision in the daylight almost casually and brazenly, taking in the sunlight that was filling nearly every nook and cranny; with this, Axton had to squint slightly, not used to the higher light levels despite the general populace being fine with it. The two thestrals at his side showed no bother to the sunlight, but seemed slightly disgruntled at having to walk along in the daylight (not their natural domain, you understand.)

As Axton walked through the streets (for the guards were not particularly hounding in any way, just ushering in their action), there was a general murmur that rose  up around him from those present or walking by; of unease mixed with wonderment. Often, he'd catch the odd phrase or sentence from all those around him, with both positive and negative comments being aimed directly at his appearance.

"That's the new Alicorn? Geez, I expected something better."

" I wouldn't underestimate him; that much magical power has got to be worth something, yknow?"

"I wonder how he awoke; at such a young age, too!"

"Looks like a pretty.... GUARDED situation!" *thwack*, the punmaker got smacked on the back of the head.

With this being said, the guards were kept busy as the general announcement went up loudly "Move along! Any interruption to the crown's affairs will be considered an offence! Nothing to see here, ponies!"; this statement scattered most present, with many wanting to suddenly get along with their daily lives. The sunlit day showed no difference, the daylight still shining down on the city quite brazenly; the weather had picked up a little, becoming warmer.

Within the space of an hour, Axton had reached the edge of the Canterlot Castle Gates, which was flanked by two sets of Celestial Guardsmen; said Guardsmen stood atop their respective guard sentry posts, looking out upon both the city and the perimeter which they guarded. Naturally, this intimidated Axton, as in comparison to him (a 3ft colt) the gates stood at a whopping  10 feet tall; they were made of wrought gold-steel alloy, resulting in a dull but glimmering sheen to the bars and plate of the gate itself. Furthermore, with a little a bit of insight into looking rather contemplatively at the gate (natural 20 roll on perception check, hold your applause), he noticed that it also had a powerful magical enchantment which was most likely cast by some form of court wizard or serving  mage.

"State your business!" By now, one of the guards had noticed them, peering over the top of the castle sentry post to the left; he spoke with an authoritative tone and wore the rank of sergeant. Like all the Celestial guards, his armor was made out of a tough and magically enchanted gold battle alloy which glimmered in the occasional bit of sunlight that peered under the roof of his post; after all, being a Solar/Celestial Guard meant representing one's royal counterpart or departments thereof.

"Lunar Guard Business; the new Alicorn kid needs to be brought to Princess Luna immediately; mission code Foxtrot Delta." One of the Luna guards stated in a half board tone. "Seriously, Larken Shield, you hold everyone up like this. Grow a stallionhood and stop being so stubborn".

"Really, Scythe? We'll talk about this later." The sergeant, now wounded in both pride and manlihood, complained with the tone of a whiny foal being scolded by its mother; at this point, it was more of a matter of keeping a straight face for Axton, who had to avoid bursting into laughter.

Soon enough, after a good fifteen minutes of casual banter between the Solar and Lunar guards, Axton was escorted through the gates, into the castle and into the Lunar wing. The Lunar wing was..... a testament, if anything else to both the return of  Luna's reign and the very reflection of her inner character; unlike the Solar Wing, its Lunar counterpart was full of paintings of starry nights upon forlorn but hopeful hilltops, statues and busts of great minds and warriors alike and visages of Luna scattered here and there (this was likely due to the Lunar diarch being more modest than her sister, who was all too happy to have a life size statue of her atop what looked like a giant cake slice, as if conquering the dessert as one would a beast.) The wallpaper itself was equally nocturnal in nature, being black and indigo, designs travelling along the walls in swirling snakes of depicted mist.

Having been left at the door with a quiet word to the working staff, telling them to keep an eye on the colt, Axton had been left to walk onward towards the Lunar Audience Chamber; for convenience of both staff and new guards, signs had been placed around to guide ponies around the castle. In turn to this, Axton followed along the corridors left and right, getting a good feel for the place and making a mental map (as best as he could) along the way; which led him to the Audience Chamber's doors, looming over him like giant metallic guardians, with two large L's behind a crescent moon symbol marked the doors, showing that this was indeed his location.

Tentatively, he knocked on the door, more nervous now than excited at the prospect of literally meeting the co-leader of his entire home country. His knocked echoed on the ominous right door, to which a sonorous but almost gentle voice replied;

"Enter, Axton of House Coglink. Your presence is accepted in my Audience Chamber". Now, this was a voice that he was expecting; powerful, but controlled, as though the phrase given was one practiced every day up to this point with a social strategy years old beyond his existence.

Quite nervous still, he pushed the... oddly light metal door open into the Audience Chamber; in truth, it was impressive as it sounded. The walls were armed with various weapons used over the ages, with famous generals depicted in masterful portrait on a landscaped background; in the center of it all sat Luna upon a shadow iron throne, which curled up behind her in the depiction of a night time shadow. Standing before one of the diarchs themselves, he stepped forward and bent his knee shakily.

"A-Axton Coglink, your majesty. At your service." His voice cracked a little as he kneeled before her, his Oatsralian twang quite clear in his voice echoing around the room.  Oddly enough, Luna was very much alone which proved to be another contrast with her sister who preferred the presence of guards as a security and necessity.

"Arise... my little pony." Luna said with an attempt at a winning smile; it turned out to be an easygoing half grin due to her amusement at the colt. "I call you not here to lay punishment or any negative impact upon your life; it is in fact, quite the opposite. You need not fear me, little one."

At this Axton arose, looking directly at Luna with a minor form of reverence in his eyes, but also with the expression of someone who was relieved of a great burden. With a calmer voice he announced "In which case, what was it you required your majesty?" with a sense of vague understanding to Luna herself; she was not one to require bowing, kneeling or anything of the sort. If one was worthy to gain audience with her, they were to be treated as an equal within reason of natural rank.

"As you are well aware, you defeated a great evil that would have come to plague this land if not for your intervening; in doing so, you called upon yourself a power so ancient it was deep and dormant within your bloodline, something long forgotten by the sands of time and magic themselves." She paused before continuing, making sure to get across she knew exactly what Axton had done, and make it appear as praise "But yet, I am very much so aware that it is nowhere near enough; such power and the Alicorn body you have at your command is untrained, untamed and rather weak in comparison to mine, my sister's or even that of Twilight Sparkle. I of course mean no offense by this statement, little one, but in turn wish to offer you that training which could and would fashion you into one of the finest Alicorns on this plane of existence, save myself and my sister; I'm sure you understand that a lot of power can only be gained by living for longer than most. I want to ask... if you would like to become my student, and I your mentor."

At this point, Axton was just able to string together a quick sentence, despite his usual wit and tact that he had grown used to using amongst conversations. What he was able to get out was "I..... could you give me some time to come up with an answer to that? And if I should agree on such a mag..." He struggled for the word "magnanimous offer?"

Luna, impressed with the vocabulary of the young colt, smiled broadly, finally able to relax "Of course, young one; take all the time you need either in here or around the Lunar Wing. I... "She hesitated, then shrugged "The kitchen staff will be sure to offer you food if you tell them who you are and your reasons for being here if you're hungry. Should you wish to rest, feel free to use the Guest Quarters down the hall."

With this, Axton nodded briskly, leaving the room with another short bow and rushed off toward the kitchen; despite eating not three hours before, his stomach had already begun rumbling with a vengeance. After that, he'd sleep on his decision on whether to take up Luna's offer. With all this whizzing around his head, the young colt had quite the future set out for him.