//------------------------------// // Chapter 42: Echoes of an old era (Nicholas faces the music) // Story: Era of Harmony // by Gambling_Sam //------------------------------// *Nicholas POV* After finishing with the music and my form change receded, I looked up to from the board to get tackled by Diamond Tiara. As soon as we hit the ground, she assualted me with deadly nuzzles to the cheek. "Nicholas! That was amazing!" She exclaimed happily before she pulled away suddenly and pouted, her cheeks puffed. "Why didn't you tell me you were 12K?" I laughed and massaged her ear, causing her to sigh and push her head into my hand. "I wanted it to be a suprise. That, and I didn't want everyone to know yet." "Like Silverspoon?" She asked with a smirk as I snorted. "Exactly." I said and we laughed together. Man, it felt good to hear her laugh. We stopped as we heard cough from behind us. Mrs.Rich was staring at us with a blank expression while Filthy was smiling at our antics. "Mr.12K, please come over here." She stated and I did so, standing in front of her as she stood up. "I must say I am quite suprised that you and Nicholas are the same. I am not suprised, however, that my daughter was able to win over such a rising star as yourself. I will let you date her..." She stated as Diamond jumped up and hugged her mother. "Thank you, mommy!" She said, but Mrs. Rich coughed. "I am not done speaking, Diamond Tiara." She said sternly, causing Tiara to Back off and stand next to me. Mrs.Rich turned back to me. "You may date her, under two conditions." She stated as I nodded. "What are they, ma'am." I said, my voice clear and absolute. Mrs.Rich narrowed her eyes slightly. "Number one: If you are to ever start a herd, all other herd mates MUST have either noble blood or have a wealthy family. My daughter will not fraternize with mudbloods." She said as my eyes widened in shock and Diamond gasped and looked to me as I looked down at her. If I agreed to this...any chance I had of extended my relationship with Applebloom would be thrown out the window. And what if I started to like another girl that wasn't rich or a noblepony? But as I looked into Diamonds shimmering blue eyes, the fear of her losing one of the few people that actually cared about her and what she thought or said evident in them, I knew what I must do. I turned to Mrs.Rich and nodded. "I accept this condition." I said as Mrs.Rich nodded and continued. "Number two: As long as you are 12K, you will be sponsored by the Rich house alone. Let no other house take part in your rise to fame." She said as I nodded in agreement as Ponyworth brought over a piece of paper and put it on the table in front of me. It was a contract stating the Rich household would be the sole sponsers to 12K and would be the command center for the distribution of any merchandise or music covers I make. This family would quite literally own the name 12K for as long as the paper existed. As I looked it over, I noticed a small error on it that, if pointed out, would nullify the contract. It said that I was equestria born. Did I point this out for them to correct? heck no! Every man needs an easy out of an obligation, Ronin taught me that. After I signed the paper, Mrs.Rich rolled it up and gave it to the butler, who walked off to put it somewhere. She turned to Filthy. "As a witness to these conditions, do you accept them as fair?" "The condition seems to be a bit overboard, but Nicholas agreed to it. So I accept the decision." He said as Diamond turned me towards her and pulled me into a big hug. "Why did you accept that first condition? I know you care about Applebloom as much as you do me." She whispered as I hugged her a bit tighter. "See, that's the tricky part. I like her a lot, but I honestly couldn't see myself without you." I whispered back, noticing a tear or two going down my back from Diamond as she pulled away and smiled at me, tears on her cheeks. "Nopony-sniffle-has ever said something like that to me before." She said mid tears as Filthy smiled warmly at us while Mrs.Rich remained stoic. "Alright Diamond that's enough of that. You are a lady, after all." She turned to me and smiled. "It was pleasure doing business with you, 12K. I look forward to working closely with you in the future, you may leave now." She nodded towards the door as I bowed a bit in gratitude befor giving Diamond one last hug before I walked out the mansion, ignoring the snid looks from any of the rich ponies I passed. As I started walking back to the other side of town, I ended up running into Sweetiebelle, who was standing near the carousel boutique with a slightly grossed out expression. "Hey, Sweetiebelle!" I called out as I walked up to her. She smiled at me before pointing to a set of bushes nearby that looked singed. "Nicholas, I saw your brother and princess Celestia go into those bushes. After a minute, I followed to see what they were doing." Her face scrunched up in disgust. "They were kissing each other...a lot!" I laughed. "Belle, you literally had that coming following them through some bushes." I said as an idea popped in my head. "Are they still there?" She nodded as I grabbed a hose off the boutique and sprayed the ground, making mud. I grabbed the mud and chunked a bunch into the area Sweetiebelle had pointed to. *SPLAT!* For a second, there was no reaction. I was about to tell Sweetiebelle off for lying to me when- "WHAT THE HELL?! WHO DID THAT!" I heard Ronin yell as I saw him appear from the bushes completely covered in mud, his eyes locking on me and Sweetiebelle. "NICHOLAS!!!!" He roared. Uh-oh Just as he went to charge, an golden glow surrounded him. Celestia walked out of the bushes with a raised eyebrow at us. "Surely your little brother didn't mean to do that?" She said as I walked up and smiled at her. "Oh no, your majesty. I definitely meant to do that." I said while sticking my tongue out at Ronin, who growled in response. Celestia turned to Ronin. "Well, it seems I was wrong. Ronin, I forgot to mention to you earlier, but there is a meeting of the crowns in a couple days where every species rulers are coming to discuss topics. I would be delighted to see you there among the other rulers." Ronin rolled his eyes. "A meeting of crowns? Sounds like a frou-frou event. But, if it'll help the changelings I will go." Before Celestia could answer he added "ONLY if Chrysalis comes too." Celestia sighed, but relented. "Of course she can come." She said with a smile, though I thought I saw an eye twitch. "We shall see you at the castle soon." With that, Celestia teleported with a flash, dropping Ronin to the ground. He got up and turned to me. "Alright brother, tht little joke wasn't funny. So you know exactly what-GET BEHIND ME NOW!" Ronin yelled suddenly, jumping in front of us and drawing his blade. "Moonbutt, what the hell are you doing bringing a dragon into town?" We turned and saw Luna and a white dragon feet away from us. The dragon was about Raidens height and seemed to look just as shocked as Luna at the hostility from Ronin. "Sheath thy sword, Ronin. This dragon is thou brother." Luna said with an agitated tone. Guess she didn't like the nickname. "WHAT?!" Ronin and I said at the same time. Ronin sheathed his sword and walked up to the dragon. "Bro, is this true? Have you gone scalie on me?" The dragon snorted. "Yes its me, you goof. And no, I'm not into lizards now." He proved this by smacking Luna on her moons, causing her to yelp before glaring at Raiden with a blush on her face. I blinked before cheesing. "No. way. You've been blue-mooned!" I said, laughter erupting from my gut as I fell over. Sweetiebelle looked at me, not getying the reference. Ronin wasn't doing much better, he literally fell to his knees laughing while holding his sides. Raiden now had a full blush going while Luna was confused. "Raiden? What does thy term 'blue mooning' mean?" She asked innocently as Ronin and I slowly started to calm down. "Its from a song from our world that has been used in several different ways to reference butts." He growled out as Sweetiebelle looked to me. "What other kinds of songs did your world have?" She asked me as I scratched the back of my head. "Well, there's country, jazz, blues, rock, hip hop, and several other genres. But I have always been a fan of techno." I said as Sweetiebelle smiled. "We have those where as well! Although I've never heard of blues before." She said as I shrugged. "Doesn't suprise me. This whole world is weirdly positive, so blues doesn't really fit here to well." I said as Raiden turned to Ronin, his wings spreading a bit as he talked. "Ronin, are you alright? We had heard Celestia was hunting you down, so we came as soon as we could." He said as Ronin shrugged. "Yeah, she found me alright." He turned to Luna. "Did you know your sister could make her tail and mane go on fire? I think she was trying this new look to try and attempt to seduce me with. Even her eye color was different and everything!" He chuckled. "And it worked! She had this whole dominating persona going for her and everything!" Luna frowned. "We have never heard of our sister's mane and hair becoming flames before. And when it came to courting, she hath always preferred to be the one who was dominated, not the other way around." She sighed and shook her head, smiling slightly. "At least thou are not fighting anymore." Ronin shrugged again. "It's kinda hard to explain it. It just felt like she was a different pony today, though she went back to her normal look when I was hit by a mud bomb." He glared at me before turning to Raiden. "Ima be honest, I'm kinda digging that look on ya bro. Makes ya look waaay tougher than before." With that, he walked off to to do who knows what. I turned to Raiden. "Uh...is that permanent?" I said, motioning to this whole body. "As of right now, possibly." He said. "Until we can research the phenomenon more closely, I'm going to be a dragon for a hot minute." He said as I smiled. "Well, now all three of us can change forms! Your a dragon, I'm a cyber DJ, and Ronin has his whole changeling thing going on." I stated as Luna tilted her head. "Cyber...DJ?" She asked as I nodded before my eyes went wide. "Ooo! I have go talk to someone, See y'all later!" I said as I ran off, leaving a confused Luna with Raiden anf Sweetiebelle. Raiden turned to Luna. "Now that Ronin is safe, tell me more about this suicide mission your sister sent our friends on." He said, causing a sheepish smile to appear on Lunas face as Sweetiebelles eyes went wide. "SUICIDE MISSION?!" *********** I walked up to Vinyls house and knocked on the door. I was greeted by Vinyl, who let me in, though I noticed that she seemed very sluggish. "Um...Vinyl? Are you ok?" I asked as she sighed and shook her head, pointing to a calander. I looked to the circled date. April 1st, it had a circled sentence that said "Show Nicholas the truth" underneath it. "The truth? what truth?" I asked. "Something she could only tell somepony who could follow her in her hoofsteps." I heard Octavia say as she walked into the house and drew the curtains. I noticed she looked quite upset, as if someone had died. Or would die soon... I turned to Vinyl. "Wait...you mean me? Bu you just met me a couple days ago." I said as Vinyl smiled weakly. Octavia walked over and stood next to her friend, turning to me. "We heard about your success at the farm party. Once she got the news, she knew you'd be perfect." "But perfect for what though?" I said as Vinyls smile disappeared as she walked up to me and pulled on her mouth... Revealing two parallel fangs that shined in the light. My jaw dropped. "Your...a vampire?" I exclaimed. Octavia sighed. "the proper term is vampony. But yes, she is. This is why you never see her during the day outside." She said while Vinyl pulled off her shades, revealing her eyes to me for the first time. She walked up to me and gave them to me. "Wait...I thought vampires could live for years. Why are you looking for a replacement?" I questioned as Vinyl went and laid on her bed. We walked over and stood beside it. "She has been alive, for about a thousand years." Octavia said as Vinyl grunted, causing an eye roll from Octavia. "Yes, I just called you old! deal with it." She turned to me. "She has been looking for somepony to take her place as a DJ for centuries so she could finally rest in peace." I looked to Vinyl and sighed. "She's about to die, isn't she." I said as Octavia nodded slowly. "Indeed. If you didn't come today, I would've had to hunt you down to give you those shades." She said as I looked at them. "What's so special about these?" I asked her as Vinyl winced suddenly, her body loking less...solid. "Shh." Octavia hushed me. "It has begun." I watched as Vinyls legs started to turn to dust, starting at her hooves. It was strange. I barely knew this mare, but I found myself tearing up at the prospect of her dying. As her body was slowly consumed by the dust, her head turned to me. She smiled and winked at me, mouthing three words: Wub on, Nicholas. Her body completely dusted after that. Octavia laid her head on Vinyls bed, silent tears streaming down her face. "Goodbye, old friend. Thanks for everything." She whispered before she got up and turned to me. "Those shades have been enchanted to help you channel your magic. You should now be able to cast spells by purely waving a finger." She said before turning back to the now empty bed. "Now, I would like a bit of alone time please." I respected her decision and walked out of the house and back into town. As I walked, I looked at the shades and gasped. They were now completely black, with red slits down the middle. I popped them on, feeling a new power course through me and smiled while a tear went down my cheek. Wub on indeed, Vinyl.