• Published 4th Jan 2021
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Era of Harmony - Gambling_Sam



3 brothers find themselves in equestria, fate takes over from there.

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Chapter 49: Cold hearts, Burning spirits pt.1

*Nicholas POV*

We had spent the morning going to the castle, where we would get fed breakfast first before we seperated into three groups. My friends, myself, and the LAZR squad (minus the one in ponyville) would begin planning how to perforn for a whole city in the ballroom. Pinkie Pie, Redheart, and Chrysalis would go visit Ronin and make sure he was ok. All the while Raiden, Twilight and Luna would prepare a defense team for the upcoming trial. Celestia would've helped, but apparently due to some incident involving parts of the dragon and yak kingdoms being frozen over, she had to reschedule some big meeting all the kingdoms rulers were supposed to have in order to check in with these kingdoms and investigate the sudden freeze in the middle of spring.

That is how I found myself sitting on the floor in a circle with my friends and the LAZR group with seperate food plates nearby. My briefcase had been sat nearby and was neatly laying on the floor. Sweetiebelle and Applebloom sat on my left and Diamond had placed herself between my legs, which I rewarded with ear scratches. The LAZR squad were sitting to my right (Though Roxas and Axel were passed out, snoring on each other, much to Larxene's annoyance.) and Tak was in front of me eyeing my juice that was in my free hand.

"Up till now, I have only performed for about a hundred or so ponies. This city has thousands of citizens, snd we need a way to level up my act." I said openly all the while sipping on a cup of orange juice I had gotten during breakfast. I placed it down and smiled as Diamond let out a content sigh. I didnt notice, however, that Tak had snagged my cup via magic.

Sweetiebelle raised her hoof. "Oh! What if you were to sing? Your voice does sound different in your other form, and it could sound really good with a song."

Tak nodded. "Indeed, but Nicholas would also need a way to move about the city. It would be easier to gain fans if he could find a way to reach them instead of them coming to us." I finally noticed the cup in his magical grip, but could do nothing about it due to Diamond Tiara snuggling up on my chest as I heard her mutter something among the lines of "so comfy" into my shirt.

Applebloom tilted her head. "Ya mean a float or something? The girls and ah could make another one."

Diamond frowned as she turned her body to face everyone else. "We have another issue to solve as well. Since this is a city, there will no doubt be DJ's who already make a living at night clubs around here. We need a way to make Nicholas stand out from the rest of them."

That was a good point, one that had us stumped to silence for a minute before Sweetiebelle turned to the Larxene, who had been attempting to ignore the loud snoring of her comrades.

"Larxene, you and the others can change forms, right?" She asked her.

Larxene smiled smugly. "We are changelings! Changing our form is second nature! Why?"

Sweetiebelle pointed to me. "Do you think you could get Roxas and Axel to change into forms similar to Nicholas when he plays music?" Larxene turned and woke the two guys up before turning back to Sweetiebelle.

Larxene now looked confused, but nodded. "I could, but why only them?"

Sweetiebelles smile grew wider. "Because I think the only way for Nicholas to gain the fans necessary is to have more than one performer on stage."

My eyes widened as I realized what she was going at. "You want to make those two perform with me?"

She turned to me and smiled sweetly. "Not just them, but Tak too!"

Tak, who had been attempting to drink juice for the first time from my cup, spat it out in suprise. "Me? Why?!"

Sweetiebelle rolled her eyes and giggled. "I've heard about you wanting to ask Scootaloo to a dance, so that means you must be good at it, right?"

Tak nodded, but frowned all the same. "Yes, but that is usually a private affair. How would my dancing help Nicholas?" Sweetiebelle stood up and pointed outside.

"Canterlot is sooo big! Nicholas is going to need help in winning it's citizens over, so that means he can't go solo anymore with his music. He's gonna need a band." She stated as my jaw dropped.

"You want tah make a boy band out of one human and three changelings? How?" Applebloom said as Diamond walked up and stood next to Sweetiebelle.

"I think I know what your thinking. We would have Tak and the other boys change forms to look similar to 12K, then they would perform together to gain more popularity!" She said as we looked to each other for a second.

"That sounds...kinda reasonable, actually." Larxene stated as Tak shrugged.

"I've done worse for way worse reasons, so why not?" He consented as Roxas ran up to me and started shaking me while being overly giddy.

"Oooooh! what do you look like with 12K? What will we look like? Will we be called 12K as well?" He would've said more, but Axel smacked his head.

"Cool it, kid. We don't even know if we can sing." He said, making a decent point. We had no idea if they could even perform right.

Tak walked up and nodded to them. "You can alter your voices to be similar to 12K's, just an octave higher for Roxas, and one lower for Axel." He said as the two nodded. Larxene walked up to the girls and smiled.

"We need to figure out how we are going to make a float for them. Let's leave the boys to practice while we do the real work." With that, the girls left the room. (Though not before I got a hug from Applebloom and Sweetiebelle and a cheek kiss from Diamond Tiara.)

I turned and opened up my briefcase to its music set. After a playing a note and changing form, I turned to the guys and smiled.

"All right, lets get your looks updated." I said, the autotune taking effect. Roxas, ever so hyper, was first.

"Me first Me first!" He chanted quickly as he looked me over before closing his eyes and being surrounded by an orange light. When it dimmed, we were all able to see the change.

He was strikingly similar to me, but he had put a spin on some things. Unlike me, his color scheme was orange on the outfit, eyes, and hair. The hair was different too. Instead of the lowered halo, his hair was had a large spike going up about a foot high, while a smaller chunk with over one of eyes and extended halfway down his cheek.

He smiled and spun around. "Look at meeee!" He said, a higher pitch autotune resonated with him, causing him to jump in suprise. "Whoa, my voice is so hiiigh!"

He continued to draw out his words to make the most of the echo while Axel stepped up next.

"Hmm...you already took red, so I guess I should change my color then." He stated as his horn charged, and a blue light surrounded him.

When it cleared, his form was shown. He had a blue color scheme for his outfit and hair, which was a buzz cut on the sides with curly bits dangling over his eyes.

He looked at himself and smiled big. "Wel well well, blue ain't so bad!" He said in a deeper autotune. His eyes widened as he looked to Tak. "Dude, you have to do this! The voice thing is awesome!" He stepped away and started conversing with Roxas.

Tak shook his head as the other two started comparing hair styles and outfits. He turned to me and smiled.

"Well, at least changelings are able to learn how to walk like bipedals when we copy the body. Last thing I'd need is for Scootaloo to find out I face-planted on stage." With that, the yellow light surrounded him as he changed form.

When he finished, my jaw dropped. "Whoa..." Was all I could say.

His was a yellow scheme, but his hair hung down to his neck and ended with jutted mini spikes at the end. His eyes were yellow with splashes of maroon in them.

He looked himself over and shrugged. "Meh...I look alright." His voice was perhaps the deepest of us all. Tak was DEFINITELY going through puberty.

Axel and Roxas blinked in suprise, all the while I noticed that we were all the same height now...that made the look-alike thing easier.

"Alright? It's more than alright! WE HAVE MANES NOW!" Roxas said while high-fiving Axel. I cleared my throat.

"Alright, since we are going to be a group. The name 12K has to be the name of the band. We will use our own names individually when referred to by fans."

Axel frowned. "The fan thing I get, but how are we gonna do this 'boy band' thing anyway? Our voices sound nice, but what about our movements skills?"

I smiled and clapped my hands together. "Thats what we are going to find out." I turned and pressed the autoplay button on my synthesizer, causing it to play a moderately paced electric song.

I turned to Tak. "Your a good dancer, right? Since you three copied this body's physical ability, anything you can do we can do."

Tak nodded and took his place in front of us, his head bobbing to the music slightly as he got in position with his back to us.

"Alright boys, we need to be synchronized. That means you move like me at the same time as me, Clear?"

"SIR YES SIR!" We shouted loudly, almost like we were soldiers in a boot camp.

This apparently pleased Tak, because he sounded more motivated when he next spoke. "Alright, three...two...one...SLIDE!" And we began our training.

**************
Larxene POV
**************

After leaving the males to practice we moved to a hallway that was oddly empty, save for a guard or two at the doorways.

The filly known as Diamond Tiara turned to us with a stoic expression. "Alright. We need to find a way to build a good quality float for Nick and the others. Any ideas?"

Applebloom answered first. "We could make a float with a flatter design, so it could hold the guys and Nicks equipment. Though we would need to find good material to work with."

Diamond Tiara nodded. "Good, Good. My father has a industrial branch up here that gives supplies to the royal guard, so we will be able to get the materials there. But what about design?"

The pony named Sweetiebelle waved a hoof around next. "Oh! We could make it a techno theme, since Nicholas was a DJ." She frowned suddenly. "Though I don't know where we could get the paint and art supplies from..."

"The castle has a storage room dedicated to the arts and similar crafts nearby, if that's what you are looking for." All four of us turned to see an unicorn filly smiling at us. She wore a yellow tiara that complimented her pink hair (though a couple of strands were yellow as well). She gazed at us with artic blue eyes and a small smile.

"And you are?" I asked, my annoyance at the interruption coming out clear.

Either the filly did not care, or ignored my tone, for she answered me with quite a bit of joy in her voice. "Oh, I'm Azul Blood."

Applebloom made a face. "Blood? Why are ya named that?"

Azul walked up to us smiled, putting a hoof to her chest. She was about a inch or two taller than the girls, and met me eye level...an easy target if she proved a threat.

"Oh, I got that from my daddy. He is a prince, after all." She said cheerfully as shock went on the girls faces, while anger seeped through my veins.

Here was the daughter of same being that had jailed my king! If we were to kidnap her, we could force Blueblood to drop charges and-

No. That is not the way. The king wouldn't approve of those methods. I have my orders, and I will carry them out.

"Wait...your daddy is prince Blueblood?" Diamond Tiara asked incredulously. Azul sighed and nodded, though she stopped smiling.

"Indeed he is, though he has been to busy with some trial he's been trying to get underway to really notice me lately, so things have been boring." Her face picked back up in an instant. "Oh! What are your names?"

Sweetiebelle went first. "My names Sweetiebelle." She pointed to Applebloom first, then Diamond Tiara. "Thats my friend Applebloom, and thats Diamond Tiara."

I stepped forward and kept eye contact with the enemy. "I am Larxene, head of the LAZR squadron and loyal soldier to the king!"

The unicorn seemed unfazed and cheerfully replied. "Are you one of those changelings Daddy talks about? That's soooo cool!"

I grunted and took a couple steps back in suprise. Scare tactics weren't working, and I doubt the king would wish for any more casualties right now. Sadly, that meant being nice to a random pony that was not at all important to the crown...

revolting.

Diamond walked over and smiled. "You had said something about art materials, right?" Azul nodded. "Well, we need paint and other things to help make a float that we can move around the city. We would love your assistance, if its not to much to ask."

Up till now, I had never heard Diamond Tiara suck up to somepony before, and it sounded WEIRD! Azul smiled and nodded as she started walking ahead of us.

"C'mon! I'll show you the way to the arts room!" We followed, to my relunctance, the young princess as she led us to our destination. As we followed her, Diamond Tiara stayed close to Azul while Sweetiebelle and Applebloom followed closely behind with myself taking the rear. The four of them conversed about several topics such as school life, hobbies and other things.

It was then Applebloom gasped.

"Ya don't have a cutie mark, don't ya!" She exclaimed after Azul said she didn't know what she wanted to do with her life. Azul heistated before pulling her dress back a bit to show her blank flank. I don't understand why the two got so excited, it's just a blank flank, though Azul's horn lit up before she had shown them it though...

"Ooh! We could help you get yours! We are trying to get ours as well!" Sweetiebelle stated as Diamond rolled her eyes.

"Could we focus please? If we don't make the float then we won't be able to help save Nicks brother!" She said as Azul froze in place before looking to Diamond Tiara weirdly.

"Nicholas? Isn't he that smaller human Daddy talks about? Why would you four be helping them out?" Warning bells were going off in my mind, but, before I could do anything, Sweetiebelle opened her big mouth.

"We're trying to help Ronin get out of jail!" She said as I face-hoofed. Though the kid probably couldn't do anything herself, she could inform her father of our plans.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then Azul shook her head with a sigh.

"Oh, girls. Here I thought I had made some new friends. But now that I know you are trying to stop my father I can't possibly let you four go anywhere." She turned to the guards at the end of the hall. "Guards! These four are trying to stage a prision break! Detain them for questioning immediately!"

The girls slowly started backing up as the two guards approached. One looked to Azul and frowned.

"Are you sure, young princess? They're just kids." He asked as Azul stomped her hoof.

"They are trying to free the man who murdered your fellow guards! Do you want that human walking the streets?" She stated, causing the guard to look to us in rage.

"You four can't be seriously trying to do that? The human is guilty and deserves death!" The other guard nodded in agreement, but said nothing. I took a step forward and charged my horn while the girls got behind me.

"Larxene, you can't fight them both!" Diamond Tiara said as the other two agreed with a nod. I turned to them and saw a sight that caused something weird to happen.

They were scared. I could see the one known as Sweetiebelle was seconds from tearing up while Applebloom tried to look tough, but her fear was plain on her face. Diamond Tiara was gritting her teeth, but seemed just as worried.

Seeing them like this...made me feel odd. I was angry that they felt scared. I felt like they needed my protection, that I HAD to help them!

I smiled to them. "Get to Nicholas and the prince and inform them that Blueblood knows of our plans. I'll hold them ofd for you three to gwt away and warn the boys." The three looked at me in shock as the guards pulled spears out and pointed them towards us.

"What?! We're not leaving you!" Sweetiebelle exclaimed, but I shook my head and released the teleport spell on the three of them, sending then back ro the ballroom. I turned back to the guards and Azul, the latter was really ticked off.

"AGH! This is why daddy hates changelings!" She pointed at me and growled. "Stop her, with any force necessary!"

I smirked grinned wickedly. "Come and get me, boys!"

The first guard, a pegasus that gripped his spear with his wings, lunged forward with his spear. I sidestepped and delivered a strong buck to his face, causing him to stagger backwards. As I charged my horn to follow up, I was hit with a butt of the spear to the head that sent me across the floor.

I slowly rose in time to see the guard that hit me swing his spear again like a bat. This time, I was ready for it. I hopped over it and released the spell I had charged, sending a small beam that knocked the guard into his comrade. They slammed into a wall and slumped over.

Azul looked at then in shock before turning to me in a rage. Her horn lit up, and several cannons appeared behind her. She laughed at my shocked expression.

"Oh, C'mon. Did you really think I had no cutie mark? It's called an illusion spell, though I thought a changeling would know about those." She threw off her dress and, sure enough, their was a cannon mark right there on her flank.

She smiled and winked. "Daddy taught me how to fire artillery when I was a foal, said it would be useful to know in case somepony tried to kidnap me. So move an inch and I'll blow your body apart!"

I bared my fangs, ready to strike the moment she lets her guard down. However, at that moment several more guards stormed into the room.

"Halt!" The lead one, some pegasus, called out to me. I looked between the guards and Azul before sighing.

My king...forgive me. Were the last thoughts I had before I was knocked out by a strong buck to the face from a guard.

*************
Nicholas POV
*************

"AAAAAND POSE!" Tak finished the complex movement he had us memorizing with something that looked eerily like a dab. We followed suit in perfect synch just as the music finished its third loop. He turned to us with a huge smile on his face.

"I can't believe it! We are actually in total synch with each other!" He exclaimed as Axel rolled his eyes.

"Of COURSE we're in synch. We're only going to be the top crew in all of Equestria!" Axel stated as Roxas started shaking with glee.

"Yeah! Since we don't really need to be drones, this is an AWESOME alternative! I'M SO PUMPED!" He finished the sentence with a yell as he started running around the room in circles.

Tak and I chuckled at his antics while Axel stepped forward and tripped Roxas, sending him to the ground.

Roxas got up and shot a glare at Axel. "Hey! What gives?"

Axel shrugged. "Your acting like your a foal. We need to keep our heads on straight if we are going to complete the mission." As he said that, I frowned as something came to mind.

"Uh, aren't you guys only like a week or two old at most?" I pointed out as Tak nodded.

"Indeed they are. Therefore, they are foals." He said as Axel groaned and Roxas fist pumped the air.

"YEAH! I'M A FOAL!" He cheered as we all ended up laughing at his bubbly nature.

The good vibes didn't last long, because Diamond, Sweetiebelle, and Applebloom teleported into the room right on top of each other. I turned and ran up to them.

"Are y'all ok?" I asked them as they stood up, I was about to ask another question before seeing the looks of worry/fear in their eyes. What the heck happened to them in only an hour?

"Nick, we met this girl-" Diamond began, but was cut off by Applebloom.

"But she's bluebloods daughter!" She stated as Sweetiebelle started shaking slightly, the whole situation obviously getting to her.

"Then she attempted have us imprisioned for trying to save your brother. Larxene teleported us back, but..." She trailed off as Axel and the others came over.

"Larxene is still with that girl? We need to help her!" He stated, making a move towards the door before Tak stopped him with a hand.

"We can't do that. The castle has to be swarming with guards, and going to Raiden and the others for help would only get them caught as well."

Roxas frowned and gritted his teeth. "Then what do we do? Larxene is like family to us. We can't leave her to rot in some cell!"

I looked to Roxas and smiled. "If they jail her, she'll be with Ronin. And he'll keep her safe." I pointed to the door behind us. "Right now, we need to leave the castle before we get caught."

Everyone nodded in agreement as we heard voices from the nearby doors.

"Maybe they're in here!" A guards voice could be heard saying to what was probably his brother at arms.

"Crap, what do we do?" I asked them as Tak turned to Sweetiebelle.

"Do the guards know about us?" He asked her.

Sweetiebelle shook her head. "We said names, but didnt tell them you'd look like...that." Her mind finally processed what the others looked like, but before she could fangirl over it, I poked her horn.

"Focus, Belle. You need to teleport you and the girls outside the castle and wait for us. We should be able to walk out looking like this." I said as she gulped.

"I-ill try..." She said before lighting up her horn over the other two girls. I looked to Diamond and Applebloom. I looked into their eyes and saw that same fear from before. This was why I didn't want them here in the first place, they had almost gotten hurt, and I couldn't stand for that.

Wait a sec...with my odd magic I could perhaps... I put my shades in and focused on Sweetiebelles horn.

I could almost FEEL her spell she was attempting to charge. I reached out with my hand and pressed my finger into it, all the while conjuring the mental image of the clubhouse in my mind. I watched as that image went into her horn.

Sweetiebelles eyes shot open just as I smiled weakly and whispered something to them.

"I'm sorry."

She went to react, but I activated the spell with some added power from myself, causing it to go off early enough to keep it from being canceled. I watched the three disappear in a flash of light before turning to Tak, who was shaking his head.

"You sent them home, didn't you?"

I nodded just as Roxas and Axel took some steps back from the door.

"Guys!, they're about to come in. Look normal!"

It was at that moment exhaustion from the spell decided to knock me to a knee.

"Crap!" I groaned as Tak helped me stabilize myself just as two guards walked in. They immediately spotted the bipedal elephants in the room and the lead one pointed to us.

"Hey! What are you four doing here?" She asked us as we raced to find an answer. Her partner though, some orange pegasus, looked to me with wide eyes.

"Wait a sec, sir...I think that's 12K!" He said in a slightly giddy voice while pointing to me. Now armed with an excuse, I casually walked over and did a slight bow to the guards.

"Morning boys. I am indeed 12K, and the princess of night was allowing my companions and I to rest before we did our big performance in Canterlot today."

The pegasus looked to my friends before tilting his head. "I know who you are, but who are the other three?"

I went to answer, but then Axel walked up and stood next to me on my right with a sly grin on his face. He put a hand on my shoulder and answered the guard.

"Names 9A, mid-deep singer and the eye candy of the crew." 9A...real creative, Axel.

Roxas came up on my left and smiles big while putting two fingers (pointer and middle finger) up in a greeting.

"I'm 3R, your high pitched dreamer with the smiling attitude!" Dang, they were reeeeally getting into this.

Tak stepped up next to Axel and rolled his eyes, but smiled all the same.

"And I am 6T, the baritone of the group and dance master. All together, we are..."

I could never explain what happened next, but when Tak trailed off he I somehow knew what he was going to say. So did the others. It was weird, but we made it look good by posing while saying the name of our group.

"MO30!"

We said it absolute harmony, causing the pegasus to pretty much lose his crap in the best way possible, while his friend seemed less enthused.

"Sweet Celestia, you four sound AMAZING!" He said while his partner, a earth pony that was armoured in blue armour, looked me in the eyes.

"Ya said Princess Luna let ya four stay here?" She asked me in a tone similar to Appleblooms. Even though I was telling the truth, Luna HAD allowed us to come, it felt like my insides were being examined and pulled out under her gaze.

"Y-Yeah, I did. And yes, she did."

The pony took a step back and smiled for a brief second before turning to the pegasus.

"Private Sentry! Escort our friends to their destination. They are telling the truth after all."

The pegasus saluted with a loud "Yes ma'am!" before turning to us as the lady left the room.

"Where are you four trying to get to?" He asked us with a big smile on his face. I grinned at him and answered.

"Well, we need to find a spot in Canterlot city where we can get a float or something that can move us around the city while we perform. Know anything about that?" For a moment, he thought hard before his eyes lit up.

"Oh! There's this craftsmare that showed up about a week ago. She's a retired musician, but she can make anything you ask her for! I'll escort you four there right now!" With that, Sentry turned and walked out the room.

I looked to the other three and shrugged.

"We need a float, and since the girls aren't an option, we have to branch out." They nodded and we left the room to follow after our escort/guide.

Hopefully, we would be able to make a float in time.

Author's Note:

Tada! Another chapter, another setup for something big! We are now in the running for the trial scene to happen soon.

A new child is introduced here, though not a friendly face. Azul is the spawn of blueblood AND weilds cannons at the flick of her horn? That's gonna be trouble later on.

The girls were sent home by Nicholas after having a close shave. Was that the best decision? We shall see.

And...now the boys have their name for their crew. Now if only they could make a float. Too bad Nicholas sent the girls home.

What about Larxene? What will happen to her? Next time (maybe), my fic-crazy ponies! and remember: LOVE AND TOLERATE!

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