Echo stumbled back as I introduced him.

“No, I…” Echo stuttered, shying away from the princess. “He… must be delirious, I wasn’t…”

Thankfully, I had chosen the right person to introduce him to. Princess Luna raised a hand for peace, her expression serene.

"I know,” she assured him.

Echo paused. “You knew?”

"I had a hunch," she admitted. She crept closer, bringing her mouth to his ear. “A hunch that was confirmed when you fed off my love.”

The changeling king lowered his head. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t…” Luna stopped him with a hand on his chest.

“No need to apologize,” she assured him with a smile. “Just… let me see the real you.”

He was reluctant. I could tell from the look in his eyes as he glanced at me. But with a nod from me, he conceded to her request. Closing his eyes and exhaling, Echo’s horn glowed, and he was engulfed in emerald flames, revealing his black, leathery skin, his curved horn, his insect like wings, and the holes in his arms and legs.

“H-Hello… P-Princess L-Luna,” he got out, bowing with a blush to his face.

Why is he stuttering? I pondered to myself. It’s not like… I had to hold back a chuckle. Holy shit, Echo’s not shy around women, is he?

The stuttering in his voice, and the blush on his face didn’t exactly state otherwise.

“Not used to talking to women?” I asked, leaning back on the medical bed.

“Shut up,” Echo said sternly. Luna giggled at his embarrassment.

Unfortunately, Luna's laughter was cut short. A rainbow streak threw Echo from us, before a golden magic aura seized him and held him to the ground.

“Changeling!” The Sun Princess bellowed, royal guards rushing into the room. “Seize him!”

“Tia, stop!” Luna boomed right back. But Celestia moved both of us aside with another wave of her magic.

“Stand back, Luna, and protect Eric,” Celestia growled, focused on the pinned changeling king as her guards formed a circle of spears around him. “We’ll handle the changeling.”

“LEAVE HIM BE!” I boomed over her.

My voice had almost as much power, if not more, than Celestia’s. In moments the guards that had surrounded Echo fell to the ground, and the golden aura around him faded and flickered. I blinked in shock.

Do I… I thought vacantly. Do I have Conqueror's Haki

"What did you do?" Celestia demanded.

"Release Echo, Celestia," I demanded right back.

"But he's..."

"If he wanted to harm anyone,” I cut her off, “He would have done so while I was suffering!" I bore down on Celestia, causing her to shrink back. “Instead, he spent three days holding me down without so much as a minute of rest!”

Celestia’s spell completely faltered as she gazed at Echo in confusion. My voice softened.

“Celestia,” I said. “You may not believe it…” I turned to Echo. “But there is such a thing as a good changeling."

I walked over to Echo and offered my hand. Without Celestia’s spells holding him down, he accepted it gratefully, and I hauled him to his feet.

“Thank you,” he mumbled. Up close, I noticed the bags under his eyes. The tremble in his legs.

I hummed, grabbing his tunic. “Thank me later,” I replied.

Confusion battled against exhaustion on his face. “What are you…?”

Before he could complete his question, I slammed my head hard into his. He went limp in my arms, out like a light.

Celestia blinked. “You… just said there’s such a thing as a good changeling,” she muttered.

“He’s been up for three days with nothing keeping him going but magic spells,” I replied, hoisting him up onto my shoulder. “Even a king needs sleep.”

"Wait,” Rainbow Dash stammered. “King?!”

I set Echo gently on the bed. “Yep,” I replied. “King Echo Silhouette; the first Changeling King.” I turned back to the princesses. “He tagged along with me so that he could negotiate peace between his Hive and Equestria.”

With my peace said, I left the room. But, of course, I didn’t leave it alone. Hearing footsteps behind me, I glanced back. Luna was following me with a small smile on her face.

“I’m truly glad you’re okay, Eric,” she said. “You worried many ponies… you…” She blushed. “You worried me.”

Silence stretched between us; I could tell she was waiting for my response.

"My chances were slim," I admitted, before turning away. "But Lady Luck has yet to give me the finger.”

I continued on, but noticed a lack of footsteps behind me. Then, I heard her voice.

"So Sombra was right."

Luna’s voice stopped me in my tracks.

"You do wish for death?” she asked. “So you can join Amber?"

I spun to face her, my vision turning red. From the way she flinched, I supposed my eyes had turned black and red. But I barely cared.

“It was you?” I growled. “You went into my dream that night?”

She backed up, her eyes widening in surprise. “I… only wished to learn…” But her voice failed her as I stepped towards her.

“You invaded a life that was never yours to know about!”

A part of me pleaded with me to stop. I was scaring her! But the other part of me didn’t care. It didn’t matter that we had gotten drunk together. She didn’t have the right to invade my privacy. She wasn’t Amber.

That thought clung to me like the shadows that served me. She’s not Amber. She never will be Amber, and she will never replace her! No one ever will!

“It wasn’t my idea,” Luna insisted, her voice cracking with fear and her eyes filling with tears.

"Keep out of my dreams!" I snarled, shadow mist pouring from my body.

Turning my back on her, I stormed down the hall. No one got in my way; I could thank the shadows pouring off me for that. Soon, I found myself outside the castle, the fresh air clearing the mists of anger from my mind.

Guilt snaked into my core; I knew I shouldn’t have chewed her out like that. It really wasn’t her fault. And yet… I gazed up at the sun. How long was it going to be before our anniversary? My internal clock ticked; a couple of months. At most.

I sighed, wandering the streets of Canterlot. Hours passed. Maybe more. When the sun was beginning to set, I finally found it in me to return to the castle.

As I returned, I noticed looks from the other nobles. They watched me like I was some disgusting bit of refuse. A freak.

But what did I care? I didn’t know them, and they didn’t know me. But then… I reached the castle. The guards in front of me readied their spears. And as I approached, they pointed them. At me!

“What is the meaning of this?” I demanded sternly.

“Behind you, sir,” the guard on the left warned.

I spun. Mere feet behind me, a hooded figure limped slowly after me and towards the castle. Stiches crisscrossed his arms and legs, making him look like a doll that had been recently ripped apart and clumsily put back together. A bloodied, serrated cleaver hung limply in his hand.

“Huh,” I mused, a scythe of shadows forming in my hands. “I didn’t even notice you following me. You must be very skilled.”

The figure said nothing. I couldn’t see his eyes under his hood, but they seemed to be watching me. Suddenly, the figure threw their cleaver.

The shadows formed around me, allowing the cleaver to pass through me without harm.

But I wasn’t who he was aiming for.

“Dusk!” one of the guards screamed.

I spun. The cleaver had gone into the neck of the guard on the right. He hit the wall and slid to the ground, choking on the metal of the blade and his own blood.

Screaming in anger, the second guard lunged past me, moving to ram her spear through his body. But the figure knocked the spear aside, grabbing the guard by the face. Under the hood, I saw teeth flash in a smile like a crescent moon.

Without warning, the second guard exploded, the shockwave throwing me through the palace doors and through several walls.

Okay, my thoughts groaned. So, the Blast-Blast fruit makes an appearance. Or Bomb-Bomb fruit, judging from the explosion. I sighed, cricking my neck. Either way, that hurt.

Dragging myself out of the rubble, I found that I had been blasted into the kitchen. Nearby, Luna was staring at me with bloodshot eyes crusted with dried tears. A tub of ice cream was pressed to her chest, and a spoon was hanging out of her mouth.

"Eric?" Luna stammered, the spoon falling out of her mouth and dropping into the ice cream.

“Raise the moon and get Rainbow and Pinkie,” I barked, leaping back towards the bombardier.

The figure had reached the guard with the cleaver in his neck. As he yanked his weapon from the guard’s throat, I saw the sun practically falling over the horizon as the moon surged up into the sky. It wasn’t instant, but it was fast enough.

However, my pondering over the sun and moon was put on hold, when the figure spoke… in a voice I recognized.

“Welcome back,” he greeted. “Shade of Umbra.” He cackled and removed his hood, revealing…

“Silver Tongue?” I stammered.

“Glad you remember me, Shade,” the former King’s advisor replied, his face a discolored mess of scars and stitches. “With all the work done on me, I was afraid you wouldn’t recognize me.”

He shed his cloak. His body underneath looked worse than Chucky from Child’s Play. What little mane he had left hung like dead worms over one of his bulging eyes, held in place only by the stitches around his socket. His wings were nothing but bones, protruding from his back, and a belt with another serrated cleaver seemed to be all that was holding his waist and torso together.

“How’d you survive?” I asked, my guard up as we circled each other. “Sombra killed the Crystal Pegasi.”

“He did,” Silver replied. “Granted, when I tried to flee… and he shot me out of the air,” he added with a snarl, “My heart didn’t stop when I hit the snow of the frozen north. Instead, I got to live long enough to find out I landed on top of a Tundra Dragon.” His sneer was distorted by his scars, giving him a disturbing Glasgow grin. “And I think you know how territorial those creatures are.”

I winced. More than anyone, I wanted to reply.

“But,” Silver continued. “Someone saved me. Kept me alive for a thousand years. Of course, my heart stopped eventually… but then my master saved me. Used his powers on my corpse.”

I formed a scythe from the shadows. “What did he do?”

“He gave me life with the shadows,” Silver explained, his distorted grin widening. “And bestowed upon me the power to create explosions. Anywhere on my body.” He indicated the messy remains of the second guard.

It clicked.

The Bomb-Bomb Fruit, I remembered. Allows the user to create explosions from anywhere on their body. Spit, boogers, the very air they exhale… my eyes widened, and I took a big step back. Best keep my distance, I reminded myself. Rely solely on my long ranged attacks and my gun.

"Eric!!" In a flash, Rainbow Dash was at my side, crimson flames licking her body.

"Where's Pinkie?" I asked, drawing my pistol.

"Behind you," Pinkie said cheerfully, before her hand tapped at my back.

"Rainbow, Pinkie,” I explained. “This pony has the powers of the Bomb-Bomb fruit. He's a literal walking bomb!"

Rainbow Dash grinned and cracked her knuckles. "I got this," Rainbow said.

"No!!"

But before I could stop her, she shot at the zombie pony. Smiling, Silver lifted his hand, catching Rainbow’s flaming fist. As their hands connected, Silver fired off a massive explosion. Rainbow was rocketed back faster than she had charged. I formed a claw of shadows and caught the idiotic pegasus like a baseball, but the impact nearly knocked me off my feet.

“As I was saying,” I growled, cowing the cyan mare. “For us Logia types, his explosions won’t do damage, but the force will still throw us back.” I turned to Pinkie. “Pinkie, his explosions will cause burn damage, but your main concern is his cleavers. You remember what I told you about your primary weakness?”

“Slashing and piercing weapons,” she recited. “Big no-no!”

"Good,” I said with a smile. At least one of them had the sense to listen to me. “Now pull your attacks back if he goes to cut. Got it?"

"Okie Dokie Loki," Pinkie said, lowering her stance while I let shadows pour off my body.

“Well, sounds like this will be fun,” Silver noted, unhooking his second cleaver.

For a moment, we glared each other down, all Devil Fruit Users. All waiting for the first move.

After a moment of deliberation, Silver charged forward. Firing explosions from his feet and back, he blasted his way towards us, while throwing his second cleaver at Pinkie. The pink mare dodged and threw a punch at the dead pony’s face. Her punch ricocheted him away from the three of us.

Yet, as Rainbow and I moved to follow up on the attack, I noticed a metal wire around his arm. I just started to follow the wire’s path when he yanked on it. The cleaver flew back to his hand, cutting into Pinkie’s side on the way.

"Pinkie!" Rainbow yelled.

The pink mare replied with a hiss, clutching her bleeding side and staggering away.

I moved to help her, when pain exploded from my right shoulder. I gagged and snatched at whatever had hit me, my fingers closing over something that felt like a head. Roaring in rage, I threw whatever I had caught in front of me. Someone tumbled to the ground, but I didn’t have time to see who. The pain was still coursing from my shoulder all through my body, and worst of all… it was making me tired. Weak. Like only one thing could do.

Sea Prism, I realized with a chill, going for whatever had been embedded in my back. I pulled out a curved dagger with mysterious runes carved into the side. I had no idea what the runes were for. But the fact that it was made of Sea Prism was bad enough.

Movement in front of me reminded me of the person who stabbed me in the first place, and I hurled the dagger at the figure. The figure dodged, but I got a good look at him; another pegasus, stitched up just as much if not worse than Silver. However, this one had scales on parts of his arm and body. He grinned a distorted smile at me before vanishing from view.

Fuck me, my thoughts cursed. We've got the Bomb-Bomb and the Clear-Clear fruit user, and they’ve got blades made from Sea Prism stone. You got any other headaches to give me, universe?!

Thankfully, the universe seemed to be willing to cut me a break for now. Looking up, I saw the moon had reached its peak. I also saw hundreds of bats in the air. All of them converged on the entrance, where I spotted Fluttershy bandaging up Pinkie Pie. A bat was perched on her shoulder, while Rainbow battled with Silver, knocking him back and forth as a ball of rainbow colored fire while Silver futilely tried to blast her.

Suddenly, Fluttershy’s ears perked. She turned to the bat on her shoulder before spinning to Rainbow as she skidded to a stop before Silver.

"Rainbow, behind you!” Fluttershy screamed.

Not even questioning it, Rainbow jumped up, as the Clear-Clear fruit user stumbled forward, his dagger back in hand.

"What are you doing!?" Silver screamed. “You were supposed to kill her"

"Not my fault,” the other pony argued. “The yellow one saw me somehow!”

As I exchanged a look with Fluttershy, it clicked in my mind. The bats! Fluttershy’s Devil Fruit let her understand all animals. And bats had echo-location; they could detect the Clear-Clear fruit user no matter how invisible he tried to make himself.

“Alright,” I said gladly, my own power rising with the darkness of night. “Rainbow, focus on protecting the others.”

“You got it,” Rainbow replied, planting herself before Pinkie and Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy,” I continued. “Tell your bat friends to keep an eye on that invisible pony. Don’t let him get the jump on us, got it?”

“Y-Yes… I understand,” Fluttershy replied. Her voice wavered, but she stood tall alongside Rainbow Dash, trying her best to look brave.

Forming another scythe in my hands, the dead advisor and I circled each other like wolves.

"Your master must be good,” I commented, twirling my scythe in hand. “If he was able to make your friends weapons out of Sea Prism stone.”

“Sea Prism?” Silver asked, his grip tightening on his cleaver. “I have no clue what that is. My master forged our weapons using his own fire.”

His own fire? Before I could ask more, Fluttershy cried out.

“Eric! On your right!”

I swung right with my fist; the crack of a broken nose and the feeling of cartilage bending under my knuckles was my reward. Silver’s crony faded into view, holding his nose and cursing. Forming a claw over my arm, I back-handed the sneak into the castle. Silver tried to take advantage of my distraction, but I slashed with my scythe, forcing him back. We went back to circling each other.

“So, what’s your big plan?” I asked, moving my scythe to my claw arm and forming another claw over my freed hand. “Kill me and the other fruit users?”

Silver chuckled. “You always were good at seeing plans, Shade,” he commented. “My master wants an entire army of power fruit users. And he knows how to get the power fruits from those who have reaped their rewards.”

I snorted in laughter. “Power Fruits? Seriously?” I asked. “That’s what you call them?”

Silver blinked, his distorted grin fading in confusion.

“Silver,” I chastised. “They’re called Devil Fruits.”

“And your master can’t have them!” another voice boomed. I didn’t need to look; I knew that Luna had joined Fluttershy, Rainbow and Pinkie, along with the rest of the Mane Six from the way Silver’s eyes widened in nervousness.

Taking advantage of his distraction, I swiped at him with my left claw. The stallion dodged and tried to knock me back with an explosion. But the shadows of the night came to my aid, and the blast was little more than wind blowing on my chest. I took another swing at Silver with my scythe, but he fired an explosion from his chest, backing far out of range.

“You won’t win, Silver,” I taunted. “My Devil Fruit’s a Logia-Type. Your explosions do nothing to me!”

“Not against you, maybe,” Silver admitted, reaching behind his back and breaking off one of his wing bones. Despite it looking rather painful, his sneer didn’t fade. “But what about them?”

His eyes darted to the mares. In the second it took me to follow his gaze, he put the bone to his mouth… and I saw that the bone was hollow.

A blow gun! My thoughts screamed in realization.

Silver shot a breath through the tube. I reached out to cover the ponies, but his crony came out of nowhere, stabbing my arm and cutting off control to my powers.

Three explosions blocked the ponies from my view. My heart dropped when I heard their screams. But when the smoke cleared… Pinkie Pie stood in front of everyone. Her head, leg and chest were all bleeding. Her hair was deflated, and cast a shadow over her eyes as she breathed heavily.

“No one…” she growled. “Hurts… my… friends…”

Despite her vow, she was staggering. I didn’t know how long she could hold herself up. I slammed my head into the pony stabbing me, and yanked his dagger from my arm.

“Rainbow!” I ordered. “Get Pinkie to the medical ward. Same as the rest of you!”

“But we can help!” Luna insisted, only to stammer to a stop as the shadows began to swirl around me.

“Believe me,” I said. "You're not going to want see what I do next!"

Taking the hint, Luna and the Mane Six bundled Pinkie inside. Well… almost all of them. Fluttershy stood off to the side, speaking quietly with her bat friend, as the bat’s ears twitched and it searched for the invisible pony.

But I had no time to worry about the yellow mare. My focus was on Silver, who was backing up in shock as the shadows encased me in night-black armor.

"You should feel honored, Silver Tongue,” I growled. “For you get to witness my ultimate Shadow creation. The Shadow Reaper!”

Silver stared up at me with fear. The shadows had completely encased me in a twenty foot tall cloak of darkness. An extremely large skull covered my face, giving me the look of a real Grim Reaper. My scythe had grown to an impressive size, the blade alone was twice the length of Silver's entire body.

"W-What are you waiting for?” Silver ordered at what seemed to be empty air. “Kill him!"

But his partner slowly faded back into view. His terrified eyes darted from Silver to me and then back to Silver… and then back to me.

“Oh, buck this,” he muttered. Tossing his daggers aside, he took to the air. “I’m outta here!”

“You coward!” Silver screamed. But before he could try to fire an explosion at his traitorous ally, the pony turned invisible. Silver Tongue was on his own.

Screaming in both fear and frustration, Silver blasted several explosives at me. But with a swing of my scythe, I cut through not only the explosions… but also his neck.

As Silver’s head detached from his body, his eyes widened for the last time in disbelief. Bringing my scythe back around, I cut cleanly through his head and down the middle of his body. Before the four quarters could hit the ground, I gave the scythe several more swings, slicing and dicing him until all that was left was a red puddle of what looked like chunky tomato sauce. With a slow breath, I let the shadows depart from me, returning to their proper places as the Shadow Reaper faded away. Faintly, I heard Fluttershy’s bat twittering.

"Where is he?" I asked the mare.

Listening to her bat for a moment, she grabbed one of Silver’s cleavers, and handed it to me before pointing. Taking careful aim, I threw the cleaver… and was rewarded with a scream of pain. The pony’s arm turned visible as it plummeted to the earth. A few seconds later, it’s owner became visible as well, shrieking bloody murder as he clutched at his stump. I summoned a shadow tendril, and the pony took a moment from mourning his arm to turn invisible again. But when I launched my tendril, it wrapped around his severed arm, bringing it back to me.

“Um… pardon me,” Fluttershy mumbled. “But I think you missed.”

"Nope,” I replied. “I got what needed.” I held up the arm proudly. Fluttershy shivered at the sight, sub-consciously holding her own arm.

"W-What good will that do?" she asked.

I indicated the white scales sewn into the arm; snow white and glistening like diamonds. “You see these scales?” I asked. “There’s only one creature that has scales like this.”

“They are… rather pretty,” Fluttershy commented, before her ears pricked. “Wait. Only one creature?”

“These are scales from a creature in the Frozen North,” I explained. “These are the scales of a Tundra Dragon.”

The War of Shadows Arc Ch. 1

Alright so the new Arc is now up and if your a True One Piece fan you should know what Devil fruit we're up against in this arc

if you want your Oc in this fanfic just put this in the comments or meesage me
Name:
Race:
Description:
Devil Fruit:(optional)
Backstory:(Their backstory will determine whether or not if I can use them)

Also Looking to do a crossover chapter with other displaced writers. Any are welcome