Amber's stance faltered under the glare and the aura of death surrounding the pink mare.

"2nd gear?" She tried to mock despite her fear. "P-Please! All you did was let some steam off your body."

Pinkamena said nothing, rearing her right fist back while using her left thumb to aim.

"Gum-Gum...." Pinkamena began.

"Y-You're aiming?" Amber demanded with a laugh. "Do you realize that will just give me ample time to block?" She brought her fists together, turning them into a large kite shield. "Go on. Try to hit me now!"

Pinkamena just grinned. "...Jet Pistol," she whispered.

With speeds that left Rainbow Dash gaping in amazement, Pinkamena shot towards the crystal pegasus. Amber let out a scream of disbelief and pain as her shield was split in two. Pinkamena's fist buried itself in Amber's face, throwing her off her feet.

Amber hit the ground, carving a trench twenty feet long into the snow. Pulling herself up, Amber's look of disbelief rapidly faded into one of utter rage.

"Power Fruit, huh?" Amber growled, turning her shattered shield arms into two Gatling Guns. "Master Scale will definitely want that in his army."

Amber opened fire on the pink mare. Pinkamena just grinned before the bullets slammed into the snow, creating a cloud of dust and vapor that blocked her from view.

Amber laughed in insane delight. "All three of your fruits will improve my master's army!" Amber screamed, before a tap on the shoulder caused her to turn.

Pinkamena was standing on her right. "They're called Devil Fruits," she said quietly, before socking Amber in the face again.

Amber was knocked off her feet, the fist crushing her nose and knocking her front teeth out. Before she even had a chance of rearing back in pain, Pinkamena threw her arm back, giving the punch an added spin before hurling Amber across the snowy wasteland once again.

"Rifle!!" Pinkamena shouted, slugging Amber again and keeping her in the air. Lunging into the air, Pinkie buried her fist into Amber's stomach, causing her eyes to bulge and a groan of utter agony to escape the crystal pegasus.

Amber hit the ground rolling, desperately forming her hand into another rifle. But when she whirled around, there was no sign of the pink mare.

"Where'd you go?" Amber demanded, fear threatening to crack her voice. "H-How are you doing this? How are you moving so fast!?"

"Stamp!" Pinkamena shouted, before her foot smashed into Amber's back, sending her into the ground hard enough to crack the ground and send snow flying into the air.

Amber screamed in pain, but Pinkie's Dark Side was far from done.

"And Spear!!" Pinkamena jumped up, putting her feet together, and rammed onto Amber's back a second time. As Amber's scream echoed through the wasteland, it went up an octave as Pinkamena seized her wings.

"N-No..." Amber began to beg. "Don't...!"

"Missile!" Pinkamena yanked Amber's body forward, and rammed her entire body into the mare, breaking the ground underneath them.

Leaping off the battered and now sobbing pegasus, Pinkamena darted around the mare at an impossible speed. As far as the others were concerned, Pinkamena might as well have been invisible.

But she was far from intangible. As Amber struggled to her feet, her face was bent inward again by Pinkamena's fist slamming into her cheek. Stumbling, Amber pulled up her gatling guns. With a desperate cry, she opened fire, spinning in a frenzy, but Pinkamena practically teleported behind her, seizing her wings and throwing her up and back into the snow.

Her voice cracking as she screamed in frustrated fear, Amber leaped back to her feet. Not even bothering to track the blur of dark pink, Amber whirled on Rainbow and Applejack, who were standing watching the spectacle with horrified awe.

"Show yourself," Amber threatened, her voice cracking into a strange accent as she aimed at the two mares. "Or I'll blow so many hole in yer friends, their guts will be leaken lead."

Applejacks eye's grew wide, and not just from the gatlings starting to spin.

'Leaken Lead? I've heard that threat before!' Applejack realized, just before Pinkamena appeared behind Amber.

"I'd move if I were you," Pinkamena snarled.

Both parties assumed she was talking to them. While Amber whirled on the dark pink mare, Rainbow Dash seized Applejack and flew above the fight.

"When Tartarus freezes over," Amber snarled, turning back to Rainbow and Applejack, only to find them gone.

"I wasn't talking to you," Pinkamena said, throwing both her arms back "Gum-Gum....."

'No I can't fail now,' Amber though with horror.
'Master Scale will surely punish me'. She put her arms together forming the biggest shield she could make; thicker than ten shields lined up behind each other.

"H-Ha," Amber mocked. "No way you can break this! Not even a Tundra Dragon can destroy this shield!"

But Pinkamena was undeterred. Charging forward, she pushed her arms to their absolute limit before snapping them back.

"...Jet Bazooka!!" Pinkamena boomed, as her fists slammed into Amber's sheild.

The ten inch thick shield shattered like glass, and Amber was launched into the air.

"NO WAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" she wailed, her voice fading as she sailed through the sky and vanished over the horizon.

With Amber gone, Rainbow cautiously lowered Applejack to the ground. Both of them watched Pinkamena with fear in their hearts, having seen firsthand just how strong this mare was as well as how ruthless she could be.

"I think..." Rainbow Dash whispered, for once filled with unfathomable fear, "This is why Pinkie doesn't take things seriously."

"P-Pinkie how'd," Applejack stammered, watching the steam around Pinkamena slowly cease. "How'd ya do that?"

"It's called 2nd Gear," Pinkamena growled, reluctantly putting the farmgirl's arm over her shoulder. "I thought I called it while using it," she added with a sneer. She glanced over at Rainbow Dash, who flinched away from her. "Do I need you carry you to the Empire too?"

"No, I'm good," Rainbow Dash insisted, hovering in the air before a thought made her pause. "Wait... do you... care?"

"No," Pinkamena replied with a shrug. "But Pinkie does. So I won't let you die for her sake." She grinned. "At least not yet," she added ominously.

Applejack shuddered as the dark pink mare carried her after Rainbow Dash, the pegasus doing her best not to flee. The silence made Applejack's heart hammer; despite the heat from the 2nd Gear technique, Pinkie's fur was almost as cold as the snow around her.

"So... you were saying... er... Pinkamena?" Applejack asked, desperate for some lull from the silence.

Pinkamena rolled her eyes, sighing as something seemed to nudge an answer out of her.

"2nd Gear is a technique that Eric taught us during one of our private training sessions," she explained coldly. "He said it expaneded our blood vessels, allowing our blood to pump faster, boosting our speed and strength."

The Empire came into view, and it's barriers soothed the mares with its magical warmth.

"However," Pinkamena added, showing no sign of relief from the cold. "He also told us to only use it when deemed nessessary. Since Pinkie froze up seeing all of you getting beat to Tartarus, I took over and deemed it necessary."

"Why not use it all the time?" Rainbow asked. "It's pretty awesome."

"I don't need your praise, Dash" Pinkamena growled, chilling the pegasus despite the warmth around them. "Besides," Pinkamena added. "Using it shortens our lifespan."

What?!?!" Applejack and Dash yelped in shock. Pinkamena growled and nearly shoved Applejack away.

"Calm down," she snapped. "At most I shaved a couple of years off of our life. So we won't live to be 106. Wow, what horror."

"B-But... how are you not worried about your life?" Rainbow demanded, her courage failing her when the dark pink mare glared at her.

"I'm done talking about my decisions," Pinkamena declared. "Let's just get to the Empire and get those wounds healed." She glared ahead, focusing on the hospital, where Eric Von Shadow was no doubt being healed.

'Pinkie enjoys his company alot,' Pinkamena mused, a grim smile forming as her thoughts continued. 'If he dies, I will take great pleasure in killing that mare claiming to be his wife.'

The group landed in front of the crystal castle. As the others adjusted to Echo's spell, the changeling king swept forward, Eric's bleeding body in his arms.

As he passed through the enchantments placed by King Armor and Queen Cadence, however, they burned away his disguise. The changeling king didn't notice, even as guards raced to intercept him.

"Halt! Changeling!" one of the guards yelled, blocking Echo's path.

"Please, he needs medical attention!" Echo begged, holding up Eric's body.

The guards didn't shift. "It's a trick," one of them insisted.

"It's gotta be," another agreed.

"It is no trick," Celestia declared, racing to his side. "Let him pass."

The guards blinked at Celestia herself appearing, but with Echo looking desperate, and Eric bleeding out, they reluctantly parted, letting Echo through to the hospital.

As they entered, Sombra took the lead. "This way," he declared. "I know where the medical wing is."

"Growing up here has advantages like that, huh?" Twilight mused.

"Twilight, not now," Celestia chastised. "Find your brother and Queen Cadence. We're going to need all the magic we can get."

Twilight saluted. "Yes, ma'am," she said, before vanishing with a teleport spell.

Bursting through the doors of the medical wing of the castle, Echo and Sombra set Eric on one of the empty beds. Doctors and patients alike screamed at his blood soaked appearance, before the sight of the royalty calmed their nerves.

"Please, this man need help!" Echo shouted, just as Shining, Cadance, and Twilight appeared with a flash of light.

"Um..Your Majesty??" one of the Doctors stammered, indicating Echo.

"I know what he is," Shining replied. "But right now, focus on the injured." Indicating the shadow man, the doctors and nurses rushed to his side.

As every unicorn and alicorn charged up their horns, Sombra paused, a sense of unease settling over him. Following his gut, he cast an X-Ray spell rather than a healing one.

His eyes went wide. "Stop!" he yelled, grabbing one of their horns. "STOP! EVERYONE, WAIT!"

The unicorns paused, staring at Sombra like he had gone mad.

"What do you mean, stop?!" Luna demanded. "He needs healing!"

"But some of the gatling gun pellets are still in him!" Sombra insisted, showing his X-Ray to the others, and the bullets lodged in his stomach, shoulders and arms. "If we heal him with those still inside, they'll undo all our repairs the minute he tries to move." Sombra lunged for a nearby tray of scalpels. "We have to extract those bullets first."

"And how are we going to get them out," the head doctor growled. "In case you forgot, all the surgeons were pegasi." His eyes narrowed. "Pegasi that you killed."

Briefly, guilt made Sombra's heart throb, but removed his coat and brought the surgical tools he had lunged for over to Eric.

"Not all of them," he said grimly.

Luna blinked. "You?" she asked.

"I never planned on becoming a king who just sits on his throne," Sombra replied, donning a mask and sterile gloves. "I trained in both Combat and in all forms of the medical field." He turned to the head doctor. "Dr. Onyx, I know you don't follow my command. But I beg you; cast a sterilization spell."

Dr. Onyx grumbled, but his horn lit up, and a white glow washed over the room.

"Just know," Onyx added with a glower. "I'm only doing this for Captain Von Shadow."

"Thank you," Sombra said gratefully, picking up a scalpel and forceps before turning to the others. "Ms. Sparkle," he began to order. "Cast a numbing spell on Eric. Celestia, you and Luna use a monitor spell to keep an eye on his vitals. He's already lost a dangerous amount of blood, so I will require everyone's help."

The others nodded or spoke words of agreement, while Sombra gazed at Eric's still, slowly paling body.

"You saved me from Umbra's influence, my friend," Sombra whispered quietly to Eric. "It's time I returned the favor."

Desperately, he dug into the shadow man. Rarity stood by, holding a small tray where he deposited the blood-stained bullets. Fluttershy stood on Sombra's side with a rag, wiping the sweat from his face as he worked.

Twilight focused on Eric, her numbing spell keeping him from feeling pain. However, Luna and Celestia's faces grew grim as they watched his life flicker like a dying candle.

"He's losing too much blood," Luna whispered. "H-He could go into cardiac arrest if he loses much more."

"Hang on," Cadence said, flaring her own magic. Yet despite her magic slowing the rate of the blood pooling around Eric's body, Luna's facial expression did not change.

"I-It's still too much," she whispered. She turned to Sombra. "Is there another way to save him?"

"Two," Sombra said grimly, his eyes not leaving Eric's shredded chest as he removed another bullet. "We give him a blood transfusion."

"No good," Shining said, gazing at his wife. "With the rate of blood loss, it'll just be a waste. So... option two?"

Sombra shut his eyes.

"I could....Cast...one of Umbra's spells..." he began.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! Celestia yelled, her Royal Canterlot Voice almost making the room shake. Sombra looked up at her, his eyes blood shot and brimming with unshed tears.

"Do you really think I want to dip into that bastards magic," Sombra demanded. "One of his spells was a time enchantment. I could freeze Eric's body in time, which would stop his blood loss long enough for me to repair him." He looked away. "I hate the thought of using anything that bastard cooked up, but it's the only way I see us saving Eric!"

Celestia grimaced, looking to Twilight, but the young unicorn shook her head silently, unsure how she could replicate such magic. Luna, however, stepped towards Sombra.

"Do it," she begged.

"Luna?!" Celestia screamed, scandalized. "I-I know how you think you feel..."

"It's not just that, sister," Luna snapped. "Eric knows more about the Devil Fruits than any of us! We need him if we want to save our country!" She turned back to Sombra. "Do it!"

With Celestia stammering, unable to argue, Sombra took his chance while he could. A purple aura shrouded his horn. And even though he squeezed his eyes shut, purple whisps still flickered around them.

But, as his dark spell hit Eric, his blood ceased to flow. Cadence cautiously shut off her magic, but the blood stayed right where it was. Sombra grit his teeth, steeling his mind against the negative effects of Umbra's spell.

"This isn't permanent," he moaned, blinking away the purple wisps and the purple glow on his horn. "It will only last for an hour." Despite looking winded, he dove back extracting the bullets. "I have to hurry."

Minute by agonizing minute passed. And with them, bullet after bullet dropped into Rarity's tray. As the minutes passed, and the spell began to flicker, warning everyone of its expiration, many began to gaze at each other with fear. Sombra's head was soaked with sweat, no matter how much Fluttershy tried to wipe it away. His tools trembled in his grip, nearly doing more damage to Eric. Some began to even believe that it was too late for the Shadow Man.

But, with a loud sigh of relief, Sombra yanked the last bullet out. The spell, while flickering in its final stages, still held.

"That's the last one," Sombra gasped, stepping back and promptly collapsing to the ground. Rarity nearly reached for him, but he waved her off. "Heal him," he rasped.

The unicorns turned to Eric, their spells covering him in a soft glow. Sombra, meanwhile, struggled back to his feet. Removing his bloodied gloves and mask, he left the room, holding his head in pain.

A few feet behind the former king, Fluttershy watched him with a guarded but ultimately piteous expression.

Sombra glowered at the ground, yet she could tell the only one he was angry at was himself. Angry for using the magic belonging to the king that had ruined both his life and the life of his friend.

For some time, he simply walked, Fluttershy shadowing his steps like a yellow ghost. Eventually, he stopped at a portrait. A portrait depicting a handsome stallion with Sombra's dark fur and regal expression. Yet, his eyes were different. Sombra's eyes instead resembled that of the mare next to the stallion in the portrait.

It clicked for Fluttershy the moment Sombra spoke to the portrait, as if the ponies it depicted could hear him.

"Hello Mother... Father," Sombra whispered, his eyes shutting as his anger left him. "It's good to see you both again. At least my actions couldn't besmirch your memory."

He gazed up at the painting, a small, yet broken smile creeping onto his face. Carefully, Fluttershy stepped up next to him, gazing at the portrait with wonder.

"They look so happy together," Fluttershy commented.

Sombra's only reaction to her was a slight flinch in his muscles. He gazed down, his smile fading.

"They were," he admitted. "Until my mother was taken by the changelings of the Carapax Hive."

Fluttershy turned to him with horror. "Did... um..."

Sombra's eyes shut. "We found her body," he admitted forlornly. "And Father was never the same after that. He was colder. Angrier. And yet..." Sombra gazed up at his father with regret. "He didn't deserve what happened to him."

"I-If you don't mind me asking," Fluttershy whispered. "What... happened?"

Sombra hummed, pursing his lips. "It's... complicated," he admitted. "One who doesn't understand the rankings of this kingdom might not comprehend."

Fluttershy turned to him. "Then help me understand," she invited. "How does it work?"

Sombra turned to her with surprise, but her eyes showed only genuine curiosity. A want to understand and sympathize. Touched by her kindness, Sombra began to explain.

"You see," he began. "If the royal family is killed, the role of King goes straight to the Captain of Royal Guard..."

Eric was helping me improve my swordplay. I decided to forego dinner. Ultimately a wise move on my part.

Halfway through our training, a messenger raced in.

"Prince Sombra!" he exclaimed. "Your father's been poisoned!"

There was nothing we could do for him. Only give him the grandest funeral we could afford.

The Former Captain of the Guard tried to forego the funeral. He wanted to be coronated as soon as possible. I grew suspicious. I investigated, and I discovered he had been the one to poison my father. When he discovered my knowledge, he attempted to send me the same way as my father.

Eric was the reason I didn't die that night. Instead of joining my father in the foundation of my treacherous captain's throne, I got to avenge him.

"It was not a question of who got to succeed the Captain after that," Sombra said, his hand resting under the portrait. Fluttershy gazed at him; at the lines hardening his face.

"Eric really means a lot to you, doesn't he," Fluttershy noted.

"He turned me from a spoiled foal to a honorable stallion," Sombra replied with a nostalgic smile. "He was my first friend, and if I have to become Umbra to save him... then I will do so. Without hesitation."

Sombra put his back against the wall, sliding down to the floor. His smile faded.

"That makes me a bad person," Sombra noted with resignation as Fluttershy sat next to him. "Doesn't it."

"I don't think so," Fluttershy replied, placing a hand on the unicorn's shoulder. "You're willing to sacrafice for your friend. If you ask me that makes you a great person."

Fluttershy smiled softly. Sombra briefly shared her smile, before looking away, blushing at how her smile brought out her natural beauty.

"Thank you Fluttershy," he said gratefully. "That does make me feel better."

Unfortunately, it wasn't long before their moment was interuppted.

"Sombra!"

Sombra and Fluttershy leaped to their feet. Twilight shot around the corner, frantically looking around before spotting the two.

"Sombra!" Twilight stammered, racing towards him.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's Eric," Twilight said. "He's gotten worse."

Briefly, Sombra froze in horror. "No," he thought. "Not now. Not after what I sacrificed!"

Sombra rushed past Twilight and back into the medical ward. For a moment, he heard nothing. Nothing but the very slow beeping of the princesses monitor spells. Eric lay where they had placed him, his chest rising and falling slowly, but steadily. Yet... he was also pale. Dangerously pale.

"He's lost too much blood," Sombra realized, turning to the others. "He needs a transfusion now!" He gazed among the assembled ponies. "W-Who here has blood type A Positive?"

For a horrifying moment, no one spoke.

"Please!" Sombra insisted. "Anyone?"

Still, that awful silence was his answer. Until...

"I do."

Celestia stepped forward. Never in all his time knowing her had Sombra realized just how much of a goddess she was.

"Tia," Luna asked with worry. "Are you sure?"

But Celestia gazed on Eric with regret in her eyes.

"Eric has risked his life to save us on numerous occasions," she said. "This is the least I can do for him." She sat next to him and held out her hand to Sombra.

Not waiting for her to change her mind, Sombra tied a rubber chord around her bicep, and located the vein.

Sombra seized the needle... only for Dr. Onyx to grab his wrist.

"Princess, you can't be serious," he protested.

A monstrous growl escaped Sombra, only to be silenced as Dr. Onyx aimed a scalpel at his neck.

"You'd willingly let this monster take your blood?" he demanded.

Yet Celestia's expression didn't change. "I understand your concern, Doctor Onyx," she assured him. "But in order to save this man, I will allow even Sombra to take my blood."

Dr. Onyx fumed, unaware of a familiar trio of ponies entering. His scalpel didn't lower from Sombra's neck... until a dark pink arm seized his neck.

The others stared in shock as Dr. Onyx was pulled to Pinkamena's side. Briefly, he tried to fight, stabbing at her with the syringe. But it only elicited a grim smile from her. Deflecting his stab, she broke his wrist with a sickening CRACK! Stealing the scalpel from him.

"Pinkie...?" Twilight started to stammer, only for Rainbow Dash and Applejack to push her back.

"There's nothing we can do," Applejack insisted, as Pinkie yanked the doctor's head back.

"You'd kill someone trying to save someone else?" Pinkamena growled. "You're disgraceful."

Whimpering, Dr. Onyx made a grab for his scalpel with his unbroken arm. Dodging his lunge, Pinkie drove the blade right into his eye. Briefly, screams of horror sounded, as Dr. Onyx tried to sound his own wail of agony with them. But Pinkamena cut him off, slamming her head into the handle and driving the blade further into his brain.

Dr. Onyx dropped to the ground dead.

Pinkamena glared down at his corpse, before turning her glare on at the others. Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy huddled behind Rainbow Dash and Applejack. Not even the princesses or the changeling king dared to approach.

"Is that...?" Fluttershy began.

"Pinkamena," Rarity finished, her voice cracking.

"What are you waiting for?" Pinkamena growled, her gaze turning to a stunned Sombra. "Save his life, Sombra."

Snapping out of his shock, Sombra turned to the still stunned Celestia and disinfected her arm. It was only when he inserted the needle that she snapped out of her shock, watching as he inserted the other end of the needle into Eric's arm.

Blood flowed into the thin tube and into Eric's body. Slowly but surely, Eric's breathing steadied. His heart rate returned to normal. The color returned to his skin.

Celestia blinked, and wavered on her seat, but Luna and Echo kept her from tumbling to the ground.

"Tia please," Luna begged. "Don't overdo it."

"Thank you for your concern Luna," Celestia said with a smile. "But believe me; I'm fine."

Acting fast, Sombra removed the needle, covering her arm with cotton. He bowed his head to her.

"Thank you, your Majesty," he whispered, bowing his head before her. "Thank you for saving my friend."

Celestia smiled softly down at him, before giving Eric a melancholy expression.

"No one should have to bury their loved ones," she whispered, sounding as old as the many centuries she had likely lived.

The War of Shadows Arc Ch. 5

Now just a little info, I knida wanted to have Pinkie have a split personality, in my opinion I felt the seriousness of Pinkamena vs Pinkie Pie's joy and laughter was like night and day so I felt it would be right for Pinkie to have a split personality

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)

Leave a comment and tell me what you think