I awoke feeling like steel boots were being marched on my brain. Groaning, I sat up, clenching my throbbing head. Slowly I get up from the bed and stand. But the sunlight coming in from the window quickly sent me back down.

"Eric,” Sombra greeted me with a chuckle. “You smell like Granddads wine cellar.”

I opened one eye to glare at him; one eye was all my throbbing head would allow.

“You better find a place to hide before this headache ceases,” I grumbled, laying back on the bed. “’Cause you know I have little to no mercy.”

As I waited for the pain in my head to subside, I found myself reflecting on the night from before. A smile briefly glowed on my face at the thought of Luna. But then Amber’s face flashed before my eyes, dispelling the thought and replacing it with guilt.

My headache had just subsided right when the door clicked and swung open. Shining Armor stood in the doorway, along with four other guards.

"The Princesses are ready to see you," Shining said holding two cuff links up. “Both of you.”

"Don't bother," I grumbled. "Those cuffs won't stop me. And they certainly won't stop me from getting them off of Sombra.”

Shining Armor’s glare didn’t falter, but he shoved the cuffs back into the arms of his guards. “Then prove we don’t need them,” he dared.

Shrugging, I pulled myself to my feet. And together, Sombra and I let Shining Armor and his men lead us back to the Princesses’ throne room.

Luna didn’t make eye contact with me when we entered. There was also a tint of red in her cheeks, and she nursed her head with her right hand. Celestia, on the other hand, glared at me with more than a faint recollection of last night’s events.

"King Sombrahesta,” Celestia announced. “Eric Von Shadow.” Luna flinched at her sister’s volume. That or my name. "The two of you have committed crimes against the people of the Crystal Empire; the people you have sworn to protect."

Sombra bowed his head in regret. I glanced at him, tempted to put a hand on his shoulder. But I ultimately decided against it.

"First and foremost,” Celestia continued. “King Sombrahesta; for giving into the power of Umbra the Dark, me and my sister have decreed that you shall be stripped of both your title and your kingdom and the Crystal Empire shall be in the care of Princess Mí Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor. Henceforth, they are dubbed King and Queen of the Crystal Empire."

Sombra’s eyes widened in shock, but he kept his head bowed.

“Very well, your majesty,” he said solemnly. “I accept my punishment. I only pray the Prince and Princess take better care of my Empire than I did.”

Celestia nodded, before turning to me.

"Eric Von Shadow" she declared. "Reaper of the Crystal Empire, and Captain of the Crystal Royal Guard. Like Sombra, for allowing the power of Umbra the Dark to soil this land once more, you shall be stripped of your title and kingdom. And sentenced…”

Celestia paused

“Amber,” I whispered, Sombra glancing at me in worry. “I'm coming.” But then Celestia finished her sentence:

"To be imprisoned within your own shadow til the end of days."

I looked up, my eyes wide in horror.

“No,” I whispered, falling to my knees. But even as I spoke, six ponies came into view around me. Gold necklaces adorned their necks, save for the familiar lavender unicorn, who wore a gold crown.

“Please, just kill me,” I begged. The six ponies stepped back, eyes wide and jaws agape. Even Celestia and Luna’s eyes flickered in disbelief. The only one not surprised was Sombra, who turned his head away with guilt.

“We don’t kill,” Celestia said firmly. “Even one such as yourself.”

Anger clouded any doubt or hesitation. I shot my arm forward. Six tendrils of shadow seized the gold items, and tore them from their owners.

"Would you kill someone who destroys these?" I snarled, a hand of shadow encompassing the elements.

Celestia rose to her feet. But before she could do anything other than grimace in rage, the entire room shook. A rumble like an earthquake rattled the floor beneath us. They were accompanied by the BOOM of the doors slamming open. A guard raced forward, his armor scorched and his eyes wide in panic.

"Princess Celestia!" the guard gasped. "Princess Luna! Pirates! Just outside the city! They're destroying everything!"

For a brief moment, terror flickered across the princess’ face. But when Celestia spoke, it was in the same calm and stern voice that nearly sentenced me to a fate worse than death.

"Send out the Navel Guard!” she ordered. “Protect the citizens at all costs!"

Celestia and Luna turned to each other, and with a flash of midnight blue and sunlight gold, armor adorned their figures, and weapons appeared in their hands. A golden mallet with an impression of the sun stamped into the mallet section for Celestia. And twin swords for Luna, the blades curved into crescent hooks-like sickles.

"My Little Ponies," Celestia declared, marching to the nearest balcony. "Prepare for battle!"

As the ponies rushed to battle formations, Celestia turned to Sombra and me. With a golden flare of magic, she snatched the gold jewelry back from me.

"Return these two to their cell,” Celestia declared, giving me an odd look. “We'll deal with them after we deal with the pirates."

And as another rumble shook the ground beneath us, Sombra and I were forced back to our cells. As we were shoved back inside, I noticed the ship of the pirates just outside our barred window.

Red as blood. Waving a flag displaying some skull and crossbones in front of a bolt of lightning. On top of three stars.

I slouched, my back to the window and my head in my hands.

"Why?" I ask to no one… and yet everyone. "Why can't I just die?"

Almost in answer, a pain in my left cheek surged up. The blow knocked me right off my bed. Looking up, I found Sombra glaring down at me, his eyes alight with the fires of rage. His teeth gritted in frustration.

“Enough, Eric!” Sombra declared. His glare faltered. “You were there when my father was murdered. You were there to protect me from my father’s killer.” He looked back at me. “You are the strongest person I know. But right now, as you are, I could take you down.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’d consider it a blessing at this point,” I muttered, looking away.

"Eric,” Sombra insisted. “Amber would want you to be strong. To live…"

But he had made a mistake. I surged up from the ground, nearly wrapping my shadow claws around his throat.

“Who are you to lecture me about what she’d want?!” I snarled, my voice growing demonic. “You don’t even have the right to say her name!”

But Sombra stood tall, glaring into the face of what easily could’ve been his death without fear.

"I don't care," he said. “Kill me if you must. But only after I say what needs to be said.”

Anger still begged me to put an end to his life. But some small part of me – the stupidest, most naive part that had believed, through thick and thin, that my old friend was still somewhere in the demon he had become – begged me to listen. It held me at bay long enough for him to sit down, sigh and speak.

"Amber spoke to me one day,” he began. “While she was waiting for you to finish with training the guards…"

We were at the doorway that led to the Royal Training Grounds. She was watching you train the newest recruits.

“Sombra?” she suddenly said, gaining my attention.

"Yes, Amber," I asked.

"Can you promise me something?" she asked, looking at me with those big eyes.

"Depends on what it is,” I replied coyly.

"You said Eric was a Shade, correct?"

"From what my Father and his advisor said,” I replied, looking back at you. “Not a normal one, admittedly. But no one knows what else to call him.”

“In what way is he… not normal?” she asked.

I looked back at her with a smile. “Shades typically have no free will of their own. Yet, he not only fell in love with you, but married you. All of his own free will.”

“But Shades are… immortal?” she persisted.

"Yes,” I answered. “A quality he may yet have in common with them.”

Amber nodded, her eyes lost in thought.

“Then I want you to promise me,” she said. “That if I ever die…” She looked back at you, just as you were dismissing the guards. “You will tell Eric to move on so he can be happy. All I want is for Eric to be happy. No matter what.”

“No matter what,” Sombra repeated quietly, finally looking down.

I stared at him. No longer in anger. But the emotion that replaced the anger… I couldn’t describe it. Sadness? Loneliness? Regret? Nothing came close.

I shook my head, turning away and sitting back down.

“I can’t live without her, Sombra,” I whispered.

Sombra knelt in front of me. When I looked up, I saw genuine pity in his eyes. A reminder that this really was my friend. And not the demon that had taken him all those years ago.

"I've fulfilled my promise," he said, his hand resting on my shoulder. "Now, it’s up to you on what you’re going to do next."

I looked down, pondering what exactly I could do next. At that very moment, the door swung open. Once again, Shining Armor stood in the doorway. But he was different. Far different.

His breathing was ragged. His arm had been stained a vicious red, leading up to a gray metal dagger buried deep into his shoulder.

"Help!" Shining Armor gasped out, before stumbling into the cell.

Instantly, I caught him, and put him onto the bed. I gripped the blade.

"This is going to hurt, Captain,” I said. He just nodded with a grimace.

“I can take it,” he insisted. He didn’t sound as assured when I yanked the blade from his arm. His cry nearly shattered the window.

“Suck it up, buttercup,” I growled, using the sheets to apply pressure to the wound. I turned to Sombra. “Belt! Now!”

Sombra understood, removing his belt and passing it to me. With a quick wrap and a twist, the flow of blood slowed by a thankful margin.

“Keep pressure,” I barked.

Sombra obeyed, taking my place at the wound as I leaped over to Shining Armor’s other side. I checked his pulse, nodding as his heart eased up, and his breathing calmed.

“Now… what happened?” I asked the captain.

“We were doing so well,” Shining Armor whispered. “Celestia and Luna were more than a match. But then… the pirate captain…” He shook his head. “I don’t understand it; Luna herself cut the captain down. But then… her body parts… started separating and flying around…”

My eyes widened. The chop-chop fruit, I thought with trepidation.

“She got the princesses…” Shining Armor continued. “My sister and her friends too… My sister used her magic to transport me here…”

Shining Armor grabbed my coat with his free hand, but his eyes were alight with desperation.

“I know we’re not exactly friends,” Shining Armor said. “But I’m begging you… save them.”

I gripped his hand, and nodded grimly.

“You have my word,” I promised, before dropping into the shadow of the room

I struggled to get back to my feet, but they refused to work. My beloved sister Celestia was barely conscious. Daggers riddled her back like porcupine quills. Her armor lay in pieces around her lost weapon.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" the Pirate captain laughed above our six greatest warriors. "Even with all your magic, not a single one of you pathetic ponies could land a single hit!"

"Lightning Dust?!" Rainbow Dash screamed. She struggled to pull herself up, a dagger between her wings. “Why… How?” The captain glared down at the cyan mare with eager vengeance in her eyes.

"You got me kicked out the Wonderbolts,” Lightning Dust replied, twirling a dagger in her hand. “It only makes sense that I’d keep tabs on all six of you. So, once I received and mastered my new powers, I’d be able to enact my revenge!”

"You won't get away with this!" Twilight hissed. She tried to use her magic, but Lightning Dust threw another dagger, cutting Twilight’s magic spell off with a burst of magical static.

"I just did..." Lightning Dust started to say… only for a black scythe to cut into her body.

"There was a reason I was known as The Reaper of the Crystal Empire," A deep voice boomed, as the top of Lightning Dust's body flew away, her legs following after.

A smile grew on my face. Eric Von Shadow had joined the fray.

"Eric," I whispered in gratitude.

"Who the hell are you?!" Lightning Dust screamed, reforming with a shocked and angered expression.

"My name matters not to the likes of you," Eric replied, spinning his weapon around his hand. "But you may call me the Reaper."

"I'll call you a dead man!" Lightning Dust growled, pulling out a red rod. Biting the top, the rod began to spark, and the pirate captain threw it into the air. The rod produced an explosion of color.

"Nice firework, but that won't save..."

BANG! Metal hit the castle walls. I blinked in dumbfounded horror.

The entire top half of Eric’s body was gone. The entire area was painted with black stains.

“Eric?” I whispered, unwilling to believe. “Eric?!” This man couldn’t die. Not because my sister and I were weak!

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!” Lightning Dust cackled insanely. “Looks like I win! Again!”

But suddenly, her laugh turned into a scream of pain. My head whipped back to the pirate captain. Her wrist was being held by a black tendril coming from one of the stains. One by one, the other stains sent out tendrils, quickly binding the pirate in oily black webs.

"What the hell is this?!" the pirate captain demanded.

"You can't use your powers if there's nothing to separate!"

Turning back to Eric's body, I saw the surrounding shadows were converging on his legs. His body was reforming!

I began to smile, while Lightning Dust’s smile was replaced by fear.

"What...What are you?" she whimpered, as his head reformed.

"I?” he mused. Even masked, I could hear the smile in his voice. “I… am The Shadow Man.”

A large black tendril erupted from his chest and wrapped around Lightning Dust’s legs. As the pirate captain screamed and clawed the ground, the tendrils began to pull her into the shade.

“HELP!” she cried, looking to the very ponies she had just tortured and hurt. “PLEASE HELP ME!”

But the ponies did nothing. To injured or too unwilling to extend mercy. And as Lightning Dust was slowly sucked into Eric’s shadow body, the last thing any of us saw was the Pirate's hand, making one final, desperate bid for freedom. Then it, too, was pulled into shadowy darkness.

Eric removed his mask with a sigh. Lifting his hands, his shadows carried us back to the castle.

“Thank you, Eric,” I whispered in sincere gratitude.

He barely looked at me. His expression was blank.

“Sure,” he muttered softly. His voice quiet. Contemplative.

We arrived at the medical wing in a matter of seconds. My heart relaxed as I noticed Shining Armor already there. Quickly recovering. Setting down the ponies, I set myself down. I didn’t get long to rest before I heard one of the doctors scream.

I spun, and had to resist screaming myself. The pink mare – Pinkie Pie, I believe her name was – had stretched her arm across the room – literally, across the room - to place her finger on Rainbow Dash’s nose.

“Boop,” she teased.

Without hesitation, I shot across the room and seized her wrist. She flinched, but otherwise showed no pain. I was able to stretch and squish her arm like a rope of clay or rubber. When I snapped it back towards her, it went back to her with no trouble. And when I grabbed her arm again, I was able to stretch it until it formed a small pile beneath me.

Her bodies like rubber. That's the powers of the Gum-Gum Fruit!

"When did this happen?" I asked.

"Well,” she chattered. “A week ago, I was wrapping up a party that I set up for one of the fillies in Ponyville, when I noticed a weird melon was with the fruit I had brought. I had no idea how it got there, so I figure it would be tasty. I took a bite out of it and it was absolutely nasty! But since then, my entire body’s been able to stretch like rubber!" She paused. “Do you think it had something to do with the punch?”

“No,” I growled, turning away. “The Devil Fruit.”

"Devil Fruit?” Twilight asked.

"A Devil Fruit is a fruit that grants the person who eats them incredible powers differing between three types. Paramecia, which provide abilities like Pinkie’s here.” I stretched her arm again for emphasis. “Then there’s Zoan, which turns the user into either half or full animal. and the rarest and most dangerous type: Logia. Which turns the users into elements of nature such as, Fire, Ice…" I flared my own powers. “Or Shadow.”

Celestia rubbed her chin. “And you know about this… because you ate one,” she reasoned. “The… Shadow Logia fruit?”

“The Shade-Shade Fruit,” I corrected, turning to her. "And if there are Devil Fruits in this world, then we need to stop them together.”

Somewhere along the line the main 6, Eric, and Sombra will be facing off against other ponies/pirates who misuse their Devil Fruit Powers. If you would like your Oc in this fanfiction simply put their name, race, description and the devil fruit you want them to use, However the Rumble-Rumble, Flame-Flame, And Dark-Dark fruits are already taken. Oh and the thing that took off Eric's top half was a cannonball in case you didn't figure that out

Leave a comment and tell me what you think