A Warrior Among the Shadows

"Wait. Before you start can I get the rest of the girls?" asked Twilight.

"Why do you need to go get us if we're already here?" asked a pink mare.

"Pinkie! How do you eve-" Twilight Sparkle started.

"Do you really want to know?"

"No, I suppose not. It probably won't make sense anyway."

"Nope! Oh and I brought the girls."

"Can I start now?" Crescent asked some what annoyed. The pink pony kinda creeped her out.

"Oooh story time!" Pinkie squealed and grabbed some popcorn that appeared out of nowhere. Crescent's eye twitched slightly in annoyance.

"Just ignore her and continue," said a blue mare with a rainbow mane.

"Alright," Crescent began, "Well I suppose I should start with the Clans. A really long time ago there were clans in the north and the closest town or place was the Crystal Empire. There are many clans but the most important ones in this story are the Lunars and the Shades.

"Now the Clans had powers that made them fierce warriors. The Shades could receive one of three powers with one rarer than the next. In order, they are use shadow magic, converse with the creatures of the night, and the rarest of all, see and talk to the dead. Death Speak, as it was called, is so rare most believed it to be a rumor.

"The Lunars were practically wolves. They were barbaric, fierce, and above all, loyal until the end. Their powers were immense strength, heightened senses, and the shape of a wolf that they shifted into at night. Lunars don't have much control over their wolf and can't shift at will. There also were the rare elite Lyall Lycans who were resistant to dark magic and amazing at creating shields.

"Most Clans hated each other but the Shades and the Lunars were sworn enemies. The one law all Clans had that was the same was any relationships between different clans were extremely forbidden. If anyone broke this law -and nobody ever did- the punishment was death. No exceptions.

"One day, my Lunar father, who was a Lyall Lycan, was on a border patrol and saw my mother who was a Shade; it was love at first sight. They met each day at dawn because both Clans preferred the night. Almost a year later I was born."

Crescent Shade paused, gulped while holding back tears, and continued,  "At the time others were getting suspicious of my father and mother. One dreadful day my father was followed to their secret meeting spot and then his own clan mate betrayed him. My family made a run for it to the Crystal Empire.

"My kind had never seen civilization and so we went through a few rough spots in the beginning. My parents were so scared of the ponies and I grew up with no friends. My parents somehow made money and we lived in peace for thirteen years. Then King Sombra took the throne.

"My mother was made a slave with his black magic and my father blamed himself. After that my father and I stayed hidden because the magic doesn't work on Lyalls." Crescent said with tears streaming down her face and a hint of pride in her voice.

"But then King Sombra made a deal with the Clans two years later.  My father for their support in guarding the empire. When they found us they slammed the door open and my father hid me. They slit his throat and left. I don't know why those monsters didn't find me.

"I stayed with my father until h-he di-died. That day I made a vow to avenge my family and to protect others from their fate," Crescent chuckled a humorless and terrible laugh and continued, "Fate played a nasty joke on me that day because I got my cutie mark. I got my stupid cutie mark over my dead father's bloody body.

"I spent nearly five years training my body in to a weapon in the shadow so I wasn't found. I studied war tactics, battle strategies, and magic. I practiced every spell I could get my hooves on and practiced all the weapons I could find. I became so powerful that my wolf submitted to me and gave me total control over her. I then could shift any part of my body and still remain a pony.

"And so I went to kill the Lunar Clan and the Shade Clan only to find the fools had destroyed each other. There was no one left alive; all I found were dead bodies. I started running back to the empire and somehow got struck by the curse Sombra used when he was defeated.

"I woke up from the spell but still had my memories. The land had frozen over and there was dark crystal everywhere. I had awoken to King Sombrero trying to recapture the Crystal Empire and tried to stop him. I found his shadowy form and fought him even though I knew I would lose.

"He left my body to die in the cold but I survived. I had to drag myself to safety. One of the guards found me and brought me to the hospital. When I  recovered one of the doctors confronted me about my insanely fast recovery and the I ran.

"Up until now I've been running from town to town when someone thought I was hiding something." Crescent finished as she looked at her hooves.

There was silence until Fluttershy spoke, "You poor, poor thing." The yellow pony then threw her arms around Crescent and hugged her. Fluttershy paused and quietly asked, "I'm not hurting you am I?"

"No it feels- it feels nice to be hugged for once." Fluttershy squeezed her tightly and stepped back, blushing. Crescent secretly missed her warmth.

Crescent finally took notice of five other ponies in the room as Fluttershy stayed by her side. Applejack had taken off her Stetson and had a sad far off look on her face, as if she was remembering something. The blue pony looked like she wanted to hit something but Crescent wasn't sure what. Pinkie's hair had deflated and the white unicorn was using a hanker chief to dry her tears.

"I- I am so sorry you had to go through that." said Twilight

"Hey I should throw you a Welcome to Ponyville party!" exclaimed Pinkie and her hair poofed up again.

"Ponyville," Crescent snorted, "Really? Who names a town Ponyville?"

______________

Later that night Fluttershy gazed at her sleeping hybrid guest. She may be broken, Flutters thought to herself, but she still is amazing.

Fluttershy quickly and quietly left her cottage. She then came up to the shed hidden in her backyard. The shed was a bit rundown but the structure was sound. There were leaves and pieces of foliage covering the entire shack. Inside there was a set of chains bolted to the ground.

"Let's get this over with," Fluttershy murmured to herself and then fastened the chains over her hooves. Her hooves twitched and switched.