//------------------------------//
// 12: Guest of Honor 
// Story: The Dark Crusader 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

	Twilight, who was already sort of used to how Crimson acted around his mother, was honestly surprised by how friendly that the latest alicorn was with her mother. Crimson hated Princess Celestia with a passion, but Nightfury seemed to be an exact opposite of her cousin, which made Twilight smile just a bit. According to the book Nightfury was just like her in some ways, they both liked to study whatever caught their interest and she was sure that they could share countless stories about their experiments.

"How long was I gone anyway?" Nightfury asked, after spending the last five minutes just hugging her mother and finally separating from her just a tiny bit, "The last thing I remember before the storm swallowed me whole was when I was flying over the Everfree, heading home with the Sigil of Air that I had studied the night before."

"You've been gone ... a thousand years ... cousin," Crimson coughed, landing near them and looking completely worn out, "I ... underestimated how powerful that spell would be."

"You have my thanks dearest nephew," Luna said, wiping some of the tears from her eyes, "for reuniting me with my daughter."

"Wait a second here, a thousand years?!" Nightfury asked, her eyes widening as she looked around and realized that the pristine castle she was expecting was now a ruin, "What happened to our home? I remember this area being full of windows, constructed walls and ceilings, and hallways that could get you wherever you wanted."

"A thousand years of neglect will do that I'm afraid," Celestia commented, knowing that it was also because of the painful memories that reminded her of when she and Luna had fought, "but, now that you and Crimson are back, we're going to rebuild the entire castle for the two of you to start your kingdom."

"The Everfree Kingdom?" Nightfury gasped, her eyes lighting up as she stared at her aunt, "Are you serious? We're actually going to start the construction of the kingdom that was supposed to rival Canterlot?"

"My student, Twilight Sparkle, came here with Crimson yesterday," Celestia continued, noting her niece's excitement towards the project, "they made some notes about what needed to be repaired from all the damage and what needed to be added to make the castle even better than before."

"Twilight Sparkle?" Nightfury said, loving the idea of meeting her aunt's personal student, "So, when do I get to meet this Twilight Sparkle? She sounds like the kind of mare that would know a lot about magic and how to reconstruct most of the wards that have broken over the last thousand years."

Twilight wasn't the only one who was surprised that Nightfury had completely overlooked the extra alicorn in the ruined chamber, but she didn't blame her for not noticing her. After all, she had literally just escaped from a powerful storm, thanks to Crimson for planning for this event for the last thousand years, and had been reunited with her family. Twilight didn't blame her for not noticing her, she would have done the same thing if she had been in Nightfury's place, though she cleared her voice and drew the alicorn's attention to her.

"That would be me," Twilight said, beckoning to herself before pointing to Spike, "I am Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, and this is Spike, my number one assistant. It is a pleasure to meet you Nightfury."

She wasn't exactly sure what to say to an alicorn who had been trapped in a storm for the last thousand years, but she figured that her name and what she was the princess of was a start. She also wasn't sure that Nightfury was going to do when she learned that there was a Princess of Love, Cadence, running the Crystal Empire to the north of Canterlot.

"Another alicorn?!" Nightfury exclaimed, rushing to Twilight's side and immediately started looking over her, "Oh my, I see now, the Elements of Harmony did this to you didn't they? I can feel their magic all around you, as if you've used them countless times in the past. Oh, wait, where are my manners? I am Nightfury, Princess of Darkness."

"Darkness?" Twilight asked, not exactly following what it meant at the moment.

"Yeah, I basically keep the boundaries between us and the shadows at bay," Nightfury remarked, pulling back and stopping by her mother, "Shadows are basically monsters that thrive on trying to enter Equestria and cause as much havoc as possible, by taking over some ponies form and doing whatever they wanted."

"I suggest that we move back to Ponyville," Celestia commented, beckoning for all of them to move out of the ruined castle, "I'm sure there will be plenty of time for the two of you to compare notes. Luna and I will have to return to Canterlot before the morning hits so we can make up the paperwork that you'll be needing Nightfuty, as a proper princess of Equestria. There will be plenty of time to get you up to speed on what's happened in the last thousand years, so you don't need to worry about anything tonight."

--------------------------------------------

Instead of flying out of the Everfree Forest, the remnants of the storm still hanging around above the trees, the group of alicorn's spend a good hour and a half walking before they left the forest. During that time Nightfury decided to get better acquainted with her new research buddy, asking Twilight question after question about the last thousand years. Each was different from the last, as one question was about how she had gotten a dragon for an assistant and another was about the Crystal Empire. Twilight was more than happy to answer the questions, though she could tell that Crimson was not in the mood for the constant chatter and suspected that he'd drift off to sleep the moment they got back to the castle.

When they finally reached the sign that told ponies about the forest Pinkie Pie stepped out from behind it, causing Nightfury to stop in her tracks and stare at the mare. Pinkie, on the other hoof, approached the group, gave Nightfury a card with a balloon attached to it, before vanishing behind the sign with a puff of confetti. She gently opened the card and found an invitation to a party the following day, which confused her and made her look to Twilight for answers.

"Just Pinkie being Pinkie," Twilight said, smiling to herself before getting serious, "She's like that sometimes, as she'll invite new ponies that come to the town to a welcome party in which a large number of ponies come to party and welcome the new pony to town. She did the same thing to Crimson not too long ago, but at least she gave you an advanced warning about it. I wouldn't worry about it too much."

Pinkie appearing like that made Nightfury launch into a whole new set of questions for Twilight to answer, all of them directed towards the pink mare she had just met. Twilight gave her the answers that she knew off the top of her head, knowing that trying to understand how Pinkie worked was like trying to make Discord give up Chaos completely. It just didn't work. Twilight made sure to tell her all about the time she actually experimented on Pinkie, trying to understand her, and tried to get the point across that it wasn't worth the headache in the long run. Nightfury seemed disappointed about not being able to understand Pinkie, but that didn't stop her from asking questions about her and the rest of her friends.

When they reached the castle Princess Celestia and Princess Luna bid them farewell and took off, but not without Luna taking a moment to hug her daughter once more. They were needed in Canterlot in the morning, so Twilight didn't bother them with any questions about her newest castlemate and watched them disappear into the distance. Once the Princesses were gone Twilight opened the doors and let both of the alicorn's enter without delay, watching Crimson walk upstairs and closing the door to the room he had slept in before. Twilight chuckled a bit before showing Nightfury to one of her spare rooms, this one actually having a bed in case one of her friends wanted to spend the night in the castle.

"So," Nightfury said, taking in the room she was going to stay in and finding a chest to deposit her jewelry in, "when do you think we can start the reconstruction of the castle?"

"Well, with as bad as the castle is looking right now," Twilight replied, remembering the notes she had made, "I'd have to say that we could start as early as the middle of next week. We still have to get all the workers to the castle, which means we need to clear a pathway between Ponyville and the castle for them to safely traverse the forest. Something like that would take at least two days, maybe three depending on how many times the denizens of the forest decide to strike out at us."

"I might be able to help with that," Nightfury commented, shaking her head before dropping her crown into the chest, "but right now I am desperately in need of some sleep. After all, I've been in trapped in a storm for so long and its nearly impossible for somepony to sleep when all they hear is the sound of roaring wind."

Twilight had no comment for that statement and wished Nightfury a good nights sleep, closing the door as gently as possible before returning to her own room. Spike, having gone back to their room the moment they entered the castle, was already asleep by the time she reached her room, not that she blamed him. There had been a storm, a surge of magic that she was pretty sure every unicorn in all of Equestria had felt, and the arrival of Princess Luna's daughter. The day had been exciting, but it had passed by so fast that Twilight wasn't even sure how it was possible, until she considered that it had been nighttime when the storm had arrived.

Twilight let out a yawn before climbing into her own bed, knowing that the next day was going to be even stranger now that she had another alicorn to deal with.

--------------------------------------------

Morning, when it arrived, was annoying for Twilight, but she dragged herself out of her bed when she smelled somepony making pancakes and caught the hint of syrup. She made her way to the kitchen and found both Crimson and Nightfury sitting at the table, one discussing the finer points of magic while Crimson just released another puff of smoke. Twilight was starting to get annoyed with the constant smoking, but she could deal with it as she knew that the two of them would be gone within a week or two. Then she spotted Spike coming into the room, carrying four plates of pancakes as if he had known that just making them would get Twilight up.

"So these are pancakes," Nightfury said, tearing a piece of one out and eating it, "Wow, these are light and fluffy, just like you said Spike."

"Hehehe, I told you so," Spike said, grinning as he turned to Crimson, "What about you Crimson, how did they turn out?"

"I'd say I wish I had a dragon like you a thousand years ago," Crimson commented, "If you weren't working for an alicorn I would have suggested that you consider taking some cooking classes and become a chef in a year or two. Maybe we can convince Twilight to let you go to cooking school and then offer you a position in our castle once its finished. Imagine that, the first dragon chef in all of Equestria, cooking for the son of Princess Celestia and the daughter of Princess Luna."

"I wouldn't go that far," Spike replied, rubbing the back of his head as he spotted Twilight standing by the door, "Oh, hey Twilight, I made breakfast for everypony before you all head over to Pinkie's party."

"I've been in this town less than a day and I've already got a party," Nightfury said, wondering what was coming her way, "I have to admit it, but that mare is crazy."

"You telling me," Crimson replied, swallowing another pancake, "knew my name, where to find me, and I'm guessing my connection to my mother, all without even speaking to me once. I'm sure that, by now, she's discovered who you are, who your parents are, and whatever she's managed to dig up in the short period of time we've been here."

Twilight chuckled and soon the four of them were talking the morning meal away, something that she wasn't sure that Crimson was capable of when she had first met him. When they had first came into contact with each other he seemed like the type of stallion who didn't care about anything and wanted to be left alone, but now Twilight knew the truth. He had acted that way in order to get them to leave him alone, so he could enact the ritual that would break the prison that kept his cousin trapped. Now that Nightfury was back it was like a long lost side of him had resurfaced, something that could combat the anger that he had bottled up in his heart.

An hour passed before any of them were ready to even leave the castle, but Twilight convinced the reunited alicorns that being late to one of Pinkie's parties was the last thing they wanted right now. She noted that the both of them still wore their jewelry, containing the Sigils of Fire and Air, as they walked outside, but that didn't bother her so much. Eventually they were walking the streets of Ponyville, ponies staring at Nightfury and pointing at her, just like they had done when Twilight and Crimson had taken to the streets. She didn't seem to mind the attention one bit and waved to ponies as they passed by them.

"I told you that you needed to laugh more cousin," Nightfury commented at one point, as they drew closer to the door of Sugarcube Corner, "instead of bottling up your emotions. Maybe we can work on your anger someday."

When they got inside the Sugarcube Corner they found Pinkie, the rest of Twilight's friends, and a couple of ponies from the town waiting for them. Where Crimson had merely brushed off his guests during his party Nightfury nearly jumped at the chance to meet the rest of the Elements of Harmony and was gone in seconds. She was quick to pinpoint where Pinkie was hiding and pounced on her, wrapping her in a hug as she giggled and the pair of them moved on to the rest of Twilight's friends were sitting. Twilight was amazed by how fast Nightfury was adapting to her surroundings, but she figured it was something that came naturally to her.

"She seems to be enjoying herself," a voice said, causing Twilight to turn around and find Princess Luna standing behind her, "Just as my sister came to deliver a letter to her son, telling all of Equestria of his Princehood, so do I bring one to my daughter, announcing her presence to the whole of Equestria. She's currently caught up in the moment of making friends and having a blast, so could you please give her this in my stead?"

"Why me?" Twilight asked, beckoning to Crimson, who happened to be laughing at whatever his cousin was doing, "Why not him?"

"I haven't the time to explain," Luna said, dropping the scroll onto Twilight's table, "just give her this when your able and I'm sure she'll understand that I'm caught up with work in Canterlot."

Twilight nodded and Luna walked out of Sugarcube Corner, though how nopony noticed her Twilight would never be able to figure out. For the moment she made sure the scroll was safe and watched her newest friend enjoy herself, playing a prank on Rainbow Dash and making everypony, including Rainbow, laugh. Twilight grinned and knew that, with Nightfury adding to the mix of strangeness that was Ponyville these days, life was getting even better.