Twilight paced nervously outside the throne room, the summons from Celestia and Luna had urged her to gather her friends, pack to travel and come to Canterlot with all haste.

It didn't help that the letter had arrived at three in the morning, leaving all but Applejack, who was used to being up early, tired from lack of sleep.

"Twilight." Rarity spoke, startling her. "While I understand your apprehension at what this may be about, you're just going to tire yourself further trotting back and forth like that."

Twilight shot an annoyed look towards her, but it melted away at the devilish sight of her friend, who normally prided herself on always looking prim and proper.

"I'm sorry Rarity, I know you're right, but I just can't keep my nerves in check, a summons like this can really only be about one thing, or rather, one person."

The group nodded in understanding, the subject of Nova, although had lost its edge, was still a sore point for the lot of them.

"Ah, whatever." Rainbow suddenly interrupted, getting the group's attention. "So what if it is Nova? After what he did to Celestia, and the damn nightmares we're having to deal with, I'd give anything to put my hoof through his face!"

Applejack rolled her eyes and pulled her friend down to the ground.

"Yea Darlin, cuz if the princesses couldn't do anything ta stop him leavin, we sure as heck could do somethin ta stop him." She said, the tone of sarcasm plain for all to hear.

Rainbow turned to respond, but was cut off by the guards cough at the door.

"The Princesses are ready to see you, please head inside." He said, opening the large door for them.

Settling for shooting an angry look at Applejack, the group headed inside.

The room was different this early in the morning, the usual row of guards was nowhere to be seen, only a few sleepy looking guards were around, and already heading off to what was probably well earned rest, the morning sun barely lit the room, the rest being lit by candle.

Celestia and Luna sat at the end of the room, Luna, looking ready for bed, and Celestia, still looking half asleep, but even then the two still managed an air of regal standing between them.

"G-" Celestia started to say, accidentally letting a large yawn out instead.

The girls, including Luna, chuckled a bit at Celestia's expense.

"I believe what my sister was trying to say was, greetings, my little ponies, and our apologies for summoning you all her so early and in such a rush."

Celestia nodded and took over.

"Indeed, I have called you all here today-" The girls prepared themselves for it. "For a mission-" They all collectively gulped.

"To the Northern Kingdom to visit Griffonstone and King Ares." All six girls had to stop themselves from either sighing with relief or face planting the floor.

"You called us here just for that! couldn't this have waited until, I don't know, at least a reasonable hour?!" Rainbow fumed.

"Silly Rainbow, I bet the princesses want us to plan-" Pinkie started to say, but was cut off by Twilight's hoof against her mouth.

"Pinkie, the Princesses didn't call us here to plan a party, how about we all give them a chance to explain before we start arguing." Twilight reasoned.

Celestia gave Twilight an appreciative smile, Luna cleared her throat.

"Thank you Twilight, while normally you'd be right Rainbow, current events do not leave us with a lot of time, and we must act quickly." Luna said. "Let me explain the situation.
"In a few days, a festival will be taking place in the north called the 'Spring of Rebirth', as you may assume, it has to do with it soon becoming spring over there.
"Every year during this time, an ambassador is sent over to Griffonstone to meet with Ares and discuss the state of affairs, trade and other such things.
"However, this is not all, the ambassador must always a Unicorn, because they have a very important task to fill as well, the renewal of a very old spell.

"A spell, what-" Twilight began to ask.

"Please, let us finish first, all will be explained." Celestia stopped her student, picking up where he sister left off.
"This spell renewal is tied into an ancient gladiatorial event that takes place for the duration of the festival, in fact, it has essentially become all that the festival is about by this point.
"The spell in question is very old and powerful, it essentially stops anyone from dying to their wounds during the fight, no matter how bad they get, you can guess why it's important that it is kept up.
"Usually, the spell is left dormant for most of the year, even with the occasional fight in their arena, it's never drained enough to warrant renewal, however, during the festival, there are so many battles, that if the spell were not completely refreshed before hand, it would run dry before the first day was through." Celestia finished explaining.

"Now, you may ask your questions, and one at a time if you please."

The group was quiet for a second, before, surprisingly, Fluttershy raised her hoof to speak.

"U-um, if I may ask, if only a unicorn is required, then why are we all going?" The girls nodded and agreed.

"That is the slightly complicated part, for some reason, Ares has asked that the Ambassadors be the elements of Harmony this time." Luna answered.

"But, why?" Twilight asked.

"Although he did not give us a clear answer, we suspect it has something to do with Nova's recent activities in his kingdom, and before you all assume or ask, we are not asking you to deal with Nova." There was a collective sigh of relief.

"The main reason we agreed on this was because we need to show that we are ready to aid our allies in what they need, that, and I think you all need a bit of a get away after all that has transpired." Celestia said, looking over the group.

Looking over her friends, and getting a small nod of approval, Twilight stepped forward.

"We gladly accept Princesses, we are honored to represent Equestria and will do our best." Twilight said, getting a small cheer from her friends.

Celestia and Luna smiled.

"Thank you for agreeing to this my little ponies, it means a lot to us, now, as for getting there..."

Nova sneezed, suddenly waking up from his nap.
Stretching out on the bed, he looked over the inn room, it was small, or someone of his size at least, but warm and comfortable, this also applied to the bed he was currently laying back on.

After having saved Triefort from its infestation, a squad of heavily armed griffon and their commander had appeared before Nova, Trixie and Heru, After the latter explained what had transpired to his superior, the commander personally thanked Nova and invited him to stay in the city, offering to foot the bill for where ever they decided to stay.

So naturally the two found the most expensive inn they could find, downside was the commander payed for them to get their cheapest rooms.

Not that it mattered much, Nova thought to himself, even the cheapest rooms here was quite nice, not only that, but Nova came to the very sudden realization that he had not slept in a real bed since he got here.

After a few hours of much needed rest, he hopped off the bed, got dressed and left his room, knocking on the one opposite him.

"Trixie, c'mon, we stay here any longer and I'm going to fall in love with that bed." He half joked.

Seriously, that bed made him feel things he hadn't felt in a while, like true comfort.

A few muffled noises later, Trixie opened her door, stepping out.

"Trixie supposes you're right, if we stay here any longer, we are going to have to pay, and Trixie doubts she has that kind of money on her."
She said with a sigh, it was clear Nova wasn't the only one enjoying their stay here.

After giving the proprietor their thanks, and getting thanked in return for saving the city, they left to explore the area.

Pretty much everything was made from wood, the sidewalk, the roads, stalls, everything, which makes sense since most of the town existed either on the massive branches or inside of of the trunks of the two trees that makes the city.

"Trixie admits she has never seen anything like this back in Equestria, but..." She started, trailing off.

"-But everything is flammable." Nova said, biting into a freshly made sandwich they had bought from one of the nearby stalls.

"D-did you just read Trixie's mind?" She said, slightly disturbed.

"Nah, it's just REALLY obvious, I mean, I saw them cooking in that inn, with an open fire, I don't understand how this place fell to spiders, it should have burnt down by now."

"Well, that's actually really easy to explain." A voice from behind them said, causing them to turn and see none other than Heru, strangely lacking his armor from yesterday.

"The sap in the tree's around here is completely fire retardant, if a fire ever broke out, all anygriffon would need to do is-"

"Anybody." Nova corrected.

"... Anygriffon would need to do-"

"ANYBODY." Both Trixie and Nova corrected.

"FINE, anyBODY would need to do is cut a bit into the tree to get the sap out, and get it on the fire." Heru finally finished, almost out of breath from having to restart twice.

"Huh, guess my teachers were right, yelling IS the best way to get something across." Nova said, smiling like a bastard.

"So, to what pleasure does the halberd heaving Hero Heru grace us with his presence?" He continued.

Trixie sighed heavily, Heru's eye twitched, clearing his throat, he began to explain.

"Nothing really, just making my way out of the city." He said with a shrug.

Trixie raised her eyebrow in surprise. "Why would you be leaving the city so soon after it was saved, are you not a guard here?" she asked, confused and curious.

"I was wondering why you weren't wearing armor." Nova pitched in. "You got fired, didn't you, was it for losing the spear?"

Heru chuckled. "You're not far off Flare, let me-"

"Flare, what the hell was that?" Nova asked, confused.

"Uh, your nickname, cuz, you know, you have red hair, and that massive light show yesterday, flare." he explained, leaving Nova to mull this over.

"Anyway, I was kind of fired, but not the way you think, you see, in the griffon army, when a squad loses most of its company, what's left is no longer officially recognized as either guards or troops until they are reassigned to another squad.
"Well, the only place someBODY can go to get reassigned is in the capital, Griffonstone, so that's where I must go." Heru finished explaining.

Trixie's eyes suddenly lit up, before turning away and pulling Nova down to her level, then quickly turned back to Heru.

"Just a moment, please." She said, then turned back to Nova, who was suddenly right in her face.

"How's the weather down here?" He whispered to her.

"We should invite him to travel with us." Trixie ignored him.

Nova's face went from surprised, to thoughtful, to mild disgust, lustful, then finally, confused.

"Wait, why do we want someone else to feed, board and take up space?" He asked.

"You are not looking at the bigger picture here, Trixie is amazing and talented, but admittedly her knowledge of other kingdoms is limited, it would be helpful to drag someone along that knows about where we are, do you not agree?" She proposed.

Nova just shrugged, then nodded in agreement, they both turned to Heru, who was picking his beak clean.

"Oh my boy Heru, have we got the offer for you." Nova said, putting on his best Tim Ferguson impression.

Heru immediately looked worried. "Do I need to get the guards?"

Trixie kicked Nova in the shin and promptly took over. "The Great Trixie, and her annoyance Nova, are offering you a place in our little dysfunctional group, and are willing to help you travel to the Capitol."

"Oh, you are? I thought you guys were going to stay here for a bit longer." He said in response.

Nova shrugged once again. "Eh, don't get me wrong, this place is pretty cool, and the spider thing was an adrenaline rush, but I'm looking for exploration, so staying in one place, isn't really my thing."

Heru took a moment to consider, before nodding his head. "Well, sure, I was going to see if I could hook up with a caravan headed there anyway, traveling alone isn't the safest option."

Nova clapped his hands together, startling everyone. "Ah, sorry, but right! Now that that's settled, let's-"

"Hang on, I'm not quite ready to head out just yet, I need to go buy some essentials, if you two want to make your way down the trunk, I can meet up with you in a bit, save some time." Heru suggested.

Trixie nodded in agreement. "A fine proposal, no point in wasting time, come Nova, let us see if we cannot beat the traffic before it gets too congested." Trixie said, already turning away.

"I still don't know how there can be traffic problems in a tree with carriages and what not..." He mumbled, trailing after his companion.

As the pegasi carriages, carrying the Elements of Harmony, took off towards the Griffon Kingdom, Celestia let out a long, worry filled sigh.

"Come now sister, you must have more faith in your student and the elements, they will be careful, and Ares will make sure nothing happens to them." Luna reassured her sister.

"I know, but I worry none the less, for I love them each dearly, we can only hope that Nova will not reach the Capitol till after the festival is over."

"Ah, you're here, so have you secured yourself in the group?"

"Yes sir, they actually offered me a place, it couldn't have gone any better."

"Good, take this, it will allow you to contact who you need to, do not lose it, it's worth more than you'll ever get paid, unless you pull this off."

"Don't worry sir, I'll be careful, but I really don't see what the problem is, Flare seems like an alright... thing."

Author's Note

continuous uploads? please, quality takes time.
and motivation, here was mine this time.