Nova and Trixie both sighed in relief at the sight of Heru flying down towards them, having taken almost an hour just to get out of the city was bad enough, but the additional thirty minutes waiting for their newest traveling partner was pushing the limits of their patients.

Heru landed and slid towards the pair, breathing hard, he took a second to compose himself.

"S-sorry about that, hope you two weren't waiting too long." He said, scratching his head in embarrassment.

Trixie just rolled here eyes and began setting back up to move the carriage.

"Christ my man, you said you had to quickly pick some things up, did you stop off to help someone move?" Nova said, causing the griffon to fluster.

"What? no, I ju-"
"Stopped to get something to eat?"
"I already-"
"Had a quick shag in a back alley?"

Heru looked like he was about to burst, his feathers and fur puffing up in what may have been an attempt to look big and threatening.
Nova just though he used too much shampoo on his feathers or something.

"Nova, stop being vulgar and get on already, surely we have already floundered around here enough as it is." Trixie interrupted, hoping to put a stop to things before they could escalate.

Nova, who was previously frowning a moment ago, suddenly smiled and shrugged, turning and sitting down next to Trixie.
Taking a second to try and fix his ruffled feathers and fur, Heru walked over to the seats, only to instantly see a problem, namely, that both seats were already occupied.

"Uh, wait where am I supposed to sit, actually, where am I going to put my stuff?" he questioned, putting his rather large travel pack down next to him.

"Oh, yes, Trixie didn't really think that far ahead, but as for your things, you may put them in the back of my home."

"Wait, this small thing is your home?" He asked, walking around the back of the carriage.

Opening the door, he gawked at what he saw for a second, before regaining his senses and putting his things aside, he quickly returned to the front.

"Holy Winds, it's huge on the inside!" He exclaimed, Nova giggled a bit.

"Yes, that's what everyone says when they first see Trixie's fabulous space for the first time." She said with pride, Nova started to chuckle loudly.

"There's so much room in there, you could fit the whole family in there if you wanted, plenty of room for everybody to be comfortable." Heru continued to gush.

Nova fell off his seat, laughing, the two stared at him for a moment, before shrugging at each other.
Barely managing to hold back his laughter, Nova sat up.

"M-maybe if you a-a-asked Trixie nicely, she'd give you a to-o-ou-t-TOUR inside?" He said, breaking down in laughter again.

Now really confused, they both took a second to go over everything was just said, Trixie face went bright red.

"If you do not drag your mind out of the gutter this instant, Trixie knows a very simple way of fixing the seating issue!" She barked out.

Heru still looked confused, but just assumed it was a thing people of Nova's species did.

Taking a moment to calm himself, Nova got back up, brushing the leaves and grass off his clothes.

"It was never really an issue, I can just-" Nova grabbed hold of the side of the carriage and hoisted himself up onto the roof. "Do this."

"Are you sure that's okay?" Heru asked. "You've been traveling with Trixie longer, so I wouldn't mind being up there is I have to."

"Nah, it's fine man, besides, up here, I can stretch out and lay down for a change, I usually sleep up here anyway, so it's cool." He said, stretching out to show his point, before laying flat and relaxing.

"Yes, yes, Trixie is happy you have masterfully solved our seating arrangements, now if you could just sit down already, we may actually make some progress today."

Getting her point across, Heru quickly hopped up on the seat next to Trixie, giving her a shy smile, she responded by rolling her eyes and moving the carriage forward.

A few hours past, for the most part, the three sat in silence, mainly because Nova had apparently fallen asleep almost as soon as they started moving, and Heru being shy and unsure of what to say to the unicorn next to him.
They quickly left the lived in area of Triefort into the edge of the forest it was built next to, the trees around them rose so high, seeing deep into the forest was a struggle, Trixie could see why the town was kept to its outskirts now, she occasionally heard the rustling of leaves far above her, but whenever she looked, there was nothing there.

"Heru." Trixie said, getting his attention. "We don't have to worry about any creatures attacking us, do we?"

Heru shook his head. "Not really, maybe the occasional pred will wander close to the edge of the forest proper, but I've never heard of anything happening on the roads, we should be safe.
"If this is about that rustling, it was most likely birds, hell, it might have even been some griffon guards, they do often protect the roads, at least until we fully leave the forest." He assured her nothing was going to happen to them.

Even later, Heru finally decided it was time to maybe ask some questions about who he was traveling with, starting with Trixie, then, moving on to Nova.

"So, do you know what he is?, I've seen a lot of different species, since Triefort is kinda a main hub for trade with it being the closest to Manehatten, but I've never seen anything like him."

"He can hear you." She replied.

"What? no, he's been asleep for the entire time so far, not that I know how." Heru said, even looking up to confirm, and low and behold, there Nova still slept.

"Yes, he tends to do that a lot while we travel, but even then, he seems to always be ready for anything, even if he was just asleep, Trixie once tried to push him more to the side, since he was leaning towards me while he slept, but before I could lay a hoof on him, he was awake and shuffled over to the side, then back asleep again." She explained.

Heru shrugged at this. "If that's the case, then he clearly doesn't care that I'm asked, and doesn't care to answer either."

"Trixie supposes you have a point." He admitted. "Well, to answer your question..."

After several hours of travel, the party had managed to make it out of the forest and back out again into the open sky on the road, only to find it had started to turn night already.
Trixie, as usual, went to head inside her home, before Nova stopped her, suggesting they start a fire and they all relax outside together for a change.

After chopping some wood for the group, Nova set it up for Heru to chop into firewood, much to his dismay, followed by Trixie using a bit of magic to get the fire going.
The three talked about everything and nothing, from Nova and Trixie time together in Equestria, to Heru's daily schedule as a guard, they whittled away the hours, and before they knew it, it was late into the night.

"Well, as enjoyable as this has been, Trixie must be off to bed early, since she is the one that must move us all day tomorrow, sleep well you two." She said to her male companions.

"A good evening to you, Miss Lulamoon, and once again, thank you for allowing me to travel with you."

"Night night Trix, want me to tuck yo-" The door slamming shut cut him off.

After a few moments of silence, Heru shifted to stand.

"You're already heading to bed as well?" Nova asked.

"Well, I was a day guard, so I'm used to sleeping early, but I just gotta go to the toilet, you staying up?"

"For a bit longer, funnyily enough I, don't feel that tired." Nova said, the two shared a chuckle as Heru went to find some privacy.

This continued on for several days, they would travel at first light, and set up for camp just as dusk hit, this was under the advice of Heru, who reveal that the creatures of the night between Triefort and Griffonstone were quite dangerous.

On the third night, Nova turned to Heru.

"Hey, we are heading north, right?" He asked, getting a nod from both Heru and Trixie. "Okay, then where's the snow? I won't lie, I was pretty excited to see it."

Heru shook his head. "Sorry Nova, but your not gonna see any for a while, then, you arrived towards the end of winter, and unlike Equestria, we have a more natural changing of seasons, most of it would have melted by now." He explained, leaving a devastated Nova.

"H-hey, don't look so glum, at least we have the festival to look forward to." He said, catching both their attention.

"Trixie is unfamiliar with Griffon culture, but I assume this festival has something to do with the change into spring?" He guessed, getting an eager nod from Heru, who excitedly started to explain.

"Oh, it's the best, its called the Spring of Rebirth festival, it lasts about a week, there's drinking, eating, fighting-"

Nova raised an eyebrow. "Fighting, care to explain?"

"Ah, well, it's an ancient tradition to completely let loose during the festival, you're only expected to enjoy yourself during this time, well, according to history, there used to be problems with violence breaking out during this time, so the King decided that if there was to be fighting, might as well manage it to make sure it doesn't get out of hand.
In towns like Triefort, the fighting is usually just a small bout that never gets serious, however, it's different in Griffonstone." Heru took a moment to breath properly, getting carried away in explaining.

"In Griffonstone, the King Ares had a giant arena built to hold a several day spanning tournament for fighter, it was also magically enchanted by unicorns, so that fighter could go all out with no fear of dying due to wounds and such, doesn't stop the pain though."

"Sounds like you have first hand experience." Trixie interrupted.

"Well yeah, a few years back, I traveled and took place in the first round of the tournament, which just involved throwing every fighter that applied into a giant free for all, it goes until there's only twenty fighters remaining."

"Hang on." Nova interrupted this time. "If the spell stops you from dying, how do you lose?"
"Trixie was about to ask that as well, I-WE am not familiar with such magic." The two questioned.

Heru struggled to think of an answer. "Well, from what little I remember from my fight, which is little, I blacked out as some point due to... something happening, not sure what, I assume that after you take enough damage, the spell forces you to stop." He said, shrugging.

Trixie got to her hooves and yawned. "Well, as horrifically barbaric as this fighting sounds, the rest of this festival sounds fun, at least, but Trixie is tied, and will retire to her room now, good night." she said, turning to leave, the pair grunted their good nights.

After a few moments of silence, Nova shuffled closer to Heru. "So, tell me more about this arena event." He whispered excitedly.

"Not much more too tell, I mean, other than the fact the champion of the arena gets to have a battle with the King if he chooses."

Luna watched in silence as Nova swung the long, slightly curved blade at the dummy for the umpteenth time, it once again fell to pieces, and once again reassembled itself.

She had been reluctant to return to his dreams ever since the fiasco with the nightmare, but she could feel the energy his dream was giving off as soon as she started her dream walking.

The scenery had returned to what it once was, however, rather than just sitting and relaxing, Nova was practicing with this new weapon of his, and his skill with it was improving at an impossible rate, it was as if every time he placed the sword back in its sheath, then drew it again, a different person was using it, the jumps in skill were off putting to say in the least.

The boon of this was that he was so focused on his training, he failed to notice her, or maybe he really just didn't want to talk with her anymore, not that she would blame him for that, considering what happened.

Without warning, Nova suddenly turned and slashed out in the opposite direction, Luna held her breath for a second, as in one clean cut, the giant tree behind him was destroyed, before re-materializing a few moments later.

She decided it was time to leave.

"Sir, I have a report for you."

"Speak quickly, less chance of you getting seen doing this then."

"The target has decided to enter the tournament in Griffonstone."

Author's Note

Holy shit what another chapter already?
I swear I'm not a changeling.
Also, on a completely different note, if anyone here is looking for a good book series to read, I highly recommend the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind, it will not disappoint, but there are 15 books in the main series and 3 prequels, so its a commitment.