Twilight and her friends woke up to the sun hitting their eyes, much to their annoyance. Apparently griffons designed their windows to do this so that they would always be awoken at first light for their hunts. Even Applejack, who was used to early mornings, found herself wishing to sleep in a bit.

Considering the recent traveling and tour of the upper city yesterday, it was no surprise the young mares wish to have a longer rest, but before they could even consider tucking their heads under the pillows to avoid the sun's wrath, a loud knock came from their door.

"Excuse me, but I have been sent to inform you all that breakfast will be served shortly." Came a muffled voice from outside.

Twilight, still half asleep, mumbled out something incoherent.

"Yes, I understand it is early, but everyone is on a tight scheduled with the festival just around the corner, please make yourselves presentable, then I will escort you to the dinning hall."

With that, everyone resigned themselves to the fact there would be no more sleep, and prepared themselves.

A griffon servant entered the dining hall, bowed and cleared his throat.

"Ambassador Twilight and her fellow Elements of Harmony." He announced to the room, moving aside for the aforementioned as they entered.

As each entered, they took a moment to look around the room, to say it was huge would be an understatement, resembling something of a viking long house, only much grander in design, it paintings of various important figures covering the walls, beautiful designed stained glass windows, strangely resembling the ones back in Canterlot.

One long table sat in the middle of the room, its sides littered with chairs all the way up and down it. Almost every chair was filled, most of course being griffons, although there were a few ponies further down. All the way at the end sat Ares, with Lady Terra sitting beside him, six seats were left empty opposite her.

The girls were so busy taking it all in, they almost missed everybody, except Ares and Terra, standing and bowing to them, before sitting themselves back down. The servant that announced them shuffled over to Twilight.

"The seats next to the king are yours." He whispered. Shuffling back to the door.

The group quickly made its way to their seats, Ares looked at them, slightly annoyed.

"Now that the last of us have finally arrived, maybe we can finally have our food brought in." He said quietly. Clearly frustrated on having to wait for his breakfast in his own castle. Everyone shot Rarity a dirty look, she sheepishly smiled back.

"A-apologies, King Ares, we won't be so late next time." Twilight said, knowing he wasn't looking for an excuse. They were all confused when he suddenly smiled.

"Oh okay then, as long as it doesn't happen again." He said, his tone completely carefree all of a sudden. "Servants, breakfast may begin!"

As if materializing from the shadows, servants came from each direction, filling the whole table in but a few moments, as the last one left, everyone dug in as if they had been waiting for ages to eat. Rarity suddenly felt worse about taking so long.

The food ranged from meats, which were tastefully kept away from anyone who wasn't a meat eater, to Equestrian dishes, much to the groups surprise, it seems Ares went to great effort to make sure his guests were looked after.

The whole room was filled with the sounds of eating and discussion, the girls started to chat among themselves as they ate.

"So, are you two finally going to tell us what happened yesterday?" Rarity asked Applejack and Rainbow.

"Nope." Both replied.

"That just makes me want to know more..."

"Hey Fluttershy, are you all right? I mean, they are eating meat."

"Please stop reminding me Pinkie..."

This continued on for a while, before Twilight turned to Ares.

"Sire, you said you wanted to talk to us about Nova yesterday, and if I'm right, Lady Terra would probably like to hear this as well, do you want to do it now or-" She began to ask. Ares suddenly started coughing violently, everyone froze in panic, before he suddenly coughed up a small bone.

The whole room was silent, before roaring into laughter. Twilight was mortified that they could laugh at their ruler like that, and even further so when she saw Rainbow and Pinkie laughing as well. She was about to tell them off before she saw that even Terra was giggling at the sight, Ares, for the most part, just sat there, looking annoyed at most.

"Yes, yes I'm old and can't eat right anymore, shut it and go back to your meal you dastards." Ares said through a barely contained smile.

It took a few moments, but eventually everyone settled down, Ares cleared his throat and turned to Twilight.

"Yes, actually, I think now would be a good time to talk about that, what say you Terra?" He asked.

"It's your castle Ares, you don't need to ask my-"

"Excellent, now." Ares cut her off, getting a dirty look from Terra. "Celestia mentioned that you and your friends were there when he first appeared, could you tell me what happened?"

Twilight frowned, it wasn't something she enjoyed remembering, that, and now a lot of the nobles suddenly seemed very interested in her. "W-well, it all started after we had defeated Discord..."

Nova looked down at toward Trixie, eye filled with concern for his friend.

"Are you sure you don't want me to fully heal that scar?" He asked. "You asked me to finish it off yesterday, what's changed?"

She continued to stare out at the road for a bit longer, trying to put her reasoning into words, or maybe trying to come up with a reason that sounded suitable.

"Trixie was almost killed yesterday due to her own inaction, Trixie will keep this scar as a reminder not to be such a weak sap in the future." She explained. Her face hardened in determination. "With that said, Trixie has a request of you."

"Well, depends on what you need I suppose." Nova said, slightly worried.

"Trixie want's you to show her how you preform such powerful magic. She has seen you do things that even the Princesses themselves would struggle to do on a daily biases. There must be a secret, or at least something you can teach me." She announced.

Nova was a little shocked, for someone like Trixie asking to be taught couldn't be easy for her, given her giant ego. Though almost getting killed usually does shift ones view on themselves. Nova let out a long sigh.

"Well, I would relish the chance to tease you about being my student, and I'll be honest, I'd love to teach you." Nova started.

Trixie face turned crestfallen. "There is a but coming next, isn't there?" Nova winced at the sight.

"...But I barely understand how my own powers work, how the hell could I teach someone when all I really need to do is 'think' about doing it, and it just kinda happens." He said. "Maybe you could have Heru teach you some stuff, he seems pretty good at self defense." Nova looked around for the aforementioned griffon. "Uh, where is Heru anyway?"

Trixie facehoofed, and flinched when she grazed her still sore face.

"You truly do astound Trixie sometimes, have you already forgotten what he said to us this morning?" She accused.

"No, of course not, I just want to know if he told you the same thing is all." He replied, looking side to side nervously.

"He said he was flying ahead to meet with some griffons he knew along the way, he'll be back later. Anyway, Trixie is a magician, she has no desire to learn such barbaric ways of defense." She said arrogantly.

"For gods sake Trixie make up your mind, just a moment ago you were saying you wanted to learn to defend yourself. Now when I offer a suggestion on how to do just that, you shoot it down without a second thought." Nova fumed.

The pair sat in uncomfortable silence, staring out at the constant farmland that seemed to be everywhere, Heru had explained that most of the area outlining the city was like this, after all, where else would they get their food. Unfortunately it made for a rather boring viewing experience, if it wasn't for the occasional fellow traveler (usually a griffon) coming along, making conversation or even offering things to sell every so often, Nova would have slept the rest of the way there. That, and the sight of the Capitol in the far distance.

From what the two could see, Griffonstone appeared to be build along the side of a steep hill, or at least that's what they guessed, still having at least a day and a half of travel to go.

After another hour of unbearable silence, Nova pulled out his I-pod, which he had recently changed to have a bigger screen and better speakers, and looked for a song to play. Looking for something to raise the mood a bit, he smiled when he found the perfect song.

"Here, lets give this a listen." Nova said. Getting Trixie's attentions, she couldn't help but smile at the sight of his music device.

"Fine, lets hear what you've got this time." Without needing further prompting, he pressed play.

Maps - Hey Ocean.

It was almost time for lunch by the time Twilight and her friends had finished their story, most of the nobles had left to continue preparations for the festival, only Ares and Terra had remained. Ares shook his head again, still unable to believe what he had heard.

"Damn those two sisters, if they had actually fought at full strength, then maybe Celestia wouldn't be..." He sighed. "No matter, so he really does refuse to give himself up, and is willing to fight to remain free to do as he pleases."

The girls looked confused. "What do you mean 'if they had fought at full strength'?" Rainbow decided to ask what they all were thinking.

Terra laughed. "Girls, your rulers are no pushovers, they have both lived through some of the most trying times in our worlds history. They may not look it, but they are even older than Ares here, who is well into a thousand years."

"W-wait, what? How can that be? I thought the Princesses were the only living immortals." Twilight asked.

"It is true, I am no immortal like Celestia and Luna, but I share a deep connection with this world, and it has allowed me long life, though, as you can tell, I do still age." Ares clarified. "Now, since the festival is but a day away, I believe you, Twilight, still need to recharge the spell on our arena, did you study it enough to know what to do?"

Twilight coughed awkwardly. "Well, about that-"

"Oh dear, my apologies Ares, but it seems I may have distracted young Twilight here from her duty yesterday." Terra quickly interrupted.

Twilight gave her a sheepish smile, mouthing a thank you across the table. Ares just sighed, shaking his head.

"Twilight, I am hereby officially ordering you to get it done by today, I don't enjoy having to be so formal, but if this is not done properly, there is going to be a lot of casualties come time for the fight. In fact, Lady Terra, since you claim it was your fault that miss Twilight forgot her one duty yesterday, I'd like you to go with her and assist in anyway required." Ares announced.

The shift in personality from Ares was a but jarring for the group of girls, everyone except Terra, who just nodded her head.

Ares next turned towards Pinkie of all ponies. "Miss Pinkie, if I recall, you profession is party planning, correct?" He asked.

"Weeeeelllll, kinda, I mean, my real job is working with Mr. and Mrs. Cake, I consider my parties more of a hobby, since work isn't really work if you enjoy it enough." She was about to babble on, before Ares raised a claw to silence her.

"All I needed was a simple yes or no, now, Miss Rarity, I have already heard word that you are making connections with some of the nobles, given you profession as a designer, I would appreciate it if the two of you gave a helping claw with setting up the rest of the festival, you don't have to, but I can imagine it would be a good chance to make some new friends while your at i-"

"WE ACCEPT." Pinkie interrupted loudly, jumping up onto the table in excitement.

"Yes, we would be happy to your highness." Rarity said, pulling Pinkie back down into her chair.

"Excellent, there is a servant waiting outside to take you where you need to go." Ares explained. The atmosphere of the room suddenly went dark as he turned his attention to Rainbow and Applejack. "As for you two, I will be having a private conversation with both of you on how you are supposed to conduct one selves when representing another nation, do not think what happened yesterday escaped my notice." The pair gulped and nodded.

Now the rest of the group REALLY wanted to know what happened. Thought once again they were denied when Ares good mood suddenly returned.

"Now, we all have a long day ahead of us, lunch will be served here at twelve thirty, so please don't be late, unless you are unable to come, in which case, please pass word onto one of my guards, they will make sure it gets to me, now let us be off." Ares said. With that, everyone stood and went off to their assigned tasks for the day.

Everything was a blur to Trixie and Nova, the surrounding landscape was distorted, into a mash of colors.

"WHY ARE WE GOING SO FUCKING FAST?" Nova yelled at Trixie.

(A few moments ago)

"Well, here's an idea, what if you gave Trixie a small portion of your magical energy?" She suggested.

Nova thought on it for a second. "How... how would that even work, is such a thing possible?" Nova asked. Trixie nodded eagerly in response.

"Of course, there are many cases of such things being done, often times, when a spell requires an insane amount of magical energy to pull off. Unicorns would channel their magical essence into a host, that way, only one pony would have to cast the spell, rather than have a group try and work on one spell, which could lead to a mistake." Trixie suddenly lore dumped on Nova.

"Well, okay sure, I'll give it a go." Nova said. He placed his bandaged hand on the back of her neck. "Whats the worst that could happen?"

(Current time)

Trixie didn't respond to Nova, looking at her, she seemed to be completely out of it, her horn giving off a brilliant golden glow, rather than her normal light pink.

Nova, not wanting her or himself to end up as a pretty smear on the road, grabbed the back of her neck, and focused on pulling his power back out of her. Within a few moments, he felt a familiar rush as his energy traveled back into himself, Trixie suddenly jerked out of her stupor, and the carriage eventually returned to a much safer speed.

"Okay, well, how did that feel?" Nova asked her.

Trixie just stared out at the road for a few seconds, eventually mumbling something out.

"I've never felt power like that before."

Nova snapped his fingers, getting her attention. She smiled at him creepily.

"You have to do that again some time, just, maybe not so much, Trixie could barely think." She said, looking giddy.

"WELL, glad one of us enjoyed themselves." Nova said, smiling his usual shit eating grin. "I usually charge for providing such a good time. now where the hell are we." Nova turned his head. His smile was replaced with a mix of terror, shock and wonder.

Trixie turned her head, confused to what had actually managed to cause Nova of all people to stare in wonder like that.

"Nova what is... it... oh." Just a few meters in front of them was the outer wall of Griffonstone. they had been but seconds away from smashing into it at supersonic speeds. Nova regained his composure and started laughing.

"W-what is so funny? We were almost turned into pancakes!" Trixie said.

Nova tried to answer, but failed to catch is breath and kept laughing, by this point Trixie was worried he had gone (more) insane. After a few more minutes of laughing and worrying, Nova finally managed to stop long enough to explain.

"We just fucking DITCHED Heru."

"Uh, command, come in please?" Heru spoke into the crystal, it flared to life.

"This is command, what to you have to report today? you sound winded." Command replied.

"I'm currently flying as fast as I can to the capitol, Nova and Trixie just blitz past me on the road suddenly at such a speed, it actually blew me away from the road and into a tree." He explained, picking a leaf out of his feathers as he flew.

"Crap, do you know when they will arrive at the capitol?" Command asked. A nervous tone edging into his voice.

"With how fast they were going? I think they're already there sir."

Author's Note

Heru right now.

Sorry this took a while, the combination of writers block and my new way of writing these chapters made it difficult to get this out in a timely manner.

Honestly it was going to be longer, but I decided that you guys would want something a bit sooner rather than much later.
This also means that Part 3 will have more in it for me to work with, so look forward to that!