A Foolish quest which will know no Rest(Ave & Aero Dynamic)

The Everfree forest. It loomed as it ever did over ponyville. By it's edge, alone, stood a deep brown pony. He stood there with rested eyes and a feeling of determination breeding within him. It had been the fifth day he stood here. Two weeks ago, he had started asking around for the most daring ponies of ponyville, and singled a few out.

Upon each of their doors he placed an invitation. A job offer, of sorts. It read as follows:

"Dear Reader,

Brave and strong you are, Tales of your bravery have spread far.
Everypony of this pleasant village tells me of what you do,
and i ask of your assistance, to be true.
I require a pony ready to brave on the dangers of the Everfree,
Ready to protect Their self and me.
But beyond that i will ask of one more necessity,
Help me bring back any books, how 'evil' they may be.

Consider yourself Brave enough for my request?
Then feel free to put yourself up to the test.
On the following days, by the edge of the Everfree forest,
i will wait, until one of you is brave enough to accept my humble behest.

Yours' Truly,
Inty Average, Ponyville Resident in Need."

And such Ave stood there, waiting for one of the letters he sent to be answered with a pony's presence. Twas the fifth day he waited, but he remained diligent. Likely, these ponies did a quick research before accepting the request. No one thought 'ill' of Ave, although some had their suspicions since he seemed to be alright at anything and still didn't have his cutie mark.

The wind blew past, forcing some leaves by and messing with Ave's hair, making Ave close his eyes for a short moment, grunting softly.

Normally when a random notice was left on Aero's front door, he would all but ignore it. The note had been both vague and specific. It had alluded to telling the truth yet was but seemed to keep much a secret. Above all else, it had been intriguing. That's what had convinced him to come.

Whilst he hadn't been named, the letter seemed to be worded for him or at least to a pony of similar skills to himself. Clearly whoever had written it had done their research. It made Aero slightly paranoid about meeting Inty incase there was some nefarious reason for the invitation. It wouldn't have been the first time.

His concerns came with him as Aero flew across Ponyville. He carried saddle bags with him, packed lightly with some necessities for a trek into the Everfree Forest. He'd read about and lived around the forest long enough to know about many of the dangers and was confident in his abilities. As he approached the tree line, he noticed a brown figure almost blending against the bark of the trees. It seemed to be an earth pony, wearing a flat cap and with colours plainer than his own.

Aero landed a short distance away with swift ease and trotted over to the pony. He made no attempt to conceal his need to scan the area around them. He doubted that any pony would be concealed nearby and waiting to pounce but one could never be too careful in a situation like this.

"I trust you're Intry Average?" he asked simply, straight forward and to the point.

"Please. Refer to me as Ave." Ave said. "and you're the one who's Brave?" He simply asked Aero, understanding he had come for the invitation. Ave had his own stuff in saddlebags, the perfect amount for a proper trek through the Everfree forest.

"You seem ready to go this very second, and your face tells me you don't feel too threatened." He mused with a smile, Just as ready himself to leave at this very moment, Seeming to be happy to work with Aero. He seemed strong and smart, and it didn't matter if he was trusting or trustworthy to Ave, nopony could see through Ave's acting anyway.

Aero's head quirked to the side ever so slightly as he caught Ave's unusual rhyming. It wasn't the first time he had heard someone speak like this but he normally heard it from zebras. Combining this with the fact that he seemed very relaxed and untroubled by the imminent trek into the dangerous forest had Aero suspicious. Something seemed a little off about him, though he wasn't entirely sure.

"Aero Dynamic," he replied, raising a hoof to shake. "I don't think I've ever called myself brave but I'm committed to whatever job I'm hired for."

He wasn't certain how necessary a sales pitch was given that it seemed he was the only one who had responded to the letter, but it didn't hurt to make Ave know that he was willing to work. But beyond that, Aero was already curious to know more about his possible employer.

"That's pretty much what i'd call Brave in my book, i take it you finished every job you took?" Ave said with a smile, his face giving off a cheerful expression. He shook Aero's hoof.

"with a pony like you, one i can trust, we'll be through here in no time, leaving the monsters in the dust." he nodded, hoping the 'trust' and 'happy to have you' card would create some mutual joy and trust. however he noticed Aero wasn't in a hurry to leave, so he 'stopped' needing to leave anytime soon himself. "Is there anything you'd like to discuss before we go on this task? if there's something you need to know, just ask." He said. He didn't want Aero not trusting him for not divulging enough information, not too mention, he could share a -little- information. And whatever he didn't want to tell, he could easily replace with a lie.

Aero smiled a little as Ave gave him a hoofshake, and he nodded along in response as the heath pony spoke. He seemed friendly enough, despite his strange quirks. The whole atmosphere surrounding this job seemed unusual so Aero could forgive the more interesting aspects of the pony responsible

"My records clean, if that's what you're asking," Aero stated, in a manner that didn't suggest pride so much as professionalism. In all honesty, there had been times where Aero hadn't finished a job he'd been hired for, but those circumstances where rare and always out of his control. All things considered, he was never the reason for any problems in his work.

"I only have a few questions." In truth, he had a number of questions to ask but now was not the time. He wagered that he could get more answers during the day. "Just the simple questions of what are we doing, what am I doing for you, and what's the pay? Specifics would be nice."

Ave took a moment to listen to the questions, smiling and nodding as Aero asked them, a soft hum coming before Ave answered the questions.
"We're moving to the castle of the two sisters if you don't mind, We're going to grab some books at the library, judge if it's a smart time to stay there overnight, in which case i'll be doing some extra research, and then be returning here with those books. " He checked his saddlebags, shaking some around. A loud ruckus of bits clanked, at least a pouch full. "The pay is... Plenty" He said with a smile. "I never really cared to count it, but i figure it's at least 100 bits." He grinned, glad he had that money to spend, he's been saving a good amount to spend on things like this.

With the details laid out - and clearly as well - Aero mulled over the job. It didn't seem too complicated, it just required proper execution. Thankfully, this was something he excelled at. The most challenging part was trekking and navigating through the Everfree Forest. From what he knew, the castle itself wasn't particularly worrying, just abandoned and derelict. Not to mention, the pay was decent.

It was a little worrying that as an earth pony, Ave might not be able to escape to safety as easily as he could. Nevertheless, Aero remained confident he could keep the pony safe. The idea of exploring the castle was also of interest to him. He hadn't been there before but had always hoped to. Now was his chance and a good excuse. Perhaps he could even pick himself up a souvenir...

"Very well. I'll take the job," he accepted. "I'm ready to go if you are."

Ave nodded. "i am ready to leave whenever, i already have a route planned out, but i'm sure your wings will help in any reconnaissance if we somehow do get lost, although for the first part i had planned to go through a very thickly grown route." He said, moving towards another part of the forest before walking inside. "The trees will be too thick to fly through, and we'll have to stick to the ground for a while. you're not nervous about closed spaces, right?" Ave asked, just to be sure.

As they headed deeper, The forest quickly surrounding them with dark trees and wily roots. Despite the time of day, Everfree forest was always creepy and dangerous, the dark green colour overtaking every part of their sight. Ave was confident, and was obviously no average earth pony, as he stepped carefully, hardly breaking a twig on the ground and his hoofs stepping just aside suspicious plants, in planned perfection.

Aero was surprised to find Ave had taken the initiative to come up with a planned journey. Most work similar to this required him to figure out the best route. Reaching into his saddle bag with a wing, he withdraw a map of the forest. It was spotty at best, as several areas were uncharted or poorly marked, but it was enough to base their trek off.

He examined it as they began their adventure. Aero disliked the thick canopy above him. Just as Ave had said, it prevented him from flying which immediately put him at a disadvantage. Instead, he focused on the ground beneath him and the path ahead, ignoring Ave's question.

"This way should be rather quiet for now, but we'll have to be careful later. This way seems quickest for us, but it will take us through timber wolf territory. They're genuinely quite docile during the daytime unless provoked."

Ave nodded, and smiled. "oh thank Celestia, you know the Forest somewhat yourself. and you even know the habits of the animals here, what a relief!" he said, sounding satisfied with Aero already. he continued his careful walking, making good time despite his short stature.

"To be honest, i'm not really afraid of the timberwolves. It turns out they don't behave much different than normal Canids. You can actually intimidate them, did you know that?" Ave mentioned, although it was hard to imagine how you'd intimidate something so bloodthirsty, dangerous, and generally larger than a pony.

Aero shrugged in modest response to Ave's gratitude towards his understanding of the Everfree and its wildlife. It was a place that he had been interested by since first visiting Ponyville. The contrast of the cheerful town next to a wild and untamed landscape was nothing if not intriguing.

"The library had a lot of books," he replied casually, "I actually read up on it the last couple of days since I got your letter. Know your enemy and all that. The Everfree is a place where you need to tread carefully and know what to look out for. Can't say I knew timberwolves could be so easily sacred though."

Curiousity was growing in Aero about his new companion and he couldn't help but ask about their initial introduction. Aero kept himself friendly but kept clear and to the point.

"So why the rhyming? I've met a few zebras in my time who speak like that, but never a pony."

"What?" he said in a unusually monotone and flat voice. "Uh, oh, well it's just something i like to practice. i occasionally do a bit of writing, you see!" he lied straight out of his flank, but in a sudden happy and honest voice.

he wasn't expecting that question, and he kinda let his real self bleed out for a moment. He hoped Aero would buy it and wouldn't have too much observant statements... But for now, Ave had something else to worry about, in his surprise, his hoof had gotten stuck in some roots and mud. "oh bugger all." Ave said, with a strange delay after looking at his hoof, but with a worried tone. "uh, could you help me out of this?" he said with the same kind of worry, consciously moving as little as possible. Nonetheless, the spot he stepped on still seemed to drag him in a bit. The treachery of the Everfree forest had started.

Letting the answer sink in without comment, Aero looked away in consideration. It almost seemed like Ave hadn't been sure how to respond to that at first. He had seemed caught off guard somehow. Yet another oddity of his new friend to add to the quickly growing list. Then again, Aero couldn't judge too harshly. He himself was not without his abnormalities.

The time to ponder further was cut short when Ave asked for his assistance. Immediately alert, Aero stepped around the earth pony to observe the issue. His brown hoof was caught by a sprawling roots of a tree. He went to move in to help when he noticed the ever so slight movement. Many other ponies would have missed it, but Aero took pride in his perceptive nature. It appeared the plant was pulling back at Ave's struggling limb.

Aero's moved back behind Ave to keep his distance between the tree and himself - it wouldn't help either of them if he became stuck as well - and casual bite down on the end of Ave's tail. With a firm grasp, he pulled the earth pony backwards with all his might, flapping his wings to give himself an extra edge of strength.

Ave carefully looked around as Aero pulled, already doing a good job. Ave manage to see a sturdy spot he could place one of his hooves to aid himself getting out, and placed his hoof right there. With some help to Aero, the two managed to pull against the tree! the tree pulled harder for a second, plunging Ave somewhat into the mud! After that pull however, Aero's wings and Ave's strategic hoof placement pulled through. Once out of the mess, Ave sighed.

"Thanks, lets continue." he said, relieved. He had not noticed that the struggle had left some mud on himself. as they walked somewhat onward, it would dry and scrape off. Aero noticed Bits of green and blue on Ave's Flank, where the mud had been. It seems Ave didn't notice it yet himself, as he walked on.

Aero was satisfied when the tree root gave way and allowed Ave freedom once more. All things considered, this was likely the least dangerous thing they would come across today although they could always hope it would be only thing. Aero acknowledge the thanks with a nod, as he joined Ave by continuing to follow him through the forest.

A glimpse of colour on the earth pony caught his eye as the brown stallion trotted along in front of him. Upon his flank, which had until this point been completely bare, he spotted to distinctive marks of green and blue. Aero almost made comment of this but stopped himself.

The cutie mark was still obscured by what appeared to be paint or something of that sort. He was partly curious to see if the images would be revealed more soon. If not, he wanted to observe how Ave wold react when he noticed the markings were showing. Clearly any pony who would go to that level to hide his cutie mark had something more to hide.

"These must be some pretty important books to risk venturing through the Everfree," commented Aero, keeping their previous conversation going as they continued, while keeping a constant eye on both his surroundings and Ave.

"Not that i know, yet! but i'm a bit of a bookworm, myself, so i'll be able to find some that are important and aren't. it is a royal library." Ave said as a matter of factly. He looked around at some plants, and quite quickly recognizing their location, he started walking towards a hint of a clearing.

The two would arrive on more solid ground, although still fairly messy. the ground seemed a tad cleaner further on. "Clean ground usually means all the rubble went to timberwolves, so i think we're close to timberwolf territory." Ave grabbed his map and looked at the place he expected to be. "The trees are a lot thinner here. Any chance you could go fly up and double check our position?"

It was a little difficult to believe that Ave didn't have anything specific target in mind but he made a good point. Aero hadn't considered the fact that it was a royal library, as old and abandoned as it might be. He couldn't imagine what they might find shelved in the castle.

As they entered a clearer area of the forest, Aero let out a small sight at the sight of the sky. It may be darker and more wild due to the magic the Everfree but it was still the sky.

Aero surveyed the area and found himself agreeing with Ave's assessment. It seemed they were entering Timberwolf territory. As requested, he took to the sky with am effortless flap of his wings. He hovered over the clearing and looked around to gauge their position.

They had made decent progress so far. Even better, he could see no sign of foreign movement nearby which gave some comfort knowing that no large beasts were close. In the distance, the ruined towers of the Castle of the Two Sisters pierced above the treeline. Satisfied, Aero landed back beside Ave.

"We're still on target. If we bare more east, we'll hit a thinner section of the river. Should be easier to cross."

Ave listened to him, nodding and thinking, looking over his map, letting Aero look aswell. That part of the map was one of the many parts without Ave's personal notes on it, but there was a ring of X's drawn around it. "That is fair, sounds like a good choice, but i've never went to that part. There's a small ridge of what seems to be poisonous, or possibly dangerous plants that way. There's actually a part of the river somewhat past the timberwolf territory which has a little rock island in the middle, making it two short crosses instead of a large one." He mentioned, pointing to the spot on his map. They'd have to go through the thickest and deepest parts of timberwolf territory to get there.

Venomous plants were likely not too hard for Aero, as he could fly, but Ave wouldn't have nearly as easy time avoiding them, whatnot missing both wings and a horn, requiring his own hooves to solve problem for himself. Exactly the problem, with venomous plants, cause touching those is what you -don't- want to do. "I'll leave the decision up to you, Just know that i have littler problems with going through timberwolf territory unless they form one of their massive timberwolves." He mentioned. It seems ave had some experience with going through the everfree forest.

Aero stood next to Ave so he could see the map. He shouldn't have been surprised that the earth pony had planned ahead for the adventure. It would be foolhardy to simple wander into the Everfree blindly and on a wim.

He consulted the map, taking into account Ave's notes about the dangerous wildlife marked for them to see. It was true his route would be a bit quicker, but the plants were an unknown threat. Aero was confident himself and Ave combined could deal with any Timberwolf issues they might come across, or at least escape unharmed. Overall, it seemed Ave's route was the better option.

"Alright. Timberwolves it is," he agreed, gesturing towards the path they should take and beginning to head off. "I suggest we keep talking to a minimum for now, until we clear their territory."

Ave nodded. "Wise decision." He said with an impressed tone, wanting to boost Aero's confidence a bit. Luckily for Aero, Ave seemed focused on the empty route onward, walking into the Timberwolf territory. Ave hardly noticed the Dry mud on his flank cracking slightly, revealing more of his cutie mark. Aero now got to see enough to recognize a Green Theater mask, with a bit of blue beside of it.

As they entered further, Ave started walking very awkwardly, and although it took Aero a second to see it, he noticed Ave was scanning the ground for certain spots, and somehow putting his hooves down somewhat more silent than average. There were more silent Earth ponies, and definitely silent fliers among Pegasi, so it was nothing too impressive, but an extra attention to detail Ave did despite it not being within his talent. Ave eventually turned his head back to check on Aero, but then Ave noticed his flank and his face was completely drained of emotion, changing into a pokerface, however his eyes were a little smaller. He looked at Aero for a second, as if looking for confirmation that Aero had seen it.

With the decision made, returned on their path to the castle. Now they were entering the domain of the Timberwolves, Aero was extra alert of his surroundings. Timberwolves were not a threat to be taken lightly. Honestly, neither were most things. The smallest plant could cause extreme trouble for any pony unfortunate enough to stumble across it. Ave's incident with the tree root was a perfect example.

Aero thought back to one of his last excursions into the Everfree. He shuddered a little at the thought of finding another magical well...

His thoughts returned to the present when he noticed Ave observing his surroundings. As the earth pony looked back towards him, his black eyes fell upon his own cutie mark, now revealed to show a green drama mask. The two pony's eyes met and it was clear by Ave's deadpan expression he was less than thrilled to know that Aero had seen it.

The pegasus said nothing in response. Aero's returning gaze said everything that needed to be said. Yes, I've seen it. No, I didn't say anything. No, I won't comment on what it means between us. Of course, for that last point, it didn't stop Aero's mind speculating what Ave's intentions were. His employer withholding information was one thing, but if he caught them lying...

Now was not the time for chatting. Aero broke their gaze and continued onwards, trotting past Ave without a second glance.

Ave kept his deadpan expression for now. as they trodded along, eventually a timberwolf would appear from the side, roaring at the two. While ave did stutter to the right, a bit away from the timberwolf, his face remained deadpan. Ave stepped closer and put on a fierce and angry face, with little to no effort. He stared the Timberwolf directly in the eyes, something that was no easy feat. The timberwolf wasn't about to back down, but it hesitated for a second due to Ave's lack of fear.

For Ave that was more than enough, as he moved forward and said "From above." In a strangely monotone voice, the same tone he said 'what' with a while back, when approached with rhyming. in his forward movement he bended his head downwards before snapping it back up, giving the timberwolf a good blow against it's jaw, hoping that Aero would understand his hint and follow up.

There was only split second of rustling to warn the pair of the impending attack. As the timber wolf leapt out, Aero spun to face it. His stance was balanced, holding him wide to the ground while his wings flared out, ready for action. He stared down the creature, judging the best way to approach the encounter.

Before he could put anything to action or even make a suggestion, Ave had stepped towards the wolf. Aero's instincts told him it was a bad idea but the earth pony had explained his knowledge of the creatures already so perhaps he knew what he was doing. Aero let him take the lead and kept himself primed for action.

He heard Ave's short instruction and quickly deciphered what was about to happen. His wings launched him from the ground and into the sky in a heartbeat. Aero propelled himself downwards and twisted his hindlegs into a kick, just as Ave struck the creature. As the timberwolf's head lifted upwards Aero hit it from above, directly on the muzzle. The timber wolf howled as its head hit the ground and it moaned softly, wounded but not out for the count.

Ave had hoped it'd do a little more damage, but it was understandable, the two weren't fighting ponies. Ave was worried for a second but it didn't show, and he thought over the situation quickly. "More will come, but i have an idea." Ave looked towards a few trees that seemed somewhat thicker. knowing they two had little time to discuss it, Ave started moving towards it, already somewhat in a gallop. "You fly overhead, Check how thick the trees are, if you notice me running to somewhere with less trees, swoop down and steer me back into the thickest of trees, lead me to the river that way." Is all he could say while running to the patch of thick trees he was talking about. Atleast one more timberwolf had appeared since then and was following Ave!

However, Ave wasn't slow himself, managing to get to the trees quite quickly, and a quick two jump around the trees proved his plan. The new timberwolf was chasing after Ave, but jumped at the trees who grew closely together, scraping the right one and slamming against the left tree. Ave continued on, his careful planning and small frame allowing him to maneuver the forest much more carefully than these wolves, although it seems he'd need Aero's extra guidance to stay within a safe area, because carefully planning your steps, shaking off wolves AND navigating simultaneously was an impossible feat.