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

"How do you know you've even found your true destiny?"

Aero gestured back to his own cutie mark, the ebony-green dragon that had rested on his flank for years now. "Mine isn't exactly clear either. To be completely honest, I'm still trying to figure out what I'm really meant to do."

This was something Aero had never admitted to anyone, but the prospect of what Ave was aiming to do lit him with both anger and disbelief. "I'm sure it's been harder for you than it has for me, living with these...effects...of your talent. But there has to be something to your destiny that you haven't discovered yet."

Ave was a thinker, Aero knew this well. His words made Ave silent for a moment, staring down to the floor. in confusion... "but.. it could be evil! it's not... worth the risk!" Ave's slower talking was telling Aero enough. As much as Ave could hide his emotions, he knew what Aero said was true, and Aero knew it aswell. Ave was simply thinking up excuses. Because he was confused, because of the book, because of his past. No one knew for sure, at this point. Probably not even Ave himself.

Ave was conflicted now. his ears had seen how despite Aero's anger, Aero remained as calm as he could and told Ave not to do it with logic and reason. Ave wanted to listen, but at the same time he didn't. It's not like he would scream out in confusion or burst, though. He couldn't, for his emotions never showed. He started muttering to himself softly, staring at the ground.

Aero hadn't opened up into a conversation like this in a long time. Actually, upon reflection, he had. His new friend Bright had been a great conversationalist, and they had talked about areas that he didn't often speak about with others. Usually, Aero kept himself private and quiet, content to contemplate life amongst his own life. But now was a chance to open up and to hopefully do good.

"If there's one thing I've seen travelling Equestria, it's that ponies aren't inherently evil. What they want steers their desires, and it may not agree with what most ponies want, but it's never just...evil."

Aero had been edging closer to Ave, trying to show his honesty. Aero couldn't make this choice for him, but he could try to "At the end of day, it's your decision. You can look at options for your destiny but believe me when I say you've got more to your destiny than you think."

It was a leap of faith to take. Aero wasn't sure what Ave's response would be. He appeared to be unsettled by Aero's word, possibly convinced by his points but it was near impossible to tell what the earth pony was really thinking.

Ave went silent. He blinked and stared to the ground and understood what Aero had to say. Deep down, he always did have some kind of hope inside. Aero witnessed something he didn't expect. he saw a glimmer, a small shine hop in in Ave's eyes. He had done something important here. he could feel it in his heart.

But all was not over, As Ave grunted. "W-what..?" he said, still in his monotone voice, coming slightly closer to the ground... "A fine day for these dark books it is!" Ave suddenly said, with way too much tone in his voice. It hardly sounded like Ave at all. 'Ave' Grabbed the dark book and hoisted it on himself, starting to run, all of a sudden! Aero could see in Ave's eyes for a glimpse. That little shine was gone again, and so was something else, although he couldn't tell what, for he wasn't some kind of magic expert. What a great time to not have a unicorn around!

'Ave' ran away with the book, as fast as his could, his little legs racing him away from the castle. Not nearly at Ave's full speed, considering his body was tired and he still hadn't fully healed, but he did know how to navigate the castle, leaving it quickly! He wasn't so fast as that Aero had no chance to follow Ave, though, infact it was plenty easy for Aero to trace the brown pony outside of the castle and into whatever mysterious location the pony was running towards!

For just a moment, Aero thought he saw a hint of genuine emotion on Ave's face. A slight glimmer of hope. Perhaps he had said the right thing to convince his new friend that he shouldn't be so rash with his decision here. Admittedly, Aero had been primed and ready to silly grab Ave should he become angry and retaliate but thankfully, nothing occurred.

Unfortunately, his moment of relaxing was poorly timed. No sooner had he sighed with relief did Ave suddenly grab his book and take off at a gallop. Taken by surprise, Aero took off after him. When he found space in his chase, his wings unfurled and he took to the air.

Flying low and in such an enclosed space was impossible for your average pegasus. For Aero, it was natural flight. His very talent, his cutie mark, had been earned doing exactly this. He kept at a good close distance to Ave but reframed from stopping the pony. There wasn't a clear time to tackle the earth pony without a high chance of crashing or severe injury. He would have to time this perfectly...

'Ave' Rushed on, occasionally panting, occasionally laughing. He was obviously not in his right mind, as he continued rushing around, looking for a less perilous way to leave into the Everfree forest. He found it on the other side of the ruins, and such would be the most surefire way to get lost into the Forest, as good as a flyer Aero was, keeping up wasn't the easiest thing, especially when 'Ave' vanished into the Everfree itself.

'Ave' made full use of his size, worming in between the most impossible routes to make sure he could shake off Aero, but the occasionaly laughter led Aero right back to him.. Eventually, Aero found himself sneaking after strange muttering... it didn't seem like 'Ave' was casting a spell or anything, he was... gathering things. It was hard to keep track in the thick of the Everfree, but it seemed that whatever dark forces that had gotten into ave were at work, they knew how to avoid the monsters of everfree, which means Aero could also avoid them.

eventually, after some muttering, Aero looked between two trees, Seeing 'Ave'. 'Ave' stood by some strange green pools of liquid, looking into the book with all his attention. Smiling, grinning. Doing things that Ave himself would never do if he was alone and no one was watching him. It looked like here, by the patch of land close to these suspicious green pools were the best place to approach Ave, or at least, his best chance before he ended up getting lost in the everfree for Celestia knows how long...

Aero rushed after Ave, maintaining his distance between them as they finally broke free of the Castle of the Two Sisters. Aero didn't bother to spare a glance back as he continue the chase.

The extra weight of his saddlebags was an inconvenience that he wasn't used to dealing with during speedy flying but he pushed himself, mentally and physically, to keep going. He had to stop Ave, or whatever had seemingly taken control on the stallion and bring him back to his senses.

Finally, he spotted a chance. Ave had pulled up to a stop and nestled between some trees as if he was hiding. With unrelenting speed, Aero dashed forward to tackle Ave. The two rolled over each other as he held tight to the runner before they came to a stop with Aero on top. He tried to hold the earth pony down, knowing he probably had the strength to easily buck him off.

"Snap out of it!" he shouted into the earth pony's face, his anger apparent.

"There is nothing to snap out of, you bothersome pegasus!" 'Ave' said with irritation! he then made use of his small shape, curling a bit before kicking Aero with both back hooves, attempting to buck the pegasus off with full earth pony power. however he did not realize that one of Ave's hooves was strained from overexertion! The kick was weak for that half, and at best could make Aero roll off.

Nonetheless, Aero would notice the good his tackle had done. The book was out of 'Ave''s hooves! and he frantically searched for it, the two spotting it very quickly. Getting rid of the book seemed to be Aero's best chance! 'Ave' Ran directly for the book as the same time as Aero!

(Although he cannot match the speed of the pegasi, specially not one like Aero, if Aero goes in directly)

Aero grunted as Ave forced him away. He was thankful that the earth pony couldn't kick at full force because even in his injured state, the wind was knocked out of him. The pegasus rolled over, shaking himself off as he fought for breath. Whatever was happening to Ave was clearly out of his control. At least he hoped.

Rolling onto his hooves, he caught sight of Ave sprinting as fast as his injured legs could carry him towards the book. Aero's eyes looked onto the object; he needed to get it away. His instincts told him the book was causing this.

Aero rocketed forward, propelling himself with his wings at full speed. He barrelled past Ave and swopped up the book in his passing by, before tiling his wings up to lift himself out of reach. A shiver travelled along his back as he held the tome in his hooves. It was unnaturally cold to the touch, an unsettling notion to him. For the briefest moment, Aero was reminded of a strict mother holding a toy out of her child's reach for misbehaving. Except this was a lot more serious.

He kept his eyes looked on Ave, hoping to see any visible change in his demeanour.

'Ave' did not change in behaviour at all, instead going for a rock and throwing it up in the air and bucking it towards Aero with his good hind hoof! it flew past at quite some speed, and obviously, keeping the book out of Ave's reach was not going to do it! something more needed to happen to that book for Ave to be dispelled of this craze!

"How DARE you deny me from my DESTINY." 'Ave' shouted with irritation, trying to get more rocks to fire at Aero! Aero noticed that whatever rocks landed in the pools would sink and cause the pools to bubble, presumably damaging the rock with Celestia knows what! It didn't seem that 'Ave' planned to give up, and flying anywhere would mean 'Ave' might harm himself...

The aerial assault was a surprise as Aero whipped away from the flying rock. This was not what he had been expecting from Ave. Clearly this book - still icy cold in his grip - was controlling him.

Aero yelped when another rock flew up to clip his side. The pain was short and sharp, making him grit his teeth. The hit ignited another wave of anger in him but he subsided it so as not to unleash it on Ave. This wasn't the earth pony's fault, it was this book. Looking downwards his attacker, his eyes locked onto the acid green pools surrounding them.

"You won't have a destiny if you use this!" Aero retorted, raising the book above his head and casting it into one of the green pools. The liquid bubbled around the leather bindings as the book seemed to ignite as it sunk into the pool.

In Aero's moment of heroism, another rock struck him directly! "n-No!.. H-How dare... you!" 'Ave' said, his voice cracking and having difficulty of sort. Nonetheless, while the book was melting into the strange green pool, the maddened pony shot out another good rock at full force, but was now slowing down, breathing deeply and seemingly becoming calmer.

((need to know if Aero gets knocked out of the sky or not for how i continue this, so that's why the short post.))

Aero watched in satisfaction as the book seemed to wither away in the pool. The pages turned a dark black as they burnt before the whole thing disappeared under the surface.

His victory was short lived as another rock careening directly into his head. The blow stunned Aero, momentarily causing his vision to black out as he reeled from the hit. When he came to he became acutely aware that he was falling fast. His wings flapped hurriedly to stabilise himself but couldn't stop him in time before he land hard against the ground.

Aero's right leg knocked against a tree log, spinning him onto his left side before he sprawled out across the ground. His left wing caught under him in a painful twist as he came to a halt.

A moment of silence passed before a quiet mutter came from him. "Ow..."

While stunned on the ground, Ave did one last sprint, Slamming headfirst against Aero's stomach, full force! However, the blow made Ave reel back a little, aswell. After being stunned, Ave slowly returned to his full conciousness and awareness, the book's effects fully dissipating. It took a while before all his memories came back to him, and he noticed Aero, whom he definitely gave a hard time laying before him.

Ave was torn. Aero had gone through so much, at the start, just for some money, but Aero made sure Ave had gone through it all completely sane. Ave felt... like he had made a friend. someone who he didn't mind knowing the truth. Along his motionless face came down a few tears. Of joy, of sadness, nopony knew. Perhaps Ave himself didn't quite know. Never to be called a bad friend, Ave did his best to move the two through the everfree forest, back to the castle where there wasn't anyone in the direct surroundings to hurt him. He did everything he can to keep Aero's body as unharmed as possible, and even had to fight off some plants, and while it was hard, he pulled through. For Aero.

By the time Aero slowly came to, he heard two voices.
"So what -are- we going to tell them?" a luxurious and hoity toity sounding voice said. "Well we can't say that a little magical spell conveniently led us to them!" a much kinder and feminime voice said, with only a hint of irritation. "But that's exactly how we found them! ugh... Intel is going to kill us." the male voice of the two groaned. Intel? who was Intel? As Aero opened his eyes, he found himself laying in a field, close to the castle of the two sisters, away from the trees of the everfree forest. There was a sky blue tall... Alicorn? Well, he seemed like an alicorn, but his wings were somewhat transparent... and a yellow pegasus with long fiery red mane. The pegasus noticed Aero waking up, and so did the 'Al'icorn. "You, what we-" The blue stallion started but was soon cut off. "At-tut! he's in danger all the same as Intel was! we must be kind." The pegasus said before she approached Aero, bowing to him a bit. "Hello, We are friends of in-uh, Ave. It's a pleasure to meet you. Are you alright? you seem pretty beat." she asked, trying to see if Aero was completely fine. "I still think he's sus-" the voice was once more hushed by the female, it was comical, almost. "Oh Hush you! just be glad you cast a tracking spell on Intel and that the fortune teller was right!" She turned back to Aero with a sigh., continuing in her most friendly tone. "You must excuse him, he only means the best for our uh, seemingly mutual friend." she assured Aero with a smile.

The first thing to reach Aero as he dragged himself back int consciousness was the pain running along the left side of his body. The muscles ached and he was pretty sure of some bruising, not to mention the twinge in his wing. Opening his eyes, the pegasus went to sit up only to realise he wasn't just alone, nor in the company of just Ave.

Two unfamiliar ponies were beside him; a fiery coloured mare and blue-toned unicorn. Aero noticed with surprise a pair of wings on the pony that gleamed with a magical essence. No prizes for guessing his talent. They were back in the castle, settling away again from the beasts of the Everfree.

The pegasus couldn't get a word in before the two started to speak. Clearly they were in disagreement about his presence with their friend. Intel, tracking spell, fortune teller? Aero's mind was still hazy from his impromptu nap. He struggled to even remember how he'd ended up unconscious. Did...did Ave hit me with a rock? That would explain the headache...

"Speaking of mutual friend, where is Ave?" he asked as politely as he could, holding back his impatience.

The yellow pegasus smiled. "Ah, Right, he calls himself Ave here. He's right here..." Her expression changed as she walked over to Ave, which was laying on his side, wrapped up here and there with cloth, breathing heavily, although seemingly asleep. "I hope he'll be Fine..." She said, worryingly, carefully checking his breathing and making sure he was laying comfortably. "Could you care to explain what.. happened here?" she asked, looking Aero over. Aero noticed he was patched up to some extent with leaves and twigs, well done too. Ave must've gone through the extra effort.

The hoity toity unicorn decided to keep silent for now, knowing that the pegasus was better for this situation. he simply sat down there, getting whatever rest he could, as keeping the winds calm while the two flew was a difficult task on him.

Truth be told, Aero was quite able to recall every detail of the events leading up until now. If anything, Aero felt he was due an explanation as to who they were and what they were really doing here. He remembered the castle, the library, the book. Then Ave seemed to change and tried to run away, and he chased him down.

"First's things first, I'm Aero. Ave hired me to help guide him to the ancient castle in the Everfree to find...something." As much as wanted to trust these new ponies, he had been in the company of liars and tall tales all day. What's to say these two weren't really against Ave and were trying to learn more about what he was doing. He especially wasn't liking the vibes coming from that uptight unicorn. "A book, I think. I didn't ask questions."

His eyes narrowed as he looked between them. "Who are you two, and how did you get here?"

"Someone who knows how to suspect others, thank celestia." the high and mighty unicorn said, flashing a cocky grin to the pegasus. "Ughhh do you ever not..." she said with a sigh. But smiled afterwards. "We're childhood friends of Ave. Back before he hid his cutiemark. My name's Hearth. And the prick over there is Regal Skyline." she said with narrowed eyes, But Regal didn't seem to care. She added the detail of Ave's cutiemark since it was on display anyway, and she knew he had started hiding it, and knew that Aero probably knew that aswell.

"Was he concious when you saw his cutiemark, did he tell you anything?." Regal abrubtly asked, wanting to confirm Aero's proper intention as much as Aero wanted to be sure the other two meant well.

That cocky grin just pushed all of the wrong buttons in Aero. He did not like this unicorn. He kept his focus of the pegasus as introduced Hearth themselves. He glanced over at the unicorn, sarcastically remarking, "Charmed, I'm sure."

Resisting the urge to speak any unpleasantries, he considered what Hearth had said. Ave hadn't mentioned old friends in the area, yet he didn't have any need to or maybe didn't know. The subject of Ave's cutie mark was an answer that Aero wasn't sure how honestly to answer. If he didn't trust Regal, then he at least had some faith in Hearth. After all, for all he knew, they had been the ones responsible for pulling him and Ave back to the castle for safety.

"Yes, he was. He mentioned about wanting to change himself, and his mark-"
A flood of memories came back to him, specifically arguing about his destiny and removing his mark. "He said he wanted to get rid of his cutie mark. To change his destiny."

Regal bit his tongue. "Idiot..." he said, although unable to hide a tinge of sadness in his voice. "he was messing with dark magic, i assume? then that's the uneasy feeling i got from my tracking spell... But here he is.. and moderately fine..." he got silent. he cared, that was for sure.

Hearth smiled at Ave and looked back at Aero. "We have.. you to thank for this, i take it?" she bowed a little to Aero. "Thank you. For keeping Ave safe and not letting him be a fool." Regal aswell, spoke up. "Thanks." he said, still worried for Ave. "How's your wing? with my spells to calm the air, the three of us should be able to fly ourself and Intel back to ponyville." he said, looking at Ave. for some reason they called Ave by a different name...

Aero only nodded at the mention of dark magic. He cast a worried look over to Ave who still seemed to be out for the count. He hoped the earth pony would be okay. The magic had affected him strongly but it was hopefully past from him now.

He could only shrug off the thanks given by Hearth. No doubt she meant it sincerely but it wasn't a big deal for Aero. He'd been hired to do it, and after spending time with Ave he felt it was more than just doing his job. He did feel cared for stallion as a friend should.

Experimentally, Aero unfurled his wings, being mindfully slow with his left wing. It hurt, and flying would be painful, but he'd endure it. It wasn't like there was any other option.

"I'll manage," he replied, getting to his hooves and checking his saddle bags. "Should we just get out of Celestia forsaken forest already?"

Regal stood and came closer to Aero, lowering his horn by Aero's wings. He cast a spell, making them feel a little stronger. "Regal... You'll be dead exhausted by the time we're back in ponyville, casting so many spells." she said, worryingly coming closer to him. Regal shrugged Hearth off. "He deserves to get back safely just as much as we do, Hearth. That means no risks." he said, although this might be a risk on his behalf. He looked away and went towards Ave, grabbing him carefully. Hearth nodded, joining him in carrying Ave up. "Alright. Let's go, then." She smiled to Aero. "Stick close, Regal will be using his magic to keep Everfree's unreliable currents as calm as possible for us." She nodded as She and Regal carefully lifted Ave together, Flapping their wings and ascending to the sky.

Regal grunted, keeping up wings, calm winds and all else obviously having put a lot of strain on it's horn. It occasionally let a little magical spark fly off of it.

Aero was naturally suspicious of Regal as he approached. He watched cautiously as the unicorn's horn lowered to his wing and cast a spell. Almost instantly, the pain seemed to subside. Taken aback, Aero offered him a small genuine and appreciative smile. "Thanks."

Now there was little else holding them back. With a few flaps of his wings, Aero had joined Regal and Hearth in the air. He had to admit, it seemed peculiar having a flying unicorn with him. Suffice to say it was unusual. His thoughts lead to the fact that it was odd that either of them had been out here in the first place, with the only reason given being Ave.

Curious, he posed the question to them. "Why were you two tracking Ave anyway?"

"That's... we-" Regal started before being cut off by Hearth. "Keep your breath Regal. no need to tempt fate. Firstly, before we exactly spill all the beans, we'd like to know how much Ave has already told you about his past, his cutie mark and his talent... He's a secretive fellow, that's for sure." she confirmed, looking to Aero. she would be all to glad to tell Aero more about Ave, but she had to double check on Aero's knowledge. "We know he told you he wanted to change, but do you know what for?"

Aero wasn't exactly happy with the exchange of information going on here. He felt he was telling them a lot more than they were telling him, but he didn't believe he is much of a position to argue the point. They were here with Ave and himself helping to get them out of the Everfree forest.

"He told me that he's lying whenever there is emotion in his voice. That his normal voice is flat and emotionless and that he hates it. He figured this was part of his destiny, so by removing his cutie mark, he'd sever the tie."

Giving a little shrug, Aero's expression clearly displayed a mix of discomfort and disbelief. "Honestly, I think he's a bit nuts to try it. I'm more worried about him than anything else."