A Spell gone far too wrong

"Really Candle? And it's only in the Everfree?" Responded the tired earth pony as she chatted with one of her marefriends after a long day of reading to tireless foals, one of whom was Candle's Cousin.
"Yea'sm. It's a rather particular shade of blue you see, and the only way to make it is by grinding dried Poison Joke. I just need somepony to come with me to keep an eye out." Nodded the happy young mare, her sunset curls bouncing as eager as her spirit. Reluctantly, Ink Stain stood onto her hoofs, tossing her saddle bags over her haunches and striding to the open door.
"As you wish Candle, I don't see why you couldn't ask someone else to come along though..."

Candle shrugged as she trotted over to the door, flashing Ink a smile. "Don't worry, it'll be fun, and completely harmless. We'll be back before dark, and it's not going to be anything life changing." With a giggle, she skipped out the door and slid down the back stairway that led to the door of Ink's attic apartment.
Ink rolled her eyes at the childlike behaviors of such a strange mare, and trotted her way down to follow along side the chatty Candle till they reached the edge of the Everfree.
It was only noon when they trotted in, yet as they trotted in search of the poison joke, both mares got quickly distracted by the other sights to see in the Everfree, and by mid-afternoon, they were completely lost.

Switchblade looks at the Everfree forest and then down to his notebook, looking up at the darkness of the woods, he adjusted his armour, checking his scimitar and magical awareness. He smiled as he was sure of his readiness "Always having to patrol this place. Hopefully nopony has decided to be too ambitious; I have a bad feeling about tonight." and with that he steps into the forest, wandering deeply within the forest.

As they gradually got more lost, tumbling and stumbling through brambles and mud, both mares lost their confidence. At some point, Ink had decided to use this adventure as a method to come up with new stories, yet currently filth and thorns were all she could think of. Candle's mind was concentraiting on lighting the path ahead of them, luckily it was her special talent and didn't take too much effort, otherwise she wouldn't have heard the growling behind them.

Switchblade continued his wander through the dense undergrowth, keeping low and silent, completely focusing on listening through the noises of the forest; concentrating on finding any noises that were out of place. He eventually leans against a tree, thinking to himself.

"Candle..." Ink said cautiously as she too, heard the growling.

"Ignore it Ink, it's probably nothing..." Candle said nervously before glancing behind them and gulping as one of her tiny orbs of light illuminated the mirror-like eyes of a Timberwolf. Gulping, she turned back, walking a little faster till they came upon a low branched tree. "Oh hey look that tree looks perfectly acceptable, if you climb it I'll give you a hoof up." She stuttered, slightly scared as she motioned Ink over to the tree.
Quite willingly, Ink began to make her way onto the tree as Candle tried her best to help her and simultaneously distract the Timberwolf with dancing bits of light.

Switchblade is pulled from his daydreaming by an odd sight; bits of light were floating in the distance, intrigued, he draws his sword and carefully starts to walk to the location, keeping silent until he realised that the weird magic of the Everfree forest made him end up a short distance from where the light actually came from, he spies the back of a timberwolf, striking the side of a tree to try to get its attention.

The mares and the Timberwolf look in Switchblade's direction, unknowing of what exactly the three of them were looking for. As the light glinted off his armor and goggles, Ink breathed a sigh of relief, but Candle, being wary, took a few steps back, for once silent.
Ink however, broke the silence that had been pending on her lips for hours as she screamed Switchblade's name.

At the point he heard the scream, he flips his scimitar up; the light magic emitting a brilliant glow from the blade as he charges at the timberwolf, rolling under it in the hopes of swinging upwards and cleaving the creature in half, hoping the light would stun it.

The light both indeed stunned the wolf, and the mares it was attacking. Luckily for Switchblade, the beast was a bit stunned and confused by all the sparkle sparkle, and was quickly cleaved. Unluckily for Ink and Candle, Ink lost her footing in the tree, and fell ontop of Candle, rendering both mares rather dazed.

Switchblade sighed in relief, using a light heat spell to burn some parts of the timberwolf to prevent it from coming back, he then looked at the two mares with a smile "You're lucky I'm always here when you need a sword, Ink."

Ink looked up at him with a dazed smile, shaking her head slightly as she limbered off of Candle. Candle looked around for other things to look at besides their rescuer, already knowing Ink's hundreds of stories and affections for the stallion.
"Not going to yell at us for going into the woods, are you?"

Switchblade shrugs as he relaxes a bit, looking at the pair "Dunno, should I yell at you for this?" he straightens his helmet, smiling lightly.

Ink smirked "Two defenseless mares running a muck in the Everfree Forest after dark? You probably should. Candle Glow here was just looking for a specific type of poison joke to use to make a special blue pigment I use in my books. This is normally harmless..."
Candle snuffed, taking a few more steps backwards, before feeling the damp forest floor give a little under her hoof. Unknowingly, she stepped back again, causing the earth beneath her hooves to give away in just enough time for her to scream as she fell into a crevasse in the forest floor.

Switchblade laughs slightly at Ink's explanation before looking at Candle falling before rushing over to the hole, looking down.

At this point, a small white blur would fly accidentally into Ink, not heavy enough to harm her, but gazing up at her with a crimson eye. "Hi there."

Candle sent a moan spiraling up from the hole where she fell, moving tenderly in attempt to raise herself from the floor, looking about. With the aid of her signature light orbs, She could properly see in the small cavern. Here, seemed to lay a vast number of odds and ends, possibly some thief's treasure trove. Oddly enough however, one of her light orbs was particularly fond of a specific box with a rusted bolt, and cautiously, she hoofed her way towards it after sending up a cry assuring the others she was "Alrigh' "

Meanwhile Ink gave a small sound as she was hit, and glanced towards the small Pegasus. "Oh Hello.. Are you here with Switchblade?"

Switchblade smiles with a laugh "Well, it seems you two are alright, I'll leave you with Soul here,.she worked with me in my military days; she'll keep you safe." Switchblade wanders off into the forest to continue his patrol.

Soul smiles to Ink, her emerald eye calming "Yeah, I'm not really supposed to be following him, but I thought I may as well for old times sake."

Ink nodded to Switchblade as he trotted off, watching him go reluctantly before turning back to Soul. "So uhm.. Is Candle OK down there?"

Candle rolled her eyes, calling upwards. "Yeah I'm fine, just come give me a hoof with this, will you two? I found something down here." She prodded the chest with a hoof, curious as to what strange contents it might contain.

Soul hears Candle's call, diving into the hole and extending her wings before landing to decrease the impact, she first tries to move it, finding the chest too heavy, she then flies back up and carefully lowers Ink into the hole "I'll stand on guard here for you two, just have a quick look at what is in there."

Ink nodded with a confused face as she looked to the chest. "Candle, I'm not too sure about this." Candle smiled "Oh Psh, Ink, be a little perspicacious will you?" rolling her eyes at Ink Candle attempted to unlock the chest with magic, stepping back as the lid fell open. Ink stepped over, staring at the contents, a singular book page, written in rhyme. Both mares stared at the page, muzzles agape. The image beneath the rhyme appeared to be a unicorn that looked like both Ink and Candle at the same time.

Soul waits at the top, her wings folded as she lays on the ground, patiently waiting for her cue to lift the pair out of the hole, just thinking quietly to herself until then.

Candle read the page softly, sighing in disappointment. "It's just a novel page. Sorry to waste your time Soul." Ink sighed and moved to put the page in her saddlebag. "Soul, a hoof down here?"

Soul nods "Sure, I'll try." she flies down to the pair, shrugging "Doesn't matter, novels are cool."