Of all the places to land, Josh had landed squarely on top of a rose bush, his back taking most of the impact. He could feel the sharp thorns pierce his shirt and skin. He managed to sit up, but in doing so caused all of the thorns to break off from the bush.. A single tear was shed by Josh at this moment. Not because he was a cry baby about how much that hurt, but because one or more of the thorns had struck a nerve, which forced his eyes to water up.
Andromeda was a bit luckier. She had landed in a pile of white flowers; quite elegantly at that. She was satisfied by her situation, minus a hurt wing, and was also glad that Josh didn't get the two of them killed. They were fortunate the vine, both of them had grabbed onto, held together as long as it did. After assessing her situation, Andromeda looked over at the other side of the crevasse she and Josh had just swung over. The timberwolf that had been chasing the two of them stared directly at her, its green eyes blazing with rage as she returned the stare. After a few seconds of testing wills, the timberwolf decided to give up the chase and return into the dense forest from which it came. Andromeda let out a heavy sigh.
“That definitely went a lot smoother than it could have gone. Not the best escape, but at least we are in one piece,” she said with a smile. When Josh didn't respond, Andromeda looked in his direction. “What happened to you?”
Before he answered he scooted away from the rose bush and sat there tolerating the pain for a minute. It was a bit hard for Josh to speak as he had felt as if the breath had been knocked completely out of him. “I landed on that rose bush and now I have thorns in my back. It hurts. A lot.” Josh was starting to become anxious because he would either have to pick the thorns out of his own back, or he and Andromeda would have to walk to a place where someone would do it for him. He didn't like either option.
“Just look at the bright side. We got away from that nasty timberwolf. We’re also quite a bit closer to Ponyville. You just have to hang in there for a bit more walking and we can get you to a doctor to get all patched up,” Andromeda said, trying to cheer up Josh, though it seemed she wasn't doing a very good job at it. Josh was staring back at her with a flat look.
“I beg to differ. You aren't the one with thorns in your back, but if you're right about how much closer we are to Ponyville, then let's get moving.” Josh slowly stood up and started walking past Andromeda.
“Josh, you know Ponyville is that way, right?” Andromeda pointed to her left after she turned around to look at him.
“Yeah, totally,” Josh answered weakly. He didn't feel like talking any more than he had to.
“Wait a second Josh. Stop walking,” Andromeda said, after noticing something about the thorns in Josh’s back.
“What is it Andromeda?” Josh stopped and was awaiting for a response.
Andromeda squinted at the thorns in his back to get a better look at them. It was a few seconds until Andromeda spoke up, but before she did her eyes grew wide.
This sudden expression from Andromeda made Josh’s heart skip a beat because of the shock apparent in Andromeda’s eyes.
‘If she is acting this way, then there must be a serious problem here.’ Josh started to grow anxious.
“Don't freak out, but there is a chance you have either Acri vexume or Acri venume thorns in your back. Acri vexume is very annoying but not too harmful, but Acri venume is very poisons and can cause - well...death. It's almost impossible to tell the difference between the two. Both are green where they meet the stem of the plant and are also both blue on the pointy end of the thorn,” Andromeda concluded hesitantly.
“Well That's just great. Can we get them out so I like, maybe don't die?” Josh was growing more concerned by the moment.
“There is a certain way of removing the thorns. It is a tricky process because they are shaped like a fishing hook and if you remove the thorns wrong, then the thorn will break and all of the poison inside the thorn will seep into the skin it was broken in, which means game over,” Andromeda solemnly continued. “Were going to have to get to a hospital to get them removed, and be sure not to lay down or hit your back on anything.”
Josh nodded his head slowly in response and wasn't going to say anything, but he had a question he wanted an answer to, injured or not. “How do you know all of this information about this dangerous forest?”
“I own a few copies of books on the Everfree forest and the dangers inhabiting it, I do after all have to travel in and out fairly often.” Andromeda answered.
‘That answers my question, but raises another. Why does Andromeda need to go out into such a dangerous and foreboding forest often?’ Josh couldn't help but think to himself.
Andromeda decided they had been standing around and needed to get moving to the hospital. “We've talked long enough, let's get you to that hospital before anything else bad happens.”
At andromeda speaking up, Josh decided to hold his second question for later and that moving to the hospital was the best plan of action.
As Andromeda and Josh started to walk, Andromeda noticed that Josh was walking rather stiffly.
‘Having all those thorns in his back must really hurt. Boy am I glad I didn't land on any thorn bushes,’ Andromeda felt bad for Josh even though she was still skeptical of him. She didn't have anything else of importance to say to Josh, so she kept her mouth shut and walked beside him while traveling to the little town of Ponyville.
--An hour of walking later--
“Are you sure we are going in the right direction Andromeda? We've been walking for at least an hour and I've seen no sign of civilization since we started. I remember what you said earlier about how long it would take to get there, but I was just wondering if you have any idea where we are,” Josh was very eager to get to Ponyville because he was growing tired and weary of the pain the thorns in his back were causing.
“The forest around us is getting more and more familiar as we walk,” Andromeda gave Josh reassurance on their status at the time.
“I don't intend to be rude, but how do you know that?” Josh didn't want to be wasting time when he could be getting possibly life threatening thorns out of his back that weren't supposed to be there.
“I've been flying over the Everfree for a couple of weeks now, and after taking the same route for a few times, you start to memorize what the path you are taking looks like,” Andromeda explained.
“Not that I have any doubt, but I sure do hope that you are right,” Josh was getting anxious because he wasn't sure how much more time he would have if the thorns turned out to be the poisonous Acri venume thorns Andromeda had informed him of earlier.
--Around 15 minutes later--
Through the woods Josh and Andromeda spotted the side of a house. Josh felt relieved that he could get all those thorns out of his back and that he had a chance.
As they were approaching Andromeda started speaking. “I told you I knew the way back. You need to have a little more faith in me Josh,” Andromeda was just teasing at this point.
“Alright, I guess I'll give you that one. Thanks for getting us out of there. Before we do anything else, could you take me to this town's hospital.” The pain Josh was experiencing had grown from all the walking.
“I know this is a bit last minute, but won't the inhabitants of Ponyville be a bit freaked out that some bipedal creature is walking out of the Everfree Forest?” Josh had grown concerned. This, after all could mean that he wouldn't be able to get medical attention for his back.
“You would be surprised how many crazy things these ponies have seen. From what I have heard, this is Equestria’s epicenter of strange events. For example, Twilight's castle. So no, I don't think they will freak out about you Josh. As long as you are nice.” Andromeda explained.
“If you say so Andromeda. I mean, you haven’t been wrong yet. Wait, what is so special about this ‘Twilight's Castle’? Is there some crazy scientist that keeps themselves locked up in there doing science experiments like Victor Frankenstein?” Josh was now curious and interested. He had always wanted to meet a crazy scientist.
“Victor who?” Andromeda was wearing a face of confusion. She had never in her life heard of a name like that.
“Nevermind. Forget about that part of the question,” Josh was quite disappointed at the response Andromeda had given to him.
“Well anyways, I'll explain. Twilight Sparkle is an alicorn, bearer of the element of magic, and the princess of friendship. She however, is not a crazy scientist. Her castle appeared after this weird box floated through the sky and went into the ground. It also has something to do with defeating this giant power sucking centaur named Tirek. I don't know the full story so you will have to ask Twilight if you want all the details.” Andromeda was starting to get a little tired of all the explanations Josh needed. Even if he had never even heard of Equestria, someone asking lots of questions annoyed Andromeda.
“I um- that's quite complicated,” Josh was not expecting that avalanche of information. He decided to keep quiet until they got into Ponyville. His back was hurting him anyway.
Josh and Andromeda walked past the first house they spotted while in the forest. On closer inspection it appeared to be a cottage that belonged to a pony that really enjoyed the outdoors and the animals that inhabited these said outdoors. The cottage was covered with bird houses and had a chicken coup in the back. In the front yard, there was a small stream that steadily trickled which appeared to have a small bridge over it.
“I am pretty sure this is one of the element bearer’s houses. I think her name is Shy Flutter, or something like that,” Andromeda was telling Josh so he wouldn't ask anymore questions while they walked to the hospital.
“Where is the hospital? These thorns are starting to dig in and it hurts; big time. Like worse than a paper cut, and that's saying something,” Josh was lucky he could tolerate pain well. He wouldn't be able to walk at a good pace if he couldn't.
Andromeda exhaled a heavy sigh. “It's on the other side of town. We will get there in a couple of minutes, don't worry.” ‘I better get my wing checked while we are there,’ Andromeda’s wing was hurting her, which slightly concerned her. If her wing was hurt too bad, she would be grounded. Being grounded wasn't going to be a fun experience for the bat pony. Flying was her main mode of transportation, and without her ability of flight, that had the potential to develop problems later on.
Through the town of Ponyville there were smiles and greetings. Everything was going just as the last day had gone, maybe even better. The air was fresh and the sky was clear. A breeze blew ever so gently through the streets where ponies walked and fillies played. All of this was a reality, at least until a strange bipedal creature walking beside a thestral showed up.
As everypony around was looking at Josh and Andromeda, something unexpected happened. Josh collapsed onto the ground and went limp. There was a loud gasp through the onlookers, but none were as concerned as Andromeda. She knew something they didn't. There was a 50/50 chance Josh was dying from poisonous thorns that were lodged inside of his back.
Andromeda was caught aback by the sudden collapsing of Josh. "No no no no no, you can't die on me. We just met! Somepony get me a doctor!”