A Stress Free Environment

by SimpleDude

Ch.1 An Unforgettable Day

It had been a difficult and stressful week for Joshua, mostly from the midterm exams. From what he had seen, not everyone had passed, as about half of his class had dropped out. There were plenty of students who didn't even try to study. They had their sorry excuses, but school was no place for academic mercy. Even with all the studying in the world, it wouldn’t guarantee him success, and Josh needed to do his best on those beasts that his college called “tests” so he could graduate in one piece. At this rate, he was going to burn out quickly. So he desperately wanted—no—needed a break, and what better way than to go camping for the weekend? So, that’s what he did.

The campsite was about a mile from where he parked his truck, in a clearing in the woods where one could get a good view of the sunset and stars when they came out. The walk was not that bad, as there was already a path that led to the campsite. Beside his camping spot, there was a little creek that trickled down a small slope. This calm little area was ideal for melting Joshua's stress away, where he could get away from it all.

'It sure is nice and calm out,’ he thought to himself.

Josh loved to camp. The only thing he wished he could have on camping trips like this was for someone to share it with. When he went on a camping trip, he would sometimes ask some of his friends if they wanted to join him, but they were usually busy during the weekends. It did get kind of lonely for him when he was just sitting there enjoying nature by himself.

"At least I brought some books." There was no one to hear his comment, but talking out loud helped him calm down and relax.

It started to get cold as the day drew to a closing. Since it was winter, the days only lasted until about six in the afternoon and were usually quite cold. This particular winter, however, had been quite warm, much to Josh’s disappointment. Winter was his favorite season. He didn't have to mow the lawn, there were no bugs to pester him when he was outside, and best of all, there was usually snow. Lots of it. Even though it hadn't snowed yet this year, he would at least have more time to look up at the stars before sleep took control of his body. Stargazing, after all, was another one of Josh's favorite activities. A couple of years back, his dad got him a telescope for Christmas that was as big as him.

Crimson, as far as the eye could see, at least in the direction of the setting sun. The sky was but a pastille of colors. Josh laid down to observe the beauty the world around him had provided.

The sun had now set and the stars had started to creep out of their hiding places like a group of children playing hide and seek. The sunset had nothing on the night sky, though. It was absolutely stunning that evening. There wasn't a cloud in the sky to disrupt the ocean of twinkling fireflies dancing across the sky. It was glorious, and Josh couldn't be more excited to take it all in. He stayed up for what felt like hours, just reveling at what beauty the world had to offer.

‘Too bad I don't have my telescope with me right now. I don't get views like this back at home,’ Josh thought to himself. It was going to be the most perfect and stress-free weekend ever. At least, that's what Josh had been planning on.

That night, Josh had stayed up as long as his eyelids could take. The sky was just too beautiful to let the opportunity of observing such perfection slip away, but sleep was inevitable.

---

Sleep had been almost as peaceful as watching the stars, almost. He did notice one thing when he got up though; his campsite looked a bit different than what he had remembered from yesterday. At first, he thought his mind was just playing tricks on him, but he became alarmed when he got a good look around.

Before there were a few oak trees on the outskirts of his little clearing, but now it looked like a large cluster of trees had grown there over night. The small creek had turned into a shallow river. Josh thought of some explanations for this little predicament he was in.

‘Maybe I accidentally ate a wild mushroom and I’m currently experiencing its side effects, that's got to be the reason,’ Josh reasoned with himself because he needed to be levelheaded and sane if he wanted to get out of this situation. Either way, his surroundings had changed and he had to figure out what he was going to do.

First and foremost, he needed to get his thoughts together, but that was easier said than done in these kinds of situations. He thought for a minute, before an idea hit him like a wrecking ball. Why didn't he just look where the path was that he took to get there? Surely it hadn't changed and would lead him to the safety of his truck where he could stabilize himself. The path, however, was nowhere in sight. He began to look high and low for his free ticket out of this chilling predicament, but there was no such luck.

“Crap, just crap.” That was about the most intellectual comment Josh could muster up at the time. He had no idea what to do now. A smile eerily crept across his figure. His salvation was right in his pocket, and he had completely forgotten about it earlier, his cell phone.

He whipped it out like he was in a gun duel with the most wanted outlaw in the west. All he had to do was to look at his GPS and call for help, it was brilliant.

Grief, the only emotion Josh could feel at the moment. He had no words; there was no signal on the phone. An all too familiar feeling of panic seeped into Joshua's form. He had not anticipated the phone's lack of signal. He really should have seen that coming though, given what had already transpired on this day of terrible surprises.

He was really beat at this point. The only way out of this situation was to get his gear and go on a trek looking for civilization, or to find a person out here, which there was almost no chan—”Is that all you’ve got!?”

A yell, not the most friendly yell Josh had ever heard, but a yell at that. There was another person around here, and they didn't sound too far away. Even though the voice didn't sound very friendly, Josh overlooked that detail. All he could think about right now was being saved, or at least having a general direction of where civilization might be located. The only issue with this plan, was that the direction of sound was difficult to track in the forest.

There was another shout, which caused Josh to spring up and run toward the sound. He heard it once more. Now he knew he was headed in the right direction, because the sounds were definitely getting louder. Josh was not sure how long he ran for, but it was most likely under an hour. He also made sure to remember where he came from. It wouldn't be very smart to run out into an unknown forest without keeping track of where you have been and where you go.

As he drew closer to the noises, he could make out what sounded like a fight. He was a bit worried as to why people would be fighting in the middle of the woods, but decided that someone fighting in the woods was better than no one in the woods at all. The noises were only about twenty feet in front of him in a small clearing.
He couldn't quite make out what the people looked like because there were trees keeping their figures hidden. He could tell there was a large figure and a smaller figure. The latter of the two appeared to be on all fours, which was very peculiar to Josh.

‘I hope that these people are not drug dealers or something,’ Josh thought as he cautiously snuck up to get a better view of the pair. The second he looked into the clearing — Snap! — Josh froze, and so did the figures in front of him. He had stepped on a stick and broke it; so much for being sneaky. Josh could now see what the figures looked like. There was a big creature standing there and it looked like it jumped straight out of Greek mythology. There was also a horse-like animal with bat wings.

“I am definitely hallucinating because I accidentally ate a wild mushroom, or this is a really, and I mean really, vivid dream,” Josh said, mostly to himself, but the other creatures could obviously hear him. The lion creature high-tailed it and accidentally smacked the horse-looking animal in the head with its scorpion tail as it ran away. The bat winged horse didn't see the blow coming and was struck right in the face, which apparently had enough force to knock out the unsuspecting creature.

Once again this day, Josh was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Lucky for him, not literally. First it was waking up in a new environment, then it was the absence of signal on his phone, and now there were strange creatures. Icing on the cake.

‘You know what? I don't even care anymore. Trying to think logically about these events is giving me a headache.’ And so, Josh the brave and adventures decided to just play out these hallucinations and see where they took him.

‘Maybe I could have some fun with this craziness, and besides, I'm trying not to be trite here, but what's the worst that could happen?

Little did Josh know, he was in the Everfree Forest, one of the most dangerous and wild places in all of Equestria.

Author's Note:

Oh boy.
If you have any feedback I would appreciate it. I am trying to improve my writing skills as best as I can. Thanks for reading! I'll have another chapter out by next week, but it depends on How busy I will be.
Edit: I've fixed most (if not all)
of the tense issues and some other issues with the chapter thanks to the courtesy of MV.

Comments

[wordless]

well Josh is gonna get his a** handed to him.

Favorited!

[Gravity012]

Interesting. Many typos, but good story.