Lost on the Way to Nowhere

Upon the crest of the hill was a comfortable spot in the shade of a rather small but pleasant-looking tree. It offered a soothing view of the green expanse that stretched endlessly every which way, only sporadically dotted by trees akin to itself. Not the faintest presence of civilization was apparent on the horizon: the space where the landscape touched the sky was entirely vacant, save distant treetops that poked up from the east. Opposite the forest, the sun had just barely begun to touch the hills, most of the stars patiently awaiting their turn to appear once the sun had finished its lazy descent for the evening, excluding the few antsy ones that had been too eager to simply wait for their entrance in the grand stage of the sky.

Sitting himself down beneath the branches of the tree, the traveler let out a soft, weary exhale. Both his horn and the saddlebags that adorned his back were enveloped in a soft violet glow as he lifted the saddlebags off and set them beside him. Drawing out a canteen from his belongings, he took a long swig before he returned it to its place. He went to pull something out of another pouch, but he paused as he opened the pouch before letting out a disgruntled sigh.

Right. Dropped the map in the river, he recalled with a dour frown. Earlier that day, he had been trying to pinpoint his position on the map while trotting alongside a river, too distracted to react quickly enough to recover his balance when some loose soil on the bank gave  out beneath him and sent him tumbling into the river, the current spiriting away his map as well as himself. Although he wasn't able to recover the map, it made no difference, as it was in the water so long that it would have been unusable were he to find it somehow.

His incident had left him in a predicament; he was in entirely unfamiliar territory, the map having been his only guide up until he had lost it. At best, he could vaguely remember very general and imprecise details of the map in the direction he was headed, which was northeast—or at least, he believed it was. His tumultuous struggle to drag himself from the river had made him lose all focus he had had, making it hard to recall with total certainty whether he was still headed in the right direction. He was eager to make it to the nearest town sooner rather than later, as his floundering in the water had also resulted in the loss of most of his supplies, which he rather carelessly had failed to secure in his saddlebags properly.

How have I even made it this far? he thought dejectedly. I'm an absolute ditz and it's a miracle that I haven't gotten myself maimed and killed out here yet.

With a heavy sigh, he turned his gaze toward the sun, which had now dipped most of the way behind the rolling hills. He glanced at the tree against which he lied, the gentle rustling of its leaves the only sound in the air. It seemed as though the tree looked back at him with a kind smile—of course, not actually, but he could have sworn that he felt it smile somehow. It put him at ease, soothing his nerves.

Well, he thought to himself, maybe I’ve not got anypony to keep me company, but at least I've got you, Mister… Tree. He smirked at the silliness of the idea, but it gave him a sense of peace, in a way. As he relaxed, he felt himself start to fall asleep to the calming lullaby of the breeze through the branches of his unorthodox friend.