Chasing the Lost

Twilight awoke with a start, immediately noting that something was off.  Literally.

The blanket she’d been sleeping under was missing.  Glancing around her makeshift campsite, she saw the charred remnants of the fire, her saddlebag, and nothing else.  No blanket in sight.  After a moment’s pause, she raised an eyebrow.  No half-eaten apple, either.

Making use of the bright, early-morning sun and her relatively high vantage point, Twilight did a brief scan for anything suspicious.  She found nothing of the sort, though she did note a settlement a good distance South... err, North.  From where she stood it was hard to tell, but it looked a little larger than Oakvale.  If she really booked it, she’d probably make it in three or four days.  It sat out in the middle of yet another mostly-empty plain that stretched very, very far North and East, eventually fading into yet more mountains.  To the West, there were a few rivers and some rockier features.  Somepony had stumbled on her and taken the apple and the blanket, but nothing else seemed amiss.

She gasped and rummaged through her saddlebag to find a polished wooden box, lifting it out and flipping the lid open, breathing a sigh of relief.  Five gems glistened up at her, but not one of them showed any sign of a spark.  The yellow one had teased her once, shortly after her arrival in Oakvale, but the five of them had otherwise been inert.

With a small groan, she closed the lid and put the box away.  She pointed herself toward the little town took one last look around.  The area wasn’t particularly dangerous, but with lapses in awareness and a blanket/apple thief, she’d need to stay on guard.  She set off down the other side of the hill at a brisk trot, managing to reach the bottom in one piece, still watching and listening vigilantly.  As the ground leveled beneath her, though she suddenly found the sun about to set.

Somehow she’d shrugged off her episodes the previous day, but after a theft she couldn’t do it again.  Panic gripped Twilight as she whipped her head around, making absolutely certain she was alone.  Her attention snapped to a nearby tree when a breeze made its branches sway and creak, and when she pulled her eyes off of it, she was wearing the coat.

“Gah!” she shrieked, scrambling out of the garment and tossing it to the ground.  Eyes darting every which-way, Twilight panted for breath.  Calm down... you need that coat for now, since you don’t have the blanket.  It gets very cold out here, remember?  Just put it back on and start running for that town.  You can go a few days without sleep.  You’re tough.  And once you get there, maybe find a doctor... see if you’re running a fever or something, she thought.

Her internal monologue was loud enough that she didn’t hear the rustling in the grass, grabbing the coat and carrying on with a slight twitch in her eye.