"What's with all the yelling," Spleens asked as she stuck head out from under the tarp.

"Near got swept away by the flash flood," Long cried. Spleens hugged Long and pulled her back to the caravan, pushing the thestral in first. When Long looked inside the caravan, she found herself face to face with a soaking wet, dark pink tail held above a blue ponut. Before Long could process this, the ponut farted right into Long's gaping mouth.

"Did ya miss me?"

"Well, when the water hit me that extra rope we left coiled down there wrapped around my left forehoof and once all the coils were paid out, the rope pulled me to the edge of the water, so I telepoofed back into the caravan and waited for you to come back in," Near explained after Long and Spleens had stopped hugging her. "I mean, did you forget what my cutie Mark is for?"

"A bit, yeah," Admitted Long, "But now what? Are we gonna be safe from flash floods up here?"

"Probably? I don't know," Answered Near, "But we should probably figure out something for lunch."

Lunch ended up being a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Near, a peanut butter and peanut butter sandwich for Long, and Spleens just ended up getting hugged by two ponies, one thinking about how much she appreciates Spleens, and one thinking about how nice and gooey and peanut buttery Spleens was. Once they were finished eating, all three went outside to assess their situation.

"Well now what?" Asked Spleens once it was clear that everything was still secure.

"Monopony anyone?" Long asked, holding up the box.

Four hours later, Long Shot flipped the game board, scattering the pieces across the caravan. "I don't get it, how did you manage to so totally beat both of us twice in a row, especially with Long and I working together against you for the second game?" Near asked Spleens.

"This game just makes sense to me," Spleens explained, "It's like there's an obvious path to take, but I can only see one step at a time."

There was a loud crash of thunder, and Long peered out the window at the billowing tarp. This storm unsettled her. It wasn't the size of the storm or the frequent lightning and thunder that bothered her, but something else. The storm seemed... wrong, unnatural somehow.

"This storm is really starting to creep me out," Long told the others.

"I thought pegasai weren't afraid of lightning and thunder," Near said.

"Most aren't, including me. Something's wrong with this storm. Like somepony is controlling it."

"Aren't pegasai supposed to control storms?"

"Not like this," Long said before sighing, "Normally we just set up the storm and give it little nudges if it goes off course. This storm is too purposeful... I don't know."

At that moment, Spleens entered the caravan holding a new game box, "Ok, next game is risk, that sounds nice and calming.

Author's Note

Comments are always welcome.