A Near Miss

After explaining the previous night's accidental explosion, Near Miss was awkwardly waiting for Long Shot's response. There was a long pause before the grey bat pony spoke up, "If you were standing right next to the fire pit when that log exploded you are very lucky to be alive," she pointed out, as she started walking over to examine the remains of the fire pit more closely.

"Well, yes and no," Near began, following behind the thestral, "That kind of accident is far from uncommon for me, in fact it's how I got my cutie mark. You see, my special talent is lucking my way out of dying, perhaps it's why I'm named Near Miss; the log that hit you would have taken my head off if it had hit me," She explained as she showed Long Shot her cutie mark, a horseshoe and a hand grenade.

"Wait," Long Shot held out a hoof, stopping Near suddenly, "So you can't die?"

"I don't think that's it," said Near, looking thoughtful, "More that if there's a way to luck out of dying, I seem to do so. While we're on the topic of cutie marks and special talents, why don't you tell me about yours while I get some breakfast ready for us," she said, gesturing to Long Shot's cutie mark of an arrow in the bullseye of an archery target angled back at 45 degrees.

"Works for me, actually my cutie mark and talent also have to do with luck," Long Shot explained, "When odds are bad, like really, impossibly terrible, I sometimes still come out on top. It doesn't always happen, but sometimes, no matter the odds, everything just falls neatly into place."

By this time Near had set up a small camping stove and was pouring haycake batter onto a frying pan. "So where are you headed?" she asked the waiting pegasus.

"Nowhere in particular," Long shrugged, "I just wanted to travel somewhere after I graduated, especially because my graduating on time was-" Near braced herself as Long put on mirrored sunglasses she had pulled out of nowhere,"-kind of a long shot."

"That's weird," said Near, still cringing somewhat, "I'm on my way to Ponyville to ask somepony where I should head next. Now that my house has wheels, it seems like such a shame to not use them," she said while handing Long Shot a plate of haycakes.

By this time, the sun was well above the horizon, so Long shielded her face with a leathery wing as she started to eat. Near pondered this briefly before asking, "So, you're a thestral? I've never met a thestral before."

The grey mare looked up at Near before swallowing and replying, "That's right, and before you ask no, I don't drink blood from ponies, yes I do eat meat, although it's mostly just fish, and yes, mangos are the most delicious thing ever."

The unicorn was taken aback but recovered quickly, "I knew that the whole vampony thing was nonsense, but I thought that the whole 'any bat pony would kill for a mango' thing was just a stereotype."

"That's because it is a stereotype," Long Shot replied, "Not all lunar pegasai love or even like mangos, although depending on my mood, I wouldn't rule out some amount of violence upon anything or anypony separating me from a particularly ripe looking mango."