Chip wandered through the Everfree forest, searching for the path he'd previously been following. One quick glance at his phone led him to lose sight of it entirely. He looked left, right, up, down, North, South, East, and West, but every sign of the trail had vanished without a trace. Lost, the red Pegasus decided to take a logical course of action and call for help. Little did he know, that when he reached into his tucked wing to retrieve his phone, it was gone. Suddenly, a loud rumble crashed through the trees. The Pegasus looked up to see dark clouds looming overhead. One, two, ten, fifty drops of rain began to fall.

"This is just perfect." Chip spoke aloud and set hoof for shelter, deciding his phone would be drenched and useless by now. His insurance company didn't cover water damage either. The drops of rain tapped against Chip's mane. But it felt... Unnatural... He looked up to see that every time a drop made contact with one of his highlights, they'd turn grey for half a second. Weirded out, this cowardly stallion rushed off to find shelter. Just when he thought things couldn't get any worse, a cave appeared from the brush. He wadded inside and shook off. Chip plopped down onto the unusually cold bottom of the cave.

There was one thing wrong, though. It was raining inside the cave. The water was warm. Chip looked up once more. Hanging from the ceiling were the bodies of ponies he had never met, each one with gashes in unique places. Each one dripping with blood. And as I said,

It was still warm.

i wrote this pasta when i was 11, and once i rediscovered it (june 2025), i was inspired to draw the accompanying art. thanks, diana, for convincing me to post this after i read it to you, on a dark and stormy night...