Starswirl Academy - Original Rainbow Dash Route

Hard Day’s Night

Description: You and Rainbow Dash succeed in helping their friend.

It was already dark by the time the truck crept back into the driveway.

“What a night.” Rainbow put the trucker hat back where she found it.

“Tell me about it. My muscles are sore for all that lifting.”

“Thanks for doing the heavy stuff.” Rainbow turned the truck off and quietly dropped off AJ’s keys, while I tidied up the passenger seat.

“Thanks for doing the fast talking.”

We were in the clear. AJ was still sound asleep on her couch. I tried not to think of what her reaction would be tomorrow.

The stars were hidden behind those clouds, the ones that refused to go away, teasing us with threats of rain all week days.

Rainbow walked her long board back to campus. She said it was to not wake anyone. I think it was because she was finally running low on energy.

“Haha...” She stifled a giggle as we walked back to campus

“What?”

“Eeyup.”

“…shut up.” I said playfully.

She giggled more, then shoved me with her elbow. I shoved her back gently. With sleepy eyes half open, she smiled at me.

Crickets chirped. Rainbow whistled a few notes. Despite all she had done today, she didn’t have a worry in the world.

“Do you do stuff like this often?” I asked her.

“What? Joyrides?”

“Do you always do what you feel like whenever you want?”

“That’s the point of being alive, isn’t it? Why be here at all if you don’t live the way you want? She shoved me again, this time with her palm. “Hey look. Another smile.” She pointed to my mouth. I touched my dimples and, like she said, I was smiling. Without realizing that I was. “Sometimes If forget you know how to smile Newbie.”

“You know us Eggheads. If there aren’t any books around, there’s not much to smile about.”

“And you’re telling jokes now? Wow. Pinch me.”

The crickets kept talking to each other. We waited at the corner for the light to change.

There was calmness in Rainbow Dash that usually wasn’t there. Maybe today satisfied her rebellious urges for oncet.

I wasn’t angry with her anymore. But I wasn’t in awe either. Every time I assumed I knew enough about her, she did something to surprise me. An old teacher once said that the biggest mistake a smart person can make is assuming they know the answers to anything. I was not proud admitting it, but I had made that mistake with Rainbow. I assumed I knew who she was over and over again.

I didn’t understand. This was the first time in a long time when I didn’t know what was going to happen next. It was weird. It was intriguing.

“Living the life you want to live…is risky.” I picked my words carefully, trying to predict which ones would get a response out of her.

“Well yeah it’s risky.” Her head jolted in my direction. I predicted right. “But the cool stuff always is. I’ve never heard a good story start with ‘this one time I followed the rules’. The best ones start stuff that’s not ordinary.”

“And...ordinary is bad?”

“It’s not bad. It’s just boring.”

The only thing I could do now was try to understand. I was learning. Slowly.

She rubbed the flesh under her eyes and yawned. She was starting to fizzle out. I check the time and it was already close to midnight.

“I don’t like mornings.” She rested her eyes while standing up. I tugged her sleeve to make sure she stayed awake.

“Are you okay?”

“I just need to power down for a few hours.” She stretched her arms towards the sky and twisted her neck a few times.

Campus was dead quiet when we returned. Not a sound, except for those crickets.

“I can’t wait to see AJ’s face tomorrow.” Dash smiled.

“Do you think she’ll be upset?”

“Maybe a bit, but hey! We did all of her work for her and she got paid. That’s like giving someone the answers to whole semester’s worth of homework without asking…hint-hint.”

“Not happening.”

“I’m just teasing.”

“Now, you promised you’d be more serious about studying.”

“And I meant it. But...” She yawned again. “...I need to sleep.”

“Yeah. Well...I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She looked around quickly. “…thanks.”

“Yeah. What are friend’s for?”

“...heh. Yeah. Friends! So…good night.” I said good night back as she walked away, and crept back to my room before anyone could hear me.

I buried my face in my pillow. But memories of my adventure kept me awake.

I still couldn’t believe I did what I did today. It may have been the boldest thing I did in my life. And it was another thing I could to blame Dash for.

Except I didn’t blame her. I wanted to thank her.

That girl’s confidence was starting to rub off on me. Maybe that fight we had helped? I normally wouldn’t talk back or be assertive when someone yelled, but I had learned how to do so because Rainbow Dash. She was never passive aggressive when something went wrong. She forced people to be honest with her…

I caught myself analyzing Dash again and stopped before I could make another mistake in judgment. The only assumption I as confident in was that Rainbow Dash knew who she was and never apologized for it. That was reason enough to admire her.