Starswirl Academy - Original Rainbow Dash Route

Rained In

Description: You and RD study again, and end up musing about life.
Note: This might be my favorite chapter. It was one of the first ones I wrote, and one an old team liked a lot.

The thunder rolled so loudly that the drops of water on the library’s window vibrated. It had been drizzling for the last hour, an aftershock to the big storm cloud that had finally found its way over our school.

Dash amused herself by balancing a pencil on the tip of her finger while I read over her notes. The elegance of her handwriting was still surprising, but aside from her marble notebook being written in script, it was riddle with flaws. There were entire chapters of the subject matter missing.

Dash was back to her confident self. That bad mood passed through her like a dark cloud through a clear sky. I was relieved to see her at one-hundred percent again, but my image of her was not what it used to be. She wasn’t Supergirl anymore. And that was okay.

It was almost four o’clock and we both were ready to leave for the day, but the rain was starting to get worse. No one else was there, not even the stuffy librarian. Rainbow and I were trusted to study alone in the dimly lit library with no supervision.

And as usual, our study session became one of procrastination. I tried to keep her focused in the beginning, and before I knew it was slacking off with her.

“Whatcha thinking about?” She asked as she tossed her pencil high in the air and caught it like a small baton.

“Nothing really.”

“That’s a first.”

“I guess I am just sick of studying for today.”

“That’s another first. You and me both Newbie.” She glanced outside again and sighed. “I wish it wasn’t raining.”

“Did you have plans?”

“Training. I gotta be ready for the Inter-County Race.”

“The what?”

“Oh, it’s only the biggest high school race in this part of the country, that’s all. No big deal. Fifty schools, twelve events…they give out medals, college scouts show up. They announced the date today.”

“You have been running a lot lately.”

“Duh. What do you think I’ve been practicing for? Spitfire’s going to be there and I’m going be ready!” She rubbed her hand on the top of my head and laughed as she messed up my hair. I hated when she did that. It made me feel like I was a kid, even though we were the same age and I was twice her size.

“You’re really focused when it comes to sports. If you put half of that energy into studying, you’d probably have a 4.0 by now.”

“Probably. But then I would lose half of my energy in sports.” A bolt of lightning flickered across the sky. “Why don’t you start playing sports again?”

A clap of thunder separated our sentences.

“Besides basketball, I just…don’t get them.”

“I never got studying. Or school. Or reading.”

“Uh, Daring-Doo.”

“That’s the one exception. And I thought I told you not to bring that up.”

“Did you tell me that? I don’t think you did.”

“Well…I’m telling you now.”

Rainbow looked around the library to make sure no one heard her. We had been alone for an hour and she still didn’t want anyone to know about her little secret. When she was sure she was safe, she went back to play with the pencil dangling through her fingers.

Rainbow Dash was an expert on doing nothing and I was starting to get used to doing nothing with her. Maybe my friendship with Twilight had jaded me, but not working excessively was kind of nice. Just relaxing, just letting things happen by themselves…

…just talking. Even if it was about nothing at all.

At long last, these new hallways didn’t seem so strange. I remembered how much I missed my old school when I first arrived. Now I was beginning to get comfortable in these new, peaceful surroundings filled with strange and amazing people.

And as I thought of how this school had grown on me, I remembered an unfair fact: I was a senior.

My high school career had turned into a countdown and every day was one tick closer to that clock going off, when I would be leaving this place too. Desks and blackboard and lazy afternoons talking about nothing with a friend…they’d go away.

These thoughts ‘occasionally’ worried me. As the weeks rolled on, ‘occasionally’ started becoming ‘often’. It had been on my mind for the past few weeks and now that things between RD and me had calmed down, they came back.

“I am a little worried about life after school.” When I asked that, Rainbow dropped the pencil. She stared at me for several seconds without speaking.

“W-why?” She bent over to pick the pencil off the floor.

Rainbow Dash: “You’re an egghead. You’re going go to college so you’ll still have, like, years of school left.”

“Aren’t you going to college?”

She shrugged. “It’s either the Air Force Academy of nothing at all. But I don’t worry about it. I’m a free bird baby! I’m looking forward to spreading my wings and flying once I’m down with this place! Classrooms feel like cages.”

“I agree.”

“Really?” She looked surprised.

“I like learning. And I like school. But I sit at a desk all day here. And in college, I’d be sitting at a desk all day. And if I get an office job, I’ll be sitting at a slightly bigger desk all day.”

I sighed as I finally told her what was bothering me, what things she’d force me to think about when she teased me.

“Look at today, look at right now. It’s raining. We have an excuse to stay indoors. But tomorrow, it’ll dry up. Tomorrow, our excuse will be ‘we have class’. And my parents have work so they won’t be outside either.”

I took the pencil, which Rainbow had placed between us, and I started spinning it on the table. I went on.

“I didn’t play sports when I was a kid, but I used to spend hours outside and play. Just play. Explore, do stuff, make up adventures. I could still do that. I guess. But when? After class and during the weekend, but is that it?

As I spoke, Rainbow did something incredible. Something I didn’t expect her to do.

She listened.

She heard me, she understood, and she didn’t criticize me or make a stupid joke. She gave me her attention and let me say my piece.

“I don’t know. It’s just been bothering me lately. Graduating, college, a job one day. Sometimes I wish life wasn’t so…so…”

“Suffocating?” She asked, softly, gently, like she knew what I was feeling before I said it.

“Yeah.”

Her violet eyes were focused. Somewhere in my rant, I had struck a chord. The sky roared a few more times. It felt like an hour past before she said anything.

“That’s…depressing.”

“Yeah. But what are you going to do right?”

“I don’t know what you can do, but I could do plenty.”

“Like?

“Keep this under your hat slim…” She changed her voice to mimic an Italian gangster from the 30’s. “…but I’m planning me a jailbreak.”

“A jailbreak?”

“Yeah, see. I figure that if I start digging through the left wall in the girl’s locker room ta’morrow, I can be on the other side of town in three years. That beats that Shawshank Redemption fella by over a decade.”

“Haha. Or you could just run. You are really good at that.”

Her violet eyes met mine and she laughed. Her voice returned to normal and she smiled. “This is why I keep you around Newbie. You’re the idea guy. I am the pretty face, the charm, the talent and the awesomeness. We make a good team.”

Her phone alarm went off, signaling that our study session was over.

“Time’s up. I guess.” She glanced out the window. The rain hadn’t stopped. “You doing anything?”

“Just more homework.”

“Yeah. Nothing else to do.”

“But keep me posted on that jailbreak thingy. I’ll help you draw out a tunnel map.”

“Deal.” Rainbow punched my shoulder as she picked up her backpack. “I’ll be seeing you.”

She hustled outside and charged through the pouring rain like a bullet. I watched her run through the storm and thought of how she never let anything stop her.

Watching her run made me smile.

---times passes---

The rain started slowing down just as I finished my last algebra problem. I signed my name at the top page of the paper and victoriously put my books away.

“About time.” I said out loud when I finished.

It was still drizzling. Thankfully, I was smart enough to bring an umbrella…meaning I took back the one Rainbow Dash took from me yesterday.

I walked back to the dorm a little slower. Intentionally. Now that my work was done, I finally had the privilege of being outside and of enjoying myself.

Everything smelled fresher after it rained. There was a coldness to the world but not an unpleasant one.

I felt better now that I finally venting my frustration to someone. Those worries had been building up for a while. I felt lighter. Still worried, but my head didn’t feel cluttered anymore.

I passed the track field…and as I did, I saw something that surprised me and did not surprise me at the same time.

Splashing her running shoes through thick puddles, with drenched hair and soaked running shorts, Rainbow sprinted, defiantly telling Mother Nature that no one was going to stop her. Ever.

I smiled again, and kept walking.