Starswirl Academy - Original Rainbow Dash Route

Hot, Fast and Dangerous
Description: Rainbow Dash teaches you to play with what scares you.

My hands shook as I locked the bathroom stall door.

I still couldn't believe that I was playing hooky. I felt rebellious…but not confident. I was on high alert, worried that at any second I would be caught and my life would be over. How does Rainbow Dash keep her aura of invulnerability when she does this stuff?

I threw my uniform into my duffel bag in the bathroom stall and jumped into my street clothes as fast as possible. Everything but my loafers were tucked away in my duffel bag.

As I left the stall, my phone buzzed. Twilight had responded to my text. I felt my stomach twist with guilt, and put my phone back in my pocket without checking it.

The day was better than I thought! Enough cool air to not need a jacket, not enough hot air to sweat.

Dash took me to a barbeque lunch shack in the heart of town, one that she had mentioned was good a while ago. They had tables where you could eat outside, with blue and white umbrellas over top, and Rainbow Dash grabbed one of those for us. Road house music played out of hidden speakers.

Dash promised me that this was just the beginning, that more excitement was on its way. Playing hooky was exciting enough for someone like me, but she insisted on doing more than just getting something to eat.

“And when I say extra spicy, I mean extra spicy. None of that training-wheel hot sauce you put in the kiddy menu.” Rainbow Dash ordered our tattoo-clad waiter around like he was her slave.

I sat down quickly and quietly. The man was enormous, both in height and width, and looked like he would fit in a biker gang easily if not for the apron under his muffin top. RD wasn’t spooked by him.

“I’ll just take a burger.” I said to the heavy-set man.

“Put bacon on it!” RD barked.

“Ignore her. I don’t want bacon.” The waiter just nodded and waddled away.

“Pffft. What’s the matter? Not a meat eater all of a sudden?”

“No, I just…” I stopped answering and thought about it. “…I don’t need a reason. I want what I want.” Rainbow Dash smiled when I said that.

“So, I ordered this five Alarm Chili. It comes in a bowl the size of my head and it’s awesome! But if you don’t tell them that you want it extra spicy, they make it kind of bland. Ya know, for the lightweights who can’t handle excitement. Like you.”

“Hey, I can handle excitement. I came with you, didn’t I?”

“And you earned your brownie points for having the guts to ditch. But you don’t upgrade from Dweeb to Superstar just like that. You got a long way to go.”

I caught a few people glancing at Rainbow Dash as she lectured me. I’m still relatively new in town so most people don’t recognize me, but Rainbow Dash is the neighborhood’s loudmouthed athletic claim-to-fame. I didn't know how she planned to get away with ditching school when everyone here and two towns over knew who she was.

“What…um…where are we going after this?” I asked nervously. Whatever she had planned for the day, I hoped it was away from prying eyes. For her sake.

“Is it close by?”

“Why? Scared of getting busted?”

“Yeah. Very.”

“I’ll protect you from the wrath of Twilight if you need me too.” Her promise reminded me of the unread text in my pocket. “Just play it cool for now. Everyone thinks we’re just on lunch break, cause we are. Seniors are allowed to leave campus whenever, so we haven’t done anything wrong yet.”

“Yeah, but-“

“And we’ll get back late so no one'll know you went missing.”

“How is showing up late going to help?”

“If we go back around the time classes get out, everyone will see us walking back and know we were gone. But if we stay out a long time, it’ll look like we were hanging out after school like a normal day.”

“…You…have thought about this.”

“Maybe this isn’t my first time.” She smirked.

“Bluff! I call your bluff.”

“Fine, call my bluff.” She kicked her feet on the table and leaned back in her chair. Her eyes dared me to call her out again.

“…Have you done this before?”

“I’ve done a lot of things.” She tilted her head far back, stretching her neck. I heard her sigh loudly as she basked in the breeze, again not caring about anything but enjoying herself.

Everyone saw her, everyone knew who she was, and she loved that. She was crazy! This was crazy. But I still wanted her to think I was cool enough to hang with her.

“How are you this confident?” I asked as the wind picked up.

“Huh?” She straightened her neck. “What did you say?”

“Are you scared of anything? Anything at all?"

“Hmmm…” Rainbow’s smile turned into a pensive look that ‘serious people’ get when they think ‘serious thoughts’. It didn’t suit her. Eventually, she shrugged and smirked again. “Nope. Not a damn thing.”

“Really?

“Really-really.”

“You have to be afraid of something.”

“Says who?”

“You just…everyone is afraid of something.”

“What did I tell you about being like everyone else?”

“This is different, you know it is. You’re telling me that not a single thing in this world scares you? Not bugs or ghosts or the dark...or anything else?”

She didn’t answer. With an ice cold look, she stared at me...like I had frustrated her beyond words and she was forcing herself not to start an argument. For the first time ever, she reminded me of Twilight.

The huge waiter brought us our food before things could get more awkward. RD’s bowl of chili was pulsating with spice. I could feel its heat from across the table. Without asking if we wanted it, the waiter brought a pitcher of cold water with him.

“Thank you,” she said to the waiter, but didn’t look away from me. The icy eyes stayed fixated on my own until the waiter left. Rainbow Dash pushed her nose close to the bowl and inhaled deeply. “This is so spicy that my eyes are burning already.”

“That’s probably a sign that you shouldn’t eat it.” I joked, and that icy look came back. Jesus, what did I say?

“I disagree. Bonaparte.” She picked up her spoon.

“You mean bon appétit?”

“Hush up nerd.” She shoveled a spoon full chili into her mouth. She sniffled a few times and her face reddened, but those chilling eyes never melted. Nor did it look like the spiciness bothered her.

To avoid the awkwardness of that look, I pulled out my phone to finally check Twilight’s message. I braced myself for a paragraph sized text explaining to me why skipping class is wrong.

It only said, “Okay.”

She said it was okay? She said it was okay!

I hadn't expected Twilight to do that, but I wasn’t going to question it. I was in the clear! I doubted that she’d rat me out later; that didn’t sound like something she’d do. And even though she had been acting weird since I started tutoring Rainbow Dash, I was overjoyed that she was still willing to help me out when I needed it.

Then, as I put my phone back in my pocket, I wished Twilight had sent me a long message. The alternative was enduring the cold wind Rainbow was shooting at me.

Rainbow Dash continued eating with the gusto of a starving child, but she was obviously upset about something. And didn’t want to talk about it. I nibbled on my burger, trying to find something else to talk about.

“I…”

“I’m not scared of anything.” Rainbow Dash declared, like that whole sentence was the final word on the topic and the issue was officially closed.

“I’m scared of heights.” I admitted, hoping it would make her feel better.

“Yeah?” She took another bite.

“Yeah. It’s okay to be afraid of things you know.”

Then she smirked. “Oooh. I see.” And shook her head and laughed a bit.

“What?”

“Nothing. Forget it, you wouldn’t understand.” She laughed, like she knew something I didn’t. Before I could demand an explanation, Rainbow held a spoonful of her atomic chili towards me. “Want some?” I felt my sinuses sizzle just from the smell of it.

“…No, I think I’m okay.”

“What was that crock you said earlier about being able to handle excitement?”

“Uh…”

“I dare you to eat it.” That made me reconsider her offer.

“…No thanks.”

“Bwwraak. Bw-bw-bwraaark!” She flapped one elbow like it was a wing and kept making chicken noises. Why is that always so annoying? And so effective?

“That’s...not gonna-.”

“If you spill some on your purse, I’ll pay for the cleaning.”

“Alright, alright, give me that!” Frustrated, I took the spoon.

“No cheating.” Dash took my glass of water away from me.

Against my better judgment, I bit the bullet; I shoved the whole thing into the back of my mouth.

“…Hey! This is really good! It’s not as bad as I thought it would be.”

“…Yeeeah.” Dash juggled her tongue in her mouth and snickered. “Give that a second.”

“Why?” I shrug and…oh god! The spiciness had taken a few seconds to kick in, but when it did my mouth ignited. I physically felt a sensation of burning on my tongue. “Give me the water! Quick!” I begged.

“Mmmm…nah.” Dash pulled the glass off the table and held it in the air, far out of my reach. “Sweat it out a bit.”

“Dash, seriously, give me the water! This is the spiciest thing I’ve ever eaten!”

“Ask me reeeally nicely.”

“Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease.” It’s so hot it hurt. How did she eat this?! Dash heard my plea…and merely laughed before moving the glass further away. She held it behind her head with the tips of her fingers, teetering it back and forth, threatening to spill it. “Stop it! This isn’t funny Rainbow! My mouth is melting!”

“Chill out. Ever try not fighting the stuff that hurts you? You might like it.”

“What? Now, you’re seriously doing this now?”

“Yeah, we're doing this right now! Just relax.”

“This isn’t…” Suddenly, the pain dulled. The spiciness was still there, but it was less intense. More bearable. “…It’s spicy, can you please not do this now?”

“I could.” She took a sip out of my glass and I felt like cursing. But the pain got duller. And duller. It never went away, but it wasn’t painful. It tingled. I calmed down and sat back in my chair, staring at Rainbow Dash as my nose cleared up and my eyes stopped watering.

Only then, when I was relaxed, did she give me my water back. And at that point, I didn’t need it anymore.

“How’d that feel?” She asked and, I’m sure just to annoy me, took another bite out of her chili bowl.

“Like a volcano blew up in my throat.”

“Did you feel the pain get less painful? Like bit by bit? That’s the endorphins kicking in. I read about those. If you eat a lot of spicy foods, your brain releases endorphins to dull the pain. That helps you build a tolerance.”

“…Yeah?” I didn't see where she was going with this.

“The same thing happens when you work out. Like when I do it. You can’t do that if you’re comfortable all the time. If you avoid the stuff that scares you or the stuff that's hard, nothing changes. Sometimes, you have to make life harder on yourself. Pain can be a good thing.”

I thought about it. “Too much pain can kill you.”

“Yeah, but so can too much comfort. And that’s a lot less impressive. I’d rather sweat my problems away than not have any.” She picked up her bowl, leaned back in her chair, and kept eating. “So, like I was saying…no, I’m not afraid of anything. And that’s why.”

She made her point.

RD took her spoon back and scooped up another sample.

“Seconds?”

“I’ll pass.”

She grabbed a fry without asking me.

After we ate, after we paid, as we left barbeque stand, I saw groups of Starswirl students heading back to campus. My nervousness returned.

Rainbow noticed and tapped my shoulder. “Don’t even think about chickening out on me,” she said calmly, not like it was a threat.

“I’m not going anywhere.” Despite my anxiety about breaking Starswirlian law, the thought of running back to school hadn’t crossed my mind. “What’s the plan?”

“We walk out of here. Act like we’re not doing anything weird and no one will notice.”

“Still keeping where we are going a secret?”

“Why ruin the surprise now?” she said and calmly walked out of the small shopping district. I followed her closely. No one stopped us, no one asked questions. It really was that easy.

I thought that…and then my phone buzzed with another text.

“I don’t like lying for you,” Twilight said. My stomach plummeted again.

“Come on!” Rainbow Dash yelled and hurried away.