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"Hey Tough," Dude Food whispered, leaning lazily out of his chair and reaching across someone’s back to poke his friend in the shoulder. "I’ve got something cool for lunch. You wanna try it?"

How he could even fit any more food in would be a mystery to most. The pink and somewhat plump colt had been snacking since he’s arrived at school, slipping the seemingly endless supply out of his bag.

Even now he had a half-eaten chocolate bar in one hoof.

“I wish. I just know how to pack well.” He spent a good twenty minutes each morning carefully selecting and placing each food item for that day in his backpack and there was still never enough room for everything he wanted.

“Way better,” he promised with a grin. “My dad ordered it in special and I grabbed a couple to try.” And because Midnight Snack hadn’t thought grade A explosive chillies good for a child, Dude Food might have taken them without permission. “And that other stuff wasn’t that bad. The seaweed made it a bit odd.”

Dude Food gave Tough another nudge and then sat back in his seat. “Lunch time,” he promised. “It’ll be fun.” He still hadn’t told the other colt what it was but that was the surprise.

Only the more minutes until the lunch bell rang.

There was no rushing Dude Food, especially not when he was enjoying his chance for a Big Reveal. He moved to the next seat over next to Tough, making sure they were sitting as close as possible and then pulled his own paper bag out. He placed it on the table and very slowly reached inside to pull out another bag, this one plastic.

Inside the plastic were two very red slightly shrivelled looking chillis.

"Bhut jolokia, the Ghost chilli," Dude Food said, looking down at them with wide eyed reverence. "My dad wanted to incorporate really hot chilli into his dishes and I took two of them. Should we try them together?"

“Sure, they get eaten all the time. You can make really spices sauces and put on chicken wings. I looked it up.” The chilly just eaten on its own, however, that was a different beast entirely.

Dude Food grinned and reached in for one of the chillies. “Deal,” he said and put the chilli in his mouth and started chewing. The effect was almost instantaneous. There was no slow burn it was a straight up intense YOUR MOUTH IS ON FIRE. He was pretty good when it came to hot food but this was intense.

“Gah!” Dude Food squawked, desperately fanning his mouth with his hoof. Tears were rolling down his cheeks and he was sweating. He was pretty sure he tongue was dissolving.

Yet he somehow chewed and swallowed.

Dude Food had never thought the day would come when he would regret eating food but here it was. The fire didn’t abate, it burned ferociously and he was certain that if he checked he would find his tongue had become just a charred stump.

"Bad," was all he managed to mumble, shaking his head at the water and knowing full well that it would only make it worse. Yoghurt or milk was the only thing that could counter the heat of a chilli and he wasn’t sure that would even work now.

Slumped across the desk with his mouth open to the air and tears running down his cheeks, Dude Food grunted his pain at Tough.

When Dude Food realised his friend was actually about to eat the chilli, even after seeing his reaction, he reached out a hoof to try stop him, to save him from this terrible fate. But he was too late and he could only watch, through watering eyes, as Tough started to chew.

Dude Food whine in commiseration and patted Tough’s shoulder awkwardly, proud of his friend from sticking to their promise, even if he would have been happy to spare him the pain. His own mouth was still hanging open, tongue burning as if someone had set it alight.

Next time he was going to read the warning label on the jar and take it seriously.