Swift Sketch was hovering in the air, bobbing up and down with each silent beat of her wings. In one hand she held the large bag that contained all of her Tools of Trade, while the other hand tightly held on to the folded-up piece of paper that had lead her here.
She dared not open it here least it was torn from her fingers by the wind, but she didn't need to. She had read it several times already. It was a request for a painting.
That in itself wasn't too strange, her skills with the brush wasn't a secret. What was strange was that there was no signature on the paper. Oh, and that she was asked to come to this out-of-the-way clearing of the trees during the evening.
She was quite certain she had come to the right place for straight below her was several lanterns set among the trees and rocks, illuminating the area. As far as she could see, it was empty.
Another moment passed before she finally allowed herself to drop lower. Soon after she landed with a last beat of her wings, sending ripples over the grass around her and making an open lantern flicker in the wind.
The clearing was a place she would have to remember for later. The large rocks that jutted up from the grass, some so straight up they seemed more like pillars than anything else, created a quite lovely scene that certainly deserved a painting on its own. But that is not why she had come today.
"Hello?"
She spoke loudly, though not as loud as to shout. Whoever had called her there was certain not to be too far away. At the same time she turned her head from side to side, trying to spot any flash of color that might reveal who had set all of this up. It did not take long before she got an answer.
"Hey! Almost thought you was gonna chicken out of this!"
The voice came from the left of Swift, and when she turned her head to look she saw all the colors. A wild mane of hair in all the colors of the rainbow against the backdrop of the light-blue feathers of the winged woman. She was slightly shorter than Swift, dressed in a pair of shorts and a sleeveless, grey top. Rainbow Dash.
With her arms at her sides and a grin on her face she stepped closer, a glimpse of playfulness in the cerise eyes.
"You brought all the stuff, right?"
Dash gestured towards the bag in Swift's hand, who nodded in response.
"Yes. But why did you drag me here? You don't like sitting still enough for me to properly pai-"
Swift didn't get further before Dash interrupted while waving her hand in a most dismissing gesture.
"Calm down, I'll be still, alright? Just... set up the stuff and you can paint me. This rock is good, right?"
As Rainbow Dash spoke she gestured towards the closest rock, a grey, pillar-like thing taller than either of them. Swift hesitated. She had the feeling there was something else going on, something she was missing, but she was not sure what.
Regardless, it would be nice to paint Dash live for once, rather than from photographs and memory.
"That rock'll do fine"
The painter made a half-nod and then turned her attention to what she had brought. It wasn't more than the basics: a canvas for the paint, the paint itself, a couple of brushes wrapped in cloth, a closed mug of water to clean them, and a light easel.
She quite frankly was not very fond of the easel. It was too light to stand as steady as she wanted it to, but she could not bring anything of proper weight without it being too heavy. The fact that it folded up made it quite portable - but also adding a little bit to the instability. Not enough to ruin a painting, but enough to frustrate her while making it.
But it was better than the alternatives. She set to unfolding and putting it in an even, nice spot. She cast a few glances towards the other mare, trying to find a good angle for both pegasus and rock to be painted at.
Dash had turned her back to Swift, doing something while hidden behind her own wings. While this made Swift somewhat curious she let it be for now - she would know soon enough for sure.
Instead she set the easel as steady as she could on the ground, jamming the three pegs at the bottom into the grass to stop it from falling over. As an extra precaution she moved a nearby stone half the size of her head against one of the legs to keep it put.
Then came the frame and the canvas stretched over one side. She had brought two, though she quite frankly would be happy if she could get one with the athlete's painting on it. And that was just a hope.
When the paint was arranged on the bottom in the order of the rainbow Sift spoke out to the other even as she was unrolling the brushes.
"I'm ready. Still going to stay?"
She almost dropped the brushes as they rolled out from the cloth, but caught them in the last moment. It would been a bad start having to clean them from dirt.
"Yeah, I'm staying. Told you that"
Rainbow Dash's voice had an almost audible smile to it. Swift looked up to see what she had to work with and found that the self-certain grin on Dash's lips matched the one in her voice.
Dash was leaning with one shoulder against the rock, arms crossed over her chest. Her face was as certain as ever, eyes awake and alert, as if watching Sketch for details. Behind the pegasus was the light-blue wings half-spread, as if she was but a second from taking to the skies.
Swift's eyes moved down from Dash's face as she looked even lower on her body. And lower yet, even down to the bare feet. Then she looked back up, but never coming as so far as to meet Dash's eyes.
Oh.
A sudden heat rose to Swift's cheek as she looked at what was leaning against the rock. She vaguely noticed that her own wings spread behind her, but it was the furthest from her mind at the moment.
Ooh.
She dropped her brushes.
Dash really was as near perfect as Swift could imagine that a fast athlete should be. Well-trained muscles not just in her arms and her legs but even in her torso. But it was not the massive strength of a person such as Bulk Biceps, not the strength that allowed someone to rip a tree from the ground.
It was the build of endurance, of a woman who could run from one end of Ponyville to the other without breaking a sweat.
Some might be tempted to say that there was not a gram of fat on her, but that would be a lie. There was not a gram of fat -too much- on her. Had there been nothing it would have been directly unhealthy.
But there was some fat beneath the skin, softening the sharp contours of muscle, giving it a more natural look. A more inviting look. And it did also allow for a bit of... bounce.
Actually, Dash was as near perfect as anyone could be, at least in Swift Sketch's opinion.
Rainbow Dash waited for a moment extra. The attentive watcher who was not enchanted with what was beneath her neck could see the fear of being insufficient squashed beneath the stare of the painter. She was good enough.
"Like what you see?"
The grin of the athlete grew wider still as she watched the look that Swift gave. Of surprise and, if the wings spread behind her was any hint at all, quite the attraction.
She abandoned the rock she'd been leaning on and walked towards the easel and it's owner. To her annoyance she couldn't pull off that... -thing- that Rarity did with her hips when she wanted that sort of attention. That rolling, inviting movement.
Dash quickly just settled for her normal walk. It seemed like she had all of Swift's attention already anyway.
That seemed to snap the painter out of her shock as she had entered. Now blushing furiously she lowered her eyes and reached down to try and find her brushes again. She seemed unusually clumsy in that regard.
"D-Dash! You're-"
She didn't get further before she was interrupted by the rainbow one.
"Naked, yeah. Thought you'd like to paint all of me?"
With amusement the runner watched Swift try very, very hard to move her eyes from the ground and up to Dash's own. Swift failed horribly at that, too distracted by the legs, stomach, hips, and... other areas on display.
She did manage to get her eyes up to meet Dash's in the end, though it was obvious that she was more than a little tempted to look back down.
This reaction was worth the night chill Rainbow Dash could feel over her naked skin. Actually the reaction would been worth doing this in a winter storm. The attention, confirmation, she got from this would been worth not flying for a month! Perhaps even more.
Swift seemed still surprised, though it was more relegated to the back of her mind as she stepped forward. Warm arms wrapped around Dash and pulled her into a tight hug while Swift's own wings attempted to wrap around them.
For Dash she found the doubt and fears washed away, replaced just with the warmth of the moment. Oh Celestia never let this moment end.
Swift soon allowed herself to release the naked one somewhat, moving the hands from hugging the blue-winged one tightly to letting her fingers explore the naked skin. It was soft over the relaxes muscle beneath, inviting her to explore all of it.
When the felt the first bumps she thought it was some kind of old scar. She almost asked about it as she felt even more beneath her fingertips - then she realized what it was. Goosebumps. Swift pulled back a little bit to give Dash a stern look.
"Are you freezing?"
She didn't really need to ask the question, nor did she think that the athlete would answer honestly to it. It was good she already knew the answer.
"Psh, as if! It's not even cold! Takes more than this to make someone as awesome as me to get cold"
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at her denial, as if what she said was actually true. Unfortunately for her she could not hide the goosebumps that told the opposite to her words.
Without another word let Dash go as she took a step away. Before Dash could question her Swift was already removing her jacket, undoing both buttons at the front and over the wings. Beneath it was a light-grey shirt that provided enough warmth for a chilly evening.
"Don't you lie to me, you're almost shivering"
Within seconds she was pulling the jacket over Dash's shoulders, trying to wrap it around the pegasus to keep her warm.
"You know I got clothes with me, right? They're right over there"
Swift stopped as Dash spoke those words and had she not already been blushing she would have done so now. Dash on the other hand grinned widely as she saw the reaction.
A quiet moment passed as the two stared at each other; Swift with embarrassment and Dash barely holding back a snicker. When Swift then turned Dash around and began to push her towards the rock Dash finally laughed at the other, doing nothing to resist it.
"Alright, alright, I'll get dressed"
She let out another laugh while Swift continued to push, her hands square in the middle of Dash's back as she did. A few steps more and they reached where Dash had been while Swift unpacked - stripping herself naked while waiting.
Swift noticed something was wrong when Dash tensed up a little bit and stopped. Peeking over the closest shoulder Swift saw what had caught the attention of the near-nude one.
The clothes had been discarded into a pile on the ground, as Rainbow Dash was want to do when she was home. Strict order was not something she was very fond of.
Unfortunately the outdoors had something her home did not: Puddles. While the clothed had not landed square in the shallow water they had landed on its side - soaking half of both shirt and pants.
"Yeah... I don't think I'll get any warmer from THAT"
Dash reached down and picked up the shirt by the dry side. Water poured from the other for a second or two, before it slowed down to a dripping. Beneath it was the sports-bra, soaked from one end to the other, and the now partially dark-grey top.
Even the final piece of clothing was wet. Swift didn't even need to pick it up to know it would be freezing cold where water had darkened it.
The alternatives was now to get Rainbow into a place where she could get some clothing on. Either they went to Rainbow's own house, or they went to hers.
The former alternative was closer, but it would require flying. Flying would mean that others might see Dash's third Rainbow. But the second alternative, the ground-bound house of Swift, was on the other side of the village. Neither was a good alternative, but one was faster and hopefully less risky.
"We're going to your place, no complaining"
Swift gave Dash a look that told she would accept no protests, and Dash rolled her eyes but nodded.
"Fiiiiine, but I tell you, I'm not cold! Besides, don't you got your stuff to pack?"
She said the last words even as a shiver of cold passed through her, from her lower back to the tip of her wings. Swift glanced back, then shook her head.
"Getting you home's more important right now. They'll hold. Now go on"
Swift gave Dash a small and playful smack on the jacket-covered behind, making Rainbow jump slightly from the ground. With a quick glare the athlete spread her wings, and took to the air. Swift was soon to follow.
They both returned to the house without being spotted - or at least Swift's attentive looks had not seen anyone on the ground or in the sky.
Well at home Rainbow Dash got out of the jacket - but she never got into anything else as she found Swift pressed up against her, kissing her. From there they both soon ended up in the sofa, Swift on the bottom with the blue-winged one on top.
The hands of the artist took the opportunity to explore the fine muscles, just as Dash's hands explored her through her clothing, but neither of them took it further than so. Neither wanted to.
To be together, feeling each other's warmth and heartbeat was more satisfying than anything fingers, tongues, and the contents of the box under Dash's bed could give. At least that one night.
It wasn't before Twilight asked two days later why she had found Dash's clothes and Swift's tools abandoned an early morning that Dash really blushed.
Cloudsdale was usually a deceptively calm and quiet place. Sounds often seemed to just disappear into the void of the sky as there was no ground to reflect it and the buildings were spread out on the clouds.
Usually, but this was not one of those time as the passion of two ponies made their argument loud enough to be heard in good quality at a hundred meters.
Rainbow Dash raised a finger as she reached the edge of the cloud and pointed at Swift Sketch "Oh come on! Just admit that you're wrong already! There's no way you'd be right! Did you even read it?"
Swift shook her head, her emotions just as strong as those of her friend "I'm not! You're just upset that The Fifth Crystal wasn't as good as you thought it'd be, so you are trying to pretend that it is!"
To emphasis her point Swift poked Dash in the chest with a finger "So just admit that The Impenetrable Shield had much better story and characters"
Dash returned the poke in the chest, just below the throat, on the hard bone beneath the skin and thin shirt "It is not! Tell me one thing, ONE THING, that's better in the Impenetrable Shield than the Fifth Crystal!"
Swift grinned at the question "The shield actually existed!"
Seeing the face of the blue one, Swift continued with the verbal slaughter she'd planned ever since they got in on the topic "The Sisterhood was way more dangerous AND Daring Doo was the one that fixed it and not some random griffon AND Ahuizotl showed up"
Swift gave Dash a firm poke in the chest for each of her point, stopping only long enough for Dash to catch her bearings before the artist delivered the killing blow "And the Crystal had the Batlings!"
Another moment of silence passed as Dash reeled from the shock, grasping for an argument to beat back Swift's words. None came to her, so she went for the next best that came to her mind "W-well... YOU'RE A NERD!"
She gave Swift a shove at those words. The artist didn't mind, for she saw her victory as Dash could not find anything to say back besides the good-natured insults the two often threw at each other.
Swift moved one foot back to regain her balance - but found nothing to put it on. The grin on her face froze as her foot passed where she had expected the cloud to be. A decimeter further down her toes scrapped against a hint of cloud but it was too little, too late. She fell.
But even before her toes scratched the cloud her grin was gone and a sudden look of fear on her features. She was suddenly too young to fly, the other foals pushing her off the cloud without caring.
She fell backwards with no chance of saving herself, not that a foal her age could fly.
Dash caught a glimpse of Swift's face as she fell backwards, caught a glimpse of the fear. But for a second she thought nothing of it. She hadn't meant to push Swift over the edge, but what did it matter? She was a pegasus, she'd be back up and complain how that wasn't fair in moments.
As a third second passed without the artist showing up Dash stepped the two steps needed and looked over the edge. Below she could see Swift falling straight down. It wasn't a dive, it wasn't controlled, and something of Swift's body language, even at the distance, told Dash that it wasn't a trick either. Swift was falling helplessly.
Dash jumped without another moment's thought. She looked as if she was diving into a pool of water as her hands moved in front of her head, her wings flat against her back as she tried to minimize her drag for the first few meters.
Then she beat her wings in small movements as she tried to get even more speed.
Swift was tumbling, the city falling away above her. Beneath her the ground came racing up for her.
She tried to beat her wings but it did nothing. She was too young to fly, too small. She didn't have the wings, didn't have the training, didn't have a chance.
The thought that she was older than that flashed past her mind. She could fly, she just needed her wings to stretch out. She just needed...
She saw the city shrink above her and any thoughts but fear disappeared from her mind as the memories returned in force.. She was five, and she was going to die.
There wasn't even enough air in her lungs to scream for help.
To catch up to Swift was not a hard task for Rainbow Dash. The artist was tumbling and spinning helplessly while Dash was in perfect control. She could have caught up without ever using her wings.
Even before she reached the athlete could see that Swift was in complete panic and, by the looks of it, stiff as the dead.
Her first instinct was just to catch Swift in her arms and stop her fall, but she knew better than that. Swift might grab on her over her wings by mistake - a common result by panic. Despite what Twilight might believe Dash -had- listened to the flight safety courses. She just usually didn't care about it.
When she caught up Dash spread her wings slightly to slow down as she waited for the right moment, a wait that lasted a whole second.
Then she pushed forward and caught Swift from behind. She wrapped her arms tightly around the terrified pegasus' midriff and then spreads her wings as wide as she dared.
It was a good distance left when Dash made them both stop in the middle of the air. Far enough down that she could have dropped and caught Swift again with ease.
She cast a brief glance up towards the sky city and then towards the ground to see which would be quickest to reach. Finding the ground both closer and easier to reach she slows the beat of her wings as the two descended to solid ground.
Swift touched it first, but gave no reaction to it. It was as if she wasn't even aware that it was there - and perhaps she wasn't.
When Dash put her feet on the ground she didn't let go of the woman in her arms, for she could still hear the shallow, terrified breath and shaking body. That and she had dealt with Fluttershy enough times to know this was not enough to make things okay.
Instead Rainbow carefully sat down on the ground and pulled Swift into her lap. As she spoke her voice was surprisingly soft and gentle "Take a deep breath. You're safe, alright?"
Dash reached up and ran a gentle set of fingers down Swift's cheek in a hopefully comforting gesture as she begun to wait for her loved one to regain her senses, whispering words of comfort all the while.
Slowly Swift calmed down with the ground beneath her and the gentle attention from the other pegasus.
Despite what many might have expected, particularly after seeing a few of her reactions to Fluttershy, Dash did not let go of Swift while she calmed down.
Dash knew how hard it could be to get back to your senses after a panic-attack. She had seen Fluttershy before... and maybe had one or two herself. Not that anyone would get to know of those. Ever.
And her patience was rewarded as the quick breath of Swift returned to normal. The violently shaking body calming down to a shiver and then to nothing.
Once Dash thought that it sounded like Swift would at least know her own name the athlete said something besides the quiet comforting. "You okay there?"
A few moments of silence followed, moments which made Dash think that perhaps she had spoken too soon. Then Swift opened her mouth "I'm fine... yeah I'm fine"
The artist seemed to draw strength from her own words, becoming even more steady as her lips moved.
Dash smiled and reached up, starting to brush her fingers through Swift's hair - and trying not to pull anything out as she inadvertently got stuck in one of the many tangles.
For a moment she struggled with this supposedly gentle gesture before she managed to free her fingers, from there just gently patting the mane of hair rather than combing through it with her fingers.
With the other arm she gave Swift a comforting squeeze, to let her know she was not alone "So what happened there? You just kinda... dropped"
She almost said 'panicked' but something inside her with a voice suspiciously like Rarity's told her not to. Something about being sensitive.
Swift took a moment to answer, still trying to wave the last mists of dread and panic from her mind. Once more a Wonderbolt had saved her life - and Dash was a wonderbolt, dammit, whether or not she wore the uniform yet.
Finally she answered with a lie and a grin as real as Rarity's eyelashes "Just checking if you're as fast as you think"
She gave her savior a playful jab with her elbow, though she could tell that Dash wasn't buying it at all.
Dash confirmed that suspicion as she spoke "Yeah, right, and I always dress in style"
She gave Swift another squeeze with her arm, her voice urging the artist to tell her secret "What happened?"
For a brief moment Swift was close to telling, but then the embarrassment of it set in and she shook her head "Like I said, just checked if you're fast enough"
When the rainbow woman opened her mouth to protest Swift shook her head "I don't want to talk about it, alright?"
For a second it seemed as if Dash was going to insist. Then, perhaps recognizing something in Swift's behavior, she nodded. Even so her voice and body told that she was still ever so curious "Right, just testing me"
The two looked at each other. Then Swift leaned in and gave a small kiss "Look, maybe I'll tell later, but not here and now, okay? Just be there for me?"
Dash shifted as if impatient. It was easy to tell that she wanted to know but was holding herself back from asking. Instead she moved her hand from the artist's messy hair and gave her a large hug. "Yeah. I'm here for you. Loyalty and all that"
Swift almost commented on if that was all, but then Dash continued with a bit of a grin "Besides, without me you'd just like the poor Daring-books"
It took Swift a moment to realize what Dash was talking about, the earlier conversation had been flushed from her mind by the fall.
Then, when she remembered, she chuckles and gives the victory to Rainbow "Yeah, you're right"
She made herself more comfortable, sliding down just enough to let her place her cheek against the top of Dash's chest and her ear just beneath the shoulder. It was a bit hard from muscles and bones, but she could hear Dash's breathing and heartbeat.
Just how long they stayed like that she wasn't sure of.
That evening, in the comfort of Dash's house and with her stomach filled with takeout pizza, Swift relented to the aura of curiosity. She told of what had happened so many years ago.
Dash listened but seemed to be completely stumped for how to give a good response. So instead she challenged Swift to a gaming-session to change the topic.
And that was the end of the topic, at least for the time being.
Five weeks later, at one of the Wonderbolt's performances.
Dash's right foot landed on the lowest step of the marble-white stairs. The left landed two steps higher up as she had come in high speed. So high was the speed that she was forced to take two steps up the stairs before she could properly stop, not that she seemed to mind.
Instead she turned out and cupped her hands around her mouth to shout back at Swift - more for show than any need as Swift landed just three seconds later "Come on slowpoke! We're gonna miss it if you don't hurry up!"
Swift landed more gracefully, or at least with less speed, and came to a stop on the third step from the bottom.
Exactly why the Wonderbolt Stadium had a set of stairs before the doors rather than, say, a flat landing platform was a mystery to the artist. The stairs ended at empty air, leading into the void.
She had heard the idea was to force people to fly more slow so they could land - a futile effort if the two of them was anything to go by.
Swift moved to begin to walk up the stairs, knowing there was going to be a most wonderful sight to behold as she did - Dash was going first.
But before she had time to do more than put her foot on the next step two young pegasi ran the other way to dive of the edge. The closest one, a woman of maybe fifteen, bumped into Swift with enough force to push her backwards.
For a horrific second she fell as there was no steps she could catch in time.
But she had barely had time to register that she was falling then she stopped. A hand pressed itself against her upper back, just above where wing met body.
It was Rainbow Dash. Somehow she had managed to react even faster than Swift had, moving from above her on the stairs to flying behind her in the blink of an eye.
With a firm shove Dash got her back on the stairs and away from the fall. Behind her she heard the blue-winged pegasus shout down towards the diving younglings "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING NEXT TIME FOR BUCK'S SAKE!"
She stumbled a step forward before she once more caught her balance. She turned around, just in time for the colorful one to put her feet on the lowest step once more.
With a grin the athlete patted Swift on the shoulder before continuing up the steps "Come on, let's get going! You can admire me for being awesome later"
Swift blinked and swallowed back the taste of fear that had come to the back of her mouth just moments later. Then she smiled and followed Dash. "I didn't need your help, you know"
Dash glanced back over her shoulder, knowing the truth but playing along "I know"
