Underneath This Pale Moon Sky

Applejack stood and stretched as Jonagold cut the motor and floated towards the shore where Del was waiting to grab it.

The farmer made her way to the shoreline and yelled out to her sister.

“How was it, Bloom?”

The little girl smiled widely. “It was so awesome! Jona went really fast and hit a huge wave and it knocked me off! You’ve gotta go, sis!”

“That’s what I’m ‘bout to do. Gonna take RD on her first ride.”

Applejack chuckled as the redhead clumsily jumped off the side of the jet ski and into the shallow water.

Rainbow was about to get up and join her until Applejack lifted her shirt over her head, giving Rainbow the her first glimpse of the orange bikini that lay underneath.

She paused as her eyes scanned downward and she noticed the freckles that dotted the blonde’s generous chest and strong arms, while just the barest hint of a six pack was visible on her toned stomach.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but to stare as Applejack unbuttoned her cutoffs and shimmied out of them, then bent over and picked them up, tossing both her shirt and shorts over a tree branch nearby.

She then adjusted her bottoms, drawing Rainbow’s attention to Applejack’s large rump, perfectly rounded by years of hard farm work.

Oh hot damn, talk about homegrown…

“Whatcha lookin’ at, Miss Dash?” Big Mac came up next to her, his hands in his pockets, watching a boat pass by.

Rainbow nearly jumped out of her skin and quickly looked away from where Applejack was pulling on a lifejacket.

“Uh,” she cleared her throat, her face flushing bright red in embarrassment, “that, um, t-tree… real interesting, uh, nice… bark. Yeah, best bark I’ve ever seen. That’s a s-sign of a healthy, good tree. Good, good tree…”

Mac, “mmhmm-ed,” unbelievingly.

“I-I uh, should go. AJ’s waiting and all, hahaokaynowbye,” Rainbow jumped up and jogged to her friend, looking over her shoulder at Big Mac who was shaking his head.

“Y’nervous?” Applejack asked as Rainbow pulled off her shirt, leaving her in her athletic shorts and blue bikini top.

She could’ve sworn that she saw Applejack do a once over from the corner of her eye before handing her a lifejacket.

“Nope. It can’t be that much different from riding a motorcycle. Let’s do this.”

Rainbow followed Applejack into the water and to the watercraft, doing up her life vest.

“I’ll hold it till y’all’re set,” Del told them as Applejack climbed up the back, slide up the seat and velcro-ed the key around her wrist.

Rainbow crawled up behind her, wary of how extremely wobbly it was, slightly worried that any sudden movements either way would send both girls into the water below.

“Y’ready for a ride, Rae?” Applejack asked, gripping the handlebars tightly as Del slowly pushed them out deeper, giving one last shove before backing up.

“Have fun!” he called out with a wave.

“Ready? I was born ready.”

Applejack looked back at her with a smirk, her emerald eyes glinting dangerously.

“Well, you better hold on then.”

Rainbow had never been happier to heed Applejack’s advice because no sooner had those words come out of her mouth did she twist her wrist sharply, sending the jet ski flying across the water.

Rainbow didn’t care if she was crushing the farmer’s ribcage, she wasn’t letting go for anything.

Applejack obviously had a lot of experience with the thing, navigating it with ease over the choppy waters of the lake.

The farmer drove it in random directions, passing by other watercrafts, and pulling off sharp turns.

Despite her worry about falling off and getting hit by another boat, which she knew was probably very unlikely, she loved the thrill of it and soon found herself smiling widely.

They zipped around like that for a while, riding along part of the wide lake, zigzagging past boaters and enjoying the outing.

Now that Rainbow was getting accustomed to the feel of the jet ski, she was suddenly very aware of the fact that she was tightly pressed against Applejack’s back.

It almost felt wrong in a way, being so close to her when one saw it as an innocent act and the other saw it as slightly arousing.

She briefly thought about letting go and using the strap on the seat, but then Applejack turned sharply, almost sending Rainbow into the water. The athlete gripped her tighter which the blonde thought was funny.

“C’mon RD, where’s that reckless, wild spirit o’yours, sugarcube?” she called out.

“It’s kinda hard to be anything other than terrified with your driving!”

Applejack snorted. “I’ve been on the back o’ your bike, y’drive like a lunatic. Least if y’fall off here, y’hit the water ‘stead of the pavement.”

Rainbow was going to retort but realized the truth of her words and let it go.

They sped over the water in the direction of the other side of the lake where large, expensive houses dotted the lakeside in bright colors.

They rode slowly along the edge for a few minutes, enjoying the sights and pointing out the houses and features they liked.

Even though the wind was blowing and the water was splashing up on their legs, the sun beat down, forming beads of sweat on both girls faces.

Rainbow poked her friend to get her attention. “Yo, AJ, mind if we take a break to cool down, my thighs are sticking to the seat.”

“I was just thinkin’ the same thing, my scalp’s on fire.”

Applejack drove around and found a less crowded section of the lake before cutting the engine.

They took turns jumping in, feeling more refreshed as they came up from under the water.

They piddled around a bit, staying close to the watercraft so it wouldn’t drift away.

Rainbow found an odd sort of excitement from not being able to touch. It was crazy to think that there could be something lurking beneath her, a few feet away and she wouldn’t know. It almost made her want to bring her knees up away from the imaginary danger, but she didn’t want to look like a wuss in front of Applejack.

After they had taken a few minutes to cool down, Applejack grabbed the back of the jet ski like she was going to get on, but stopped and turned to her.

“Hey Rae, y’wanna drive?”

“Really?! You’d let me drive it?” Rainbow asked enthusiastically.

“That’s just what I said, yeah.”

Rainbow wasted no time hopping up and sliding into the driver’s seat, yelling at Applejack, “come on, comeoncomeoncomeon! Let’s go!”

The blonde hoisted herself up and loosely wrapped her arms around Rainbow, causing the shorter girl’s heart to do a back flip.

Applejack held out her arm for a moment, allowing Rainbow to undo the strap on her wrist, putting it on her own, and firing it up.

“Okay, now y’just twist the handlebar t’make it go, simple as that.”

Rainbow followed her instructions, making the jet ski slowly move forward over the lake.

She thought that it was going to be a lot like riding her motorbike but the harsh waters made it a lot harder to move the handles and it took her more power to get it going.

But once she did…

***

Applejack quickly dried off with a fuzzy orange towel before passing it to Rainbow.

She’d barely ran it through her hair once before Apple Bloom excitedly ran skipped over to her and asked, “how’d y’like it Rainbow Dash? Was it so fun or what?!”

“Yeah, it was okay… Applejack didn’t go fast enough for my taste though,” she played it off.

“Really? Then why’d y’scream when y’all took off?”

Rainbow winced. “Oh, you heard that, huh?”

Macintosh snorted from his spot at the table where he was shucking corn for dinner. “Reckon everyone ‘cross the lake heard that.”

“Well, I was just surprised is all. After I got used to it I was fine! Tell ‘em AJ!”

The blonde nodded. “Yepp, only took her twenty minutes to release the death grip she had on me.”

Big Mac laughed loudly and Applejack stuck her tongue out at Rainbow as Apple Bloom ran off again.

“You guys suck,” the athlete threw the wet towel at Applejack who effortlessly caught it and walked over to the tree she was using as a makeshift clothes line.

She hung up the towel and grabbed her shorts, sliding them up her legs and over her hips.

Rainbow repressed the urge to groan when she noticed that Applejack didn’t bother zipping them up, but just left them open, the top of her bikini bottoms peeking out.

It was almost like she was teasing her on purpose.

“What’s that tree doin’ now?” Mac asked knowingly.

She didn’t even try covering up the fact the she’d been gawking at his sister this time. “Driving me fucking crazy, that’s what.”

“Just a warnin’ Miss Dash, that’s my little sister you’re lookin’ at. Y’do anything to her that she don’t want y’to do and they’ll never find your body.”

Rainbow didn’t even have to meet his eyes to know he was glaring daggers at her. She could hear the deep, threatening tone of his voice and that alone scared her.

What’re y’all over here talkin’ ‘bout?” Applejack asked obliviously as she joined them again.

Big Mac answered first. “Trees.”

“Trees?” She raised an eyebrow.

“O-oh yeah. We were just talking about trees! All kinds of trees!” Rainbow made sure to keep her eyes locked on Applejack’s, even if in her peripheral she could see a drop of water running down the farmer’s chest she wanted to follow.

“Eeyup.”

“Uh-huh… Well, y’hungry Dash? Looks like lunch is almost done.”

Rainbow followed her gaze to where Granny smith, Del and Little Strongheart were huddled around the fire, cooking, laughing and plating up food.

“Starved.”