• Published 29th Jul 2013
  • 5,542 Views, 166 Comments

Ranch Hands - Ezrienel



Sent to a Ranch to improve her attitude and relations in her losing soccer team, Rainbow Dash realizes she is quickly falling for the female farm worker, Applejack.

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Rearing Wild

3. Rearing Wild

"You're gonna have to do better than that, Applejack!" I called back to her with a snicker, loving the way my horse just raced on like he had nothing else on his mind, which I guess he probably didn't. Applejack was giving me one hell of a ride though, keeping on my flank like she would pass me at any minute.

My grin spread like warm butter across my face, loving not only the daring adventure of treading lands unknown, but competing the whole time. And she was chasing me, actually racing after me like she wanted to. I flipped my hair out from behind my ear as I adjusted myself on the bouncing saddle, smelling the nearing scent of water and grass. I moved the reins around in my fingers, anxious about the finish line which must have still been a while away. The ground flew past me at breakneck speed, dust and rocks kicked up through the air like falling leaves.

I felt the horse rear its head a bit and it made me uneasy, like it knew something was up ahead that I didn't. Next thing I knew there was some bunch of fur breaking through the brush and snapping twigs that had just barely grown anew. The horse reared back onto its hind legs, crying out in this great shrill voice as it turned back at whatever shadow had crossed his path. I could hardly manage to hold on through the shaking and hysterics, I myself no better in mind than the animal that knocked me back. I lost my grip on the reins and flew through the air, and in the chaos I must have been screaming or something, but I was too shocked to hear it.

I hit the ground and skidded through the gravel, trying to get myself together, but I was too slow. My horse reared up right onto its hind legs above me, dirty hooves knocking up and down like the metallic gleaming shoes were bent for my body. I scampered in the dirt a bit, but so shocked as I was I barely moved a foot before it looked like it was going to come down on me. I must have blinked, because suddenly before my eyes was another pair of rearing hooves, knocking the mad horse off its tangent. The second set of hooves veered out of trouble's path and stomped a mere few feet in front of me, protecting me from the now fleeing horse, still crying out and taking off into the bushes with the shadow close behind.

"Rainbow," she called from atop the courageous horse who had prevented the assault, letting the thing get control of itself for once. She leapt from the safety of the saddle onto the hard ground in front of me, kicking up dust the same as I myself had done mere seconds prior. "I gotcha, yer safe."

"Holy shit, A.J., what the—" She hurried over to me and grabbed at my feet, leaning close over me and trying to keep me still as I freaked out.

"Hey—quit that." She yanked on my ankles and pulled me down with my legs to either side of her, pinning them to the ground around her. I just stared at her like she had jumped out of the sky before me. "Now, I am not above tyin' you down, so quit yer squirming, would ya?" She looked down at my legs, and even I could see the darkening fabric around the knee of my jeans, and perhaps I had been too afraid to even feel the blood or the wound. She felt around the injured area for a moment, her hand going so far up my thigh I thought I might scream, "It ain't broken or nothing, you'll be fine. Now come on, hop on behind me."

"What do you mean, 'come on'? I nearly got trampled to death, and you're telling me to get on another horse?" I shouted as she grabbed a handful of rocks and shoved them into a saddle bag before she went back over to her own horse to calm the poor thing down a bit.

"Well if you didn't notice, your horse just went charging off into them woods with a coyote on his hooves, we gotta go after him an' I ain't leaving you behind, so brush yourself off and get up out of the dirt already." She glared at me, a stern expression of ambition clouding her normally cool and charming exterior. I didn't find much use in arguing, so I pulled myself up as she kicked her legs up into the stirrups once more.

"Fine, I'm coming already," I growled as I went over to her on her horse, accepting her outstretched hand as a way to pull my now aching body onto the rear of the saddle. I reached back and tried to find a secure hold for my still shaking hands to get a grip, but before I could Applejack kicked and slapped at the horse, galvanizing it into a full sprint.

"Hold on tight, honey," she called back to me as she felt me slipping around.

"To what?" I shouted back hysterically, taking hold of the saddle bags straps, the saddle, anything I could touch. She sort of laughed a bit as she looked over her shoulder at me, that same endearing southern smirk plastered across her face.

"To me, silly." She reached back and grabbed my trembling hands, pulling them tight around her midsection. I could feel the muscles of her stomach strain as she kicked at the sides of the horse, and hesitated locking my hands together as I was too interested in her movements.

I gazed at her, well, more like gaped really, as she drove us onward with mere practised manoeuvres of her body. She sat up nice and straight as we sped along, and I felt like a slouch when I realized just how tightly I pulled myself against her. It was terrifying and thrilling all at once, and every second of it tantalized my greedy need for action. Her brilliant blonde hair blew about behind her, most strands breaking free of her loose pony tail from the force of the ride.

I already could tell just what a dead weight I was on her, but she didn't seem to care one bit. I leaned forward to get a good look at her face, and from what I could tell she was still grinning like a crazy person, as unaffected by fear as I had been before I saw it. I mean, sure times had gotten rough on the field during some games and all, but this sort of solitary horror, dependence and intensity had me reeling. Under the cool shade of the trees and nearly deafened by the brisk wind, I actually felt my face heating up into something of a blush.

"Yee-Haw!" she called out as she picked her cowboy hat right up off her head and let it taste the wind. She put it back on tighter, feeling her fingers against the rim until it was nice and straight. I almost laughed about it, how easily and daringly she just confronted the situation.

We broke through another wall of thick brush and finally saw the predator, a dark coloured dog-like creature that panted heavily in the chase. It growled lowly with teeth reflecting what small fractions of light broke through the canopy of trees, but none of that—not even the threads of saliva grasping at its long fangs—deterred Applejack. She reached into that same saddlebag where she had stashed all those rocks and pulled a few out. Taking precise aim, she threw each one as hard as she could at the creature, shouting at it all the while. Finally it took notice, just as she tossed this great big stone and hit it in the snout. She raised her hands and yelled once more before the coyote squealed some painful cry and took off in the opposite direction. I sat up and let the open-mouthed smile calm my otherwise shaken expression. I hooted a bit as it took off, but Applejack did not pull the horse over for an instant to revel in the victory. She was still after that other horse.

Hot on its trail we came up behind it, the light colours of its flank reminiscent of the coyote's pale jaw, galloping through the gritty path-vacant land. I felt Applejack check over her shoulder once more, but she did not look to me. She was checking something on the other side of the saddle, some bundle of ropes she must have secured there earlier. Her hand followed her gaze next, reaching back and patting around until she found it. Of course, she touched my thigh again once or twice before she found it, unclasping it expertly before bringing it up to the front with her. She moved around a bit with her body like she was tying something, before she touched my hands.

"Take the reins, would ya, partner?" she proposed suddenly, and my jaw hit the saddle.

"Take the—wait, what?! You're not serious!" I shouted after her as she adjusted herself and nearly put the reins in my hands herself. I gripped at them uneasily as I felt her adjust accordingly.

"As a barn fire. Just hold on and make sure you don't steer us under low branches." She stood up in the stirrups right then, so high in fact her thighs were nearly resting on my shoulder, drawing the rope out and twirling it around above her until it became a circular shape.

I looked forward a bit and saw the other end of the rope tied to the weird knob on the front of our saddle, something she had once called the horn when she introduced me to it all. She spun the rope above her time and again, waiting for us to gain a little ground. I understood well enough what she was planning, so I made sure to do my best to direct us closer to the other horse. Finally we must have been near enough, because she let the thing fly, and boy did it ever. It landed right on the other horse's saddle, before she tugged hard on it and closed the loop right around the other saddle's horn. I was dumbfounded by such accuracy, and almost let the reins fall loose.

"Rainbow, you wanna slow her down a bit?" she asked me, though it seemed like a suggestion really. I did as she had directed me before and used the cues to slow her horse down, though the other one had trouble following obediently.

Applejack stifled a groan and she pulled hard on the rope, directing the rogue horse to avoid its current path and look back at us. It made some distressed noise, but Applejack yanked once again and it seemed to get the message. She sat back down in the saddle between my legs and made certain the rope was still tied to her saddle just as well. She reached out along the rope and went to reel the other horse closer, which as it slowed down, it seemed more open to obey. The girl encircled by my arms sighed and leaned back against me, finding some consolation in my being right up close behind her. Without lingering too long against my body, she took the reins back and carefully slowed the horses' gallops to mere trots and then a casual walk. I don't know how the hell she did it, but she managed to fix the entire situation with minimal trouble. She directed the two horses to the creek, where we were supposed to have finished our race. Though I had been in the lead, I guess it was safe to say who had won.

"All right sugar cube, off you get," she told me as she looked back, letting me get myself down at last. I cringed a bit as I landed on my wounded leg, but was otherwise pretty lucky. She followed quickly after me, letting the horses graze around to cool off. "Now, let me have a look at that leg of yours."

"No way, what do you think you can do?" I argued, not wanting her or myself to see what just might be hiding under my pant leg. She did not take that as an acceptable answer though, and she came right up to me and put her hands on her hips, that same commanding stare I had seen before. I hate to say it, but I caved. "Fine, fine, sheesh, but go easy all right?"

"You got my word." She nodded as I reluctantly sat down by the creek and slowly tried to pull the pant leg up, though it was awkwardly tight and uncomfortable. "For Pete's sake."

She reached into her boot and pulled out this dastardly intimidating pocket knife, flicking it open in one swift motion. She went to cut at my pants but I moved away at astounding speed.

"Relax, they roll up, they roll up!" I repeated as I hurried along with the process, not wanting her to cut open a perfectly good pair of pants, despite the fact the blood had probably ruined them.

I hurriedly finished rolling them up and let her lean in closer, her hot breath tickling the skin. She inspected it in detail, though I could already tell there was still gravel lodged in the skin and it would scab up something fierce.

"Allow me." She reached back and removed her red hair band, letting her already loose hair fall around her shoulders in this tauntingly golden drape.

She wrapped it twice around the fabric to hold it above the wound and moved between me and the creek, extending my leg beside her for easy access. She leaned forward and I sat up on my arms, propping myself upright as to get a good look at what she was doing.

"It's just a scratch, A.J., I'll be fine." I tried to reason with her, but I heard her hands dip into the water with an easy, stifled moan to accompany them. If I hadn't been listening to intently, I might not have heard it at all. She turned back with a scoop of water and let it run over my leg, the cold surprising me to twitch. "Hey, that's cold!"

"Oh quit yer belly aching," she growled at me as she got another couple handfuls and ran it over my bare leg, her fingers carefully rubbing the dirt off. "You don't want to get an infection or nothing, do ya?"

"You don't have to worry about me." I leaned back and crossed my arms behind my head, enjoying the sweet feeling of foreign fingers on my body.

It kind of felt like a caressing massage, but whatever it was I found myself enjoying it. It was something I really had no experience with, especially not like this. I glanced down at her as she poured another scoop over me though, and could already see the rough red skin she was trying to hide.

"Did you hurt yourself? Your hands are all red," I stated bluntly, tilting my head at the marks.

"It's just rope burn, nothin' I ain't had before." She brushed the subject off and finished cleaning the wound up before splashing a rinse. It made me feel pretty bad actually, that her hands were all torn up because of my recklessness.

She leaned over me as she ran her damp hand up my leg to undo the tie she had done to hold my pants out of the way, and I could better admire the way her shirt hugged at her curves. I immediately looked away of course, it was really none of my business how she dressed or how fabrics looked around her. I hoped this wasn't some hero complex getting to me, I mean I probably would have been just fine without her help anyway. I looked up at what bits of the blue sky I could make out, letting my eyelids fall a bit as Applejack finished with my wound and relaxed by the water herself. She picked her hat up off her head and ran her hand through her long, blonde hair, feeling freedom in her fingers I could imagine. I don't know what I was looking at her for anyway, girls did not interest me, never had never would. If they did, I might have to reconsider having female friends like Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Rarity. I didn't want to hurt anyone or make them feel uncomfortable, you know? It just couldn't happen. Simple as that.

"You wanna ride Blaze back now?" she inquired as she stood up, barely getting a breath of a break. She was a workaholic, I could already tell.

"If it's all the same to you..." I rolled my neck and looked at the four-legged scamp with a frown. "I think I'd rather take my chances riding shotgun."

Author's Note:

Reminder that the POV intentionally switched, this chapter is RD, next will be AJ again. I know this one is shorter than the others, but longer ones are on their way, can't be too consistent y'know.