Swift Sketch Short Stories

by Lyssea

Paint Me

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.