Disengaged
Macintosh laid down one last bag of fertilizer and looked back to find Applejack doing the same. The last bag before lunch time.
"Whoo wee! Ah think it's 'bout time to call it fer lunchen, brother." AJ declared cheerfully.
"Eyup." Agreed the stallion, joining his sister in a walk back to the farmhouse for some well earned sunflower sandwiches. He didn't know exactly what happened between her and Soarin a week ago, but AJ slowly began to return to her old self. The day he'd slapped her was the night she returned. She didn't speak to anypony in the house save offering an apology for her disappearance.
The next day, she didn't come out of her room and both Mac and Applebloom had brought her her meals. She didn't eat breakfast, but she did eat lunch and supper. Much to the Apple families delight.
The third day she left her room and wondered around a bit, even helping Applebloom with her chores. Things only got better from there until finally she was back to her old self. Each day bringing the Applejack they all knew and loved back just a little bit more from her depression.
Though, what the rest of the family didn't know was a small secret that the two siblings shared between each other at the end of the second day. Something that Mac still couldn't understand what had happened and arguably terrified him as much as his sister's behavior the day their altercation took place.
Mac sat in his room, reading over some numbers that granny had been having trouble with. It was amazing they held the farm aloft without his, as his sister put it, "Fancy mathematics", to create a workable and efficient budget.
Things must have been bad with how close to the red the farm had become, maybe he should have recommended someone help them out with the finances when he left. He did take off when applebucking season was in full swing, after all.
That's when he heard a small knock from his bedroom door. It couldn't have been Annabell, she was spending the night with her dad and brother. He opened it up to find Applejack, her gaze switching between looking guilty and reserved to inquisitive shame.
"Big Mac? C- Can Ah talk to ya fer a spell?"
Mac nodded, hoping his sister was finally going to give him an explanation. As she walked in, Mac caught the scent of something... something profound and oddly familiar. His pupils constricted upon realizing what the scent was but he tried his best to ignore it. Pheromones weren't something ponies had control over, after all. Once comfortably situated in his bed, she spoke.
"Ah, umm, Ah wanted to tell ya that... oh shoot, why am Ah makin' such a big deal outta this? Ah'm sorry." The mare finally forced out wit ha sigh. "Ah'm sorry Ah hit ya n' said what Ah said. 'tweren't right of me n' Ah am ashamed of it."
Mac waited, maintaining his stoicism. That's not what he was expecting, nor was it really what he wanted. He wanted an explanation on why she'd referred to herself as some kind of object to be owned? Why she believed she loved him so quickly? These two issues were of far more concern to the stallion than their slapping match.
Happy as she was at his love for her, she couldn't explain why she'd said what she did, or worse why she meant it, causing no small ammount of irritation. But Mac knew that being aggressive and demanding wasn't going to help her or himself.
"Ah wish Ah knew, Mac. Ah wish Ah knew why Ah felt that way about Soarin." She declared dejected. "He told me he did somethin', somethin' bad that deceived me 'fore he left. He didn't say what it was, bu' Ah didn't care, Ah jes' Ah jes' didn' want him to leave me. That's all Ah cared about."
He did something bad? What did he do?
'Looks like you were right, she wasn't in her right mind.'
His sister began to cry and he sat down beside her, placing a foreleg around her in comfort. Applejack excepted the invitation and cried into her brother's shoulder. "It hurt, Macintosh. He left and Ah wanted to die. He jes' kept sayin' tha he didn't deserve me, that he'd messed up and was a terrible pony..."
Mac strengthened his embrace, believing that the tighter he held her, the more comfort he offered. He'd long since given up trying to figure out the specifics of what had happened, there was no way to figure it out for sure. All he cared about was that his sister was home and safe now. He told her as much.
He felt AJ press a gentle kiss into his shoulder and tensed for a moment. She was just being affectionate, nothing wrong with that. Though, a second kiss caused him to tense again, then a third.
Eyes widening with concern as he felt his sister's lips trace up his neck, and her hoof slowly traveling from his barrel down to his stomach. Mac quickly broke the embrace and eyed his now shame ridden sister before gently saying: "Applejack, what were you doin'?"
He felt her tremble in his hooves. "Ah, ah don't know." She replied looking just as flabbergasted as he did. He felt her begin to pull away but kept his hold. "Mac, let me go, please."
The stallion shook his head, demanding to know what was going through her head. Again she replied that she didn't know, though this time he found a hint of insincerity in her eyes. She knew, she was just too ashamed to admit it.
Continuing his questioning, Mac pressured and pried, this all ended tonight, he was sick and tired of asking questions and constantly receiving half answers or being given the run around. "Ah'm not mad at ya, Sis. But Ah have to know, why ya wanted to do that."
It took a few minutes of struggling, but AJ finally succumbed to days of emotional fatigue that had broken her stubborn will. "Ah... Ah jes, wanted to be near somepony is all." Be near? "Ah can't sleep alone, Mac. Jes thinkin' bout it makes me wanna cry. Ah've been tryin' so hard to keep mah... sexuality in check. But, since Soarin n' Ah met, it's like Ah can't control it at all."
Mac was going to kill him, there was no more room for debate, next he saw the wondebolt, he was getting a buck right to the face.
"Ah don't understand, and Ah'm so scared right now. Ah just want it to go away." Again, he embraced her as she cried out of instinct. Though, there were no inappropriate means of affection this time. Just a broken mare unloading her emotions.
'Anything you wanna say to her?'
"Ah'm sorry too, Sis." He stated, hugging her just a bit tighter. "Hittin' you wasn't right, nor was me givin' up on ya like Ah did."
She stopped crying for a moment, her ears perking. Though the pause was short lived and she began bawling like a baby once again. She didn't blame him for giving up on her, she'd been trying to bed a stallion who'd seriously wrong him. It was a terrible thing to do to someone you loved, and the fact she couldn't explain why she did it was all the more infuriating.
Add to that her previous advances, and you had a mare who could do nothing but cry and bawl... and a brother who desperatly wished she'd get better...
The two never spoke about it again, each wishing that they could forget. Though, it was when AJ made serious progress to getting better, of that Mac couldn't be more grateful.
The two entered the farmhouse and found a plateful of sandwiches waiting, along with two glasses of lemonade. "'Bout time ya got yer keisters in here." Granny declared. "Glad to have ya back, deary. Work's been really slow with y'all gone." She declared, giving Mac the stink eye.
As happy as he was about Applejack's recovery, there was still one more problem he was getting sick of, and as soon as today's work was done, he'd be settling it, once and for all.