The Middle Distance

by Midnight herald

Chapter 2

There wasn’t enough coffee in Equestria to fight this hangover. Applejack cursed her lack of restraint as she flipped another pancake and fought down another wave of nausea. Bitter bile tickled the back of her throat and she breathed deeply until the churning in her stomach died down. Then she took another cautious swallow of water and yawned deeply.

“Mornin’, sis!” Applejack cringed as her sister’s cheerful voice stabbed through her cotton-stuffed head.

“Mornin’, Bloom,” she growled back, flipping the finished pancake onto a steaming stack and cringing at the rich smell. Four tiny hooves thundered across the worn floorboards. Apple Bloom nudged Applejack away from the hot range and looked her over carefully.

“Applejack, you were drinkin’ last night, werent’cha?” she accused, frowning.

Applejack nodded, wincing. “Had more’n I thought I would,” she mumbled around the spatula. Apple Bloom rolled her eyes and snatched the platter of pancakes from under her nose.

“Sis, Why don’cha set and rest awhile?” Apple Bloom asked on her way to the pitcher of apple juice. “I’ll take it from here.” Applejack drooped a little, but her sister’s voice brooked no argument. She slumped at the foot of the table, resting her head against the cool oak. Her eyes drifted closed and she drifted, half-asleep, until her family gathered round to eat.

Applejack had managed to keep down a tall glass of juice and a few bites of solid food before heading out to the fields. She tugged her trusty Stetson lower to protect her eyes from the rising sun and lined up for another kick. Her hooves connected with a hollow thunk, and the vibrations nearly sent her pitiful breakfast flying. She spread her hooves wide and waited for her food to decide which half of her esophagus it would choose. A yawn stretched her jaw wide as her stomach settled, and she moved on to the next tree. It wasn’t the worst week of Applebuck Season, but it never hurt to get ahead. Besides, she was no slouch, even when she was running on vapors. Her family needed her. Her family depended on her.

-THUNK-

Applejack’s eyes burned from tiredness. An incessant whine nagged at her ears, and her hips throbbed with tense, tired muscle.

-THUNK-

Sweat dripped down Applejack’s neck, steaming off her back with each move she made. Her eyes focused desperately on the middle distance. Her sticky tongue searched around her mouth for moisture.

-THUNK-

“Umm, Applejack?” Applejack paused and flicked her ears to show she was listening, slowing to a steady walk as she eyed the next tree in the row. “Did you stop by my house last night?” Applejack tensed and whirled, her back hooves flying.

-THUNK-

“Reckon I did,” she grunted, checking the branches for any clinging apples. It checked out clear, so she ambled towards the next tree, slow enough that ‘Shy would have no problems keeping up.

“Umm … Applejack?” Applejack tensed and whirled, her hooves striking true.

-THUNK-

This tree checked out, too. The next tree was overburdened, even after the pruning she and Mac’d done in early spring. She began repiling apples to free up another bucket for it.

“Applejack?” A nervous little edge had wandered into Fluttershy’s voice, the same one that came up during thunderstorms or after lonely days. Applejack couldn’t let it stay there.

“I’m listening, darlin’,” she soothed, before picking up a Gravenstein by its stem and setting it atop a neat pyramid. “Go on, say your piece.”

“Well, why were you there?” Applejack could pick out … honest curiosity? venom? anger? it was hard to tell exactly what Fluttershy meant by it. Applejack shivered and almost trotted to the next tree.

“I had a mind to talk with you, ‘Shy,” She said, looking over its trunk and finding the sweet spot. “But when I got there, you were asleep, so I moved ya to your bed.”

-THUNK-

“Look, Applejack,” Fluttershy began. She was angry, no doubt about that. Applejack could almost hear the frown in her voice, if the raised hairs on the back of her neck weren’t enough already. “While I appreciated the fact that I woke up somewhere that was not the floor, I would have liked you to wake me up, instead of moving me yourself.”

Applejack tensed and whirled. One of her hooves glanced off the trunk while the other flailed against thin air. She landed in a heap of hooves and dust and headache and slowly, deliberately clambered to her hooves. She turned to face her girlfriend, a frown setting into her muzzle as she saw Fluttershy’s defiantly flared wings.

“Darlin’,” she almost snarled, “Are you sayin’ what I think you’re sayin’?” Fluttershy glared even harder, her normally expressive eyes sharp, icy shards beneath her furrowed eyebrows. Applejack snorted. “‘Cause it sounds to me like I got myself worked up and worried ‘bout ya, walked over to your place around abouts three in the morning to make sure ya got home safe, found ya passed out by lil’ Belinda an’ shakin’ like an autumn leaf, made sure you got tucked in warm an’ safe, an’ you’re angry ‘cause I din’t spend the time or effort ta wake ya’ll up f’r you to climb th’ damn stairs YOURSELF?!”

Applejack’s voice echoed around the orchard. Fluttershy cringed before her, shielding her face with her hooves and emitting a shrill, incessant whine. Applejack knelt down before her, slowly. Fluttershy cringed back from her calming hoof, and Applejack wished she’d been socked in the gut instead. Swallowing thickly, she spoke to the spot of ground next to Fluttershy’s submissive form. “Look, I’m sorry I yelled at you. T’wasn’t right of me to do so. I dunno, lately I feel as though I don’t see you enough, and that’s got me on edge.” Applejack struggled to keep anything but a soothing calm out of her voice. “That, and I didn’t sleep none last night, so I’ve got a shorter fuse than I ought. Not that it’s any excuse to take it out on you, sugarcube. It’s jus’ how it is, today.”

No response from Fluttershy. Applejack eased herself upright and glanced over the trunk before her until she found the sweet spot. She tensed and whirled.

-THUNK-

Apples rained down into the buckets she’d laid out, and a tiny bit of the bitter guilt seizing up her chest melted away. On to the next.

-THUNK-

She’d worked up a healthy lather again, pouring all her extra anger into her legs. It was an easy rhythm again: Tense, Whirl

-THUNK-

Tense, Whirl

-THUNK-

Tense, Whirl … “Applejack?” She stopped short, to find Fluttershy standing nearby, radiating nothing but the deepest concern.

“Yes, sugarcube? What is it?” Her eyes had drifted down to the grass between Fluttershy’s hooves. That was easy to look at, right now.

“You didn’t sleep at all last night?”

Applejack half-smiled, before the shame ate it up. “Mighta caught a couple of winks before breakfast,” she admitted.

“You shouldn’t be working,” Fluttershy cried out, fluttering closer. “You should be sleeping right now.”

Applejack glared at Fluttershy’s shadow. “You’re one to talk, ‘Shy.”

‘Shy’s shadow drooped, slightly. Applejack winced and rubbed at her forehead. When she let it down again, Fluttershy stood not three feet from her. “That’s different, Applejack,” she said in a voice of folded steel. “My animals need me.”

Applejack’s head shot up, hurt. “What? and my family doesn’t need me, is that what you’re saying?” Fluttershy took a step back, shaking her head. “And you,” Applejack’s voice cracked and she fought off the prickling tears in her eyes with a vengeance. “I know your animals need you, B-but …” She blinked hard and looked desperately into Fluttershy’s eyes, “But don’t I need you too?”

Fluttershy stiffened slightly, and her wonderful eyes narrowed. “I’m sorry that I’m too busy working to make enough time for you to play hero,” she spat. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have mouths to feed.” Fluttershy turned and took off, soaring over the treetops toward her cabin. Applejack watched her go until the bright sunshine made her eyes water.

Through the veil of (sweat, must be sweat), Applejack could make out the blur of the next tree in the row. Biting her tongue, she galloped over to it.

Tense, Whirl

-THUNK-

Tense, Whirl

-THUNK-

She could feel a light lather coating her shoulders. Her muscles got back on-rhythm, until she could smoothly knock every apple out of every tree she ran across.

-THUNK-

Slowly, her mind calmed itself to a dull murmur, focusing on nothing but the now and the work to be done.
-THUNK-

Soon as she was done for the day, she’d work out what she’d done this time.

-THUNK-

She’d fix it, just like she always did.

-THUNK-

Comments

[Purple-Smart Heart]

“I’m sorry that I’m too busy working to make enough time for you to play hero,”

This makes no sense in the context of the conversation they're having. It might, if they'd had a previous argument or something, I could see this being something Fluttershy would get defensive about. But the audience has no idea, so in the moment Fluttershy might as well be talking about kumquats for how much sense it makes. Even if the context is the issue what I think it is (AJ thinking she has to do everything for Fluttershy, always being the "hero," like she was with taking her up to bed), the moment that Fluttershy gets angry at AJ about it is several paragraphs too late. It doesn't make sense to answer AJ's insecurity and loneliness with this angry and defensive "hero" line. It's incorrectly timed, and because of that, it makes Flutters out to be a huge bitch.

I know this is an old fic, and the author hasn't even been online in over a year, but for a fic that's literally never gotten any constructive criticism, I couldn't just let this lie un-commented-on.