Applejack was exhausted. Hours of field work had taken their toll. Her hair was stuck in clumps, her skin coated with dust, and her boots caked with dirt. Hours of perspiration had made her clothes sticky and wet. Slowly, every step taking an inordinate amount of effort, Applejack made her way to the couch collapsing upon it. It was then that her stomach made its ire known.
Groaning, as she knew it would not stop until she obliged, Applejack walked to the fridge, pulled out an apple, and proceeded back to the couch. She knew she should eat something more sustainable, but couldn't be bothered to put forth the effort. She turned on the tv, thank God for remotes, and flipped to the channel showcasing the rodeo. Just as she was getting comfortable the doorbell rang.
Muttering a series of curse words that would make her brother blush, Applejack slowly got up walked to the door opened it, and immediately slammed it shut. Turning back to the couch she determined not to give it another thought; then the doorbell rang again. With an annoyed grimace she sighed, he wasn't going to leave was he?
She opened the door and her heart stopped. Suddenly she was sixteen again and the man before her was her boyfriend. Calming herself she began to study his appearance noting the ways he had changed to remind her this wasn't the man she had known. He still had still had shoulder length sliver hair, red eyes and a thin physique. He hair was more unkempt though and he now sported a long goatee. He still had a long face with a strong jaw line but his ears stuck out a bit less. He had traded out his black leather jacket for a brown one with a woolen collar, he had washed out jeans around his long legs leading to a pair of yellowy brown boots. His name was Discord and he was nothing but trouble.
Discord opened his mouth to speak when she interrupted. "No."
"I haven't even said anything yet." His voice was the same low voice that sent shivers down her spine.
"Ya don' need to whatever it is its more trouble than its worth." Applejack shoved the teenage mindset to the back of her mind. She hadn't seen him in years but she still remembered.
"Well I see you're still as stubborn as ever." He chuckled.
Silence for a moment then ,as her surprise diminished, she noticed something that should have been obvious to begin with. He was standing shakily, his words were slightly slurred, and she could smell whiskey on his breath.
"Yer drunk." It was not a question.
"Yes, so I was wondering if I could stay here tonight. I don't think I should be driving."
Applejack sighed she knew this was a bad idea but she couldn't let him drive drunk. If he killed anyone it'd be partly her fault. "Get in here."
A familiar smirk lit his face. Before he could say anything she retorted. "Not fer you but because no one deserves to be around ya when yer drunk."
Upon hearing these words his face fell. Applejack felt both self-satisfied and upset on his behalf. This was a turmoil of emotion she was not accustomed to feeling. Of course the last time she'd felt this conflicted had also been brought on by him so perhaps it was not all that surprising.
Ignoring her unwanted guest Applejack returned to the couch. If he could walk to her house he could walk to her couch. She was not going to baby him. He'd brought this state on himself and he could deal with the side effects.
Applejack stared at the screen like her life depended on it. She had to regain her composure. Discord might be drunk but that didn't mean she could let her guard down. Dealing with him always required as stable a mindset as she could manage.
About five minutes later she felt the couch shift. Apparently he had finally managed to find it. Applejack continued to stare at the screen. She wouldn't start any interaction, he might take it the wrong way. There was an awkward silence as the two sat. Neither willing to break the tentative peace between them. She would have been content to let the silence go on forever. Unfortunately Discord was not.
"So its been awhile..." He began.
Applejack had been hoping he wouldn't bring up the past. It was dead and buried at least that was what she told herself. In reality the past was like a zombie, every time she thought it was dead it got right back up and pestered her again. She wanted to move on and live her own life, but occasionally things would happen and she'd be back at square one.
"Yep." She said desperately wishing he would take a hint. She didn't expect it to work, after all Discord wouldn't take a hint when he was sober let alone drunk, still it couldn't hurt.
"Look, I know we didn't leave on the best of terms but you don't need to give me the cold shoulder."
Applejack did not answer. That in of itself was a warning sign. Applejack was very vocal with her opinion, sometimes too vocal. That she wouldn't speak was telling. She could practically hear Discord's concern.
"You know this situation might not be as bad as you think."
She knew where this was going. She wanted to cry, scream, do anything that would stop him from speaking the words she knew were coming. The words that at one point she'd wanted him to say more than anything. Now however she feared she could not take it.
"You were the best girlfriend I've ever had."
She froze her mind in a state of simultaneous agony and pleasure. She was happy because she'd secretly always wanted him to say that. Yet she was angry and sad because she wasn't sure he meant it. Even if he did the idea of leaving herself that emotionally vulnerable terrified her.
"Maybe we could try again?"
'Shut up.' She wanted to scream. She couldn't handle this.
"I promise to do better."
'Discord'
"I'll try not to drink and I won't cheat on you."
'Please'
"I mean I know I'm not a saint but if you don't expect too much-"
"Stop." Applejack did not know she had spoke the last word aloud. Anger and sadness overwhelmed her. What Discord had done was not something she had forgiven him for yet. She wasn't sure if that made her a horrible person but it was true. She had loved him heck part of her still did. This made hearing these words worse because part of her, and she wasn't sure how big that part was, wanted to take him up on his offer. An offer she wasn't even sure of.
"You're crying." Discord whispered, concerned.
She touched her face, sure enough a few tears were running down her cheeks. Never one to cry much this was the equivalent of tear sodden cheeks for her. She noticed Discord reach to comfort her and winced. She didn't want him touching her right now.
She could see from his face that he was sorry about that. He heaved a sigh and whispered. "Look I get it. You don't trust me and I understand why. I just want you to know that was the biggest mistake of my life. I had relationships after ours but they never felt the same. I often wonder what would have happened if I hadn't blown our relationship. I wonder if we could have been happy..."
Applejack calmed herself, he was drunk. He wasn't thinking about how his words would effect her. He was just talking. In fact this was probably the most upfront he'd ever been with her. She turned to speak with him but stopped when she realized he'd passed out. Well that was going to happen eventually.
After he sobered up he'd probably try to pretend this conversation had never happened. Applejack wasn't going to let that happen.
Author's Note
One of the challenges put to fanfiction authors is writing a song fic without making it obvious. This one shot is based on the song hey jealousy. The song is brilliantly vague. It tells us just enough to empathize. We know the guy singing is drunk. He's dropped by his old girlfriend's house. He did something to ruin their relationship, and he's regretted it ever since. That's all and that's perfect after all way more people can relate to 'I was in a great relationship and I blew it' then any specific reason a relationship had ended. I wanted to keep that vagueness in this one shot. I say this because it explains my character choices.
Character one needed to be someone we could see doing something to ruin a relationship without ever getting specific. Discord is ideal for this.
Character two needed to be someone who could experience deep emotions that are just under the surface but never fully comes out. Applejack is the best choice of the main cast.
I'll probably do more song based oneshots in the future.
