//------------------------------//
// Down By The Broken Treehouse 
// Story: Kiss Me 
// by applejackofalltrades 
//------------------------------//

By the time Applejack had exhausted all the short chores she could think of, it was already late afternoon. It served to keep them busy and, more importantly, keep her mind from wandering. Still, though, with the breaks they took, her mind was quick to get busy.

With a final grunt of effort, she pushed the large barrel of pig feed into the corner. With Twilight’s help, they had reorganized the storage room. It was nice, though she knew it would be back in its usual somewhat organized chaos soon enough. Swiping a bead of sweat from her forehead, Applejack grinned at the job well done. She turned to Twilight, who was similarly sweaty and instantly regretted it. 

The alicorn was entirely flushed, breathing heavily from the effort. Even after Applejack told her it wasn’t necessary, Twilight insisted on doing it with her own hooves. And now she was all sweaty and flustered and—

Applejack turned her gaze away, removing her hat to both hide her reddened expression and to fan her face. Awful, Applejack, yer just awful, she chided herself. Desperate to pretend like nothing was wrong, she composed herself and turned to Twilight with a hearty, yet forced, chuckle. “Yer lookin’ a bit red there, Twi. Need a drink?”

Twilight, slumped into a sitting position, nodded. “Oh yes, please, Applejack. I didn’t expect those barrels to be so heavy,” she admitted.

“I warned ya,” Applejack replied with a grin as she led Twilight to the main part of the barn and into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and took out a bottle of cider. “Hope ya don’t mind some booze. I can get ya apple juice if you’d prefer.”

“No, it’s fine. I’d like to loosen up a bit, to be honest,” Twilight responded, taking the bottle in her magic grip. “Besides, I don’t really get to drink any alcohol in Canterlot, so it’d be nice once in a while with a friend.”

There was a strange twinge in her chest at the word ‘friend’. Applejack shook it off and took another bottle in her mouth, then gripped it between her forehooves and angled her mouth, snapping her neck up, taking the cap off with it. The bottle hissed as Applejack eagerly took a greedy sip. “As long as you’re sure.”

Nodding, Twilight’s bottle opened with a hiss of its own and she took a chaste drink. Her nose scrunched a bit, presumably at the taste of the alcohol, but then relaxed into a pleased smile. Applejack mirrored her smile, holding her bottle up to her muzzle. 

“So what’s next on the agenda, Applejack?” Twilight asked, no doubt picturing an actual organized agenda. 

Applejack shrugged. “Well, I reckon we’re done for today’s work. We can just relax – unless you’d rather I find somethin’ else for us today.” Half-jokingly, she set her gaze to the front door. “I suppose the hay bales could use some haulin’,” she trailed off with a smirk.

Twilight shook her head frantically. “No! N-no,” she stammered. “I think we should relax. We worked so hard! Plus, I’d like to just spend time with you. Real time, not work time.” Her smile was careful. Nervous, even. 

“Well, how’s about one last thing, then?” Applejack offered. At Twilight’s apprehensive gaze, she stuck out a hoof, pressing it against one of Twilight’s shoulders. “I swear it ain’t hard work. Real easy, actually. Then, we can hang out there, alright? There’s somethin’ I’ve been meanin’ to do, and I think I could really use yer help.”

“Yeah, sure! What is it?”

Applejack finished off her bottle of cider with a quick succession of gulps, then put the bottle on the counter, wiping around her mouth with a foreleg. “You’ll see. Now, ya gon’ drink that or bring it? I don’t quite mind either way. Either way, I’m bringin’ some hard cider ‘cause that’s just the way we do it ‘round here.”

Twilight looked down at her half-full bottle and grimaced. “Hard cider?”

The liquor was stored up high in a cabinet. Normally, she would climb up and grab it herself, but… “Hey Twi, can ya grab that big square bottle in that cabinet next to the fridge?”

Nodding, Twilight’s magic pulled open the cabinet and retracted said bottle. She brought it down to herself, inspecting the hoofmade label on it and gawked. “Applejack!” she squeaked, shoving the bottle at the earth pony. “Thirty-five percent? I didn’t even know cider could have that much alcohol in it!” 

With a chuckle, Applejack grabbed the bottle and a saddlebag hung in the entrance of the kitchen, placing the bottle in it snugly. “Well, it ain’t just cider,” she said coyly. At Twilight’s less than impressed expression, Applejack rolled her eyes.  “Oh c’mon, Twi, y’ain’t ever had good, hard booze? That ain’t that much… Well, not by my standards, at least.”

“But that’s a bit excessive,” Twilight argued. “You don’t need that much alcohol, especially if you just want to hang out.”

“Sure, but I ain’t gon’ get piss drunk, an’ if you don’t want any, I ain’t gon’ make you have any,” she promised. “Don’t worry, I just wanna get a li’l buzzed an’ Apple family genes make it hard without the hard stuff.”

Plus, I wanna relax a bit an’ not be stiff as a board. Metaphorically speakin’...

Twilight sighed and shrugged. “Alright, well, if you’re sure. I might have just a little bit, in that case. Just to make sure you don’t have it all.” With a long gulp, she downed the rest of her bottle and carefully placed it next to Applejack’s.

Applejack scoffed in mock offence. “You hurt me, Twi. I’d never do that.”

The giggle that came from Twilight set Applejack on overdrive. She practically leaped forward and toward the door, motioning for Twilight to follow her. Together, they made their way toward the opposite side of the orchard, this time near the Everfree, but not into the thick of it. There was a patch of apple trees skirting the Forest, but Applejack led them to the edge of it instead, past a white picket fence and under a roped barrier. 

Twilight cantered up next to Applejack. Maybe once, they would have been afraid to go into the Everfree, but both mares could recognize that the truly wild parts of it didn’t start for another long walk. Still, Twilight sidestepped closer to Applejack. “Where are we going?”

Applejack followed an unmarked hoofpath, cautioning Twilight to watch for dips in the ground. “We used to have another treehouse out here. Not the one the Crusaders use as their clubhouse, but a different one.”

“Oh. Why’d you build another one?” Twilight asked.

“First one got wrecked by Timberwolves. Ma an’ Pa fixed it, mostly, but they didn’t want us goin’ out there anymore, so they decided to just build us a new one,” she explained. “But as you know, the Everfree’s tamed down a li’l bit and now I reckon it’s about time I restore that ol’ thing, seein’ as how the ladder was never put back. We're just goin' to scope it out. I'll fix it some other time.” She guffawed. “Hay, maybe it can be our hideout,” she quipped, gazing warmly at the alicorn. Her words replayed in her head, forcing her ears to perk up. “Err, I mean you, me and the girls.”

Applejack cursed herself as Twilight cocked her head, but nodded regardless. The hoofpath hit a tree, and they turned left. The forest was dark despite the late afternoon sun thanks to the canopy of leaves above them. Apple trees mixed with the Everfree’s cross-pollinated, wild trees that emanated the subtle feeling of earth magic. The sensation brought an easy smile onto Applejack’s face, and she could see Twilight lighting up as well. 

They finally reached the treehouse It sat in the middle of a clearing, surrounded by roofed forest. As old and defunct as it was, it was at least sturdy-looking, with obvious signs of wear and repair on it. Some planks were cracked and broken, others were completely missing. Applejack smiled at the reminder of her youth; the many days spent playing pretend with Big Macintosh, the nights spent watching fireflies and telling stories with their parents. Even the day they came back to a wrecked treehouse. The tears she once cried felt like a happy memory all those years later. The only thing really different was the ladder, still retracted up on the outside balcony of the hideout. 

"Hey Twi, can you bring the ladder down?" 

Next to her, Twilight ruffled her wings. "Yes, of course. Just one sec." 

After the couple of years Twilight had spent as an alicorn, it was quite apparent that she had been working on her flying. The flight muscles on the mare's back, particularly between her wings, rippled as her wings extended to the side. Applejack stared. They weren't as pronounced as somepony like Rainbow Dash's, but for being such a bookworm, Twilight had a good body on her. It had to be the alicorn ascension, though Applejack wouldn't say she was any worse as a unicorn. 

With a steady flap of her wings, Twilight raised in the air, landing swiftly on the balcony. She used her magic to drop the ladder into place with a thud. It was then that Applejack noticed Twilight could have just used her magic in the first place, but she wasn't going to be one to complain. 

Before Twilight could come back down, Applejack went up to her. The wood creaked under her added weight, but it didn't budge. "Thank ya kin'ly," Applejack said with a grin. "

Twilight’s wings shifted at her side. "My pleasure. This is a really nice treehouse. Or at least, I could tell it was." 

"It sure was," Applejack confirmed, taking a careful test step into the interior. When nothing broke, she transferred all her weight into it and went inside. "Mac an' I used to hang out here all the time when I was a filly. Way before Bloom was even born," she recalled. Her eye caught a relic of a time passed and with a tiny smile, she trotted over to it. "Hey, Twi, come look." 

Precariously, as if afraid of the entire thing collapsing beneath her, Twilight appeared next to Applejack. She followed the earth pony's gaze onto an old, weather piece of paper. The crayon scrawled on it was faded, but the colour was still recognizable. Twilight's face softened. "Aw, who drew that? 

On the page was a picture of the entire Apple family at Sweet Apple Acres—sans Apple Bloom—crudely drawn with once-colourful markings. Applejack breathed softly, afraid that anything would happen to it. "I did. Was never really good at drawin', but I put a lot of time into this one." 

"I think it's cute," Twilight cooed, unaware of Applejack's blushing. "Definitely better than anything I could have done as a filly." 

"Aw, that ain't true I bet. Yer great at everythin', sugarcube!" 

Twilight's cheeks rouged a bit as she shuffled her hooves. "Not everything. I definitely wasn't an artistic filly…" 

Applejack guffawed. "Shoot, Twi, me neither! Oh, lookit! I thought we threw this out!”  She gestured to a record player on the opposite side of the room. “Wow, I wonder if it still works… Hey, maybe we still got some records round here.”

“Apart from being dusty, it doesn’t appear to be broken,” Twilight informed, taking a closer look at the machine. She prodded at the needle. 

Applejack nodded, now searching inside old cabinets and stray boxes. Her eyes set to a particular box containing the exact items she had been looking for. “Aha! We do got records.” Searching through them, Applejack smiled, nostalgia taking her over. “Oh, my Ma loved sappy ballads like this one. If I remember right, this was her favourite album,” she recalled. “An’ we got my Pa’s folk music! Trot Dylan! Aw shucks, I gotta listen to this now.”

Taking an old vinyl to the record player, she set it down gently and dropped the needle on it, giving the crank on the side of the player a good wind up. The music started, a plucky guitar leading it off alongside some twangy vocals and drums. Applejack smiled. “Aw yeah, this brings back some memories.” She swayed left and right in beat.

“It is quite a catchy tune,” Twilight admitted, bobbing her head in time. “I can see why your dad liked it!”

Applejack smiled in return. She wrapped a hoof around Twilight and swayed the both of them left to right, giggling like a schoolfilly. “Now how 'bout we hang out? I don't quite feel like lookin' at dust bunnies any longer." Her eyes snapped to a clump of dust and lint that looked like an honest to goodness rabbit. 

“We already are!” Twilight eased into Applejack's touch, and for a moment, the farm pony regretted everything she'd ever done. But then Twilight smiled and wrapped a wing around her and the world seemed right. 

The moment, however, was quickly interrupted by Applejack's mind catching up to it. She coughed and used the hoof around Twilight to adjust her hat. With her other hoof, she took out the liquor. It was then that she realized they didn’t bring shot glasses. Guess we’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way.

Popping the top off,  Applejack got a whiff of the strong, pungent smell. It burned her nose and made her blink, but she’d be damned if she didn’t know it was good booze. With a smirk to Twilight, she put the bottle to her lips. “Bottoms up.” 

With that, she took one moderate slug of the strong liquor. Her face scrunched into a grimace and the alcohol burned on the way down, but after a moment, Applejack’s grin returned. She shook her head to clear the sensation. “Hoo-doggy, that’s some good hooch right there!” 

Twilight shook her head but had the faintest trace of a smile on her face. Applejack knowingly offered her the bottle. Twilight took it in her magic and looked at it for a moment. “You know, Celestia told me that us alicorns can really handle our alcohol,” she said with a sly smirk; one that Applejack certainly hadn’t seen in a while. “We don’t really have alcohol at any important meetings, but I had noticed the wine wasn’t hitting me like before.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “That kinda makes sense, I guess.”

“Furthermore, I haven’t drunk anything with an ABV this high since…. Well, ever,” she revealed. In a quick motion, Twilight took a large sip. She sputtered and coughed, but composed herself rather quickly, setting the bottle on the wooden flooring. Her eyes watered as she cleared her throat. “That was… strong,” she rasped.

Applejack let out a chortle at Twilight’s reaction. It was exactly what she was expecting from the bookworm, and yet was something so adorable and pure. The current ruling Princess of Equestria coughing and choking on her moonshine. It was something to be proud of for sure, even if said Princess was her longtime friend. “Well, hope ya can handle yer alcohol then, seein’ as how ya just took such a big sip.” 

Twilight, still with her raspy—and extremely attractive—voice, replied, “I’ll be fine, Applejack. As you said, just enough to loosen up. Though maybe I could go for one more?”

Unsure if she should admire Twilight’s tenacity or be worried, she decided to give a shrug. “Be my guest, Twi. I’ll do one more with ya in that case.” 

With a sense of confidence, Twilight lifted the bottle back up and took a hard, long sip. She gulped audibly, this time only coughing a bit as she grimaced, taking down the liquid fire. Hoofing it over to Applejack, she watched as Applejack did the same. The liquor went down smoother the second time around, though she still cringed as it clawed its way down her throat. 

Putting the bottle off to the side, she cleared her throat and looked directly at the alicorn sitting across from her. “I didn’t take ya to be the kind to drink,” Applejack admitted, still forcing down the moonshine. 

Twilight blushed, ruffling her wings at her side. “I’m usually not. I kind of hate it, actually, but I think that’s because I was so much of a lightweight I couldn’t really enjoy it enough to remember it the next day.” She chuckled sheepishly, rubbing her neck with a hoof. “But if Celestia’s right about alicorn sobriety, this is just a little drink between friends.”

Between friends.

Applejack’s face fell. She furrowed her brow slightly and looked at the planks beneath Twilight’s hooves. “Hey, uh, listen, Twi—”

“Hold that thought!” Twilight interrupted. With a spark of magenta, she disappeared, leaving Applejack to blink in the decrepit treehouse. Before she could even think to question it, Twilight returned, now with a scroll of paper and a quill. “I thought I should write down what I learned about earth pony magic and about alcohol and alicorns and all the aftereffects." She paused and giggled. "That was a lot of As." 

Applejack stared at her, then squinted and shook her head. "Okay, sure. But I think I got somethin' to be honest about first…" 

"Oh, Applejack," Twilight started, raising her quill and dipping it in ink, "you can tell me later. I really must record these findings! I haven't been able to find any recent reports of earth pony magic to the degree of the magic you showed me back at the Mother Tree! 

"To be honest, I thought that earth ponies couldn't do magic like that, at least not anymore. It's truly quite incredible! You may be the first earth pony since the beginnings of the Celestial Era to do something like that! At least the first one to be documented." Twilight squealed and pranced in place. "Again, you have to show me how! And explain everything!" 

Blinking away some frustration, Applejack nodded, smiling despite herself. "Yeah, anythin' for you, Twi. So where do we start?"