Southern Comfort

by chief maximus

Tree Trouble

Tree Trouble

Twilight awoke to a set of small claws nudging her shoulder. She rebuffed them with swat of her hooves, pulling the blanket over her head.

"Ugh... Spike... why?" she moaned.

"You owe me some Sugarcube Corner is why!" he insisted as his surrogate sister rolled away from him.

"In a few minutes..."

The young dragon folded his arms, growing tired of her stalling tactics but acutely aware of the morning's role reversal.

"You know I can make you get out of that bed," he threatened.

Twilight grinned, but held her ground. If it was a fight he wanted, it was a fight he'd get.

After a minute or two waiting for her to answer, he figured she had made her decision. "Okay Twilight, just remember you asked for this."

With that, Spike leapt from the ground and onto Twilight's side, his claws busily tickling her ribs as she began to flail. To try and tickle him back would be an exercise in futility, as hooves wouldn't exactly penetrate scales. He had her and she knew it. An eruption of giggles from the bed let Spike know his plan was working. He had become quite adept at this, knowing when to dodge a stray hoof as Twilight kicked and struggled against his mighty opposable digits.

"Okay... I'll... I'll get up... I swear!" Twilight gasped between fits of laughter. "Let me just get my planner..."

Feeling his mission accomplished, he hopped off her bed, leaving a unicorn on her back with a bedraggled mane and messy covers gasping for breath. Twilight's magic opened the small drawer to her nightstand and removed the tiny black book.

"Can't we just go?" Spike complained.

"Yes, as soon as I add this in," she chirped, her quill scribbling quickly before being stowed back in the nightstand. "After this, I've got to reorganize the encyclopedias we got yesterday," she mused.

"But I already organized them!" he protested.

"Spike, you can never have too much organization,"

He began making his way down the steps, "You can never have too much, that's for sure," he mumbled.

"Spike, do you know what would happen if I didn't keep a schedule?" she cautioned. Like it or not, Spike knew he was about to hear the answer. "If I didn't have a set schedule, I could end up spending more time with one pony than another, then the other pony might get jealous, and start resenting me behind my back! Then she could write a letter to Princess Celestia about how I've been neglecting my friendship studies, which would undoubtably result in my getting sent back to Canterlot or worse, magic kindergarten!" she finished, taking a deep breath. "Is that what you want Spike? For me to go back to magic kindergarten?"

Twilight's mental gymnastics had always amused him, but this early in the morning they were just a bit tiring. "No, just hurry up and get ready," he groaned, continuing downstairs after stopping to hear Twilight's rant. "Didn't she already tell you she wasn't going to send you away?" he hollered from the living room.

"She only said that because my friends were there! She sent her own sister to the moon for a thousand years! Imagine what she'd do to me!"

"She did that because–" Spike stopped himself. He knew a losing argument when he heard one. "Just hurry up, please!"

Quickly jumping out of bed, Twilight ran a brush through her mane and tail. She set out down the steps in time to see a picture of herself and Spike when they were much younger fall to the floor, the nail it was hanging on still embedded in the a chunk of wood.

"Spike, have you seen the hammer?" she called, wanting to reaffix the photo to the wall before they left.

"I'm hungry!" Spike replied from downstairs, "And you know what happens when you try and fix things!"

He certainly had a point there. The last time she'd tried some D-I-Y repairs unsupervised, she had nearly demolished Fluttershy's chicken coop, which wasn't even the item she was attempting to repair in the first place.

"Alright, we'll fix it later," she huffed, setting it on the floor and following Spike outside.

Twilight had managed to catch up on her rest, finally getting a full eight hours of sleep with no town crises to deal with. Trotting to Sugarcube Corner with Spike riding his usual mount, she took in the progress the repair ponies had been making with the damages. It hadn't been too much, a bitten roof here, a smashed porch there. Then there was also the milk storage tower she had used to soothe the beast back to sleep.

Twilight had always questioned how keeping milk in a metal tower at room temperature or worse was even remotely sanitary, but the mayor was usually quite evasive when she brought it up. Perhaps it was built for just such an emergency.

She neither knew nor cared as she arrived at Sugarcube Corner.

"Hiya Twilight!" Pinkie greeted, busy kneading a blob of dough behind the counter as the Cakes were busy behind her stuffing all sorts of pastries into boxes and loading them onto the back of a truck parked out back.

"Hey Pinkie," she greeted, noticing the action going on behind her friend. "Do the cakes have a big party planned?"

Spike hopped off her back and approached the counter. Ponies Twilight had never seen before swarmed the kitchen, baking and preparing more pastries than she'd ever witnessed come out of the small town bakery at once.

"Yeah, we're actually closed today!" she replied happily, "Didn't ya see the sign?"

Twilight blushed as she looked back toward the door she had just entered. The large red letters hadn't even phased her as she walked in. "Oops, I guess I wasn't paying attention," she admitted as Spike set a few bits on the counter. "Why close up shop on a Tuesday? And who are all these ponies?"

"We had a big fancy pants order from a fashion designer in Canterlot come in last night, paid in advance and everything. We're catering his super duper exciting fashion show!" she added, still kneading away at the dough in front of her. "We had to hire extra help, so we found some cooking exchange students from Neighppon to help us in exchange for college credit!"

Twilight nodded slowly, "Pinkie, is that something you can even give them?"

"I dunno, Mr. cake took care of the bargaining, I just translated for him," she said as Spike spoke up.

"Any chance I could get one of your special gem cupcakes, Pinkie?" Spike asked, laying out a few bits in front of her.

"Sure Spike, I had one ready for you yesterday, but you never came in!" she answered, putting her hooves on her hips and raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I was pretty tired yester— wait, how did you know I wanted to come in yesterday?"

"Pinkie sense never lies!" she grinned, setting his cupcake on the counter. Spike eagerly devoured it as she turned her brief attention span back to Twilight.

"So I guess that's why you couldn't help us out yesterday at Sweet Apple Acres? And you speak Neighpponese?"

"That's right!" she chirped. "Mr. and Mrs. Cake are really nice about me working weird hours and leaving during the middle of the day for all my wheelings and dealings, but they know I'm always there when they need me!" she saluted.

"Pinkie! We're still short fifty muffins!" Mr. Cake called from the back.

"Gotta go Twilight, thanks for stopping by!" she bid, turning back toward the kitchen before shouting something in the culinary students native tongue.

Heading back outside, after Spike had finished his cupcake, Twilight's stomach rumbled loudly. Having just spent money getting Spike his promised confection, she decided breakfast at home would taste pretty good right now.

Spike mounted up, and they trotted back to the library, only to discover something terribly wrong with the tree she called home. Instead of just a few leaves, now half of them had become a brilliant shade of yellow, while the ones that had been yellow the night before had nearly died.

"Twilight, does the tree look different to you?" Spike asked, tilting his head to one side.

"Yeah, I don't think leaves are supposed to be that color," she answered, panic rising in her voice.

Stepping to the door, Twilight pushed it open and it promptly fell from its hinges. Her eyes flicked toward the living room, where anything relying on the wood from the tree for support began to collapse. The shelves inside were fallen, or in the process of falling out of the walls, and only the lightest of pictures still managed to cling to the peeling layers of wood to which their nails held them.

Something is very wrong here! she thought, darting up the stairs with Spike flailing wildly behind her, hanging onto her tail with a single claw. The steps broke beneath her hooves as she ran, barely making it to her loft before the floorboards began to warp beneath her. It was as though and earthquake were shaking her house apart, but the ground remained still. Using her magic, she opened her the drawer to her nightstand and retrieved the most important items in her home.

Twilight stuffed her planner, diary and spell book into a saddlebag and quickly threw it on before teleporting out of the house and into the street in front of it.

The sounds of still collapsing shelves and books falling helplessly to the floor could be heard street-side, driving her to take quick action to save her home.

"Is it termites?"

"No, we'd have seen them!" Twilight snapped, levitating her book of spells into Spike's claws and ordering him to flip to page 76.

Showing her the open page, she used a copy spell to throw a six pointed star with the appropriate runes for a time stopping spell in the dirt before them. Twilight stepped into the power circle, and cast her magic. A neon blue aura covered her house, causing the cacophony of noise from within to suddenly halt.

Their home held this faint blue glow, as Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. Spike, however, felt the need to ask the obvious question.

"So... why is our house falling apart?"

They both stood outside it, staring with detached fascination at the beautiful colors of the leaves combined with the contrast of the bright blue aura keeping them frozen in time.

"I don't know, but I can't keep it frozen like this forever," she explained, putting a hoof to her forehead in concentration. "Is there anything in there you need?"

"No, my gems are buried in the backyard."

Twilight sighed, releasing the spell and hearing the rest of her belongings, and her beloved books finish crashing to the floor.

"Now what?" Spike asked, "Do we just go clean up?"

"No Spike, I think the tree is sick," she muttered, still in a bit of shock that her home could be healthy one minute, then too weak to hold a eight by eleven on the wall the next. "C'mon, we're going to Applejack's."

---

Applejack sat on her porch, staring idly out at the newly planted saplings in the far fields. Such downtime was quite a luxury on their farm, especially since she and her brother were the only ponies able to do much of the work. She worked hard, but not simply for hard works sake, or because she had something to prove. Her reason was much simpler, and a bit more heartfelt.

This was the farm her grandmother had grown up on, and trusted to the care of her parents. Once they were gone, it was entrusted to Macintosh and herself. Her parents tried their damnedest to ensure this farm would live on, as a place all Apples could return to, a rooting point where the Apple family tree would always hold ground.

Applejack would be damned if it would wither away on her watch. She and her brother knew more about the care and upkeep of trees and vegetables than anyone else in town. When the Tops were having trouble with weevils in their garden, AJ and Big Mac devised a simple yet elegant solution and saved their crop. This was but one example for which their gardening prowess was known.

Taking a content breath of air, she loosened a floorboard. Beneath this board was where she kept a jug of apple whisky she and her brother would nip at after a hard day's labor on the rare occasion they'd both finish up work early and even feel like partaking in any libations.

Usually, she'd wait until Macintosh got here, but she had no idea when he'd be back, so she took a hearty swig. Something about the kick of those fermented grains relaxed her tired muscles like nothing else could. More than one, however, and she knew she'd be off to the races, so she replaced the bottle where it belonged. Sitting with her back against a pole on her porch, she tipped her hat down over her eyes.

A flash of purple light startled Applejack off of her porch and into the dirt.

"What the hay!" she snapped, lips curling into a snarl before she recognized who had intruded.

Applejack's glare softened, "Twilight, ain't you ever heard of walkin'?" she fumed. She shook the dust from her mane and tail, brushing off her hat before setting it back on her head.

Twilight blushed, she honestly thought her friend would still be out in the fields. "I didn't mean to scare you, but I need your help!" she shouted, even though Applejack was less than three feet away.

Taking a deep breath, AJ managed to keep calm, recalling her unicorn friends propensity for overreaction.

"Twilight, you know the princess don't care if you don't send a friendship report every week," she explained.

"It's not that—"

"Something's wrong with our house!" Spike interjected from on her back, his panic replacing Twilight's.

"Spike, go play with Applebloom while we figure this out," Twilight requested,

"But what if—"

"Spike."

He knew that tone well. He hated when she used it, but he knew it meant she wasn't in the mood to argue. He may have only been a baby dragon, but he knew his track record as far as arguments with Twilight were concerned.

"Fine..." he mumbled, hopping off her back and heading towards the Cutie Mark Crusader's clubhouse.

"Now, what's the problem?" Applejack asked, climbing back onto her porch. Twilight glanced at her hooves nervously, still in shock about how suddenly her home had begun to fall apart.

"It's my tree," she began, "it's sick or something, the leaves are changing, the wood inside can't even hold up photographs anymore!"

Applejack's concern was etched across her features. "Uh huh," she replied thoughtfully, "When did that start?"

"Yesterday I noticed some of the leaves weren't their usual color, and I came back home around noon to find the whole house falling down around me!" Twilight explained.

"Sounds serious, but Ah won't know what we're dealing with until Ah see it for myself," she added, straightening up her hat and retying her mane in her signature red rubber band. "Why don't we go over there and have a look?"

Twilight nodded in agreement and took to the dusty road back into town. As they walked Twilight debated questioning Applejack's knowledge of larger trees. "Any idea what the problem is?" she asked nervously.

She was as patient as she was honest, "Not without seein' it first, Twi."

Applejack understood her concern. If something were threatening her home, she'd certainly want to find out what it was and fix it as soon as possible. Though Twilight was a brilliant unicorn, there were some common sense skills she seemed to lack. Applejack figured it was simply because she'd spent most of her life with her nose in a book instead of making friends and playing with other ponies her age, but she had to admit she did have what her buddy Rainbow liked to call a 'dork-ish charm' about her.

She remembered her first encounter with Twilight, who just so happened to stop by when a goodly portion of her extended family was in town. Applejack chuckled to herself, remembering how her family pretty much force fed the poor unicorn apple related treats until she could hardly walk.

"Something funny?" Twilight asked, not in an accusatory tone, but with a genuine interest.

"Ah was just thinkin' about the day you came ta Ponyville, and my family wouldn't let you leave 'till you ate all them apple pastries," she recalled, giggling a bit.

"Yeah, would you believe I thought most of you guys were nuts the first time I met all of you?" she laughed.

"I could see how ya might think Pinkie's a bit off kilter, but the rest of us are perfectly normal thank ya very much," she replied with false indignation.

"Right, the apple farmers with a thousand relatives who seemed to only eat apple related foods," Twilight snickered, "That's normal all right." Even though her house was in shambles, Applejack seemed to have a disarming personality, such that even after realizing her house could be dying, Twilight was still content to shoot the breeze with her, and enjoy her company. Her no nonsense attitude also made her a reliable source for advice on most non-scientific subjects.

The distance from town to Sweet Apple Acres flew by as the two mares came upon the weathered looking oak that used to be Twilight's home.

"Hm... this is bad." Applejack stated rather obviously.

"I've got some books on dendrology if you need them," Twilight offered, only to be dismissed by a hoof.

"Ah won't be needin' it," she insisted, trotting towards the outside of the tree. Twilight kept her distance as she watched Applejack work. She certainly wasn't scientific in her approach, but if she was sure of one thing, it was that Applejack's earthy wisdom sometimes trumped even the most well controlled scientific methods.

Applejack placed her ear next to the trunk of the tree, and knocked with a hoof. She did it once more, a few inches to the left, then to the right. After listening intently to what appeared to be the tree itself, she came back to an anxious Twilight.

"Well?"

"It's worse than Ah thought," she sighed, "It looks like Bayou Dendrius, but Ah've never seen it act this fast before."

"What's Bayou Dendrius?" Twilight asked, certain if it was of the fungi genous, she'd have heard of it. She'd read every book on biology in the Canterlot library!

"It's native to the swamps of south Lusitano, near Norleans. My cousins down there had some trouble with it a few month's back," she explained, "I went ta help 'em get rid of it. It drives all th' moisture out of the bark and wood, killin' the tree of thirst. Though how it ended up all the way in Ponyville—and in your tree—Ah haven't the slightest."

Twilight's eyes brightened. "So you've dealt with it before?"

"Eeyup."

"Then how do we fix it?"

Applejack chuckled, "We go ta Norleans and look up my relatives, that's how. We've got about a week before it'll be too late."

Twilight had heard of the city of Norleans, a place where anything goes, and anypony can be whomever they want to be. It was the setting for quite of few of the romance novels that had become somewhat of a guilty pleasure of hers. She had always wanted to visit the city, but never really had a reason to go. Although she certainly wished it were under happier circumstances, she jumped on the opportunity to see one of Equestria's oldest cities with one of her best friends.

"How long will it take to get there?" Twilight asked, glancing towards her home with worry clear across her face.

"'Bout a day and a half by train. Ah've got relatives we can stay with, so ya ain't got ta worry about havin' money for a hotel, all we need ta pay for is our train ticket."

Twilight thought back, trying to recall how much money she had left from her monthly stipend from the princess.

"Looks like I'll have to leave Spike at Rarity's," she sighed, remembering her financial situation.

"Ah'm sure he wouldn't mind," Applejack teased, earning a smile from Twilight.

"You're right," she giggled, "When are we leaving?"

"Ah'll meet ya at the train station tomorrow morning at six in th' afternoon, Ah'm gonna send a telegram to let my cousins know we're comin'."

"Okay, sounds good, if you could let Spike know it's time to come back home, I'd—"

"Now hold on a second partner," Applejack interjected, "What kind of friend would Ah be if Ah let you sleep in a dyin' house?"

"Uhm..." Twilight wasn't quite sure if that question was rhetorical or not. She often had a hard time telling with Applejack.

"That's right, a bad one," she completed, "C'mon now, you and Spike can stay the night back at the farm. Mac and Granny'll look after him while we're gone."

Twilight's lips curled softly into a smile. Applejack could have certainly passed as the element of generosity.

"Thanks Applejack."

AJ returned her grin, always glad to help out a friend. "C'mon, lets get you set up at th' house."

An uneventful walk back to Sweet Apple Acres led to a candid discussion of the events of the coming days.

"Have you ever been?" Twilight posed, having built up a certain image of the old city in her head after years of simply reading about it and seeing pictures.

"Ta where, Norleans?" Applejack asked, glancing over. "Yeah, once when Ah was Apple Bloom's age. Ah don't remember much, but Ah had a good time." she recalled.

"What was it like?"

Applejack paused in thought, trying to remember any detail she could about the vibrant and colorful city. "Ah remember we were there for a big party," her eyes cast toward the sky in thought, she recalled the name of the city wide carnival "Maredi Gras! That's what it was called!" she added happily, "Anyway, it was real fun, it was like one big party in the streets! Pinkie Pie would have felt right at home. Anyway, the buildin's are real old, and the streets are pretty narrow, and there's parts a town ya don't want ta find yourself in at night, but overall, Ah liked it."

In no time at all, they'd arrived back at the farm, where Rainbow Dash was waiting for them.

"'Bout time AJ, my moves aren't going to judge themselves!" she complained from her usual hover.

"Sorry sugarcube, Twilight had a bit of an emergency," Applejack explained, taking a seat on her haunches on the porch. "Twilight, you can get settled inside, supper'll be ready in a hour or two. Ah'm gonna watch featherbrain's moves out in the southern fields for a spell," she teased, getting an immediate rise out of Rainbow.

"You just wish you could keep your eyes off this," Dash shot back, scooping up Applejack underneath her forelegs and taking to the skies, despite AJ's shouts of protest.

As they left, Twilight sighed. It seemed all her friends had a friend they had been growing closer to, except for her.

Maybe Spike was right. Maybe I do need to quit trying to plan every second of every day... she thought. Clearly trying to spend equal amounts of time with everypony was simply not giving her time to try and connect with her friends on a deeper level, so maybe she should just try to take things as they come?

The very idea of a totally and completely unplanned day chilled her to the bone.

Then again, Spike's just a baby anyway.

Comments

[chief maximus]

Okay, so let me start by saying the only reason this fic is updating is because I've had this chapter just sitting here and figured I might as well release it because I took the time to flippin write it. Please understand that to me, this fic is a giant mess and will need to be re-written at the very least. When that will happen is anybody's guess. Anyway, there ya have it.

[Kapuchu]

a TwiJack fic?

Haven't seen that before...

I like the concept of the story, so please update more regularly than once every three month ><

[PFisken]

Hmm, there was no milk tower. It was a water tower, Twilight filled it with milk in the barn.

[TheWanderingPikachuPony]

Not sure why you think this fic is a mess, even though have read both chapters so far and seems fine to me. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/shrug_Twilight_Sparkle.png Yeah, I guess might not be as good as At Home on the Range was written, being an Adventure Romance fic like that one, but seems fine, even though you probably want this to be a good work like most of your others. But then again, could just be me being neutral cause sorta reading for the hell of it, even though I still enjoy reading a good fic or otherwise one previously started from time to time (not saying this isn't my taste, but just eh, hard to explain). Anyway, onto a review, even if this chapter will be taken down (I assume, but hopefully, not the whole story)!

Well, seems the thing from first chapter spread fast, probably no doubt from being directly inserted into the roots. Interesting timeline you've set up, having (I think) Boast Busters episode take place after the Secret of my Excess and Lesson Zero ones, at least that're confirmed. Though I seem to notice you once again (hadn't in the first chapter's original reading or commented) mixed up the tower's original purpose. As originally, it was a WATER tower that Twilight repurposed into a milk tower, for the use in calming down the Ursa Minor. And Twilight had a time spell book or one that had at least one such spell? Seems kinda weird maybe, but eh, I'm not the author, so will keep quiet. And pony puns(?) on town names and disease name seemed kinda clever.

Well, curious to see when it goes from being as it is now to the rewrite you plan on doing at some point. Hopefully, you don't give up on it before that happens. Or you'll make Fluttershy cry!

1444332
Must not do a lot of reading or browsing. While not the most popular of Twilight ships (to my knowledge), TwiJack is still done a bit (and probably not just on here), though probably not as much TwiDash, TwiMac, TwiSpike, etc. Again, to my general knowledge as far as the heavily done Twilight shipfic pairings, even though I do my fair share of reading on this site at times.

[chief maximus]

1444469 You're right! Ack, I havent watched the episodes in forever.

[TheLastBrunnenG]

1444254

We'll take mess! You've got a great premise set up here. Even better, we're two chapters in and the Good Ship TwiJack hasn't even left the dock, which is a refreshing change in itself. So do, please, grace us with more mess-in-need-of-a-rewrite. We, your adoring public, might just prefer it messy!

[The Dragon Warlock]

Good to finally see an update on this fic. I certainly hope Twilight and Applejack make it in time and that Trixie is brought to justice for her crimes.

[Aramadon]

1444473

Though your rewrite will probably take care of this, I figured it can't hurt to point out an edit -
"It was as though and earthquake were shaking her house apart, but the ground remained still."
Should be "an earthquake"

[Cathius]

I agree. It seemed like an interesting enough story back when you released the first chapter back in July and it still seems well written and moving along at a steady pace. For what it's worth, I found it to be an enjoyable read so far.

[Emperor of Jurai]

Mistakes or not still a fun read regardless, then again maybe I'm just happy this is a good story with nice pacing and so forth when I been going through other stories that kinda rush stuff and so forth. Either way hope more updates will come in the future for this.

[Shumiry]

Oooh, pretty good so far! Yeah there are some minor issues, and the tower thing, but they're certainly not enough to make this not an awesome fic. I'm definitely interested in seeing where this goes!

Please keep writing, I'll keep reading!

[Dozy Dreamer]

Hmm. A little editing may be required here. When discussing the disease, AJ states she headed up to Norleans to help her cousin out with it a couple weeks back. Shortly afterwards, Twi asks AJ if she's ever been to Norleans, to which she responds 'Once, when I was a little filly'.
Other than that, this seems to be progressing quite nicely.

[Harwick]

The concept of Twilight connecting with AJ over nursing her sick tree library is a really strong one. Whether you rewrite this or not, do continue it!

[tigrean]

Yes this has been a very enjoyable read Please continue it I think you are doing well may have to rewrite some but all in all I think it is done well. I WANT MOAR

[Ecstatic]

Twilight had always questioned how keeping milk in a metal tower at room temperature or worse was even remotely sanitary, but the mayor was usually quite evasive when she brought it up. Perhaps it was built for just such an emergency.

It was a water tower, she grabbed it with her magic and spilled all that water, everywhere, and filled it with milk from the Apple family's cows.