The brilliant beams of light from the morning sun shone through Applejack’s window and into her eyes, stirring her from her slumber. She yawned and rolled over so she wasn’t facing the window. “Jus’ five more minutes…” she mumbled to herself. She needed a bit more time before she was ready to face the morning.
Those five minutes became thirty as Applejack fell back asleep, only waking when there was a loud knock on the door. Lifting her head up, she groaned. “Ah overslept, didn’t Ah?”
“Eeyup,” came her brother’s reply from the other side of the door.
“Alright, give me a few minutes and Ah’ll be down to help with the harvesting,” replied Applejack as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She got out of bed and trotted over to the dresser her hat rested on. She yawned. “Ah knew Ah shouldn’t have stayed at Pinkie’s party til one in the morning… Ah’m still tired.”
Flipping her Stetson hat onto her head, she began doing her pre-applebucking stretches. They were something she considered very important – without doing them, she could end up pulling a muscle or otherwise hurting herself, which could have disastrous consequences for the Apple family.
After a few minutes, she concluded her stretches, and grinned. She may have woken up a bit late, but now she was ready to work. “It’s time to buck some app-” A violent cough interrupted her sentence. She continued to cough until something came out of her mouth and fell onto the floor with a clatter.
Applejack opened her eyes and stared. Sitting on the wooden floor in front of her was a sapphire as large as one of her freckles. “What in tarnation?” she wondered aloud. She prodded the sapphire to find that it was, in fact, a perfectly ordinary gem. “How in the heck did that get in my mouth?”
Applejack picked up the gem and placed it on her dresser. She was unsure what to make of the whole situation, but she assumed it was probably just the result of something that happened the night before. She saw no reason to delay her morning harvesting any further.
As she left her room, an excited voice from down the hall greeted her. “Mornin’ Applejack! Why ain’t you out helpin’ Big Macintosh buck trees yet?”
Applejack smiled at her sister. “Ah’m just a bit tired. Ah stayed out a mite late last night. What’s got you so eager?”
Apple Bloom smiled wide. “Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and Ah have come up with a surefire way to earn our cutie marks! It can’t possibly fail!”
“As much as I’d like to hear about it, Ah’ve got to get to work. Y’all just be careful today App-” Once again, a coughing fit prevented her from completing her sentence. She expelled something else from her mouth – an emerald that hit the floor and rolled over to her sister.
Apple Bloom stared at the jewel. “Applejack, where did that come from? Did you swallow it by mistake?”
“What?” replied Applejack, further puzzled by the appearance of the second gem. There could be a rational explanation for the first occurrence, but she couldn’t think of a reason for the emerald’s appearance. “Ah didn’t swallow anything like that; that’s a load of horseapp-”
Another coughing fit triggered the appearance of another jewel – this one a sapphire slightly larger than the first one. Apple Bloom’s eyes went wide. “You make gems whenever you say ‘apple’! Oh, Ah can’t wait to tell Sweetie Belle! Her sister will be able to make so many dresses with you around!”
“No, wait!” yelled Applejack, trying in vain to stop her sister from running down the stairs and out of the house. “You come back here App-”
Apple Bloom paid no heed to Applejack’s latest coughing fit, intent on going to meet her friends and telling them what had happened. As she left the house, she didn’t even hear her sister’s exasperated plea. “Please sis, don’t tell anyone about this!”
Applejack sat down at the bottom of the stairs as she realised she wouldn’t be able to catch up to her sister in her exhausted state. Last night had really taken a toll on her, and coughing up jewels did not help the situation at all. She thought about what Apple Bloom had said – it seemed to be accurate. She had coughed up a gem every single time she tried to say the word “apple”.
“Alright, Ah need to make sure,” she muttered to herself. Steeling herself for a possible coughing fit, she tried to speak the offending word. “App-”
The expected result occurred, and produced an amethyst jewel. Applejack tore her eyes away from the purple gem and looked at the clock adorning the wall. “Well, Ah’ll be really late for the morning harvest, but Ah can’t avoid this. Ah need to go see Twilight – she’ll know how to help.” With that, she set off for the library of Ponyville, only pausing briefly to tell Big Mac where she was headed.
Twilight Sparkle, still fast asleep in her comfortable bed, smiled as dreams of her friends flew through her mind. Suddenly, her slumber was disturbed by a frantic knocking at the library’s front door. Rolling over, she groaned. “Spike, could you get that?” she asked of her draconic assistant.
He stirred in the basket he used as a bed. Supressing a yawn, he reluctantly got up and began to make his way downstairs. “Fine, but you owe me for this.”
Twilight rolled over again, clutching her blankets to her body. She didn’t need to be up for at least another hour, and she was going to stay in bed as long as she could. Unfortunately, a few moments later, Spike re-entered the room and ruined that plan. “Twilight, it’s Applejack. She says she needs your help.”
Twilight threw off the covers and got to her hooves. Sleep could wait; one of her friends needed help. She cantered downstairs, followed closely by Spike. Reaching the bottom of them, she was greeted by the sight of Applejack standing in the middle of her library. “Hey Applejack,” she greeted her apple farming friend. “What can I help you with today?”
“Ah’ve been cursed, Twi! Ah need you to get rid of it for me!”
The librarian giggled. “Oh Applejack, don’t you remember what I told you before? There’s no such thing as curses.”
The orange mare frowned. “Well if it ain’t a curse, then what is it?”
Twilight cocked her head. “Um, I don’t know. You seem perfectly fine to me.”
“But Ah’m not! Ah need you to help me!”
“Help you with what?” asked Twilight, getting a little irritated. “You’re going to have to explain exactly what’s wrong before I can help you.”
Applejack sighed. “Alright, but Ah’m warning you, it’s freaky stuff.” With her audience of two watching, she gulped and tried to speak the offending word. “App-”
Twilight’s eyes went wide when Applejack started coughing, and wider still when she spit a sparkling diamond onto the library’s floor. “What? Applejack, what is this?!”
“Ah don’t know, Twi. All Ah know is it happens every single time Ah try to say that word. Even if Ah’m calling my sis by her name,” the orange mare answered. “Can you help me?”
Twilight’s magic lifted the gem from the floor and closer to her face so she could examine it more meticulously. “A diamond comes out of your mouth every time you try and say the word ‘apple’?” she queried.
“It’s not always a diamond,” Applejack replied. “Ah’ve coughed up a few other jewels too. But it does always happen when Ah try to say that word.”
Twilight brought a hoof to her muzzle in thought. After a moment, she arrived at an idea. “Aha! It’s probably just a joke brought on by Poison Joke.”
Applejack shook her head. “No, can’t be that. That stuff only grows in the Everfree Forest and Ah haven’t been in there in at least a month.”
“Maybe it’s some illness? It could be a spell gone wrong? Perhaps the result of you swallowing a bunch of jewels?” the lavender mare suggested.
“Look, Ah don’t know,” replied the farmer. “And to be honest, Twi; Ah don’t particularly care what caused it. Ah just need you to get rid of it. Ah won’t be able to work like this.”
Twilight dropped the diamond on the floor, where it was quickly snatched up and devoured by Spike. “You’re right. I’ve just never seen anything like this.” She turned to her assistant. “Spike, get me every book you can find on obscure pony illnesses…” she shuddered, “…and curses.”
Spike licked his lips. “Okay, but I want to eat any gems that come out of her mouth.” He looked to Applejack for agreement, and she nodded her head. With this, he proceeded over to the shelves and began to search them for the books Twilight requested.
Twilight walked over to her orange friend and placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “It’ll be alright. I’ll find the cure to this problem, and you’ll be back to bucking apples in no-” She paused, noticing that Applejack was coughing again. “Are you okay?”
Her question was answered by the appearance of an emerald. Twilight looked at her friend in confusion. “Wait, what? That shouldn’t have happened! You didn’t even say ‘apple’!” An opal joined the emerald on the floor. She ran a hoof through her mane as she thought. “Unless maybe it happens every time you hear somepony say ‘apple’ now…”
Applejack spit out a ruby before concluding her coughing fit. “Dammit Twi, can you please stop saying it?!”
The librarian gave her a sheepish grin. “Sorry A- AJ. I’m curious as to why there was a change in the supposed curse’s behaviour though.”
“You can start by looking through these books,” answered Spike, dropping half a dozen books in front of Twilight. “I’ll keep looking for others, but these seem like the most likely to have a solution.”
Twilight flipped open the first book before turning her gaze towards Applejack. “Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll find something. I’ll fix this.”
Half an hour later, Twilight had, in fact, not fixed Applejack’s problem. A large pile of open books sat to her right, and she was frantically scanning the text of the tome currently held in her magic. As she reached the last page, she threw the book at the wall in frustration. “I don’t believe it! Not one of these books has any information on your problem!”
Applejack looked at her in dismay. “None of them? Now what am Ah going to do?”
“There’s one book left,” replied Spike, from the top of the ladder he used to reach the top shelves. Climbing down the ladder, he handed the volume to the librarian. “If this doesn’t have anything, you could always write to Princess Celestia. Maybe she could help.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” said Twilight. She opened up the book, A Compendium of Magical Effects, and began to browse the pages. After a few minutes, she beamed. “Eureka! I found something!”
“What is it?” asked Applejack, coming closer so she could see for herself. Twilight showed her the passage, and the two of them read it:
Orlov Hex: This strange, rare affliction causes the creature that has it to be unable to speak certain words. If they attempt to speak any of these words, they will be surprised by the sudden appearance of an object, most commonly a cut gemstone, in their throat. Those that do not cough out the object run the risk of choking to death on it. As time goes on, the creature may experience this symptom whenever they hear, see, or even think the triggering words. Fortunately, this hex can be reversed with a simple magical spell – all that is required are 5 diamonds to be used as a focus.
The text then went on to detail the specifics of the spell, something Applejack did not really understand. She looked at Twilight. “Can you use that spell to get rid of this curse?”
Twilight nodded. “All I need are the diamonds. I’ll go over to Rarity’s now and see if she has any.”
As if summoned by the mention of her name, the alabaster unicorn herself burst through Twilight’s front door. “Applejack, darling, you must simply come back to my boutique! I could use somepony with talents like yours!” At the sight of her farmer friend coughing before spitting up a fire ruby, she squealed in delight. “Yes, that! Oh, it would be so fabulous to have you providing me with gems! I’d be able to get so much more work done!”
“Uh, Rarity?” interjected Twilight.
“Oh yes, hello Twilight,” said Rarity dismissively. She trotted over to the orange mare and tried to lead her outside. “Come along, I need you!”
“Rarity, get your darn hooves off me!” shouted Applejack, shoving her friend away. “Ah can’t keep spitting out jewels forever, Ah need Twilight to remove this curse so Ah can return to work.”
Twilight nodded in agreement. “I was actually just about to go to your place. We need five diamonds to return AJ to her normal self.”
“But you can make jewels darling... You simply must lend me your talents!” exclaimed Rarity.
“Ah’m actually in a lot of pain,” Applejack retorted. “It ain’t easy on the throat to keep coughing up gems.”
Rarity frowned. “Terribly sorry for your plight, dear. I admit I overreacted a bit at the prospect of a never-ending source of gems. I wish I could help, but I used the last of my diamonds on an outfit yesterday. It could take me a week to find five more.”
The group sighed in disappointment. Twilight brightened up suddenly though, and she turned to Applejack. “AJ, didn’t you cough up a diamond earlier?”
“Yeah, but Ah think Spike ate it." A look of horrified realization appeared on her face. "Oh no, tell me y’all aren’t thinking what I think you are…”
Twilight advanced on her farmer friend with a grin on her face. “Apple.”
Twenty minutes later, a flash of purple light filled the library. The glowing diamonds on the ground slowly lost their brilliant lustre, and a triumphant Twilight stared at her friend. “Alright, that should do it. Now try to say that word.”
Applejack gulped, not entirely confident that the spell had been lifted. She slowly opened her mouth and spoke: “Apple.” To the joy of everyone in the room, she did not cough, nor did she spit out a gem. A grin spread across her muzzle. “Ah’m cured! Thank you, Twi!”
Twilight smiled. “It was no problem. I couldn't let you go through life without being able to say 'apple', or even look at one.”
Rarity nodded. "Yes, that would truly be a tragedy." She paused and frowned slightly. "While I'm pleased to see you're back to your old self, I do have a question for you," she said, gesturing towards the massive pile of gems in the corner of the library. “What do you plan to do about those?”
“Heck, you can have ‘em, Rare,” replied the farmer. “Just don’t try and force me to your shop again, okay?”
"Of course not, dear. I'm terribly sorry for what I did; I admit I was acting rather rude," the dressmaker replied. She glanced at the gems before grabbing them with her magic. "I'm afraid I must depart your company; I simply must return home, I have to finish the dresses I was working on." With this, she left the library, the gems in tow.
"Ah reckon Ah should get back to the farm too," said Applejack. She gave Twilight a friendly nuzzle. “Thank you, Ah don’t know what Ah’d do without you and your magic.”
“I’m just glad I could help,” replied the librarian. “I'll see you later. I think I could use a few more hours of sleep after last night.”
Applejack exited the library and headed back to Sweet Apple Acres to finish the morning harvest, hoping that her brother and grandmother wouldn't be too angry at her for leaving earlier.
Twilight let out a yawn and shut the door behind her orange friend. It had been a crazy morning so far, but now it was all over. She had solved her friend's problem and now she could go back to bed for a little bit. She trotted up the stairs and into her bedroom, smiling at the sight of Spike already back asleep. She got back into bed and fell back asleep, happy that everything was back to normal
Pinkie Pie woke up in the middle of Sugarcube Corner, still a mess from the party she had thrown last night. She breathed a sigh of relief that the Cakes were out of town for a few days – they would have definitely found issue with the current state of the bakery.
She got to her hooves and began with cleaning up the frosting that had landed on the floor when Rainbow Dash crashed into a cake. Naturally, she used her mouth - no sense wasting good frosting after all.
As she moved to the banquet table, she noticed her pet alligator was inside the punch bowl, a habit he seemed to have formed at some point. She fished him out and set him down on the table. “Last night was amazing, Gummy! Didn't you think so? Did you enjoy the part-”
She coughed and a bright red apple fell out of her mouth and landed on the floor. She stared at it before grinning and slapping a hoof to her head in realization. “So that’s where I put it!”
