Panacea's Mirth

by charyoshi

Panacea's Mirth [UNEDITED CONTEST ENTRY]

*THUD THUD THUD*

Twilight glanced up from an old book, her ears twitching slightly at the sound of a hoof pounding on her front door.

"Who could that be?" Twilight said to herself as she trotted downstairs towards the door.

She had barely made her way down her stairs before Pinkie Pie burst through the front door, her mane looking even messier than usual. A drip of sweat rolled down the side of her head as she looked around frantically before spotting Twilight and racing over to her.

"TWILIIIIIGHT!"

Twilight winced as Pinkie bounded over to her at sugar rush speeds.

"Pinkie calm down, I'm right here! What's wrong?"

"Ohmygosh, Twilight it's terrible! Applejack's stuck sick in bed!"

Twilight blinked and stared at Pinkie Pie with a blank look on her face, a hoof tapping her chin thoughtfully as Pinkie explained.

"Earlier today I went over to Sweet Apple Acres to see if I could get a bag or two for an order for some apple pies from Sugarcube Corner but I didn't see Applejack anywhere so I asked Big Mac about it and he said that she's been sick in bed with a fever all morning! So of course I had to go get everypony I could to help cheer her up because being sick in bed isn't any fun for anypony! So will you come with me to Sweet Apple Acres to help her get better?"

Pinkie panted a bit between her words, winded from both her voyage to Twilight's and her explanation as Twilight grinned.

"Don't worry Pinkie I'll come with you, but first I have to wait for something to arrive."

"What could possibly be that important that you cant leave now to see Applejack!?"

"Come up to my room Pinkie, I'll show you." Twilight quickly trotted up the stairs with Pinkie bounding after her."

With a loud magical pop, Twilight teleported over to a desk with a history book and a letter with the Royal seal on it. Pinkie raced over glancing between the two, seeing in large print the name Panacea P. Bo.

"What's all this Twilight? Who's Puh-na-che-uh?"

"That's 'pan-ah-see-uh" Pinkie. She was a famous unicorn from about 100 years ago said to be one of the greatest doctors in all of Equestria! From head colds to the worst diseases ever heard in medical history, it's said that Panacea knew magic's and healing practices able to cure anything. And this..." Twilight levitated the letter with her magic to show Pinkie. "...is a letter from Princess Celestia."

Pinkie grabbed it and looked it over as Twilight talked, her tail swishing back and forth along with her head as she scanned each line whilst Twilight continued.

"I've been reading about her all day, but I haven't found much. What I do know, is that she had a secret weapon for curing ponies, a magical stethoscope of her own design."

Pinkie looked up from her letter and stared blankly at Twilight. "A stetho-whatsit?"

"You know Pinkie, those things doctors wear over their ears to hear your heartbeat! Apparently it was her greatest tool for curing ponies, and it's been discovered recently in some ancient ruins about a week ago. The Princess is sending it to me to study. Imagine it Pinkie, if the artifact is really as powerful as they say it is, this could save lives! Disease across Equestria Will be a thing of the past!"

Pinkie's eyes lit up as she threw her hooves in the air, the letter falling down like a large single flake of confetti. "It could help Applejack!

"Exactly! It should be arriving any time now so once it gets here we can-"

*THUD THUD THUD*

Twilight's thoughts were once again interrupted by the sound of a hoof pounding on her door. Twilight once again made her way down her stairs, but pinkie whizzed past her in a pink blur ruffling the feathers on her wings and making her mane fly into her face. Before she could even brush the hair out of her eyes she could hear Pinkie squealing with delight downstairs.

Twilight appeared in front of her door with another magical pop just in time to see Derpy waving goodbye as Pinkie closed the door with a cardboard box in hoof. Before Twilight could say anything she tore open the box scattering packing peanuts all over her floor.

Twilight gasped as Pinkie rummaged through the box like a force of nature. "Pinkie stop! You're making a mess of things and you could break the-"

"Found it!" Pinkie cried triumphantly before holding up a light blue leather bound stethoscope.

"Alright Pinkie, now if you can just give me the Stethoscope I can run a few quick tests on it to make sure it's safe to use on Applejack and then we-"

Twilight's request was cut short as Pinkie Pie burst through her door, racing away toward's Sweet Apple Acres. "Don't worry Applejack, help's on the way!"

"PINKIE! Wait!" Twilight sprinted off after her, her worry rivaled only by her annoyance at Pinkie's reckless actions.

Pinkie bounded away as fast as she possibly could, a thin layer of dust being left behind her. With a combination of sprinting and teleports, Twilight did her best to keep up but Pinkie always managed to stay ahead of her. Buildings and trees swooshed by in a blur of colors as Pinkie made her way to the dirt road leading to Applejacks house.

Twilight finally got a good estimate on her distance from Pinkie and teleported in front of her, bracing herself to tackle Pinkie to stop her if need be. Pinkie giggled and bounded over Twilight as she lurched forward, only barely missing her hooves and finding herself with a face full of dirt. To add insult to injury, Pinkie began giggling uncontrollably as she ran, sticking the artifact around her neck.

Frustrated and winded, Twilight teleported to the front of Applejack's house only to see pinkie pie racing in with the stethoscope in her mouth. "Pinkie! hah..hahhh.. wait!" She trotted forward haphazardly to the sound of hooves racing toward's Applejack's room overhead. By the time she had made her way into the door she was greeted with the sight of Fluttershy and Big Mac standing on the other side of Applejack who was laying in bed with a thermometer in her mouth and icebag on her head.

"Whah? Pinkie? Whater you doin with that thing on yer neck?" Applejack muttered.

"Don't worry Applejack, this will help!" Pinkie put the stethoscope on and pressed the end to Applejacks chest. As Twilight beconed silently with an extended hoof Almost immediately Panacea's Mirth began to glow a faint yellow glow and Applejack smiled. Then grinned. Then burst out in laughter. She glanced from pony to pony first with a bit of worry, then with pure happiness as her gigglefit quickly escalated into full blown laughter as hard as she could.

"Pinkie! I told you to wait darn it!"

"W-whaa ha haa happening t-to meeeehee hee hee!" Applejack wheezed out in between bursts of laughter.

Everypony in the room looked on as Applejack laughed as hard as she could for a few more seconds before suddenly stopping; holding herself up with her hooves to catch her breath.

"Phew.. Pinkie what was that!?"

"It was called Panacea's mirth... ancient relic... cures disease..." Twilight wheezed between heavy breaths.

Applejack wiped a tear from her eye. "Well I dunno about bein' cured, but I gotta admit that bit of laughin sure helped!"

Twilight heaved a sigh of relief as it turned out Applejack was ok.

"Pinkie! You can't just go around messing with magical things! Give me the stethoscope, please!"

Pinkie tossed the medical instrument to Twlight who cast a quick identification spell on it. Before staring at it in disbelief.

"What!? But why!? That makes no sense!"

"What is it Twilight? What's it do?" Asked Fluttershy who remained at Applejack's side.

"All it does is make the pony that it's used on laugh! How is that supposed to help anypony!?"

Twilight looked at the ground in frustration until Pinkie placed a hoof on her shoulder. "But Twilight, don't you see?" She lifted Twilight's head up towards Applejack who was looking at her with a smile. "It did help!"

"Eeeyup" exclaimed Big Mac.

"I've been stuck in here so long I thought I'd go crazy from boredom. I really needed a good cheerin up! Thank ya kindly Pinkie, Twilight."

"They say that laughter is the best medicine!" Chirped Pinkie.

Twilight blinked and took a step forward as Applejack extended her hooves for a hug. Pinkie immediately joined followed by Fluttershy and Big Mac.

The ponies continued to talk and experiment with Panacea's Mirth, deciding that they all needed a bit of cheering up after the ordeal that they had gone through. A good hour later, Applejack got out of bed and took a short walk in the sun, accompanied by her friends as she munched on an apple. Before the end of the day she was back on her hooves and feeling healthy again.

Author's Note:

This was written in about an hour and a half and was the original entry to the contest. I decided to keep it in its unaltered state for anyone who would be interested to see it.

First rule of write club: don't forget your laptop

Comments

[Xepher]

I remember talking to some of the contest judges, and if I recall correctly, only a couple of us used the "laughter is the best medicine" prompt. I think yours and mine might be the only ones.

That said, I think you did a pretty good job here, especially if you were sans laptop in that time limit. The descriptions really keep things lively and varied, though a couple of bits do feel like they were dragged out longer than need be. Your characterizations are great though.

I haven't read the edited version yet, so I'm curious to see what changes you made to increase the length so much. Onward!