"Applejack?"
It was late afternoon, and the Ponyville market place was closing. The farn mare was putting baskets of unsold fruit back into her wagon. She sgihed.
"Hey! Applejack!"
"...?" She turned around, blinking. After a few seconds, her gaze lowered.
A pair of emerald eyeslits gazed back up at her.
"Oh..." She put on a tired, freckled smile. "Howdy, Spike. What can I do ya for?"
"How have you been?" the young dragon asked.
To that, the mare merely raised an eyebrow. "I've been... handlin' myself just fine. Why do you ask?"
"I dunno." He shrugged. He held a clump of books to his chest—no doubt on the way back to Golden Oaks to deliver them to Twilight. "It just feels like forever and a day since I've seen you last."
"Reckon I've been busy."
"Heh! No kidding!" Spike winked. "I guess you could say that I'm always busy, but I still find time to come visit my friends. Erm..." He winced slightly, his spines wilting. "N-not that you haven't been a good friend. I-I just mean that the world's all the more sunny when you're around and without you it's... like..." He winced even more. "An eclipse? Guh. I dunno."
"Y'know, Spike..." Applejack chuckled slightly and resumed packing her things away. "With all the books you read, I'd expect you to spit out words better."
"I'm only ever transcribing. Not writing."
"I hear ya. Anyways... I gotta get back to the farm."
"Awwwwwww..." Spike pouted, eyes glistening. "Already? Feels like I just now ran into you."
"Well, sorry, little feller," Applejack remarked. "But I gots me lots of stuff to take care of back at the homestead."
"Yeah. I guess." Spike nodded, hugging his books tighter. "That can't be helped."
"Reckon Twilight and the others would be more than happy to hang out with ya if you ask them."
"That's just the thing..." Spike fidgeted where he stood. "I don't see you a whole lot these days, Applejack. And Rainbow Dash too—she's almost never around."
"Yeah..." Applejack exhaled, gazing at the lazy sun beyond the gold-thatched rooftops. "Imagine that..."
"And Fluttershy... she's kind of a no-show these days too."
"Really?" Applejack blinked. "Oh. Right. Guess I can imagine that."
"Huh?"
Applejack coughed dismissively. "We've just got... thangs to do, Spike. Ain't no thang."
"Yeah. I guess. Still... feels like these days it's only me, Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity hanging out. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing." He chuckled, his purple scales turning a tad bit rosier. "More Rarity is best Rarity. But still..." A sigh. "... ... ...I kinda miss the good ol' days, y'know?"
"Uh huh..."
"When it was all seven of us just... chillin' at Golden Oaks or having girly talk at Sugarcube Corner..."
"Ya miss the girly talk, eh, partner?"
He stamped his lower claw. "You know what I mean!"
"Heheheheh..."
"Guess it's just what Twilight says sometimes. 'Good things don't last forever.'"
Applejack bit her lip. "Twilight says that?"
"Well, she used to. She used to a lot. Before coming to Ponyville, I mean." Spike sighed, smirking in a bittersweet manner. "That mare used to be all kinds of gloom."
"Huh... reckon so..."
"But—she's still a lot better off these days. She knows you and Rainbow and Fluttershy are still friends. You've just got more important things to be doing with your time these days."
Applejack was silent.
"Anyways, I wish you luck with your apples!" He winked. "I guess I can't mill about any longer. I gotta deliver these books to Twilight and help her with some alchemic theorem." He shuffled off. "Zoopage!"
Clearing her throat, Applejack looked after the dragon. "Say... uh... Spike?"
He turned to look back at her. "Yeah?"
"It's not that I dun like hangin' out with y'all..." She fidgeted a bit where she stood. "I've just got... stuff to work on right now, y'know? Once everythang's all squared away, then it'll go back to normal—for all of us! You'll see!"
"Sweet!" He grinned wide. "Do you need help with the stuff you're working on?"
"... ... ...I dun rightly think any of y'all can help me, Spike."
"Ohhhhh... well..." He kicked lightly at the ground. "You do what you need to do, I guess. But if you ever need or want a helping claw—"
"I know who to turn to."
"And how!" He waved and waddled off. "See ya!"
She waved back, but he had already turned to walk off. She stood in place with a lump forming in her throat. Closing her eyes, Applejack turned to the cart and muttered to herself.
"Eyes front. Focus on what's important. The rest of them can come later." She sighed, ears drooping. "The rest can come later..."
With weighted hooves, she hitched herself to the wagon...
...and slowly pulled it to her homestead under a setting sun.