Applejack sat on the stone railing, looking at the lake in front of her and at the Moon and stars reflecting in it. She'd be moving again come Monday, but still had all of the weekend to prepare for that, and this time it would only be a short drive. She swallowed the last bits of her ice cream cone, balled up the paper napkin and placed it in her pocket after cleaning her mouth, then took out her phone.
She was in a good mood, there and then. Good enough that she was willing to risk ruining it. Staring at the screen, she began to scroll through her unread messages.
Nothing from Rarity. That was, in a small part, a relief. But it still did bother her, in some way. She knew the other girl wasn't doing well. Aside from that, a few messages in the group chat, a few pictures from Fluttershy, a few other direct messages from Rainbow and Twilight. Strangely enough for her, her mood was still up by the time she got done reading through all of them and responding. A thought wormed its way into her brain.
Before she had time to think twice on it and change her mind, she tapped onto her screen and started a call, placing the phone next to her ear and waiting. Thankfully, the other picked up before any second thoughts could come make her close it.
"Applejack?" came Twilight's voice from the other end of the conversation. "Hello?"
"Hello, Twilight," Applejack replied. Her shoulders relaxed, letting go of a tension she hadn't realised was there. "How are things going there? I had a bit of time so I thought I would shoot you a call."
"It's been a while since I heard you," Twilight said. "It's nice of you to call. Things here are going well enough, we're still looking for a new bass player." There was a subtle sound Applejack couldn't quite make out, accompanied by a pause in Twilight's speech. "Things are going well except for Rarity."
If Twilight's first remark about her lack of calls had made her flinch, the latter mention of Rarity flat out pushed Applejack to bite her tongue. Of course the conversation would end up there. Still, she could delay it for a little while. "I'm sorry about leaving the band like this. I suppose I could record my portions here and send it to you girls."
"No, it's okay. You're busy, and we need someone for live shows anyway." Twilight stayed quiet for a few moments. Both of them knew why. "And, besides, it's not a big deal that you left the band. We understand. And something like it might have been inevitable even without you having to leave, after you, well... You know."
Applejack swallowed. She knew she'd have to have that talk at some point, no reason to run from it again. "How bad is she?"
Twilight's breath on the other end of the line was heavy enough to hear. And Applejack forced herself to stay there and listen to her answer, as snow began to fall on the lake.