"Applejack?" Rainbow Dash called. "Applejack? Are you here?"
Rarity levitated a cloth out of the way and threw a look at the piece of machinery underneath, then set it back down. "Well, aren't you getting what you asked for?" she said, walking farther into the building. "Things are going in a pretty clear direction at the present moment, and it seems fairly evident that pieces are clicking together. Shouldn't this be enough to give you some faith in the rest of the story?"
"I don't know." Twilight looked behind a tall wooden shelf, then continued walking forward. "The current portion is getting a little wordy and exposition heavy. Very telly and not very showy, if you get what I'm getting at. It's like the author couldn't find a better way to get all that information across and had to shove it all towards us because it's needed later."
Rarity frowned. "You always find something to complain about, don't you? But even you should admit that it makes perfect sense for this to be happening. The characters may be just standing around and talking, but you can't deny that is absolutely what they would be doing in their situation. It would be bad if they weren't sorting things out like this, in my opinion."
Twilight sighed. "I'm not saying you're wrong. Because you're not. The exposition itself is justified within the story. But it was still the writer's decision to have it, and to move the events so that it would happen. Having constructed a frame that justifies the influx of information doesn't change the fact that there was a decision to have it take place in the first place, rather than having things go differently."
Rarity shook her head, and she was about to reply with something else when she heard Pinkie's cry from the next room over.
"Girls!" she yelled. "I found her!"
Immediately Twilight teleported both herself and Rarity towards the source of the sound, and moments later Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash arrived in as well.
Applejack was sitting in a corner, facing against the wall, clutching her legs to her body and holding her phone in her hoof. She said nothing as she heard the others approach, the only sign of life the somewhat irregular contractions of her breathing.
"Applejack," Fluttershy called to her. "We've been searching you for hours! Your family is worried."
"Hours?" Applejack asked, before anyone had a chance to say anything else. Her voice was calm, but strangely cold, and a light tremor in her tone hinted that her composure might have broken down at any moment.
"Yeah!" Pinkie said. "We were worried about you too! Trixie was worried too, I think." She placed a hoof under her chin, then shook her head and focused back on Applejack.
"Hours." Applejack slowly turned to look at the others. "How often is it updated, Rarity?"
For a moment the unicorn didn't understand, then she looked at Applejack's phone. "Oh. Wasn't it once a day?"
"Then why has it been seventy-nine chapters since you started looking for me?"