"Applejack?" I shuffle across the apartment, slipping on a jacket and fumbling for my belongings. "Hey! Applejack? Where'd you run off to?"
Silence.
With a slight groan, I wander to the four corners of the living room. At last, I find my missing glove lying on the edge of a table.
"Praise Zoram. For a moment there, I thought she used it for a friggin' bridle. Applejack?!" I pace back and forth across the apartment while slipping the glove on. "I have to go out for a bit! There are some errands I gotta run before the end of the next Gallilean rotation! Where'd you gallop off to, girl?"
More silence.
"It's been fun, but I think I'd better send you back home! Who knows how much juice is left in the article and..." My words trail off. I turn around.
The door to my bedroom is ajar.
I blink. With quiet steps, I walk forward and lightly push the door all the way open. "Applejack?" I step inside the dim room. "Applejack, are you in here—?"
I stop in my tracks.
There's a blue-and-orange shape curled up in the middle of the bed, incidentally right on top of a heap of t-shirts, pants, and socks. Applejack's body slowly rises and falls. Her freckled face is locked in a perpetual smile.
I walk over, lean against the bedpost, and sigh. "Well..." A dull smile. "Looks like you found the laundry."
There's no response.
With a defeated breath, I lean over and carefully finger the hem of the hoodie against her orange coat. I pull the tag out and read the flickering numbers: 07%.
"Sorry, AJ. But it's best you got sent home peacefully instead of letting the quantum fissure drop you like a bad habit." That said, I reached for the strings dangling out from the neckline.
"Mmmff..." Applejack murmurs something unintelligible and turns over, burying her soft muzzle in between her forelimbs. The strings are next to impossible to grasp now. At least, not without waking the little pony up.
"Nnnngh... God's hooks..." I prop my chin against my palm as I lean on the bed. After a few seconds, I smile, then rush out of the room.
After a bit of rummaging, I walk back in carrying an extension cable. I blow dust off the wormy thing, unravel it, and plug it into an outlet. I then run the other end onto the bed, loop it around Applejack twice, and plug it into the tagpiece at the hem of the sweatjacket. I watch the thing quietly for a minute or two, careful not to wake Applejack up. Not long after, I see the number blip to: 08%.
"Yeah. That'll do." I turn to leave, but pause. "Almost."
I reach into the pile of clothes, pull out a large t-shirt with my broadcast's production logo on it, and drape it gently over Applejack's figure like a duvet. Her ears twitch, twitch again, and are still. She curls up happily under the blanket and continues slumbering away.
"You made that bed..." I wink as I flick a glowing key into existence and march towards my front door. "Might as well lay in it, girl."