Applejack walked alongside Willow as she spoke. "Ah know yer hurting somethin' awful, and that's alright. That just means yer alive, but yer not alone." She perked an ear towards Willow. "Yer so used to being alone. It doesn't have ta be that way."
Willow ambled along on her hind-legs, a less graceful mode of transport, but it freed her paws to worry over each other. "I understand you're trying to help, and I'm flattered, I truly am, but you don't comprehend Everglow life. How could you? Your idyllic world of friendship is too soft."
Applejack took a soft breath. "Sugarcube, my life ain't been peaches and cream. Mah folks left us when Apple Bloom was a little tiny apple on the end of my hoof. We work hard for what we get, every single day. It's tearing me up on tha inside knowing mah brother's working the whole orchard by his lonesome. Ya think we never saw no monster before? We ain't that far from tha home of the timber wolves, and they come by ta say howdy sometimes. Ya ever see a horse-sized wolf made of twigs and brambles?"
Willow raised a brow. "I can't say I've seen that, but you know as well as I that I've seen plenty of other monsters, to say nothing of the wickedness in perfectly 'civil' people." She frowned then. "About your brother. If your way is so great, why is he out of luck?"
Applejack shook herself out. "Ah wouldn't go that far. Ah worry, it's mah job, but he's not entirely alone. We got family, we got friends. If he's really hurtin', ah'm sure he can get a helpin' hoof from one of the girls or a fellow Apple." She paused, and Willow stopped as well, falling to all fours.
"Yes?"
Applejack pointed at Willow. "Ah just got a thought. Did ya know being helpful and trusting can be selfish?"
Willow frowned. "You've lost me entirely. How is selflessness selfish?"
Applejack settled on her haunches on the smoothly cobbled road. "Look at it this way. If ya help people out, they become indebted to ya, and when ya need help, it's a lot easier ta get. If yer nice ta people, they start ta like ya, and that makes it easier to get things out of them. Now, I still think being good and helpful is its own reward, but it's not like it ain't got other benefits."
Willow sank down, facing Applejack. "That logic is simple enough, but it's not enough when we're dealing with... intimate matters. It's not as if I was cold to my lover, nor he to me. He folded when it came time for commitment, despite, not because, of our relationship before then."
Applejack tapped her chin softly. "Say, do ya know where this feller of yers is now?"
A soft squeak distracted the both of them as they looked over. A little pony, small as a filly with little stubby legs came hurrying up to them. She was wearing a bright yellow dress and an equally bright smile. "Applejack!"
Sonata sat in front of the door, watching over the children. Scootaloo yawned softly. "This is boring..."
Sonata nodded lightly. "Yeah... What's taking them so long?"
Apple Bloom shrugged. "Maybe they got lost?"
Sweetie shrank. "Or attacked by vicious monsters?"
Sunflower tilted his head. "In the city?"
Sweetie shrugged. "It could happen."
The hostage situation had lowered in intensity rather quickly, as Sonata insisted they don't leave, but did little else. She yawned. "Oh now you have me doing it! Uh, anyone want a snack?"
Three hooves and a paw went into the air. She nodded quickly and opened the door. "Drowsy! Dinner for five please!" A sleepy noise came back at her, and Sonata closed the door. "She's, like, super keen."
Several minutes later, a knock came from the door. Scootaloo rushed to open it, but on the other side wasn't the food she was expecting. Instead, she found herself staring into the frowning face of a grey unicorn stallion, one with a scary-looking red horn and a shadow that loomed menacingly on the wall behind him, despite the soft light.
Scootaloo fell back with a surprised yelp, allowing the unknown unicorn to step into the room. His severe features tightened as he looked at the assembled children before turning his eyes to the sea pony. "Sonata, what's going on here?"
Sonata smiled brightly. "Hey Lex! They're friends of Twilight, and you remember that one, right?" She pointed at Sunflower.
Sweetie raised a hoof. "Twilight's not here."
Sonata frowned at the news. "How did you get here then?"
"Sonata's question is appropriate," Lex interjected, though the words "for once" hung in the ar, unspoken but obvious. "If you're from Equestria, how did you make the journey to Everglow? For that matter, who are you and how do you know Twilight?"
Scootaloo sat up and glared at Lex as if in defiance of the moment of fear she displayed earlier. "None of your business, foalnappers!"
Sonata smiled at Scootaloo gently. "Oh don't be like that. We're just waiting for your friends. Nothing wrong with that, right?"
Apple Bloom tilted her head. "Ah suppose not, but there are better ways ah askin' than invitin' us to a room and lockin' us in."
Sweetie pointed at the door Lex came through. "I don't think it's locked."
"Of course it's not locked," snapped Lex, "you're not prisoners and you're not being foalnapped; that would be hideously immoral. If you want to leave, then by all means, get out."
He paused for a moment, eyes returning to Sunflower. "You're that purrsian from the trainwreck," he murmured. "What are you doing here?" His scowl faded slightly as a thought occurred to him. "Did something happen to your mother?"
Sonata clopped two hooves together, looking nervous. She would never foalnap anyone! Of course not!
Sunflower shook his head quickly. "She's fine, sir. She's with Applejack. How are you?" He smiled and pointed at Lex. "He saved mom and I a while ago from a big accident. He was awesomely cool."
Scootaloo's expression warmed. "Oh, cool!" She tilted her head. "Food's here."
Drowsy End gently nudged her way past ponies to bring in trays of dinner, setting out an impressive spread for the entire room. "Enjoy." She yawned widely and ambled back towards the door. "The energy here got better." Without clarifying her statement, she was gone.
Lex brushed off Drowsy's parting statement, having long since given up on understanding the narcoleptic mare. Instead, he turned his attention back to Sonata. "If Applejack is here, then Twilight must be with her. She's the only one among them that has the potential to cast a spell powerful enough to cross over the planar divide."
He paused to consider that Celestia or Luna might have come instead, but dismissed the thought. They were far too lethargic to do anything that'd require that much effort unless there was a direct threat to them, and though it irritated him greatly to admit it, he hadn't reached a level where he'd rank as such...yet.
"We should be prepared to meet her. Hopefully she's come to her senses and is here to support my vision for Equestria, but if not we'll need to be prepared to fight."
Apple Bloom pulled a plate over and got to stuffing her face in favor of conversing. Sweetie looked at Lex curiously. "Why would you want to fight with Twilight? She's one of the nicest ponies I know, and she's super smart too."
Sonata, who should likely have been involved, also opted to devour food, face sunk against a plate and making a mess with great joy and vigor. Sunflower drew a plate over and scooped up some on a provided spoon before offering it to Sweetie Belle. She went red in the cheeks but opened her snout to accept the offering.
Scootaloo burst into giggles at the sight of Sweetie being fed, but her attention slid back to Lex. "Twilight's not here. Didn't we just say that? It's just us, Applejack, and Sunflower's mom."
"I don't want to fight with Twilight. I want her to display her vaunted intelligence and realize why my philosophy makes me the most qualified pony to rule." He let out a sigh, moving over to the spread of food and picking out some bland oats. "But if she's not here, then I suppose it doesn't matter, for now at least. Still, that doesn't answer the question of how you lot came to be here."
Scootaloo shrugged. "We were playing around one of her exhibits and poof, here we are. Applejack said they could find us here and get us home, so we came all the way here."
Sonata looked up with renewed curiosity, food dripping from her snout inelegantly. "From where?"
Sunflower provided the quick answer for that. "Murrage." The answer didn't seem to satisfy Sonata, as she lapsed into thought, perhaps trying to figure out where that was.
Lex was silent as well, eating thoughtfully as he tried to figure out what all of this meant for his ambitions. Even if Twilight wasn't here now, the fillies were almost certainly right in that she'd show up for them sooner or later, and he did want to see Twilight again...if only so as to determine where she stood on the issue of his assuming command of Equestra.
"You said that Applejack and your mother," he waved a hoof at Sunflower, "were here with you?" When the kitten nodded, Lex continued. "I want to speak to them when they arrive."
Apple Bloom snorted softly. "Yer free ta do so, whenever they show up. What's takin' them so long?"
Applejack smiled at the little blue pony. "Well howdy there. Ah remember you."
Blue bobbed her head. "I can read real good!"
Willow looked curious. "Read?"
"Uh huh. The nice priests showed me how. Mom's got a job too. She's digging again, but they pay her now, and she only has to work a few hours a day."
Applejack perked an ear. "Just a few?"
Blue looked thoughtful a moment. "About a third of the day? They even let her eat lunch. I make it for her every day."
Applejack couldn't help it, and scooped up the little pony. "You are just too darn adorable." She squeezed Blue gently, getting a squeak and a giggle for it. "You be good to yer mother, y'hear?"
"Yes ma'am." Blue wriggled to the ground. "It's good to see you. Who are you?" She looked to Willow with her big eyes.
Willow smiled a little. "Willow Longtail. What manner of pony are you?"
"They said I'm a short leg." Blue tilted her head a little. "I'm going to be a priest."
"Huh, that's a right fittin' name. Priest of what now?" Applejack sat on her haunches.
Blue pointed northerly. "Princess Luminace. She saved us both, so I will save others. She believes in friendship and so do I!"
Applejack pointed at Willow. "Here's your first convert."
Willow recoiled. "What? No!"
Blue trotted up to Willow with a bright smile. "Don't you want to be friends?"
Willow looked at her, ready to spit out a nasty negative, but the small pony was... Ugh. "She really is too adorable." Captivated by the cute pony, she began to get an earful about the wonders of friendship. Applejack settled beside Willow, enduring the cute lesson with her.