Applejack led them into town when Apple Bloom suddenly waved at her. "Ah'm gonna take them ta Sugarcube Corner!" Seeing no issue with the idea, she nodded, and was soon left to proceed on her own. It felt good to walk through familiar Ponyville, knowing the odds of sudden attack were down to 10% on the worst of days.
She gave a wry chuckle, considering the exploits she'd gotten into right there in Equestria. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sudden appearance of Rainbow Dash. "AJ! Were you in Everglow or something?" Applejack was about to ask what she meant when Rainbow pointed at her. "You're looking all weird and everything, and what's with the thing on your back?" She flew around Applejack and reached out the poke the scythe.
Applejack suddenly felt the need to keep the scythe to herself. Letting somepony else touch it would open them to corruption, and she didn't want that. She dodged away from Rainbow. "Just an old farmin' tool ah took a hankerin' too... Uh, it was a gift from a mare ah met."
Rainbow waggled her brows. "Oh ho! That kind of gift? Say no more." She flew in close and nudged Applejack with an elbow. "I didn't know you were such a smooth operator, AJ. Welcome back! So did you go to Everglow before or after the family reunion?"
Applejack tilted her head. "Reunion?"
"Wow, that must have been some adventure!" Rainbow landed in front of Applejack and sat on her haunches. "Big Mac said you and Apple Bloom and the rest of the Crusaders went to some reunion in Manehattan. Good luck getting extra details out of that guy though, right? Did everything go alright?"
Applejack nodded. "Right as rain." She wondered why Big Mac covered for her like that. A mixed blessing, considering it meant nopony was looking for them at all. "Oh! Ya should go find Scootaloo down by Sugarcube Corner. She can fly!"
"Really?!" Rainbow took off instantly. "Gotta jet!" And off she went in a rainbow contrail, off to see her favorite little pegasus filly.
When Rainbow was out of sight, Applejack pulled the scythe off her back, holding it in her mouth easily despite its weight and length. It felt... powerful. Like she could defend all of Equestria with it. If Tirek had shown up then, she wouldn't need all that fancy Alicorn magic! She suddenly dropped the scythe, a bit surprised at her thoughts. She considered leaving the weapon on the ground, but thought of some random Ponyvillian tripping over it and snatched it up before securing it to her back.
Applejack resumed her course for Twilight's, only to find Sonata and Lex had the same thought in mind as they were coming up on the castle together. "Howdy there. Just came ta return Twilight's book to 'er."
Lex had donned a robe from somewhere - likely another item from his extradimensional pack - and had the hood pulled down, obscuring his horn. He had little doubt that Celestia had put out a description of him since the last time he had been here, and he was hoping to avoid any unnecessary altercations.
"We have business with Twilight as well." He glanced at Sonata, then back at Applejack. "In fact, it would probably be best if we all went together. That way you can affirm our conduct towards you and the others in Everglow as being indicative of good faith for our future dealings with Twilight and the other princesses." Lex nodded to himself, very pleased with his reasoning. Why he apparently needed a spokespony to translate his words was beyond him!
Sonata nodded her head. "If she sees us all together, she'll know at a glance we're not breaking any rules. We want to make a good first impression. What brought you here though?"
Applejack pulled out the spellbook from her saddlebag. "Reckon she's eager ta have this back."
As if the spellbook put out an alluring aroma, Twilight suddenly emerged from the castle on the balcony above. Her wings spread and she dived towards Applejack, tackling her, though Applejack proved strong enough to avoid being thrown to the ground. "Nice ta see ya too, sugarcube."
Twilight hugged Applejack, but snatched the book in her magic, looking giddy. "Did Celestia al--" She trailed off as she spotted Lex and Sonata. "Oh, we have... guests?"
Sonata stepped forward quickly. "I've served my time and would like citizenship in Equestria again." She gestured to Lex. "And as a citizen, I nominate Lex Legis to be given a chance to show his ideas are, like, totally awesome."
Twilight quirked a smile, looking uncertain how to approach this. "I gladly accept you, Sonata Dusk, as a citizen of Equestria, but I don't know about the other part? We should... probably talk to Celestia about that."
Lex regarded Twilight for a long moment, his face neutral. He remembered how, while on their date, he had realized that he was interested in her. But seeing her again, he couldn't summon up that same level of excitement. Instead, all he felt was disappointment at how Twilight seemed to be turning into another Celestia.
"Princess Twilight Sparkle," his voice had the cold ring of formality to it. "I would like to open a dialogue with you and your fellow princesses to cease the hostilities between us. I trust that you'll see to it that no aggressive measures are undertaken by your compatriots during this exchange?"
Twilight tilted her head curiously. "You did attack Celestia... but she is a very forgiving pony to those who come asking for forgiveness." She extended a wing. "Provided they are sincere." She tucked the book under a wing. "Let me put this away, then we can go visit her." She turned and trotted into the castle briskly.
Applejack shrugged her shoulders. "Well, that's mah job done. Ya done distracted her sa good she didn't even ask where ah got her book from. Good luck wit yer talk." She moved to depart as well, mind turning to the heavy weight on her back.
Lex was silent as the two mares left, waiting until they were alone before turning to regard Sonata. "I am not 'asking for forgiveness'!" The outrage in his voice was impossible to miss. "I was right before and I am right now! If she or Celestia or Luna expect me to bow and scrape for their favor, then this is not an avenue I want to pursue!"
Sonata shook her head and gently pressed against Lex. "You're not apologizing for being right, that'd be, like, stupid. You're apologizing for upsetting her. I mean, I was right about, like, not blasting things, but I said it in a stupid way and totally hurt your feelings, and that was wrong, so I was wrong, but not about being right." She squinted a little. "Get it?"
"No," came the grumpy response. But he let it go, though whether it was because he considered it futile, or because of the soft presence of the sea pony pressing against him, was unclear. Either way, despite his pronounced frown, he didn't say anything else as they waited for Twilight to return.
Sonata accepted her victory, small as it was, and remained at Lex's side until Twilight reappeared. "Celestia sent a sky chariot, it should be here shortly." She looked between the two before coughing into a hoof. "Glad you could make it, Sonata. I hope it wasn't too hard reaching us?"
Sonata frowned a little. "I was hoping you guys would wait, like, just a second, but you were gone by the time I got back." She waved a hoof. "But I'm here now, so, cool."
Twilight raised a brow. "You were free that quickly? I'd have waited if I knew. Sorry about that..." She stomped a hoof. "Sorry doesn't quite cover what I'm saying. I'll do whatever is in my power to do to get you settled in, alright?"
"A belated and insufficient sentiment, to say nothing of unnecessary," snapped Lex. "I will be the one to look after Sonata's welfare, so you can get back to hosting tea parties or whatever else it is you and the other alicorns do to pass the time."
He knew he was being peevish, but he didn't care. The fact that Twilight's apology consisted of 'I'll do you a favor by fulfilling the very least of my responsibilities' utterly galled him. Doubly so, since it ignored how he was there to look after Sonata.
Sonata gently nudged Lex. "Lex is looking out for me, but we brought Everglow money and that's, what, worthless?"
Twilight was distracted by the question from her moment of irritation at Lex's lashing out. "Oh, actually, if you have gold or platinum coins, those have some value, but gems are too common in Equestria to be worth much outside of decoration until they're significantly sized." She held out her hooves apart about a baseball width. "Oh look, they're coming." She lifted a hoof to a sky carriage descending from Canterlot.
The Crusaders threw open the door to Sugarcube and flooded in, Sunflower just a foot behind. Pinkie was seated at one of the tables, enjoying lunch, but abandoned her cupcake when they came rushing in. "Hello!" She waved a hoof excitedly. "Did ya have tons of fun?"
Scootaloo landed on Pinkie's table, showing off her wings proudly. "Tons of fun!"
Pinkie tilted her head, then reached out and poked a wing. "You look just like everypony else when we went to that scary place with..." She gasped dramatically. "You didn't!" She looked around at Sunflower. "You did! Oh my gosh! This calls for a party of some kind..."
Apple Bloom pointed at Sunflower. "He hasn't gotten a welcome party yet."
"You're right!" Pinkie vanished in a puff of pink to go plan the welcoming party, only to come running back in and point at her cupcake. "Enjoy." Then she was gone again.
Sunflower wandered up to the table she was sitting at and picked up the cupcake, sniffing it before chewing it softly. "This... tastes a lot better than any cupcake I ever had."
Sweetie Belle tilted her head. "Really? That's not even one of the super special ones they have here."
Lex watched the chariot descend, throwing back his hood as he did so. Disguising his horn was meaningless now, and in truth he had little desire to do so. Regardless of the consequences, he would not be humbled before those who were his intellectual inferiors!
That thought reminded him of a similar question he'd had, and he looked over at Twilight as the chariot came in to land. "As an aside, did you ever bother to read those scrolls I left you?"
Twilight colored lightly as she looked between Lex and Sonata. "I'm very flattered, but it looks like you found yourself a wonderful mare."
Sonata blinked in confusion. "What?" Then she nudged Lex. "Are you looking at Twilight again? We've been through this."
"What? No!" Lex sputtered, trying to figure out how exactly the conversation had shifted. "I wasn't asking to date her again! I just wanted to find out if she followed up on my philosophy of governance!"
Twilight gave a sheepish 'oh'. "Yes! Yes... I did look over those. You have some very interesting ideas. You really should go before the court and discuss this with the nobles. They eat this kind of thing up." The chariot landed and Twilight gestured to board before easily hopping up herself.
Lex followed after her, with Sonata moving behind him. "Then may I ask what your opinion is of my being the sole authority for at least a portion of Equestria? Because that's what I want to come away from these talks with."
The chariot lifted in the sky, turning to face towards Canterlot and speed on its way under the power of its two golden-armored pegasi. "Well, that depends on if there's a vacancy, which I imagine they keep track of where we're headed to. We'll ask when we arrive, after you've had your meeting with the Princess."