Sombra awoke to being violently shaken. His first instinct was to lash out which he immediately regretted when the hoof he tried to hit his assailant out with suddenly stopped, causing his elbow to bend a strange way. Sombra yelped at the slight pain, more from surprise though. He opened his eyes and Twilight's aura released his hoof.

"Sorry! It was a bit of a reflex..." She let out a nervous chuckle, "Well, uh, Spike made pancakes and coffee so follow me."

Sombra did as he was told, "Just one question." He broke into a trot to keep up with the mare, "What the hell are pancakes and coffee?"

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy took their respective seats in the map area. Twilight and Spike were already there with Sombra right beside them.

"Well, it's time to formally introduce ourselves to our new... Ally..." She had trouble getting the word out.

"And he's gunna' help me out at the farm."

Sombra glared at her, "I don't like you, mare."

Twilight sighed, "Her name is Applejack. And that's Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity." She gestured to each of her friends as she said their names.

"I don't care about their names!" he hissed.

Pinkie Pie tasked, "No 'welcome to the good side' parties for meanies!"

"Good, I hate you all," he spat, "and I don't plan on being your definition of good, you miserable mares!"

Twilight rubbed her temples. It was so much better when he was still lethargic, the ex-king was much less of an asshole that way.

"Now you don't have to be so rude, Sombra." Rarity scowled at him.

"I don't care, and that is King Sombra to you, wench! The only thing good that's come out of this have been pancakes!"

"Hey, watch your mouth when talking to our friends or you'll be sorry!" RD defended her.

"You dare have the audacity to challenge me!? I will rip you to shreds and let maggots feast on your corpse!" The grey pony yelled.

"N- now, now every pony. Let's all be nice to each other..." Fluttershy basically whispered, barely able to be heard.

Sombra glared daggers at her and was about to give the shy mare an explicit description of what he would do to all of them but she cracked under his icey gaze. A whimper was heard and Twilight kept his muzzle shut with her magic. She growled and faced him.

"You are not in the Empire. You are here, on our turf, with us as your equals, not your subjects. If you keep going like this, your horn will be smashed and you will cease to exist. And I will know if you try to run. Got it?"

Sombra merely nodded his head weakly as his snout was released. Applejack walked up to him as the rest of the elements left, RD and Pinkie comforting Fluttershy.

"C'mon pardner, you're comin' with me."

He followed Applejack for a few minutes until they arrived at a farm, larger then he had ever seen in his long lifespan.

"You take care of this whole farm by yourself?"

"Naw. I have mah family to help. Though Granny is too old so it's usually just me, Apple Bloom, and Big Mac." She said like is was no big deal. "We usually miss some apples during apple buck season but now that we have you we might have a surplus."

Sombra had to admit, he was impressed. A very small group of ponies, successfully tending to a huge farm, it was amazing.

"So I just have to gather apples?" He asked as they walked into the sea of trees. Applejack nodded and pointed to a basket under a tree. But before she could explain how, his horn glowed with a red aura, the same color of the aura now surrounding the apples in the tree. However, something blocked the flow of magic and he looked up to see an orange hoof on the tip of his curved horn. He glared, annoyed, at the country mare.

"If yer gonna work on this here farm, you're gonna have ta work like an earth pony."

Sombra rolled his eyes, "And how exactly do I do that?"

"Ya gotta buck the trees. But ya gotta do is right if yer gonna avoid sprainin' a hoof or worse. You've got a lean, muscular body so once you learn how to buck the trees you'll probably be real good at this. Shall we begin?"

"Oh, you think I'm muscular?" He smirked and pushed his face towards hers which had an unamused look painted on it, "Do you like muscular stallions?" he wiggled his eyebrows and was met with a forceful hoof pushing him back.

She rolled her eyes, "Let's buck these trees."

The king groaned, "IT'S BEEN 1,000 YEAAAAARS!"

It had been almost an hour and Sombra had yet to get even one buck close to correct. Finally, it seemed as if he was getting the form right. He executed the kick and a crack was heard. Every single apple fell from the tree... along with the rest of the plant. The ash-grey pony roared in frustration and felt a hoof on his shoulder. He shrugged it off.

"What the hell do you want?" He questioned.

He turned his head to see a beaming Applejack staring up at him. It was the first time her saw her smile... It was nice he supposed. Sombra realized what he just thought and shook his head to push it away.

"That was perfect, just a little softer next time." She complimented him and tossed him an apple.

Sombra sniffed the fruit curiously and looked at the country mare.

"What? Never had an apple before, Mr. King?" She asked jokingly.

"No. Just Crystal Empire produce. Crystal corn. Crystals, of course. Maybe the occasional rabbit. But there were no apples."

"Well try it then. I can guarantee you'll love it." She smirked confidently.

Sombra hesitantly took a bite out of the shiny red fruit. His eyes shot wide open and he devoured the rest of the fruit's white flesh. Sombra immediately dove for more, eating with a joyous look on his face.

"These are better than pancakes!"

Applejack walked him back to the castle as Luna raised the Moon. Sombra walked next to her and shattered the delicate silence.

"I still hate you and your friends, Apple pony. No amount of decadent modern delicacies will change that."

"We'll see about that. Bet there ain't no way we're ever gonna trust you. Got it?"

Sombra merely entered the castle, leaving the mare who had already begun walking back to her farm. Twilight greeted him.

"How was your day Sombra?"

"I hate everything."

"Um... Okay? Would you like some ice cream?"

"Is that a trap?"

"No. Here just try it." The purple mare place a bowl and a spoon in front of him. In the bowl were two spheres of something cold and white.

Sombra ate only a spoonful at first, but soon took both the scoops and essentially inhaled them.

"Almost as good as an apple." He purred.

Unfortunately he ate the frozen confection too fast and was unaware of the dire consequences.

The king let out a roar of pain and clutched his head, "IT WAS A TRAP! YOU LIEEEEEED!"

Twilight rolled her eyes it's called brain freeze. It happens when you eat ice cream too fast, just let it go away." She walked away.

Eventually, Sombra got over the malicious attack and retreated to his room. It had been another long day.

Author's Note

Hey, thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed!
This chapter was rushed a bit so there might be errors which i encourage you to kindly point out to me so i can fix them.
Have an amazing day, and thank you once again! I think each chapter is going to average at about 1,300- 1,400 words.