The former King of Shadows woke on his own that morning and reluctantly dragged himself out of the warmth of his bed. His hoof steps echoed through the cavernous halls of the castle as he led himself to the room where Twilight sat at a rather small circular table. She explained to him that he was going all over town today, and that he did. However, after causing many incidents, most notably lighting the bakery on fire and 'accidentally' striking somepony's home with lightning (not to mention the discovery of the fact that sewing needles plus levitation equals a weapon), he convinced Twilight to let him go back to the chore he loathed the least. Helping Applejack with the farm.

The ash grey pony made his way towards the huge orchard and looked for the bright orange country mare who stuck out among the trees. He found her, looking exhausted and ragged as she bucked the same tree at least ten times to get the apples to fall. And the fruit wasn't the only thing about to drop. With each kick the mare shook more and more until she collapsed. But she didn't hit the ground. Applejack looked up only to see the dark looming form of Sombra staring down at her, assessing the situation. There were dark bags under her eyes and she was obviously suppressing a yawn.

"Hey there Sombra. Ah' wasn't expectin--"

He cut her off, "What the fuck are you doing?!" Sombra all but yelled, "Did you even sleep!?"

Applejack thought for a moment, "Ah' took a few naps... But Apple Bloom and Big Mac were off on a delivery when I got back so I figured ah' could still work some more but ah' lost track'a time and didn't go to sleep..."

The stallion grumbled something under his breath as a red aura lifted the earth pony into the air and gently dropped her onto the back of the caster, still keeping her hat in the air.

"I'm taking you to bed Apple Pony." He saw her blush at his choice of words, despite knowing what he meant, and for good measure he added, "Have fun riding the pony." With a suggestive wink and lick of his lips.

She blushed even harder and tried (but failed) to get off of him and suppress the deepening red on her face. After all, he wanted that reaction. It wasn't as if he meant anything with his flirty advances, he had harassed most other mares (including the mane six.) He galloped towards the barn where he set her down on a few torn blankets. She immediately tried to get up but was held in place by the pony sitting next to her.

"Sleep, now. I will stand guard." He stated, emotionless. Though, she could've sworn she saw something flicker across his face. Concern maybe? But the thought was quickly brushed aside when he spoke again, "After all, if you're injured who's gonna let me take apples."

He tried to play it off, like he didn't care. But though he would never admit it, when the orange mare curled up with a chuckle and fell into a deep sleep, he felt something long forgotten in his mind. He felt comfort, he felt happiness.

He felt warmth.

Author's Note

Short chapter but it's got some fluff, and if you haven't already figured out what the main ship is going to be than you should know now :)
Yea, a pair that I have a feeling I'm the only one who ships
Anyway thanks for reading, next chapter will be more eventful and hopefully much longer