There was a warm weight draped over Applejack's body and, once again, she found herself unable to rise. But this time as her heavy eyelids forced themselves open, she didn't see a sleeping Sombra, but a very awake one. The monarch was staring at her, ruby eyes wide, and mouth slightly agape.

But then the Sombra she knew and ~~loved~~ was extremely annoyed by, returned from the war. A single wink was all it took for AJ to force herself up with Sombra following.

"We cuuuuuuddled." He sang in a childish voice.

"Sombra, you are being a big pile of manure."

"But I'm manure you cuuuuddled."

When Applejack looked at him his face was the very definition of 'smug asshole.' She scoffed and walked away, a dusting of pink hidden under her orange fur.

"Let's buck these trees, c'mon."

"We could do something a lot more interesting." Sombra wiggled his eyebrows, then pressed his snout against hers, his forked tongue snaking out of his mouth and grazing her chin.

Applejack glared at him defiantly, trying to maintain a cool exterior. She was fighting back a blush.

'He does this to every mare he can get his hooves on. It doesn't mean anything.' She repeated that in her head hoping it would help, but against her better judgement she analyzed his face, and in the back of her head a voice countered her current thoughts.

'How come it feels different then. There's worry in his eyes.'

She promptly turned away but as she risked a glance back she saw the king's ears pull back a slight amount.

AJ sighed, "C'mon princess,"

He growled in annoyance at the nickname, "I could have killed you when you slept."

"But you didn't." The grin was evident in her voice.

Big Mac and Applebloom had come back from their trip, much to Applejack's excitement.

And as she hugged her siblings, smiling so widely, he decided that he enjoyed her smile, that he enjoyed looking at her.

It's not creepy.

Unfortunately, he soon learned that making flirty advances her while they were by her brother was not an efficient way to get on his good side. There was a heavy silence as they ate and Big Mac's eyes bore holes into his head. Even for a reserved, kind stallion like him, an evil tyrant trying to flirt with his sister was a sure way to rile him up.

But despite the threat of the large red pony he still wanted to ki--

No.

He was a king, the king of fear, he would not fall in love with a peasant.

At least he would try not to.

The night was silent, only the sound of crickets and wood being pounded traveled through the cool air. It wasn't that Sombra had to keep bucking the trees this late, he just couldn't sleep. Though to be fair, being stuck in ice for 1,000 years didn't exactly make him eager to sit still. He was also stuck battling himself. He hated these ponies, he wanted to hurt them all, wanted to take back his powers, wanted to take back his kingdom. Yet, at the same time he found himself growing more attached to the orange mare then he wanted to be. Much more attached.

"What are you doin' up this late, Princess?" A familiar, pleasing voice pierced the silence of the night, and the solitude of his thoughts.

That was another thing Sombra liked about her. She wasn't afraid to tease him. Unlike her friends, there was no harm done by it, he trusted her and knew she wasn't insulting him. He had to admit, it was nice.

"I'm just bucking these trees, what about you?" He questioned.

"Couldn't sleep."

Sombra pulled the toned mare to the ground in a vicious sneak attack.

"Try again," he murmured into her ear.

AJ rolled her eyes 'He's just a flirt.'

And until Celestia rose the sun, and draped it's golden light across the land of Equestria, they rested.

Sombra sat on his haunches, dreading the fact that he was going to be social with the ponies responsible for his suffering. Ick. Applejack had insisted that he come though and he still wasn't exactly allowed alone so he had to deal with the situation. As the duo sat down in the Cutie Map room along with the other five ponies and one young drake, Twilight welcomed everypony happily. Sombra essentially zoned out until he felt a gentle nudge in his shoulder and his name being called.

"What?" He grumbled.

"Well," Twilight spoke up, "We've decided you need to learn how to interact with ponies other then AppleJack, so you will be spending time with the five of us since AJ assured us she would be fine for the rest of applebucking season."

"So I'm not going to see Apple Pony for a while?" His ears flattened against his head as he growled, "And I'm going to have to be with you?"

"Unfortunately." Rainbow muttered, "You better not screw anything up."

"You still don't trust him a little bit!? He was with me for almost a month and I'm fine!"

"So what, are you taking his side now?"

"I'm just sayin' we should give him a little more trust, like what Fluttershy did with Discord."

"At least Discord didn't enslave and torture an entire empire for generations."

AJ merely sighed and let out an annoyed 'fine,' knowing she lost the argument.

And with that, the group split up, AJ and Sombra looking at each other wistfully, knowing it was for the last time in a while

Author's Note

Alright. I'm going to be completely honest.
I have literally no idea where this story is going. Though, I am working on it.
But, until I figure out the direction I want this to go in, enjoy the mindless garbage.
This will also be the last chapter for a while, dont worry, ive just had a writers block and ive been dealing with depression so ill just prewrite some chapters ^^ but next time, we're going to see our king interact with the rest of the mane 6
As always, thanks for reading!