An unknown amount of time later...

Sombra groaned as his alarm sang to him, smashing it immediately, "I hate that song." He grumbled, he really needed a normal alarm clock. Not one that was music rule. Rolling out of a bed snapped like a poodle, he crossed a checkered floor. Sombras could not be any more unhappy. The chaos never did take his requests and without Discord, he couldn't channel it.

With Discord sleeping at the crystal castle more often than not, Sombra was often stuck with pure chaos. It was unappealing but so was sleeping in the crystal empire. Sombra sighed as he walked through the living room mirror. Looked like he was crashing at the castle, he only has to stick to his room.

Sombra stepped out of the portal and into the animal sanctuary. The only one up throughout the night. He turned to shadows, moving fast through the long shadows of a sleeping Ponyville. It wasn't long before he formed in the tiny shadow the oven cast.

"Sombra!" A familiar high-pitched voice squeaked.

"Hello Pinkie, I know you are moving the bakery. Could you get something going to cast a bigger shadow? Forming in that is a bit of a pain." Sombra yawned as sat across from the counter.

"Oh my gosh, I forgot, at our new place I totally would. Forming a business with multiple ponies is hard, I do t have time for anything. Cheese is scouting some locations, Mr and Ms cake are dealing with loans, and the bank and I have to bake all the orders we get."

"I understand, perhaps I can do it for you?"

"Oh, that be great. You would not believe the nonsense of opening a business. I have never seen so much paperwork and I don't want to again. None of the words make any sense. There's so big and sometimes one word is a whole sentence long."

Sombra leaned against the cabinets watching Pinkie stack an eight-layer cake.

"I mean really and they try to trick you with something called a fine print. So you could sign something and not know you agreed to something. It should really be illegal Twi said she do something about it. But she doesn't have the time, I mean her lessons and all. It just makes me a little sad. I wish she had time to deal with it, but I understand she's busy. I mean there's lots for her to do taking over and with this business. I understand now, why she's so stressed all the time. It'd just be awful but it'll be awesome to run it all together. It's like a dream, doing what I love with the ponies I love. I couldn't ask for anything better than that. And-"

Sombra teleported in a pillow and rested against it. Time ticked as Pinkie talked faster than the train on speed. Sombra didn't stop paying attention, he ate scrap cake pieces as he listened to her speak. He never really minded her "rants" even though every other creature did. It was rude to interrupt, really it was just common courtesy. Yet she treated it like a big deal.

"So all and all my day with Rarity is just what I needed. What did you come all the way out here for? You never visit me. You should visit me!" Pinkie took a deep breath and turned to Sombra with a smile.

"I...saw the room. Thanks, I didn't think anyone really listened, especially any of the elements." Sombra carefully watched Pinkie for any sign of distrust.

"Of course I listened, we're friends. I'd do anything for a friend. We are friends, right? I mean I know I'm an element but that won't stop me." Pinkie beamed.

Sombra's eyes widened, she didn't seem stressed or like she was plotting something. Like how she refused to look him in the eye or how her voice went up eight octaves. "I thought your duty to this world would prevent you from being friends with something like me."

Pinkie stopped mid-sprinkle. She gazed over at Sombra, he look confused. While the others had trouble, she could ready body language they couldn't. It was all in his eyes and mouth, the way they crinkled. "Well of course not!" The room went silent and Pikie knew she hit the problem on the head

"What if I turn evil, what if I was never good?" Sombra scared her eyes, how she held her hooves, the way her muzzle moved. Anything that would give away her alliance to Twilight.

"You've changed a lot. You have friends Granny, Big Mac, Discord, and me! If something was up and I would figure it out!" Pinkie went back to piling roses onto the pink eight-layer cake.

Sombra couldn't believe it, not a crinkle on her face. She was serious, and that had to be wrong. There was only one way to find out for sure, test her. "Alright. Thank you, Pinkie for the help and the room." He huffed as he raised from the cold hard floor. Something was clearly going down. There were too many coincidences, too much attention on him.

"Well, I have to help buck the apples. So I'll be going. See you tomorrow for our weekly picnic with Discord and Fluttershy." He melted into the shadow of the oven, moving through the shadows of early morning shifters. In moments he popped through the shadow of an apple tree.

For a moment Sombra sat staring at the Apple family home. He needed a safe way out, a safe haven for whatever his "friends" were planning. Sombra would have to trust someone and if it was anyone. It would be his unlikely friend Granny Smith. Sombra's age was hidden behind his magic and that made it hard for him to understand the younger crowd. Perhaps that's why he was so attached to her. Sombra could partake in what he actually wanted to do. Board games, soap operas, and rocking chairs. Granted one of those things Granny showed him.

With a creek, Sombra crossed the old wooden floors of the deck. Shifting into shadows he was in the kitchen in no time.

"Mornin' Sombra. Tis nice ta see ya." Granny stirred the huge pot of apple sauce. A new product at Apple Bloom's insistence, an incredibly popular one at that.

Sombra smiled, grabbing a cup of hot coffee from the kitchen table. "Thanks, just the way I like it." He yawned as he sat at the table basking in the heat of the mug.

"Our favorite soap is on tonight, we go na watch it, or am I gonna record it?" Granny asked as she filled a blue bowl with sauce. Laying in front of Sombra she added two roles to the bowl.

"Nope, I'll be there like always." Sombra lifted the spoon in purple magic digging into the homemade meal.

"Wats wrong? You go on and on about how dumb Fernando Forbiddeno Romantico is. Somethin' on ya mind hun?" Granny grabbed herself a bowl, some sauce, and bread. Sitting across from him she smiled.

"You ever see ponies acting really odd for no reason? How do they tell you it's fine but you feel like there is the danger? Feels like something is bad happening."

"I see. Ya know when I thought Timberwolves in that there forest." Granny pointed to a normal group of trees on the Apple property. "Every weird noise was a Timberwolves n' they were after us. Ya know wha' there weren't never any Timberwolves. I knew te' were 'round and just assumed they lived there. Maybe your Timberwolves are in ya head mo' then they are in te' forest."

Sombra blinked at her, stunned. It took him a couple of moments before he gathered the words to respond. "That's very wise, I suppose I don't have any hard proof." He took a long sip of his coffee. Sombra couldn't imagine ponies wanting to do nice things for him, but perhaps Granny was right and nothing bad was happening. Maybe Twilight told them to do it, perhaps she was testing him like he was doing. It would explain all of a sudden nice actions.

"And for the hundredth time why don't ya call me Granny. Ya insultin' me know wit ya persistence. I-"

A very groggy Applejack woke to yell below her room. She had to pull two shifts today one at home and one at the school. She dragged herself from the comfort of the bed and to the floor. Apple was about to fall asleep on the wooden floor when she hear Big Mac yelling too. She startled awake, clambering up and out the door, he never yelled.

Throwing on her hat and scarf she rushed downstairs. "I am here don't yaaaaaaaa..." she trailed off looking at an odd sight. It was her grandmother and brother having a good time...with a former tyrant. "What's going on?"

"Oh good mornin' sleepy head, bout time ya showed up." Granny laughed as she set a bowl down on the table. "Mac and Sombra were just telling me all 'bout dnd night. 'Perently Discord is givin em a hard time. Sounds like 'lota fun."

"Maria you should join us and try it out. I think you'd like it." Sombra said standing up and taking his bowl to the sink.

"But 'ta yelling....maria?!? What?" Applejack stuttered. Was she still dreaming, it all seemed so real. "Why is Sombra here?!"

"Why ain't he not here? He here and tat why ya have so much free time these days. Why he talkin' to Discord right now about settin' up portals fo' us. I can't wait life is gonna be easy wit those-"

"No one is allowed ta' call ya Maria and Big Mac don't ever yell nor talk tat much!" Apple slammed her hoof down into the creeky floor. Sombra just couldn't waltz in and pretend he was family like this.

"Well, I never he-"

"Maria I think I will get started on bucking." Sombra jumped up bumping into the table as he wiggled his way out of the tight kitchen. Applejack's face was filled with contempt and red with what he assumed was rage. He quickly made his exit as he did not want to be where that hate ended up.

"I'm commin' wit ya, we gotta make a battle plan." Big Mac quickly followed. Not only did he not want to be there. Sombra was one of the few folks he talked to at length. The reason being Sombra never forced him to talk. It worked opposite to what was expected. Big Mac just felt comfortable talking, eventually moving on to rambling.

Soon enough Sombra was out back, with his magic he lined wooden containers under the trees.

"Ya' ok?" Big Mac asked the stressed black horse. His back was tense and his face furrowed. "I dunno why she acted like that but I can talk ta her."

Sombra lit up his magic, covering an entire row of trees. "Everything is fine." He bucked into the first tree, that effect copying down the whole row of trees. He paused for a moment, yellow and brown leaves fells from the normally lush trees. The apple barrels are only half-filled, perhaps even less than that.

Big Mac frowned he could tell Sombra was upset by his posture, the wrinkle of his brows. He bucked one of the nearby trees, unsurprised by the state of their health. Apples clunked into the wooden basket below. "If ya wanna talk ya can ta me." Big mac left it at that, he knew how it felt to be cornered to talk when you didn't want to. So he really didn't want to push Sombra.

Together with they bucked 3/10 of the whole orchard, and green and brown leaves fell from the majority of the trees. They gave a harvest of half a basket at most. It took only an hour to get through the section. When a loud crash sounded from the Apple house.

Sombra's head snapped and he blended into the shadow of a nearby tree, in seconds he was out the other side. Applejack was sat on the outskirts of the Apple property. Granny sat on the porch rocking chair. "Maria is everything ok? I thought I heard something." Sombra's heavy hooves creaked against the wooden deck of the Apple.

"Don't worry none. She's prolly stressin' from pushin' 'erself to hard now. I keep tellin' her to stop takin' so much work. She ain't listen'en." Granny sighed and pushed her hooves against the floor.

"Well Discord will be installing those portals soon, so there will be even less to do." Sombra sat next to the old mare. "She's friends with the elements, she is one. She'll figure it out." Sombra almost got up before remembering "Oh, Maria the trees."

"Mmmm, ah ya. Te weather crew been lackin' they used to be headed by Dash but she run te wonderbolts now. It a bit of a mess te days. It ain't her fault, it ain't her responsibility no more. Te replaced her wit some mare, I ain't think she learned nothin'."

"That's incredibly irresponsible."

"I know I been complainin' but wit so much leadership a changin' some things been gettin' overlooked."

Sombra hummed, perhaps he would be able to repay his debt to Maria and her kindness to him. So that they played on even fields.

Author's Note

this was a harder chapter to write hope ya like