The mercenary awoke from the same dream he kept having. The one where that weird creature kept telling him to do something, but, like always, he just couldn't remember what. He didn't want to open his eyes for fear of what he would see, but his curiosity got the better of him. He slowly opened his eyes, and stared at what he saw. A pink mare was standing over him, her face inches away from his, a smile stretched across her face from ear to ear. "HI!" She called, and began to bounce up and down, over and over. He shook his head and groggily got up. He rubbed his head with his hoof. "Wh-where am I?" He asked looking at the strange pony.

"You're in the Sugarcube Corner, silly!" She said, bouncing around him. "So what's your name, huh? Mine's Pinkie Pie!!" She asked.

"Uhh... that's not important. What is important is where THE HELL I AM?!?!" She cringed at his outburst, her smile quickly fading into a frown. Her eyes began to water. "N-no, please," he sighed, "I've had a hard month." He shook his head to clear his thoughts. He got up and looked around the room. He saw streamers and party supplies draped around the room. "What's going on here," he asked, and saw the pony's face split into another grin.

"This is your Welcome Party!! We were just waiting for you to wake up!!" He looked at her quizzically and asked, "We?" Just then, five ponies burst into the room.

"Holy shit!" He cried, pushing Pinkie back, he drew his sword and brandished at the array of ponies, who quickly stepped back.

"Wait wait wait!" Pinkie Pie said pushing the mercenary aside. "They're my friends!" She stood in front of him, and he finally noticed the five ponies wearing party hats. He blushed and lowered his sword, grinning sheepishly at his own paranoia. The ponies breathed a collective sigh of relief. It was then he noticed her, she wore a large-brimmed hat pulled down over a light blonde ponytail. He stared at her, and the rest of the ponies saw him looking. Pinkie Pie giggled, and the mare crossed her legs and blushed deeply. He sheathed his sword and looked at the ground.

Then Pinkie Pie called for the party to began, and hastily rushed AJ and the mercenary to the dance floor. Both were incredibly embarrassed. With the ponies desperately trying to be matchmakers only served to annoy the shy pony. And he knew annoyance led to anger, and that anger led to everypony in this room being mercilessly slaughtered, and he knew that would lead to him being an outcast and killed. And so, he promptly walked away, not giving a word to the others who simply looked quizzically at him as he trotted off. He briefly brushing against her, the scent of apples and dirt pervading the air around her. He shot a furtive glance at her cutie mark, three apples arranged in a pyramid, and decided that apples were now his favorite fruit. As he walked away, he herd the girls giggling, and Pinkie Pie saying, "Oooh, I think Applejack's got a cru-ush!" He said that name a thousand times over in his mind, relishing it's sound.

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He meandered about town, looking around at the new sights and sounds. He marveled at the shops and stalls, all the bustling little ponies going about his business. He felt out of place, expecting something deadly around every corner, only to be met by a waving pony or mule. He shook his head and went to the town outskirts to clear his mind. He stood there, staring into the dark woods, reflecting on what he, "No," he chided himself, "not me, the other one. That is NOT me."

"Well who're you talkin to?" He whirled at the unfamiliar voice, his sword pointed at the pony's throat, but when he saw who it was, it dropped to the floor. "Uhhh, nopony," the mercenary said, blushing deeply. "Well it certainly sounded like ya'll was talkin' tah somepony." She said, smiling as she called his bluff. "Ah came to see what your huff was all about earlier, and instead found you pointin' that big sword at mah throat." He looked down at the ground and apologized to her.

She continued to try and make conversation with the mercenary, but he dodged her questions and she eventually decided it was futile to crack his shell. She sighed and walked away, shaking her head and reassuring herself that at least she had tried when he finally piped up. "Uhh, do you maybe want to, oh I dunno, grab some dinner at a cafe?" He cringed as he posed the question, expecting a harsh rejection, but was surprised when she turned and said, "Fine, but you realize ya'll are payin', ya hear? Oh, Ah'm Applejack by the way." He looked at the ground and took a deep breath, as if bracing himself for something, and said "My name's Greatsword, but people call me Sword, but you can call me whatever you'd like."* He looked down and cringed and his apparent stupidity. She laughed and trotted away, excited at the prospect of the date with that odd, yet endearing, pony.

As she walked away, (his eyes fixed on that glorious ass of hers,) the inner voice that constantly plagued him got his attention. "Heh, you think this little emotional relationship with that dumb bitch can last? Do you honestly think that when she finds out who you are, what you do, she's still going to want to know you? My God, you're stupider than I had thought!" As he said that to himself, his face contorted into a grimace of knowing and mockery, just as quickly as it came, it left, leaving the mercenary looking the same as always, bright blue eyes, heavily lidded, giving the impression he was always half asleep. "She's not like that," he told himself, whimpering at how puny his argument was. Again his face changed, instead of the kindly-looking pony that desperately fought to maintain control of his fractured psyche, a cruel looking pony dominated, his irises turning red-violet, a haughty smile twisting his face into a grimace. "Ohhh... 'She's not like that,' wah, wah, wah. She's going to leave you, like all the other failed "friends" you've tried to make, hell, I might just aid the inevitable. What will she think, seeing this exchange, she'll leave, and you might not be able to keep me contained, what would happen then, I wonder? Oh, I know, I'll go on a killing rampage, slaughtering everything in site, making sure you watch this precious "Applejack" die in the most horrid way I can imagine, then get you killed, and finally be free of you, you fucking pussy!" The mercenary's face turned back to normal, tears welling up behind his crystal-blue eyes. He sank to the ground and began to weep at his life, he hated it, he wished it could end, he wished that he could leave it all behind, the ponies he'd hurt, the families he'd ruined, and just leave. But he knew that if he did, the demon that rested in his heart, desperately trying to corrupt him, would escape, and he feared for what would happen. (For what will happen if He escapes, read Fallout: Equestria.)

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*Author's Note: From now on, I'll be referring to the mercenary as Greatsword or Sword.*