Welcome Strangah!

Ahhh Equestria...a land of friendship and harmony, sunshine and rainbows, and happy ponies. Sure it had a few deadly creatures, crazy magical flowers, insane tyrannical beings of great power and egotistical jerks out the wazoo, it was still a nice place to visit! It was also a place to begin anew! Start a business, get a nice customer base, lay back and enjoy the money flowing in. You can also make friends pretty easily, so they say.

It was a world filled with many strange things... and its about to get even stranger.

"Strange, very strange." Spoke a strange creature dressed in a large dark and heavy coat, a large backpack, heavy boots and a purple wrapping around his face. Blue eyes scanned the forest he was in, darting to the left and the right. The trees were as green as could be, covered in bright red apples unlike any he had ever seen, the grass was tall and lacked the brownish or yellow shades he was used to. The rocks themselves even seemed colorful, and the leaves too.

His name, was The Merchant... and he wasn't in Africa anymore.

He pondered where he was as he strode through the trees, passing by each one and giving them a scrutinizing gaze. He was born in Spain, and had never seen such green in his entire life, and to see it... was quite a sight. He didn't know how he ended up in this place to begin with, one minute he was waiting for his best customer and his friend to appear in the cave he was in - The Big Strangah - when all of a sudden, his blue flame candles exploded beside him. When his eyes cleared up, he was standing in the orchard, something he found incredibly odd.

That's what I get for using magical candles, He mused, next time he noted he'd use simple candles and be content with that. He just used the blue flamed ones cause they drew in customers, and looked pretty. Now it seems his choice of candle light has somehow transported him to an entirely new land, a strange land filled with strange bright colors. His coat rustled as he walked, the contents of both his backpack and coat jingled and clanked as he walked, he just restocked on items, and while he was used to the heavy weight, he hoped he wouldn't have to drop anything to run.

Getting new stock was hard.

*KER-THUNK*

He hmm'ed in question at the noise, it sounded like someone had hit something. Raising an eyebrow, he reached into his coat for his personal firearm. He pulled the firearm out, and opened the break, noting the six shells inside, he closed it before pulling back the hammer. While he was a merchant who sold pretty much anything - except ammo - he was no slouch when it came to utilizing his own stock for protection.

The Merchant made his way forward, grass and leaves crunching underfoot. He wondered if there were any Ganado, Majini or J'avo present, he was no stranger to the creatures that infested his homeland, and pretty much half the world. They were all peaceful people, some he occasionally traded with, only they were changed one day. Their sanity destroyed by Saddler and the Plaga, turned into creatures with no freedom. He had hoped that with the cop that, the Plaga would be stopped... but somehow it got out, and it was now infesting other parts of the world.

Once he made his way closer to the noise, he hid behind one of the trees and peered out from behind it. He saw more trees, and what looked like a barn in the distance. But his eyes were drawn to the cart nearby, and the creature hitting a tree. He saw an orange pony, with a blonde mane and tail, and strangely enough the pony was wearing a stetson hat.

Strange. He noted, he had seen many strange things, but this was very strange. He pondered the pony's large eyes and odd stature, she was unlike any equine he's seen in his lifetime. It seemed almost cartoonish to him, and if the eyelashes were anything to go by, it was a female. She was far too colorful to be a Las Plaga infected, so deciding not to scare off the pony - and potential customer - he holstered his firearm within his coat and stepped out slowly.

His boots crunching twigs must have alerted the pony to his presence, because her head whipped to the right, her large green eyes staring directly at him. She looked alarmed for a few seconds, stepping back and narrowing her eyes. A snort. "Who are you?"

She speaks... The pony spoke to him, in a clear southern accent...

How strange...

The Merchant held up his hands, and smiled even thought it was unseen by his mask. "I mean no harm to ya little strangah," he told her, getting a look of surprise from her. "I'm afraid I'm a bit," he chuckled, "lost."

Her eyes locked on his for a moment, and she relaxed before she asked, "lost you say?" When the man nodded his head, she sighed through her nose. "Where'd you come from then?" She asked, keeping her distance from the man. She didn't see any malice in his eyes, and his tone was kind enough.

Another chuckle from the man, and he said, "That's the thing little strangah, I'm not entirely sure myself how I got here," he put his hands down, keeping them at his sides. "One moment I was in my cave, waiting for my loyal and valued customer to show, when all of a sudden my candles exploded, and I was in this orchard." The Merchant explained, it sounded silly when he told her. His candles exploding and he was now in an apple orchard of all things, it was... strange. "If you could tell me where I am, I'd... appreciate it kindly, strangah."

"Mah name's Applejack," She introduced herself, deciding to be kindly. She trotted over to the man and held out her hoof, "and this here is Sweet Apple Acres."

Chuckling, he took her hoof and gave it a hearty shake. "Thank you." Looking around the farm, he asked. "Where are the owners of this, fine farm?" He wondered, he was curious as to why the farmers had a talking pony doing work.

A laugh from Applejack, which made The Merchant raise an eyebrow. Applejack pushed her hat back and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Ohoho that's a funny one mister, heehee!"  She shook her head, sighing. "Ah'm the owner of this here farm, along with my brother, we both work, ain't nopony else working here cept for my sis and granny." She told the man as they ended the shake.

The Merchant tilted his head at the pony. A farm run by ponies? "Strange," He muttered to himself, in all his years he never expected to see a farm run by ponies. But, he did come from a land overrun by a cult and creatures that burrowed themselves down your throat and took control of your body. "Pray tell, do you know of where I may... acquire some assistance?" While he was enjoying Applejack's company, he needed to find some help.

"Well shoot, Ah'm friends with the Princess of Friendship, Ah'm sure she could help ya out." She said, turning on her heel. "Just follow me to the farmhouse so's Ah can get my brother to take over for me, then Ah'll take you ta see Twilight."

He had nothing to say, only nodding his head and following the pony's lead. After all, the customer is always right! He told himself, after all the times that cop told him to stock up on better weapons, he's taken that to heart and it got him more business, such as with the Red Lady - Rude Strangah and the best customer he's ever had - Blonde Strangah - some others that shall not be named. He wondered what to expect from the farmhouse, as well as from the so called Princess of Friendship. Such a title sounded silly to him, how can one be the princess of friendship? He thought, it sounded strange to him...

Then again, he is following a orange pony wearing a cowboy hat and has the cutest accent he's ever heard in his life. He's only heard one other southerner before, and that was a strangah who was obsessed with finding something called Red Queen and had an affinity for finding rare items. He never found out what happened to the kid, he was pretty broke half the time, but he always had some very interesting things to trade for guns. Odd trinkets with a nice shine to them, or some rare items with some good value.

The two made their way across the field, and the further they went the more The Merchant was impressed by the farm. Well used by maintained tools were leaning by the barn, he saw some crops growing in another field nearby, corn from the looks of the stalks, and every one of them looked healthy as can be. The buildings needed to be fixed up a bit, but other then that they were nice looking, homely even. And as they drew closer to the farmhouse,  The Merchant smelled something cooking, and it smelled delicious.

The Merchant stopped as Applejack trotted up to the door and opened it - somehow - and went inside. "Ah'll be back in a second, stranger." She tipped her hat, disappearing inside.

Strange indeed. The farm was a very nice place, had the smell of a well run farm, good food and if Applejack was anything to take from it, the people were nice and friendly. A stark contrast to most of the places I've been. He laughed to himself, unaware something as approaching him. Normally he had good instincts, but it seemed they were starting to wane in such a friendly atmosphere, something that he was unused to.

"What in the hay are you?" He heard from behind him.

The Merchant turned to look behind him, and he saw another pony standing behind him, this one however was far smaller then Applejack, and it was accompanied by two others. A unicorn, and a pegasus! They were tiny, and oh so adorable... and oh so strange. he rose an eyebrow at the three. "Why, I am The Merchant, little strangahs." He informed them, chuckling as he looked down at the three ponies. He didn't think he'd see a unicorn, or a pegasus for that matter. What else lurks in this land? He wondered.

"The Merchant?" The middle one asked, tilting her head and scratching the back of her head just under her bow. "You mean like, you sell stuff?"

"Heheheh, yes I do little strangah!" He replied, a thought floating in his head on the idea of selling weapons to ponies. He didn't think there were any threats that would require what he was carrying, but eh, he's seen stranger things...

Like talking ponies for example.

"What do you sell? Where's your shop?" The small white one squeaked.

Another chuckle, before he grabbed his coat's opening and pulled it open, "I got a good selection of things on sale, little strangah~" He chimed, showing the boxes of ammunition, bullets and shells, knives and vials of herbs, among other things within his coat. On the other side of his coat were several firearms, handguns and revolvers, a few TMPs and even a rifle. On his chest were bandoleers filled with shells and cartridges, some small bags of herb seeds - for planting - medicine of his own creation, and holsters and sheathes with many more different weapons... and that was just under his coat.

The three fillies ooh'ed and ahh'ed at his wares, not entirely understanding the man was basically carrying around five tons of death in his pockets. Sweetie Belle - Let's get their names out of the way for the sake of my sanity - trotted up to his coat, looking at all of the items he had within. "You sure do have a lot of knives." She noted, and they were big.

"Heheheh, one can never have too many knives little strangah!"

"My name is Sweetie Belle!" She chirped, hopping back and landing next to her friends. "And these are my friends!"

"I'm Scootaloo!" the orange pegasus informed him.

"And Ah'm Apple Bloom!" The earth pony chimed in.

"And we're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" They all yelled, much to The Merchant's disdain as he was somehow sent skidding backwards.

What a mighty shout! He shook his head as he came to a stop, closing his coat and saying, "crusaders eh?" He murmured.

"Yep! We used to crusade for our cutie marks!" Scootaloo said, turning around and showing her flank, which had a symbol of a tri-colored shield on it with a wing on it, the other two fillies had something similar, however the symbol on the shield was changed to a musical note for Sweetie, and an apple with a heart in it for Apple Bloom. "but we managed to get them finally, so we don't really crusade anymore."

"Yeah." Sweetie and AB nodded their heads.

Strange marks. The Merchant hummed, what were those marks, they didn't look like any branding he's seen. He was going to question their purpose when Applejack appeared, eyeing the scene with a look of suspicion.

Applejack trotted down the steps, "Howdy girls," She nodded to them with a suspicious smile, she turned to The Merchant. "My brother is going to take care of things here, you ready to go?" She asked him.

"Aye, I am strangah." He laughed as AJ started walking down the path, The Merchant following close behind with the Crusaders.

The group walked in relative silence, until Applejack asked, "say, you never did tell me your name, stranger." She turned to look at him, he was slouching ever so slightly and pondered what he was carrying.

"You may call me, The Merchant." He told her, while he valued his customers purchases and their integrity, he didn't exactly give out his name to them. Not even to his most best customers!

The mare next to him made a humming noise, then shrugged before continuing the trek, wondering who he was exactly and what his intentions were in Equestria... she could only hope they were good ones...