Let me think… it all started several months ago, my friends and I headed to our third convention together, ever since our first one we went to two years ago. The five of us were dressed as favorite characters from different games and anime respectively, I almost forgot to mention my name, its Seth, my last name isn’t important though… never liked it. I was dressed as Nightmare from the Soulcalibur games, had the armor, sword, and even the mutated arm based off the version of Nightmare from Soulcalibur two… sadly I couldn’t find the helmet though or make it; I make things in my pastime and as my job, I’m a prop maker or an actual blacksmith.

My friend Kaiden is dressed as the Overlord… no not that one from the anime, the one from the Overlord games, specifically the second one… or was it the fourth? Anyway, he got everything, even the helmet which I made for him but I was unable to make the signature weapon though from that game. He doesn’t have a job, but gets paid through Youtube, and what kind of videos does he make, art; he has donations sent to him and makes some art-pieces for some of his fans.

There’s also Allen, our anime-loving friend who of course had to dress up as Ichigo from Bleach, well from what he said he’s dressed to look like Hollow Ichigo specifically, and not Ichigo himself. He has a mask of the Vasto Lord version of Hollow Ichigo, and the dude even got the sword – didn’t asked me to make it… wanted a “professional” he says.

Another friend of ours who we met five years ago and the one who suggested we meet and go to conventions together two years ago, Terry who’s a big fan of the Warhammer 40k series, DnD, and other tabletop strategy games – I’m not big on how it works or which ones are out there… I play them sometimes with him but again I just play. He is dressed as… what was it again… a Necron, something from the Warhammer series that’s supposed to be this metal skeleton of some kind. He said he was missing a cape, but he looks cool without the thing.

Finally there’s our last friend, my childhood bud since kindergarten, Ben; Ben was that one guy you could depend on anything; wanted last-minute tickets of a certain movie, he got it; needed somebody to drop you to an interview for your new job, he’ll do it; or heck, get super pricey one-week passes for a convention – for all three conventions by the way – oh he’ll do it.

Now Ben’s outfit was… both a shock and a laugh, as he dressed up as his Warcraft character that he used when he and I used to play the game back in our teens. It was a human paladin by the name of Paladin Baborlen the Great. He said he wanted to make an outfit of him since our first convention, told him it be impossible since the things he needed for the costume had to been specific to what his character looked like, and he and I hadn’t checked our Warcraft accounts in years… but he told me he had a drawing of him in his house and was using it as a draft.

Somehow he managed to get every single piece – EVERY, SINGLE, PIECE – not one missing, while the four of us were missing something. I forgot to make Nightmare’s helmet the day before we had to go to the convention; Kaiden didn’t have the signature weapon, the starter weapon called the Minion Axe; Allen couldn’t add the horns to the mask as they fell off every time he tried, and Terry… well Terry didn’t have his cape.

So while the four of us only had ninety percent of our outfits done, Ben was decked in everything he needed. Once we arrived at the convention, the four of us got the most attention, with Ben getting none whatsoever, but he was fine with that and didn’t like the attention. The four of us though were still upset having not our outfits done… that was until we met him.

Convention; 11:00am

We arrived by plane than car as only myself and Ben could drive but my sister needed to borrow my car for an outing she was going with some friends while Ben’s was going under repairs and wouldn’t be ready by a couple of days. After arriving at the airport near the convention, we stayed at the closest hotel and took two rooms, we were lucky to find these rooms as a lot of them were full from people who were also going to the convention.

Myself, Ben and Kaiden stayed in one room while Allen and Terry stayed in the other one, but when the day came for the convention, we woke as early around 5:00am, took showers and got our outfits on around 6:30am before arriving at the convention by 7:00am. The place was swarming with people, and we looked around as we had nothing to do until 12:00am as there was a presentation we were going to see – some anime thing that Allen was interested in.

We just went back to looking around the convention after eating when we ended up in some sort of market-like area in the convention… and that we lost Ben too.

“Where the heck did he go?!” That would be Allen, as the presentation was starting in one hour, and he didn’t want any of us getting separated right now and arriving there late. “One second he was here, the next he disappears!”

Right now the four of were looking for him somewhere in this convention, but as we kept searching… well we found him, but the place he was at was the creepiest locale I have ever found in my life. He was currently browsing inside this large dirty tent that had all sort of knick-knacks and such; inside was filled with so many referenced items from movies, games, shows, and a couple of anime that Allen told me or suggested I might like watching.

It was a place for a fan’s wildest dreams to come true! “Yo Ben; so this is where you been, what you looking at?” asked Seth.

“Oh hey guys, you will not believe what I found; so I was wandering a bit when I found this place, and I found ‘him’!”

“Found who?”

“The Merchant, you know from those fics I read,” said Ben. I looked at who Ben was speaking to and look and behold it was the Merchant from Resident Evil 4… oh and if you are wondering what Ben is talking about, he’s… a brony. Now I got no issues with that, I literally make weapons and armor for props for a living, my friends have their own interests – both the odd and strange – so when I was told Ben was a brony, it didn’t faze me… if I had to be honest some of the fics he suggest I try reading are pretty good… but I only read for the fics, not the show.

“Remember how the four of you are missing a piece for your outfits?” The four of us got confused at this point until we saw what Ben was examining; on a long wooden table where the Merchant was standing on the other side was Nightmare’s signature helmet from Soulcalibur 2, the Minion Axe from Overlord 2, Hollow Ichigo’s horns, and a Cloak of the C’tan were all here, and they were the greatest imitations I’ve seen. They looked almost exactly how they would in their respective sources… but I saw where this was going, I read what happens when you buy something from the Merchant in conventions… and I know exactly where you end up going. “I found them here, but I’m currently trying to buy from this guy but he won’t sell them to me.”

It was at that moment that the Merchant dude realized the rest of us and his eyes widened immediately. “Wait, you’re trying to buy this stuff for these fellas? If I knew that I’d sell it to you… but are you sure you don’t want anything else here?” asked the Merchant.

“Nah, I got everything I need but thanks for the offer,” said Ben. After the Merchant glowered at him, he sighed and asked Ben whether he pay in cash or card; once done paying, he gave us each the final pieces we needed for our outfits, putting them on immediately.

“Heck ya; I HAVE THE POWER!” shouted Kaiden, raising the Minion Axe.

“Dude, thanks for buying this stuff for us,” said Allen.

Terry looked at Ben, before nodding in thanks as I helped clamp the cloak to his back; after I put the helmet on, the five of us headed to the presentation that Allen wanted to go, enjoying the rest of the day. As we headed back to our rooms for the day, I talked to Ben about where he got the money to pay for all that stuff, it had to been pretty pricey to get all that stuff for us all.

“Ben… where did you get the money to pay all of this for us?” asked Seth.

“Oh… I um… I used the pay I have this month.”

“WHAT!? Dude, that’s nearly $300 to $400 dollars you used, not only that but you already have problems with paying the bills, why did you use up that money!”

“...You guys have been wanting to make those outfits for a long time… and I wanted to do something to help… but don’t worry, after the convention I got this job request that’ll pay a lot. Let’s go get some rest and enjoy the rest of the week of this convention!”

After that talk, the both of us went to our rooms, played some games, planned on what we should do next and so on… it would be the best week we’d have together… however what will happen the next couple of weeks… would be the biggest tragedy that’ll happen to all of us.

Several months later…

...They told us it was an accident… they said it was an accident… so was it an accident when some drunk bastard who was handling the crane, dropped his payload which just happened to fall and crash onto the same construction spot that Ben was working at.

Myself and the guys visited Ben’s grave after the incident, the job request that Ben got after the convention was to work in this construction site, he wanted to get the money to pay his bills and buy a gift for his elder sister. The guy responsible and the one responsible for managing the workers were both sued by his family, and won… but it still didn’t help that someone close to them passed away.

The four of us stood together before his grave, each of us giving a sad forlorn look, we all had different things that we wanted to say to him… something we all wanted to tell him… now… now we’ll regret that forever.

“Excuse me… but sorry to interrupt.”

The four of us turned around and see who would freaking speak at this current moment, but what we found… well both confused and made us wanted to scratch our heads. Standing right behind us was the Merchant from the convention we went to all those months ago… the same one.

I don’t like where this is going. “Who the heck are you?” asked Allen, angrily.

“I’m sorry about your loss, but I came here to collect the remaining payment, you see, your friend here hadn’t paid for the whole deal… which is why you four fine gents will just have to do.”

“What the heck are you talking about?” asked Kaiden. Terry looked ready to beat somebody’s skull in… and use said skull to beat that person with.

“Your it aren’t you… the real deal, the actual ‘Merchant’,” said Seth.

“Ah, I see you read the tales, indeed I am the very same Merchant, from those stories, but you see… the only way for me to bring those to other worlds is for them to make an exchange. They buy something that fits with their character, and I send them to whatever world it may be, whether it is one they’ll like or not, but since your friend didn’t buy an item for himself and bought four instead of one, the price had to be upped.”

“Seth, what is he talking about… is he… is he from those bloody brony stories that you and Ben read?! asked Kaiden.

Before I had the chance to answer, I felt a powerful weight over me, as myself and the others were brought to our knees. Each of us tried to stand up but could barely even look up; I looked up at the Merchant, imagining the smug grin under that bandanna he wore. I tried to extend my hand and reach forward… only to lose consciousness. The last things I remembered was the Merchant’s voice speaking to me.

“Don’t worry, the four of you will be together where you’re going… maybe you might even meet an old friend.”

What… the heck… is he… talking… about…

And that was the last thing I remembered before the lights went out… for now.

1700 Age of Chaos – Equestria; Western Equestria, White Tail Woods; 7:00pm

The silence of the woods with the occasional howl of nearby wolves, the wind blowing through the trees was the only kind of sounds you hear in the western part of Equestria, which consisted of mostly forests that stretched as far the eye could see, and mountains that ranged across like natural walls of stone.

That silence however would end when a screaming noise began to increase and grow before something… appeared. It left a scorched earth where it appeared – not landed, just appeared – as it was in a knelt position; it wore armor unfamiliar to this world, the right arm was mutated and grotesque, it had scarlet hair and wielded a giant sword that had a flesh grown in the middle and an eye that pulsed and gazed at its surroundings.

The figure awoke gazing at it’s surroundings, taking a careful look around before it gazed down on it’s own form. Many emotions went through it’s eyes, confusion, curiosity, anger but most of all, fear; the being was in a world it was unfamiliar with, a body it didn’t recognize and a situation it was currently very lost in.

With a voice that could make any weak willed being pee themselves ten times over… he spoke. “Well… shit,” said Nightmare.

Author's Note

It has begun; a little story origins for the main character antagonists, starting with Seth aka Nightmare.

The narration and thoughts are all by Seth from his perspective, so all bold and italics text was him speaking/thinking.

This is what I considered my first ever story using characters from other series (I'm referring to Nightmare and the other cosplays, not the people, their my original idea), and my second displaced story (isn't part of the Displaced multiverse).

Hope you guys enjoy this interesting new story premise and see how things will go in coming chapters.