I opened my eyes and realized that I was pulled out of the darkness I was sucked up in, another thing I noticed was that my mask was still on...and I could see and breathe perfectly. I became more alert when I remembered what happened.
That merchant tricked me.
And the darkness he called did something to me.
I found a small puddle of rainwater nearby, I walked over and took off my mask to see my reflection to make sure that darkness didn't do any lasting damage on me.
I was stunned by what I saw.
Whoever was in that reflection wasn't me.
Somehow, I became Vanitas.
Before I could properly freak out, I took a look at my surroundings; I was in some kind of creepy forest, if one were to look close enough, they could see the angry faces etched on the base of the trees. I immediately figured out where I am.
The Everfree Forest.
In Equestria.
In My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
That's right, I'm a brony, and proud of it. I've watched just about every episode in the series, so I know what's going to happen. But what happens past the other half of Season 6 is beyond me. I wonder what season I'm in right now?
Never mind that, I'm straying off topic. I began to have an anxiety attack when the reality of the situation hit me. I had heard rumors of cosplayers disappearing from conventions, but I never took them seriously, thinking it was all a bunch of hooey. I breathed heavily, my heart raced, and my legs felt like molasses as I crumpled to the ground.
I was like this for a good ten minutes until I regained my bearings and stood up again, I didn't know where in the Everfree Forest I was, and walking around blindly would me nowhere. I tried to think of a way out when I heard a couple voices.
"Hold it down!"
"I'm trying! Manticores are stronger than they look!"
The voices sounded gruff and harsh, I decided to follow them and see what was going on, but not before I put my mask back on. I quietly stuck my head through bushes and I was shocked at what I saw: two of the pegasi Royal Guard tying down a Manticore and getting ready to spear it to death. I wanted to help the poor thing, if there was one thing I hated more than anything, it's animal abusers, it made me wish I had the skills from KH:BBS.
And there it was.
A holographic pause menu from the game appeared in front of me, but judging that neither the guards nor the Manticore saw me yet, that means I was probably the only one who could see it. Could this be part of the merchant's magic? Seeing that I had a chance, I swiftly opened the Command Deck saw that all of Vanitas's moves were set into the deck already, and I had every skill and spell in the game. With no time to customize, I left everything as it is and closed the menu.
"Get ready!" the one guard said as he readied his spear to strike.
The Manticore closed his eyes and accepted his fate, knowing he wouldn't be able to escape. The guard thrust his spear forward...
...Only for me to grab it and hold it in place with one hand.
"S'up?" I said in Vanitas's voice before I gave him an uppercut to the jaw, knocking him flat on his ass.
The other guard left the Manticore behind as he went to check his buddy. They looked at me as I took the spear in both hands, snapped it in two, and tossed the pieces to the side, like the real Vanitas did with Ventus's Wooden Keyblade.
"What are you?" the guard I hit spoke.
"Me?" I held my hand out and in a plume of darkness, the Void Gear Keyblade materialized in said hand, I adopted Vanitas's battle stance, "I'm the only one who's gonna walk away from here alive."
This seemed to anger them as evidenced by them getting up and leveling their drawn swords at me.
"Age before beauty, as they say."
Now they were really pissed off. One of them charged at me and impaled me with his sword, he smirked in accomplishment, but it disappeared quickly as my afterimage vanished.
"Too slow." I said as I came down from behind him, smashing my Keyblade over his head.
The other guard tried to attack me from behind, but I felt his presence and sidestepped out of way, delivering a horizontal swing to my attacker and sending him flying into his buddy. The two shook their heads as they recovered, baring their teeth and glaring at me.
"Suffer!" I pointed my Keyblade at them and summoned a slow-moving fireball, which split into three faster ones and sped towards guards, exploding on contact.
The guards struggled to stand, my attacks dealing more damage than I had anticipated. They looked at me in fear for their lives, then spread their wings and flew off, leaving me with the Manticore. After they left my sight, I walked over to the Manticore, who appeared fearful of me, and in one, swift motion with my Void Gear, he was free from his bindings.
"Go on. You're free now."
He was confused at first, but accept my mercy and ran off into the woods. I dismissed my Keyblade and turned around towards the direction of which the pegasi guards flew off to, believing it's the way to town, so I set off in hopes of getting a feel for the new world I'm in. Eventually I found a dirt path and followed it to the edge of the forest, predictably Fluttershy's cottage and Sweet Apple Acres were nearby the Everfree, as referenced in the show.
And there in the distance, sat in all its glory: Ponyville, the home of my six favorite protagonists. I've always want to see them for real, but there's two small problems.
I've become Vanitas, an embodiment of darkness.
And I assaulted the Canterlot Royal Guards.
Yup. This is not my lucky day.