“God I never get tired of this song.” One would think that after listening to the same song 100,000 times they would either get sick of it or go insane. But nope it’s still one of my favorite songs.

Of course when you’re stone statue in the Canterlot Gardens, there really isn’t much to do besides replay your own memories. Like songs, videos, games, movies or whatever else comes to mind. Or you could just use your own imagination to make up something. Anything to keep yourself from going completely insane from boredom.

Hey it’s better than how I spent the first two centuries in this frozen state. Which was nothing but wallowing in regret. At one point, I actually thought that confessing my sins would eventually get me out of here. But nope, still a statue.

Then again, it’s not like I’m here without a reason. I mean I show up during a time of war and when I tried to help, I just made it worse. After that the princesses came and blast me with those damn elements. “I could’ve explained myself if they’ve just given me the chance! But no, instead they have their guards ambush me, wait to catch me off guard and then BAM! Shoot me with a magically rainbow that turns me to stone.”

And now here I stand. As a statue with my right arm extended forward and my palm wide open revealing the Z shape scar in the middle of my hand. With only a few passing-by guards and gardeners to keep me company. If you’re wondering why I was in that pose it was because before the rainbow hit me, I was trying to block it with a shield offering. A lot of good that did me.

Mind you though, I hold no grudge against the princesses. I mean I was a little pissed at the beginning of my imprisonment but after some time thinking, I came realize that their actions were pretty justified.

You know, I most likely wouldn’t be in this sorry state if I had never gone to that convention. Then I wouldn’t have met HIM. That damn merchant.

2,600 years ago

The day had finally come. The day I’ve been waiting for months is finally here. Comic-Con.

Normally I don’t usually go to a convention like this. Well more like can’t go but that’s only because tickets sell out so quickly. This time however, I got lucky and was able to buy the tickets for me and some friends.

And to get into the spirit of things, my pals and I decided to dress up in costumes. They wanted to as more generic characters. Characters that would most likely be a dime a dozen at the convention. Me however, I wanted to go as something different. Something that there would be very little chance of running into someone else dressing as the same. That’s when I got an idea from my ps vita.

I decide to go as a custom character from one of my favorite JRPGs. A sorcerer from Soul Sacrifice. The outfit I was going to go with was the nomad raiment color H from the delta version of the game. The color of the clothing consisted nearly entirely of black except for what is supposed to be the glowing markings which was sky blue. For what my right arm would look like I decided to do my own thing. I always preferred neutrality so I wrapped it up with what looked like dirty bandages like in the game if you stayed neutral. But for my own twist, I colored the skin of my hand and forearm black to make it seem like I was suffering from the blight. The last touch was a red Z painted on the palm of my hand.

Once I had put on the finishing touching to my costume in my apartment, I heard a car horn from outside.

HONK!!

I went over to my window and look out to see my friend’s car waiting in front of my place.

“Come on man! We’re gonna be late!” The driver shouted.

“I’ll be down in a minute!” I shouted back.

I went back inside to grab the essentials everybody needs to make sure they have. My keys, my cellphone and probably the most important my wallet. There was no way I was going to come back from this convention empty-handed. I don’t care if I have to spend all my money on one item, I’m getting something!

After grabbing everything I need including my ticket, I made my way downstairs, got into the car and sped off to Comic-Con. I just knew this would be a day to remember.

Later

Here I was. Standing in the middle of one of the biggest crowds I’ve ever seen. And everyone was here for the exactly same reason: Comic-Con.

This was definitely one of the greatest moments of my life. Everyone was having fun. There were stands everywhere either showcasing or selling stuff. And half the people here were in costumes.

The only thing that was somewhat bothering me is that even though some people like my costume, they would either mistake me for someone else or they had no idea what I was entirely. There were some people who did know who I was and have actually asked me to take a few pictures. I even took some pictures with other people in costumes. A couple of them we even posed as if I was taking their soul. All in all, the whole thing was a great experience.

Right now I was on my own because my friends forgot to eat something before coming here. I already ate so I wasn’t hungry but since waiting for them to finish would be boring I decided to go explore on my own.

Though I was just walking around, there was one thing I was focus on and that was buying a souvenir. Like I said before there was no way I was going home empty-handed. So now I was walking by several stands scattered throughout the convention in search for a good souvenir. There were plenty of stands that had such items but nothing that really caught my interest.

That’s when I found something I thought was quite peculiar. A single booth standing in the middle of the crowd all by itself. The part that weirded me out was the fact that I can see it had tons of objects from movies, TV shows, video games and more stuff then all the other stands I’ve seen. And yet for some reason nobody was going near it. I saw that anyone that was heading in its general direction would suddenly change course at the last minute. Hell you could see a bubble formed around it as if it was protected like some kind of invisible force field.

Being captured by curiosity, I decided to explore this weird abnormality. So I headed on over to the stand. After a few steps I reached the edge of the circle that nobody dared to cross. Taking a deep breath I step on through….only for nothing to happen. I look back around me and saw that people were still walking by like nothing. Turning back to look at the booth I continued to walk forward to see what it had to offer.

Reaching the front of the counter, I begin to browse the items laid out. I have to say there was certainly a lot of stuff here that people would give an arm and a leg to get their hands on. There was this weird but cool looking jewelry. There were some life-sized weapons from games like a keyblade, a really long masamune sword, a rocket launcher with an Umbrella emblem on the side. There were other little things like an Omnitrix, a borderlands psycho mask, a silver coin in a glass case and many other trinkets.

In all honestly with all this stuff here, it made me wonder why no one wanted to come near this-

“Interested?”

“JESUS!” I shouted and jump back from the booth.

Behind the table, seemingly out of nowhere, was a man dressed in a costume. It took me a second to recognize the outfit as the merchant from Resident Evil 4. But seriously where did this guy come from?! I may have been enamored by the merchandise but I know he wasn’t there a second ago. Then again, there’s a curtain right behind the guy. Probably came out from there and I just didn’t noticed.

After settling my beating heart, I responded with “Excuse me?”

“Anything that catches your eye stranger?” He gestured the items on the table.

Good God, this guy even sounded like the merchant. And to me, the merchant sounds like the kind of guy that would try to con you. That and he really needs to lay off the cigarettes. But of course being at Comic-Con, I dismissed for just being in character.

“Uh not yet.” I answered. Not wanting to be rude by just saying no.

“Well let me know if anything catches your interest. I have many rare items on sell stranger.” He said.

I continued to browse across the various items laid out. “I don’t know. I definitely would like to buy a souvenir from here. Don’t get me wrong, I would like nothing more than to have a perfect replica of a keyblade but that wouldn’t really look right with my costume. Sorry.”

I was about to turn away and leave when the merchant called for my attention.

“Wait.” He said. “I know what you are. You’re a sorcerer from that hand-held game, correct? What was it called again?” The merchant pondered.

“Soul Sacrifice.” I answered. It always felt good to be recognized.

“Ah yes. I’m quite familiar with that game. And I believe I have something you’d very much like.” He turned around and disappeared behind the curtain.

Barely a few moments later, the merchant came back out with something in his hands. I couldn’t tell what it was because it was wrapped up in some old cloth. But from what I can see, it was in the shape of a cuboid. The man placed the object on an empty spot on the counter.

“Here it is.” The merchant spoke. “An item I believe you’d be very much interested in.”

I stepped forward and begin to unwrap the cloth to see what it is. When I finished unwrapping it, my eyes widen at the contents. I couldn’t believe it. I’ve actually looked online to see if one existed but couldn’t find anything. And now there’s one here right in front of me. A replica of the book in Soul Sacrifice: Librom.

It looked exactly like the real thing. Even the face on the cover looked real. Like it was made of flesh but feeling it you could tell it was made of leather that was painted in flesh color. Touching the eyes and teeth I could tell it was plastic embedded in the leather.

“Well?” The merchant asked.

Without hesitation I asked “How much?” At this point, any suspicion I had of this stand was gone.

The merchant grinned behind his mask. “Well normally I would sell such a rare item for a high price like $400.”

“$400! That’s practically all the money I have right now! I know I said I didn’t care if it costed all the money I have but I still planned on eating later.” I thought as I try to calm myself from within.

“But” The merchant continued “Since it would go so well with your costume stranger, I’ll sell it for only $50.”

“Seriously?! Awesome!” I reached in my wallet and gave the nice man the $50. There was no way I was about to pass up such a great deal.
Once the merchant got his money, he gave me the book. I stood there frozen for a few moments. I just couldn’t I got my hands on an actual replica of Librom. My moment of awe however was interrupted when the vendor spoke again.

“It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.” The merchant then a creepy chuckled. “Enjoy your trip stranger.”

Wait what? “I’m sorry. What are you ta-“ That was as far as my sentence got before the book in my hands suddenly popped open on its own and an intense bright light shined in my face. “AAAAHHHH!!!” And that was the last sound I made before my world went black.

Present Day – Canterlot Gardens

When I had finally woken up, I was in the middle of a desert. At first I thought someone drugged and dragged me out there as a joke. But later on I discovered I was actually in a land called Equestria. A place I had thought only existed as a made up TV show. A show I wasn’t a fan of. I wasn’t a brony hater or anything. I mean I saw the show when I was extremely bored and had nothing else to do but I didn’t find it all that appealing to me.

Anyway when I first came to this world, I noticed a few things. One was my clothes had changed. The material had become leather and the sky blue markings were glowing for real. Second was that body was a lot more muscular than when I was on Earth and a little bit taller. Third was that I was in Equestria’s past. When I meet some of the locals, I brought up the names Nightmare Moon and Discord and yet they had no idea who I was talking about. That and the huts they lived in were also a dead giveaway. Last, and this was possibly my favorite, was that I had powers. I learned that I had actually become a real sorcerer from Soul Sacrifice. All of the spells from the game were at my disposal. Well at least the one’s I know of. I’ll get back to that eventually.

“Now what should I think of next?” I thought.

“Oh might I make a suggestion?” An unwelcomed voice finally decided to speak up. “How about a song from that artist you thought of 500 years ago? What was his name? Custard Beaver?”

The one time I think one of that guy’s songs and it got stuck in my head all day. It wasn’t until I started thinking about the ‘Blind man has to go’ prank video that I finally got it out.

Well anyway, there’s something I forgot to mention earlier. Besides from the occasional gardeners and guards, I also had the most annoying roommate in this garden. That roommate being none other than Discord, God of chaos. Who right now is also a stone statue.

“Or maybe you can play that lovely Friday song from 400 years ago.” Discord telepathically said.

Apparently Discord’s favorite songs are the most annoying ones I know.

“I thought I told you to never talk to me.” I responded.

“You did. About 1,500 times to be exact. But since when do I do what you say?” Discord retorted. “Besides I’m so bored and you’re the only one here I can even have a conversion with.”

“Look, if you’re so bored just wait for the next visit. Whoever they are, they should be here soon.” I knew there was going to be a visit because yesterday the gardeners were working overtime. The only time they do that is when there’s going to be visit the next day.

And speak of the devil, I soon heard the sound of clopping hooves.

“This way children.” A voice spoke out from a far. “There are a few more statues I want you to see.”

Hmm, why does that voice sound so familiar?

Then out from around a tall hedge came a purple mare with a two shaded pink mane and with her an entire class of foals. Apparently they were here for a class field trip.

Normally I wouldn't care for these things but that changed once I got a better look of the incoming crowd. I know who they are. That mare is Cheerilee! And those kids are her class! Hell I can even see the CMC!

The fact that they were here can only mean one thing: I’ve finally caught up to the show. The beginning of season 2 I think. Like I said, not a fan so I didn’t bother keeping track of everything. The only parts that really stood out for me were the start and end of each season. Everything in between was more of a hit and miss for me.

So watching the class a little more I realized they were coming towards me.

“So class,” Cheerilee addressed the kids. “Can anypony tell me what this statue represents?” She gestured her hoof towards me.

“Horrible fashion sense.” A light pink filly with a light purple and white swirl mane joked. A few of the other children snickered in response. If I remembered correctly, her name is Diamond Tiara

“Screw you, you little punk. You have any idea how long it took me to make this thing? It took me forever to get the cape to stay attached to the hood.” I thought.

Cheerilee sighed as if she expected such an answer. “No. This statue represents Corruption.”

I mentally sighed. “Right, that lovely little title the princesses gave me after imprisoning me in stone. They never even bothered to get my name”

“It is said that long ago, there lived a dark and powerful sorcerer who wielded a different kind of magic. One that changed and corrupted everything it touches. This dark sorcerer used his magic to raise an army of giant monsters and attacked the land.” Cheerilee explained.

“Oh my...how many times do I have to say ‘my bad’?!” I mentally yelled. “I didn’t mean for that to happen. I was going to fix it but the princesses got to me first.”

“But the princesses managed to defeat this sorcerer and lock his army away in Tartarus. And harmony was restored to Equestria.” Cheerilee finished.

“Lady, you forgot the part where Equestria was already in a state of war with the other races when I showed up.” I thought. “I guess the only good that came out of my actions was that it united all the species. Guess they were left with no choice since the archfiends were everywhere.”

“This sorcerer is supposed to be powerful?” The small orange filly with a purple mane questioned. “He doesn’t look so tough. I bet Rainbow Dash can kick his flank in 10 seconds flat.”

“Believe me child, many have said the same thing and they all regretted it.” I thought.

“Now kids, on to the next statue.” Cheerilee announced as she trotted over to Discord with the students in tow.

Well at least this encounter was able to answer a big question for me: when is it? Now I know that I’m in the middle of the show. I would ask some questions but I had to masked my thoughts to ensure Discord couldn’t hear them. Can’t risk him knowing what’s going to happen. Though only question I had for right now is when will I get out? If I ever get out.

My thoughts were interrupted however by the sound of rough housing. I looked to see the CMC fighting amongst each other.

Luckily Cheerilee decided to intervene. “Actually, in a way, you're all right. This statue represents ‘Discord’, which means a lack of harmony between ponies. In fact, you three have demonstrated discord so well that you're each going to write me an essay explaining it.”

The CMC look down in shame while their fellow classmates laughter at the expense. They were clearly not happy with the new assignment they’ve been given.

“Now let’s go, and I don’t want anymore fighting.” Cheerilee said as she began to leave with the foals following suit.

CRACK!

But had they stuck around they would’ve noticed Discord’s statue beginning to crack.

CRACK! CRACK! Heheheheha.

With a bright light and a loud boom, Discord was finally free from his prison.

“Yes! Free at last!” Discord said as he began to stretch.

“Well at least one of us is able to move again.” I mentally said.

Discord then looked in my direction. “Oh don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten about you. You’ve been sealed away far longer than I have and even I believe nopony deserves this fate.”

“I’m not a pony.” I corrected.

“Whatever the case, here you go.” Discord then snapped his fingers.

The next moment a magical white aura engulfed my stone form. The Z shape scar on my hand then started to glow red as the magic aura flowed right into it. Once fully absorbed, the markings on my clothes began to glow sky blue once again.

CRACK!

That’s when my stone body began to crack as well.

CRACK! CRACK!

“Hmm I wonder.” If I was about to be release after so long, might as well make a bit of an entrance.

I focus as I charge up to use a Wild Dog Maw offering, which is a roar spell. Once fully charged, I let go and my stone prison exploded.

Now I realized that using a spell after not moving for so long was probably not a good idea because I immediately became exhausted. I fell forward off my pedestal and landed on the ground on my hand and knees.

After catching my breath, I said “I don’t understand. Why release me?”

“Why you ask? Because you’re the darkest sorcerer in Equestrian history of course. I heard all about the amount of chaos you caused even before I was sealed away. It’ll be fun to watch the havoc you’ll cause now that you’re free.” Discord explained himself.

I chuckled in response which seemed to have confused Discord a bit. “Hate to break it to you but I don’t plan on causing any kind of chaos.” I said as I got to my feet.

“Ooh. Then what do you plan on doing if I may ask?” Discord questioned.

Before answering, I took a moment to finally breathe in the nice fresh air this world had to offer. “I will do what I must to redeem myself.”

Discord narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Does that include getting in my way?” He placed one hand behind his back and set his fingers in a pre-snapping position.

I stared at Discord with a stoic expression. For a moment, there was nothing but silence. Then I decided to answer. “No. You’re not my concern. What you do is none of my business.”

The draconequus continued to stare at his former fellow inmate. Studying him to sense any kind of deception. After a few seconds he clapped his hands together and smiled. “Well in any case, I guess this is farewell for now. Until next time…”

….

….

The God of Chaos placed a finger on his chin. “You know, after all this time of being sealed together, I never got your name. Would you mind rectifying that?” He kindly asked.

Unfortunately, this was a question I couldn’t answer. Not because I didn’t want to. It’s because after repeating certain thoughts in my head to insure I didn’t forget anything from my old life for so many years, there was one thing I apparently forgot to constantly remind myself of.

MY OWN DAMN NAME!

I stared off into space as I look through my old memories. To find anything that can give me a clue as to what my name was. But nothing. I couldn’t find anything. It was like every memory I had that mentioned my name was edited to mute or bleep it out.

This was certainly a predicament. If I run into some of the locals of this world how are they going to address me? I definitely didn’t want to be constantly called dark sorcerer while I’m here. This leaves me with only one option: get a new name.

I begin to look around the garden to find any suggestions as to what I can call myself. I then spotted the pedestal I once stood on and the plaque attached to it. The plaque used to say ‘Corruption’ but thanks to that roar spell before some of the letters were blown off. However the remaining letters gave me an idea of what I can call myself.

I turn back to Discord and say “You can call me Corro.”

“Well then Corro, I’ll be off to create some marvelous chaos. Until next time I bid you ado.” With Discord disappeared in a flash of light.

“Yeah, you do your thing and distract all the ponies for me.” I knew eventually Discord will be defeated but in the meantime he can be used to distract the ponies long enough for me to get something.

I turn my body in a certain direction and look ahead to see the Royal Canterlot Castle. “Alright, now for my first objective: get back my book.”

Author's Note

This is my first fanfic on this site so I can really use some constructive criticism. Honestly I wasn't expecting my first chapter to be this long but I wanted to make sure it was nice and detailed. I definitely have several ideas for this story but there's still some in-between stuff I haven't figured out yet so feel free to share some ideas and I'll think about it.