My thoughts fall away as I remember. The sky above me and the grass against my back all drift into the back of my awareness as I fall back into time. Memories as fresh as the day they were cut into my brain scream, drowning out the Now in favor of the Past. It was such a calm evening, tinkering with a prototype fire extinguisher, listening to the calming sounds of the day fading away in peace. I love the calm and the quiet, always have but this, this was the last true peace I would ever know. For this was the night I would gain my Cursed Mark.

I was a bright blue colt with a blond mane streaking with dark marks from accidents in my workshop. A short unicorn colt who wasn’t very good at learning spells and would rather laze about staring at the sky the go play with the other foals. I had little going for me, but what I was good at, well, let’s just say I’m being modest calling myself a child prodigy.

I stood before the table as little bits and bobs hung in the air before me all slowly falling into the cylinder with a spark and a quick spell. With everything in place, I placed the power gems into the slot and snap the cover closed with a quick spot welding spell to keep it in place. The end result was a 12-centimeter long tube ending in a large diamond with a metal lace cage around it as a conduit to make it more precise. A big red button sat near the top just begging to be pressed. I carried it outside with a big grin. “Daddy! Daddy! I finished it! Can we test it? Please?”

The big green stallion sets aside his book with an easy smile as he scoops me onto his back with a brief light of his horn. “Sure thing Gearzy.”

He carries me over to the testing area he built for me. Effortlessly he lights his horn and speaks a few of his ‘when your older’ words bringing up the stone walls of the area, carrying over a piece of firewood and igniting it and encasing us in a solid shield bubble. “Fire when ready soldier.”

I balance on his back and give him a salute before levitating the fire extinguisher out of the shield and pointing it at the burning piece of wood. With a second layer of telekinesis, I push the button letting out a yelp and falling into my Daddy’s telekinetic hold as the device, rather than a cone of low-level ice magic, instead shoots a powerful laser of freezing energy. The log freezes solid and shatters during the two seconds before the power runs out.

He gently sets me on on his back before taking a step back from the device. “Don’t worry, it might not have gone as planned, but the fire is out and it’s still intact. You just had a bit too much of a through-feed into the matrix and your control points are a hair too in sync. For a prototype, it was an amazing first showing.”

Just like that my frown disappears and I smile and easy smile to match my Daddy’s. “Don’t worry Daddy, I’ll fix it and tomorrow we can test it again.”

We are just setting it into my workshop on the table with my asking if I can build a new one because he would like to take a closer look at it the way it is now. This gets a big grin from me, every now and then Daddy takes my mess-ups and bring them on his journeys. It always sends a spark of pride through me when Daddy come home and despite the haunted look in his eyes pats me on the head and thanks me for helping him come home.

My Daddy has a dangerous job, My Daddy is a Watcher. He protects the world from Outsiders and caught-a-rises crushed aco lights. I’m not really sure what that means because I’m not old enough yet to learn about the clan business, but I know it’s dangerous. My Daddy is a Superhero, but in real life Super Heroes don’t always come home. My Mommy was a Super Hero too, but she gave her life for our world.

We are headed into the house with my brothers and sisters rotting in as Daddy calls out curfew. I’m just hopping off his back and walking into the house when a Watcher in full battle gear under his thick black cloak pops into existence cousin my Daddy to whirl with a low growl.

“Harbinger, there was an incursion in town, Confirmed Godling Class known as Grogar sighted. He’s looking for something and we need your talents.”

“Get inside, activate the wards and stay there. If we are not back by dawn activate the panic mode. Ice you’re in charge, Gear you’re on Matrix, Shine make sure they stay awake.” With that, he turns and they teleport away.

Such is the life of the children of Watchers. My brothers and sisters charge to handle their lockdown duties as I make my way to The Matrix, the massive spell-core at the heart of our home. This is the center of our defenses and it takes skill to properly maintain and utilize it along with a great deal of patience to sit and pay attention to all the outputs and hope your night is boring. I settle into the seat and lower the hat to my head pushing my horn into the conductive gel in it. With a quick spell, it activates linking my magic sense into the wards. With a thought, I set the house into Siege Mode. Spells upon spells flare to life as I grin. “Gear Watcher in place, Siege Mode activated. Outsiders detected… oh. We’ve got a class X outside the house! Activating-”

I cut off as the defenses are shredded and I’m warped outside the house. I look up and see a massive black ram looming over me. Behind me, Ice stands in the doorway with an expression of pure hatred. He charges a spell as he chants a strange line and unleashes a bolt of power that seems to bend reality at the Goat who casually back hoofs it out of existence without taking his eyes off me. “Yes, you’ll do nicely. You're going to grow up strong and one should always tend their crops from a young age.”

I dart towards my workshop and he trots after me as Ice continues to alternate between firing signal spells and attacking the Goat. “Yes, why don’t you show me your toys, it should prove interesting to see what you’ll bring to bear against me.”

I grab my bubble and the fire extinguisher and dart towards the house with a plan. “Shine! Get your bat!”

As I near the house I tuck and roll activating the sphere covering myself in a heavy duty reality reinforcing shield ball. Despite the spinning I see Shine grin as his bat connects with the orb launching me towards the Goat at high speeds. The goat roars in pain as I slam into his face, the force made real to him by the spells on my shield. I bounce high into the air and his horns light up catching me before I land again. I grin a wild grin with my heart pounding in my chest as I open the ball and push the button on my ice laser. I can protect my family with my inventions! This feeling, facing the unknown and being a Superhero like my Daddy, this feeling is what I was bred for, this feeling is my purpose!

I feel a tingling on my flanks as the beam of ice magic hits Him right in the eye, freezing and shattering his eye in its socket. His magic drops me as he screams his rage to the heavens. “You dare! You will know despair! You earned your cutie mark in striking that blow, you will learn to fear your Master more!” A sharp pain digs into my flanks and I look back to see them writhing, twisted shaped and colors curling over my marks hiding them from view.

“I will be back for you Sloth, mark my words, you will serve me.” With that, the Goat vanished just in time for my Daddy to return. I run to him with tears streaming from my eyes only for him to blast me backward. I force myself to my hooves as he looks on.

“Monster! This whole time you were plotting against us! So you finally got your special talent, as a servant of the Outsiders? I’ll cauterize you before your infection can spread.”

“Daddy?” For a moment his eyes return to normal losing their glow.

“RUN!” He roars as the glow returns and he fires another spell at me that I have to duck into my ball to survive. I huddle inside my shell with tears streaming down my face as the orb is battered by my family's attempt to kill me. My eyes lock on the button I installed a few days ago but have been unable to test. A blink function to teleport to a random location within a certain distance. Completely experimental, at this point, I could end up anywhere in 100 meters, even underground.

“Celestia save me.” I snap off the cover and hit the button.

Author's Note

Herro! Presenting a new story in my Infernal Elements multiverse. This is actually a rewrite of my very first story, and by rewrite I mean it has a similar premise. Seriously that story was crap, I was crap, everything was crap. I mean we're talking a black and red OC with a pretentious name who turns into an alicorn. Bloody awful. Let's hope this shows me how far I've come.

As a side note, this story will be weird for me. No clop, prolly be monogamous and might not even have innuendos in it. Well, that's that plan anyways. We'll see how that turns out.

The perspective blend in the early chapters are intentional and will make more sense later, but for now, if they bug people I will change it.