Damien coughed as he gripped his sides, blood leaking from his mouth and nose broken. He’d been fighting for so long, and yet he didn’t stop coming at him. He watched as his own father took his creation, a staff composed of rebar, and broke it to pieces before tossing it aside.

“Piece of trash,” the towering man said to his son. “Can’t even make a decent weapon, let alone kill me…” He pointed to the nearby train station. “You thought you could get away? Thought you could escape and we wouldn’t find out?” He walked over to Damien, grabbing his hair and pulling on his hair. “Well guess what… You’re going to die here. You’re going to die and then I’m coming after your friends. And no one’s going to stop me.”

Damien breathed, looking into the eyes of his father and scowling. “Fuck… You…” He spat blood into his dad’s eye, causing him to loosen his grip enough for the young man to break free. Stumbling backward, he grabbed a piece of his broken metal staff and smashed it over the giant man’s head, over and over. He heard the crack of bone and knew that he was close, but the last swing he needed was stopped by the massive hand of his dad. He pulled it away, grabbing his son with his other arm and slamming him to the ground.

“You’re coming with me…” He said with a manic laugh before slamming the tip of the broken spear into Damien’s stomach. It punched through his hoodie and into his chest, making him spasm as he looked his dad in the eyes. Everything was going dark. Blood poured out his mouth as he was strangled. He was going to die.

No… He thought, gritting his teeth as he felt something sharp in his hand. Glass. Pure luck was on his side. With the last of his strength, he buried the shard deep into his dad’s temple, causing him to go limp and collapse. It was over. He was free. But now, he only had seconds to savor that freedom as he was sucked into oblivion.

~~~

Damien awoke on a bed, looking around in a panic. A white room, complete with a table, a couple of chairs, and a woman in a white robe sitting in one of the chairs. He jumped up, getting in a defensive position, but the woman slowly held out her hand.

“Fear not, Damien Daniels. I mean no harm to you,” she said, her voice ethereal but comforting. Something about her made Damien slowly lower his guard. The woman motioned to the other chair, and he obeyed. Something about her made him compelled to follow her instructions, and while it unnerved him, he felt that disobeying was only going to cause more trouble.

Sipping from a cup, she inspected a stack of papers. “Do you remember anything that happened beforehand?”

“Huh? I mean… Maybe, I-” He froze in place, the events of the train station parking lot flashing in his mind. He gripped his head in panic, but the touch of the woman calmed him down slowly.

“It is okay. You are safe here…” She assured him with a smile. “Your father was immediately dropped downwards and won’t be escaping any time soon…” Sighing in relief, he nodded as he sat back, hugging his legs. Even though he knew his dad was far away, he knew that he wasn’t fully safe. “So… I’m really dead…?”

“I’m… Afraid so…” The woman looked down, reaching out and touching his hand. “I’m very sorry that the cards were against you from the start.”

“Why…” Damien grit his teeth, gripping his knees. “Why was I given such a bad hand…? Why did God let me suffer and die?? Does… Does he hate me…?”

“No! No no no, God hates no one. It is just…” She sighed, looking at a wall. “Some people do not come out well. It is not God, but Fate. And fate is a cruel woman…” She looked down before looking at Damien. “But she saw what she did to you, and she is going to give you something special.”

“Huh?”

Smiling, she looked at him. “A world which was previously at peace has had its world become disrupted. As such, a new hero must emerge, and I believe that you, Damien…” She put a hand on his shoulder. “Can help that hero…”

“W-Wha…” He looked confused, squirming uncomfortably. “No, I can’t… I’m a bad person, not some guardian.”

“My child, you are skilled not only in combat, but you are sharp in the mind. And in going to this next life, you will find true love and companionship beyond anything you could have had before.” She looked him in the eyes. “Be the hero they need you to be…”

Looking back, he saw that in her eyes was a pleading urge to help them. He wanted to help, but even he was terrified that he could cause this place even more harm with his explosive tendencies. As he struggled in his own turmoil and self-pity, he noticed something wrapped around his neck: Long, heavy chains which felt heavy the more he panicked. “W-What are these??”

Sighing, the woman took his hand. “Those are your burdens. You have three of them.” She pointed to the chain around his neck, then his hands, and finally, his legs. “Your great terror, your paranoia, and your instability. These burdens will be trapped with you, making your body that which you believe you are, but if you can control them, you will find your true self.”

Gulping nervously, he watched as the chains gripped him tighter, wrapping around him until he became a beast of a creature. Arms bound together, large teeth, body covered in black and chains, with his voice raspy and tired. The woman spoke up. “Aside from this, you will be reborn into a new world, within the body of someone with a better family, and your skills and burdens transferred over to the next hero. A clean slate for you.”

Well, really not totally clean… He thought to himself before nodding. “Fine. I shall go. Do I need to know anything before doing this?”

“Oh, I believe that you’ll figure things out when you get there,” she laughed as she took his hand and slowly helped him to his feet. Guiding him to the door, she spoke before opening the door, light consuming them.

Let God’s faith tame your chains and be your judge…

~~~

In Equestria, a mare was giving birth to a pegasus foal. When he was born, doctors were concerned by the marking on his neck, around his body and wings, and also his hooves and wanted to keep him for testing. When nothing came of it, they would hand the foal to his mother, and so, Devil Dust was born to his parents Star Dust and Ashen Dust. Star cradled her son in her hooves, his father smiling down at them both. They didn’t know it, but their son was bound for great things.

As their foal grew as the years passed, they found their son to be not quite amicable with other ponies. He lashed out, pouted, and stayed by himself. He was born an angry foal, but whenever he was with his family, he seemed to calm down just a bit.

However, he seemed to be quite a tinkerer. While his father was gone serving the military, Devil was always looking for things to put together. This led to him getting in trouble, as he was caught a few times sneaking around places he shouldn’t have been in order to grab more material. However, he did manage it, and from it, his mother would see him swinging some kind of staff made of rebar from a construction site and tape he swiped from a hardware store. She giggled as he swung it about, almost like he was born for this. Even then, he bonked himself on the head and fell over, getting mad rather than crying, and then getting up to try again.

While his ability to create grew to that of an amateur craftspony, his social skills did not improve. He was quiet, averse to conversation, and still seemed to just get upset easily. While he was quite troublesome at times, the other colts and fillies loved the stuff that he made and always asked that he make stuff for them. So, he did just that, making odd trinkets and art pieces that he found and putting them together. Seeing this, his family saw that at the very least, they didn’t need to be concerned about him being a loner.

What did concern his parents was that, while most pegasi foals tried to fly, he simply stayed planted, unwilling to even attempt. It wasn’t even a physical problem. His wings would continue to grow, but any time somepony would try to open his wings, they would snap shut out of fear. After visiting several doctors, they determined their only reasoning was some form of trauma, which shocked Ashen and Star. Their son was always treated well and always loved him. How could he experience trauma? After an extensive investigation, nothing came from it, and Devil would simply be loved by his family, despite his condition.

The thought that there was something wrong with his head troubled Devil to no end. He never wanted to believe he was anything but the best. Why did he think that though? It was like a niggling little voice told him to. The only solution to compensate for his lack of flight was to improve the techniques he practiced by himself. Her mother would watch him, slowly teaching himself how to fight with his staff and making it more stylish as he did so, just like those Wing Chun movies he always watched. She found it quite odd that despite never expressing any desire to befriend the other foals initially, he did desire their approval the whole time.

The day finally arrived as they all prepared for show-and-tell, and Dust held out his staff to everypony.

“Mr. Dust, we’ve already seen your staff,” His teacher said, some colts and fillies giggling at him. He shook his head and motioned them all to come outside before exiting, slowly making a circle in the dirt with his staff and standing in the middle. As they watched him, Devil took slow, deep breaths.

No fear… Just focus… That raspy voice in the back of his mind reassured him as he began to perform with the staff. It was always there, and it always encouraged him to be the best. He would be the best.

Standing on his hind hooves, he swung the staff about, moving with the skill of those in the Wing Chun movies that Devil watched. Just from watching and mimicking, he had been performing some form that was elegant and beautiful, simple but conveying his skill. Then, when the finale came, she made one final sweep upwards when the unexpected occurred. He created a small rising flame that took the form of a tiny rat before it faded into sparks and smoke.

He didn’t know what happened, but everyone cheered him. He looked at them all, breathing quickly in exhaustion. For the first time, he felt good, like he had accomplished something worthy of other ponies’ approval. Just then, he noticed a glow on his flank, and looking at it, he saw that he had gotten his cutie mark: Two rats forming a circle, almost like they were chasing each other and in the center was a ball of fire. The other cheered for him, and for once, he felt like the happiest colt in the world. There was even a rainbow that appeared in the sky not long after. He smiled wide, running to his class.

~~~

In the palace, as Celestia returned from judging the students and finding a new prodigy, she was met by two guards, looking quite nervous. “Princess, we must inform you… They have been unsealed.”

Her eyes widened as she nodded, following the guards through the castle and into a secret chamber. Inside, several chests were opened, each one empty save for the one facing them. Inside was an odd jade talisman with two rats circling a fire. Taking it with her magic, she looked at it and took a deep breath. “May the stars save us from utter destruction…” she muttered softly.

Author's Note

Ayyyy, this was totally not worth the space I wrote this in. Well, either way, hope you had a laugh.