It was just another day for the newly changed voodoo man; those who knew him had gotten a look at his new form. Some were rather frightened now that he looked more like them, others, like Rarity and Zecora, fell in love even more than they had with him before his change. Rarity, in particular, was VERY pleased with how her eternal husband now looked, as she clung to him every chance she had and showered him with great affection. Not to mention, she was even more happy that no one could call him a freak anymore because he wasn’t a pony. They still called him a freak because of his general appearance, sure. But he was one of them now, and they could no longer say otherwise.

Celestia was the only one who hadn’t seen Kalfu’s new state. The question was, how would she respond to such a drastic change? After all, he looked like one of the most evil looking ponies one can appear to be. Soon enough, though, the stallion would become quite the monster, as a tragic event will cause the voodoo king to lose all sense of good in his heart and go on a path of revenge in the city of Manehattan. All because he would fail to keep a promise.

Kalfu sat in his rocking chair on the front porch of his home, as he had decided he’d not open his shop today and spend it with Scootaloo, who was sitting in his lap, just enjoying some personal time with her father. All was nice and quiet until he got this strange pain in his chest. It was a dull pain, but a pain nonetheless. He reached into his coat before pulling out a charm that seemed to catch fire in his hand before crumbling as quickly as it caught fire. That only meant one thing to him. “Fuck…” he said as he gently shook Scootaloo to get her attention “Daddy had to go, sweetie. Someone I made a promise to is in trouble, and they need me,” he said as she stood up and summoned one of his portals.

“I don’t know how long I will be gone. But I will return as soon as I am able. I love you, sweetheart.” he said as he gently cradled her cheek and kissed her forehead then cheek. Scootaloo that he had to go and do what he needed to do, she hugged him super tight before letting go “Be safe, Daddy. I love you too.” she said before she watched him disappear through the portal. She knew he’d be back, and she knew he had to do what he needed. He was a god to many, after all. And she knew the life she had signed up for.

It was a dark and rainy day in Manehattan, Kalfu’s portal opened up behind the cafe that he had stopped in at a few months back. The stallion wasted no time in phasing through the locked back door and into the main area of the cafe, which was an absolute mess. The tables were flipped over, and the chairs were broken. The front windows had been shattered, and the smell of fresh blood was in the air. Kalfu stepped further into the cafe as he scanned the area carefully and precisely. His ears flicked a bit as he picked up on what sounded like shallowed breathing.

Kalfu silently but quickly made his way to the source to find Dusk Beam’s father lying behind the bar in a pool of blood, neck slit and multiple stab wounds all over his torso. Kalfu approached the barely living stallion and kneeled beside him, taking the raising, shaking hand into his and gripping it tightly “I…I am sorry, my friend. It seems..that whoever did this to you decided that it was your time…even though it wasn’t meant to be.” Kalfu said as he gave the stallion a sympathetic look.

The stallion gave a weak chuckle before shaking his head “It’s..it’s my own damn fault. I knew one day…my past would finally..catch up to me…” he said between coughing up blood. Kalfu placed a hand on his chest and shook his head “Your past may have caught up to you, but you did everything you could to make up for it. Your soul is worn and ragged..but it shines brightly like the sun. I…I am proud of the turnaround you have made in your life. And you shall live in paradise for eternity.” He said as he squeezed the stallion’s hand reassuredly

The stallion was confused for a moment, and this stranger looked somewhat familiar. It was then that a mental image of Kalfu’s former form flashed for a moment before he figured out who was here with him. “Aah, you were the one who came by to see us a few months…back. Good to see you, son…” he said as he coughed again “But..now that I am about to shuffle off this mortal coil, I suppose…you have come to take me then?” he asked, knowing in death who Kalfu really was now. Kalfu nodded solemnly in response.

“Heheheh, I had..a feeling you were the actual Voodoo King. I just didn’t want to..seem stupid in guessing. Hey..before I die..could I Make a deal with you? I will give you whatever you want, no questions asked.” he said with a weak, hopeful expression on his face as his grip began to weaken on Kalfu’s hand. Kalfu nodded in response. “Could..you please look after and protect my daughter in my stead? She is hidden in the back room and hasn’t come out...I told..her to..barricade herself in..there until I came and got her. Please…” he said as he coughed up more blood.

Kalfu could see that stallion’s soul starting to pull away from his body, his time was getting closer and closer. The voodoo man simply said this: “You will spend eternity in paradise, but you will also serve me at The Crossroads. You will do what you did in this life for an eternity and help me send souls on their way when they come through. Does that sound agreeable to you?” he asked. The stallion smiled weakly and nodded “I think..that sounds like..pretty sweet deal…for the safety of my…little girl…” he said as he slowly closed his eyes, feeling what little life he had left slipping from him. “I will…see you on the other side, my sweet Dusk Beam… Daddy loves you so…so much…” he said before his hand thumped to the floor, and his soul was sent to the other side. Kalfu stood up and placed his hat over his heart, giving the stallion a moment of silence. The deal was made, and he had to honor that deal.

Kalfu walked over to one of the fallen tables and picked up one of the fine silk clothes, making sure it was clean before placing it over the stallion’s body. His daughter didn’t need to see him like this. After that, Kalfu knocked on the door that led to the back room, calling out to Dusk Beam before phasing through the door to find the young mare huddled under the desk with a knife in her hand. Kalfu approached her slowly and kneeled down in front of her “Whoever was here, they are gone, my dear…” he said in a calming voice.

The mare slowly opened her eyes to gaze upon the stallion in front of her. But even in his new form, she knew who he was. A wave of relief fell over her face as she dropped the knife and jumped into his arms, the mare clinging tight to him. Kalfu gently placed a comforting hand on her back, as he knew he’d have to explain the sad news to this sweet girl. “And..my daddy? Is he..?” she asked with a hopeful gaze.

Kalfu lowered his head for a moment before shaking it slowly, a somber expression forming on his face “I am sorry, my dear…whoever did this to him made sure that he was taken from this world. It seems that the cards I pulled for you a while back came true after all.” he said as he saw the tears well up in her eyes before she began wailing in despair as she clung to him even tighter. The only thing Kalfu could do at this moment was hold her closely and let her cry and cry until she couldn’t anymore. While he had thousands of followers now, this single one needed him the most at this moment. Kalfu simply let her cry into his chest as he gently rocked her in their embrace, she needed this.

It wasn’t till a few days later that a funeral was being held for her father. All the family members and friends attended and said their piece while Kalfu stood in the back as he leaned against the wall with his head down as everyone got up on the podium. Soon enough, the funeral was moved to the graveyard to put the coffin into the ground. Kalfu noticed quite a few of the ponies whom Dusk Beam had mentioned came by the cafe who had past ties to her father before things got violent.

Thanks to her photographic memory, he was able to pick out the stallions from the crowd from the information that she had given him. When he was sure that no one was paying attention to those stallions, one by one, portals would open up and pull them down without so much as letting them scream out before they disappeared. He had plans for these assholes as he knew that these were merely grunts of the ponies who were ordered to kill both her father and Dusk Beam.

After he had made sure that the young mare had made it home safely, he made his way to a warehouse at the docks on the far eastern side of town where the ponies he had stolen from the funeral hung by their wrists from chains from the ceiling. Kalfu stepped out from the shadows with a hand in his pocket while the other tapped his cane as he walked. His glowing green eyes scanned the ponies, who had not yet noticed him until he came into the dim light that came through the windows of the warehouse.

“Good evening to you, boys. Enjoying my..accommodations?” he asked as he gave a wide sharp toothed smile. The stallions struggled in their binding before they started shouting at him to release them. “Do you know what you are dealing with here?!” shouted one of them as he caught Kalfu’s attention with that question. “No. But how about you enlighten me, mister?” he asked as he continued to slowly pace back and forth between the hanging ponies.

“We are part of the Manehattan Mafia! If you know what’s good for you, you will let go!” the stallion said as if Kalfu actually knew or cared what group he was part of. However, it did make sense. Either Dusk’s father used to be part of that gang, or when he was the leader of his own, they had some kind of unresolved conflict and decided to strike when he was most vulnerable and even went after his daughter.

Kalfu nodded a few times before responding with feigned fear “Oooh, the Manehattan Mafia, you say? So scary and original!” he taunted as he waved his hands mockingly. “Well then, mister mafioso, I am simply here to tell you to send your bosses a warning. If they continue to pursue Dusk Beam to end their life, I will be forced to step in and ‘remove them from the stage,’ so to speak. Do I need to make myself clear? Or do I need to carve that message into your flesh to make sure they get the message?” he asked as he partially unsheathed his cane sword, the metal glinting in the moonlight.

When the stallions saw that he had a rather sharp looking blade with him, they felt his threat wasn’t much of a threat at all.”Y-You won’t get away with this! Or the organization is massive! Even if you can kill our bosses, we have branches all over Equestria in all the major cities! The princess may run this country, but we run its underbelly!” he said confidently. Kalfu chuckled lowly before lifting into the air and placing the blunt end of his cane under the stallion’s chin “And I have thousands of followers himself. But, unlike your bosses, I don’t ask them to do my dirty work.”.

The stallion spits in Kalfu’s face, which Kalfu promptly wipes away before thwacking into the stallion’s jaw hard to the point where it was dislocated with the diamond end of his cane, the stallion cries out in pain before Kalfu rips his suit jacket and shirt off before pulling out the sword from his cane before carving a message into his chest and then making sure a nice and deep gash of his symbol on his back, all while the stallion cried out in pain as his legs kicked frantically and thrash about, the chains rattling as his fellow gang member watch on in horror at the display.

Once he had finished carving out his message, he snapped his fingers as he let the chain release the gang member from the height they were at, hearing the sound of bones being broken as their legs couldn’t handle the thirty foot drop. He revels in their pain before sending them elsewhere with some portals before sheathing his blade back into his cane after wiping the blood from its beautiful blade.

A few days went by, and nothing had come of Kalfu’s threat toward the Manehattan Mafia. He made sure that Dusk Beam was getting home safely from her cafe. Even though she no longer had her father to help her run it, she had to move on so she could make a living. And Kalfu admired that about her. While she was still grieving, she pushed ahead and did what she had to do. But she wasn’t totally alone in it all. Other family members and loyal patrons alike came by the cafe to help clean the place up and get it back in order, while others even stepped in to offer their help until she could find a couple of full time or even part time employees to help her. All seemed to be as well as it could be for someone who had just lost their father.

Little did Kalfu know that somewhere all the way in the more upscale part of the city, a group of well dressed and affluent mares and stallions sat at a conference table with one stallion at the head who was the most well dressed of them all. He sat there with a cigar between his fingers as he grumbled in annoyance “So, you come crawling back here without completing the job that you were given…and expect me to be okay with that?” he asked the crippled stallion who had the message carved into his body.

“Please, Don! There was nothing we could do! I don’t know how he did it, but he caught us by surprise! Not to mention he literally dropped us to the ground and broke our legs!” he said as he tried to make excuses for his failure. However, the mafia boss was not having it. He slammed his fist onto the table and growled “Take him to the junkyard and deal with him…now.” he simply ordered before a couple of stallions came up behind him and grabbed his arms before dragging him off as he screamed out, “Boss please! Don’t do this! Please!!!” he shouted as he was pulled away.

“So, this ‘Voodoo King’ wishes to threaten me, does he? Well then, I will have to put this fool in his place then and teach him the value of respecting his betters.” said the boss as he stood up and looked out the window down at the city.” Go and fetch the girl. And do it quickly. But keep her alive, I want to show that fool what happens when someone plays the game with me…”.

Author's Note

A nice little update for you all. I am excited to get this little arc under way.

May the darkness grant you peace.