//------------------------------// // Fear and Hatred Are Also Magic // Story: The New Boss // by Dash Attack //------------------------------// It is about ten-thirty when I see Steve step out of the bathroom with his sunglasses on.  He has been in there for nearly an hour.  During that time, I could have sworn that I had heard him talking to himself.           I am sitting down, watching the news, when he walked over to me. “I know what I have to do now,” he said calmly.  “You don’t have to fear me anymore.  I have myself under control now.  Still, I think you will sleep better if I’m not here.  There’s something I need to take care of.  If am still alive tomorrow, I will find a way to help you guys out.” I look up at him curiously.  The expression on his face looks like nothing I’ve seen on him. Normally he just acts like a smart ass.  Now, he looks like a completely different person.  Though I still can’t see his eyes, the lack of emotion on his face suggests that he is in a serious state of mind. Is this still even the same person? My mind races back to last night at the party.  I wasn’t entirely sober at the time, but I remember our little chat at balcony just before I had him over the edge.  He told me about his father, how he despised him; how he knew with absolute certainty that he was responsible for the death of his mom; how up until her disappearance, he had loved him whole-heartedly, but now resented him with every fiber of his being. I realise now that there was a side to Steve that I never really saw before, or at least a side that he never liked to show much.  Behind the snarky mob son with an attitude, there was pain and sorrow intermingled with the the hard attitude he always displayed.  How long had he been hiding it from me, from all of us?  Was his rebellious attitude just a facade to hide the man I saw before me, or was it something else entirely?  Whatever it was, right now he looks like a soldier ready for war.         “What’s happening to you man?  Is that still you in there Steve?” A wide, slightly manic grin appears on his face.  “The answer is yes and no, for  apparently, my name isn’t really Steve.  Just like your name isn’t really David and your brother’s name really isn’t Rudy.  It never was.”         “What are you talking about? If your name isn’t Steve then what is it?”         I swear he better not say what I think he’s going to say.     He puts his hands on my solder. “It’s Sombra, David.  King Sombra.  I didn’t know it until now, but I am the evil king from your girly TV show.  I always have been.  That’s why people have always feared me.  That’s why so many people hated me in school.  Because I am fear and hate personified.  My life finally makes sense now.  The way Father looks at me, the way the kids in high school looked at me, the reason why I bought Pretty Pretty Princess.”         “You did what now?” I say.     “I was five and stupid.  What I meant to say was that that’s why I like diamonds so much.  The Sombra in the show had some weird crystal fetish, right?  Well, that’s why I’ve hoarded gems all my life.  I might have been born into a new world, but I am still the same pony.” I back away from him. “Did you just call yourself a pony?  Now I know you're not Steve.”     The longer I speak to him, the more I notice how wide his grin is becoming.  Butterflies begin to form in my stomach as the being I once called my friend smirks. “I am still Steve, David.  Because Sombra and Steve are one in the same.  You will come to realize this in time.  Look I’m not happy about it.  It’s really tough, finding out that your whole life was a big fat lie, that your human body was never meant for your soul, and is now being reconstructed to better resemble the pony you were meant to be all along.  Well the good part about it soon I’m going to have unimaginable power?  I bet I’ll even be able to turn myself into that shadow monster from the episode.  Man that’s going to be cool.” I brush his hand off of my shoulder, grab him with both of my hands, and lift him up against the wall.  He just smiles at me.  “You’ve lost your fucking mind Steve.  Equestria doesn’t exist!  MLP ponies don’t exist!  And you are not Sombra!  You are only taking his appearance, because the real one doesn’t exist!”          While I do my best to sound intimidating, I don’t think I faze Steve in the slightest.  All he does is laugh at me as he starts to take off his sun glasses.  I look into his eyes.  They look just like every drawing on Deviantart.  Green night pours out of his eyes, and his red irises continue to leak purple smoke.  They remind me of all the fanart of Sombra that appeared over the years.  I’m frightened to know end at how shockingly similar they had become. They made him look like pure evil. He stops laughing and looks me straight into my golden brown eyes.  His smile droops down a bit.  His expression starts to look a little bit sad. “I won’t deny that I must sound and look like a madman to you.  Or I should probably just start saying mad pony?  I’m gonna have to except it eventually.  I can’t continue lying to myself, saying that I’m still a human.  A part of me doesn’t want to believe it, but how else do I explain all this madness?”   He reaches into his pants and pulls his tail out. I watch has sways back-and-forth like a pendulum. “But it’s the truth.  Discord banished the Mane Six and several other ponies to this planet.  The only reason I know is because I was smart enough to cast some echo spell on myself.  That’s why I was hearing voices.  The pony I was before I lost my memory was trying to preserve himself.  Anypony in Equestria would want to make sure their identity wasn’t altered or replaced.  Little did my echo know that he really didn't need to work all that hard.  I’m still the same pony deep inside. I am furious at him.  Everything he said was absurd. Then again, could anything that had happened to us today be considered normal or logical?  Maybe Steve really was Sombra, and maybe I was Thunderlane.  I think Thunder was a weather pony, and I’ve always been good with the weather.  Before I got in the mob, I wanted to be a meteorologist.  That dream fell under after I put a hit on the wacko that killed my folks.  I didn’t have the money, so I had to pay my debt through work. Another smile appears on his face, but this one isn’t sinister.  This one is sincere, and almost happy.  Yet at the same time, I see a blood-red tear drip across his face. I guess practicing dark magic makes you cry blood.  Go figure. “You better let me go before I make you.  I am still your best friend David, which means you and your brother will be forever under my protection.  What came over me today was an echo of the ruthless fearmonger I used be.  While I’m most likely still a ruthless tyrant deep down, I’m not ready to throw away my humanity.  At least not yet.  I promise that there will be no more needless killing; and by needless, I mean random people going to the bank.”   “However, before this is all over, people are going to die.  No pony ever got into power without getting their hooves a little dirty.  I am in complete control of my thoughts and my actions, even though I’m probably sounding like a space alien right now.  Plus, my horn going to grow back in about two minutes, which should give me enough magic to make you fall asleep for about six or seven hours.  You are going to either accept this situation for what it is, or struggle in vain.  Because either way, you can’t stop me.” “Stop you from what exactly?” “It’s about time my father paid for what he did to Mom.  I’m going to peer into his mind and find out how he did it.  Once that’s done, he’s history.  I’m going to to make him suffer.” I look at him and see something starting to push out Steve’s skull.  Actually, it isn’t pushing out, it looks more like it is growing off of his forehead.  It looks almost like a red tooth. It stops about halfway out, but I can tell that it is an early version of Sombra’s blood red horn.           This is bad.  I need to find a way to calm him down before he does something stupid.         I let go of him and back away. “Listen Steve, I’d imagine that what you’re going through is a lot more difficult than what me and my brother are experiencing, but you can’t do this.  Please just try and calm down.  You don’t even know how to use magic.  You’re probably aren’t even powerful enough to do whatever crazy shit you’ve got planned.” “But don’t you see.  If I take down Dad, Antonio will never have worry about getting sucked into the mob, and you will be free of your debt.  I might be a bad pony, but my human father is a horrible person who doesn’t even deserve to live.  Trust me, I’ll be doing humanity a favor by getting rid of him.” I never knew he hated his Dad that much, all because he is convinced that his dad was the one that had killed his Mom.  Then again, am I any better?  I put out a hit on my parents’ killer and ended up ruining six years of my life. Sure I got to live a dangerous life, hang around a nice mansion, and drink when I wasn’t needed. But to do that, I had shed blood.  They were common street scum, but truth be told, they probably weren’t that different from me.  Did they have younger siblings?, Were they drafted into street crime out of circumstance, or did they just make a bad decision like me? I realize David is right. This could be a chance for me to start over.  It sounds like he was losing it big time, but for now, it seems that  he has no intention of harming me or Rudy.  But can I let him go on this little crusade of his alone?  I need to stop him.         “I don’t care who you’re turning into Steve, but I can’t let you take him on on your own. You’re going to get yourself kil-”         I freeze as I see the tiny curved horn on his head glow green laced with bits of purple electricity. “David, I think it’s time you went to sleep.” The room flashes for a minute and I begin to feel drowsy. “Please... Steve... you don’t have to become...” My body begins to walk towards the couch,  as a mysterious force guides me.  I figure he’s using a weak telekinesis spell to stop my body from falling.  For a mob boss’ son turned saturday morning cartoon villain, he really is a nice guy.  As I feel my body touch the cushions, I silently pray that the Steve I knew is still there. -----         I know it had to be done, but I feel really bad about what I did to David.  It’s probably better this way though.     I still can’t believe what I have done.  I thought that even with the help of my echo, I would still have difficulty with magic.  Oh, how wrong I was!  I never thought magic would be this easy.  Putting David to sleep felt just as natural to me as thinking.  In fact, that’s exactly all that I had had to do.  And to think that I’m only going to get stronger as time goes on. I turn to face David’s closet and draw my attention towards the door knob.  I begin to channel magical energy into my horn and immediately feel it course through my entire body.  From the tips of my fingers and the ends of of my toes, magic travels through my body like a reverse waterfall all the way to my horn.  I stretch out my hand and focus my energy on the doorknob.  I smile in as the door is enveloped by a green aura with hints of purple electricity.  I turn the knob with my mind and pull my hand back and imagine myself moving the door with the Force.  I watch in amazement as the door swings open.   “Oh snap!  That was so freaking sweet.  Now let’s see that have levitation under control, teach me how to alter some of these clothes.” The voice which I have named Echo spoke. “Why bother? I predict that in about thirty two hours, your human form will be complete altered.  For now, my advice is to pick a disguise that can hide your equine features from human populace.”         I sigh in agreement and begin to levitate several articles of clothing in front of me. -------- It is a half past midnight when I finally  arrive at the warehouse.  I didn’t feel like stealing anything else from David’s, so I decided to “hoof it” as they would say back in my old world. I’m wearing a black spring jacket and a large fedora hat that David bought for last years Halloween party.  The hat did an excellent job of helping of hiding my pony ear’s and horn, but my black mane did attract some attention from onlookers.  Besides that, my trip here went perfectly. Crouched behind some bushes, and toss my sunglasses away.  I wasn’t planning on ever using them again after this.  Once they're gone, I remove my hat so that so it wouldn’t interfere with my spell casting.  I wasn't sure if having it on would affect my magic, but I figure I better not risk it.  Besides, my inhuman attributes will help me to strike fear into the hearts of my enemies. I peek my head from behind the bushes.  I can see my car parked on the close by.  There is only one guard outside the building. Since this place was such a well kept secret, it didn’t make sense to have a hell  of a lot of security at night.  Tonight however, most of Dad’s boys are probably out looking for me.  I should be able to take this sucker down, as and any other poor-soul inside with little to no effort.  This will be my warm up for the battle to come. I pick up a rock with my magic and aim it at the the light on the outside of the warehouse.  I hurl it like a olympic and watch it fly towards the light.  Not only does it smash the light,  but it rebounds and hits the guard in the head.  He stumbles to the ground and drops his gun. That worked out better than expected.  I jump out of the bushes and run towards him.  Unfortunately he gets up faster than I thought he would.  I see his hand reach for the gun.  Without even thinking, my horn lights up and a small stream of magic shoots out.  I watch as the mans right hand is turned to stone.         “Damn,” I think to myself. “Echo, you have to teach me how I did that.”         “Later fool!  He still has a left hand.” I snap back to attention and kick the gun away just as his left hand is about to touch it.  I then kick him right in the face and watch him fall unconscious.         “Ok he’s out.  Can you tell me how to undo that stone spell?  If I don’t undo it, he’ll be stuck here.”         “I thought your fathers men were expendable.”     “I thought I told you I was the one calling the shots.  Your job is to help me relearn how to be a pony.  How and what I do with my power is up to me.  Don’t worry, I have plans for the survivors.  That’s why I need to make sure most of them stay alive.  That is, if it can be helped.”         Echo runs me through the counterspell, and I turn the man’s stone hand back into flesh.         I pick up his handgun and run to the door. I pick the lock with my magic and sep inside.  As I do I see two very surprised faces which I immediately recognise.  One of them belongs to the bald headed Joe.  The other is the man in charge of warehouse: Vincent, or Viney the Caretaker as we all called him. They both draw their gun’s and point them towards me.  They are both shaking as I step closer into the light and expose my features. “Is that him?” shouts a panicked Viney.  “That shit ain't natural.  I thought you said it was just his eyes and hair that changed.” “Yep that’s him, one doesn’t forget eyes like that and... sweet mother of God... That fucking fur on his ears?” My inner villain emerges as I do the most intimidating laugh I can muster.  I must have done to much of a good job because it was enough to make Viney fire a warning shot.  That was a really stupid idea, seeing as there was enough gun power in this building to take out five city buildings in one blast.  Luckily that didn’t happen.         “What’s wrong with my eyes?  Don’t they go good with my horn?”          Their eyes start to bug out as they take notice of the red bump on my head. “Ok that was not there this afternoon.  Listen Steven, if you're in there, come with us.  Your father put a hit on you after I told him what you did.  He didn’t believe me when I said you were possessed by the devil.  Listen, if you come with me, I can get you exorcised by father Mario.” I laugh.  “I’m not possessed fool!  I don’t need a man of God!  Pretty soon, I’m going to become one.”         “What the fuck are you?!”  Shouts a hysterical Vincent. I decide to take my new persona to the next level, if only to see how they will react. “I am King Sombra reborn.  I was banished to this world and forced to live the life of a human.  Now the spell which brought my soul here is wearing off, and my body is reverting back.” “But what are you?”  Shouts Joe. I sigh and as my eyes sag down in annoyance.  “I’m a fucking My Little Pony villain who was born 17 years before my episode aired on TV.  Yeah, its lame, but at least I have super powers now.  I’ll give you a moment to laugh, but only a moment.” Sure enough, they begin to laugh at me.  “Are you serious?” asks Joe. “Man, you must have been digging your hands into the coke shipments or something.  Here I thought you were turning into the antichrist, but My Little Pony?  Yeah, I’m not buying that.  Even if that were true, that’s not threatening.  What are you going to, care-stare us?”         “That’s the wrong show you mouron.  Weren’t you an 80’s kid?  How could you get that mixed up?”  I smile, “Either way, your moment’s up.”  I extend my magic and levitate two M16s.  I make both of them fly toward both of their heads, flicking off both of the safeties when the guns get to point blank range.  “Now drop your weapons.” They quickly go silent and toss both of their guns towards me.         “Thank you.  I hope to have you both on my side when you wake up.” As they stare at me in confusion, I flip the guns around with my magic and slam the the ends of them into their heads.  I think  I might have hit Joe a little bit too hard because his bald head won’t stop bleeding.  If it turns out I killed him, I will feel no remorse.  I know he wasn’t really going to get me exorcised anyway.  He just wanted to kill me nice and easy. I stand up and stare at all the high tech weaponry.  I won’t need much, for I am sure my magic will take care of most of the hard work.  However, a little extra firepower can’t hurt me.  I’m not so sure about everyone else though.         Echo begins to speak to me in my head again.           “A wonderful display of magic.  You're becoming quite the natural.  Looks like Discord’s spell didn’t erase our memory completely.  I know you are eager to rush over to kill your father right away, but I’d wait t’ill tomorrow.  Your special talent is still hasn’t fully emerged.”         “What’s that?”         “Everypony is born with a unique talent.  It is up to them to discover it.  Once discovered, a cutie mark appears on  his or her flank to symbolise that talent.  Ours is a purple diamond, which symbolises our love for crystals, but also our talent for dark magic. So far, the spells you have cast have been simple  unicorn tricks.  Once your special talent emerges, you will become one of the most powerful beings on this plant.” “I don’t know, I just took out three armed men without even firing a single shot.  I think all I’ll need is this fire power and a shield spell and I’ll be just fine.” On the other hand, I am feeling really exhausted.  This has been the craziest day of my life.  I think I’ll just steal Joe’s car and find a safe place to sleep.  I want to be fully awake for when I single handedly take down the Chicago mob. I take Joe’s, who I’m certain is dead at this point, car keys.  I couldn’t take my car because my Dad would have it shot on sight.  So I decided I was going to use Joe’s instead.  I  begin lifting whatever equipment I might need for my raid tomorrow with magic.  Once all of my supplies are in the trunk I drive off. “Don’t worry Mom,” I say out loud  to myself, “Tomorrow, I’m going to make that son of bitch pay.” ---------         “David you have to wake up now? Look at your feet.” I squint my eyes as I try and wake and stare at my hooves.  I turn my head to face Rumble  but I immediately do a double take. I had freaking hooves.  Not only that, but their was a little bit of black fur running up my legs. “Thunder,” ask Rudy. “Why are you sleeping on the couch?  And where’s Steve?” I slowly get up and rub my head.  I recalled the events of last night.  Steve told me he was the reincarnation of Sombra, and that me and my brother were the real Thunderlane and Rumble.  He was planning on killing his own father using unicorn magic, which he apparently had now.  He was in danger.         “I need to find Som-, I mean Steve right away.  Can you please tell me what else has changed before I head out.  I can’t let anyone outside see me.”         “Well, the only thing I could stomach for breakfast were the veggies so I think our diets have changed. Also both of our teeth have changed too. And there's one more change I notice when I went to the bathroom this morning.  I’ll let you discover that one for yourself.”         Boy thats going to be interesting.  I guess that explains why my pants felt so tight.         “Ok nothing a pair of boots can’t -”         Both Rudy and I jumped as we heard the sound of a breaking door outside.         I ran to my closet and put on a baseball cap and some boots.  I rushed to the my apartment door and opened it.  Someone had smashed straight through my neighbor Jessica’s door.  My pony ears picked up banging from inside.         Oh man what could have happened?         I run in there and my nostrils immediately picked up a smell I was all too familiar with.  It was the scent of sweat, pleasure, and guilty pleasure, and lot’s of it judging how powerful the smell was. My pants started to feel a tad tighter, but I was able to keep myself under control.  There would be a time for that later, and now was definitely not the time. “PLEASE HELP ME!” shouted a voice from a closed door with a chair resting on the doorknob.  It was definitely Jessica’s voice. “Jessica is that you.  Don’t worry it’s your neighbor, David.  I’ll get you out of there.” I run to the door and removed the chair.  I watch as Jessica get’s her self runs out. She is wearing her nurses uniform, reaches of the same smell that was pouring out from her bedroom down the hall. “Jessica.” I say within worried tone. “What happened? Did some do somthing to you? Were you attacked?” She pushes me away and runs out into the apartment hallway. “Even, be a good little horse and get your ass back here.  I need you.” I watch her run back inside and she run’s over to me. “David, did you happen to see as strong muscular man with a golden horse tail sticking out.  Please tell me he’s still in the building.  I can’t be complete without him.” “So there's someone else.” “Someone else what are yo-” She cut herself off as I watch her eyes start to travel down. It looks like she’s fixated on something behind me.  I turn around in horror to see that I had forgotten about the the hole I made for my horse tail yesterday.  It was completely and exposed.  Look back at Jessica and try to explain but she takes me and hold me to the wall.         She starts licking my face and kissing me passionately.  Normally I would find this situation beyond sexy, but I knew that what she was doing was beyond creepy. I push her away and she growls at me like a lion. She stretches out her hands as if they were claws.         “I was too careless with Evan. I won’t be with you.  You were always such a stud David.  But now you are a fucking animal!”         She stretches both her hands out and ushers me to come closer.  “Come here and give moma some suger cubes horsy.”         “What the fuck is wrong with you lady.  Listen, me and my little brother-”         “Oh my god, is he a horse too?  Oh my god, this this is making so fucking hor-”         Before she could finish her sick demented thought, I charge and punch the demented bitch straight in the jaw with lightning reflexes. She slides down the wall and falls unconscious. I didn’t think I could even move that fast. She could touch me all she wanted and I’d happily let her, but there was no way in hell I would let her psychotic ass near my brother.         I run out of her apartment and run back to mine.  It wouldn’t be long before the other tenants come to investigate what happened.  I needed to get my brother and run.         “Rumble! Rudy! Come on we're leaving.  Grab my phone phone and my car keys now.”         “David what’s going-”         “Now Damnit! I’m sorry but we have to go now!”         I almost never shout at my brother, and I most certainly never curse at him ever.  The fact that I did made Rudy know that the situation was serious. He get’s my thing in a nick of time as I start to hear footsteps in the hall.         I grab his hand and run.         One of my neighbour tries to grab me, but I am too fast for him. I dash past him before he can even lay a hand on me.  I rush down the stairs while Rudy hangs onto my hand for dear life.  We breaks through the lobby and head towards the parking lot.  There are several people who can see are equine features, but it was too late worry about that.  We needed to go now.         We make it to my care and open up all the doors.  I hope into the driver seat while Rudy get’s into the back.         “Buckle up Rudy. Things are going to get a little bumpy.”         I start the ignition and back out. Then I slam the gas drive and high tail it out of there.         We drive for a bit until I think it’s safe before parking into a McDonalds.         I pick up my phone and call one of my friends currently on duty in the mansion.          “Hello David, how are you feeling today?”          “Luigi, are you at the mansion?” “Yeah. Though the couple of the boys are away. I’m not sure if you heard this but the boss put at hit out on Stev-AHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Luigi is cut off by the sound of an explosion and his own high pitched scream.  Before the phone goes dead, I think I can hear the sounds of gunfire. Looks like it was too late to help Steve. If I didn’t have Rudy with me, I probably rush over there and help him.  My only hope was that he would survive whatever he’s pulling off. That, and that the bull he spouted last night about being the actual King Sombra was just bull and nothing more.