It was a nice cool autumn’s day in Kyoto, Japan. The color of fall decorating the roads and sidewalks with the oranges, browns and yellows of the leaves that had fallen off the trees. The sound of people walking along the city streets and students exploring the city on their school field trips. In this town, there was a nice little restaurant that was quite famous for its wonderful taste and its generous portions. The ‘Big Bowl Ramen’ as it was properly named, was bustling with both tourists and locals alike. Be it regular or newcomers, the staff treated everyone like they were family.

Oh of their chefs and the owners’ son, Aku Muasboru was in the back preparing one of his own signature bowls which he named ‘Dragon’s Fire Ramen’. At its base, it was a garlic pork roast ramen, but he added his own spin on it. Some habanero sauce and a few drops of ghost pepper extract. This particular bowl was ordered by only the most daring of customers or those who had a love of all things hot and spicy.

“Hey, kiddo! You got that crazy concoction of yours ready yet?! We got a new victim ready for it!”

Aku laughed lightly as he picked up the bowl and sets it on the serving tray along with a new set of chopsticks. He makes his way over to the waiter who had called him out. He even put a glass of ice cold milk on the side which was part of the meal should the spiciness of it become too much for the customer.

“Who’s the challenger this time?”

Aku asked in is low, soft spoken voice. The waiter took the serving plate and pointed to a girl who looked about twelve years of age sitting with her parents who were kindly waiting to eat while her own ramen was on the way. Aku’s eyes widened a bit as he walked over with the waiter

“Her? A little thing like her may not be able to handle all that fire in her belly let alone mouth. I just might stay and watch..”

As the waiter sat the bowl in front of the girl, Aku looked down at her with a mixture of curiosity and concern on his face. He leaned down and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. Her parents watching him as if what she had in front of her was going to melt her through her core.

“Now, if it is too hot, you don’t have to finish it. Not many can stomach this bowl because of its spiciness. I am sure your parents told you about it?”

His gaze turns up to the parents who nodded multiple times. Then his gaze fell back to her who was also nodding. She even knew what the milk was for. With that, he backs away and simply watched as she took the first bunch of noodles into her chopsticks. She took a few bites..then more...then more! SHe was downing the entire bowl within minutes and even drank down ALL the broth! Aku stood there in amazement as this petite girl ate down the whole bowl in which full grown men cried as they ate it! Aku was in absolute awe at how this didn’t faze the girl one bit. Evben her parents watched with jaws dropped.

“Oh my God...her stomach must be made with reinforced steel or something...that was awesome! None of our customers have been able to eat like that before! The only one who can survive that bowl is it’s creator!”

“Is here here? I’d like to give my compliments to the amazing chef!”

The girl said with a happy expression on her face. Aku was still in disbelief before he came to his senses. He points to himself as the creator of the diabolical bowl. As the girl looked up at him, she took a closer look at his face and gasped loudly before jumping up and hugging him tightly.

“Oh my God oh my God! You are Kyoto’s eating contest champion five years running! I am such a huge fan! I have been studying your methods ever since I saw you when I was at one of the festivals with my uncle was I was younger!”

Aku blinks a few times before lightly patting her back and smiling down at her with a slight blush on his face. Never had he actually met a fan as young as her before and one who was so happy to actually meet him. He never really thought it was a big deal. It was free food. So he entered every time he got the chance.

“I can see you took my methods to heart. You handled that ramen like it was straight water. Keep it up and you may even out eat me some day. Just make sure to stay in shape when eating so much though. For example, I am in martial arts. A good way to stay active.”

“Mhm! And I run track at school and I have my own running route around my neighbourhood.”

“Thatta girl~.”

“So um..can I have your autograph…? Please?”

She looked up at him with pleading eyes. He looked to her parents who smiled at him with a nod. He then smiles down at her as the waiter shook his head but wasn’t upset or anything. He hands off the notepad and pen to Aku who then begins to write out a nice little message and then his signature.

“You got quite the fan base don’t you, kiddo?”

“Honestly, I never even knew I had any fans. It’s not like it’s a major sport or anything. But, it is pretty neat that I have folks who enjoy watching me stuff my face I suppose.”

They both laughed at that and he handed the girl the piece of paper. She suddenly dragged him down with her arm around her neck and grabbed her phone and took a selfie picture with him before hugging him once more. She held the piece of paper close to her chest as she bounced on her heels.

“Thank you, mister Masuboru! Thank you so so much!”

Her father and mother smile, happy to see that their daughter got to meet someone she idolizes. Aku nodded in return before heading back into the kitchen to get back to work. That was enough attention for one day.

Closing time came around. Once he had finished cleaning and locking the place up for his father, he went on to his own home. A nice little condo that he had purchased with the winnings that he had earned and saved over the last few years from other eating contest he had competed in. Once home, he locks his door and tosses his keys on top of the kitchen counter and flops onto his bed, not even getting out of his clothes before hand. He curls up and pulls his memory foam pillow in his arms and legs, drifting off into sleep after another busy day.

Aku opens his eyes to find himself floating in a sea of blackness and stars all around him with galaxies further in the background. He blinks a few times before floating in an upright position and turns around to look at where he was exactly. So many vivid colors of shooting stars flew by him ever so often.

“.....That god damned taiyaki vendor...I am gonna kick his ass if this is because of some kind of bad filling he used.”

A low laughter came from the void, it sounded..somewhat sinister, but not very threatening. Aku looks around over and over to see where the voice was coming from before sighing. He crosses his arms as he continues to drift about.

“Yep, definitely kicking his ass…”

“Oh, you won’t be returning to your world, my friend. You are part of a fun little plan I have for my world. Those two princesses will regret destroying me once I unleash you upon the world~. Ehuehuehuehueeeee~’

“Alright, I have no idea who you are, but seriously. Even if this is a bad dream caused by some bad taiyaki filling, what makes you think I’d do anything for a strange disembodied voice out in the middle of nowhere of space?”

“Ohohohoho. You don’t have a choice in the material my human friend. See, as the master of chaos, I can make anything happen when and how I want it to. And once you are in that world, whatever that thing is inside you will awaken, and bring havoc to all those pathetic ponies. Have fuuuuun!”

Aku heard a finger snap as the dark void flashed with white light. He suddenly had the sensation of falling, and falling fast. He starts flailing his arms and legs as he looks down to see he was coming upon land.

“Oh fuuuuck meeeeeee!!! Fuckfuckfuckfuck!”

He shouted at the top of his lungs as the ground came closer and closer to him. Just as he was five feet from the ground, he suddenly stops, before dropping to the ground and landing with a groan of pain. He slowly rolled over and stared up at the sky as he laid in the grass with a rather unamused look on his face.

“That..didn’t feel to good..wait. I FELT that?!”

He quickly sits up and looks around his surroundings. He took notice that he was in a grassy field,then he looked up at the sky. Everything looked like it was out of some kind of children’s cartoon show that one would see either early in the morning or after school in the afternoon. He stands up and dusts his clothes off as he makes his way into the direction of what he could make out was a road. All he could really do at this point was to pick a direction to go. And the one that led into the forest didn’t really seem appealing to him. So he headed the other way. After a few minutes of walking, he came upon what looked to be a farm. It had the large red and white barn and white fence like a farm normally would have. What wasn’t normal was the orange farm pony that was walking on two legs and had a more humanoid figure rather than a normal equine one. She had hooves, but everything else about her was near human except her head and face. Just what the hell kind of world did he end up in?! The mare was dressed up in a cut flannel red and black shirt with denim bluejeans that had holes here and there on them. All packaged together with a brown stetson hat that rested upon her golden mane. She must have heard him coming as she turned to face Aku and greeted him with a warm welcome.

“Well, howdy there, stranger. Don’t think I have ever seen your kind ‘round here before. You look pretty lost. Anything I can do tuh help you?”

Aku was a bit at a loss for words. He was indeed lost in more ways than just directional. The farm mare approached him slowly as she continued to watch him gaze around in confusion. She reached out to him just a little.

“Sugarcube? You gonna be alright?”

“I...I don’t know. I just ended up in a field down the road and..here I am walking down the road of some kind of-’

He suddenly felt something come alive inside of him. A glowing beam of black and light energy suddenly shoots from out of the farm pony’s chest and flows directly into Aku’s mouth. The mare cries out in pain and falls to the ground. Aku struggles to pull away from the beam as the magic flowed into his mouth and into his stomach.

“W-What are you doin’?! Stop!!!”

“I-I am trying! I can’t pull away!”

Under her clothing, her cutie mark that rested on her hip was slowly blinking in and out of existence as the magic she had inside of her was being drained. Aku finish snapped his mouth closed before a snapping sound was heard, the flow severing and leaving her cutie mark just barely visible. All the commotion brought the attention of two more ponies who saw their sister on the ground in pain and some stranger in front of her. Immediately, the large red one charged forth with anger on his face. Aku tried his best to make sure the mare was alright, but suddenly was rammed into by the hulking red pony which sent him flying back and rolling a few feet.

“What do you think your doing’?! That’s my sister, you son of a bitch! What did you do to her?!”

The big red pony grabbed Aku by his shirt and lifted him up in the air by his collar. Aku was still in a daze from both the tackle and the magic that he had just consumed. And as if a new meal was present before him, the flow of magic started once more from the pony’s chest right into Aku’s mouth. The stallion drops to the ground in pain and the struggle begins once more.

“Mac, get away from him!”

The mare called out to her brother. Crawling over to him to try and pry the connection apart while Aku struggled on his end once more. And same as before, as he bit down, the snap sound was heard as if a thick rope had finally given in. All Aku could do was scoot back in horror at what he had done and covered his mouth with his hand. He quickly got to his feet and ran past the group of ponies, a smaller yellow one joining the group as he took off. He runs as fast as he can, even tripping over himself a few times before he finds a huge rock to hide behind. Once the adrenaline had finally wore off from his experience, he started to feel the pain in his side where he had been rammed and tossed to the ground. He slowly slides down with his back against the rock and groaned in pain.

“What in the fresh hell is going on here..? And what did I just eat? It wasn’t food...but it tasted...good. It was like...something of a light and sweet flavor.it reminded me of pancakes with fresh maple syrup and butter with apple juice as the beverage..”

After having rested a bit, he looks in the distance to see a lone house and what appeared to be a grey half cloak hanging from its clothes line. He quietly sneaks up and takes it without its owner catching him. He goes back behind the rock and wraps the fabric around his shoulder and the lower half of his face, turning it into a shroud. Perhaps if he kept his mouth covered like this, whatever was going on wasn’t going to happen again. Of course, he was taking this logic from an old video game he played back when he was younger. As he was looking from out behind the rock to make sure he was clear, he turns back to see a cyan blue mare with a rainbow mane and tail and wings on her back with a look of suspicion on her face.

“What’s with the face cover, buddy? Planning to do something you’ll regret?”

Aku sighed.

“Sadly I have already done something I regret. And I don’t know how to fix it.”

“Hey, lemme see your face.”

She said as she reached for the shroud, he quickly pushed her away from him and shook his head.

“No!”

“Hey, come back here!”

He shouted before running off again. Though he got far, it wasn’t long until he was tackled to the ground by the mare. They both wrestled around on the ground, fighting to get on top of each other. The mare continued to try and grab at the shroud but he kept struggling too much to let it happen.

“Get..off me!”

She shouted as he finally got a foot underneath and kicked her in her chest off of him and quickly took to his feet again and ran as fast as he could. However, he was soon stopped and surrounded by armored guards who had been reported to about his presence. They had spears and swords drawn on him ready to attack at a moment’s notice. All he could do was sigh and raised his hands up and surrender. The guard in charge approached him and looked him over before nodding.

“Yep, this is the one. Though he seems to have his face covered. Remove the shroud from him.”

“Uh sir. Perhaps it wouldn’t be best to do so. The farm ponies who reported him said that he consumes magic if his mouth isn’t covered. Perhaps he uses that to prevent it from happening?”

The captain looks at him as he watched Aku nod in response. He nods back and takes the irons from his utility belt and claps them around his wrists. He then motions his men around Aku leads them to the local guard house.

“Comply with us and we can figure out what is going on. Something tells me you are just as lost as we are with this whole…’magic stealing’ business.”

“To be honest, sir. I don’t even know where the hell I am or how it was even possible for me to get here. Let alone how I am able to eat...what was it you called it? Magic? Magic isn’t even real where I come from...geez”

All Aku thought to himself that for now, it was best to comply. Best to avoid any premature execution for now to be sure.

Author's Note

For those who are wondering. He gets no special abilities or anything with the magic he consumes except when it discharges. And that's not under his control. The only thing he has going for him is being fit and martial arts. That's it. And no, his sclera isn't black at this point yet as he hasn't consumed any evil. That'll be at a later date.

May the darkness grant you peace.