It has been months since Aku had escaped Canterlot and left both the capital and Ponyville far behind. His clothing was worn and tattered along with a grey hooded cloak he had managed to steal off a clothesline from the outskirts of Ponyville while no one was looking. At this point in time, the man was simply drifting from place to place, stealing whatever food he could get and now literally feeding off the magic of others. Thankfully he hasn’t needed to consume all of the ponies’ magic he had come across, just enough to sustain his body. A small fraction was more than enough for him. It seems that while the magic rejects him completely, it satisfies his hunger for food when he can’t get any real food. Though, it is apparent that if someone saw all the scars from his injuries he had gotten from months prior, he’d be suspicious to anyone’s eyes.

As he walked along an old road, the wind started to pick up and the sky began to darken. It would seem that Ponyville was the only place he knew of that pegasi could control the weather while other places had weather that occurred naturally. With the scent of rain in the air, he sped up his pace and luckily came across what appeared to be an abandoned shack on the right side of the road. He made his way up to the door and swung it open before making his way in and looked around. The place seemed old and decrepit so he imagined no one was living here. He made his way over to the corner opposite of the door, opened up his travel bag he had stolen and pulled out a large blanket he wrapped around himself and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Aku opened his eyes and looked down at his hands and feet. Once again, his was in his school uniform from his highschool days and standing on the roof of his school. Judging by the light of the sun, it was just after three in the afternoon and it was a crisp clear autumn day. He looked over the railing down at all the students who had stayed for their after school clubs departing for the day. He closed his eyes as he heard footsteps approaching him from behind and knew who it was right away. The same princess of the night who had been following him in his dreams for the past few weeks now. “I told you before, I am not coming back. And I am not letting you know where I am.”. He said as he turned to see Luna in that form she took in the very first dream she shared with him. She frowned as she crossed her arms under her bust and gave a light ‘hmph’ before responding. “You know what you did was wrong. You took the life of another, and to add to that, you destroyed a part of the castle in your fit of rage.’.

Aku gritted his teeth and gave off a ‘tch’ before turning to her.”You can fuck right off, princess. It’s because of your subjects that I did what I did. You, your sister, everyone in that kingdom are nothing but a bunch of god damned hypocrites. And you are all going to get what’s coming to you soon enough. When something or someone with crazy powerful magic comes to claim you as their bitch, I won’t be there to clean up your mess. I have done my fair share of good in your kingdom. But it seems that it wasn’t any good. So stop trying to convince me to come back so you can just have me locked up or executed again. A life on the run is a life far better than one sitting in a cell rotting away. Now, get lost and stop invading my dreams.” he said as he stuck his hand in his pockets as he walked passed her, bumping his shoulder into her arm in the process.

“She misses you, you know.” Luna said as she still looked forward. Aku stopped for a moment and shook his head. “I don’t care. To be honest, I don’t care for anyone who cares for me in the place. Besides, her and her friends are far better off without me in their lives anyway. Everyone wins.” he makes his way to the door to the stairwell that lead back down to the ground floor. Once outside, he began walking home on instinct. “I believe you will return one day, there is still a part of you that cares for that shy, sweet pegasus who fell for you and was too afraid to tell you.”. Aku stopped again and balled his hands into fists “Go to hell. And stay out of my dreams.” he said as he forced himself awake. Just as he awoke, he saw someone in the corner of his eye reaching for his bag, with a quick and firm grip to the wrist, he squeezed tightly and heard a cry of a child coming from the figure. “Ow, that hurts! Let go!”. Aku stood up and pushed the smaller figure away and grabbed his bag before slinging it over his shoulder “Hey kid, watch who you steal from in the future. Anyone else and you would have lost that hand or worse. Go back to your parents.” he said as he made his way over to the door and outside of the building where two hood figures waited for him with daggers drawn.

“Oh look, the brat must be with you two. Look they are perfectly fine. I don’t want any trouble here alright?” From the look of things, one of them was male and the other was female. The male was a pony for sure, but the other had large wings, a lion tail, lion paws and talons on their hand.”Give use everything you got and we won’t kill you, got it?” said the female in a gruff voice. “No, Eva. All we want is their food. And any medicine if they can give it up.” Said the male pony who held his weapon tightly before turning his attention to Aku.”Look, we’d rather not have to spill blood or have ours spilled. We just need food for the little ones back at our refuge camp. And it is getting harder and harder for us to hunt and gather as of late. The kingdom has been hunting us down for a very long time and it has been making getting what we need hard.”. Aku looked back at the child who had run past him and went to hide behind their mother. At least that’s who he assumed she was.

“So, you are all on the run to huh? I bet your crime doesn’t compare to mine though.” he said as he lifted up his left hand which was bandaged up and removed them to reveal that pulsating magical tear in his flesh. The pony’s eyes widen under his hood as he staggers back while putting his arm in front of the gryphon woman who also starred in shock. “Y-You are the one called Aku...there is no mistaking that mark. You are the one who killed that corrupt judge and destroyed the trial room in the castle. Please..had we known it was you..w-we would have never-.” Aku raiosed his hand to stop them from speaking before reaching into his bag and tossing them whatever food he had in a smaller bag at their feet “It’s fine, you can have it. I will find another way to acquire food somehow. Your young ones need it more than I anyway.”.

Both the adults look down at the rather sizable bag of food and opened it up to find all kinds of tasty food in it, both for meat and plant eaters. They look over at him in shock before bowing their heads in thanks. “Thank you so much, sir. From the stories we heard, we thought they you were just a cruel and evil person.”. Aku tied his bag back up and placed it on his shoulder again “Cruelty is only a matter of perspective.” He said as he began to make his way onward. “Hey!” Shouted the male pony. “If..you got nowhere to go and are looking for a place to call home for a short while, I am sure the boss wouldn’t mind taking you in. Especially since it seems you can pull your own weight.”. Aku stopped and looked back at them both “You know who I am,and yet you invite me to come and possibly live in the same confines as you are your comrades?”. They both put away their blade as the pony walks up to him and offers a hand out while placing another on Aku’s shoulder “Hey, we welcome all creatures from all walks of life. In our tight little family, we don’t judge. So long as they follow the core rules set down by the boss, everyone is welcomed. Plus, I get this feeling that you are quite skilled at fighting. You don’t carry a weapon, so I assume you yourself are the weapon. I bet you could teach us a lot of what you know.”.

Later at the encampment, Aku walks in behind the three he had met out at the old house. Once he laid eyes on the place, it really did look like creatures of all times were living together in a peaceful co-existence. Children of different races were playing together pony or not. And the adults were gathered around fires or in their homes just relaxing. Seeing all this did spark a little bit of hope in Aku’s heart. Perhaps he could actually help these people with their food issues, maybe even more and more in due time. He would see how they truly viewed him for a little while though. From what he could tell, it looked like they were trying to build their own little village and possibly make their camp into something more permanent. As he got closer, all eyes were on him, the adults gave him an intense stare while the children looked on with curiosity in their wide eyes.

Once they all enter the slightly larger building that was at the back of the little camp, the male earth pony stood before a slightly larger and more muscular one. He was tall, orange first and dark blue hair mane and tall which were medium length and slightly wavy. He looked like he had a few battle scars of his own.as well. “Boss, you never believe who we came across while out hunting for food. Quite a lucky find if I say so myself. ANd he was generous enough to give us food even though it was all he had.”. The orange stallion looked over at Aku before arching a brow as he saw just who he was once he removed his hood “Aku the magic devourer, murderer of judge Stricthoof and fugitive from the law.”. The stallion looks back at the other “And he has the mark?” the other male nodded “Yes, he does. He showed it to us. That’s why I insisted he come with us. Said he’d be welcomed here for sure.”. The orange pony looked back to Aku and smiled, giving a hardy laugh before placing his hands on his hips “You know how famous you are around here? Everyone around here knows you as the ‘Corruption Killer’ and the ‘Magic Eater’. The whole kingdom is still out there looking for you and here you stand. Chasing you must be like chasing a ghost.”.

The stallion offered his hand to Aku before speaking”The name’s Iron Heart, a pleasure to me you, kiddo.”. Aku looked down at the hand that was offered before taking it and giving a firm handshake.”Aku. But, clearly you knew me already.”. Iron Heart nodded firmly before releasing Aku’s hand “well then, you are among friends here, Aku. And if you plan on staying with us, there are a few rules that ALL of us follow including me. First and foremost, we are a family here. So, that comes with its up as well as its down. But no matter what, we do NOT turn on each other. We work it out. Second, Killing others is a LAST resort. If we can get what we need without causing any kind of pain or grief, that is far more better. However, this rule doesn’t apply to invaders and those that wish to kill us. We fight to survive. And third, Should you leave our little family for any reason, make sure you come back and see us sometime and tell us all about your adventures. Got it?”. Aku looked the tall pony in the eyes, so deep in fact that his gaze was piercing the stallion's skull. He could see that he had his own issues with his past, but he had a big heart and not a hint of deceit was to be found. For the first time in a long time, Aku smiled and gave a nod to Iron Heart “I understand. And how about I make you a deal? I bring knowledge from my world, perhaps I can share it with the people who maintain and hold this little place together and we can make it a much larger and more fruitful place to live. Where everyone can be happy and not worry about what or who creatures are. I bet if we work at it hard enough, we could have our own city within a couple of years. Trade routes, food source, water source, everything and more than you could ever want. No corrupt nobles or judges or anything like that. Just a council and a leader. That leader being you of course. You seem to have this place in order, so I see no other candidate. All I ask in return...is that I have a place I can call home in this future society.”.

Iron Heart was speechless at the proposal, and the fact that Aku was willing to teach what he knew about his world to the creatures of this little encampment made the stallion more than happy to accept the deal. Perhaps their future society will be just as Aku said would be. And he wanted that for his people. “You got yourself a deal, kiddo. I got a feeling things are going to be getting better for all of us now that you are around. Welcome to the family!”.

-2 years later-

Aku awoke from slumber from a rather sizable bed from under a soft dark blue blanket. His door flung open and a young gryphon about the age of sixteen runs in and flings open the curtains with a smile on her face. She was dressed in a black and white gi with an orange belt around her waist and looked over at Aku fondly and bowed respectfully. “Wake up, Master! It’s about time for the morning lessons! I ran over to make sure that you didn’t sleep in this time!”. This little gryphon was actually the one who tried to steal his stuff two years ago. And now, the tomboyish gryphon was one of his now many students. The black and grey gryphon certainly filling out nicely as she grew older each day.

“Angel, how many times have I told you to not call me Master? I am your teacher. I would never ask my students to call me Master. It is too old fashioned. Now go back down stairs and do your drills with the others, I will be down in a bit.”. Angel nodded before running over and hugging Aku tightly “Okay, M-...tTeacher!”. Once Angel ahd left, Aku took a look outside of his window and smiled as he stared out over the small town that he and the citizens had created over the two years. Everything was so up to date and modern, like a quiet little town back in Japan, and his dojo and house stood on a small hill inside the town as well. “Hopefully...we can become even greater than this. But, it is certainly a start.” He said before getting ready for the day.

Author's Note

I just had the greatest idea for this story. I think you will all like it as it progresses. :D

May the darkness grant you peace.