Another day in Ponyville comes around as Aku wakes up and does his usual morning rituals of a shower and brushing his teeth. He has been getting up earlier than Twilight so that she didn’t have to worry about walking in on him like she had accidentally done a few times ever since he started living with her. After he gets done with getting dressed, he makes his way outside to see the shops opening up for the day and the other townsfolk going about their day. Aku didn’t have any plans for the day, so he figured a nice little walk would do him some good to get his day going. Things between him and the other ponies seemed to have finally reached neutral ground since they weren’t giving him death glares left and right. Even some of the younger ones seemed to have warmed up to him, especially the ones he had saved that one night.

As he ventured around town, a pink blur zoomed out of nowhere and tackled him to the ground in a big hug, “HUGS!” she cried out. Not having expected this to happen this early in the morning, Aku goes down quickly. He gets ready to whack the attacker in the face with his free hand when he sees that it was none other than the soft and curvy party mare, Pinkie. He sighs and lowers his fist as the cotton candy-scented mare continued to nuzzle against and hug him as tight as she could. Aku tried to push himself free but she had him pretty good. He just sighs and looks down at her. “You know, it’s best to ask first before glomping someone like that.” She giggled before releases and straddles over him.”I don’t know what ‘glomp’ means but, it sounds like fun!” Aku pushes her off him enough to make her fall back and give a cute little “Oof!’ before he gets up and dusts himself off before looking down at her”A tackle hug is what we call a glomp back in my world. Strangers don’t usually do that to each other.” Pinki jumps up and slides in front of him with her snout barely inches away from his face.”But we aren’t strangers, we are friends!”

Aku blinked a few times and shook his head”I do not believe we have established that connection. You can’t just say someone is your friend and then it becomes just so. Friendships take time to build up and mature just like a fine wine. I get that you are all bubbly and friendly with others, but that doesn’t work with everyone.” He said as side steps around her and continued on his way. However, she slides right back in front of him.”Well, how about we get to know each other now then?! You can come help me make a big order of cakes that need to be filled!” Aku didn’t even get the chance to p[rotest before Pinkie grabbed his hand and dragged him off with a smile on her face, leaving a trail of dust behind them both.

Aku blinked a few times as he suddenly found himself standing in a kitchen with an apron on. A look of unamusement on his face as one of his eyes twitch in annoyance. But, he sighed and cooled down before Pinkie could notice the look on his face.”I should tell you...I don’t specialize is cakes and pastries. So I don’t see how I’d be of much help here.” He said before reaching into his pocket and ties back his hair, knowing full well that she wouldn’t accept that as an excuse to bail. And right he was. She places a book in front of him with pages that were bookmarked and opens it to the first one for him.”That’s okay! You can just read out the recipes and I will do the rest. It will save me some time without having to look back and forth from the bowl to the book.” She gets in close and playfully hip bumps him.”Teamwork!” She exclaims before giggling. As much as Aku didn’t want to admit, she was pretty cute between her happy personality and her fluffy mane and tail. He just sighs in defeat and looks down at the book.”Well, hurry and get to prepping. I have other things to do.”

The minutes rolled by as they worked in the kitchen. And those minutes became hours rather quickly. Once they had finally finished, Aku took the apron that he had somehow gotten placed on his body and tossed it over his shoulder”Alright, I am out. I have had enough of baking things for one day. See you, Pinkie.” He makes his way to the door when waving a hand over his shoulder. But before he could go, he felt his hand being grabbed from behind then he was pulled into a tight hug “Thank you for helping me take care of this order! It would have taken me twice as long if you hadn’t been here. Here is a little treat on the house for your help~.” She said as she placed a chocolate cupcake with buttercream icing on it. He looks down at the tasty little snack and takes one bite out of it. In his mind it was absolutely amazing, but of course his response was “Thanks, it’s alright I suppose.”. With that, he makes his way outside and down to street as he nibbles on his cupcake

As he continues his exploration of the town, he can’t help but feel that his was being watched and followed. He checked his peripheral vision over and over again to make sure that he wasn’t going crazy as he made his way to the park. He finds a bench to sit down at and leans back into as as he gazes around the area. Families were having picnics, flying kits. Joggers and pet owners enjoyed the scenery as they kept their pets and themselves in shape. Aku closed his eyes after looking up at the sky, his memories of home returning to him as the sounds of the park bustling reminded him of the one park he’d hangout at in his own world. His thoughts were interrupted by a loud bark which made him jump slightly. He looks down to see a black and brown german shepherd sitting there panting at him with her tail wagging. Straight away he’d noticed that a leash was sitting at her side while on her collar. He smiles lightly and leans forward, slowly reaching his hand out to let the canine smell his hand. Once he knew the coast was clear, he reached to her cheeks and rubbed them before petting her.

“Hey buddy~. Did you get away from your owner? You should know better than to do that now.” The dog lets out happy whines as her tail wags harder with the attention she was getting from him, that hind left leg stomping against the ground when he found that one sweet spot that he scratched.”Oooh such a sweet girl, yes you are~. Come on, let's go and find your owner. The dog barked happily as Aku took her leash and walked beside him as if she was his pet for years, that tail still wagging like crazy.

Once they had gone around searching for her owner for what felt like forever, Aku hears someone calling out a name that sounded like it would be a pet’s name “Mishka! Where are you girl?!”. Aku looked at the pony in question before looking down at her tag seeing the name ‘Mishka’. He smiles and walks over to the mare and lightly taps on her shoulder “I believe I found your little runaway, ma’am.”. The mare spun around to see Aku which made her stumble back and fall to the ground in slight fear, even scooting away from him. But once she had seen that he did indeed find her dog, she looked up at him with distrust on her face”W-what do you want for her..? Take all my money if you want it..”. Aku wasn’t even going to justify that question with a response. He kneels down in front of Mishka and pets her while making kissy sounds at her. “Now you be a good girl and stay with her. Don’t go running off again~.” The canine barked happily and lifted her front paws over his shoulders in a hug only canines could give. He responds to the affection by hugging her and running his hands up and down her back before standing back up and making his way away from the mare.

All was well after that. He had explored the little town till the sun had set for the day and the moon had risen. On his way back home, he could hear some commotion going on in one of the houses that didn’t have its lights on. He figured it was just the nightly activities of its occupants before he hears a loud scream coming from inside it along with the sound of breaking glass and more rustling about. He shakes his head and continues walking on. “It's none of my business…”. He keeps on walking until the cries for help rang out the house. This made him stop again before he hesitantly started walking forward again, this time more slowly. “No, Mommy!” cried out a younger voice.”You WILL give us the money you owe tonight! It’s not our fault your husband is a dead beat who can’t pay his debt on time. So we are taking you as compensation!” Shouted the other adult voice which sounded very much male. “YOu won’t be seeing your mother for a while, kid! She is going to be very VERY busy with paying off your father’s debt!”. “Nooo! Leave my mommy alone!”. A sudden thud was heard as the child hit the floor and cried out in pain before the door flung open with three stallions pulling the young mother by her arm as she struggled to break free. The colt ran out with a bruised cheek after his mother only to have one of the stallions push him down again. That was enough for Aku. It was time he MADE it his business.

Aku stood in front of the group’s path with his hands in his hoodie pocket. He narrows his eyes at the group with a disgusted look on his face.”Are you guys for real? Collecting debt from someone is one thing, but hitting a child in front of their own parents? Let alone hitting a child? You are some pretty sick fucks, to be sure.” The group stopped before him as they took a good look at who he was. Straight away they drew their weapons as they knew from others just what he was capable of. Well, when it came to his magic eating ability anyway.”Hey, freak..this is none of your business. We will hurt ya if we have to. You can’t devour our magic all at once.”.

Aku walked towards them with his hands out to his sides”You think I need magic eating abilities to throw you three to the ground? Normally I don’t give a fuck what you or anyone else would do around here. But you laid a hand on that kid so now, I am going to lay you three into the dirt.” The one in front suddenly lunges at AKu with a lead pipe in hand. Aku falls back to the ground, but immediately jumps right back up with a kick of his legs forward before performing a roundhouse kick to the stallion’s jaw. Aku lets out a wince of pain as he hasn’t done a kick like that in YEARS. However, the stallion falls to the ground with a bloody muzzle before getting up and grabbing his weapon, his friends charging in after him. Aku makes contact with one of the holding a knife who tries to stab him in the ribs. Aku grabs the stallion’s wrist and uses his free hand to chop furiously at the inner side of the attacker’s elbow before flinging them to the ground. The other coming in behind him with a sword which they swing down at him to cleave him in the shoulder. Aku twists his body as his legs leave the ground in a sideflip before landing on his feet jabbing his middle finger and index finger together in the sword user’s throat, making him drop instantly like a sack of dumb potatos. He then turns his attention to the stallion with the pipe. He wan’t quick enough to dodge the on coming attack, but he managed to lessen the blow with the underside of his arms since it was more padded on the upper side. It still hurt like hell though. He growls lowly in pain but shakes it off while he pushes the weapon away and suddenly performs one of his special move, a solid backflip kick to the face then bouncing back with a flying leap kick to the chest, sending the stallion flying back eight feet while tumbling away. “That's all you got, ladies?”.

He suddenly makes his way to the stallion that was using the knife and pounces on top of him. He straddled over his chest before he started punching his face over and over again. A wicked smile forming over his face unknowing to him as he doesn’t stop until he sees red all over his hand.”How do you like it huh?! How do you enjoy being beaten by someone who is stronger than you?!” He suddenly stands up and grabs the tallion by the collar and flings him toward the other two before leaping on top of the one who had the sword and repeated the same type of assault, and again with the other who used the pipe. Once he had finally laid into them enough, he comes back to his senses. He stares down at his hands which were covered in blood and bruised from the sheer force of his assault. His breathing was heavy and his eyes shifted from his hands down to the three stallions who laid there on the ground rolling and groaning in pain.”Wh-what are you…?” one of them asked as they just realized that tonight was indeed not their night.”I am someone who you hope to not see again causing trouble for this family. When you bring harm to children just because you aren’t getting your money on time, be sure to think of me before you do it again. Because if I find out, next time you won’t get up.” He reaches into his pants pocket and takes out a small bag of money that had been given to him by Twilight. He tosses it at their hooves with a dead serious expression on his face “That’s all you are getting. Get out of here and never bother them again.”.

They take the money and limp off into the night to wherever they came from. Aku’s attention turns to the family who were huddled together as they watched everything unfold before them. He walks over to the nearby fountain and starts washing his hands of the blood, taking immediate notice of the forming bruises he had gotten from his assault “Damnit….Twilight is going to see these and be on me like white on rice…” He then turns his head to the mother and son before walking past them.”You two need to get inside. They won’t be bothering you anymore.”.

Aku looks over the colt to make sure that he wasn’t too banged up from the hit he took from the stallions. Luckily it wasn’t anything too serious.”Put some ice on his cheek, that’ll reduce the swelling and ease some of the pain.”. Before he could walk off, the colt ran after Aku and tugged on his blood stained hoodie, “Hey mister! WHat was that? I have never ever seen that kind of fighting style before..the way you moved and struck them. It was like you were made of water!”. Despite his injuries, the colt smiled up at Aku with full interest in how he disposed of their attackers. Aku simply offered a smile back”It is called martial arts, kiddo. It’s like regular fighting, but with a bit more finesse and inner power behind it.”. The colt tilted his head lightly at the last part, “Inner power..?”. Aku nodded and kneeled down in front of the colt. He places his index finger on his chest, then his tummy, then the side of his head”Here, here and here is where your inner power comes from. If you train your mind, body and heart to be strong and never back down, you will know inner power.”. The colt smiled widely as if he had just met his new role model in life. “Do you think you could teach me, mister? I wanna be strong like you so I can help protect my mother from bad guys like that!”.

Aku chuckled lightly and ruffled the colt’s mane, “That’s up to your mother, kiddo. I don’t know if she’d be too pleased with you going around with the knowledge of something so dangerous. But if she says yes, then I’d be happy to give you lessons. But until then, I will see you around. Be good.”. By the time that he got back to Twilight’s home, it finally hit him. The idea that would soon cause quite to commotion within the community. He should open up his own dojo! He could make money and help the community defend themselves from assholes like the ones he beat down earlier.

Author's Note

I am still alive! Just finding it hard to be motivated to write more these days. Still here though, just gonna take a while is all.

May the darkness grant you peace.