AKu walked along the second floor of the commons with the staff watching them all from the very top floor. As he observed the conditions below, he noticed that the population was co-ed rather than male only. This was a rather unusual thing for him to see considering where he was from, the prison system separated genders for many reasons, mainly to keep some of the order. But here, it seems like everyone got along famously. Maybe it was because it was co-ed, things weren’t so stressful being locked up with another male or female all the time.

Aku had been locked up in the bastille the first week he showed up. Which was their form of solitary confinement he assumed. After having been moved to another cell to join the general population, he is still lucky enough to have his own cell. But, to him it wouldn’t have mattered, the man ate like a king every day and night and slept comfortably thanks to his little friend, Kyrara. But, he still had to play the part of a proper inmate when outside of his cell with most eyes on him now, the ‘fresh meat’. Little did the staff know that with each guard that passed by his cell, Aku was draining their magic bit by bit by swallowing it.

It was all according to Aku’s plan. Slowly siphon away all the staff members' magic and strength. They would have no idea what or who could be causing it. For now, Aku just wandered the commons, studying and listening to both guards and inmates alike. He was playing out his role perfectly while gathering all the information he could. Especially about the big shots that were either in separate pods of the prison or also down below in the bastille where he was held his first week.

Aku could also notice that the females of the prison asserted far more dominance over both the males and other females here. Probably because of the staff members being only female as well who were in a position of power, small it may be. Aku could only chuckle to himself and looked over the railing with his arms crossed “What would I expect with a prison run by power hungry female ponies? This reeks of third wave feminism. Had enough of that garbage back in my own world.” he said to himself as he continued on his way down to now stand in the yard.

He walked over to a more secluded part of the yard and began his daily martial arts training. It was mainly to keep himself from getting rusty and to keep himself in shape at the same time. This however, got the attention of both guards and other inmates. “Hey, you need to quit that right now, shitbird! No form of fighting is allowed here!” shoputed one of the guards who was coming down to confront Aku. Aku didn’t listen, however. He just continued his training until the guard came up behind him and pushed him forward, hoping to knock him on his face in an attempt of humiliation.

Aku was quick to recover from the push however and slowly turned around to gaze down at the female pegasus who smiled at him so smuggly. Aku leaned in with his own smile “Tell me. Do you get off on throwing your commands and waving your little batons around at the prisoners here because your husband is too much of a dom for you to control? So you use your meger power and authority here to make yourself feel better, hmm? I bet that is how your warden is to. I bet when she goes home, she hates the idea of how her husband or boyfriend is the real provider of the family. Just like how you feel.”

Now, Aku didn’t know the lives of the guards outside of the prison. He was just talking smack to see if he could get the staff members riled up without him having to even take a swing. Fortunately for his trash talk, it worked. A little too well in fact. The mare was getting red in the face before she took out her baton and swung it at Aku who simply leaned to the side to avoid it “There it is! That female insecurity strikes again! You see where I come from, we believe that both the male and female contribute what they can in every aspect. Therefore everything is equal. But you idiots are so outdated here!”

Aku continued to mock and laugh at the mare’s pitiful attempt to land any hits upon him, other guards even joining in to try and subdue Aku so that they could beat him down to make themselves feel better. But, Aku never so much as layed a single strike back, letting them tire themselves out before watching them collapse to the ground in exhaustion. This is where is magic eating came into play, that week that each of the guards passed by his cell, he has been sapping their strength.

“Geez, with all those muscles and bravado, I figured you could all gang up on me and take me down easily. I guess you all need to hit the gym more, yeah? Maybe skip out on steroids.”. Just as he walked over the exhausted guards, the warden came down into the yard baton in hand as she focused immediately on Aku “Causing injury to my staff now huh? That’s a month in the bastille for you, fuckface.”.

Aku chuckled lowly before he held an arm out in the direction of the guard still on the ground “As you can see, I haven’t placed a single hand on your guards. They simply lack the stamina and precision to hit their target. Perhaps you should train them better.”. The warden went quite for a moment before she nodded to the other three guards that were with her before that walked up to the fallen guards and began kicking and punching them while they were down. The smile that was on Aku’s muzzle quickly faded before he turned his gaze back to the warden and now stood over the beaten staff “Ah, well it appears that you are lying about causing my girls injury! As it is plain as day that YOU are the one who injured them? Am I wrong!?”.

No one, not even the other staff members disagreed with her. Aku glared angrily at the warden, his hands forming into fists. It took him nearly everything he had to not leap at her and tear her apart in that moment. Corrupted authority was one thing, but that same kind of authority bringing harm to their own subordinates to cover up a truth? That was something Aku hated entirely. Just as he was about to step forward, he felt a firm squeeze around his neck, but not enough to choke him. Kyrara was pulling him back to remind him now wasn’t the time. As he was being escorted back to the bastille, he whispers to the warden “Just wait you fucking bitch. Your little fortress here is gonna come crashing down all around you. And no one, I mean no one, is gonna save you.”.

–6 Months Later–

The sound of a cell door could be heard being forcibly removed from its latches was heard all throughout the bastille as Aku walked out with a a rolling luggage bag behind him. No long in prison garb, he was now wearing his usual black and white combat robes. He walks past the now passed out guards who got hit by the flying door not even sparing them a glance. “Thank you for bringing this, Rara. This has been worth the wait.” he said to his little companion that rested beneath his now flowing robe as he makes his way to the outside main yard.

“Of course! I can’t wait to see what you have inside of that bag. Though, judging by its energy and how many presences I can feel in it, it is going to be something very..sinister.”. Aku brought his free hand up to lightly grasp and pet the pipe fox that lovingly coiled around his neck “Just stay close okay? They won’t hurt you as long as you remain close to my side. I promise.”. Ask he made his way out into the yard, multiple guards and the warden were already in wait for him with the spotlights shining right on him.

“Well well, it looks like you have found your way out of your cage and all packed up. Where do you think you are going all dressed up and looking so spiffy?” she asked as she tapped her baton on her shoulder. Aku chuckled wickedly in his throat and looks up at her from the yard as she was at the top floor “Oh, I am going home. I tire of the service here. Not even deserving of a one star review. Management sucks, customer service is severely lacking, the staff members are so bitchy. Oh, and I am planning on liberating a few of your prisoners as well. I am sure you won’t miss them.”.

The warden laughed loudly as she shook her head “No, you won’t be leaving today or anytime soon, asshole. You belong to me until you rot in your cozy little cell. Because I made sure that you have no chance of being released. So, you may as well turn right back around and head back. This is MY castle.” she said in an authoritative tone. She began to make her way down along with her fellow guards, ready to beat Aku into submission as they all start to circle around him.

Aku smiled a slow forming toothy grin as the luggage he had in his hand started to move violently for a moment before sitting completely still. The zipper slowly and eerie opening before bursting open.. What came out was not one, but hundreds of ghosts that were completely shadowed version of his true self. Though, with more distorted facial features such as an overly large sharp toothy grin and wide glowing red eyes. All of them cackling madly as they now swarmed the prison yard and wasted no time in terrorizing and attacking the guards

From the sudden explosion of ghosts and not knowing what they could do, the staff start to panic and swing their weapons in anyway they can as the ghosts start swarming them mercilessly all while Aku walked through the swarm like he was enjoying a fresh breeze on a sunday afternoon, completely calm and with a smile on his face. The warden tried to use her magic to restrain Aku, thinking she could easily get a one up on him just from that. However, she suddenbly felt a chill down her spine when he continued to walk towards her in a calm but menacing manner.

“Magic doesn’t work on me, warden. I am afraid I played you for a fool the first time I came here. And now, I have a reason to bring you harm due to that little stun you pulled all those months back…” he said as he then pulled out his katana that was handed down to him from his grandmother. The blade could sense his intent and drew upon it immediately. Not to mention all the evil he had gathered while he consumed all the magic of the guards that passed his cell everyday. It was enough to almost completely break his pony disguise completely, leaving dark purple cracks along his wickly smiling face, as if the mask was about to shatter.

“W-what the hell are you..? There is no way you are an actual pon-...” she couldn’t finish ehr sentence as Aku moved in quickly with an unsettling, jerking leap forward before he blade found its way shoved all the way through her torso, right between her ribs and through her heart. “You are right, I am not a pony at all. But, I will become the dark oni emperor and take this land as my own one day. Your pathetic rulers will bend their knees to me, and I will abolish this ‘superiority’ bullshit they did to me. Die knowing that this world will be mine…” he said before bringing his hoof up to her stomach and kicks her off his blade as hard as he could before lifting it up and swinging it back down to get her corrupted blood off his blade.

Afterwhich, he walks over to her now lifeless corpse and yanks the keys from ehr belt before sheathing his blade. He makes his way through the prison as calm as before while the ghosts continue to rampage and terrorize those with malice in their hearts. Aku walked all throughout the cell block, opening and releasing all the inmates who the ghosts didn’t even pay attention to because of the lack of true evil in their hearts. He then got to the point where he was standing in front of the wing where all the big shots were held. Funny thing is, there were no ghosts in this wing at all.

“Hello to you all, honorable crime lords. You have two options now that I am here…” He said as he now started pacing in front of the eight cells. “...You can be released by me, and I let you back out into the world and you serve as my agents here in Equestria. Or, I leave you all here to parish in the fall of this prison. Though, given what I promised you when I spoke with you many months back, I think you will make the right choice.”. He said as he stood there will a knowing smile before his disguise finally broke, revealing his true form to the shadowed individuals in their cells before giving a wicked laugh.

Half an hour later, the prison suddenly explodes as if a small magical nuke had detonated from within, killing att the guards and inmates who weren’t released by Aku in the process. By the time the royal guard had gotten there, Aku and the survivors had all disappeared into the night. Aku had done what he set out to accomplish. ANd now, he could go home.

Author's Note

I was gonna make a small prison arc, but I decided against it. This will do just fine.

May the darkness grant you peace.