Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity all looked at the fallen creature. Fluttershy was still busy making sure Rainbow Dash was okay, but the cyan blue Pegasus assured her cream yellow friend that she was alright. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash walked over and looked at the bipedal being that rested, unconscious, before them.

“W-W-What is this thing?” Fluttershy asked, being careful not to get too close to it.

“I don’t know what it is, but it seems to have a natural ability to fight,” Twilight answered.

“If by fight, you mean pummel a Pegasus and rip apart a rampaging manticore, then yeah, it has a natural ability to fight,” Rainbow Dash said with a hint of anger in her voice.

“Wha did ya have to go an attack em Rainbow?” Applejack asked her.

“I wasn’t about to let him hurt you guys.”

“So you let him hurt you instead?” Rarity asked. Rainbow simply let out a huff.

“Fine, the next time he tries to attack you guys, don’t look to me to help you out.” Rainbow continued to look at the creature as it lay on the ground, still breathing apparently.

The ponies took this time to scan over the creature. He was covered in a set of clothing, but with pieces of armor as well. His main torso seemed to have a black body piece of armor, but there appeared to be a sort of sash over it, colored yellow with black accents. His belt buckle had a skull on it. He had black straps around the upper portions of his arms, and on the halves of his arms below his elbows, he was wearing bracers, which were black on the inner side and yellow on the outer side. The upper halves of his legs were also covered in black armor, and the lower parts of his legs had yellow boots that seemed to be quite jagged and sharp. On his back were two crisscrossed, black, jagged blades. The ends of the handles seemed to resemble scorpion tails. He also had two shoulder pads, the tops of which seemed to be layered with black armor.

The creature’s mask was the true icing on the cake. It covered his entire head. Before he turned around and Twilight shot at him, she noticed that the back of his head and spine seemed to have a black scorpion-like design running down it. This design began at his forehead and ran back to just about where his spine began. The portion of his mask that covered his mouth was yellow with black accents, and it seemed to resemble the legs of a scorpion. And, before Twilight knocked him out, the ponies were able to look into his piercing white eyes. They were pure white, but also seemed to have a bit of golden in them. Those eyes seemed so wicked.

Twilight moved closer to the body of the fallen creature, but Rarity quickly pulled her back.

“And just what do you think you’re doing, Twilight?” Rarity asked.

“I want examine him a bit further. I don’t think anypony in Equestria has ever seen this kind of creature. He’s so new and unique. I was thinking about taking him back to the library.” All of the girls looked at Twilight with surprised expressions.

“Hold on a second!” Pinkie shouted out. She grabbed a cup of water out of nowhere and did a spit-take. The other girls would have done the same if they had been drinking anything.

“Twilight, not to be rude, but… COULD YOU BE ANY MORE CRAZY?!” the pink mare shouted out. The other ponies covered their ears as Pinkie calmed down.

“I’m serious. We certainly can’t just leave him here to cause more trouble,” Twilight stated.

“Then why don’t we just take him to the Princess?” Fluttershy asked.

“Because I don’t want this thing getting close to her just yet. While she did ask us to report our findings, I’m sure she’ll want to meet him, but not until I know he can be trusted.”

“Twilight, it ripped the tail off of a manticore and used that tail to smash its face in, and then it nearly beat me to a pulp with just four punches! Do you honestly believe for one second that this thing can be trusted?!” Rainbow asked, raising her voice a bit.

“Perhaps he was just acting in self-defense,” Twilight said. “Regardless, I want to take him to the library and study him a bit further. I can put him under a spell so he won’t escape. Maybe we can get him to change.” The girls all looked to each other with concerned looks, but all figured the same thing. They wouldn’t be able to change Twilight’s mind.

“If ya really think ya can change him fer good Twilight, we trust you,” Applejack said. The others nodded in unison. Twilight smiled and looked back to the body of the fallen creature.

“Then let’s get him to the library!”

Scorpion slowly opened his eyes, his head still throbbing from his encounter with those ponies. He let out a soft groan, and went to raise his left hand to his head. But, something was wrong. He couldn’t move his hands. Then, he suddenly got the feeling he was being… looked over. He looked to his side without moving his head and noticed that the purple Unicorn from before was now looking him over. He went to strike her with his right hand, but again, he couldn’t move.

“Don’t try moving, I’ve locked you down with a spell. You can’t move,” the Unicorn spoke. Scorpion continued to try to struggle his way out of the magical grip, but he was securely locked in place on what he assumed to be a floor mat, which was on the floor. He looked over to the pony.

“Release me, now!” he commanded.

“Sorry, but that’s not going to happen, not after what you did in the Everfree Forest.”

“Your friend challenged me, so I gave her a challenge. I did nothing wrong,” Scorpion said, still struggling.

“Yeah, well around here, we don’t hurt anypony else unless it’s necessary. Now, if you would allow me to continue examining you, I’d like to look more into these things you call hands. How do they work?” Twilight asked.

“Release me, and I will show you how they can be used to strangle somebody to death,” Scorpion threatened.

“Well, that’s not going to get you free any quicker. And, I’m sorry, but did you say “somebody”?” Twilight asked.

“Yes, is there something wrong with proper grammar?” Scorpion questioned, still angry and struggling.

“Well, around here, the word is somepony, not somebody. I’m really interested to learn about where you come from, but that can wait until I’m done inspecting you.” Scorpion let out a defeated groan and stopped his struggle. He was being held in the custody of a purple coated Unicorn pony. What was his world becoming? Losing to someone like Liu Kang was one thing, but to these pathetic ponies? Now that was a disgrace, not only to himself, but to the Netherrealm as well.

Scorpion then got a thought in his head on how he might be able to escape from this magical spell.

“I don’t suppose you took into account that I can teleport, did you?” Scorpion asked. Twilight immediately stopped examining him, and her eyes went wide.

“Oh dear…”

With a flash, Scorpion engulfed himself in flames and teleported out of his bindings. He reappeared behind Twilight, who quickly turned around to face him. Instead of standing her ground, she was now quivering. Scorpion enjoyed seeing this pony being so afraid of him. He loved to feel the fear in his enemies before he slew them.

“Now, you shall die for you actions!” Scorpion said, drawing one of his jagged black blades from his back.

“But, why? I haven’t harmed you in any way?”

“You knocked me out and held me captive, pony. You’re lucky you haven’t done any worse, or your death might have been a lot more painful. But, because you haven’t done anything extensive, I shall give you a painless death.” Scorpion stood ready, holding his sword with both hands.

“You shouldn’t have to kill me at all though. I got you here, along with my friends. I kept you safe from the others in Ponyville that might want to harm you or have you kept out. You have no right to kill me,” Twilight said, beginning to stand her ground. Scorpion simply raised an eyebrow and loosened his grip on his sword.

“And, what would you gain from killing an innocent pony such as myself?” Twilight asked. Scorpion simply let out a soft chuckle.

“I would gain the satisfaction of killing something so… peaceful. You see, in the realm that I come from, death is not uncommon. I relish in the heat of a battle, and I gladly eliminate those that would stand in my way.” Scorpion re-tightened his grip on his blade and remained ready to strike.

“That doesn’t make any sense though. You won’t gain anything real from my death, just mere satisfaction. In any case, I would say you owe me for keeping you as safe as I have. Also, while this may not mean anything to you, but the Princess of our land would like to meet you. She assigned me with finding the source of the energy surge in the Everfree Forest, that energy surge coming from you. I’ve already written to her telling her about you, and she is quite interested in meeting you.” Scorpion’s eyes immediately widened.

‘This pony has a connection to the Princess? Perhaps I should spare her after all. She could lead me straight to the Princess,’ Scorpion thought to himself, removing his left hand from his blade, and lowering the blade to his side.

“But, I still don’t trust you enough to bring you to her. If you would like to meet her, you will have to gain not only my trust, but the trust of my friends as well. But, again, you could just kill me, but I still don’t think you’d truly gain anything from it. And, to be honest, I’m interested to learn about you. You are, after all, the newest creature to step hoof, or… foot, in Equestria.”

“I was meant to believe this realm was known as Equis,” Scorpion said.

“That’s the planet we live on. We are in the continent of Equestria, but our land has quite a diversity of creatures… wait a minute, did you say realm?” Twilight asked. Scorpion let out another chuckle.

“Yes. This universe is made up of realms. I, for example, hail from the Netherrealm.” Twilight took a moment to piece that word together, and then the realization hit.

“So, you’re from…”

“Hell,” Scorpion finished for her.

“Yeah,” Twilight said, backing up a bit. “So, does that make you … a demon?” she asked.

“That is what most consider me to be. I have been called a demon, the Specter of the Netherrealm, but you may call me Scorpion.” After the agonizingly long wait, Twilight finally got his name.

“Well, whether it is or isn’t a pleasure to make your acquaintance remains to be seen, Scorpion, but in any case, my name is Twilight Sparkle.” Scorpion let out another chuckle.

“Do any of you ponies in this realm have real names, other than these heavily feminine ones?” Scorpion asked.

“Well, the stallions of Equestria have male names, but I don’t exactly know what you consider to be a normal name,” Twilight answered. Scorpion let out another sigh. “But, anyway, back to the matter at hand. If you want to kill me, I don’t see any way for me to stop you, but, if you do, just remember that I didn’t kill you when I had the chance.”

What Twilight just said was very true. She had an opportune time to kill the demon that stood before her, but she didn’t. If there was one thing that Scorpion had, it was honor, and what this Unicorn had done for him was an honorable thing. He threw his blade back onto his back and nodded his head to her.

“Very well, Twilight Sparkle. I will help you and your friends so that I may gain your trust, so that I may have an audience with your Princess,” Scorpion said. Scorpion did not lose sight of his objective though, even if he wasn’t going to kill Twilight or her friends. He was here for the soul of Celestia, and he’d be damned if he didn’t get it.

“Really?! Oh, that’s great! This’ll be such a great opportunity to learn from somepony from a different world! Oh, I can’t wait!” Twilight said, a smile now plastered on her face. She was about to continue, but Scorpion raised a hand to stop her.

“Just let me warn you, Twilight Sparkle. Should you or your friends do anything to threaten or harm me, I will not hesitate but to send your souls to the Netherrealm myself. Am I understood?” Scorpion asked.

“Oh don’t worry, we won’t do anything like that. Now then, I just have to go get my friends so you can all be formally introduced. For now, you’ll have to stay here while I go get them. This may take a while, because they don’t exactly trust you yet.”

“I understand, but don’t keep me waiting very long. I do not like to have my time wasted,” Scorpion said.

“Well nopony does, but you don’t have anything else to do now do you?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow at him and smiling. Scorpion let out an annoyed groan.

“Just go,” he said.

“Right. I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Twilight said, walking past him and out the door. Scorpion was left alone to ponder his thoughts. However, that didn’t last very long, because a small, green scaled, purple baby dragon was watching him. Scorpion turned to meet his gaze.

“Twilight!” it cried out. “How could you leave me alone with this thing?!”

“Fear not, dragon. I will not harm you, at least, that is, unless you plan to attack me,” Scorpion said to the baby dragon. It continued to stare at him and slowly started to walk down the stairs.

“Y-You promise?”

“You have my word.” The baby dragon walked down the floor, walking up to Scorpion and looking him over.

“Man, you’re pretty big,” the dragon said. Scorpion simply rolled his eyes and looked down to the dragon. “I’m Spike. From what I heard, you’re Scorpion, right?” Spike asked. Scorpion nodded in response. “Well… I guess it’s nice to meet somepony new around here, even if you did hurt my friend.”

“Like I told your master, the blue pony attacked me first. She challenged me, so I gave her a challenge.”

“Still, you didn’t have to hit her so hard. And Twilight’s not my master, she’s my friend.”

“So what are you to her then?” Scorpion asked.

“Her assistant,” Spike answered. Scorpion couldn’t honestly believe that a dragon was under the control of a pony. “I know what you’re thinking, but yes, I’m really her assistant.”

“This realm continues to amaze me,” Scorpion spoke aloud to himself.

“Trust me dude, you’d be amazed to see or hear some of the crazy things these ponies do,” Spike said to Scorpion, giving him a light tap on the leg.

“Care to enlighten me?” Scorpion asked.

“Take a seat buddy, because I’ve got a long mental record of the adventures those six ponies have had.”

Author's Notes:

Hooray for updates! I hope I did a good job describing Scorpion's look and outfit, but if you really can't understand it, all you really need to do is look at the cover art to see what he looks like for the story. Also, I hope the dialogue between him and Twilight was good and made sense. It all seemed much better in my head, but that's not exactly what I wrote. I think it's okay, but if anyone has a thought on the matter, please share it with me.