Scorpion walked across the hill on the outskirts of Ponyville. He was still amongst his own thoughts of his past. The sudden outrage of the ponies seemed to have sent him on a trip down memory lane. He couldn’t help but get the thought of killing Sub Zero of his mind. The thought was not haunting him, in fact, he enjoyed remembering that moment. But, the memory just couldn’t get out of Scorpion’s focus.

Scorpion took a moment to just breathe. He had too many things going on at once. He had the memory of killing Sub Zero in his mind, he had been sent to this new world to murder their Princess, and he was no closer to achieving that goal now than when he arrived. A sudden crack from behind him snapped Scorpion out of his thoughts. He groaned without turning around.

“I thought you left for the library, Twilight Sparkle,” Scorpion said. But, when he turned around, he was greeted by the pony known as Fluttershy. “What do you want, Fluttershy?” Merely uttering those words sent Fluttershy into a scared frenzy. Scorpion let out another sigh.

“Why do you fear me?” he asked her. He had a good idea of what her answer would be, but he just wanted to get her to stop shivering and talk.

“W-Well, y-you’re big and s-scary,” Fluttershy said, peeking out from behind her hair. “Y-You hurt my f-friend,” she continued. “A-And…” but she trailed off in fear before she could continue.

“I will not harm you, Fluttershy. I promise you, you have nothing to fear. Besides, if I wanted to kill you, you would already be dead. The prospect of meeting your Princess sounds… intriguing. I wouldn’t be able to meet her if I killed one of her subjects, now would I?” Fluttershy shook her head in response. She slowly looked up to the tall demon standing before her.

“So, what is it that has brought you to find me?” Scorpion asked.

“W-Well, since you’re going to have to start helping us, I figured I would ask if you could help me with a problem I’ve been having recently,” Fluttershy said.

“Well, you can tell me what you want me to do, but Twilight Sparkle told me to meet her at the library first. Perhaps we should tell her first,” Scorpion suggested. Fluttershy nodded. She turned and started walking back to the library. Scorpion quickly stopped her though.

“I know how to get there quicker,” Scorpion said, walking up to her.

“H-How?” Scorpion knelt down and put one hand on her back. She immediately started to shiver, the look of fear burning in her eyes. Scorpion quickly was able to calm her down.

“This may feel strange for you, but nothing too bad.”

“What are you going to do?” Fluttershy asked. Scorpion responded by teleporting the both of them to the front of the library in a fiery teleport. Fluttershy jumped back when they arrived and started to quiver on the ground. Scorpion couldn’t help but chuckle at the sudden fright the pony had received.

“Fear not. Nothing bad has happened to you,” Scorpion said, standing back up to full height and knocking on the library door. Fluttershy composed herself and walked to the door. It was answered by Spike.

“Oh, hey Scorpion, hey Fluttershy. You here to talk to Twilight?” Spike asked.

“As a matter of fact we are, dragon. Fluttershy here has a task in mind for me to complete.” Spike let the both of them into the library. Twilight walked down the stairs to greet them.

“Welcome back Scorpion, and hello to you Fluttershy. Did you have something in mind for Scorpion to do?” she asked her shy friend.

“Actually I do. Recently, I’ve been having a bit of trouble with… Timberwolves,” Fluttershy said. Scorpion raised an eyebrow to the Pegasus.

“Timberwolves?” Scorpion asked. “Let me guess, wolves made out of tree bark and branches and such.”

“How’d you know?” Spike asked.

“Lucky guess,” Scorpion responded sarcastically. “What have these creatures been doing?”

“Well, every night lately, they’ve been howling a lot on the outskirts of the Everfree Forest, close to my cottage. They keep scaring my animal friends, and me,” Fluttershy said. “The other night, one of them almost came out from the forest. It turned back, but I don’t know why. I just want them to go away already.” Scorpion looked at the cream yellow pony.

“So, you want me to dispose of them?” Scorpion asked. Fluttershy nodded to him shyly. “Simple enough, I suppose.”

“You need to be careful with Timberwolves, Scorpion,” Twilight said. “They have a nasty bite, and they can regenerate their forms. They’re easy to track though. They have terrible breath, which gives them away. Just be careful if you’re actually going to try to defeat them.” Scorpion nodded and then turned back to Fluttershy.

“Well?”

“Let’s go,” Fluttershy said. She led him out of the library. Walking through Ponyville wasn’t fun for Scorpion. He was receiving continuous glares from all the ponies. They all backed away, but they didn’t stop glaring at him. But, whenever he looked back, they would all get scared. He would just shake his head and continue walking. He didn’t need any of their opinions, only those of the six ponies he was assisting.

Once Scorpion and Fluttershy arrived at the cottage, Fluttershy directed Scorpion to the area of the Forest that the howls of the Timberwolves were coming from. Scorpion looked to the forest and then back to the pony.

“How close do you suppose these Timberwolves are?” Scorpion asked.

“Pretty close. On some nights, I can smell their bad breath, so I assume their relatively close to the cottage.”

“Well, if these creatures are as dangerous as Twilight informed, then perhaps you should stay here,” Scorpion suggested.

“It’s probably for the best,” Fluttershy said, running into her cottage. Scorpion sighed and shook his head.

‘What have I gotten myself into this time?’ he thought to himself. He shook his head again and walked into the forest. He took in every bit of his surroundings, making sure to not lower his guard. These Timberwolves could jump out at him at any moment. But, he would be ready.

Scorpion turned his head when he heard a sudden growling sound. He drew one of his blades and stood ready. When he caught the whiff of the terrible breath he had been told of, he knew that the Timberwolves were close by. He stood with his guard on, ready for anything.

Suddenly, one of the large beasts pounced out from behind its cover. Scorpion turned too late to stop it, and found himself on the ground beneath the creature. It tried to bite down on his skull, but he quickly dodged the attack. Scorpion then kicked the beast on its back and stood up, his blade still in his right hand. The Timberwolf got up and jumped towards Scorpion. But, this time, Scorpion was able to grab the creature by the neck. He drove his blade through the wooden body of the Timberwolf. He could make out a noticeable hacking sound coming from the creature. Scorpion drew his blade out, flipped it in his hand so that it was now upside down, then stabbed the creature in its head. Drawing his blade out again, Scorpion sheathed the blade, lit up his fist in flames, then punched the creature to the ground.

“One down,” Scorpion said, as the creature broke apart. Scorpion turned to face two more Timberwolves that had appeared. As one jumped towards him, Scorpion drew his right blade again. As the creature drew nearer, Scorpion delivered a high, heel kick to the beast’s head, stopping it in its tracks. Scorpion then used his Doom Blade combo attack, effectively knocking the Timberwolf’s head clean off. The third Timberwolf tried to pounce on Scorpion, but he simply side stepped the attack and drove both of his blades through the back of the creature. But, Scorpion then remembered that these things could regenerate.

He drew out his blades and stepped away from the creatures’ remains. He summoned his Demon Fire Special Attack and burned the remains of the Timberwolves to dust. Scorpion could even swear he heard the agonizing cries of the creatures as they were burnt away. Scorpion was then able to find the soul of one of the helpless Timberwolves. He latched onto the soul and sent it straight to the Netherrealm.

“This realm seems to have quite a supply of dangerous creatures. With a touch of Netherrealm power, these creatures will prove quite useful,” Scorpion said to himself, turning back for Fluttershy’s cottage. As he arrived, he was greeted by the Pegasus pony, who was wearing a smile on her face.

“I can’t believe you did,” Fluttershy said.

“It was quite simple actually. Those “fearsome” creatures shouldn’t be causing you anymore trouble, Fluttershy,” Scorpion said, kneeling down to meet her at eye level. She smiled at him and gave him a hug. Scorpion was extremely confused by this.

“What is this for?” he asked.

“For doing a favor for somepony you barely know,” Fluttershy said, releasing him from the hug. “You helped me out of the goodness of your own heart.”

“Does this mean you trust me?” Scorpion asked.

“To be honest, I kind of started trusting you when we all heard that Twilight trusted you. Twilight is one of my closest friends, and I see no reason to second guess her judgments. If she trusts you, then I trust you. And, now that you’ve done me such a great favor, I see no reason to not trust you… well, maybe if you could just stop threatening us all the time, if that’s okay with you,” Fluttershy said, giving him a smile. Scorpion simply laughed and nodded to her.

“Simple enough, I suppose,” he said. “Thank you Fluttershy. I only hope that the rest of your friends are just as willing to trust me as you have been.”

“I bet they’ll come to trust you just the same as I have. There is good in your heart, Scorpion, they just need to realize it.” Fluttershy hugged him again.

“Why do you insist on hugging me like this?” Scorpion asked.

“Well, friends normally give each other hugs, right?” This question caught Scorpion off guard, and it wasn’t even because of what the question was.

“We are friends?” Scorpion asked.

“Well, I’d like to think so at least,” Fluttershy said.

Friend. That was a word Scorpion had not been called in a very long time. He had mostly been referred to by his name, or as the Specter of the Netherrealm, or just as a demon. He never considered those he fought alongside with as friends, just allies or accomplices. The only friends Scorpion ever had were dead. Did this pony really consider him to be a friend? How could someone so innocent consider someone as dangerous as him a friend?

“Do you really consider me a friend?” Scorpion asked.

“Yes,” Fluttershy answered, not even showing any doubt in her answer. Scorpion couldn’t help but return the gentle hug of the pony.

“Thank you Fluttershy.” After a moment, the two released the hug. Scorpion nodded to Fluttershy and stood back up to his full height. Fluttershy looked up to him with a soft smile on her face. Scorpion smiled to himself as he looked down to her. He then looked out to the horizon to see the sun going down.

“It is getting late. I will return to the library for now. Tomorrow will most likely be a long day, and I will need my rest. Thank you once again Fluttershy,” Scorpion said, nodding to her.

“No Scorpion, thank you,” Fluttershy said. Scorpion nodded to her one more time as he turned and walked away. He looked back once more to see her waving goodbye to him. He turned back and continued walking back to the library.

‘It will most likely not be as easy to gain the trust of the other ponies, but I will do it nonetheless. Even if these ponies want to consider me as their friend, I will not let that get in the way of completing my task. I am here to claim Celestia’s soul, and I will get it one way or another’ Scorpion thought to himself. Even after he was shown true kindness from Fluttershy, he still did not lose focus of his true purpose here in Equis, or Equestria, more specifically. Scorpion suddenly stopped himself and looked down to the ground.

“But why does this all seem so wrong?” he asked himself. He let out a heavy sigh, shook his head, and continued walking. Scorpion had no time to dwell on these feelings, so he decided not to do so at all. But, if he was going to, now was not the time. Besides, he was a demon. He knew he could never have things such as friends and others that cared for him. He was not truly meant to have this. Yet, as much as Scorpion tried to dismiss these thoughts, once again, just like before, he couldn’t get them out of his mind.

Author's Notes:

Hooray for updates! Sorry for the wait, but the current events of my life prohibit me from doing much work on the story. But, hey, look at what we have here. Scorpion has gained the trust of Fluttershy. It's just like me to use her first, isn't it. This did feel a bit rushed, but then again, I did write this over the time span of about 30-40 minutes. Oh well, who cares. UPDATES!