//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 - Sting 
// Story: The Dweller's Tale: Of Mutants and Magic 
// by Appy 
//------------------------------//

	The scorch mark was still smoking as Spike and Discord investigated it further. Twilight's crown, necklace and bejeweled shoes sat empty and unworn in the center of the scorched floor.

"W-w-where'd she go? What happened?" Spike stuttered, terrified.

Wiping a claw through the ash, Discord brought the blackened appendage up to his eyes. He sniffed it before sticking it in his mouth and sucking on it for a moment. Spike continued to stare in shock at the epicenter of the incident.

Pulling the claw out of his mouth with an accompanying pop, Discord said, "If I had to guess, I'd say she was just transported to that desert we saw. She is still alive, I can tell you that much."

"H-how can you tell?"

"That tear she opened? It's still there. Closed, but there. I can sense her magical signature coming from the other side."

"If it's still there, why can't we see it?"

Discord pinched the bridge of his nose, pondering an appropriate analogy to explain the situation to a child. Finally, he said, "Think of it like a cut in your skin. When that cut heals, there will still be a scar. That scar might have once been a wound, but it no longer is. It's sealed, but visible. If the actual sight of that desert was the cut, then my being able to sense its presence is the scar."

"Well, if it's still there, then open it! We have to get Twilight back!" Spike demanded.

"I can do no such thing. I lack both the power and necessary knowledge to reopen that wound. I may be a master of chaos, but I am not a traveler of universes. That far exceeds any of my capabilities. Perhaps next time she'll double check her work."

"That isn't funny, Discord. Bring her back!"

Discord sighed. "Did you not just hear what I said? I don't have the power to do so. That's out of even my league."

"Well, there's got to be something we can do..." Spike said dejectedly.

"I suppose it would look bad to sunny-butt if she thinks I just lost her newest princess like loose change," Discord said as he investigated Twilight's desk. On it were a number of papers and notes, most relating to the experiment they had just conducted. Discord attempted to read the excruciatingly long scroll which housed a majority of the details relating to the incident, but could make no sense of Twilight's writings. The large watery stain and runny ink caused by the glass of water which was knocked over during the explosion probably didn't help matters either. Glancing about the desk in search of something a bit more sensible, Discord's eyes settled upon a small note, which read "Remember to prepare speech for conference!"

"Oh, that's bad," Discord noted. "I completely forgot about the conference!"

"What conference?"

"Ambassadors from across the globe are coming here. Many species are angry at Celestia's decision to grant Twilight Sparkle the status and power of an alicorn."

"What—" Spike started before Discord cut him off.

"As you are no doubt aware, Twilight's power has increased significantly since she became an alicorn. The rest of the world wanted to be sure that Equestria wasn't trying to alter any balance of power by raising an army of alicorns, or by expanding Equestria's territory to give Twilight a province to rule. And what with my... reformation," Discord said the word with distaste, not wanting to recall the times when he was completely alone and friendless, "it might look like Equestria is preparing for a war."

"So, this conference is about Twilight?"

"More or less. As I said, they were interested in Twilight's new alicorn status; some worry that the sudden amount of power and responsibility she has might cause her to have a mental breakdown, and while I'm all for a little crazy every now and then, that would only result in an incident comparable to Nightmare Moon's reign. Only this time, the Elements wouldn't be able to stop it. It's not often that somepony gets granted such power."

Spike gulped. Bending to make eye contact him, Discord asked, "Spike, I have a very important job for you. Twilight's, not to mention my, fate could depend on this. Do you think you can handle that?"  Spike nodded vigorously. "Anything to help Twilight," he said with false bravado, puffing out his chest.

"I need you to go get the princesses. All of them, including Cadance. Shining Armor as well, I hear he's an exceptional magic user, not to mention that the family connection between him and Twilight could be of use. Then, gather the Elements — both your friends and their jewels. If the time of the conference comes, and the main attraction isn't present, things could get messy very quickly, and I really don't want to be on the receiving end of any blame for this."

"How messy could it get?" Spike before Discord said in a voice which left no room for argument, "We've wasted enough time. I'll stay and try to figure out Twilight's notes, now go!" Discord snapped his claws, and the stone tile Spike was standing on popped out by the force of a spring beneath it, sending Spike flying into the hall.

Discord did not want to be turned back to stone because of a misunderstanding.


________


The light of the setting sun was just fading into obscurity when Ian pointed to a rising cliff in the distance, a visible hole in its face being the entrance to the cave. "There it is!" he said, exhausted. The three of them had been doing more than a simple fast walk in order to catch up on the several hours' head start the boy had.

The last of the sunlight faded as they reached the cave's mouth. Sparks flew futilely from Twilight's horn as she attempted to light it to see in the dim moonlight, to no avail. She sighed.

"I've got this one," Nash said as he pulled and lit a flare from his bag. Small bones could be seen littering the entrance to the cave in the light cast by the flare, while against a wall by the cave's mouth were the bleached bones of an entire brahmin skeleton. Twilight grimly examined the skeleton, with its two heads in particular. She mentally noted to examine and interview the bi-headed animal once they were back at Shady Sands, wondering if both heads were completely sapient and separate entities.

Nash drew his pistol in his right hand, holding the flare with his left. Ian drew his pistol as well, while Twilight looked about cautiously, thinking of ways she could be of assistance without a weapon or her magic. She was drawing blanks on that particular train of thought, though.

"If this cave is so far away, how do the scorpions manage to get into town? You've got that big wall, too. There's only one way in," Twilight commented.

"They must smell the brahmin, or something. And my only guess is that they somehow climb over the walls. There isn't much else between here and Shady Sands for them to feed on," Ian replied.

"We should stick together. Looks dark in there," Nash commented. They nodded, walking together in the small circle of light cast by the flare. The sounds of their steps echoed throughout the cavern. Slowly making their way through the dark tunnel, they entered a large opening that branched in two directions: forwards, and right.

"Shit," Ian swore. "Splitting up might be better. How many more flares do you have?" Ian asked Nash.

"Four, I believe, not including this one," he waved the glowing flare he held in his hand.

"Give me one. I'll check this part on the right, you follow the tunnel forwards."

"Good thinking," Twilight said as Nash handed Ian a flare. "Safety in numbers for us, while you've got experience to handle yourself."

"That's the idea," Ian said, twisting the cap on the flare to ignite it. He jerked his head backwards to get his long brown hair away from his deeply set eyes. Rolling up the lone sleeve on his jacket's left arm, Ian readied his pistol as the light from his flare was lost from sight around a bend in the tunnel he traveled down.

After a minute's walk forwards, Twilight and Nash heard a loud pistol shot echo throughout the cave from behind them. Twilight began to turn around before being stopped by Nash as several more shots sounded. The flare Nash held cast intimidating looking shadows on his face as he said, "No time, he can handle himself. We need to look for James." To this, Twilight nodded hesitantly. They continued further down the path before a chittering sound froze them in their tracks. Just outside of the visible light given by the flare, a shadowy shape moved about.

Nash and Twilight took several cautious steps forwards, illuminating the radscorpion in full. Its body was large, reaching about midway up Twilight's legs in height, while its tail curled overhead, reaching a height taller than Nash. It had thick, brown plates covering its body, and two large claws which it clacked in anticipation. The combatants examined each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. Nash quickly brought his pistol to bear and fired, aiming at the tail with the curved, pointed stinger. The stinger, as it turned out, was lightly armored compared to the rest of the radscorpion's body.

The bullet struck, causing the scorpion to squeal in pain. Thick green ichor leaked from the wound. It backed away a few feet before charging at the duo, flinging its stinger forwards in Nash's direction.

"Move!" he cried, diving to the right while Twilight went left.

Deciding between its two prey, it turned towards Nash, once again swinging its tail.

"Oh no, you don't!" Twilight shouted as she leaped at the tail, using her wings to glide herself several feet forwards. Twilight's weight as she connected with the tail threw the aim of the scorpion off, causing the stinger to chip away at the rock floor of the cave instead of at Nash. Thick ooze leaked from the pointed stinger, which Twilight could only assume to be poison. She'd have to get a sample of it later.

Grappling and attempting to hold down the flailing stinger, Twilight cried, "Its eyes! Hit it in the eyes!"

Nash complied, firing at the beady black eyes of the scorpion which reflected the flare's light. With a hard toss of its tail to the left, the scorpion finally managed to dislodge Twilight, which caused it to move in a way that threw off Nash's aim. This resulted in his bullet embedding itself in a plate above the scorpion's eyes, but not doing any real damage.

The scorpion skittered forwards, and with a swipe of its claw, knocked Nash off his feet. Once again, the stinger lunged at Nash. Staring his impending doom in the face, he didn't have the drive to move. All he could think was, I've failed the Vault. I've failed Twilight.

The rapid clip-clop of galloping hooves was met by a pained screech from the scorpion as Twilight skewered its tail with her horn. The scorpion backed up, moving in Twilight's direction, which only further implanted her horn in its curved tail. Nash could see the tip of her horn sticking through the cracks between the chitin plating on the scorpion's tail. With a quick jerk of her head, Twilight tore the tail off completely, freeing her green-coated horn from the scorpion's now stinger-less body.

Nash, broken from his revere, took aim and fired his pistol one last time at the scorpion's eye. It didn't even screech as it slumped dead to the ground.

"Eww, this is disgusting!" Twilight cried, frantically rubbing her horn and hair in an attempt to remove the ichor, but only managing to spread it further.

Finally giving up the futile effort, she stomped over to Nash and glared at him. He began, still on the floor, "Twilight... I — I don't know how—" before she slapped him. The large red mark stood out on his face from where her hoof connected with his cheek. He couldn't find the words to respond.

"Next time, move!" she shouted. Turning around, she took two unsteady steps forwards before falling to her knees. Nash didn't need to see her face to know she was crying. "You... you could have died. You could have been killed, and you would have left me here, alone. Nothing is out there for me in that... wasteland, Nash. Nothing! I..." Nash crawled from the position the scorpion had knocked him into and over to Twilight. He gently lifted her chin.

And slapped her.

Gunshots went off behind them again. "Look," Nash started. "I appreciate the save. I do. And I probably deserved the slap, too, though it felt more like a punch with that hoof of yours..." he said, rubbing the cheek she had slapped. "Anyway, you can have your mental breakdown later. Right now, we have a kid to save, and some bugs to squish." Nash stood up, holding out his hand and asking with a cocky grin, "So, you with me? I'll be sure to move next time."

Twilight looked up at the man. The stupid, strange, generous, wonderful man. He could have killed her when he found her. He could have just walked right past her, and she would have died in the hot, bland desert, alone and friendless. He shared his food and water. His company and secrets. They shared their shock and disgust at the deeds of the more depraved parts of the human race, and their interest in the world at large. They were both oblivious to the ways of the wasteland, and every experience was a new one. They were, for all intents and purposes, friends.

She put her hoof in his hand, and he pulled her back to all fours. "Fancy legwork, by the way," Nash commented with a grin, flicking Twilight's horn and eliciting a pained yelp from her. Twilight cautiously rubbed her horn, saying, "Don't do that! Horns are very sensitive to outside stimuli."

Nash ignored her retort, saying, "We'd better get moving." He picked up the still-glowing flare that he had dropped during the commotion. Keeping his pistol leveled ahead of him, they slowly worked their way through the cave, checking every nook and cranny for any hidden scorpions that wanted to surprise them. Apart from saving the boy, they also had the task of eradicating all of the radscorpions, despite its secondary importance in relation to saving James.

Making their way around a large support-like stalagmite which reached from the ground to the ceiling of the cave, they were greeted with another split in the cave.

"Separating is far too dangerous," Twilight said, trying once again to wipe the thickening goop off of her horn.

"I agree with you there. Let's go... uh, eeny-meeny-miney left," Nash chanted as they turned left. The light given off by the flare illuminated an alcove. It was a dead end, in more ways than one as two more radscorpions approached them, clicking their claws in disapproval of the intrusion.

"Ah, shit," Nash swore. Without giving them a chance to get closer, Nash immediately fired three more rounds at the nearest scorpion, two of which glanced harmlessly off of its plating while the third got it right in the eye. Even with a pulverized, bleeding and useless eye, the scorpion only managed to look even more pissed.

"They are abnormally resilient," Twilight commented with an unnatural calm stemming from shock. If Nash's weapon was anything like the flintlock pistols the griffons back in Equestria used, as she suspected it was judging by the odor of gunpowder which lingered after every shot, then these scorpions were shrugging off an unusual amount of damage. She began backing away with Nash as the scorpions approached them.

"Soon to be abnormally lifeless!" Nash barked, firing at the wounded scorpion. In response to Nash's movements in bringing the pistol to bear, it raised its claws to its face, leaving the three bullets to penetrate the lightly armored claws but fail to kill it. This managed to anger both of the scorpions, causing them to run full speed towards the pair.

Nash and Twilight, realizing their situation, quickly about faced and began running as well.

"Never try to make a one-liner again!" Twilight chided as they ran into the area of the cave they had yet to explore.

"I'm sorry, I liked the feeling of false confidence it gave me!"

Turning back awkwardly as he continued to run, Nash fired three more rounds at the scorpion. The scorpion's corpse tripped over itself as its legs stopped moving.

"I got it!" Nash cheered.

"You got one, there are two. Keep running!"

They skidded to a halt as the straight line they were running in ended at a dead end. The narrow passage out was blocked by the scorpion, which stopped its run as it carefully approached its cornered prey.

Nash pulled the trigger of his pistol several times, eliciting nothing but hollow clicks.

"Nash," Twilight asked slowly as the scorpion continued to approach. "What's wrong with your weapon?"

"I, uh, think I ran out of bullets."

"Well I think it'd be real swell if you were to do something about it!" she shouted.

Nash looked at the gun in his hand for a moment before throwing it at the scorpion. It clunked uselessly off of its chitinous hide. The scorpion paused in its tracks, as if attempting to comprehend how the human could possibly be so stupid.

"That was your plan? Throw your gun?" she asked frantically.

"I panicked!"

"Try something else!"

Nash opted to throw the flare he was holding instead. It bounced off of the scorpion ineffectually, which prompted Twilight to fall to her haunches and facehoof, saying "We're doomed."

The scorpion was upon them now, rearing its tail back to sting when several pistol shots sounded. Bursts of green blood exploded on Twilight and Nash as its tail fell limply to the floor. The scorpion turned to face the new threat, its useless stinger dragging on the rough stone ground.

Behind the scorpion stood Ian, his ordinarily black jacket coated with more green gore than Twilight's horn was, a sight which made her sick to her stomach. She wondered how the human was faring with that amount of fluids on him as a fresh chunk of scorpion gore dripped off the tip of her horn and onto her muzzle. She went cross-eyed to stare at the offending globule of flesh as she clamped her hooves across her mouth in an attempt to hold back the rising bile in her throat.

Clicking its claws in anger, the scorpion began to charge Ian, its limp stinger scratching on the cave floor. Before it could get within ten feet, however, Ian fired two more shots, ending the abomination's life.

"Run out of ammo?" Ian asked as he approached Nash and Twilight.

"Uhh," Nash stammered, remembering he still had his bag. "Not quite..."

"Then why, dare I ask, did you not reload?"

"Because I, uh, sorta kinda might have thrown my gun at it," Nash responded sheepishly.

"And why did you throw your gun at it?"

Nash shrank away from Ian's glare, reminded of times in the Vault when he was young and being lectured for his bad behavior. "I... I panicked, when the magazine ran out."

Ian sighed. As he had seen on the way to his present location, Nash had killed two of the scorpions, which proved that he was at least halfway competent. The problem, though, was that he had absolutely no wasteland experience. Or hell, any experience in general.

"Rule number two to surviving in the wasteland. Don't panic," Ian said.

"Two? What is rule one?" Twilight asked.

"Don't die," Ian responded as he pulled a cigarette from the inside of his jacket.

"Well, that's helpful," Twilight responded sarcastically as Nash bent to pick up the pistol and flare he had thrown.

Flicking closed and pocketing the lighter he used to ignite his cigarette, Ian said, "Hey, it works." He walked off deeper into the cave as Twilight and Nash hurried to catch up to him, with Nash loading a fresh magazine into his pistol.

It wasn't a long walk before the trio heard a soft sobbing, along with various squeals and clicks originating from a number of radscorpions. Hurrying towards the source of the commotion, the trio's dual flare-light illuminated four radscorpions clicking their claws and thrashing their stingers at a small outcropping of rock jutting from the cave wall on which a tiny form lay prone.

"Get ready," Ian said to Twilight and Nash. Before either could respond, Ian put two fingers in his mouth and blew a shrill whistle. This caught the attention of the scorpions, causing them to cease their fruitless attacks on the wall below the boy in favor of more accessible game.

Without hesitating, Ian began to open fire on one of the scorpions. Nash lagged for just a moment before doing the same. By the time the scorpions were close enough to give the three cause for retreat, the collective firing of their two ten millimeter pistols had terminated one of the hostile arthropods. The others, realizing the manner in which their comrade had been killed, raised their claws to their faces, creating an effective and rather nuisance-some shield, blocking their faces from the harmful projectiles.

The three were retreating back to the tunnel which lead to the section of the cave they were currently in when Twilight said, "Draw them away, I'll get to the child."

Looking at her two companions, they nodded in confirmation of her plan. As Ian and Nash went down the tunnel on the left, Twilight awkwardly flapped her wings, shakily gaining altitude in an attempt to make herself seem a less interesting target as she flew right. Her plan worked. The scorpions followed the humans, completely disregarding Twilight's hovering form.

Twilight flapped her way over to the outcrop of rock on which the still-sobbing boy lay curled up. A small object which Twilight likened to an elongated version of Nash's weapon, as well as a spilled box of round metal spheres, were next to the boy. Gunshots echoed throughout the cave as she landed, breathing a sigh of relief. She still wasn't a very good flier.

The boy chanced a look up at the sound of Twilight's hooves connecting with his tiny stone sanctuary. Uncomprehending of what he was seeing in the dark cave, he crawled further against the wall, clutching himself even tighter as his bawling increased in frequency.

"Shh," Twilight said softly as she slowly approached the boy. "It's OK, I'm not here to hurt you. You'll be just fine." Laying down next to the child, she tenderly ran a hoof through his hair, consoling him. "Those scorpions won't hurt you or anything else again," she reassured.

James, realizing Twilight's non-hostile intentions, clutched his arms around Twilight's neck, sobbing into her fur. She continued to stroke his hair as more gunshots resounded throughout the cave.

"Your name is James, right?" Twilight asked, trying to ignore the gunfire. She felt the crying child nod his head against her chest. Taking that as her cue, she continued gently, "Well, my name is Twilight. I came here from your home town. Shady Sands, it was called?" She felt the boy nod again, his sobs slowly subsiding to broken, heaving sniffles. "I came from there with my friend Nash and a person we met in town, named Ian. We heard your mother calling out for you when she realized you were missing."

Twilight's voice took on a teacherly, lecturing tone as she continued kindly, "She was very worried about you. A boy your age should know not to go off on his own, especially not out into the wasteland, and definitely not when your mother says otherwise." Twilight didn't quite know what she was saying, since she couldn't be sure just how old James was, and didn't know how humans aged in comparison to ponies, but she hoped her lecture (with the use of local terminology to simplify it) was comforting. It seemed to be working, as he was no longer crying, though he was still grasping her neck with his face pressed against her chest.

Finally, the blackness of the cavern was broken by the approach of a light from the tunnel Ian and Nash led the scorpions down. From out of the tunnel limped Nash, holding a hand to his side as he sluggishly moved, while Ian was attempting and failing to get Nash to let him examine the wound. Nash trudged to and slumped against a wall, Ian following suit.

Ian looked in the general direction of Twilight and James, as he couldn't see them outside of the circle of light cast by the flare. He called out, "Twilight! It's safe to come down now. We checked everywhere, got all of them. Even smashed all the eggs we saw."

"Alright," Twilight called back. "On my way." She looked down at James, who was looking up at her. She smiled as she stood up, lowering her neck and saying, "Climb on. I'll fly you down."

James tilted his head in confusion as Twilight flapped her wings, indicating that she did, indeed, have the necessary appendages required for flight.

"H-hang on," James stuttered his first words to Twilight, as he bent down to scoop as many of the scattered BBs as he could into the box, picking up both the box and his BB gun before carefully climbing onto Twilight's back.

Looking over her shoulder, Twilight asked, "You ready?"

James nodded in response. "OK. Just make sure you don't bump into my wings," Twilight said as she hopped off the outcrop of rock, pumping her wings frantically to compensate for her lack of flying skills and the extra weight on her back.

After a short time of what can more accurately be described as "madly flailing about" through the air, Twilight landed not-so-gently onto the cave floor in the circle of light given by the flares. She quickly ran up to Nash, asking with concern as he clutched his side, "What happened? Are you alright?"

"The damned fool took a stinger meant for me," Ian said, sounding more annoyed at himself than Nash.

"Ohmygosh, Nash, are you alright? Where does it hurt?" Twilight asked as James leaned a little left to look past Twilight's head.

"Everywhere," Nash said through gritted teeth.

Twilight's eyes widened. She opened her mouth to say something before closing it again, the words dying on her lips. Finally, she managed, "Ian, on our way out, cut off a few of the scorpions' stingers. A doctor might be able to make an antidote from the poison."

Ian shrugged. "That doesn't make much sense to me, but if you say so. Razlo would be the one who knows more than I do on that sciencey doctor stuff. Let's get going. Can you walk, Nash?"

"My blood is like magma," Nash responded with more hostility than was strictly necessary.

"I don't know what that is, but from my experience with radscorp poison, it's probably something very hot," Ian responded.

"Magma is a complex, high-temperature fluid substance made of molten or semi-molten rock which can reach temperatures from seven hundred to—" Twilight began in full-lecture mode before Ian stopped her, saying, "Cut the crap, I'll carry him. You and James seem to be doing fine as you are. I'll cut a few tails on our way out and we'll make our way back to Shady Sands."

"We... we're going home? Really? And — and you killed all of the scorpions?" James asked, unbelieving.

"That's right, kid. We're going home," Ian said, carefully lifting the groaning Nash up in his arms.

They began walking towards the exit to the cave, when barely a few steps later, Nash started laughing and groaning in pain. Ian looked down at the load in his arms, asking, "Just what do you find so funny?"

Nash choked up a few more pained laughs before saying with a smile that was more of a grimace, "If you're gonna hold me like this, you could at least buy me dinner first."

Looking forwards again, Ian said, "One more crack like that and you'll be walking."

"Alright, alright," Nash said before returning to his relatively silent moans of pain.

Several minutes' walk and a few cut stingers (with James hiding his face in Twilight's mane to avoid looking at the deceased scorpions) later, the four of them found their way to the outside of the cave. The moon was high in the sky as they walked their way back towards Shady Sands.