Dragon's Dogma: Arisen of Equestria

Chapter 12

Hound Dog

The dragon and the earth pony made their way through Ponyville. As they were walking down the street, Arisen took notice of some of the ponies around glaring at her or avoiding eye contact with her due to fear or because they think she was the reason why their town was attacked by the monster. It also didn’t help that she did cause a giant crater in the middle of a street where she fought the monster.

“Guess they’re still on edge around me.” Arisen said as Macareina scratched the back of her own head awkwardly.

“They’ll come around sooner or later. Just give them time.”

“I’m not worried about them hating me. More worried at what they’ll do is the main issue.”

“Come on. I’m sure they’re not going to form an angry mob and try to run you out of town.” She said as Arisen looked over at Macareina with a worried expression on her. “They’re not going to do that to my knowledge.”

“We’ll see about that. Nothing against what you’re saying, but I do have my doubts about dragons...or in this case ponies' reaction to something new.”

“Like I said, give them time and they’ll warm up to you.” She said before noticing a greatsword sticking out of the ground next to the giant crater that Arisen made the other day. “Wow, you really did a number with the street. Hard to believe you can use magic like a unicorn...You’re not a pony disguised as a dragon are you?”

“No I’m not...at least to my knowledge.” Arisen answered as she walked over to the greatsword sticking out of the ground. Once there she grabs the handle part of it and pulls it out of the ground to examine it. “Not a bad looking greatsword.” She said before running a finger along the blade part of the sword and began to swing it around a bit. “Still sharp and easy to handle compared to most greatswords I carry.”

“You sure you want to take something like that with you? Aren’t you worried that it might be cursed or something?” Macareina asked as she noticed a light blue aura appearing around her hand as it soon developed around the greatsword for a second before disappearing.

“There, that should dispel any curses that might be on this sword.” Arisen said as she placed the sword on the holster on her back. “Perfect fit too. I was beginning to worry that I’ll have to place the shield and longsword back at Rarity’s place.”

“You know, I’m pretty sure the ponies around here would think you’re less of a threat if you weren’t carrying those weapons around.”

“After yesterday’s event. I’ll take my chance with them shunning me, then be surprised by a monster attack.”

“Which again. Not going to happen anytime soon. They mostly happen after about a month or three depend-” Before Macareina could finish her sentence, the two hear the sound of loud growling and something breaking echo throughout the town followed by screaming. “-ing...Oh horse apples.”

“You were saying about this place not getting another monster attack anytime soon?” Arisen said in a joking manner before quickly bolting it to where the noise came from.

“Grandpa’s not going to like that I lost a barrel of Apple cider.” Macareina said before following Arisen. Just as the dragon girl turned the corner, she quickly jumped out of the way of an oncoming cart that was thrown. Just as she lands off to the side, she could see a giant three headed dog running rampant around the somewhat enclosed area he was in as the ponies ran away from the area.

“....Okay, this is kinda new.” Arisen said as she looked over at Macareina. “Do you know what that thing is?”

“Cerberus, he’s the watchdog that guards the gates of Tartarus.” She said which caused Arisen to tilt her head in confusion. “Think of it as a heavily guarded prison for the most unredeemable ponies or creatures of Equestria. But what is he doing here in Ponyville? He should be guarding the gates of Tartarus, not attacking Ponyville.” She said before seeing a cart heading toward her by Cerberus sending it flying with his tail. The farm pony was about to jump out of the way, only for it to fall to the ground due to a ball of fire coming from Arisen’s hand. “Wow, you can do other magic then that whip thing?”

“Yeah I know a few spells to assist me, but right now I need you to get Twilight here.”

“...Wait, you’re not planning on doing this by yourself, are you?” She asked as Arisen nodded. “Are you insane!?”

“I wondered that sometimes. Especially when fighting against a giant monster that could kill me with one strike.” Arisen said as her hands began to glow with electricity. “But someone needs to distract it long enough so that the dog doesn’t cause any more damage to the town. And given how well built you are, you must be much faster than me at running.”

“...I don’t know if I should find that as a compliment or not.”

“Take it however you see, but please go get Twilight and her friends.” Arisen said before charging at Cerberus. Once she was close, she quickly formed a whip into her hands, wrapped said whip around the middle head of Cerberus, and unleashed an electrical surge throughout Cerberus’s body. The dog lets out a yelp from the shock as he turns his attention at her. “Over here mutt. Let’s play a game, shall we~?” Arisen said before looking over at Macareina. “Now would be a good time to go!”

“R-Right, you better not get hurt or anything.” Macareina said as she quickly bolted it down the street towards Twilight’s Treehouse.

“I make no promises on that.” Arisen said as she soon felt Cerberus pull on the electrical whip she made as he flung her into the air, causing the whip to disappear and sending Arisen crashing onto a nearby house. The dragon girl lets out a gasp of air from the force behind the throw, as she felt herself rolling off the roof and onto the ground. “Okay...so glad that I took my shield with me. That would’ve caused major back problems.” While she was trying to regain the ability to breathe, she felt the ground shake as Cerberus started to charge at her. “Ah hell!” Arisen quickly pulled her shield from off her back and coated it with ice. She was soon sent flying backwards from the force behind the dog’s charge and felt herself crash through the door of a nearby house.

“....Regret, that pretty much goes through my head for not getting my armor for something like this.” She said while pulling herself up. Just as she pulled herself up she looked up to see familiar grey pegasus with a yellow mane looking down at her with a confused expression on her face.

“Oh, hello again Arisen...um. I wasn’t expecting to see you again so soon.”

“I can say the same thing Derpy.” She said before staggering to pull herself up from the floor of her house, only to fall back onto the floor. “But right now I think you should quickly leave.”

“Why, is something wrong-” Before Derpy could finish her question, one of Cerberus’s heads burst through the door of the house and began to bark and try to bite at Arisen in an attempt to get her. The pegasus let out a scream of terror as she quickly pulled Arisen away from the doorway. “Mother of Celestia! Why is Cerberus here in Ponyville!?”

“Don’t know. He was causing trouble in town, and ended up fighting him as a means to distract him so anypony in the area could escape and Macerina can get Twilight and the others here to help me.”

“Aw, that’s nice of you.”

“Thanks.” She said before pulling herself up and turning her attention towards Cerberus. “But right now we need to get you out of here. So while I keep him distracted, you make a break for it out a window or something.”

“But what about you?”

“I’ll be fine. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve done something like this.” Arisen said as her hands glowed bright blue and began to be covered in frost along with some of her surroundings. “You might want to stand back a bit.” She ordered as Derpy quickly took cover into the room next to them as the dragon unleashed six root-like pillars from where she was standing and sent them flying at Cerberus’s middle head that was stuck in the doorway. Once it made contact with the middle face, Cerberus let out a yelp of pain from the Grand Gieel spell as it caused him to recoil back and get his head unstuck.

“Poor little doggy. I hope you didn’t break his nose or anything?” Derpy asked as she peered her head from around the corner of the room she was in.

“He’ll be fine. I made the tips of the ice spell flat so it wouldn’t piece his face or anything. Now please find someplace else to hide for your safety.” Arisen said before bolting it out the house and flinged a fireball at Cerberus’s left head while he was rubbing the middle head’s nose. The left head let out a yelp of pain as he once again glared at the dragon girl. Arisen glared back at the dog, but soon noticed Derpy quickly bolting it down the street before taking flight as she sighed in relief. “Let's hope what i learned from Twilight’s book paid off.” She said as electricity began to spark from her left and water from her right hand. Cerberus quickly tried to bat at the dragon with his front paw, but missed due to Arisen quickly ducking out of the way of the swipe as she began to run around him in circles as she was concentrating on the spell she was doing.

“Concentrate on the elements you want.” She said as clapped her hands together as both her hands were quickly covered in both Ice and lightning. “Make it take form from the elements of said nature around you and within.” While continuing to run circles around Cerberus, she quickly jumps out of the way of his tail that he was trying to hit her with as she lands onto a nearby house with a flat surface roof. Once on the roof, a ring made out of ice formed around her before it formed a dome of ice and electricity around her. She can see Cerberus heading towards her as the dome and ring quickly vanish and form around her arms. Once the three headed dog was close, she soon formed whips into her hands and used them to strike at Cerberus’s heads causing him to recoil back again.

“Haha! So I can combine different elemental spells together! Twilight is going to be excited upon seeing what I just pulled….what do I even name this?” Arisen said before looking over at Cerberus with a determined expression on her face. “I’ll figure it out later, right now I need to get in close and put that dog to sleep.” She said before quickly jumping from rooftop to rooftop to close the distance between her and Cerberus. The three headed dog took notice of Arisen coming towards him as he quickly started throwing debri at her. The dragon girl sees the flying debri heading towards her as she uses her whips to help her dodge them and close the distance between her and the dog even more.

Once she was close, she used her whips to latch onto Cerberus’s back and wrapped them around his back for support. Cerberus felt Arisen on his back as he began to flail around to try and get her off his back. The dragon grunted from feeling herself being slammed onto the ground or onto a nearby build as she held on to dear life. While he was doing that, Arisen’s hands started to blow a dark shade of blackish pink.

“Please god, let this spell work!” She yelled due to the pain she was feeling from being slammed around. In a matter of one minute, a thick fog similar to the color of her hands appeared around Cerberus’s heads which caused the three headed dog to be more vigorous in his attempt to knock Arisen on him. “Any normal human would be dead by now. Thank god I was made into a dragon from what Twilight told me about how durable they can be!”

Cerberus continued to slam into various houses along with rolling onto his back on the ground. In a matter of two minutes, she could feel the dog’s assault starting to weaken from her using Grand Sopor on its head. Just as he was about to slam into the ground with his back, the dragon girl felt the dog’s footing give out as he fell towards the ground. Arisen felt herself being thrown off of the monster’s back and was about to crash onto a pile of broken shards of window glass, only to be caught in a familiar purple color grip.

“Oh man, that would’ve ended in so much pain.”

“I’ll say.” Arisen looked up to see Twilight flying above her as she carefully placed her off the side of where the glass was. “I am so sorry it took us this long to get here. Macareina told us about what happened, and we had to make sure that everypony in town was a safe distance from where the fighting was.” she said as Twilight’s friends along with some of the royal guards stationed in Ponyville made their way over to the scene. The dragon would notice some of the guards rushing over to where Cerberus was passed out at in shock and awe.

“It’s fine. I’m just glad she was about to get to you all before it got worse.” Arisen said as she tried to pull herself up, only to fall back onto her bottom due to the pain she was feeling in her leg. Looking down, she could see a piece no bigger than her sword sticking out of her leg. “Damn, was hoping that I wouldn’t get that hurt from dealing with Cerberus.”

“Wait, you took down Cerberus?” Rainbow Dash asked as the dragon girl nodded.

“He’s not dead, had to use a sleeping spell on three of his heads. Mainly because I’m sure the other two of his heads would try and wake up the sleeping head.” She said as it took Twilight, her friends, and some of the royal guards that overheard this off guard. “....What?”

“I...I know you told me about how you faced monsters back where you’re from...but I wasn’t expecting you to be this good of a hero.” Applejack said as she walked over to Arisen. “Land sakes! You got a piece of wood sticking out of your leg!”

“Given where it’s in. It must have severed major veins and arteries of her leg. Pulling the wood out would-” Before Fluttershy could finish, Arisen quickly pulled the piece of wood out of her leg as blood began to spill out of her wound. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” she yelled which took everyone on by surprise along with the medical ponies that were about to help you.

“This wouldn’t be the first time something like this has happened to me.” Arisen said as her hand glowed a bright yellow as a barrier appeared around the wound to prevent any blood from leaking. Once she did that, both her left and right hands began to glow green and blue as she placed them on the wounds. Upon doing so, the hole in her leg began to patch itself up quickly, though there would be a scar left after she was done patching herself up.”There we go, good as new...well minus the scar left from it.”

“.....H-How is that possible!?” One of the medical ponies asks as she quickly rushes over to Arisen and examines her leg via magical X-Ray kind of device. “Even medical ponies can’t use magic like this to quickly mend a pony’s wound so fast. I mean the small barrier you made to make sure the blood wouldn’t spill is impressive, but to use magic to patch up a wound so deep would require years of training. Not even Princess Celestia can do this...and you’re a dragon. How is that even possible!?”

“I...Don’t know to be honest. I do this all the time back home when I don’t have time to get to a healer in a town and I’m far away from the nearest town with a healer or place to rest.”

“That doesn’t make any sense, nor does that mean that how magic works. For all we know you could’ve done more damage internal-” The unicorn mare paused as her face turned pale as she looked up at Arisen. “What...what are you?”

“What do you mean-” Just as Twilight looked over to see what the mare meant, she would see Arisen’s internal veins and arteries. So her surprise, she could see them magically repairing themselves from the damage they took from the wood impaled in her leg. “Dear Celestia, this is...I don’t even know what or how to describe this.” She said before looking at Arisen who was staring at them both in confusion. Rarity noticed the expression Twilight’s face as she quickly butted in on the conversation.

“Twilight, darling. I think we should focus on the important matter at hand. You know the giant three headed dog passed out on the ground?” She suggested as Twilight shook her head.

“R-Right, right. Sorry, um...yes. Cerberus. Why is he here in Ponyville? Shouldn’t he be at the gates of Tartarus to prevent anypony from trying to leave or enter without permission?”

“You think somepony lured him here with a ball or doggy treats?” Pinkie Pie asked as it caused Twilight to roll her eyes.

“I doubt it seeing how Celestia and Luna trained him to guard the gates of Tartarus.” She said while placing a hand to her chin. “Somepony must’ve used some kind of spell on him to cause him to attack Ponyville...but the question is who?” Twilight soon turned her attention back onto Arisen. “Arisen, while you were fighting Cerberus. You wouldn’t happen to notice anything weird about or out of place?”

“Not that I can tell at the time. Was kind of busy and focused on trying not to get killed by him or him killing anypony around me, sorry.”

“No need to apologise. Can’t blame you for that. I’ll have to send a message to Celestia about this, but until then we’ll let the guards handle getting Cerberus back to where he was supposed to be.” She said as Arisen stood up. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I’ll be fine. Again, it wouldn't be the first time I had to fight against something bigger than me. Just need to get some rest and I’ll be right ready to go.”

“That’s good to hear. Don’t want you to miss out on the party I’m gonna be hosting for you saving Ponyville again.” Pinkie said before pulling Arisen into a hug, causing her to let out a wince of pain from the force behind the hug.

“Pinkie, you hugging her too tightly!” Applejack yelled as Pinkie looked over at the farm pony for a moment before looking up at Arisen who passed due to the air being knocked out of her and fatigue from the fight she had.

“...Oh...Um…Whoopsie!.”