The Arisen finds herself in Equestria after taking her own life by using the Godsbane Blade.
In the land of Gransys, there is a tale. An endless tale of those who took up the mantle of Arisen. One after another, their hearts were stolen by a dragon. One after another, the Arisen travel the world on a journey to reclaim what was stolen from them. One after another, they defeated the Sovereign of Old and take up the mantle of Sovereign, either to lead the world to a brighter future or lead it to it's destruction. Not this Arisen though. For this Arisen was not like the others. This one put an end to the Infinite Cycle of Eternal Return by taking Godsbane itself and having her own life end by her own hands. But fate has much more planned for this one. For this one will find herself in a place that isn't in the tales...and she will find herself as the beast she once had to face.
Crossover: (Mlp x Dragon's Dogma Series) (A few Rule 63 Characters)
The hole that lead to the world below from within the realm of the Sovereign throne closed up after both the Arisen’s dead body and her pawn fell through the seeing hole of the floor. What was left was a white soul that slowly began to float away into the mysterious void. The Arisen wondered where she would go and what will happen to the world that she sent her pawn into now that the cycle was broken. Will things be back to normal? What will happen now? Will peace finally come to the world? All these questions began to float around in her head for a while before she felt herself slowly feeling tired and sleepy.
“I guess...I’ll have to bet on hope then...I...hope my pawn will live a normal life now.”
With that her consciousness began to fade as she was now nothing more than a floating spirit drifting in the void until she is whisked away to which ever god or being has for her to be sent to. What she did not expect though was for her soul to be pulled from it’s endless journey and to hear a new voice speak to her.
“Why hello there, little fella. What are you doing all the way out here?” The Goddess of Chaos asked as she looked over the small soul with interest while beginning to toss it around a bit. There was no reply form the soul, all it did was remain silent and glowing. “Hmm. Not a talker I see? I wonder though, what exactly is your story huh?” The goddess soon poked at the soul for a moment as the eagle claw that served as her left hand began to channel something. Allowing for her to peak into the memories of the soul. “Ah yes. Something was taken from you. You travelled all the way to get it back, only to discover that not everything was what it seemed to be along the way. So, instead of accepting things as what it was. You rejected it and sacrificed yourself so that others wouldn’t have to bear the same fate. What a remarkable story ”
Yet, that was when the Goddess of Chaos soon had a grin emerge on her face. “A story that seems rather short. But don’t worry,” She said, allowing for the soul to drift away towards an entirely different direction. “All good stories deserve a sequel. And so do you.” With a snap of her fingers, a small portal soon open up as the soul slowly entered into it before she closed it. “Let’s see what grand adventures you’ll have in Equestria. Better get the popcorn ready for this~.”
[Everfree Forest, Castle of the Royal Sisters]
“Why are we here again Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle asked as she and Apple Bloom followed after the scooter riding pegasus into the broken down castle.
“Ms. Cheerilee wanted us to do something for a history project, so I thought that maybe we could find something cool and historic inside the old castle in the Everfree.”
“And ya’ll thought it was wise to come here into the most dangerous place in Equestria?” Apple Bloom asked with an unamused look on her face.
“Well, remember that the creatures here are more active at night. Since it’s the middle of the day, we shouldn’t be running into any problems to say the least.” She told her. “Besides, it’s not Zap Apple Season either. Otherwise, we would need to worry about Timberwolves.”
“I’m still saying that this is a bad idea. Especially after the last few times when we came here. Sweetie Belle and I got grounded for a month after what happen two months ago. Or did you forget?”
“I remember. But here’s the real question. Do you want to do this or spend a few hours writing an essay on the ancient history of Equestria and have Twilight critique any mistake we might make?” Scootaloo asked both of them Both fillies looked at each other for a moment before shaking their heads no to Scootaloo’s question. It was bad enough having to do this assignment. It would be even worse if Twilight were to get on them on their writing. “And don’t forget that Ms. Cheerilee would be expecting one from each of us individually.”
“Alright, Alright, I get it. But I still think this is a bad idea coming to this creepy place.” Apple Bloom said as she looked around at the dusty old castle fill with Celestia knows what living in here.
“Look, if anything happens, we’ll just run back the way we came before things get too-” Just as Scootaloo said that, they all heard something that sounded like a suit of armor fall and break on the floor. “-Serious.”
“What was that!?” Sweetie Belle asked as she quickly looks around to see where the noise came from.
“It sounded like armor.” The Pegasus added. “Maybe the wind knocked something over as we were coming in here? I mean, I don’t think there’s anypony else in here besides us…”
“And what makes you think that?” Apple Bloom asked. “Do you even know what lives in the Everfree forest that might live here?”
“Um, Timberwolves…Manticores…” It was then that she noticed something in the far off corner of the castle, hidden under an overhang as it slightly moved. However, when she got closer she could hear what sounded like groans of pain. “Girls, do you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
Scootaloo waited for a moment until she heard the painful groans again and pointed it out to the girls. “That. I think something’s here and it’s injured.”
“You think it might be an animal?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“It could be.” Scootaloo replied. “Maybe we should get Fluttershy?”
“Well one of us will have to stay with it, if that’s the case.” Apple Bloom said as she looked over at her friends. “Now let’s do this in a professional way… Not it!”
“Not it!” yelled Scootaloo
“Not-.” Sweetie Belle’s eyes widen that she was the one picked to stay with the animal. “Hey, no fair!!”
“Sorry, Sweetie! We’ll try to be back with Fluttershy as quickly as possible. Just hang tight!!” She heard Scootaloo shout to her as she and Apple Bloom raced over to Fluttershy’s cottage as quickly as they could.
“You better not be gone for long! Or else I’ll haunt you all from the grave!” Huffed the small filly unicorn as she kicks a rock to the side. With a sigh, Sweetie Belle slowly made her way towards room where the growling came from...but not before picking of an old book as a means to defend herself with. Yet, what she actually found lurking in the shadows was not a Manticore or a Timberwolf or even a Chimera. It was something much, much different. Something that Sweetie Belle wasn’t quite sure what exactly it was. So, the only way she could tell what it was… was by poking it with the book she was holding.
“Ugh…” The creature groaned from being poked. Sweetie Belle watched as the creature moved its body and in the light, she saw that the creature had scales. Scales that resembled that of a-
“D-dragon…”
The Arisen groan from being poked by something as she began to stagger up a bit as she opens her eyes. Upon doing that, she quickly closed them for a moment due to the light from the hole in the ceiling. Rubbing her eyes her vision began to clear up to see a weird looking pony creature looking at her. As the hearing of the Arisen began to sync, she heard the little one say a single word. “D-dragon…”
“Who...What are you?” The Arisen asked as she staggered to her feet a bit before stumbling backwards onto her bottom. As she said that, the pony just seemed to be a bit more scared than anything else. Even as it looked at her.
“Y-you can speak?”
“Yeah I can talk...I’m a bit surprise that a...horse...creature like you can talk.”
“I-i’m a pony… Who are you, Ms. Dragon?” The filly asked, causing The Arisen to blink to her question.
“....I’m sorry but...what?”
“Well, you are a dragon but do you have a name?” The little pony asked, tilting its head. “Here, let me tell you my name and then you can tell me yours. I’m Sweetie Belle. Now, what is your name?”
“I…” The Arisen paused for a moment before going into deep thought on Sweetie Belle’s question. It has been a really long time since she went by her actual real name. Almost everyone would refer to her as The Arisen back in Gransys...well until she was labeled as a threat to the crown and the reason why the world was in utter chaos. Shaking her head she decides to go with the name that the people all around Gransys gave her...for now until she can figure things out for the time being. “My name is….Arisen.”
“Arisen?” Sweetie Belle asked. “That’s a rather spooky name. I kind of like it.”
“I wouldn’t say it’s a scary name where I come from. Well unless you were a threat.” Arisen said as she scratched her head. “Mind telling me where I am little one?”
“Uh… the Castle in the Everfree?” Sweetie Belle asked, a little surprised that Arisen here had no idea where she was.
“Everfree? What is that? Some kind of place that the castle is located?....More importantly what country am I in?”
“Everfree Forest… and you’re in Equestria… Why, are you a traveler?” The filly asked at The Arisen shook her head.
“No….well yes to some degree.” The Arisen said as she placed a hand to her head with a groan. “All I remember was plunging the Godsbane into my chest...everything went dark….then the next thing I know I wake up in this place.” All Sweetie Belle did was tilt her head in confusion… but when the Arisen removed her hand from her face, it was then that she realized that her hand… did not look the same as before. “W-What on earth!? What happen to my hands!?”
“Uhh… What do you mean?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“I never had hands like these before...more importantly.” The Arisen soon looked over her body. Upon doing so she notice that not only her hands were that of a dragon, but also her body..along with the fact that she was naked as well. “What the hell happened to my body and my clothes!?”
“I… don’t know how to help… But maybe…” Sweetie Belle told her in response, only to notice what looked like an old curtain on the floor as she picked it up with her magic and wrapped it around Arisen. “Here, let’s keep this on you for now until we find something for you… Are you in pain at all?”
“Other than being poked by something hard, I’m fine.” The Arisen said as she staggered to her feet. As she looks over herself again. “This is just weird.”
“It kind of is… Especially since this is the first time I’ve talked to a dragon other than Spike…” Sweetie Belle said to herself, even though Arisen was able to hear it.
“What?”
“Dragons aren't common around here in Equestria… Why, did you not know that before?” The filly asked.
“No...I did not know that. I am not from here after all.”
“Huh… So you have amnesia or something-?”
“Sweetie Belle, we’re back!” Both of them heard a familiar voice from behind the filly. Only for her friends to realize who she was talking to. “What the hay!?”
“Friends of yours I take it?”
“Yeah… they went to go get some help after we heard you groaning in pain…” The unicorn told her. “Girls, this is Arisen. Arisen, these are my friends Scootaloo and Apple Bloom.”
Apple Bloom herself looked a little bit nervous when first looking at Arisen, while Scootaloo herself was rather eager to say hello. “Cool!! Who knew there was a dragon living here!”
“I thought Spike was the only dragon that lived here in Ponyville. What’s a dragon like her doing here in this place?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Well… I don’t think she remembers how she ended up here…” Sweetie Belle replied. “But maybe Twilight knows some kind of spell that could restore her memory or something...Right?”
“I don’t know. Won’t the ponies in ponyville freak out seeing how she’s a dragon?”
“Not unless we find something for her to wear…Other than the curtain I gave her.” Sweetie Belle replied, before asking something. “Wait…didn’t you leave earlier to go get Fluttershy?”
“We did, but there was a note on her door saying that she was in Canterlot along with Pinkie Pie.” Scootaloo said as she pulls out said note to hand over to Sweetie Belle.”See.”
Sweetie Belle took the note and began to read it, only to realize that what Scootaloo said was right. “Aw crabapples…Um…do you think they would notice she’s a dragon if we cover her head?”
“I’m pretty sure she would stand out like we were when we tried to drag that wagon full of fireworks that one time to get our cutie marks in fireworks.” Apple Bloom said with a shutter. “That wasn’t the best laid idea when some of them lit the barn on fire.”
“Hmm… What if we wait til night?”
“Then we might be in trouble with our sisters. Well you and me, Sweetie Belle. Scootaloo, I don’t know.”
“She’s the one that looks out after me…” Scootaloo added. “Hmm… Maybe we can come back tomorrow and bring Twilight along?”
“We can’t just leave her alone out here. What if something or somepony attack her and tries to take her to a dungeon or something.” Sweetie Belle said as she looked over at Arisen...who was busy looking around the room they were in.
“Maybe there’s something she can defend herself with… I mean, we heard some metal fall over, so maybe there’s some old armor or something hidden around this place?” The pegasus shrugged.
“You think she can defend herself?” Apple Bloom asked. “I mean, she doesn’t look like she can even though she’s a dragon.”
“Um… Maybe you can ask her?” Sweetie Belle told her, pointing her head towards Arisen.
“I’m not going to do that. I mean...look at her. What if she’s pretending to be clueless?”
“Apple Bloom, you’re assuming the worst of her. Just…” Sweetie Belle said, before going off to the side of the room and picking up what looked like a small shortsword. “Arisen? Do you know how to use a weapon where you come from?”
“Um, yes.” She said as she moved a piece of old furniture to the side. Once she did that, she notice a skeleton corpse of a dead pony wearing rust & dust covered armor and clothes. “I think I might’ve found something to wear...though it might make me stand out a bit to some degree.”
“Wait… You’re not… You’re actually thinking of wearing that… are you?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Dude, that’s wrong and gross on so many levels if you’re gonna do that.” Scootaloo added as The Arisen nodded.
“It’s not like he or she will need it anymore. Plus it’s better than anything else I got on right now.” The dragon said as she began to take the armor off of the skeleton.
“That is true…” Sweetie Belle replied, which had both of her friends staring at her in utter surprise. “What? She’s kind of right if you think about it.”
“And you don’t think anypony will wonder where she got that armor from?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Not really… I mean, it’s kind of unrecognizable.”
“Still...I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Don’t sound so pessimistic, Apple Bloom I think we can do this.” Scootaloo said as she noticed the now fully armored dragon walking over to them while tugging on certain parts of her armor and clothes.
“A bit snug around certain places, but I think I can make this work. Too bad it didn’t come with a sword or staff. Only with a huge shield.” The Arisen said as she lifted the shield onto her back and locked it in place thanks to the strap that came along with the armor set.
Which, soon lead to Scootaloo saying something afterwards. “If anypony asks, we say that she’s a traveling Shielder.”
“That’s a thing?” Both Arisen and Sweetie Belle asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe? That’s all I can think of as a backstory for the time being. What do you want from me?” All Sweetie Belle did was just sigh as she looked back at her friend.
“It’ll do for now… Besides, we’re just going to Twilights place. How hard can that be?” The Unicorn asked her friend only for them along with The Arisen to stare at her upon saying that.
“Am I the only one that sensed a bit of dread from Sweetie Belle saying that?” The dragon asked and the other two fillies nodded.
“Oh come on, don’t you two have some kind of faith in me?” The filly asked her companions. “After all, you two were the ones that ditched me here in the first place.”
“We came back didn’t we?” Apple Bloom said before starting to lead the way back to Ponyville. “Come on. Let’s get her over to Twilight before something bad happens.”
“Don’t say that. Do you want to double jinx us even more than what Sweetie Belle said?” Scootaloo asked as she along with Sweetie Belle and The Arisen followed after them to Ponyville.
After a few hour of traversing the Everfree Forest, avoiding dangerous plants and wildlife, and a pack of timberwolves sleeping directly on the path they were walking. The group finally made their way out of the dangerous Everfree Forest. And just in time to seeing as the time was just about twelve o’clock noon on Scootaloo’s watch. Looking forward, Scootaloo grinned as she pointed over at the direction of the colorful town of Ponyville.
“Here we are. Welcome to Ponyville!” The pegasus yelled as The Arisen stared at the colorful town from the distance.
“Huh...reminds me of home. Only I lived near the ocean and was a fisherman before becoming a traveler.” The Dragon said before scratching her head. “And it wasn’t so...colorful to the point where it hurts your eyes.”
“Really? I didn’t know dragons fished!” said Sweetie Bell as they walked into town.
“And don’t you mean fishermare?” Apple Bloom added.
“....Roll with it for the time being.” The Arisen thought before shaking her head. “Uh, yeah. That’s what I meant to say.”
“You’re a weird dragon.” Scootaloo said before she notice Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom glance at her. “What? It’s true. What dragon doesn’t know much about Equestria?”
While the Cutie mark Crusaders talk amongst themselves, The Arisen began to take notice of the town once they entered into the streets. It was weird to see that this place had strange looking street lamps without candles, ponies wearing clothing that she has never seen before, not to mention walking by a building that had someone inside of a small box doing something that involved reading. Compared to Gransys, it’s almost as if she walked into some kind of weird world that was more advanced than her country.
“Yeah, this is a whole lot different than Gransys. Is this the will of the world or god that I’m in this place?” The Arisen thought as she shook her head. “No point in trying to make sense of it at the moment. I’ll do that after I get some info on this country called Equestria and take it from there.” Looking around The Arisen noticed some of the ponies were looking at her odd. Mostly out of either interest, fear, possibly the fact that she was wearing armor, or the fact that she was a dragon. As she looked over at the citizens of Ponyville, most of the ponies quickly ran away or locking their doors and hide inside their homes as soon as they saw her looking at her.
“I take they’re not a fan of new folks coming into town?” The dragon asked as she looked over at Apple Bloom
“Don’t mind them, they’re just not used to seeing somepony new in town. Oh look there’s Twilight's library!” Apple Bloom said as she pointed to a large tree in the middle of town. The Arisen blinked upon seeing Twilight’s home.
“Huh...this would be the second time I've seen someone living in a tree like house....weird.”
“Really? You know somepony else who lives in a library?” asked Sweetie Belle.
“I wouldn’t say it was a library...wait that’s a library and a home?” she asked as Sweetie Belle nodded.
“Yep, most ponies went to Canterlot if they wanted to get a book. But ever since Twilight moved here, Ponyville doesn’t need to go to Canterlot to get their books.” Scootaloo said before walking up to the front door. “Now you stay here while we have a talk with Twilight.”
“You sure she’s going to be of some help?” The Arisen asked as she leaned against the tree house.
“Trust us. Twilight knows everything!” Scootaloo said as she, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle entered into the library. Just as The Arisen was about to get comfortable, Scootaloo quickly opened the door and hands the dragon her P-Phone. “Here, play with this while we’re gone.” She said before going back inside.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” The Arizen asked as she looked over the strange object given to her. Eyeing it in her hand, she begins to look it over for a while before starting to press on it. “In all my years of traveling, this is by far the strangest thing I have ever-.” While continuing to press on the screen, unknowing to her the screen quickly lite up as she let out a yelp as she accidentally drops the phone onto the ground and moves a bit away from it. “....I really hope I didn’t break it or anything.”
Just as she was about to look over it a bit, she was once again startled by the phone as it started to ring. Slowly looking over at the phone, she slowly picked it back up to see what was wrong with it. Looking at it now she could see a picture of a cyan colored pony face with rainbow colored hair on it. “Okay...what the hell am I supposed to do with this?” She asked as she noticed the signs that said ‘flick to the right to answer or flick to the left to not answer’ the phone. Due to her being new to this strange object that Scootaloo gave her, she flicked the phone sign to the right to answer it.
“H-Hello?”
“Scootaloo, is that you kid?” said a tomboyish voice over the other end of phone.
“No, she’s um….a bit busy at the moment helping me.”
“Yo, who the buck is this?”
“Who is this?”
“I’m asking the questions here jerk. Where is Scootaloo and what did you do to her!?” The voice asked as a worried expression appeared on The Arisen’s face.
“Um….At Twilight’s tree house thing?” The dragon said before hearing a click on the phone. Looking over the screen of the phone, there was a message saying call ended as the phone return to a black screen. “Well...that was...something.” she said before placing the phone in her pocket and went back to relaxing against the wall of the treehouse.
“So, you think you can just foalnap somepony and get away with it?” Rainbow Dash said before taking off from the cloud she was resting on and headed towards Twilight’s house. “Well think again buddy. Nopony messes with my number one fan/sister and gets away with it!” Just as she was making her way to the Golden Oaks Library, she soon noticed a dragon wearing rusty old armor on. Squinting her eyes a bit to try and get a closer look at the dragon, she soon noticed it holding Scootaloo’s orange colored P-Phone. Glaring, she quickly nose dived at the dragon as she prepared to try and knock the dragon out with a dive bomb kick with her hoof.
The Arisen’s ears began to flicker a bit before she quickly looked up to see someone heading towards her. On sheer instincts, her body quickly moved on its own and barrel rolled out of the way of the charging rainbow colored blur.
“What the hell!?” The dragon said as she quickly recovered from her barrel roll. Looking at where she was leaning against, she watched a cyan colored pegasus with rainbow colored hair, wearing a tank top and navy blue scratched up jeans remove her foot from the wood she kicked and glared at her. “Oh…..I take it you were the one on that thing I was talking to?”
“Yeah so hand over my number one fan/sister or I’ll knock your lights out!” yelled Rainbow Dash cracking her knuckles.
“Look, I think there might be a bit of a misunderstanding. I didn’t take your sister or done anything to her. She’s inside this treehouse thing with her friends along with this person named Twilight and-”
“So you’re holding them all captive as well! You’ll pay for that!”
“....Guess reasoning is out of the question then?” The Arisen said as she pulls her shield off from the strap on her back as she takes up a fighting stance. “Look I don’t want to fight you. Let’s just take a deep breath and talk about this-” Before the dragon could finish her sentence, Rainbow Dash yelled at the top of her lungs as she charges at her in an attempt to punch her in the face. Only for her fist to collide with the dragon’s shield, causing her to reel back and hiss in pain.
“Mother bucker!” Rainbow yelled holding her wrist as she glares at The Arisen. “You’re going to pay for that dragon!” The pegasus said before flying off into the air before turning back and tries to dive bomb the dragon again with her hoof.
“Not very smart are you?” The Arisen lifted up her shield again as she slams the bottom of it onto the ground. With one hand on the handle of her shield, her right hand began to glow blue for a moment before she placed it on the shield. Upon doing so her shield began to glow blue as the ground around her began to freeze up a bit. Once the shield was covered in the sky blue colored aura, she lifts it up as she blocks the dive bomb from Rainbow Dash.
Rainbow Dash was taken by surprise from feeling herself being repealed backwards from the dragon’s shield before quickly recovering. As she lands, she soon felt her left leg give way as she falls to the ground. Looking down at her leg, her eyes widen to see it completely covered in ice.
“W-What the hay did you do to my leg!?”
“Figured you would need to cool off. So why not use an ice spell to help you simmer down a peg or two…..why does that sound corny?”
“B-but dragons can’t use magic! How in the name of Celestia can you do that!?”
“Um...I just can?” The Arisen said with a shrug. “Now are you going to calm down, or do I need to make you calm down-?” Before she could finish her statement, she felt herself being levitated up into the air along with Rainbow Dash. “What the!?”
“Hey! Put me down dragon!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she began to flail around in the air.
“That’s not me pony.” The dragon said before she head someone clearing their throat. Both she and Rainbow Dash looked over to their left to see Twilight and the cutie mark crusaders off to the side looking at them. Mainly Twilight who had a disappointed look on her face at Rainbow Dash. “Um...Hi?”
“Ha! You’re in for it now dragon. Twilight! Quick, put me down and use some kind of spell on this dragon before she does something evil!” Twilight just looked between the pegasus and the dragon before turning to The Arisen. Twilight lowered the dragon to her level and held one of the dragons hands in her own.
“I take it you’re Arisen?” Twilight asked as the dragon nodded her head. The alicorn simple examined the dragon for a while before placing her on the ground and extending a hand towards her. “Pleased to meet you! My name is Twilight Sparkle, student of...I mean Princess of Friendship.”
“Um, pleasure to meet you Princess?” The Arisen said as she shook Twilight’s hand.
“Twilight! What are you doing!? She tried to foalnap you along with Scootaloo and the others!” Rainbow Dash said as she tried to struggle out of Twilight’s magical grip.
“Rainbow Dash, she didn’t foalnap anypony. The girls found her in the old castle in the Everfree Forest.” Twilight said before glancing at them. “And we’ll be having a long talk about why they were there in the first place later with Applejack and Rarity.”
“Aw, what!?” Both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle said in union as Scootaloo snickered a bit before looking off to the side to avoid the glares from her friends.
“You’re not off the hook ether Scootaloo, you and RD are going to get a long talk as well.” Twilight added as both Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo groaned with a roll of their eyes.
“.....This town is so weird on so many levels.” The Arisen said as she scratches the back of her head in confusion.
“I am so very sorry for Rainbow Dash’s action. Can you find it in your heart to forgive her for what she did?”
“Um...okay sure?” The Arisen said which took Rainbow Dash by surprise.
“Wait seriously? I tried to send you flying and you’ll forgive me just like that?” Rainbow Dash asked as the dragon nods.
“I don’t see why not?”
“....What’s your game dragon?” The pegasus asked with a raised eyebrow.
“What game?”
“Most ponies wouldn’t forgive anypony so quickly. You must be up to something.”
“I-I assure you that I’m not up to anything wrong.” The Arisen said as she placed her hands up in defense to this. Rainbow Dash simply glared at the dragon before pointing a finger at her.
“I got my eyes on you dragon. You do something out of the ordinary and I’ll be sure to deal with you.” She said before feeling Twilight pull her over.
“Let’s have this conversation inside my home.” Twilight suggested as she began to motion Arisen to follow them inside. “I think we need to get a better understand of our friend here so we don’t jump to conclusions.”
“That and so she can fix my leg.” The pegasus said as she shows Twilight her still frozen leg. “I thought you said that only Alicorns and Unicorn can do magic, Twilight?”
“Yes they can….wait.” Twilight quickly looked over at The Arisen with a raised eyebrow. “You did this to her?”
“....This is going to take a while for me to explain…..”
“Please have a seat anywhere while I go make some tea for us.” Twilight said as she placed Rainbow Dash on a pillow seat before heading off to the kitchen.
“What about my leg!? You can’t just leave me like this!?!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she points to her leg cased in ice only for Twilight to head into the kitchen as she sighed. “Great, guess I’m stuck like this until she returns…”
“Hold still for a second.” The Arisen said as she walks over to the pegasus and placed her hands on her ice covered leg. Upon doing so, the dragon’s hands began to glow red as the ice quickly melt off her leg. “There, just try not to strain yourself for awhile due it being in ice for a while.” Rainbow herself, was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that this new… dragon she had just met was able to use magic.
Yet, before she could say anything, that’s when they both saw Twilight come back, using her levitation in order to bring in the teapot she had and some tea cups too. All before the Alicorn noticed that her friends leg wasn’t encased in ice anymore as she looked back at the Arisen. “So… where should we start?”
“I guess we can start with introduction along with some explanation as to where I am?” The Arisen asked.
“Well, I am Twilight Sparkle…” She said, before coughing a moment and clearing her throat. “Princess Twilight Sparkle, my apologies. As for where you are, you are in the land of Equestria. Why, are you from another country outside Equus? Like the Dragon Lands?”
“Um, no. Never heard of this place called Dragon Lands.” The dragon said as she took a seat on the pillow across from Twilight. “I….used to live in a country called Gransys before finding myself here in this land called Equus.”
Shortly after the Arisen had disclosed this to her, that was when she noticed Twilight taking up a quill and a jar of ink as she began to write some of the details on a pad of paper. At first, this kind of confused the Arisen. Before Rainbow mentioned something to her. “Don’t mind the egghead here. She sometimes finds it helpful to remember important facts by taking notes.”
“I don’t know if I should be worried about that or not…she’s not planning on doing anything to me is she?”
“No…Think about it like this,” Rainbow explained. “She had only become a princess a couple of months ago and with it, she has a lot of new responsibilities. Sometimes, too much for her to keep track of all at once.”
“Thanks Rainbow…” Twilight deadpanned, glaring at the pegasus for a moment before returning her gaze to the Arisen. “But yes, like what Rainbow said, I use this as a method to keep important things organized given my role as a princess now.”
“I guess that makes sense in a way.” She said scratching the back of her head. “So what are you a princess of? Certainly not the Princess of books or something like that right?”
Twilight shook her head in response. “No, I’m the princess of friendship and one of four in Equestria. Princess Celestia is the Princess of the sun, her sister Luna is Princess of the Moon and Celestia’s niece, Prince Bolero is the Prince of Love.”
“Trust us on the last one. That’s an actual thing.” Rainbow then added shortly after.
“I’ll….take your word for that last one.”
“Good, because depending on how this conversation goes, you might end up meeting the others.” The Pegasus told her, causing Twilight to sigh for a moment.
“So…where were we?”
“Pretty much just asking questions for the time being.” The Arisen said before feeling Scootaloo’s phone vibrate in her pocket. Reaching into her pocket, she quickly pulls it out with a confused expression on her face. “This thing is weird on so many levels of weirdness that I’ve seen during my travels.”
“That’s honestly how Twilight first thought of it.” Rainbow snickered, before getting elbowed by the princess. “What? It’s true.”
“Mind explaining what this is? Because so far all I got from messing around with it is that you can speak with someone from inside this thing and get attacked by random flying ponies.” All that did was have Rainbow look away and whistle to herself, shortly before Twilight began to speak.
“Well, phones like that are used as a method for long range communication without the use of a spell. A phone is used as a catalyst so to speak, in which you can contact somepony whether it’s by normal message or by calling them-.” Just as she looked over at Arisen, she noticed a confused expression on her face as it was telling that it didn’t really help her understand what a phone was.
“Bored…” Rainbow replied, rolling her eyes.
All that did was have Twilight sigh for a moment, thinking of a different way to try and approach the subject. “What forms of communication do you have where you are from, Arisen?”
“We either just have a messenger send letters to where the person is, or just take it to them ourselves. Though I guess either way you do it, it would take about a day to a week to get the letter that someone sent you.”
“Wow, you must live in a really poor country.” Rainbow Dash said before she felt Twilight smack her upside her head via magic. “Ow! What?”
Twilight just groaned for a moment as she looked back at the Arisen now. “Think of a phone as a contraption that’s used for instant communication between two parties.”
“Ah okay. That makes more sense than what you said before.”
“Sometimes, I find myself explaining things in technical detail a little too much,” Twilight replied back, almost apologetically. “So, now that we have that out of the way, can you tell us more about Gransys?”
“What do you want to know about it?”
“Well, this country is one that we haven’t heard about before and-”
“Wait… Is this going to be a long story?” Rainbow asked. “Can’t she just give us the cliff notes?”
“.....What do you mean by that?”
“She’s not very bright is she?” Scootaloo asked as she whispered to her friends next to her as Apple Bloom nodded.
Rainbow then chuckled a bit at what Scootaloo said, before adding a little more to what she said in order to explain it properly. “You know, like the short important parts to those long obnoxious novels that some ponies need to read about in school?”
“She means just basic information.” Twilight added on.
“Yeah, what I said!” Rainbow declared, leading to Twilight facepalming herself.
“Oh...Um….well I’m not very good when it comes to stuff like that per say…I mean I used to be a fisherman before I became a hero of Gransys...for a while at least.”
“That reminds me when Rainbow had a short run of being the ‘protector of ponyville’.” Twilight replied, making the cutie mark crusaders chuckle in response.
“I…doubt we both have done the same thing when it comes to being that.”
“Yeah, because Rainbow got annoyed at those who tried to ‘steal her thunder’, so to speak.” Scootaloo added on, which had Twilight even chuckle in response to what she added on. Even though all that did was make Rainbow a little more annoyed.
“I take it she was getting over confident in her abilities or something along those lines?”
“She said her middle name was Danger.” Sweetie Belle added on. “And we believe it… for a little while until Scootaloo wanted to see proof of it and tried to go through her home to find her birth certificate.”
“So THAT’S what you were doing!?” Rainbow reacted upon realizing that. “You told me that you wanted to see proof of my awesomeness!”
“.....No offense, but you would get yourself killed real quickly with an attitude like that.”
“Oh really now? What major injuries have you had to overcome while being a hero then?!” Rainbow snapped.
“......Do you really want me to show you?” The Arisen asked with a blank expression on her face before sighing. “Fine, I’ll show you.”
“Rainbow I think you bucked up.” Scootaloo shivered now, seeing the expression on the Arisen and now feeling a little bit scared.
“I don’t know what that's supposed to mean, but I’m pretty sure she didn’t.” The dragon said as she pulls herself up from her seat and began to take the upper part of her armor off. Upon doing so, she would reveal that her body had deeps claw marks located on her left arm, upper chest, and lower rib. Arrow holes located near her lunges and right shoulder. Deep bite marks on the right part of her neck and right rib area. And a deep noticeably large wound on her chest where her heart is.
“Holy…” Twilight replied, before stopping herself mid sentence and then smacking Rainbow over the back of the head. “I’m really sorry about Rainbow. She still doesn't seem to understand how to be respectful to other ponies. Especially on topics they rather not discuss.”
“Your friend should learn when to not do that.” The dragon said as she quickly put her armor back on. “It would save her from looking like an ass and a jerk.”
“Valid point actually…” Twilight acknowledged, much to Rainbow’s dismay.
“Now back to the subject at hand. What did you want to know about Gransys?”
“Well, was it a small town? A city? What’s it like?”
“Well Gransys is actually kind of a somewhat small country. Can’t really go into details about it due to not paying attention to it and mostly worrying over certain things within it.”
“Like what?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Drakes, Chimeras, Goblins, Bandits, Hydras. The list goes on to how many things that kept me busy and distracted during my travels around the place.”
Twilight blinked for a moment, before taking the chance to ask the Arisen a question. “You have Chimeras and Hydras where you’re from? Those are the two monsters that are on the top of the food chain for the Everfree’s Ecosystem!”
All that did was cause Rainbow to roll her eyes. “Forgive us, but Twilight has a habit of nerding out over small details.”
“I...Kinda notice from our conversation that we’re having right now.”
“Who hasn’t?” Scootaloo added before Twilight gave the young filly an annoyed groan.
“So…what kind of things about Gransys can you tell us?”
“I thought I already told you about it. And didn’t you already ask that question?” The Arisen asked.
“No, I mean…Sorry, I meant to phrase my question differently,” Twilight told her in response, clearing her throat for just a moment before explaining further. “Like does Gransys have a monarchy? Is it run by a king or is it a democracy? Many of the towns here have a mayor, but the ruler of Equestria lives in Canterlot.”
“I…prefer not to answer those questions to be honest.” That surprised Twilight, but also made her a bit curious as to why she would avoid a simple question. Nevertheless, she respected her privacy and decided not to push on it further.
“Alright. Well, since I did have the chance to ask some questions about you, do you happen to have any questions for us?” The Alicorn asked.
“Tons, but my main ones are why is this town full of….ponies….right?” Twilight nodded her head in response and waited for the Arisen to continue speaking. “Okay. Why is the town full of scared ponies?”
“Well, it’s not everyday that they see somepony like you walk into town,” Rainbow interjected. “Many ponies are often a little bit scared when someone new comes into Ponyville. Not to mention a lot of them might be scared considering that most dragons here are not entirely friendly, so to speak.”
“Care to explain what you mean by that?”
“Many dragons, based on what we have seen and from what my assistant Spike recalls from the Great Dragon Migration, are rather greedy and obnoxious,” Twilight explained to her. “Like they get what they want, no matter what methods they use to obtain it. Of course, that’s most of them. There are a few that aren’t like that, but it’s really rare.”
“And how many rare ones have you encountered?”
“Aside from Spike……the only other one has been well, you.” Twilight said.
“Did somepony call my name?” They all heard from the opposite side of the room, just as a familiar purple and green dragon walked in. “Oh, hey girls. How are you-?” That’s when he noticed Arisen and immediately stopped speaking. Only saying a few words. “O-oh hello…”
“I take it he’s Spike?” The Arisen asked, staring at the young dragon. Twilight nodded her head, while Spike just gulped for a moment. Thinking that he was somehow in trouble.
“Um…what’s going on?” Spike nervously asked.
“Relax Spike, you’re not in trouble or anything.” Rainbow Dash said as she took notice to the nervous dragon.
“Oh… um, okay…” He said, before looking around a bit. “Can somepony please bring me up to speed? I was coming back from the comic book store and walked in to find you guys talking to… uh...” The dragon then turned to the newcomer in the room and asked a question. “What’s your name?”
“Arisen.”
“Wait, like a zompony? Arisen from the grave or something?” Spike asked, which lead to Scootaloo looking back at the dragon with a raised eyebrow.
“Just what kind of comics are you reading exactly?” Twilight asked
“I don’t know if I should feel offended by that comment.” The female Dragon said with a deadpan expression on her face.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to insult you.” Spike swallowed any nervousness that he had in his throat before looking back at the Arisen. “It’s just the first time that I’ve met a dragon that’s like you aside from Garble. He’s a complete jerk.”
“And this is the first time I've met a dragon that didn’t try to kill me. Then again it was just that one dragon that stole my heart.” Everypony’s eyes went wide at that. Including Spikes, who ended up dropping the bag of items he bought from the comic store and also a snack bag of gems as they spilled out on the floor.
And everypony had to say one thing. “This dragon did what!?!”
“.....Really need to learn not to say stuff like that out loud.” The Arisen said before sighing. “I’ll make a long story short. I mostly went on as a traveler mostly to get my heart back from Gransys greatest enemy that no one could defeat. The Dragon.”
“H-how-!? I mean after your heart was taken, wouldn’t you be well...” Scootaloo didn’t say the rest of her sentence, but decided to give her a visual by taking a flower from a vase Twilight had and lied on the ground as if she was inside a coffin.
“I don’t know. Dragon magic I guess. All I knew at that time was that I needed to get my heart back. Granted you’ll become immortal until the dragon is killed, but I prefer not to wait until I hit the possible age of getting old and die afterwards.” The Arisen said as she scratches the back of her head. “So I decided to set out on a quest to get my heart back. And by doing so I had to kill the dragon in a fight.”
All Twilight could do was blink for a moment. But everypony in the room was speechless. Well except of course, for Rainbow. “But you’re a dragon…”
“Right, never did tell them that I was a human. Best keep it a secret until I know I can trust them.” The Arisen thought before shrugging. “And? What’s your point?”
“I don’t know, it just seems weird that a dragon would take away the heart of another dragon like that.” Rainbow replied back. “Unless of course that dragon was a complete and utter d-”
“Language, Rainbow!!” Twilight snapped. “You still have Scootaloo here.”
“I’m sure the dragon has his reason why he did that to me. But in the end I got my heart back from it.” That had Twilight and the others sigh in relief and had Scootaloo quit playing dead on the floor as she got up and returned the flower she was holding to Twilight’s vase.
“Well this has been a very eye opening conversation.” The alicorn spoke up in response, before getting up from her seat. “Arisen, if you would like, Spike and I can get the guest room ready for you if you need a place to stay for a bit while you’re still getting adjusted here.”
“I think she’ll need a change of clothes and a shower.” Spike said as he sniffed the air for a moment before covering his nose. “Because she really smells like she’s been sleeping next to something dead for the past one thousand years or so.”
“Well, she did get that armor off a skeleton in the Everfree so…” Sweetie Belle’s comment just lead to Scootaloo and Applebloom facepalming themselves. While Rainbow Dash was beginning to look rather sick. Almost like she threw up in her mouth upon hearing that. Only to swallow it down and clear her throat.
“That’s just so wrong on so many levels…”
“Well it’s not like I had a choice in the matter. I woke up naked inside of an abandoned castle in the forest.” The Arisen said with a blush on her face.
That just had Twilight sigh for a moment as she looked at the Arisen. “In any case we’ll make sure to have the guest room and some spare clothes ready for you after you’ve had the chance to wash up.”
“Thanks, though I kinda prefer to wear my armor more than casual clothes. This place has somewhere to get that armor patched up?”
“It’s possible…”
“Yeah, just don’t have Rarity come in out of nowhere or else she’ll think it’s a major fashion emergency.” Sweetie Belle grumbled, rolling her eyes for a moment.
“R-Right...anyway I’ll just go take a bath.” The Arisen said as she stood up and began to walk off to the bathroom, only to pause and look back at Twilight. “Where’s your bathroom?”
“Down the hall and to the right. First door.” The Alicorn replied back to her.
“Thanks, I’ll be back in a matter of hours or less depending.” The Dragon said before continuing to the bathroom. As she was out of earshot, Rainbow Dash looked over at Twilight.
“Yeah, I don’t trust her.”
“Give her time, Rainbow. She’s still trying to adjust. Not to mention she might not trust you after you ended up attacking her because of a misunderstanding.” Twilight told her.
“I still don’t trust her at all. Gransys? Drakes and all that monster stuff? Her heart being stolen?” Rainbow Dash pulled herself up from off the ground and began to float. “You can’t tell me that you believe all that stuff do you?”
“Rainbow, we’ve seen a chaos goddess have her eyeballs pop out of her head while she was talking to us and put them back in with no pain whatsoever,” Twilight reminded her. “There are a lot of things that many ponies probably don’t believe. What are you going to do, get Applejack to come all the way out here in order to use her as a lie detector?”
“.....That’s not a bad idea actually.” Rainbow Dash said as a grin appears on her face.
“Oh buck me sideways-”
“Language!!” Spike called out from down the hall. “You kiss your mother with that mouth, Twilight?” That just had the Alicorn groan in response as she took a deep breath. This was definitely going to be a long afternoon. That was for sure.
Chapter 4 Fresh, Clean, and Ready for Ponyville Part 1
“This is a very weird country full of talking human size…..ponies.” Arisen said as she was in the bathtub looking over the bathroom she was in. “But I will say that they do have a much better bathroom then Gransys does….well back home at least. The only bathroom that had stuff like this is back in Gran Soren.” She said as she begins to scrub herself off with the bath sponge next to her on the soap rack. While scrubbing her body, she begins to look over her new dragon like body out of curiosity and a bit of amazement.
“Weird that I would find myself in this world with a body like this…..Kinda ironic seeing how I killed the dragon that took my heart and change my life around.” She said as she blinks. “Or it could be divine punishment by the gods or something for almost destroying Gransys.” Before she was lost in both though and examining her scaly body, there was a knock at the door that broke her from her train of thought.
“Hey, it’s me Twilight. You doing okay in there?”
“Yeah, I’m doing fine. Took me a while to figure out how to work the bathtub. But I got the hang of it….for the most part.”
“Well when you’re done, the spare room located downstairs next to the basement is already made and your clothes are on the bed.”
“Okay, thanks.” The Dragon said as she pulls herself out of the bathtub and grabs a towel to wrap around herself. Just as she did that, she walked over to the mirror to have a good look at herself for a while before starting to dry herself off with a smaller towel.
“You really expect for some pony to believe your little story dragon?” a familiar voice asked as The Arisen quickly turned around to see Rainbow Dash standing against the bathtub that the dragon was in.
“How long have you been in here?”
“For like two minutes.” Rainbow told her, folding her arms. “Why?”
“....So you been watching me clean myself for the past two minutes out of the two hours I spent in the bathtub…Stalker much?”
“I wasn’t stalking you. I was originally in here to grab something…” Rainbow replied back.
“Right, keep telling yourself that. That would make anyone believe that.” The Arisen said before trying to leave the bathroom. “Well the bathroom all yours if you’re planning on-” Before she could finish and leave the bathroom, Rainbow Dash used her wing to block Arisen from leaving as she looked over at the pegasus with a concerned look on her face.
“Where do you think you’re going so soon?” The Pegasus asked her.
“I’m going to get my clothes that Twilight gave me in the guest room? I can’t just walk around naked now can I?” Rainbow’s eyes narrowed though, looking unconvinced and not moving an inch.
“Could you...um...please move aside? I’m feeling a bit uncomfortable standing here like this.”
“You’re not the only one who feels a bit uncomfortable about this…” Rainbow glared back at her. Only for the door to open up behind her as she heard a familiar voice.
“Uh… What’s going on?” Scootaloo asked.
That… had Rainbow tense up and turn to see the filly right behind her. “S-scootaloo? What are you doing here?”
“Well, Twilight asked me to set a bathrobe in here for Arisen when she’s done…… What are you doing in here?”
“She came in here after I accidentally fell on the floor due to the water that I spilled.” Arisen said as she jabbed Rainbow Dash in the the rib softly “Right?”
“Y-yeah… T-that’s right… And I-i was just h-helping her out…” Rainbow chuckled, while also being a little bit embarrassed as she looked at Scootaloo.
“Are you sure…? Because it looked more like Rainbow was either threatening you… or trying to sedu-”
“Hey!! Why don’t you go run along and play with your friends?” Rainbow suggested, taking the bathrobe and giving it to Arisen. “We got some cleanup to do in here after the spill…”
“Yep, it won’t take long for this mess to be cleaned up.” Arisen said as she takes the towel off and puts the bathrobe on herself quickly. All while Scootaloo ran along and left the two of them alone. Which left Rainbow glaring back at Arisen once again before she left the room.
“This isn’t over…” She whispered.
“Okay… what the hell did I do?” Arisen asked… only for Rainbow to already be gone from where she was. Leaving her with no answer to her question whatsoever. “This place is very weird…”
“Rainbow, what’s this I hear about a spill in the bathroom?” Twilight asked upon seeing Rainbow come out from the nearby hallway. “I heard Scootaloo talking about it when she went to go meet up with her friends.”
“W-Well that dragon pretty much spilled water on the floor and fell. Didn’t you hear that thud from upstairs?”
“No…”
“Well then I guess you have bad hearing, because I heard a thud coming from the bathroom.” Rainbow told her friend, who looked… unconvinced.
“Really? Because for somepony who thought that a few minutes ago that Arisen was somehow a threat, I highly doubt you two resolved your disputes that quickly.” Twilight sighed, looking back at her. “But if that’s true… then perhaps I should ask Arisen-”
“No!.....I mean she’ll say the same thing. She fell and hit the floor. You should really get a mat for that bathroom of yours.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Really? Because I already have a mat at the base of the shower…” That caused Rainbow to gulp for a moment as a shiver went down her spine. “...... You were spying on her, weren’t you?” Twilight asked causing Rainbow Dash to gasp in surprise.
“Twilight! I am deeply offended. Do you honestly think I would spy on somepony like that? I mean really? Have you no faith in your friend Rainbow Dash?”
“I do and I also know that you have a bad habit of automatically presuming that somepony is the bad pony without knowing the full story.” The princess reminded her as she folded her arms. “Need I remind you about the incident with Zecora?”
“That only happen once and you were on board with that!”
“Originally…because you convinced me,” She groaned. “Unlike that incident though, I don’t believe that Arisen is a bad pony at all. It’s like the phrase that Celestia uses when she’s doing Day Court. Innocent until proven Guilty.”
“Yeah well I don’t trust her one bit. Do you really believe the story that she told us two hours ago? I mean Gransys? Dragon stealing her heart? You can’t expect anyone to believe something like that?”
“Did you originally believe that it was possible to reform Discord?” Twilight asked her. “Because Fluttershy did, even though you thought otherwise.”
“I keep telling you that Discord is still evil. You saw what he did to us and Equestria both in the past and when he escaped right? You expect us to believe he’s reformed?”
“Innocent until proven guilty. Plus, Fluttershy is making sure that he’s behaving himself.”
“Ha! I’ll believe it when I see it. That also applies to that dragon as well....though I can’t deny she does have a nice flank.”
“So you were spying on her!” Twilight said, using her magic to hit Rainbow over the head with a book. “Come on, Rainbow. Seriously?”
“This was after she fell on the floor naked!” Rainbow Dash said as she rubbed the back of her head. “Geez, if you don’t believe me, then ask the dragon when she comes out.”
“She probably fell because you were spying on her!” Twilight growled, only for her to notice Spike to come walking through the door. “Oh…hey Spike, did you get those quills I asked for?”
“Y-yeah I did…” He said, going over to hand Twilight the shopping that he purchased. “Oh and while I was walking back, Pinkie Pie said she was going to come over because her ‘pinkie sense’ or whatever she called it felt someone new come here… I’ll be upstairs if you need anything.” With that, Spike left both mare’s alone and walked upstairs just as Twilight realized what that meant.
“Wait.Pinkie’s coming here?” Twilight said, her eyes widening when she looked at Rainbow. “Oh, I don’t feel ready for this…”
“Um...who’s Pinkie?” The Arisen asked as everyone in the room looked over at the dragon wearing a red hoodie and blue overalls on.
“She’s-” Before Twilight could be able to properly explain it to her, that was when Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle raced in. Taking cover behind the couch as she looked at them.
“Guys, Pinkie alert. Incoming!”
Before Arisen could begin to react, a pink blur raced through the living area of Twilight’s library before popping up in front of Arisen. It was then though that Arisen realized that the blur was actually a pony. “HI! I’m Pinkie Pie! What’s your name?! Why are you so scaley?! Is your name Scaley?! Hi, Ms. Scaley!!!”
The Arisen quickly jumped back from Pinkie Pie as her left hand started to spark up with electricity. Once she was at a good distance, the sparks in her hand formed a whip as she tries to wrap it around the party pony due to her shock from seeing Pinkie appearing out of nowhere like that.
“Oooh, this feels rather tingly!! Do it again! Do it again!!” Pinkie replied, bouncing up and down, even though Arisen’s whip was wrapped around her. “I love shock therapy!”
“......Twilight. Explain as to how she was able to appear out of nowhere like that?”
“That’s just Pinkie. Trust me, I tried finding out for myself one time and it just lead to a piano and an anvil falling on top of my head.” She groaned, looking back at her and pointing at the Arisen’s whip. “Speaking of which, could you explain how you were able to have that appear out of nowhere?”
“It’s something that most….folks in Gransys can do.” Arisen said as she made the whip disappear. “Though it does require a lot of both physical and mental strength to perform it properly.”
“Come on, Twi! You should try it!!” Pinkie gleefully told her friend. Which resulted in Rainbow facepalming herself.
“Well whatever the case may be, could you let my friend go? She means no harm.” The princess asked as Arisen simply nodded and released her hold on Pinkie Pie.
“Aw… but that was so much fun!!” She pouted in response.
“So now please explain in decent detail as to who she is?”
“She’s a close friend of ours and her name is Pinkie Pie,” Twilight responded. “She works at a bakery and always likes to-”
“Don’t say it…” Rainbow muttered.
“-throw parties for when somepony new comes to Ponyville.” It was only five seconds after the alicorn said those words that Pinkie looked like she had realized something and then bolted out of there. Almost to the point where the door was knocked off the hinges. “……Uh oh.”
“I told you not to say it…” Rainbow muttered again.
“Is this normal for her to do that?” The Dragon asked as she looked over at Apple Bloom and her friends.
“Yes and, if there’s anything we know about Pinkie Pie, she’s probably going to throw a party for you.” Sweetie Belle replied. “Which may be problematic.”
“Why-?”
“Well, there’s the fact that none of the ponies know about Arisen… that and the fact that if they see her, they may be scared since she’s a dragon.” Sweetie Belle replied back before Scootaloo could finish her sentence. “I mean we don’t want another Zecora incident.”
“I don’t know if I should feel offended or not by this.”
“It’s fine. We’ll find a way to work things out…” Twilight replied back as she walked past Rainbow into the living room.
“Hey… how likely is it that Pinkie will tell the rest of the girls what she’s doing? Because I don’t want mah sister to be marching in here and doing what Rainbow did earlier.” Applebloom asked.
“Why am I always the example!?” Rainbow snapped.
“Because sometimes, you act like you traded your brain for more flying lessons…” Scootaloo sighed, before looking back at Rainbow. “No offense.”
“Not to mention that you tend to punch ponies first and ask questions...never.” Sweetie Belle added.
“And mah sister has caught you a few times before when you lie directly in Twilight’s face.” Applebloom added on. To which, didn’t really make Rainbow feel comfortable with the current situation. “You asked why you’re the example, and we gave you the reasons why.”
“Yeah...well...whatever!”
“Denial’s proof, you know.” Scootaloo added onto what Applebloom said, before the two of them gave each other a fist pump.
“Back the the task as hand. What do we do about the whole ponies being afraid of me. Because after what happen in town earlier, I’m pretty sure they’re even more scared after your friend attacked me.”
“Maybe they would calm down if we told them that they’re under Twilight’s protection?” Scootaloo suggested. “I mean most of the town trusts Twilight, so if she says that, then they might not be so scared, right?”
“Okay, just because I’m seventeen years old. Doesn’t mean I’m going to be under any...pony’s protection.”
“...Maybe I can write a letter to Princess Celestia and try to clear this up.”
“Princess who?” The Dragon asked as Twilight and the others stared at her in disbelief. “What?”
“We just told you about her like two hours ago…” Scootaloo spoke up.
“Just don’t worry about it. Celestia’s my teacher and also the princess that rules over Equestria. If we explain the situation to her, she would know what’s the best course of action we should take.” Twilight added.
“So long as it doesn’t involve me getting attacked by a bunch of guards or her attacking me, then I’m fine with her helping me...I already had a bad experience with royalty and it almost ended up with me getting falsely accused for being in cahoots with the dragon that stole my heart.”
Twilight nodded, getting out one of her new quills, some ink and parchment to begin writing as she looked back at Arisen. “Don’t worry. I’m sure she’ll be reasonable.”
Chapter 5: Fresh, Clean, and Ready for Ponyville Part 2
“While I’m busy with writing a letter to Celestia about our friend. Why don’t you, Rainbow Dash take her to meet the other girls and have them come here so Arisen can introduce herself to them fully?” Twilight asked as Rainbow Dash snorted in amusement.
“Not like I wasn’t going to anyway. That and it would give me a good reason to keep an eye on her so she wouldn’t do anything suspicious.”
“You don’t like me do you?” Arisen asked as the pegasus flew in front of her.
“You can’t expect me to fall for your little fairy tale story dragon butt. I got my eyes on you and don’t think for a second that I’ll let you out of my sight.” Rainbow said as she glared at Arisen before motion her to follow. “For now, we’re going to Applejack’s farm as our first stop.”
“Rainbow Dash…” Twilight stared at the pegasus with an annoyed expression on her face.
“What? Might as well get meeting her out of the way seeing how she lives far off outside of Ponyville.” Twilight was about to reply to Rainbow’s statement, only for her to grab Arisen by the hand and quickly dragged her off towards Sweet Apple Acres. “Can’ttalkgottagotoseeAJbye!”
“Wait Rainbow!…..”
“Wow, talk about being so subtle with her plans.” Spike said before walking off into the kitchen.
“Not the best mare when it comes to being subtled with her plans.” She said before looking over at the Cutie Mark Crusaders. “Now as for you three. I’ll be sure to tell your sisters about what you did.”
“What!? But we didn’t do anything!” The fillies yelled in defense.
“So you didn’t walk into the Everfree Forest for your school project? You couldn't have just come ask me for help?”
“No offense Twilight, but you’re not the type of mare that kids come to when they want somepony to help with their essay.” Spike said as he popped his head around the corner of the kitchen. Only to be met with a deadpan expression from the unicorn. “Shoot me all the looks you want. You know it’s true.”
“Either way, I will be telling the girls about your little adventure in the Everfree Forest when they get here.” Twilight said as the CMC groaned in annoyance from getting in trouble.
“Told you this was a bad idea.” Sweetie Belle whispered before she felt Scootaloo punched her in the shoulder. “Ow!”
(Ponyville)
“Come along dragon butt.” Rainbow Dash said as Arisen followed the pegasus through the town of Ponyville. “We got a lot of road to cover and less time to do it.”
“You really don’t like taking things slow and easy do you?” Arisen asked as Rainbow Dash looked over at the dragon.
“Doing things at a slow pace is boring and takes to long. Why do you think I’m the fastest flyer in all of Equestria!”
“Fast, but not the smartest one apparently after what happened at your friend’s place.” The Dragon said before the pegasus quickly flew in front of her with a glare on her face.
“You just got lucky punk. If you didn’t have that magic thing of yours, then I would’ve beaten you to a snotty pulp.”
“Even if that was the case, you would’ve still lost due to how arrogant and prideful you are.” She said before Rainbow Dash smacked her tail against her nose causing the Arisen to rub her nose.
“Whatever, just keep walking to Sweet Apple Acres so we can get Applejack.”
“You mean so you can use her to see if what I said in the library is true or not?”
“I-I have no idea what you’re talking about.” The mare said, trying her best not to look like her plans had been found out. “Plus Twilight said to introduce you to her and the others. So that’s what I’m doing. Now come on!” She said before quickly leading the dragon down the street that led towards Sweet Apple Acres. As the two of them made their way through town, the Arisen took notice to some of the ponies looking at them with a mix of interest and fear in on their face. Well mostly the adults, the little colts and fillies took a bit of interest in the the teenage dragon and why she was following after Rainbow Dash.
“Are ponies here so nosy into other people’s business?”
“People?”
“Shit, think of an excuse stupid.” The Arisen thought before quickly thinking of an idea. “Just something that we say back in Gransys. What? You got a problem with the way I speak?”
“No. But if you’re going to live here in Ponyville, then you’ll need to learn how to say stuff that we would know…..wait how old are you?”
“Um…..I turned seventeen last month...why?” The Arisen asked as she noticed a smirk on her face.
“Oh, no reason. No reason at all.”
‘I’m not liking her at all from that statement.’ The Dragon though before hearing Rainbow Dash talking again.
“As for the whole ponies being nosy, they tend to be like that when something new like you enters into our town. Not to mention that you’re a dragon. Other than Spike, you’re the second dragon that has ever come to Ponyville. So don’t be surprised if they keep their distance from you.”
“Well….this should be interesting.” Arisen said as she looked up to see a sign that had the words ‘Sweet Apple Acres’ on it at the front of the entrance. “I take it this is the place to meet Applejack, right?”
“Pretty much yeah. Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres.” Rainbow Dash said as Arisen looked over at the farm covered with rows and rows of apple trees of different kinds. The Arisen had to admit. Gransys does have some nice farms and a few apple trees, but nothing compares to this kind of farm here in Equestria.
“Man, you never see something like this back in Gransys.” The Dragon said as she was about to enter into the farm, only to be stopped by Rainbow Dash’s wing.
“Why don’t you stay here while I go get Applejack. Don’t want her to try to buck you in the face by accident.” The mare said before she flew off towards AJ’s house.
“....The way these ponies say stuff is weird. Then again who am I to judge what a person says.” Arisen said as she walks into the farm and leans up against an apple tree. Once she was near the tree she was leaning against, she looks up and gazes at the shiny apples hanging on the tree. “Hm….well I haven’t eaten anything in the past couple of hours….I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if I take one apple to eat.” She said as she moves from off the tree and jumps up to take one of the apples from off the tree’s branch. “If they look this good, then they much taste really good if they kept the apples looking healthy.”
Just as she was about to take bit from the apple she plucked from the tree, something grabbed her by the hand tosses her off to the side. Just as she was rolling to a stop after being tossed off to the side on the ground, she looks up to see who it was that threw her, she saw a very tall red pony with orange colored hair wearing a dark brown and tan colored shirt and navy blue colored shorts glaring at her.
“You little missy just made a huge mistake when you took that apple off that tree you were leaning against.” The mare said as she started to make her way over to Arisen.
“The one time I choose to leave my stuff at Twilight’s place. But I guess it was a good thing that I learned a few magic spells just in case of something like this.” The Arisen thought before her hands began to spark with electricity. Just as the dragon moved out of the way, there was a flash of sound as the tree that the mare punched shook as the apples in the tree fell and hit the ground, looking up the dragon saw the red mare pull her fist out of the hole she made in the tree before looking at the dragon in anger. “Great, a heavy hitter. This is going to be a bit hard to fight her without trying to hurt her....maybe I can talk my way out of this?”
“Look I don’t know what I did to upset you. But if I apologise for whatever I did, could we not fight and possible work this out by talking?”
“You picked an apple from our farm. Do you know how much work goes into growing these apples?”
“Um...a lot of work I guess...but to be fair there wasn’t a sign that said that I couldn’t take an apple from off the tree.”
“So ya’ll saying your a thief?”
“What!? No! I’m not a thief! I mean how was I supposed to know that I wasn’t allowed to eat from off the tree….But don’t you think that throwing and trying to punch me in the face was a bit much for one apple?”
“Maybe, but my sister would do far worse to ye’ah and your right. I’ve been telling her we need a sign but she keep on saying we don’t need it. Seeing as everypony in town knows better. I mean, you wouldn’t just walk into somepony’s house and start eating their food right?”
“....um….yeah sure. I would never do that.” Arisen said with an awkward chuckle. ‘Yeah, should’ve apologise to Quina for doing that to her whenever I visited her place before I died.’
“Hmmm, tell you what. You seem like you know what a honest day’s work is. How about you help me out with helping me pick some apples around the farm for a bit. That way it will be more than enough to pay for that apple you picked.” The mare said as she extended a hand towards Arisen. “The name’s Macareina. But most folks call me Big Mac for short.”
“Guess that fits due to how tall she is.” Arisen thought before walking over to Macareina and shook her hand with a firm grip. “Arisen, nice to meet you.”
“Huh, strong grip you got there kid. Worked on a farm or something?”
“No, I was a fishermare before I began my journey as a traveling hero back home in Gransys.”
“Gransys huh?” The mare said as she looks at her up and down. “Mind telling me the story of your life from the beginning before I ask any other questions?”
“You sure? Because most of this stuff is a bit unbelievable from what I told Rainbow Dash and Twilight…..well mostly Rainbow Dash.”
“I’ll give you my input once you tell me.” Macareina said as she motions Arison to follow her into the Apple Orchard. The Arisen simply shrugs as she follows after Macareina.
“Well it all started one morning in my hometown called Cassardis…”
“So Apple Bloom and her friends found this dragon in the middle of the abandoned castle in the Everfree Forest, and you brought her here to see if she was lying about what she told you?” Applejack said as the pegasus simply nodded in triumph. “Sugar cube I love you an all. But like I said before, I am not a freaking lie detector that you can come to every time there’s somepony that is new in town and you don’t trust them.”
“Oh come on! You can’t expect me to believe that you don’t find that dragon girl’s story to be fishy?”
“Kinda hard to tell when it’s coming from you. But she might be telling the truth.” The farm pony said as she folded her arms with a raised eyebrow. “Plus shouldn’t you be minding your own business when it comes to some pony’s personal life?”
“How can you be so relaxed about this!? What if she’s pretending to be innocent and nice? She could be just waiting to stab us in the back at anytime!”
“I’m pretty sure she would’ve done something to make herself to be evil RD.”
“She turned my leg into a frozen popsicle stick!”
“Only because you attacked her, and she did thaw your leg afterwards right?” Applejack asked as Rainbow Dash looked away in embarrassment.
“No….maybe…..y-yeah.”
“Thought so. And so far you've been nothing but trouble for her from what you been telling me.”
“How am I causing her trouble!?”
“You spied on her while she was taking a bath! I mean for Celestia sakes Rainbow Dash, who does that to some pony?”
“Okay, so maybe that was a bit much-”
“A bit much!? The girl’s seventeen years old and you’re twenty-five years old!! If this happened at somepony else's house and you followed her to make sure she isn’t doing anything evil, you would’ve been sent to Canterlot dungeon for a month or two depending.” Applejack said as she interrupted her friend’s statement.
“Alright! So maybe that was going to far. But you can’t expect me to lower my guard when she just appeared out of the Everfree Forest like that, right?” Rainbow Dash said as she noticed Applejack staring at her in disappointment. “Whatever! Just get your things so I can introduce her to you and the others while we bring them over to Twilight’s place.”
“Wouldn’t it be easy for us to come to her instead of dragging her around town?”
“Well Twilight insisted on this. That and seeing how she’s going to live here, we might as well give her a tour around Ponyville.”
“And have you done that? Or did you just bring her here so I could see if she was lying about her so called story?” Applejack asked as she noticed an embarrassed blush on her face as she sighs. “You really are something sugarcube.”
“Whatever! Let’s just get her so we can get this over with.”
“And where is Arisen?”
“She’s outside at the entrance of your farm.” Rainbow Dash said as Applejack walked over to the window. Once she was there, she soon noticed Macareina; and what she could guess was the dragon girl named Arisen, picking apples from the trees in the orchard. While Macareina was busy bucking the trees, Arisen used her electric whip to catch them and place them in the baskets. Applejack blinked in surprise at seeing the dragon using magic seeing how only unicorns and alicorns were the only two species that could use magic.
“Are you sure about that?” Applejack said as she motions Rainbow Dash towards the window she was looking from with a smile on her face. “Because right now she’s helping Big Mac outside in the apple orchard with collecting apples.” She said as a dumbfounded expression appeared on Rainbow Dash’s face.
“I thought I told her to stay where she was!”
“Seems like she got bored and decided to help out on the farm.” Applejack said as she begins to walk outside to meet with Arisen. “Well are you coming sugarcube or what?”
“Y-Yeah….let’s go.” Still dumbfounded by this as the cyan colored pegasus followed after AJ to where Arisen and Big Macareina were.
“That’s pretty much my story.” Arisen said as Macareina bucked the tree that the dragon was looking at as she uses Brontide to catch the apples and place them in the basket. “Your thoughts on it?”
“......Honestly….I’m at a lost of words.” Macareina said as she started picking up and carrying the two baskets full of apples towards the barn.
“I take it you don’t believe me?”
“Oh I do. Seeing how you used that magical whip of yours to catch the apples without frying them. I’m just at a loss of words for what happen to you. Not to mention at a young age. You would think that it would happen to them at the age of twenty-five or thirty.”
“Eh, I guess. But I’m sure there might be some….ponies that might’ve started out as something at a young age, right?”
“Hm, you got a point there kid.”
“So you’re the girl that RD was talking about.” Both Arisen and Macareina looked over to their left to see Applejack and Rainbow Dash walking over to them. Applejack looked over at Arisen up and down for a moment before extending a hand towards her. “It’s a pleasure to meet you kid. The name’s Applejack.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well ma’am.” The Arisen said as she reached out to shake Applejack’s hand with a firm grip.
“Strong grip, not bad.” Applejack said with a smirk on her face. “I take it you used to work someplace that required a lot of muscles?”
“Used to be a fishermare before becoming a traveling hero.”
“Really now? You, a hero?”
“Hard to believe due to my age and size huh?”
“Something like that yes. But with a firm handshake like this, and from seeing you helping my older sister out. I might be inclined to believe you on the most part.” The farm girl said before looking at Macareina. “Mind telling me why she was helping you out with apple bucking?”
“Like I said before sis. We really need to put up more signs so that nopony accidentally eat from off our trees. Because Arisen here almost ate one because of that.” Macareina said as Applejack raised an eyebrow at the dragon.
“Really now…..I’ll have to do that when I get back from the meeting with Twilight and the others.” She said before starting to walk passed them. “Once we go meet with the others, you can tell them the whole story in greater detail then how Rainbow Dash said it.”
“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean!?” asked Rainbow Dash as she followed after Applejack.
“Adding her being a total bad pony that kicks puppies didn’t really help much in your version of the story.”
“Well she might’ve done it. You never know.”
“Something tells me she’s going to be on me like a fish trying to catch a fly out of the water.” Arisen said before looking at Macareina. “Well it was nice meeting you Macareina. I’ll come by sometime when I get the chance to.”
“Stop by anytime you want kid. I’ll be sure to introduce you to Grandpa Smith next time.” Macareina said with a smile as Arisen nodded and followed after Rainbow Dash and Applejack. “Nice kid. Wish there were more of them nowadays.”
Chapter 6: Fresh, Clean, and Ready for Ponyville part 3
“Alright, next on the list is Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash said as she lead the way to Fluttershy’s cottage.
“Wouldn’t it be simple if we went to Rarity’s place then Fluttershy’s? I mean we are close to her place anyway and we don’t need to track back into town.” Applejack suggested as it caused the pegasus to stop and look back at the farm pony.
“Because we’ll be at Rarity’s for hours, and I don’t trust her alone with you or her. Who knows what kind of magic she could do on you girls.”
“Sugarcube, what did I tell you about judging other ponies before you got to know them.”
“Yeah, but she’s not a pony. She’s a dragon. So that doesn’t count.” The pegasus said as both Applejack and Arisen deadpan upon hearing that.
“She really doesn’t like me does she?” Arisen asked as the farm pony shook her head.
“She means well, but sometimes she can be a bit much. Sorry for the way she’s acting towards you by the way.”
“It’s fine. Wouldn’t be the first time I've been treated like this.”
“Really? What other times has this happen to you?” Applejack asked as Arisen pointed over to the chattering ponies looking away or hiding from Arisen. “Oh….um…..give the folks here some time. They aren’t that use to seeing somepony like you in town.”
“Yeah, because there aren’t any other dragons that come to Ponyville other then Spike. And everypony likes him.” Rainbow said as she noticed a stern look coming from Applejack. “What? It’s true.”
“You are not good at being subtle.”
“Whatever, let’s just go and get this over with.” Rainbow said as she took the lead.
“Like I said. Try not to let her get to you kid.” Applejack said as the Arisen simply nods and continues to follow after Rainbow Dash and Applejack. They continue to make their way through town as the dragon noticed the ponies still staring at her with a mix a of fear or disgust.
“Guess I can’t really blame them for being like that. I mean, I am a foreign person in a different country.” Arisen thought as she began to drift into her thoughts. “Still having a hard time believing that in a country full colorful talking horses….or ponies in this case. Am I still dreaming? Or is this the afterlife that the gods have sent me to?” The Arisen slowly pulled her face to her cheek and pinched herself for a moment before letting go. “Nope, not a dream. And not the afterlife if I can feel pain like this….Guess the gods must really like me if they’re willing to give me a second chance like this. Though they could’ve given me my body back or something along the lines of it-.”
“Okay, we’re here.” Arisen was brought out of her train of thought as she looked in front of her to see what appears to be a cottage on top of a hill.
“I’m guessing this is Fluttershy’s home?” The dragon asked as Applejack nodded her head. “A bit odd don’t you think?”
“What makes you say that?” Rainbow Dash asked as she flew in front of Arisen.
“Well she lives in that house near the forest. Wouldn’t that be a dangerous place to live seeing how they’re dangerous animals that could come out and attack her?”
“Fluttershy has ways on dealing with wild creatures from the Everfree Forest. You should see the way she handle them.” Applejack said as she walked over to the front door of the cottage and knocks on the front door of it. “Fluttershy! It’s me AJ! Ya’ll in there!?” The farm pony asked as there was a moment of silence before the front door opens up. Standing in the doorway of the slowly opened door was a cream colored pegasus with a long pink mane & tail and was wearing a long sleeve turtleneck shirt, and a white color dress with butterflies on her dress.
“Oh, hello Applejack. What brings you here to my home today?” The pegasus asked as she looked behind the farm pony to see Rainbow Dash and Arisen behind her. “Um, not to sound rude or anything, but who’s the dragon next to Rainbow Dash?”
“The kid behind me is named Arisen. Rainbow Dash said that Twilight wanted all of us to meet up at her place so we can introduce ourselves to her or something along those lines.”
“Oh, okay….um, why is Rainbow Dash staring at, um...Arisen?” Applejack looked over at Arisen as she noticed Rainbow Dash getting face to face with the dragon, who was trying to back away from the cyan pegasus. But each time she took a step back, Rainbow Dash took a step forward.
“Rainbow Dash….”
“What? We’re just...um.”
“Having a staring contest.” Arisen said quickly before Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, what she said. We’re just having a friendly staring contest.” She said as Applejack and Fluttershy deadpan at the lie that Arisen said.
“Sugarcube. I know you want to make sure Rainbow Dash doesn’t blame you for her getting in trouble, but lying won’t solve her issue in trusting other ponies. Or in this case, other dragons.” Applejack stated before walking over to the two and push Rainbow Dash away from the dragon girl.
“I’m really sorry about how Rainbow Dash is acting. I’m sure she’ll come around to trusting you as time goes by.” Fluttershy said as she heard a snort coming from Rainbow Dash. “My name is Fluttershy, it’s nice to meet you Arisen.” The mare said as she extends a hand towards Arisen. In turn Arisen shook her hand as she smiled.
“Pleasure to meet you Fluttershy. This is a lovely place you have here.” She said as Fluttershy smiled to Arisen’s compliment.
“It’s kinda rare to see another dragon here in Ponyville, other then Spike of course. What brings you to our town if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Honestly….No clue. A group of kids found me in an abandoned castle when I woke up and brought me here to Ponyville...still a weird name for a town to be called like that. But when I guess seeing how ponies live here, I’m not surprise that it’s named like this.”
“Oh my. Are you okay? You aren’t hurt are you?” Fluttershy asked, looking around the dragon’s body to make sure she was okay.
“No need to worry about me ma’am. I’m fine, really.” Arisen said as she puts her hands up in defence as AJ pulled the cream colored pegasus away from her. “So how many of your friends do we need to find again?”
“Two more. Rarity and Pinkie Pie. We’re going to get Pinkie Pie next.” AJ said which caused the Arisen to tense up a bit.
“Why not your other friend Rarity? Surely she’s closer then Pinkie Pie...right?”
“Aw, what’s the matter dragon? Scared of pink party mare~?” Rainbow Dash asked in a teasing tone.
“I’m not...just not that...comfortable for a pony to appear out of thin air like it’s nothing.”
“Bad experience sugarcube?” Applejack asked as she notice the Arisen shiver and wincing.
“Never camp out during the night. Especially when you’re in the forest in Gransys.”
“Why is that? It’s not like there’s some kind of monster that can steal your soul.” Rainbow Dash said, chuckling as she noticed a stern expression on the dragon’s face.
“....Let’s just go get your friend Pinkie Pie.” Arisen said as she begins to walk back into town...only to stop and looked back at the group of ponies with a awkward smile on her face. “Um...could one of you lead the way? I’m still kinda new to this town and I don’t have a very good layout of this place.”
(Canterlot Castle)
The doors to the throne room open as a familiar looking alicorn princess of the sun walks out with a tired expression on her face. As she was walking down the hall to make her way to the kitchen, a familiar alicorn princess of the moon appeared next to her with a smirk on her face while trying not to bust out laughing.
“If you’re going to laugh Luna, then I suggest you be careful about doing that.” Celestia said, not looking at her little sister while still walking to the kitchen.
“Come now dear sister. You have to admit, it was kinda funny.” Luna said which caused Celestia to quickly turn her head at her with an angry/flustered expression on her face.
“Drawing on my face while I’m asleep, scaring the nobles with your pranks, and flooding most of the castle with a fast acting bubble foam. I can let that slide seeing how you’re my sister. But you putting a whoopee cushion under my seat while I was discussing the treaty between the Kirin Nation and Equestria. That’s going to far.”
“How is that going to far. Nopony got hurt or anything, right?”
“You could’ve caused a war or something with that! Just be glad that they took to your joke well then how most leaders do.”
“I only did that one time with the leader of Yakyakistan 500 years ago.”
“And it’s because of that, they closed off their country for this long. We don’t even know when they’ll open their gates for us to try and make peace with them. Look I know you love to play around and all, but you need to learn when to do it, and when not to do it. Everything isn’t how it is when-”
“You mean when you sealed me away in the moon….right.” Luna said as there was an air of awkward silence for a moment before Celestia cleared her throat.
“Yes….that….” Celestia took notice to Luna’s sadden expression as she walked over to the dark blue alicorn, and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I know you’re still trying to get well adjusted to how things are now, but you have to remember that you’re still a princess. You have to stop being like how you were back then, and learn to grow up and take up more responsibilities.”
“So pretty much just be like how you are. Up tight and no fun as always.”
“There’s nothing wrong with a little bit of fun. But you have to learn to do it in moderation...and timing.” The solar princess replied back, before the two of them began to head towards the kitchen. But just as Luna was about to open the door, she turned to see that a scroll appeared in front of her sister.
But as she watched her sister read it… she soon was a little puzzled because Celestia seemed… surprised and caught off guard. “Sister? Is something wrong?”
“It would appear that Twilight is summoning us to meet a new friend of theirs that they just found in our old castle.”
That surprised Luna for a moment, before she asked something. “What would somepony be doing in there? That old place has been abandoned for a long time now.”
“Apparently, Applejack’s sister and her friends found her unconscious in the armory part of the castle.”
Luna blinked for a minute, trying to picture what her sister was saying before asking something else. “Are you sure that it wasn’t somepony who just stumbled in on accident?”
“Well she’s not a pony for starters. She’s a dragon… which is rare to see one outside of where they live.” Again, Luna blinked for a moment. This time, she was trying to picture the possibility of a dragon… something that could be the size of a mountain… in a place as small as the old castle of the twin sisters.
“How big of a dragon are they talking about? Matter of fact, does it have a name?”
“Twilight said her name is Arisen.” She said before showing the letter to Luna with a drawn picture of the dragon in question. “This is what she looks like. She might be taller then Spike.”
“Hunh…” Luna said, before looking back at the picture. “That’s a lot different than what I originally thought it would be.”
“Indeed. We will go and meet this Arisen dragon and get her side of the story. We’ll have to cancel both day and night court for today.” At the sounds of that, Luna let out a rather audible sigh of relief, which lead to her sister glaring directly at her.
“What? I know that Night Court is important, but you can only handle so many ponies complaining to me about Blueblood for so long before you want to shout at somepony.”
“F-Fair point. We’ll go to Twilight’s home after lunch.”
Her sister nodded her head in response, before making one comment just as they were going into the kitchen. “When were we ever going to show him that his behavior is completely vile and unhelpful? I’ve had to handle several different defamation suits against him because he openly called several mares ‘Commoner whores’.” The Alicorn asked her. “Say what you want about the joke during the kirin meeting, but his behavior is no laughing matter. Especially if he talks like that to foreign leaders.”
“To be fair he hasn’t done that yet. Mostly due to how you and I are still rulers of Equestria and the fact that he wants to get on our good sides if he were to screw something up by accident when we’re away on diplomatic duties. And I hate to say it, but he does a better job at dealing with important matters then you are.”
That last part was said just as Luna was moving some of the leftover cake out of the fridge… but when her sister said that, it made her lose her concentration and glare directly at Celestia. Not even paying attention to the fact that the cake was now splattered on the floor. “Excuse me?!”
“Not insulting you or anything, but given your… past stunts with your playful pranks. He has been doing most of your stuff that I kinda had him do for the most part...mostly parts that you blow off or not finish. Blueblood may be a crude and rude pony, but he does get the work done that needs to be done.”
Luna rolled her eyes at that, deeply sighing for a moment before slipping on the cake that was on the floor, stumbling forward and the worst part of all, getting some of the chocolate cake on Celestia’s white dress.
“Um...need help cleaning up sister?”
“P-please…”
Chapter 7: Fresh, Clean, and Ready for Ponyville part 4
Within the deepest part of the Everfree Forest, there stood a dark figure wearing a grayish black cloak with a pair of horns protruding from her head as she was making a demonic circle within an open space of the forest. Snorting in annoyance, demonic like energy appeared in between her horns as she fires a spell at the circle she made. Upon making contact with said circle, a portal opened up as a demonic suit of armor slowly appeared from out of it.
“Listen well demon, because I’m only going to say this once. You are to go into Ponyville and cause as much of a distraction long enough for me to get what I need done. Got it?” She asked before the demon nodded to her order. “Good, now go and do what you’re ordered to do.” With a snort, the skeleton like demon quickly turned around and began to bolt down the path to Ponyville. As she watches, she tugged on her cloak before walking over to the path which led to Tartarus. “Alright, let’s see if father’s spell actually works on this door?” She said before cracking her knuckles. “The sooner I do this, the sooner the spell he placed on me can go away.”
(Sugarcube Corner)
“Not to sound rude or anything, but this….Pinkie Pie lady lives in a place like this?” Arisen asked, dumbfound at how the building looks likes something from a child’s story book.
“Hard to believe huh sugarcube?” Applejack said, chuckling at the arisen’s dumbfounded expression.
“Is the candy like decorations real or just fake?”
“They’re fake kid.” Rainbow Dash said as she flew over to the building and knocks on one of the candy ornaments. “If they were real, then everypony or animal would try and eat the house....On second thought, Pinkie might beat them to the punch before they get a chance to eat the house.”
“Right...anyway, should we go in and get Pinkie Pie?”
“Fluttershy will get her.” Rainbow Dash said as she flew over next to Arisen. “Applejack and I will stay here to keep an eye on you.”
“Geez, I didn’t think that you liked me that much.” Arisen said which caused the others to chuckle while Rainbow Dash snorted in annoyance.
“Your witty remarks aren’t going to help you kid. Like I said, I got my eyes on you. Try anything funny and I’ll be the first one you’ll have to deal with.”
“RD…” Applejack deadpans at the weather pony’s action before shaking her head and looking over at Arisen. “Pay her no mind. I’ll go get Pinkie while ya’ll wait here until I get back.” The farm pony said before heading inside Sugarcube Corner.
“Rainbow Dash, you should be a little bit nicer to Arisen. She hasn’t done anything wrong.” Fluttershy said giving Rainbow Dash a stern look on her face.
“Hey, we just met the dragon who was found in the Everfree Forest. You don’t find it suspicious?”
“Well….no. Not really. But seeing how she has been nice and not rude. I’m willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.” Fluttershy said with a sheepish grin on her face. Rainbow Dash simply rolled her eyes to this before looking over at the Arisen.
“At least someone is more open minded then some folks.”
“What’s that supposed to mean dragon?”
“Oh, nothing.” Arisen said as she looks the other way to avoid the harsh gaze that Rainbow Dash was giving her. “A-Anyway, mind telling me a little about yourselves? I mean, I’m going to be here in this town. So we might as well make small talk to know each other a little bit right?”
“I don’t see why not.” Fluttershy said, looking over Arisen with interest. “I’m still surprised to see another dragon here in Ponyville other then Spike. Oh he must be really excited to meet another dragon like himself.”
“Spike? You mean the guy with purple scales, green spikes, wearing a hoodie & jeans?” She asked only for Fluttershy to nod. “Didn’t really talk to him that much. Though I guess I could be his friend seeing how we’re both the same species.”
“Just don’t try any funny business with Spike, kid.” Rainbow Dash added which caused Arisen and Fluttershy to roll their eyes. Arisen’s ears twitch upon hearing the front door open as she noticed Applejack covered in streamers and confetti.
“Um, what happened to you?” Arisen asked as the farm pony snorted some confetti off her nose.
“Pinkie Pie accidentally hit me with her party cannon. Apparently she thought I was you and was planning to surprise you with a “Welcome to Ponyville” Party.” She said before Pinkie Pie appearing in front of Arisen, which like before startled her as she summons a whip made of lightning and wrapped around the pink party pony.
“I could get use to this~” Pinkie said, giggling at the feel of getting lightly shocked. Arisen deadpans as she dispels her magic around the pink party pony as she sighs.
“Seriously, how is she able to appear out of nowhere like that?”
“Trust me when I say this sugarcube. She’s PInkie Pie. Anything that is impossible by the laws of physics, she can break it.” Applejack said which caused the dragon to stare at Pinkie with a worried expression on her face.
“I don’t know if I should be worried by that statement or not. But can you please stop appearing out of nowhere like that with me...I’d prefer not to accidentally hurt you or something along the lines of that.”
“Okay!” Pinkie said as she bounces off next to Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.
“So, who’s next on the list of friends we have to get before heading back to Twilight’s place?”
“All that’s left is Rarity. Shouldn’t be a problem getting her...unless she’s busy with filling out dress orders.” Applejack answered.
“Twilight did mention that she was a seamstress. Think she’ll be available to take a request?”
“I don’t see why not. Rarity is super good at getting stuff down really quick.” Pinkie said as she hopped down the street while motioning the group to follow her. “Come on! I’ll take you too her!” She said as Arisen and the others began to follow after the party pony down the street that lead towards carousel boutique. As they walked, the dragon took notice to some of the ponies once again staring at her with the same expressions as before. A mix between fear and disgust. The dragon let out a sigh before placing her hands in her pockets as Fluttershy took notice to Arisen action.
“Kinda annoying that the ponies are looking at me like I got the plague or something...it’s a bit disheartening if I am to be so blunt about it not bothering me.”
“Oh, I-I’m sure they’ll open up to you once they get to know you a bit more...I think.” Fluttershy said as Arisen gave her a weak smile.
“I have my doubts about that, but we’ll see how it goes depending on how long I stay here.” She said before Pinkie Pie turned her attention at her.
“Don’t worry. Once they get to know you at the party I’m hosting for you, they’ll see how much of a nice person you are. I mean, it’s not like there’s going to be a monster that's going to attack the town and they’ll think you’re the cause of it!” As if fate wanted to be cruel for once in his or her life, the sounds of ponies screaming could be heard coming from their left. The group turned their attention to their left to see three colorful ponies running towards them.
“Run for your lives! It’s horrible! HORRIBLE!” Roseluck said as she grabbed onto Applejack in dramatic fashion.
“It came out of nowhere. It destroyed our flowers!” Lily said as she and Daisy moved close to Roseluck and Applejack.
“Now calm down you three. Can ya’ll tell me what’s going on and why ya’ll acting like Apple Bloom when we take her to the doctor’s for her flu shot?” Applejack asked as she heard thunderous stomps coming from behind the building that was somewhat close to them. The stomping grew closer as the source of the sound quickly turned the corner to reveal itself to the group.
“What in the name of Celestia’s flank is that!” Rainbow Dash yelled as they all stared in shock at the suit of living armor staring at them. Fluttershy let out a small gasp of fear as she quickly flew behind the cyan pegasus.
“....Huh, I guess even this place has monsters. Starting to wish I had that armor from that abandoned castle I found.” Arisen said as she took a few steps forwards in front of the group. As she did that, she clapped her hands together as a aura of light appeared around her arms and hands for a moment before ten orbs of light appeared forming around them.
“What are you doing?” Applejack asked as the dragon looked back at the country pony.
“Distraction. While I keep it busy, you guys make a break for it and come back with help.” She said as she turned her attention back to the living armor. “Which means you’ll have to get Twilight for help.”
“You can’t seriously thinking of fighting that thing alone are you?” Rainbow Dash asked as the dragon cracked her neck.
“While you’re there, mind bringing me my armor and shield please?” Arisen asked as she bolted off towards the living suit of armor before Rainbow Dash could answer her.
“We can’t just leave her to fight that thing by herself can we?” Pinkie asked as she along with the others looked over at Applejack.
“No we aren’t.” She said before looking at Rainbow Dash. “You’re the fastest out of all of us. Head over to Twilight’s place and tell her about what’s going on.”
“And what are you planning on doing?”
“We’ll try to help Arisen out as best as we can. Just hurry up and get Twilight!” Rainbow Dash nodded as she moved away from Fluttershy and quickly darted off towards the tree house in the center of town. “Ya’ll might want to find cover until this is over with.” Applejack said as the trio of flower ponies nodded and headed off quickly to a safe place while warning any pony they ran by.
Meanwhile, Arisen quickly jumped out of the way of the suit of armor’s sword. Once in the air, Arisen landed behind it and fired the orbs of light at its back. The suit of armor staggered forwards from the attack as it turned around and charges at Arisen with its shield. Arisen quickly rolled to the left as she was about to fire off a ball of fire from her hand, only for her to gag a bit as she fired it off from her mouth hitting the suit of armor in the face.
“Well….that was a bit of a surprise….I’ll have to do a few things later on to see how this body works with my magic.” Arisen said as she looked at the living armor as her fireball barely scorched its armor. She soon summoned a whip made of lightning into her hands as she once again charges at the living suit of armor. Once she was close enough, the monster raised it’s greatsword to bring it down onto the dragon. Only for the Arisen to block the attack with the whip as she felt her feet sinking into the ground slightly from the force behind the attack.
Arisen gritted her teeth from the strain of having to focus on maintaining mental focus on her whip while trying to keep herself from being pushed down by the weight of the demon’s sword. Looking up at it, she noticed a lasso being thrown around its neck as it staggered backwards a bit from being pulled. The dragon looked behind it to see Applejack and Fluttershy pulling at the rope to get the monster away from Arisen.
“You got guts kid!” Applejack said as she pulled the rope that was tied around the armor’s neck. “But you’re also reckless if you think we’re letting you fight that thing by yourself!”
“Yeah! Eat cake you meanie!” Pinkie Pie yelled as she pulled two surprisingly large wedding cakes out of her hair and tossed them at the monster’s face. Arisen blinked in surprise by not only seeing the party pony appear next to her, but also wondering how she was able to hide something like that in her hair. The dragon shook her head, making a mental note to ask Pinkie how she did it later. Right now she focussed her attention on the monster and began to whip the monster in many different areas on its body. Mainly the the legs and chest area.
“This would be a whole lot better if I had something to use as a weapon with!” Arisen yelled, continuing her assault on the monster. “Or at least a wooden stick!” She said before Pinkie Pie pulled out a wooden stick from out of her hair, and handed it off to Arisen.
“Here you go!” The earth pony said with a smile on her face. Arisen was hesitant at first before taking the stick as Pinkie quickly returned to throwing cakes of different types at the armored monster.
“Yeah, I’ll have ask Twilight about how this pony is able to do stuff like this.” Arisen thought before noticing the living armor trying to move forwards towards her, but was staggering due to Applejack and Fluttershy trying their best to hold the monster still. “Keep him still. But start counting to ten.” She said before making her whip disappear.
“Why? What are you planning sugarcube?” Applejack asked as she took notice to Arisen chanting something. Both Fluttershy and Applejack staggered a bit from feeling the monster pull at the rope as they continued to hold the monster at bay from her. As the monster took a step forward, it soon slipped on the cake covered ground as it went falling backwards onto its back. Applejack and Fluttershy soon did the same as they lost their footing as well. As they fell backwards onto each other, they took notice to how there were fireballs surrounding the dragon.
“Um, how long is that spell of yours going to take?” Pinkie asked as the atmosphere around them began to grow hotter and hotter by the second. Arisen turned her attention towards Pinkie as she had a strained expression on her face.
“N-Not long. Just a few more seconds to g-go.” She said as she turned her focus onto her magic. While she was doing that, the living armor began to pull itself up by using its sword as support.
“It’s getting back up!” Fluttershy yelled as Applejack quickly pulled herself up as she tried to put a lasso around the monster again, only for it to put its shield in front of itself to block the lasso from being wrapped around its neck. The living armor let out a demonic roar before charging at Applejack and Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy, run!” Applejack yelled as the pegasus couldn’t move due to fear. Applejack sighed in annoyance as she quickly charges at Fluttershy and grabbed her before running down the street to avoid the living armor charging at them. Like a tank plowing through a row of stone walls, the living armor began to pick up speed and momentum as it was inches away from the duo. When it began to lift its sword up to strike the mares down, it was soon sent collapsing into the ground by what appears to be a ball of flaming fire crashing down onto it. Both mare looked back behind themselves to see a medium size crater behind them as they noticed Arisen being surrounded by small fireballs for a moment before kneeling down and panting.
“Damn. I really have gotten weak if I can’t keep standing after using that spell.” Arisen said before she noticed the living armor trying to pull itself up from out of the crater, only for another meteor to came crashing down into the crater that the living armor was now in as it’s greatsword soon flew out and impale itself into the ground next to Arisen.
“Wowie! That’s going to hurt in the morning.” Pinkie Pie said as she looked down at the crater to see nothing but molten metal of what used to be the living armor and rocks melting.
“I don’t think that it’s going to feel that given how there’s nothing left of it.” The dragon said before noticing Applejack and Fluttershy walking over to them.
“I’m...a bit taken by surprise by that magic you done did. You sure you’re a dragon and not just a unicorn disguised as a dragon?” Applejack asked. Arisen shook her head to her question as the dragon took a deep breath before speaking.
“N-No….like I said. I’m not around here and this is something that we can do back in Gransys. N-Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go sleep for a while.” Arisen paused for a moment before passing out onto the ground as her vision faded to darkness.
Arisen’s eyes slowly open up upon feeling the evening sun hit her face. Upon doing so, she finds herself in Twilight’s Tree house. Mainly her bedroom. She lets out a small groan as she pulls herself up from the bed before wincing from the pain she was feeling all over her body. The dragon rubbed her head from the headache as she takes a look around the room she was in.
“Yeah, not one of my best spells to use given the fact that I didn’t take into account how this body works.” Arisen said as she flex her hand for a moment. “Not only that, but it seems I’ll have to hold off on the higher tier level spells if I end up passing out like that. Best not have that happening when I’m out fighting or hunting in the forest for food.” While she was examining her hand, the door to Twilight’s room opened up as a familiar cream colored pegasus entered into the room.
“Oh, you’re awake. We didn’t expect you to wake up so soon after what happen in Ponyville.” The mare said as the dragon pulled herself out of the bed. “Y-You shouldn’t strain yourself in getting up.”
“I’m fine to be honest, just a bit exhausted from underestimating the amount of magic used in that spell I cast.”
“I guess that makes a little bit of sense.” The mare said before walking over to the arisen and offering her a hand. “Do you need help getting up and walking downstairs? I know the others will be glad to see that you’re okay. Even though you've been asleep for two hours.” The dragon nodded as she takes the pegasus’s hand and begins to lead her out of Twilight’s bedroom. As the two began to make their way downstairs, they could hear a couple of familiar voices coming from the living room of Twilight’s tree house. But Arisen soon heard two elegant and much older voices talking to Twilight and her friends.
“So you’re saying that this dragon can use magic like a unicorn?” Celestia asked as the dragon motions for Fluttershy to stop and be quiet. The cream colored pegasus blinked for a moment before nodding and listen to the conversation going on downstairs.
“I know it’s hard to believe Princess...I mean Celestia, but the letter I sent to you is telling the truth about Arisen.” Twilight said before pulling out a cellphone to pull up a video of The Arisen casting magic.
“Less than an hour or so and that video that somepony posted already got about 50,000 views.” Pinkie Pie said while still setting up decorations around the library. “She even used an electric whip on me to tie me up when I appeared next to her.” She said which Celestia blinked in surprise upon hearing this, while Luna couldn’t help but snicker to this.
“Seems like this dragon has a dominatrix personality if she did that to Pinkie Pie~” Luna said as the dragon deadpans and motioning Fluttershy to move downstairs as she spoke.
“First of all, I am not a dominatrix.” The dragon said as everyone turned their attention to the steps to see Arisen and Fluttershy walk downstairs. “The reason behind the whip, was because that pony can somehow appear out of nowhere...which is something to be on edge about if you ask me.”
“Rizzy, you’re awake!” Pinkie Pie yelled as she was about to tackle the dragon onto the ground, only for Twilight to use her magic to prevent her from doing that as she placed the pink pony back onto the ground.
“Thanks for that. I was not up to being tackled like that.” The dragon said before Fluttershy lead her to a beanbag seat across from the Princesses. “I take it you two are the princesses that Twilight mentioned?” She asked as the alicorn sisters nodded. “I’m a bit surprised you two actually took so long to get here.”
“We would’ve been here sooner had we known that there was a monster attacking the town. But Twilight said that you defeated it with a spell that is unfamiliar to Equestria?”
“That and she can use magic.” Rainbow Dash added as she stares at the dragon up and down. “Don’t you find it suspicious that she was the one that took down that monster with little effort and that it came from out of nowhere?”
“Rainbow Dash! Are you assuming that Arisen had something to do with it?” Fluttershy asked with a shocked expression on her face from hearing that.
“What? I’m not the only one who’s thinking that right?”
“I doubt she would be the cause of that monster attack darling. And even if she was, she would most likely fix the problem that she caused.” Rarity said as she winked over at the dragon. Arisen smiled softly before looking over at the princesses who were looking at the dragon with interest.
“Your take on this princesses?”
“Hm, well given the fact that what Rainbow Dash said does make sense. But given how you did risk your life to save the citizens of Ponyville from that monster, I’ll push the theory of you being the cause of it aside unless there is proof of that. Other then that, I believe I owe you my thanks for your heroic deed.” Celestia said as her sister nodded in agreement.
“If there is anything that you need from us, do have Twilight send us a letter for your request and we’ll deliver it as soon as possible.” Luna said as Arisen placed a hand to her chin for a moment before getting an idea and looked over at Twilight.
“Hey, Twilight. Do you still have the armor that you were planning on giving to Rarity to see if she can fix it up a bit?”
“Oh! I almost forgot about that. I kinda got distracted when Rainbow Dash came busting in and told me about the monster that you were fighting and the aftermath of it.” The alicorn said with a sheepish smile on her face. The mare soon used her magic to levitate the old rusted and worn out armor over to the dragon as Celestia eyed it.
“Pray tell, where did you find this armor? It looks awfully familiar.”
“She took it from the remains of a dead pony in the castle of the royal sisters.” Rainbow Dash said bluntly as Celestia and Luna looked at Arisen who had a deadpan expression on her face.
“Yeah, because walking into town wearing nothing but the scales on my back is something everyone wants to see?”
“I-I can see why you had to do that…and I take it you want us to fix your armor?” Luna asked as the dragon nodded.
“That and the shield.” Arisen pointed over to the doorway to where the giant shield was. Celestia used her magic to bring the armor set over to them as the princesses examine it.
“Never thought we'd see this old prototype of the old royal guard armor.” Celestia said as she looks over the shield. “Crystal mix with armor was a good idea. But due to it being twice as heavy for an unfit pony be it earth, unicorn, or pegasi, and costing so much money to make. We kinda scrapped the idea. I’m a bit surprised this set is still in somewhat good condition minus the rust.”
“We might be able to do something about it right now. But fair warning, the appearance of it will end up looking different then how it once was before. Knowing this, do you still want us to do this?“ Luna asked as The Arisen nodded. The Princesses did the same as their horns began to glow. As their horns glow, an arcane circle appeared around the armor and shield as they too began to glow from the magic circle. The room began to turn dark as the items began to swirl around in the arcane circle as a flash of bright light filled the room. Everyone minus the princesses covered their eyes from the blinding light as said light slowly began to die off. Once the light died off, Pinkie Pie took notice to the now freshly renewed armor on Arisen as she spoke.
“Ooooooooooooooh, nice clothes you have on Rizzy~” The party pony said as everyone looked over at the couch to see what she meant by that.
“Very impressive Princesses. Though I would have gone with the same color as they were before.” Rarity said as they notice the two alicorns raise an eyebrow at her as she flinched from their gaze. “I mean, not that what it looks like is bad or anything. Matter of fact she might be able to make it work...yep, totally can make it work...hehe.”
“I kinda like it.” Arisen said as she pulled herself up from her seat and began to flex her body a bit.”It feels so comfortable and not so tight around certain areas of the body.” She said as she took notice to the sword on her side. “Wait since when did I have a sword?”
“It was hidden within the giant shield you have. It’s understandable that you wouldn’t take notice to it, seeing how this is a prototype. But I kinda had the idea of having a weapon hidden inside of the shield if their weapons were to be lost or destroyed.” Celestia said as the dragon placed her sword into her sheath and nodded.
“Wish I had this back home when I was on my journey. But I guess having it now is okay.” Arisen said as she placed the shield on her back.
“If you don’t mind me asking Arisen. But would you be willing to tell us about yourself and where you came from? I know Twilight told us a little bit about you, but I would like to hear it coming from you.” The white Alicorn asked as Arisen nodded and took a seat back onto the couch.
“Well seeing how everyone is here. I might as well explain everything and how I got here.” She said before clearing her throat and staring at everyone. “It all started in the land of Gransys.”
Elsewhere, the same cloaked figure that unleashed the demon upon Ponyville made her way towards the gates of Tartarus. Once she was there, she noticed Cerberus sleeping in front of the gate as the cloaked figure cursed underneath her breath upon seeing the three headed beast. As if she thought the dog heard her cursing, she quickly looked around at her surroundings before noticing a giant rock and quickly hid behind it. Peaking around the boulder she saw that the dog was still asleep as she lets out a sigh of relief before extending her hands towards the three headed dog.
“Let’s hope this spell works this time.” She said as her hands glowed a sickly yellow. The same color appeared around the dogs as their eyes shot open and stood up quickly. “Perfect, worked like a charm.” the cloaked figure soon lowered the hood part of her robe before teleporting over to Cerberus. “Head over to Ponyville and cause some trouble. I have a feeling that the demon I sent didn’t last long if the Princesses took care of it.” The three headed dog simply snorted before heading off into the direction of said location.
As Cerberus ran off, the centaur looked down at her chest as she winces from seeing a red glowing mark on it before covering herself up.
“Just do as you’re told Titania. The Princesses know of your current situation. Just have to follow the plan they laid out for you and then head back to Canterlot to inform them about Father’s escape.” She said before raising a hand at the gates of tartarus. Once she did that, the gates began to glow as the entryway to Tartarus open up for her. With a sigh, Titania quickly entered into Tartarus as the gates quickly closed up behind her. As the doors to Tartarus closes, a familiar goddess of chaos watches from the distance as she had a bucket of popcorn in her claw and a drink floating around her as she occasionally takes sips from it.
“Seems like Terek is gonna be coming to Equestria sooner than I thought...Guess I owe Granny Sunbutt twenty-five bits for not taking her seriously.” Eris said as she made the popcorn and drink disappear. “Better head over to Ponyville to have a little chat with the Princesses.”
“And that’s pretty much it. After I plunged the godsbane into my chest, everything went dark and I found myself waking up to the sounds of those kids inside that abandoned castle in the forest. To think all this started with a dragon stealing my heart. Never would’ve imagine I would end up like this.” Arisen said as she took notice the the group’s dumbfounded expressions on their faces. There was a moment of silence lingering in the air for a while before Rarity spoke up.
“My word...That’s...I don’t even know how to react to that.”
“That’s….that just not right.” Applejack said as she tilted her hat a bit. “To think that the king of Gran Soren would label you as a villain. Even after everything you’ve done, they shouldn’t have listen to that jerk and sided with you.”
“Given the situation Arisen was in, it would make sense.” Twilight said as she folded her arms in disgust. “What I’m more annoyed is the fool who would take up the dragon’s offer to sacrifice his wife for wealth, glory, and immortality.”
“Yet in the end, he ended up reaping what he sowed and tried to take Arisen down with him.” Luna said as she snorted in annoyance. “Makes me sick to know royalty would do something so underhanded like that.”
“Yet still, you continued being a hero even after your kind hated you for lies that the king told them.”Pinkie said as the Arisen nodded. “But, couldn’t you try and tell the dragons the truth?”
“Kinda hard to do that when most of them are to blinded by the King’s achievements to listen to me. So the only way I knew that something had to done to change this, was to go into the chasm and fight the one behind it.”
“And in doing so, you brought an end to the never ending cycle.” Twilight said as the dragon nodded.
“Couldn’t you let somepony else do it?” Fluttershy asked as the dragon looked over at her and shook her head to her answer. “But why? Surely there must’ve been another way to end it without sacrificing.”
“Given the state that world was in, no one else couldn’t do it. The end of the world was coming seeing how I killed the dragon, I was a wanted criminal thanks to the king, and all other Arisens that took up the dragon’s deal faded away to dust, left to a different country, or choose to go into hiding from the dragon. The pe….dragons were suffering from the monster attacks and I had to stop it before it could get any worse.”
“My biggest question is. What happen afterwards?” Spike asked. “I mean in Gransys, not the part where Sweetie Belle found you.”
“Yeah, is your homeland safe?” Pinkie asked as she and Spike moved closer to Arisen. The dragon simply shrugged to their question as she looks up at the ceiling.
“Don’t know. After my body along with my pawn fell through the hole in the floor and vanish. Though if I have to guess, my pawn is living out her life in my stead given what Selene’s master told me when I saved her from an angry mob of dragons thinking she’s in league with the dragon.” She said before looking back at Pinkie Pie and Spike.”All I can do is hope that I left Gransys in a better state then how it was before.”
“I still find it hard to believe that what she said happened to her.” Rainbow Dash said as she folded her arms in judgement. “You maybe able to get other ponies to fall for your story, but not me. I’ll be sure to keep an eye on you dragon. A very close eye on you.” She said as her friends rolled their eyes to her statement.
“Be nice Rainbow Dash, she did save us from that scary monster after all. So she can’t be evil or anything if she’s willing to save somepony from something like that.” Fluttershy said as Pinkie Pie nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, she’s a hero. Which reminds me, what kind of cake do you want for your “Welcome to Ponyville and thank you for saving the town” party?”
“Focus Pinkie.” Applejack said as she walked over to Arisen. “As for Arisen’s story, I have a gut feeling that she’s telling the truth. And this is not me using the element of honesty magic stuff to tell if she’s telling the truth.” She said as she looked over at the princesses. “Your take on this Princesses?”
“Well given how she did save Ponyville, I’m willing to believe her story. What is your input on her sister.” Luna asked as she notice Celestia staring at Arisen with a odd smile on her face. “Sister?”
“Huh? Oh...um..Yes, I believe Arisen’s story. I see no reason why she would lie to us or anypony at all~” Celestia said as kept up the motherly facade. “If you don’t mind me asking, what are you planning on doing now that you’re in Equestria?” she asked as Arisen was taken off guard by that question. The dragon placed a hand to her chin as she thinks for a moment before shrugging.
“Don’t know to be honest. Never actually thought of what to do next.”
“If I would suggest something?” Celestia asked as the dragon broke from her thoughts as she looked at the white Alicorn. “Why not stay here in Ponyville for a while before doing anything else. You know, to get accustomed to how this country works. Don’t want you getting into trouble with the law due to a misunderstanding.”
“That….might be a good idea.” She said before noticing Twilight smiling at her.
“You know, seeing that you’re new to Ponyville. I could always teach you a few things about this place.” She said before quickly rushing over to a nearby bookshelf and started pulling out books and unknowingly tossing them over to Arisen. “There are so many things that I can show you that you must read! The history of Equestria, How the wonderbolts were made, currency of Equestria, The Mare on the Moon, Castle of the-”
“Twilight!” Everyone yelled minus Arisen as Twilight look over at them and notice Arisen being covered in a mountain of books. A sheepish smile appeared across the lavender alicorn’s face as she blushes to her blunder.
“Um, sorry about that.”
“It’s fine.” Arisen said as she pulls herself out of the mountain of books. “Does this place have an inn or something similar to that?”
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t. But I’m sure Twilight and her friends would be willing to let you stay with them until you can afford a house of your own.” Celestia said as she looks over at Twilight and her friends to hear their response. The girls talk to each other for a while before looking over at Arisen, well all but Rainbow Dash who seemed to be annoyed.
“Don’t expect me to let her crash at my place. She’ll end up falling out of the clouds seeing how she can’t fly.” She said as she looks over at Twilight. “Why not let her stay here? I’m sure Twilight has a room available for her to stay in. And she did want to show her a few things about Equestria and stuff.”
“As much as I would love to do that Rainbow Dash, I don’t have an extra room for her to stay in for the time being.”
“I thought this place had an extra room?” Celestia asked as it caused Twilight to blush a bit in embarrassment.
“There was...but I kinda used it as an extra place to put more books in...sorry.”
“Egghead.” Rainbow Dash comment as she looked away from Twilight glaring at her. The Princess chuckled to her reaction as she looked over at Twilight’s friends.
“Would any of you be willing to let Arisen live with you until she can get on her own feet?” The girls looked at each other for a moment before the seamstress spoke.
“I’m willing to let her stay at my place for the time being. I do have an extra room that I’m not using. Plus, having an extra set of hands around the house would be helpful when I go to my appointments in Canterlot.”
“That and to make sure Sweetie Belle doesn’t try to burn the house down...again.” Rainbow added which caused Rarity to blush and clear her throat.
“Y-Yes, that too. That is if Arisen wouldn’t mind doing that.”
“I have no problem with that. I still kinda owe your sister and her friends for finding me in that castle in the forest.”
“Wonderful! I’ll be sure to clean up the room a bit once I get back home.”
“With that taken care of, what else is there that needs to be taken care of?” Applejack asked as she looked over at Twilight.
“We do need to register her as a resident here in Ponyville. Though that might be hard given the fact that she’s from another country that has never been heard or seen before.”
“I believe my sister and I can take care of that problem Twilight.” Celestia said causing her to blink in surprise to this. “Think of it as another gift for saving Ponyville from that demon.”
“A bit generous don’t you think?” Arisen said as the sun princess giggled. “What’s your game Celestia.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about Arisen. Can’t a mare express her gratitude towards a hero who saved the lives of many in this town?”
“True, but I’m getting a feeling that there’s something that you-” Before Arisen could finish, she along with everyone heard a phone ringing within the room. Looking around to where the sound is coming from, she looked over at Celestia who levitated her cellphone to open it.
“Hello?” Celestia asked as she heard someone talking to her over the phone. There was a moment of silence in the room before Celestia’s eyes widen and turns the phone off. “As much as I would love to continue this conversation, Luna and I must be going.”
“Did something happen at the castle?” Twilight asked as Celestia simply smiled and shook her head.
“Nothing to big….at least to some degree. It’s just somepony forgot to inform me that I have sun court to attend to.” The white alicorn said looking over at Luna who was whistling while looking away innocently. Celestia sighed as she pulled herself up from the couch she was on along with Luna. “We will meet again once we have the time to come and visit. For now, I do hope you’ll enjoy your stay in Ponyville Arisen.”
“Indeed. And do try not to get into too much trouble.” Luna added as their horns began to glow and teleported back to Canterlot in a flash.
“She seems...interesting to say the least.” Arisen said before she too stood up and stretched a bit.
“You sure you don’t want to rest a bit Arisen?” Fluttershy asked. “You have been asleep for the past two hours, and I don’t think that’ll be enough time to rest.”
“I’m fine Fluttershy. But thanks for your concern over my health. It’s very considerate of you to worry about me.”
“Welp, if that’s it for the meet and greet. Then I’m heading off home.” Rainbow Dash said as she began to make her way home, only to stop once she heard Arisen spoke up.
“Sorry if you don’t trust me yet. But I’ll be sure to try my best to gain your trust when the time is right.”
“Yeah, whatever dragon.” Rainbow Dash snorted before flying off toward her home in the clouds.
“Don’t take RD’s cold shoulder personal. She can be a bit stubborn at times when it comes to trusting ponies, thought in your case it would be dragon.” Rarity said before making her way towards the door. “I’m going to head back to get your room ready for when you come by. Try not to push yourself too hard hero~” She said in a singsong tone before leaving.
“I got to go too. Gotta check on Apple Bloom and Macareina to see how they’re doing with the work on the farm. Feel free to stop by my place tomorrow if you need anything or just want to chat.” Applejack said as she, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie followed after the farm pony while giving an excuse why they had to leave. Mostly because of Pinkie Pie’s job at Sugarcube Corner, and Fluttershy and her animals. Arisen along with Spike and Twilight waved them off as the dragon turned her attention to the lavender alicorn and dragon.
“If you don’t mind me asking, I would like to know a little bit more about what you said in your story. Mainly the history, magic, and these so called pawns that you mentioned.” Twilight asked as Arisen nodded.
“I’ll try to answer to the best of my ability given. Mind you I’m going by memory so sorry if most of it isn’t accurate.”
“It’s fine. I’m sure as we talk you’ll remember bits and pieces of it.” She said before pulling out a quill, ink, and lots of paper. “Spike, could you get Arisen and I something to eat and drink. This might take a while, and Arisen hasn’t eaten anything in the past couple of hours from the looks of it.”
“Got it.” Spike said as he headed into the kitchen to get them food.
“Now then Arisen. Let’s begin with you explaining to me how it’s possible for you to be able to use magic? I’ve never heard of any dragon that can do that. So far only unicorns, alicorns, changelings, kirins, and certain magical items can do or perform magic. But not once have I heard of a race of dragon being able to do it.”
“....This is going to be a long conversation.” Arisen said as she now started to dread her decision on not leaving with the rest of Twilight’s friends.
Meanwhile in the pits of Tartarus, Titania made her way to the deepest parts of the prison as she comes across a large cell. Standing in the the middle of the cell with his arms crossed was a centaur that looked almost similar to that of Titania, only much taller and somewhat skinny. The centaur looked down at Titania with a fake smile on his face as he drew closer to the bars.
“It’s about time you showed up. I was beginning to worry that the curse I placed on you might’ve worn off or you found a way to dispel it.” he said as Titania said nothing but glared at him. “Aw, what’s the matter? Not going to say hi to your dear old daddy Tirek?”
“Let me be perfectly clear you old fart.” Titania said as she raised a hand towards the bars of the cell. For a moment there was nothing, but soon her hand begin to glow as the cell Tirek was in disappeared into magical dust. “You are not my father, nor will I ever see you as my father. Especially after what you did all those years ago. The reason why I am doing this is because of the curse you place on me.”
“All I did was try to teach you how to be strong and assertive. Not be like your uncle and be nice to these ponies.” He said before walking up towards Titania. “You should be thanking me for sparing you and your mother’s life all those years ago.”
“Yeah, like I’m gonna be thankful to a guy that raped an innocent pony, got her pregnant, and ended up being outcasted by her and the rest of pony kind because of what you did.” Titania said as she lowered her hand and place them into her pockets. “Makes me sick that I came from somepony like you.”
“And it makes me sick to think that you would still side with the ponies even after their treatment towards you. You should be on my side and not on theirs.”
“Yeah, and look how that turned out for you.” She said before pointing to her chest. “Now, our agreement if you would?”
“What makes you think I would undo the curse I placed on you before I was imprisoned?”
“Because it’s a double edge spell. If I die then, so do you. And given the current state you’re in, I doubt you’ll be able to survive having your heart blow up.” Tirek glared at her for a moment before reaching into his beard to pull out a small cylinder like object and crushes it within his hands. Once he was finish, Titania felt a jolt of pain quickly leave her chest as the red glowing mark disappeared.
“Don’t say I’ve never been this merciful to you in your life before.” He said before noticing Titania leaving. “And where do you think you’re going?”
“I already did my part in helping you sadly. You can do whatever you want. Just don’t expect me to help your sorry flank when Celestia and Luna beat you down to the ground again like before.”
“And you don’t think they’ll come after you once they know I left?”
“Maybe, but I doubt they’ll be coming after me given where I live. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back home before somepony sees me with you.” Titania said as she uses her magic to teleport herself out of Tartarus. Tirek snorted in amusement before making his way towards the exit of Tartarus. Once Titania was at a safe distance away from the gates of Tartarus, she reappear in an open field as she sigh and pulled out her phone to call someone. “Come on, pick up the phone already.” she said before hearing a voice on the other end of the call.
“Hello?”
“Umbra, you there or at least somewhat awake?”
“Yeah...who is this?” Umbra asked as Titania rolled her eyes.
“It’s Titania. Look, I need you to come and pick me. I’m out of magic and this phone doesn’t have much of a charge on it.”
“And your first notion was to call me and not Celestia?”
“Your phone is the only one that I can call without worrying about getting a signal to be able to call you. Look I did what she told me to do, and right now I need a place to go so I can recharge and head over to Canterlot. So can you help me out and teleport me to...where do you live?”
“I live in Manehatten now. Couldn’t really stay in that giant rock of a crystal castle due to Prince Bolero and Gleaming Shield saying I need to get out more and go with the times of technology and stuff.”
“....I’m a bit surprised that they were able to convince you to leave the crystal empire, especially after what your father did...no offense.”
“Well it was either I leave or have Prince Bolero and Gleaming Shield appear in my room naked doing Jojo poses from Jojo’s bizarre pony adventure.”
“....Fucking weeb ponies.” Titania thought before shaking her head before continuing with the conversation. “Anyway, mind if I crash with you for a bit?”
“Sure, just give me a bit to get myself together. I should be there in about five minutes or so.”
“Thanks. I owe you one.”
“You owe me a lot with the list of things you still haven’t paid me back on.” She said before Titania cut the conversation short. The centaur placed the phone back into her pocket before looking up at the evening sky.
“You better have a damn good plan for this Celestia. Because I prefer not to have to deal with something like this with my own hands.”
Night time has fallen upon Equestria as Arisen finally made her way to Carousel Boutique with a tired expression on her face. So far, it’s been nothing more than a Q&A for the past couple of hours. Most of it involved examples of the magic she can do, while seeing if she could learn some of the magic in Equestria. As Twilight was about to see if Arisen could perform Equestrian magic, the clock hanging on the wall of her home rang and Arisen told her that she should get going so she can get a fresh start exploring the town in the morning. Before the dragon left, the alicorn handed over a couple of basic books in how to use magic for dummies.
“Gotta say, some of these spells are interesting and more advanced than some of the magic back in Gransys. Telekinesis might be useful in case I end up having my hands tied up...again.” She thought as she took notice to some of the ponies looking at her. As she looked back, some of them would either quickly head back inside their homes or shut the doors to their respectful businesses to avoid eye contact with the dragon. “Guess they still don’t trust me or are still afraid of me? Well so long as they don’t form an angry mob against me, then I shouldn’t worry about them disliking me or something.” Once she was at the boutique, she knocked on the door to see if anyone was up or still awake.
“Rarity, you in there!?” Arisen yelled as the door slowly opened to reveal the seamstress in her nightgown.
“Ah, Arisen. Was beginning to worry that Twilight might’ve kept you over at her place for more testing and what not.” She said before noticing the tired expression on the dragon’s face. “Oh my. It would seem that she worked you almost to the bone.”
“A lot of it was questions and answers. The other half was showing her a display of the magic I can perform.” She said as Rarity moved out of the doorway for her to enter. “Never thought I had to use more of my magic then how I usually do.”
“I’m very sorry about Twilight. She can be a bit excited when something new is introduced to her. Which in your case would be you in a way.” Rarity said as she chuckles a bit. “Now, as for your living arrangement. The guest room is set up right next to Sweetie Belle’s room. Make yourself at home for however long you’ll stay here...and if you can, do try to keep Sweetie Belle and her friends out of trouble from time to time.”
“Is it that bad?” Arisen asked as Rarity thought for a moment before shuddering at the CMC’s antics.
“Yes...yes it is.” She said before heading upstairs. “I’ll see you in the morning darling~” Arisen just stared at her for a moment before placing her weapons by the door and headed upstairs.
“Nice girl. Her personality reminds me of Madeleine.” Arisen paused at the thought of the merchant that she helped start her business in Gran Soren. “Wonder if she’s doing okay?” She thought before shaking her head and heads upstairs to the guest room. Once inside she soon flopped onto the soft comfortable looking bed as she lets out a sigh of relief. “Gotta admit. These ponies sure do know how to make a bed...much better than the beds at Gran Soren.” Having said that, her eyes felt heavy as her vision faded into darkness.
“Arisen...Ser, how could you?! I cannot think you entirely innocent of what has happened, nor do I doubt His Grace's words...yet...I also cannot think you an enemy to the people of Gransys. Alas, I am duty-bound to follow what orders I am given, ser. Pray, forgive me. His Grace commands the Arisen's capture, men!” Maximilian said as he and his men charged at the arisen with swords at the ready. Once they surrounded her, each one would attempt to try and stab her from all around. Only for her to either quickly parry their attacks with her longsword, dodging, or her pawn counters with a powerful shockwave that sent them flying backwards.
“Master, you must leave! I will hold them off!” The pawn said as he quickly blocked a sword strike with her staff and Arisen counters with the pummel of her longsword.
“Not happening. We’re a team, and I’m not about to abandon you.”
“I am your pawn. It is my job to protect you. Now please, run away while I hold them off!” The pawn said as he raised his staff up and generated a towering wall of flames between him and the soldiers. Arisen gritted her teeth as she bolted it towards the side of the entrance to the castle. As she made her way down the steps, she heard the sound of magic going off along with the sounds of weapons clanging against wood. What caused her to stop in her tracks, was the sound of her pawn screaming in pain and the sound of flesh being cut into.
“Her pawn is down, after the traitor men!” yelled a random soldier as she could hear them coming down the stairs. She quickly continued to run down the stairs and burst through the doors that lead to the craftsman’s quarter. Her eyes widened upon seeing more soldiers standing in front of her as a mystic knight hit her with a bolt of lightning to her chest. The lightning soon wrapped itself around her as she was soon pulled towards the mystic knight, then towards ground.
“Don’t even think about escaping traitor!” He yelled as he started to electrocute Arisen, causing her to scream and spaz out in pain. “I knew you would be the end of us all. My friends, family, all of it is gone because of you! Well now I’m going to make you suffer for what you did!” he said before pulling the whip made of lightning and tossing her into a nearby abandoned building. “Archers! Fire!” He ordered as the soldiers from behind fired a barrage of arrows into the house she was inside.
Arisen quickly rolled underneath a table as she took cover under it as the arrows hit the table. Once the hail of arrows stopped, she quickly bolted out of the house, rushes towards the mystic knight, and impaled him with her sword in the chest. As she quickly pulled her sword out of the soldier, she felt a surge of pain through her abdomen. Her eyes widen as she looked down to see a sword run through her and cough up some blood. Looking down she sees the mystic knight that she killed impaled her with his sword. He smirked as he drove his sword more into her as she gasped from the pain.
“Rot in hell, traitor…” He said before his body went limp as death took him. Arisen gritted her teeth from the pain, but pushed passed it as she ran off into the center of town while bleeding. Once she was there, she collapsed onto her hands and knees as the soldiers that were with the mystic knight surrounding her with their swords pointing at her.
“You have nowhere else to go Arisen. Surrender now and we will treat your wound and let you live the rest of your life in the dungeon.” Maximilian said as he walked in front of the bleeding human. “Please...I don’t want to have to lose a friend like you.” Just as the former hero of Gransys looked up, she noticed her surroundings starting to change as bright light soon engulfed the area she was in causing her to cover her eyes. Once she felt the light fade away, she could see Princess Luna standing in front of her instead of Maximilian as she blinked in surprise.
“Of all the nightmares I have visited in Equestria, yours is a...special case here.” Luna said as she uses her magic to help Arisen up on her feet. She then snaped her fingers as the wounds on her body vanished, causing the dragon to blink in surprise as she looks over her body.
“....I have...so many questions on how this is possible...besides the obvious answer being it’s magic.” Arisen asked as the princess chuckled to the dragon’s reaction.
“Magic is the only answer I have for you Arisen. Unlike most ponies, I can travel into ponies dreams when they’re asleep in the dream world. In here, this is my domain.”
“Huh. Would never have known you were this good with magic on this scale.” She said before she felt herself beginning to float. “It’s weird being awake in my own dream like this.”
“Given what you told us about your homeland, it would feel weird having this sort of thing happening to you.” Luna said as she looked off to the side a bit. “Forgive me if I was a bit late to stop the nightmare you were having sooner. Your mind is...a bit complex to move through. That and a lot of it kinda gave me some insight of what you went through.”
“H-How much did you see? I know I talked about it, but visual wise how much did you see?”
“Only the parts that you shared with us at Twilight’s place this afternoon. Nothing else, I swear.” Luna snapped her fingers as they are now sitting on beanbag chairs. “I take it that nightmare I saw you in was on the day when your people betrayed you?”
“Yeah...it was.”
“Do you hate them for what happen to you?”
“...I wouldn’t lie and say I didn’t. I can possibly understand the soldiers seeing how they’re more focus on protecting their king and all...but what Maximilion said really did hit me more than a cyclops. It didn’t help that the people turned against me as well seeing how I tried to weather out the ongoing disaster that was happening all around Gransys. My hometown was the only safe haven I had left and the people there believed me. Especially when Quina checked my heartbeat to see if it was there.”
“Couldn’t you have stayed in your hometown?”
“And let them suffer for something I’ve done? The people there are my family and saw me as a hero. Having them protect me from the king would end up getting themselves killed. I could handle losing the tile as hero and label as a villain...but almost losing my family was something I couldn’t bare to watch again.”
“Again?”
“I’ll possibly share about it later on if I have more nightmares, or if I’m more comfortable talking about it with you.” Arisen said as she leans back in the beanbag. “Not to be rude or anything. I know you didn’t mean to look into my mind. But you kinda invaded my personal space, which I hold nothing against you or anything. God knows I would’ve felt awful when waking up.”
“We understand. We’ll try to gain your trust and not accidentally read your mind as we come and visit you from time to time.”
“I appreciate that, thank you.” Arisen said as she looked around the dreamscape she was in. “So how long am I gonna be here in this place?”
“Until I leave. The nightmare shouldn’t happen again. But if it does, I’ll try and stop by and give you a relaxing dream.” She said before pulling herself up from her seat. “Which I should be doing with other ponies. Until we meet again Arisen.” She said before disappearing into cosmic dream dust.
“Ponies that can enter into the dreams of others...Could they be the ones that might’ve brought me here to this world and given me this body?”
Back at Canterlot Castle, Celestia was busy reading a book in her private studies. With day court done for today, the princess of the sun could finally relax a bit before going to bed to rest up for tomorrow. Though she wouldn’t get that much sleep as she soon heard the phone ring from her nightstand. Her horn glowed as she used her magic to levitate the phone over to her to answer.
“Hello? This is Princess Celestia. May I ask who is calling?”
“It’s me. Titania.” The centaur said as a smile grew across Celestia’s face upon hearing her voice.
“Ah, Ms. Titania. I take it you’re calling me to inform me that your father is out of tartarus?”
“Sadly yes. As you ordered, I released him from his imprisonment and now he’s out gathering his strength...Care to explain what your plan is Princess?”
“You want the short version or the long version?”
“Short if possible.”
“Very well. As you already know, Tierk is planning on taking over Equestria after what happened to him all those years ago as a means of revenge right? And like you said he’s gathering energy by stealing the magic from innocent ponies. Once he has enough he will come here and take our magic once he’s strong enough.”
“Isn’t that why you have Twilight and her friends to solve all your problems?”
“Yes, but I’m afraid that even they won’t be able to stop him. Especially if Discord were to join his side.”
“...You’re joking right...you think he would be that stupid to join my father’s side?”
“It’s just a feeling I’m getting at. Even though the girls say he’s reformed...I have my doubts that he’s fully reformed.”
“Fair point. So what are you planning if the Elements of Harmony fail? Do keep in mind that my father can absorb magic of any kind. Including that magical rainbow beam of death.”
“Eris took care of that. She found somepony...or in this case, dragon that might be willing to help.”
“Really? And who might that be Ms. Omnipotent princess of everything~” Titania said sarcastically as Celestia rolled her eyes.
“She’s different. This dragon can use magic.” The princess said as there was a long pause over the phone before the centaur spoke.
“....You’re not planning on transferring all your magic into this dragon that can use magic are you?” “Not just myself, but my sister and Bolero’s magic into her as well.”
“...Are you high or something!? What makes you think that this plan will work!?”
“It will work seeing how Arisen is not from Equestria. The magic that she gave off from when I met her was something that seemed rare. Like a needle in a haystack, this dragon if trained could handle the amount of magic stored in her.”
“And what makes you think this dragon will be willing to do it?” She asked as Celestia went silence upon her question. “You haven’t told them about this have you?”
“The walls have ears my dear friend. You know Tierk has eyes & ears on the inside of Equestria. Unless you forgot what happened when I asked you to help me take down your father.”
“...Right. So what are you planning on doing with this dragon named Arison?”
“For a while she will be in Ponyville spending some time relaxing and trying to gain the trust of the citizens within the town. Knowing that place, she’ll have her hands full dealing with monsters, crazy antics, and possible something involving Twilight and her friends.”
“Not to mention Cerberus that I ordered to attack the town.”
“....Wow, didn’t think you would do that.” Celestia said as she pulled herself up from her seat and headed towards the window of her room to look at the night sky. “I’ll have to make a mental note to train him in mental magic if your father does that when he’s sent back to tartarus.”
“Had to send it someplace to get me enough time to bail him out.”
“Fair point. As I was saying, she’ll be busy with Ponyville for some time with how it is. Once the ponies see her as a trusting dragon, I’ll have Gleaming Shield drop by to see how good she is in fighting. If I like what I see, then I’ll inform her about what I’ve done.”
“You do know that she might be pissed that you’re using her as a means to save Equestria right?”
“I know...and she’ll possibly hate me and never want to speak with me ever again.” Celestia sighed as she opens the window as the cool night wind blew passed her and caused her hair to flow majestically. “If I’m being honest...I’m tired of ruling...tired of always having to listen to ponies problems, royal ponies wanting to change the rules to help benefit themselves and screw over the poor ponies. I’m just tired of it.”
“If you’re tired of this, then why don’t you retire?”
“I want to go out with a bang of sorts. I want to see if Twilight and her friends can handle protecting Equestria on their own without the need of me or Luna when a problem comes. I mean, why do you think I’ve been pretending to be weak? I never wanted to be ruler of a nation. I wanted to explore the world, see new places, learn what it means to be a normal pony. Not some old fart locked up in a castle and is only allowed to leave when diplomacy is involved.”
“Well I can’t blame you on that. You have been protecting Equestria for the past one-thousand years. And no pony besides us rejects, your sister, and few of your subjects appreciate all the stuff you’ve done...I’ll continue to do as you order. Just remember not to have any regrets when you do plan on retiring.”
“My only regret is taking the reign of ruling the Kingdom of Equestria when father died. I think i’ve talked your ear off for far too long. I’ll let you get your sleep for when you’ll be in Canterlot tomorrow for your reward.”
“It better be bits this time, and not a sack of IOU cards.”
“Hey, those IOU cards worked for me when I had to get free ice-cream.”
“You’re a bucking princess...of course they’ll give you stuff for free!? Now am I getting bits this time or not!?”
“Fine, I’ll give two-thousand-hundred bits.Is that good enough for you?”
“Good, glad to hear my skills are worth the bits.”
“Gee, I feel so honored.” Celestia said in a sarcastic tone before cutting the call off and snorted in annoyance. “That centaur really gets on my nerves sometimes...she’s almost as annoying as Discord’s daughter.” She said before looking back at the sea of stars and smiled upon seeing some stars shoot across the sky. “Fail or succeed. At least I know what I’ll leave behind once this is over.”
Arisen lets out a muffled groan as she felt the rays of the sun hit her face. The dragon slowly begins to wake from this as she rubs her eyes a bit as her vision began to come more clear and less blurry. Once her vision was clear, she looked around the room she was in before pulling herself up...
“Guess I’m not dreaming about being a dragon, nor was what happened yesterday a dream either.” She thought before noticing that she was wearing nothing but a cloth that covered her breasts and nether region of her body. “Wait, I thought I had on my armor last night?” she asked before noticing a set of clothes nicely folded with a card on top. The dragon reached over to the card as she opens and reads it.
“Dear Arisen.
Seeing how you were asleep at the time when you passed out, I took the liberty of given you a second set of clothes while I washed the ones that Princess Celestia gave you. How they fit seeing how I had to go with the armor and gear you had on. Which was surprisingly easy to take off seeing how you were fast asleep like a log. Anyway, breakfast should be ready by the time you wake up and your armor should be polished and freshly clean by this afternoon.
Sincerely, Rarity Belle”
“Well that would explain why I’m in my underwear.” She said before picking up a sweet aroma of something being cooked. She sniffed the air for a moment before licking her lips and quickly making her way downstairs while putting the clothes she was given by the seamstress on. Once she was downstairs, she saw Rarity cooking in the kitchen as she made her way over to her. Rarity’s ears twitch a bit as she turns her attention behind herself and smiled upon seeing Arisen.
“Oh, Arisen. You’re awake.” She said as she levitated a plate with pancakes covered in blueberry syrup and a glass of apple juice over to the table that Sweetie Belle was at while eating. The little filly waved a hand at Arisen as she, in turn, did the same before taking a seat.
“Yeah, couldn’t really fall back to sleep due to the smell of someone cooking.” She said while eating the food she was given. “That and I do need to find some sort of job around here.”
“Oh right...um...about the job part. You might want to wait on that darling.”
“Ponies don’t trust me yet?”
“Pretty much yes.”
“And the fight with that monster yesterday didn’t help with trying to convince you’re innocent either.” Sweetie Belle added as she pulled out a phone with a video of her fight with the monster. “But you are famous on Pony Tube. Two millions views and fifty-hundred thousands likes!”
“Not helping Sweetie Belle.” She said glaring at Sweetie Belle who shrugged and went back to eating while watching videos on her phone. “Granted Arisen may be famous on the internet, that doesn’t change the fact that everypony in town still fears her and thinks she was the cause of that monster attack.”
“So pretty much I’m gonna be jobless for a while?”
“Other than working on the farm with Applejack, that seems to be the only option. Sorry darling.”
“It’s fine. Not like it’s your fault or anything.” Arisen said as she leaned back in her seat while eating. “Might as well head over to Applejack’s home to get a job working on the farm.”
“I’m sure she wouldn’t mind the help. Especially seeing how you can use magic to make the work much easier. Speaking of, that lightning whip of yours you used on Pinkie Pie. Would you be interested in teaching me how to do that?” Rarity asked as Arisen and Sweetie Belle looked at the seamstress with raised eyebrows. “What? I’m not planning on whipping anypony...per se...I just need it so I can reach for stuff from a distance is all.”
“You saying that is not helping your case Rarity.” Sweetie Belle said which caused Rarity to glare at her. “You know it’s true.”
“It might take a while for me to teach you how to do that. Mainly because you need to be physically and mentally fit to use mid-level magic like that. I’m able to do it with ease because of certain circumstances. But with you, and no offense to you for me saying this, but you don’t look the part of being physically and mentally fit for magic like that.” The dragon said which caused Rarity to huff in disappointment. “Hey, I’m not saying it’s impossible, just going to take a while for you to do it. It’s not something that’s easy to do seeing how it’s magic from my homeland.”
“How hard can it be to learn something like that?” She asked as the arisen raised an eyebrow.
“Again, you’re not physically or mentally fit. Even though you’re a unicorn and might be able to learn it, the physical aspect of it would take a toll on your body. And not in a good way...again, no offense or anything.”
“I’m pretty sure Rarity is offended by that given how it’s true.” Sweetie Belle replied only for the seamstress to glare at her. “ Well it is. You wouldn’t even think about doing any physical labor unless it involves hunting for gems with Spike, saving Equestria, or trying to get to the mall for their bargain sales.”
“Don’t you have school this morning?”
“School’s closed on account of the monster attack yesterday.” Sweetie Belle said as she showed Rarity the school’s website with the news on it. “See. It’s gonna be close for the next three days.”
“Ah...well don’t you have homework that needs to be done?”
“Done with that as well.” The young filly answered as she finished up her meal and levitates her plate and glass over to the sink.
“...It seems like she’s one step ahead of you Rarity.” Arisen said as Rarity deadpans at the dragon. “What? It’s a joke.”
“Whatever, don’t you have someplace you need to be?” Rarity asked with a slight blush of embarrassment on her face. “Or more correctly, shouldn’t you be heading for Applejack’s place to see if you can get a job there?”
“Fine, I’ll leave you to your little embarrassing moment.” Arisen said before finishing up her meal as Rarity levitated the dragon’s plate into the sink. “I really hope the ponies here don’t try and throw stuff at me.”
“Darling, this is Ponyville. I have the utmost confidence that they wouldn’t do anything like that.”
“W...We’ll just see about that.” Arisen said before walking over to the front door and began to put on her sword, shield, and staff on her body.
“You’re bringing your weapons with you?”
“A monster attacked the town yesterday and you live next to a forest with monsters in it. This town is not at all as peaceful as most ponies or other beings would think.”
“That may be true, but you having your weapons on won’t make the ponies trust you so easily.”
“I’d be more worried about another monster coming to attack this town, then me trying to please the masses in this town. It’s up to them if they want to trust me or not.” Arisen said before heading outside.
“She’s not wrong about that.” Sweetie Belle said from around the corner. “Given how Ponyville is and how the ponies are in this town. It wouldn’t surprise me if they end up being overdramatic about Arisen being in this town.”
“And what makes you say that Sweetie Belle?”
“Remember what happened with Zecora?” The young filly asked as Rarity grimaced at the incident. “Everypony avoided her like the plague and thought she was an evil witch.”
“Don’t you have something to do with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo!?”
“All I’m saying is that this town has the tendency to be a bit...not friendly towards others that aren’t ponies.” She said before walking off upstairs. Rarity lets out a sigh of annoyance before walking over to the sink and began to clean some of the dishes.
“I’m sure she’ll be fine. What’s the worst that can happen to the girl?”
Arisen began to make her way through the town of Ponyville, mainly to see if she could find a job around town that can suit her skills. Or at least certain skills that she has learned while she wasn’t going on adventures back in her old life. So far...the job hunting wasn’t going so well on her part. Mainly due to the fact that some of the places of businesses didn’t take kindly to her carrying weapons into their stores, fear of her being a magnet for trouble to come, and because they're afraid of her being new to town and the monster attacking the same day.
“Welp looks like Sweet Apple Acres will have to do for my first job.” Arisen said as she was about to walk off towards the farm. While making her way towards the farm, she happened to notice a grey colored pegasus wearing what she could guess was a uniform of some kind, stuck in a tree while flailing about in an attempt to try and free herself.
“Oh geez, is anypony down there!? I’m stuck in this tree, and need some help!” The mare yelled while flailing about some more. As she watched this, the dragon looked around to see if anyone was willing to help the poor pegasus out. To her surprise, no one was willing to help her. They mainly avoided her, might be due to Arisen being close to her. The dragon let out a sigh before summoning an electric whip into her hand and started to lash out at the area of the branch she was stuck in. Once she was able to see the branches gone, she tied the whip around the pegasus’s hips as she gently pulled her out of the tree and caught her before she could hit the ground.
“You okay ma’am?” Arisen asked as the pegasus smiled before pulling herself up from Arisen’s clutches as she floated in the air.
“Oh geez, I thought I was gonna be stuck there for the next couple of hours. Thank you very much-” Upon getting a good look at her savior, she looked at her up and down for a moment before gasping. “Wait! You’re the dragon from the video of you saving Ponyville, aren’t you?”
“I’m going to say yes. Why?” She said before feeling the pegasus reach for her hand and began to shake it vigorously.
“My name is Derpy Hooves. I’m the mailmare of Ponyville, and I would like to say thank you for saving Ponyville from that monster! Especially my home which was right next to where you were fighting it!”
“Oh, um. You’re welcome, I guess?” Arisen said as she felt Derpy release her handshake as she reached into her mailbag for something.
“I know it’s not much. But I want you to have this as a means of a thank you!” The pegasus said before handing the dragon a muffin. “One of my homemade muffins! I was planning on eating this during my break, but I think you might need it more than I do.”
“Aw geez, you didn’t really have to do that. I’m sure anyone in town would’ve done the same as I did.”
“Well I wouldn’t say anypony, but you pretty much deserved it seeing how you saved my family’s home.” Derpy said as she placed the muffin in her hand.
“Please, I insist. I got more at home anyway.” Arisen simply shrugs as she begins to chow down on the delectable pastry. “If you don’t mind me asking, where are you going?”
“Was out and about trying to find a job here.” Arisen answered as she looked around at the bystanding ponies looking at her and Derpy, but they soon looked away or walked off due to the dragon looking at them. “But given the cold reception I’m getting from the ponies in town, I’m gonna see if Applejack is willing to offer me a job working on the farm. Can’t make a living doing nothing but wait for monsters to come and attack this town.”
“Oh, okay. Wish I could offer you a job at the post office, but seeing how you don’t have wings to do the flying route, I don’t think that they’ll give you the job. Sorry.”
“It’s fine, not like it’s your fault or anything.” Arisen said before walking by the mailmare. “Not to cut this conversation short, but I need to head over to Sweet Apple Acres for job hunting. Thanks for the muffin by the way.”
“You’re welcome! Have a nice day, and welcome to Ponyville!” Derpy said before pausing. “What’s your name?”
“Call me Arisen for the time being.”
“Odd name for a dragon, but okay Arisen! Hope to see you again!” The pegasus said before flying off into the sky.
“Nice mare. If only more of the ponies had open-minded personalities like her.” Arisen said before continuing her path towards the apple family farm. Once there, she makes her way over to the house that she noticed the first time she was there and knocked on the door. As she knocked, the door soon quickly opens as Macareina was standing in front of the door. At first, she was taken by surprise by seeing the dragon on her doorstep. But soon smirked as she folded her arms in amusement.
“Well if it isn’t the little hero of the town. Saw what y’all did in Ponyville yesterday. Mighty fine work you did there.” Before Arisen could ask, the earth pony pulled out a newspaper with Arisen on the front page of it. “That and the video on PonyTube pretty much self-explanatory.”
“....I’ll have to ask Twilight to borrow a book or something so I can understand this country’s culture.”
“I usually just learn the bare minimum of how this stuff works. But I let Apple Bloom do the work seeing how she’s an expert on it. Anyway, what are you doing here if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I’m kinda looking for a job. The ponies in town don’t seem to want to hire me due to what happened the other day, and because of my...well...dragon-like appearance.”
“It also doesn’t help that you are new around here and rumors are already spreading around town. Mainly that you were the cause of the monster attack, or you might be in league with somepony that had the monster attack the town and you’re just here to get some quick bits.” She said which caused Arisen to deadpan. “I wouldn’t worry so much about that. This wouldn’t be the first time Ponyville acted like this.”
“Let’s just hope so.” Arisen said before shuddering at her past. “Back to the topic at hand. Seeing how I can’t get a job in town...yet. I was hoping I could get a job here on the farm?”
“Normally I would hire you on the spot, but y’all have to wait until zap apple season is over with.”
“Zap apple season? What’s that if you don’t mind me asking?” Arisen asked as the older farm pony reached behind herself to pull out a rainbow-colored apple with electricity coming off it a bit. “...That’s a very odd-looking apple...is it supposed to look like that?”
“It may look weird, but this apple is how we make our famous zap apple jam. We have to make a lot of it so we can ship it out all over Equestria to make a profit.” Macareina said before tossing the apple off onto the couch off to the side. “It’ll be a month or two before the season is over. But once they’re over and done with, I’m sure Grandpa Smith will hire you on the spot.”
“Alright, thanks.” Arisen was about to head off back into Ponyville. Only for Macareina to place a hand on the dragon’s shoulder. “Something wrong?”
“Why don’t I help you find a temp job around town? It’s the least I can do seeing how you did save Ponyville from that monster. Plus having me to back you up might help.”
“That...might be a good idea. But aren’t you going to be busy with getting the zap apples?”
“The zap apples takes a while to bloom and produce the apples. The only thing I have to do is just smash them into jam. Makes me feel glad I don’t have to wear a bunny suit and hop around like a crazy pony.”
“...Do I need to know why some...pony would do that.” Arisen asked before feeling Macareina place an arm around her shoulder.
“I’ll tell you why while we make our way towards Ponyville.”
“You sure it’s okay to be around me? I think that I might be an attraction for monsters to come and attack me.”
“Oh come on. The likelihood of another monster attack happening the day after yesterday is a million to one.”
“You live next to a dangerous forest filled with monsters...this doesn’t bode well on my confidence in this town not seeing me as a threat.”
“Trust me, kid. You have nothing to worry about. I bet an entire barrel of Apple Cider I’ve been saving for special occasions, that there won’t be another monster attack.”
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.
“Wake up whore.” said a male voice as Arisen felt cold water hitting her. The dragon girl’s eyes shot open as she gasped and looked around to see where she was. To her surprise, she found herself in what appeared to be a dungeon cell. To be specific, she was in Gran Soren’s castle dungeon. She knew what was going on once she eyed the person in her cell, though instead of a man, it was a tall fat male dragon with a whip in his hand along with a few torture instruments next to him on a small table. “Good, you’re awake. Didn’t want you to miss out on the punishment you were going to get~”
“Gran Soren dungeon...this brings back some...painful memories.” Arisen thought as she knew what this dream was about. She was asked to come to the duchess’s room at night to take with her. Though things went south the moment the Duke almost killed her and she interrupted the attempt. As a means to escape the Duke’s wrath and possibly having Arisen and The duchess killed, she made up a lie to save both their asses from certain death or worse. It was understandable for her to do that...but it sucked that she had to deal with the beatings from this man...or dragon in this case.
“Must be nice having a private time with the duchess?” The dragon said as he brought his whip up into the air before bringing it down onto Arisen’s back, causing her to wince in pain from feeling it break the scales on her back in the process. “Enjoying some treats of the duchess?” He asked as he whipped her again. “Must’ve been from very good treats if you were ballsy enough to do that~”
“It wasn’t like they would believe me if I told the truth. The word of a hero against the word of the duchess who’s married to the Duke doesn’t work well in court.” Arisen thought as she winced again from the pain she felt on her back.
“I bet you had some of her tea as well, didn’t you~?” He asked while whipping her again as she let out a grunt of pain. “Wouldn’t be surprised. Given how you’re from the stinking town of fish. I bet you drink out of a fish’s mouth along with your meals.” The male dragon pulls his hand back along with the whip in his hand and begins to relentlessly barrage Arisen’s back with his whip. The dragon girl gritted her teeth from the pain she felt as more scales broke off her back, making more freshly made marks and cuts on her backside. All she could do was hang there and endure the pain she felt from the jailor to the dungeon she was in. Did it suck? Yeah, it did. But given the fact that the Duke would’ve killed the duchess, this was a better outcome than anything else.
“We have had enough of this!” said a familiar voice as Arisen felt her shackles disappear and fall onto a soft cloud. Arisen looked around to see that the dungeon she was in was replaced with the open sky and clouds. Her ears twitch upon hearing the sounds of something flapping as she looks up to see Luna looking down at her with a sad expression.
“I keep forgetting that you can do something like this,” Arisen said as she pulled herself up slightly to look at the dark blue alicorn.
“We sensed that you were having another nightmare like before...That place you were in.”
“The dungeon of Gran Soren. A place where criminals are locked up until they’re released or executed depending on their crimes.” She answered while leaning back. “I ended up there due to the Duchess lying about what I was doing there to save my butt.”
“Because she was afraid that you both might be killed when she requested you to come to see her during the night.” Luna finished as Arisen nodded. “It would make sense in a logical way given how she didn’t have magic to teleport you out. But if she did that, then the king would’ve killed her by choking her.”
“Yeah...Better that I suffer then her, no?”
“....If I’m being honest, no. The feats that you told us that you performed, the lives you tried to save, the sacrifices you made. A warrior of your caliber shouldn’t have to go through what you’ve done.”
“Perhaps. But without pain like that, how can a person learn to grow? I have a lot of regrets about the actions that I’ve taken during my travels that got me this far. I just wish things didn’t end as they were before I left.”
“We can’t change our past. No matter how much we want to change it. All we can do is learn from them and move forward with our lives. You especially, seeing how you saved Ponyville from Cerberus.” Luna said as Arisen blushed in embarrassment. “A feat like that deserves a reward.”
“Please, there is no need for a reward or anything like that.”
“We insist. Given that you’re from a distant land, it would be unbecoming of us to reward you for your bravery and valor.” Luna said as her horn glowed for the moment. The moment she did that, an image of the sword she picked from the skeleton monster appeared. With a snap of her fingers, the sword soon changed into a much slimmer and elegant greatsword as it floated over to Arisen.
“R-Really, you don’t need to do this. You have given me enough gifts as it-”
“Accept the gift, Arison. You’ll need it given how you’re in Ponyville. The place is prone to monster attacks daily.” Luna said after she appeared in front of the dragon and pressed the sword against Arisen’s chest.
“....You’re not going to let me out of this place until I accept your gift, aren’t you?”
“Indeed,” Luna answered as Arisen sighed in defeat.
“Fine, I’ll accept the gift….Feels like you and the princess are spoiling me with too much.”
“We always reward anypony doing a heroic act such as you just did,” Luna said before moving back a bit from Arisen. “But for now, it’s time for you to wake up. Because the girls are waiting for you to do so.”
“Wait what-” Before Arisen could finish asking the lunar princess, the world around her began to fade away into nothingness as Luna waved goodbye to the dragon girl with a smirk on her face.
Arisen’s eyes shot open once the dream had ended. She quickly stood up to see where she was as she found herself in what appeared to be Twilight’s home. The dragon girl soon looked over herself on Twilight’s couch. The last thing she could remember was feeling the wind knock out of her lungs due to Pinkie Pie’s hug…for a girl who she could guess never fought before, she sure can knock the wind out of a person with just that type of hug. Her ears twitched upon hearing a pair of footsteps coming out of the kitchen. She looked over at the doorway to see Twilight enter the room, but was taken by surprise upon seeing Arisen awoken.
“Oh thank Celestia you’re okay,” Twilight said as she made her way over to her. “You’re not hurt are you? I mean other than what happened with Cerberus, but more of what happened with Pinkie Pie’s hugging you too hard?”
“Other than the pain in my chest from her hugging me, I’m fine.” She said before pulling herself up a bit as she scanned the room. “How long have I been knocked out?”
“Only for an hour. During that time, Fluttershy led Cerberus back to the gates of Tartarus and the girls are checking to make sure nopony got hurt during Cerberus’s rampage…It puzzles me as to why Cerberus would do something like that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Celestia ordered Cerberus to guard the gates of Tartarus. But he disobeyed her order and started running around Ponyville.” She said before noticing Arisen’s confused expression. “Oh, right. You’re new to Equestria, so you wouldn’t know what Tartarus is.”
“I take it it’s an important place that needs to be guarded?”
“It’s a prison where the most vicious of villains are housed. Seeing how keeping them in a normal prison in the Canterlot dungeon can’t hold them, Tartarus can, given how it suppresses a pony’s or being’s magic.” She said before placing a hand on her chin.
“Shouldn’t there be like other ponies guarding the place? I mean sure having a giant hound to guard the place seems like a good idea to stare ponies off, but what about those who aren’t scared?”
“Celestia figured that Cerberus would be able to handle the responsibility, but it seems somepony must’ve placed a strong spell on him. But who would be strong enough to do that to him?” She said before pondering the thought of who it could be that caused Cerberus to rampage through Ponyville.
“Well I would love to help you out in this matter, but something like this is far beyond my skills of investigation,” Arisen said before pulling herself up from the couch she was on. “I’m gonna go head out into town, and make sure everyone is safe.” She said before heading off towards the door to Twilight’s house, only to feel herself being magically levitated back to her. “Um…is something the matter?”
“Sorry, but I can’t let you do that. Specifically, there’s a reason why you’re here and not at Rarity’s home.”
“...Am I in trouble?”
“Oh, no. You’re not in trouble. Pinkie Pie insisted on hosting a party for you in honor of saving Ponyville not once, but twice. She wanted me to make sure you wouldn’t accidentally come across her store and see her putting up the decorations.”
“Oh, um…t-there’s no need to do something like that.”
“As modest as you are. You indeed deserve a reward for what you did.” Twilight said as she placed Arisen back onto the couch. “Look, I know you’re not the kind of dragon that wants a reward for your efforts, and I can’t blame you for being a bit hesitant in accepting something like this given your…past events. But here in Equestria, things are different. I mean sure it’ll take a while for ponies to accept you, but you can bet the girls and I have your back, no matter what.”
“But-”
“No butts. Butts are for sitting.” Twilight said after pointing a finger at Arisen, who in turn flinched a bit from the sudden action. “You’re going to take the reward. Okay?” She ordered as Arisen stared at the alicorn for a good few seconds before letting out a sigh of defeat as she nodded.
“I…Suppose it wouldn’t hurt to accept Pinkie Pie’s offer.”
“Perfect,” Twilight said as she pulled out a book and a quill pen. “We have a couple of hours before Luna raises the moon and Pinkie Pie’s party starts. So during that time, I would like to write down some notes about the spells you used during your fight with Cerberus.” She said as Arisen was about to leave again, only for Twilight to lock the doors and windows to her home. “Nice try, but you’re not going anywhere until the part and until I get some information out of you.”
“Gods above, give me strength to deal with this pony.” Arisen thought before noticing Twilight opening the book she has.
“Now, question one. That healing spell you performed on yourself. How were you able to not only heal yourself, but perfectly repair the muscles, veins, and bones within your leg from when you pulled that shard of glass out of your leg? Is the spell made up of different healing spells or just one? Can every dragon from where you come from use the same spell as you can?”
There were many things that the arisen had faced before in her past life. Giant cyclops that could eat a person in two bites, one if they were small. Drakes that would control the fire, ice, and lightning. Undead skeletons knights that were surprisingly skilled in swordsmanship. A six-headed Hydra that spewed out poison and would sometimes eat her, though she was able to escape thanks to having an elemental sword on hand to cut her way out. Hell, she even fought against Daimon in the Bitterblack Isle and that proved to be a challenge within itself seeing how he was a former arisen from a long time ago. But never had she faced a lavender color alicorn with a bombardment of questions ranging from how the country was made up to their currency and culture.
Hours had passed since Arisen was forced to try and answer most of Twilight’s questions without diverging from the fact that she used to be human. It’s not like she didn’t mind answering her questions…it was the fact that she ended up wanting more than just the surface level of information. If given the option to fight against a Gore Chimera or listen to Twilight listing off similarities of how her country and Equestria…She would take the option of fighting the monster. Because at least it wouldn’t talk much other than roaring and trying to eat her.
“By the gods, that woman wouldn’t let up. I’ll have to thank Spike for informing her about Pinkie’s party.” Arisen said as she made her way down the street of Ponyville. As she was walking, she noticed that the ponies that were outside glanced at her for a moment before moving away or quickly heading inside their homes to avoid her. “Guess they think I was the cause of both the skeleton and Cerberus attack.” She said before letting out a sigh of disappointment. The moment she took another step around the corner, she was met with a familiar gray color pegasus who ended up bumping and falling on top of the dragon.
“Owie,” Derpy said as she slowly pulled herself up a bit while rubbing her head from the pain she felt. She soon looked down to see Arisen underneath her as she quickly pulled herself up. “Gah! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to fall on top of you Arisen!”
“It’s fine. Not like you hurt me or anything.” She said before pulling herself up from the ground. “I’m a bit surprised to see you out this late. What’s the occasion?”
“For your party silly Billy ~” Derpy answered. “The flier that Pinkie handed out throughout town said it was a party in honor of you saving the town from Cerberus. Isn’t that where you’re going?”
“Yeah, I would've been there sooner, but Twilight wanted to ask me a few questions about my magic,” Arisen said before shivering at the idea of being experimented on by her. “If given the choice of fighting another monster or listening to a long lecture that takes up hours of my time, I pick the monster because at least I don’t have to worry about it talking to me for that long.”
“Yeah, Twilight can be a bit much when something she can’t understand interests her. But she’s nice once you get past that problem she has.” She said before following Arisen to Sugarcube Corner.
“I’ll believe that once I see it.”
“How are you feeling by the way? You’re not hurt or anything after what happened with Cerberus, are you?”
“I’m doing fine. Wouldn’t be the first time I’d face a monster bigger than me. Though I think because of that, the ponies of this town might think of me as the reason behind the monster attacks.”
“What? Why would they think that?”
“Two monster attacks back to back like that, a mysterious dragon appearing from the Everfree Forest from another country? I can tell that I’ll be targeted when they form an angry mob.” Arisen said while placing her hands in her pocket as she looked up at the night sky. “It’s only a matter of time before they kick me out of town…maybe I should-” Before Arisen could finish, she felt Derpy grab her face as she looked at her with a frown on her face.
“Stop that.”
“...Stop what?” Arisen asked as she was taken by surprise by what Derpy was doing.
“I may not know much about what you've been through, but stop thinking that you don’t deserve anything nice. You saved Ponyville not once, but twice. And helped me out when I was stuck in a tree. So stop thinking about what ifs or thinking you don’t deserve this party. Because you do deserve to have fun.” She said before releasing her hold on the dragon’s face. “Now, we're going to this party, and if anypony has something mean to say, then they’ll have to go through me. After all, we are friends…right?” The Arisen couldn’t help but stare at Derpy for a while. As she was staring at her, a slight image of Quina appeared around the gray pegasus. The dragon blinked a couple of times before the mental image of Quina vanished as a small smile appeared on her face.
“Yeah…you’re right. We are friends.” She said before feeling Derpy release her hold on her.
“Good, now let's get going. Don’t want to keep the others waiting on you, right?” Derpy asked as Arisen nodded before taking the lead and continued to walk to Sugarcube Corner with Derpy following behind her. Within a matter of minutes, the two would be in front of the store where they noticed that there wasn’t any light on inside. Derpy was the first to walk forwards as she poked her head inside the entrance. The moment she did that, she was quickly pulled inside and let out a loud yelp. Arisen was taken by surprise by the Derpy being pulled inside of Sugarcube Corner as she quickly runs inside after her. The moment she was inside, the lights within the store lit up as Pinkie Pie and the others jumped out of seemingly nowhere and yelled surprise to the dragon girl.
“Welcome to your saving Ponyville not once, but twice, party!” Pinkie Pie yelled as the girls set off some confetti poppers into the air as they fell onto Arisen. Her attention was soon turned to the room she was in and was taken by surprise by the delicious spread on the table behind the pink pony. From what she could tell, the entire room was covered in streamers, balloons, and other party decorations. In the center of the room was a green and black colored cake covered in green and black colored gemstones with Applejack, Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Spike, Derpy, and Macareina surrounding the cake with smiles on their faces and confetti poppers in their hands.
“Wow…you went the extra mile on this one, huh?” Arisen asked as she admired the detail of the room.
“Well duh? This is your party after all. Of course, I’m going to go the extra mile for the hero that saved Ponyville, not once, but twice.” Pinkie Pie said as Applejack walked over and placed an arm on the dragon girl’s shoulder.
“Gotta say, less than a day or two and you’re already saving ponies. Guest that story about being a hero wasn’t all talk. I’ve never seen anypony or dragon in your case do what you did to Cerberus.”
“I appreciate that, thanks,” Arison said as she scanned the room for Rainbow Dash. “If you don’t mind me asking, where's Rainbow Dash?” She asked which caused everyone minus Derpy and Spike to have awkward expressions on their faces. There was a moment of silence in the atmosphere of the room as Spike spoke up.
“She still doesn’t trust you. If anything, she thinks you’re the reason why Cerberus was let loose.”
“Spike!” Twilight said as Spike deadpans at the lavender alicorn.
“What? She still doesn’t trust Arisen. Doesn’t help that ponies still think she’s dangerous and the reason behind what happened with Cerberus.”
“I mean, I shouldn’t be surprised,” Arisen said as she looked around the room to see no one else but Twilight, her friends, and Derpy. “A small party would be best seeing how it’s with ponies I’m comfortable being around at the moment. But I’m not worried so long as they don’t form an angry mob at me.” Arisen said before moving from underneath Applejack’s arm and making her way over to the giant cake. “Is there a reason why this cake is covered in…gems…rocks?”
“They're gems, I figure seeing how you’re a dragon just like Spike, it would make it even tastier ~!” Pinkie Pie answered as Arisen stared at the mare in confusion. “What? Have you ever eaten gems before?”
“Since when do dragons eat gems? As far as I know, gems were mostly used for decorations, selling, or used for alchemist reasons.” Arisen answered as the pink pony plucked a gem from off the cake and handed it to the dragon girl.
“Give it a try~,” She said as Arisen took the gem from Pinkie Pie. She examined it for a while before taking a bite out of it. There was a moment of pause as the dragon girl’s eyes widened in astonishment at the fact that she can eat gemstones in this body, and how tasty the gems taste as they gave off a blackberry flavor. “So…how does it taste~?”
“...It oddly tastes like blackberries,” Arisen answered as the pink party pony smiled in delight. “Do the color of the gems tell you what flavors they are?”
“Sometimes, though, they usually taste sweet to me. Never had a gem that gave off a particular flavor.” Spike answered as he took a slice of cake for himself. “Guess not all dragons have the same taste.”
“Seems like it,” Arisen said as she took a slice of cake as well. “Bringing a few slices with me after this…Um, you wouldn’t happen to have a small basket or something, would you?”
“I have some, but why would you need that when you can just put it in the refrigerator?” Pinkie Pie asked as the arisen tilted her head in confusion.
“Refriger…what?” She asked which took everyone by surprise.
“Y’all mean to tell me you don’t know what a refrigerator is?” Macareina asked as the arisen shook her head. “What, you live in the stone age or something?”
“Well a lot of the stuff that you guys have, we didn’t have where I come from. We mostly just walk from one place to another or use teleportation stones. But getting your hands on them is a rare thing, and buying them costs an arm and a leg given how rare they are.”
“So you don’t have TVs, internet, cars, or anything like what we have?” Macareina as the dragon girl shook her head.
“Nope, we have none of that back in my country.”
“...We have to educate you on modern pony society,” Applejack said before noticing an energetic expression on Twilight’s face. “I get the feeling that you want to be her tutor, don’t you Twilight.”
“Well of course! This would be a perfect time to teach someone like her about pony culture. Not to mention to learn more about her country’s magic and culture!” She said before summoning up a notebook into her hand. “I mean, dragons that can use magic just like a unicorn and an alicorn. How can I not want to learn more from her?”
“As much as I would love to learn more about Arisen’s country as well, I believe we might want to wait a bit before doing anything like that. I mean, Arisen just survived an attack from Cerberus after all. So maybe she wants some time to unwind and focus on herself for a bit.”
“She’s not wrong, that and I still need to find a job around town…which might be even much harder given what happened today.” She said which caused Applejack and Macareina to look at each other for a moment before Applejack spoke up.
“Tell you what. Stop by the farm in the morning, and I’ll introduce you to Grandpa Smith. If we can butter him up a bit, then we might be able to get you to work on the farm.”
“You’re serious?” Arisen asked as they both nodded.
“Can’t let a hero like you go without being rewarded. Plus with what you just pulled on the farm the first time you went there, it’ll make things less of a hassle on our hands.” Macareina said as a small smile appeared on her face.
“I do appreciate this. But are you sure you won’t get in trouble?”
“I’m sure we might get a lecture or two, but it’s no big deal,” Applejack said as looked over at the other ponies enjoying themselves. “For now, just enjoy the party. You might not get a chance to do so given how you’ll be busy on the farm for some time.”
Arisen was about to say something to Applejack's comment but thinks back at what Derpy said to her. Looking over at them enjoying the party, she couldn’t help but feel at peace from seeing this. A lot of them remind her of the friends she made and helped back in Gransys. Her only regret was not saying anything to them before she left, but what could she do at the time? She was the god of that world, a god that could only watch and barely interact with people. Just sit there, watch, and govern the world to continue the cycle of death and rebirth. That was a hell that she couldn’t do, nor could she place it on another person. Hence the reason why she broke the cycle by killing herself. The dragon girl shook her head as a means to clear her thoughts before looking over at Applejack.
“You’re not wrong about that. Especially given how this town is.” Arisen said as she felt Applejack pat her on the back.
“There you go, now you go and enjoy yourself, you deserve this,” Macareina said as the dragon girl walked over to mingle with the others. The dragon talked to Derpy Hooves as she was enjoying the cake she was eating, though handing the gemstones over to either Arisen or Spike, the country ponies would be watching and talking to each other about Arisen. “You sure Grandpa will let her work on the farm?”
“He should. Especially given how we’re a bit short-handed and need help around the farm where we can’t pick up due to other work around the farm or town.” Applejack said before walking over to a nearby table and picking up two mugs of Apple Cider for her and Macareina. “Hence why we’re going to butter him up a bit by playing to his…other side.”
“...You didn’t tell him that Arisen was a girl, didn’t you?” She asked as Applejack took a sip from her drink while handing the tall mare her drink.
“You know how he gets when it comes to asking for help from outside of the family. The moment I mention that we have a new person in town, he flat out says that he better not come here looking for a job.”
“...Fair enough. So how are we going to butter him up with the idea of letting Arisen work on the farm?”
“We’ll just introduce the two to each other after making him his favorite breakfast, then let things play out,” Applejack said, which caused Macareina to raise an eyebrow at her. “Well if you’re so smart, what ideas do you have in mind?”
“...I might have an idea, but we need Rarity’s assistance.”
