//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Of Dragons and Ponies // by Roaring Hope //------------------------------// “….Princess….Celestia….Book…Spike…Don’t….Stop….Don’t know what you’re doing… Spike… Spike!!” A crash and scrapping of wood sounded as the once peacefully sleeping Spike woke with a start. Upon getting tangled in his newly sewn royal blankie, the sound dragon was dreaming a lovely dream that involved a certain white and purple somepony and an extensive ball. He had just been getting to the good part where he was showing off his mustache-growing skills when the sudden commotion snapped him to full alertness. “What? What’s happening? Did dessert get cancelled?” The groggy voice sounded, toppling this way and that as slippery dragon legs carried him closer to his friend’s fearful cries. “….Book…. Danger…. Dragons….” The murmuring caused Spike to cock his head. He wondered what these seamlessly random words meant, figuring that whatever other world they were coming from, Twilight certainly didn’t like where they were taking her. “Twilight!” With a start, the purple mare shook into wakefulness, her long neck straining against the pillows as her wide eyes darted around her surroundings. “Woah. You look like you’ve seen Nightmare Moon!” Squeaked the dragon, standing now over the frazzled pony, his voice light, but his eyes full of growing worry. “Spike? Where are we?” Twilight was visibly unnerved as she turned in the sheets, trying to see in the dim moonlight of their castle-fied room. “Do you want specifics or general location….?” Spike’s eyebrows rose as he watched as Twilight’s face twisted somewhere between confusion and annoyance. “Spike…” “Okay, okay! Sorry. We’re in your ah-mazing new castle-tree-house. You’re in bed and it’s 3AM….” Spike scratched the back of his neck. “You were having a bad dream. You started calling out… are you alright?” Twilight let out a long breath, relief flooding her eyes as she shook her head at Spike. “No. I’m not. Or, I wasn’t. Ugh!” She raised her head, looking through the sky-light above her bed. She started quietly counting the stars; it had become a habit of hers since she was a filly, a way to calm her nerves. “Did you want to talk about it?” Spike ventured, sitting back on his haunches as he stared at his best friend. “That’s just it Spike. I want to, but it’s not something I can put into words…” Sighing, Twilight rubbed a hoof over her temple. “It was more like a feeling. A warning. Then there was this terrible wailing…” She shook her head. “I’m sorry for waking you up with this Spike.” “Hey. I’m used to it.” Spike paused, seeing that the mare didn’t react to his slight joke.. “Aw come on Twilight, it was just a bad dream. See? Everything’s fine.” Twilight let out a small sigh before looking up again at the moon. “I sure hope so Spike. I just wish my instincts told me other-wise.” “….Dragons….Burning…. Strange light… Toothless…. Toothless? Where are you? No! Toothless!!” The world seemed to tip backwards as the voice of Hiccup Haddock echoed across the expanse of darkness. He couldn’t seem to open his eyes as he fell further and further. A feeling of dread and exhilaration took him over as he plummeted. The familiarity with flying on dragon-back taking hold of him but at the same time the unknown feeling of where or how he was in this predicament causing his hairs to stand on end. “Ahhhhhh!!!” Sounds like twigs breaking and loud flapping wind and debris hitting his face ultimately caused the young frightened male to finally open his eyes. There came a sea of light and dark greens and mixtures of browns as he felt himself gravitating toward the ground below. “Ah! Ow! Gah! Ahhhh!” THUD! A few minutes passed, with nothing but the sound of a distant bird-call and a strange thrumming in his ears. As the beams of sun-light tried to pierce his non-cooperating eyes the sound of hooves (many hooves) started to stir him into wakefulness. “agh….Toothless?” Slowly the young Viking lifted his head. He felt like a ten pound oxen, that was how heavy it felt to lift his head even. “Ohh, what happened?” Hiccup blinked, confusion dripping his features as he managed to get into a sitting position. When he finally realized that he was outside and not in his accustomed room the next few realizations occurred fairly quickly. One, he wasn’t in Berk anymore. How did he know this? It was way too sun-shiny and warm. Two, he wasn’t in his own body anymore. He knew this because when he tried to stand up he promptly fell back down again. Sure, he knew he had lost a leg in an epic dragon battle three years ago but he could manage to get up on his own two feet without this much trouble! However, that was when he noticed his legs. Two skinny, fur-covered legs that happened to be light forest green and not the pale, noodle-y color he had always been accustomed to. And where there were supposed to be five toes were actually solid, lighter colored hooves. Like a horse… A long pause and then he slapped himself. “Alright Hiccup. You’re obviously dreaming…. “He began to assure himself, his eyes looking around at his presumed ‘dream world’. He was on a large hill-top, with one very large and very old tree towering over him. After a while of sitting and shaking his head at the ridiculousness of his situation the now young gentle-mare turned his focus to actually standing up. He quickly picked up on how a pony walks, standing, with fair balance, on all fours as he proceeded to walk toward the higher point of the hill. “I’m definitely not letting Ruffnut talk me into drinking before bed-time ever again… this is just…” He trailed off as the view from the hill took shape. “….completely extraordinary…” The roof-tops and trails of Ponyville were laid out before him. His mind couldn’t process what he was seeing as real, in dream world or out. Maybe he wasn’t dreaming… maybe he was going insane. Yeah, that had to be it. “Uhhh okay. We’re going to go back over to the safe tree now.” He stated quickly, eyes widening as he turned around faster than he intended. The extra weight of his new body caused him to lurch forward and fall promptly forwards. He landed face first in the soft grass, only to look up and see… Toothless? “Bud? What…?” Hiccup shook his mane and hopped up, having to steady himself on the trunk of the tree with his ‘hands’ as he looked up toward the branches. It was Toothless alright, and, and was he sleeping? “Toothless!!” The dragon gave a grunting growl before pointedly turning his body away from his master, his long tail whooshing off the leaves of a near-by branch as he got more comfortable. “Really? Useless reptiles.. ! Agh! Get down right now Toothless! “ He called up, his anger flaring as he looked around, as if wondering if there might be anyone else nearby that might hear him. He was highly self-conscious when it came to keeping Toothless inline. “Seriously! This is no time for a cat-nap!” CRUNCH. The sound of a twig breaking not too far off caused Hiccup to turn his head. He looked down toward the other side of the hill to see a darkened forest. Silence fell as he stared down, his eyes becoming more and more uncertain. “Okay. Mysterious forest noises can we PLEASE have some cooperating here Toothless!” Looking back up at his dragon, Hiccup was surprised to see that he had disappeared. Oh great now this….- A loud thump sounded from behind him, too fast for him to get ready for what happened next. “Awwwhh gross! Okay! Okay! I get it! Can ya jus-“ Hiccup flailed his hooves and feet at the playful dragon. The look on the beast’s face was a mixture of payback and amusement as he backed off of the young pony. He seemed to realize Hiccup was not exactly in his right mind (or, well, body), but given that he smelled the same as he did in Berk, there really wasn’t much the dragon could decipher other than they were in a new, interesting place together. “Okay… Now that hello’s have been established….” Hiccup slowly rubbed the dragon slobber from his neck. “…Time to figure out where the Thor we are…” He looked down at himself before looking to Toothless, who was currently licking himself. “And why I’m not me anymore…”