Blackened and charred remains of what used to be a peaceful village lay scattered across the torched earth, as the smoke from the once burning buildings blotted out the sun and cast the land in darkness. Hoof prints could be seen in the ashes, heading in every direction away from the remains of the village. Yet, despite the thousands of hoof prints running away from the city, three trails of freshly made prints showed that there were still ponies in this small town. But they were not just any ponies. They were the princesses. And they were too late.
"This devastation, it is...hard to look at," the dark blue Princess of the Night muttered with a hoof over her nose, trying to block out the smell and the soot while she and the others walked through the ruins. "To think that such devastation could be caused in a few hours..."
"And sadly, it is a kind of destruction that we have seen before," spoke Celestia, whose normally divine white coat was stained with the black soot that rained from the sky. She and the other two came to a stop in front of a massive footprint in the streets, confirming her suspicions while alerting the younger princess as to the force behind the destruction.
"Princess Celestia...this is a dragon's footprint," Twilight stated aloud as she lifted her fear-filled eyes up towards her former teacher, who nodded grimly to inform Twilight that she knew. "That would mean...that this is the fifth village destroyed by a dragon!"
"Indeed, Twilight. It seems that there is one or more dragons attacking pony villages across the land," Celestia clarified for Twilight while she and Luna started to scan the ashen buildings in case there were any survivors.
"But...I thought that the dragons were allies of ours! Why would they go around destroying ponies' homes!" Twilight asked both of the senior princesses, frantically searching both Luna and Celestia's faces for an answer that never came. "They have been at peace with us for over a thousand years! Why would they pick now, when Equestria is arguably at its strongest, to attack us?! It doesn't make sense!"
"Perhaps because they are not alone in this assault of our lands." Luna's words drew the attention of both Twilight and Celestia, who abandoned their searches to join the Princess of the Night next to the charred rubble that used to be the town hall. "I have found more traces of the magic, Sister, just as I have at the other five villages," Luna declared as she motioned to a small trace of a strange magic that resided on the side of the building.
"So, it seems that our thoughts about the Puppeteer being behind these attacks were not entirely abstract," Celestia pondered while biting her lower lip. Twilight looked from one princess to the other, hoping that one of them would fill her in on what they were talking about.
"Um, princesses...?"
"At each of the villages that were destroyed by dragon attacks, we have discovered three facts that remain true no matter how varied the attacks were. The first is, that we could never find the dragon that attacked the village, no matter how hard we searched for it. The second is, that each dragon was a different color and size, but each of them had crimson eyes and a dark aurora. And the third," Celestia began as she motioned to the faint traces of magic, "is that this strange magic is always there, barely noticeable but never absent."
"Does this magic belong to the Puppeteer? Wait, who is the Puppeteer?" Twilight asked.
"The Puppeteer is just a pseudonym until we learn the culprit's true name, if there is another culprit," Luna answered before turning a question of her own to Celestia. "Sister, perhaps it is possible that the dragons have lost their souls to evil and have been corrupted by the darkness. It happened once before, a long time before us in the Dark Ages. It is not out of the question-"
"But this magic is not evil in nature nor is it destructive like the evil magic described in legend," Celestia reminded her sister while turning away from her, scanning the skies with narrowed eyes. A flash of magic erupted from her horn and in the next moment the sun broke through the clouds of smoke to let light descend upon the land once again. "I have also been in contact with the ruler of the Dragon Nation, and she has said that there are no dragons showing the symptoms that afflicted the dragons that succumbed to evil. No, there is another force here, one that we have not seen before."
"So then...what do we do? Gather the others? Search all of Equestria for this...Puppeteer?" Luna questioned her sister. Celestia turned away to avoid looking into Luna's eyes, not sure herself what she should do in such a time.
"I do not know. We have searched high and low with our magic to no avail. The dragons that are either used or convinced to attack the ponies are never seen again after they attack, and none of the witnesses knew anything that would help us," Celestia mused aloud, letting the other two princesses in on her thoughts.
"Um...Celestia? I may have an...well, it's not exactly an answer, but it may prove to be a course of action we could try," Twilight piped up. Celestia nodded for Twilight to continue talking and the alicorn took in a breath before she pitched her idea. "You know that after my adventures in the land of humans, I've been studying realities a bit more and I've discovered, or at least re-discovered, that there are millions of different worlds and realities out there, each far different from our own."
"I am aware of the multiverse, Twilight, but I fail to see how this aids us in our problem."
"Think about it. We may not be able to track down this Puppeteer or the dragons, but out there in the infinite number of realities, there has to be somepony that knows more about dragons than us!" Twilight reminded the two. Luna was unconvinced.
"It sounds like this plan of yours relies far more on chance than it does on reason. Even if you are able to summon somepony who knows about dragons, what if they do not aid us? What if they see us as enemies?" Luna shot back, shooting a number of holes in Twilight's plan. "I think that you are using this as an excuse to see if you can bridge a gap through reality."
Twilight had to turn to hide her blush. "Well, I'm not denying that it would be an incredible learning experience, but we do need help and we need it now. How many villages might we be able to save if we have a dragon fighter or tracker to aid us? I'm sure that if we explained our plight to them, that they would surely help us!"
Luna remained skeptical, but Celestia had lowered her head in thought while listening to Twilight's words and had only just raised it once again. She looked around at the burnt buildings, the charred landscape and the thousands of hoof prints in the soot--hoof prints of those who had fled for their lives because she was unable to help. "Twilight is right to a degree. We have exhausted many of our options trying to locate the dragons and the Puppeteer and they had all failed us. Perhaps we do need an expert's opinion on this. And with the last of the dragon trappers having retired nearly five hundred years ago..."
"We are out of options," Luna finished for her sister with a sigh. "Very well, Twilight, while I am not a fan of this plan myself, I cannot deny that we are in need of aid. Tell my sister and me what you need to complete your...plan, and we will aid you to the best of our abilities."
"I'll get into the more technical details later, but I can tell you what kind of being we're looking for," Twilight began with such confidence that Luna was certain that she had already finished most of her plan before discussing it with them. "We need somepony who is brave--courageous! Who has spent years with dragons and knows how they work, both inside and out! Who can make dragons cower at the mere sight of them, and who can track them to the end of the world!"
"We need a dragon master!"
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The roar of hundreds of Vikings was nearly drowned out by the wind racing past Hiccup's ears as he screamed by them, but despite the incredible speeds he was reaching, he still managed to hold up a hand and waved to the spectators watching the races. The wind's icy fingers tore at him, but the leather suit that he had made, along with his life on Berk, had made him extremely resistant to the cold. Hiccup brought his hand down once he had passed the spectators and patted the black Night Fury on the top of his head, the rider and dragon both narrowing their eyes at the same time as a horn sounded off.
"Alright, Bud, looks like it's time for the black sheep," Hiccup calmly spoke to the Night Fury, whose spines shivered with anticipation. The pair then began to weave under and through the supports and bridges of the island of Berk, making their way to where the black sheep would be released. "We might be ahead right now, but if any of the other riders manage to get ahold of the sheep-"
As if on cue, a shadow passed over their heads, getting both Hiccup and Toothless to lift their eyes up towards the dragon that was casting the shadow. The blue and yellow Deadly Nadder dove down to take the lead from Hiccup and Toothless, while at the same time allowing the rider of the Nadder to turn back and smirk at Hiccup.
"Y'know, if you focused more on the race and less on pleasing your hundreds of adoring fans, then you might not have lost this time!" Astrid taunted at him as her golden braid whipped behind her in the wind. Despite now being in second place, Hiccup couldn't stop the smile from crossing his face as Toothless flapped his wings even harder, allowing the two of them to fly side-by-side with the other rider.
"And if you didn't stop to brag, then I may not have been able to take the lead again! Come on Toothless!" Hiccup yelled with a laugh. Toothless let out a roar and surged ahead in a burst of speed, leaving Astrid and Stormfly behind them. "See you at the finish line Astrid!"
"Not this time, Hiccup! Come on Stormfly!" Both dragons dove, twisted and danced along the skies as each tried to race ahead of the other, with Toothless barely holding his lead against Stormfly. Yet Hiccup was working just as hard as his dragon, constantly moving his mechanical foot to help his dragon with each of his movements, having to react at a moment's notice and change the artificial tailfin accordingly.
"Strange to see you up here by yourself!" Hiccup called over to Astrid when the two of them were nearly neck and neck. "Where are Snoutlout and the others?"
"Where they always are! Eating our dust! And in a moment, so will you! Faster Stormfly!" Both Hiccup's and Toothless' eyes went wide as Stormfly managed to take the lead from them in a burst of speed, but even as Astrid let out her laugh of victory smiles crossed Hiccup and Toothless' faces as they looked at each other.
"Alright Bud, go time," Hiccup signaled to his friend as he reached behind him and grabbed hold of a helmet, which he slid over his face while spines began to shoot up along Toothless' back. With an Alpha's roar Toothless rocketed ahead and passed by a stunned Astrid, to whom Hiccup waved before the pair took the lead from her.
The stands erupted into roars as a black object could be seen ascending into the skies ahead of the racers, both of whom knew that the black sheep had finally entered the game. Yet even with victory just outside of their grasps, Hiccup turned to Astrid with a wave.
"If you want m'lady, I could retrieve the sheep for you," Hiccup offered Astrid while smiling.
"And lose out on the chance to say I beat the mighty dragon master in a race? Not a chance, Hiccup!" Astrid roared back with a mischievous smile as she and Stormfly started to pick up speed again. The blue and yellow dragon's claws extended themselves as they rose higher and higher to where the black sheep had just begun to fall back to Earth, victory shining in both of their eyes.
But in an instant, that victory was snatched away when Toothless screamed past the two and plucked the black sheep right out of the air. Astrid let out a curse and slammed her fist into her thigh as Toothless tossed the sheep up to Hiccup, before looking down at Astrid with his signature toothless smile.
"To the finish line, Toothless!" Hiccup called out as the screams of Astrid's frustration echoed in his ears, Hiccup clutching the baying sheep tight while it struggled to escape him. With speeds that no other dragon could match, the dragon rider and his trusted friend zoomed towards where the goals were kept. The goals were simply nets that dangled from beneath a bridge with the face of the dragon to mark whose goal was whose, yet somehow there was always somebody scoring for someone else in the race.
"Keep it straight," Hiccup ordered as he cast a quick glance over his should to see Astrid and Stormfly just barely behind him, with the other dragon riders off in the distance with no chance to catch up. With his victory all but assured, the two tore through the air towards the finish line and Hiccup lifted the sheep to slam it in.
With an air ripping screech, the very fabric of reality was torn apart in front of the dragon and its rider, creating a purple maw into the unknown in front of the both of them. Hiccup let out a cry of shock as he dropped the sheep to grab hold of Toothless' saddle with both hands, pulling up hard as the dragon struggled to slow down in time. Toothless extended his wings wide to slow his forward momentum as much as he could, but the two of them were already moving too fast to stop then.
"HICCUP!" Astrid called out desperately, all of the competitiveness that had filled her voice a moment before replaced with terror. She grabbed hold of Stormfly's reigns and laid down as far as she could go to increase her dragon's speed. "Stormfly, GO!"
Yet she never caught them, as in the next moment Toothless and Hiccup flew right into the purple vortex, which closed behind them a few seconds later. The pair both roared in silent pain as the magic consumed their very bodies, making them feel as if they were being ripped apart only to be assembled atom by atom moments later. The two struggled against the magical energies as long as they could, but eventually both of them succumbed to the magic and their minds were consumed with darkness.
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The pain that slowly pounded through his head told Hiccup that he was starting to wake up again, but as the dull thudding got louder and louder the more he wished that he was still asleep. Then the memories of the vortex returned to him and in the next instant his eyes snapped open, allowing him to take in the fact that he was laying sideways in a small field. His helmet was still upon his head, yet he could see through the eye slits that a beautiful blue sky rested overhead. He sat up and removed the helmet, placing it at his feet as he felt a warm breeze caress his face. He found that strange, because warm breezes were foreign to Berk.
"Ugh...Toothless? You there, Bud?" Hiccup called out as he pushed himself to his feet, wincing as pain throbbed through his head and limbs. He groaned as he turned around to see that his dragon companion was standing behind him, looking down at Hiccup with hints of concern flashing in his green eyes. "There you are. Man, what the heck happened back there? Do you think that the gods had something to do with that strange...thing?"
"Actually, I was the one who brought you here."
Both Hiccup and Toothless spun to face the voice, Toothless snarling while Hiccup prepared for battle. Yet, both of them were certain their eyes were deceiving them when they found who had spoken. Standing at four feet tall, with wings, a horn, a mark on her flank and a multicolored mane, was the strangest horse that the two of them had seen.
"I am Princess Twilight Sparkle. And I need your help, dragon master."