It was all dark. It was just so very dark. There was no way to explain it, other than that strange hard, blue barrier that kept me from moving much.
And then there was light.
There was also fire, screaming people, and strange 'boom' sounds. 'What are those?' I thought to myself, thinking that maybe it had something to do with the fire and screaming Vikings. Either way, the scene below me was funny.
And then I hit my rear end on the rocky, hard, gravel of this strange habitat which the people came out of. All types of creatures were running outside of these weird, wooden, artificial caves just there.
They were just... there.
No other way to explain it in my currently three minute lifetime.
Then there were two of me.
It landed there, with a yawn. Then I instinctively realized that this dragon was my sibling - and 'it' was a she.
"Hi, there," she said to me, speaking in fluent Dragonese, even though we had just been born.
"Hello... what's your name?" I asked before going on further with this... winged reptile.
"I think it's... well, it might be... honestly, I don't know," she replied with sincerity.
"Well, I don't know either. I thought you might know my name," I said with a chuckle.
Boom.
"Do you know what's making those sounds?" I asked hopefully, rubbing my ear. "They're affecting my dragon ears." I flicked my ear, tickling myself.
A tall person came walking up to us, probably a teenager as well. She was eyeing us with a stunned expression, as if she'd never seen a baby exploding out of its eggshell.
Oh.
That's what the boom sound were. Explosions. 'That explains the fires and screams,' I thought sarcastically.
"THE EGGS EXPLODE?!" the she-Viking said with a gasp.
Bang. Boom. Bump.
I was still underwater, even though I felt like I was breathing. Confused, I turned around, to see another head with a long neck connected to my own body. I was already 'breathing' via my twin, but finally I broke the surface of the water, greeted by a male Hideous Zippleback named Steal and Liberation, my - no, our - father. Our mother was behind us, a Zippleback named Lilypad and Watercress.
"Um, hi?" my twin said, stammering. Liberation leaned closer, chuckling at us.
"Hello, young ones. I'm Liberation, and this my twin, Steal. We're your father," said the left head of the dragon before us. I turned around, to see a female Zippleback staring at us cheerfully.
"Aww, you and your twin are so cute!" said the right head of the female. The left head glared at the right, and then she turned to face me. "I'm sorry for my sister's manners, I'm Watercress, and she's Lilypad," said the left head - Watercress - with a slight smile.
I smiled right back at her, taking in how big her eyes were. I turned back to our father after a few moments.
I looked at my brother, and I looked at him.
"Hey?" he said. "We're connected, right, so we should get introduced... wait, I don't know my name," my brother said with a sheepish smile. I gave him a sheepish smile too, identical to the one he just gave me.
"Hey, um, Dad? What's our names?" I said with a hint of excitement. Liberation looked at us, before speaking.
"Your names will be... Sling and Shot."
Steal turned to us, suddenly, once Liberation was done speaking.
"Oh, right, we almost forgot!" exclaimed Steal excitedly. Our father drew out his forelimbs, revealing six fish, two for us, two for him, and two for our mother.
I leaned back to my twin head, whispering to him, "Our names our Sling and Shot. I call dibs on Sling." He grinned back at me, giving me a beaming smile, unlike the shy one I had seen before.
This was perfect. And it was just my - no, our, I really have to get used to that - first day.
Zip! Zip! Bump.
I broke the surface of the water, gasping for breath. I got out of the water, shaking myself to get all the water off my body. Then I took in my surroundings.
Right next to me was a giant spike, in a ringed pattern.
Purple. Yellow. Purple.
They were the same color as my tail! I looked at it, not expecting to see my mother, a Nadder, and my father, also a Nadder.
"Hello!" said my mother, rubbing me in the head. "I'm Blossom, your Mom."
She cocked her head to her mate, whispering to him. Suddenly, he jolted up, looking at me happily. Then he spoke.
"You're our baby, right?" he said with a slight chuckle. "Oh, introductions, I forgot." I laughed at my father's humorous personality. "So, yeah. I'm Magnolia, great name, I know. They think great names will scare off Vikings. Like our spikes wouldn't do that themselves," he continued jokingly, flashing his tail spikes in and out.
"Aaaagh!"
We all looked over to the source of the sound - as did the rest of the island. It was another Nadder, who looked like my mom. He ran up to her, blubbering nonsense to her in an indistinctly annoyed tone.
Then he plopped down and spoke understandably.
"Mom! So, there I was minding my own business, trying to catch a fish, and suddenly I get shocked by this water dragon thing!"
"Seashocker."
"So what?"
"They're known to shock things when they or something of theirs are in danger. You were probably close to its eggs."
"So, what's our names?" I interrupted, causing them to stare at me.
She pondered, discussing it over to her mate, and my father, Magnolia.
Then she turned back to us.
"Your names will be... Crash," she said to me, then she turned to my 'brother'. "And Eddie."
Crash and Eddie.
Crash and Eddie.
Crash and Eddie.
That seemed like names for tiny animals in the Ice Age.
'I like it,' I thought to myself.
First, I felt like I was burning.
And then I felt a really cold liquid before swimming to the surface. My mouth broke the surface, and I drew in my first breath of air.
Then I noticed the dragon barely a foot in front of me, and then I reluctantly tilted my head up to meet the female Nightmare's head.
She gave me a beaming smile. I gave her a nervous grin before she started wrapping her tail around me. And then I gave a true smile.
And then I felt that heat again. My mom extinguished me before I could set any of the nearby jungle on fire.
That would spoil the island's beauty.
"Hey," said a voice behind me. "The young one has arrived."
I turned around to find my mother's mate standing there. "I'm Sticky."
My snout twitched so I could smile at Sticky, my father.
"And that beauty over there is my mate, and your mother," said Sticky, before turning to my mom. "Care to introduce yourself?"
"Um, sure," she said before stepping beside her mate. She was very nervous, and gulped before speaking. "So, I'm your mother. My name is Derby," said Derby with a dragon-ish smile. I beamed back at her.
A big happy Monstrous Nightmare family.