Magic isn't really part of Berk. Sure, there's the dragons, but they're just animals when you get to it. They're special, but they're just part of nature. There's the gods, but you can't exactly see them directly in action. The world's pretty weird without magic. You can only imagine what magic would be like on Berk. The dragons are plenty.
"Hiccup! Stoick's boy! How about we have ourselves a deal? You and your dragon for the little old lady!" Alvin the Treacherous called out into the sky. The dragons circled high above, but he knew how fast they were. As fun as brute force was for Alvin, hostages, blackmail, and, well, treachery were his best weapon. In the back of his boat was Gothi, elder of Berk, flanked by two burly Outcasts with swords to her throat. She didn't show any emotion but annoyance during the whole nighttime raid, and the bare blades didn't incur any sound but a sigh.
"You should think about changing your nickname to 'Trustworthy', before you make any deals!" Hiccup called back. He could feel Toothless tense under him as they kept their distance and flight path.
"Easy, bud; we got to make him wait. He's not going to kill her or start shooting. We just got to mess with his mind" he assured the Night Fury. Toothless wasn't the only impatient one, however.
The Monstrous Nightmare Hookfang flew up alongside Hiccup and Toothless. "Are we going to let him keep Gothi?!" Snotlout yelled. "Maybe!" Hiccup called back very loudly while shaking his head.
Astrid, as usual, was quick on the uptake- "Yeah, you're right! I don't think injuring Stormfly's worth that old lady!", her comment was combined with a wink at Hiccup.
"If we're just going to leave her, can we at least blast the ships?" Trust the twins to ruin everything. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were bright enough to be let in on plans, but they weren't exactly reliable. Hiccup could hear Alvin laughing.
"You see, Gothi? You have so little respect from these kids that they'll just leave you out to dry!"
"Hiccup, Stoick's going to miss her!" the aged Mildew called out from another Outcast ship.
"Think Alvin would miss you if we blew up your ship?" Hiccup replied
"Would you?" Mildew turned to Alvin, who just grinned at him. "Maybe" He turned back to the sky "You've called my bluff; but this isn't a bluff! Savage, let him loose!"
Alvin's crony faithfully, albeit not confidently, pulled the level on his ship, releasing a large, green dragon with an impressive musculature, short but wide and curved horns, a wide, beaked mouth and a constantly thrashing tail.
"Whoa! A Lackwit!" Hiccup exclaimed. He had seen the picture in the book, but this was the first time he'd ever seen one in real life. "Fishlegs, do you remember anything on these?"
Fishlegs had tailed behind as usual, but he and Meatlug were always dependable in this kind of situation
"Lackwit: mystery class! Aggressive as a Strike-class but none of the smarts! Possibly a misclassified Boulder with big wings or a Stoker without the fire! No one's counted the flames as they usually attack with beak and claws!" Somehow Fishlegs sounded both enthusiastic and absolutely terrified at the same time.
"That's your cue, team Jorgensen!" Hiccup signaled to Hookfang
"Let's get him, Hookfang! SNOTLOUT!" With a war whoop the Viking and the dragon swooped down.
"Astrid, you and Stormfly spare us the pleasure!" Hiccup had come up with that phrase himself for whenever Snotlout was in mortal peril. "Ruff, Tuff, Fishlegs; attack the boats, draw their fire! I'll swoop in for Gothi!"
A lot of Hiccup's plans were on the literal fly, but they worked often enough with a bit of luck and no small bit of Viking and dragon courage.
Alvin took it in calmly. His dragon found itself spinning in circles being doused with flames and poison darts. The Lackwit he captured was pure brute force and anger-a lot of fun to watch but not the main strategy. His men fired their crossbows and catapults wildly and dove off the ships as two dragons began to set the ships aflame. Again, they were useful but not the cornerstone of the plan. Even Gothi was not essential to the plan.
No, all Alvin needed was a carved dragon bone. It was marked with the runes for "Escape". He had cut a few throats to find it, just on a hunch. He had never used it before, but there was something about it that was magic. He had a dim view of magic, even back on Berk; but there was one saga that always intrigued him. Now it was time to test it out.
Crossbow bolts bounced off Meatlug as she hovered over the Viking ships, catching shot boulders in her mouth. She approached Alvin's ship, roaring at the Outcasts aboard as they shot at her in vain.
"Easy girl….just wait for Hiccup to make the save and we'll be out of here…."
Sure enough, fast as any of the bolts, a Night Fury with a bright red tail fin zoomed in from the clouds. It wasn't quite as stealthy as Hiccup had planned, but given the chaos he could easily zoom in, blast Alvin and grab Gothi in a matter of seconds.
It was when Alvin saw Toothless that he raised the dragon tooth in the sky. "To Outcast Island!" he called out. Then everything happened very quickly. The runes on the tooth glowed bright blue. Then the entire tooth glowed. Then Alvin and every other human being in the area glowed too. Even the dragons glowed. And then everything disappeared.
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"Could you get me another quill, Spike?" Twilight Sparkle didn't turn around from her desk. When she was in the groove for copying text, she didn't stop even for a snack. She was a mare on a mission.
"Sure!" The little dragon went back to the file cabinet of the office. Said office was only a small corner of the Golden Oak library, but it was essential for Twilight. She need a little extra organization in her life, a little part for herself as she spent the rest of her life with her friends and neighbors.
"Here you go. I'm gonna read that book on the dragon alliance if you need me!" Spike walked off after placing the quill on the table.
"Thanks, Spike! I think I can finish-" And then there was a disturbance. Twilight was in tune with magic-she was teaching herself how to detect magic in object and the appearance of magical objects and spells. This time it was like if someone had cast a spell right at her. She wasn't magically affected herself, but she could feel some kind of weird spell had been cast.
Spike had noticed Twilight's reaction before he left the room. "Hey, Twi! You okay? What's going on?"
"Something…something's going on. Some kind of spell I've never felt before." She struggled to articulate the sensation
"Should you alert the Princesses?" Spike had seen enough magical menaces in town to go on the alert
"Not just yet. I want to find out what this is all about. Could you and Owluicious look around the library and see if there's anything unusual or magical going on? Let me know if you find anything-I'll join you in a few minutes"
"Right!" Both the dragon and the owl saluted.
"Spike!" Twilight giggled as the bird flew out the window and the dragon walked out the door.
