Hello and welcome to my fanfiction. Some notes as necessary:
The cover picture is from an instagram account named 'snexmy' and I'm really thankful for them to have given me the permission to use it. You should go and look at their art as it is great.
In this fic, the events of the three movies are canon.
The nightlights will be heavily featured in this fic, and will be fifteen years old.
This fic contains suggestive language, but it's all for good fun. In fact, fun is one of the main goals of this fic.
Now, without further ado, here's chapter one, where we meet the nightlights with all the grace of a jackhammer.
As the sun began to rise above the horizon, vast quantities of water flowed into the hidden world, eager to release all their potential energy they contained. Inside the water, vast quantities of fish were making the same journey, albeit very much less eagerly. It is disputed if the marine animals' reluctance was caused by the (very) long fall or by their problematic relation with the cavern's inhabitants.
Said inhabitants watched cheerfully as the waterfalls ended and turned into small, shallow rivers that snaked their way throughout the cave system. The easily accessible fish contained in these rivers incited even more pleasure.
One of these rivers snaked west, and, as per all mornings, served as a buffet for a pack of female light furies. These dragons considered themselves as the peak of the hidden world's population. After all, no other creatures had such flawless skin, such bright white scales, or such elegant wings.
Many outsiders had criticised them, claiming that the pack consisted of bland, boring individuals. According to them, physical appearance made up the entirety of the white dragons' personality. The light furies had responded by saying that they didn't care about the opinion of dragons less pretty than themselves. Somehow, this hadn't been seen as a strong comeback.
Regardless, the pack filled itself with cod, makrill and whatever else the stream brought. The pack's public relation was a long term, far away problem. The food was now.
As such, the light furies calmly enjoyed their meal inside the coral-lit tunnel. As they spent almost all their mornings here, they didn't pay attention to the river's many small waterfalls, or the colourful mushrooms. They didn't pay attention to the many mollusks that made their living by filtering the flow, nor to the small crevasses in the ceiling that connected this tunnel to the hidden world's many others. Their full attention was on the contents of the stream.
As such, they didn't think to check behind one of the many large mushrooms, from which two toxic green pairs of eyes watched the females. One of them was a lot less excited than the other.
"So let me get this right: you woke me up, this early, breaking all rules of basic dragon decency, to see… this?" This was the less excited pair.
"I know, they really are beautiful," answered the excited pair, not once taking his eyes from the potential mating candidates in front of him. Pouncer, the owner of the excited pair, had not heard a word of what his brother had just said, but had instead assumed it was a praise to the creatures in front of them. The nightlight was licking his lips in anticipation.
"Are you even listening?" said the other nightlight. Ruffrunner was starting to have serious concerns about his brother's mental state.
"Of course, you can have any of them you like. Isn't this awesome?" said Pouncer. Scrap the 'starting' part. The black nightlight had had such concerns for a long time.
"Pouncer." Ruffrunner put a calming paw onto his brother's shoulder, finally managing to put some of the male's attention onto himself. "I get it. You're growing, you're full of these new emotions and you don't know how to handle them. But, please. I do not want to be woken out of my oh-so-wonderful sleep just to see some of these white moving things that matter so much."
That didn't lower Pouncer's emotional state in the least. However it did get him to give an actual answer, if a sarcastic one. "Oh, no! My poor little brother was woken up from his absolutely necessary twelve hour nap! How will he ever survive this?!"
Pouncer growled silently at being called Pouncer's 'little' brother. His egg had hatched one day after Pouncer's and Dart's. And for one day of delay, he would be called the 'little' one for a lifetime, even if he was very much the bigger of the three. One of the pros of not spending all your time running around like a lunatic, you saved energy.
In fact, Ruffrunner fully considered himself as the more mature of his siblings. He was a calm, composed dragon that didn't spend his time chasing females/adventure/whatever those two would come up with. He could actually manage his emotions instead of just acting. And of course, the two had therefore called him boring. He rolled his eyes.
"Also, you're missing the point," stated Pouncer with a smile. "We can do so much more than just see them."
If it hadn't been so early, Ruffrunner would've tried to prevent his brother from yet another stupid idea. But for now, he was too tired. There was nothing he could do to change the morning dragon's mind until at least midday. Instead, he sighed, and resigned to endure his brother until it was all over. "Of course. Why wouldn't you want to do more? What do you want me to do?"
"Flame me up," the white nightlight called. Reluctantly, his brother proceeded to heat up said dragon's scales, all the while cursing himself for agreeing to come along. The eager sounds emanating from the ever less visible dragon didn't make his task any more pleasant. After twenty seconds, only a shimmer indicated the presence of the alpha's oldest son. Pouncer's grin got a little wider as he stepped out of his hiding place and set course for the closest young light fury, perfectly hidden for anyone that didn't look too carefully.
Laura wasn't sure if coming here had been such a good idea. Sure, she was pretty enough to be part of this pack, despite her apparently too big paws. However, it was so… different. Back in her home cavern, she would spend her days with nadders, grockles and whoever else came by. And even though it often got chaotic, she liked it. After all, it was where she had grown up, and all her best friends were there. She couldn't really relax in the same way here. Not when everyone was supposed to be serious and elegant.
On the other hand, the stream here was not hundreds of kilometres from its source. It contained more than what thousands of other dragons had decided wasn't worth eating. She also appreciated not having her head hurt from the noise.
Maybe worth it, maybe not. But as she filled herself up with delicious prey, she couldn't keep herself from throwing glances behind her to see what the other light furies were doing.
Or, you know, to notice any cloaked dragon walking straight towards her. She stared incredulously at the glimmering light as it reached, and promptly breached her comfort zone to later drape a wing over her back and nuzzled her neck. The scorching hidden scales were felt on her skin, but Laura was frozen. The sheer audacity of this individual had left her in shock.
"What are you doing, beautiful?" said the hidden dragon in a very husky and very masculine voice. And just like that, the shock was gone. This was nothing but a simple case of males being males. She didn't know how to fight. But young males that were mentally still in their eggs? No problem.
"Wondering if our alpha will be happy when I tell him what you're doing," said Laura. Even though she couldn't see his reaction, the immediate removal of contact and sudden yelp told her what she wanted to know.
"Please don't say anything to dad!" said the hidden dragon in a very worried and a lot less masculine voice. Laura could barely keep her laughter as the hidden figure bolted like if his life depended on it. But there was something more. "What do you mean by 'dad'?!" she shouted in the direction that the shimmer had fled. However, she didn't get any answer.
Normally, she would have been fine with that male disappearing from her life as fast as he had joined it. But that word had sparked her curiosity. If the male hadn't lied, her chances to identify him had just increased dramatically. She would find him. Satisfied, Laura brushed off the curious looks of witnessing light furies and went back to her fish, though thoughts about the competence of the alpha's family occasionally popped in her mind.
Pouncer realised his mistake a second too late. For some unknown reason, that female hadn't appreciated his advance. And now she almost knew who he was! Only almost though. For the first time in a very long time, he was happy to have a brother.
That happiness disappeared as soon as he saw said brother's expression. The nearby light furies were the only reason he wasn't laughing out loud. The dark nightlight was forced to keep his breath to keep himself quiet. "You have such a way with ladies," he said, his voice barely together.
"I'd like to see you try!" replied Pouncer bitterly. With his scales rapidly cooling, his indignant expression was well visible to his brother, who's smile just kept growing wider.
"I'm glad for what's about to happen", said Ruffrunner after finally getting his breath back. His brother looked at him suspiciously.
"What's about to happen?"
An angry tail smacked his nose, the scales cloaked and scorching. Pouncer yelped in pain. Who had done it? There were only three dragons who had ever done so. But neither of his parents were here, which left…
"What did I tell you about respecting females?!" roared Dart while giving her brother another smack, thus attracting the attention of a dozen light furies.
Well, Pouncer thought, at least she wasn't using her claws. He did not want to experience that again. "Nice to see you too sis," the white nightlight called out while pawing his nose.
"It's incredible." Dart said while glaring at her brother. "There's an entire world out there, just waiting for us to explore it, and all that you care about is what's found behind female light furies."
The female light furies that had started to gather around the trio didn't seem pleased by this statement.
"Is it my fault if the only living night fury is a male?" answered an irritated Pouncer. He wasn't the simple-minded creature that his sister claimed. It was just the circumstances that he existed in that limited his options.
Dart gave a long sigh at the grinning nightlight. Males would be males, and that wasn't something she could change. However… maybe she could use it.
"Who knows what's out there? There could be thousands of female night furies, just waiting for your favours," said Dart smugly. For a moment, Pouncer looked entranced by the possibility. However, her scales had now cooled, and her trying-to-drag-along-others-for-an-adventure face was well visible for the two males.
"Do you have a way to leave this place that will not end with you being carried by the tail for two hours, dropped in front of two very angry parents and being grounded for two months?" said Ruffrunner, who was just trying to find a way to calm down his siblings. Satisfied with the lack of comeback from Dart, he continued. "Because neither Pouncer nor I want to experience that ourselves."
"I told you to forget that!" roared an embarrassed Dart, making sure that no one in the tunnel could miss the discussion. She turned away from her brothers and tried to cut their laughter out of her head. Males would be males.
In fact, Dart fully considered himself as the more mature of her siblings. She was an adventurous, curious dragon with an insatiable hunger for knowledge. Unlike her brothers, she actually cared about things that happened in the world and fought to improve it. And of course, her two brothers had therefore made fun of her. She rolled her eyes.
"Cut out the laughter, I'm here for a reason. Some kind of viking ship has appeared, and mom and dad need our help as soon as possible. They sent me to find you."
"Alright, we better be going." said Ruffrunner, eager to get away from the light furies watching him. "Racetomomanddadandwinnergetsawish?" he asked, thinking about how they should find a better name for their game.
"Racetomomanddadandwinnergetsawish," confirmed his two siblings as they leapt into the air.
The rules of the game were simple. The first of the three that touched either of their parents could ask one thing that the others would have to do for the rest of their day. And as both Dart and Pouncer had ideas that required assistance from others (a distraction to cover her escape and a wingman to impress females, respectively), the two had every interest in winning. Without a thought given to the spectating light furies, they pumped their wings to their limits.
As they got up to speed in the long and narrow tunnel¸ Dart thought about the fastest possible route. They were on one of the hidden world's upper levels, close to the surface, and at the west of the waterfalls. Their home cavern, where they lived along with their parents, was in the middle of the underground network, just south of the entrance. The central position made it a bit frenetic, but it also meant it was easier for other dragons to reach the alpha. Now, how to get there as fast as possible?
She was swept out of her thoughts by Pouncer passing above her, the high pressure under his wings making her drop. Frustrated, Dart gave stronger beats, making sure to properly stretch her wingtips. A regular rookie mistake that she couldn't afford if she was to beat Pouncer. Ruffrunner was… nowhere in sight.
As racing was one of the few things the three siblings could do that didn't involve constantly criticising each other, it had become common practice. During their youth, the winner of such races had changed again and again, even though Dart's sheer determination (or stubborn head, as her brothers called it) meant that she won just a little more often than the other two. However, in the last year, things had stabilised. Pouncer had gained over a hundred kilos of predominantly muscle, and despite her best efforts, Dart could no longer match him in straight line speed. Ruffrunner had gained over two hundred kilos, but because of his daily "life-giving twelve-hour naps", that mass didn't do much but weigh him down. And so, Dart consistently found herself second in any contest of straight line speed. This race wasn't a straight line.
She slowed down her wing beats just a little to focus on the obstacle in front of her. She could see the end of the tunnel in front of her, and the waterfall that started the river made a thin wall of water between her and the cavern's entrance. Mushrooms taller than she was long dotted the tunnel's floor, making almost a forest. Alright, simple. The logical path, that any sane dragon would do, was to fly out of the tunnel and then dive. Dart was still fifty metres inside the tunnel when she latched her wings to her body and started to fall.
And somehow managed to not crash into the rock floor or mushrooms but passed neatly in between the two, finding herself in the open air of the entrance with already substantial downwards velocity. Pouncer, who had chosen the safe course, was now behind her.
Diving was a simple matter of minimising drag and letting gravity do its thing. Once again, Pouncer was slightly faster than her thanks to his higher weight, but there was nothing she could do about that. Instead, she just pressed her wings harder against her body. Dives were relaxing, thought Dart. The myriad of dragons that she nearly collided with didn't share her opinion. But she was way too fast for them to bother her.
Twenty seconds later and a thousand metres lower, Dart could see the entrance to her family's cave. This would be the hardest part of the race.
Dart had the frustrated thought that the race had gotten this competitive. Because you couldn't just stop diving and start flying level, right? Noo, it was absolutely mandatory to keep as much of the speed from the dive as possible, and barely extend your wings enough so as to enter the cave at near-terminal velocity. But still, she needed to win. With her brothers distracting, she would finally get a chance to explore the great outdoors. She could see Pouncer slightly in front of her, so she needed to make this a good one.
And with a new burst of determination, she deployed her wings just a little bit, which thanks to her high speed gave considerable lift. She slowly pulled up from the dive, making sure to maintain as much speed as possible. As the cave's entrance got closer and closer, she could see Pouncer in front of her. And, she noted with satisfaction, lower. Her brother had extended his wings a little too late and was now hurdling straight towards the rock wall.
The profanity roared by Pouncer as he was forced to flare made Dart smile as she swept through her home cave. All those hundreds of attempts on the difficult manoeuvre had paid off, and there was nothing Pouncer could do to stop her. She kept her high speed in the five seconds it took to reach the end of the tunnel, before flaring and preparing to touch either parent, finishing the race.
Too bad the cavern was empty.
"Where are they?!" roared Dart after landing, her smile immediately gone. Her chances of leaving the cavern could be ruined.
The white nightlight arrived at the scene, panting and frustrated. But his sister's despair immediately brightened him up. "Look who hasn't won yet." he said with a grin.
"I don't get it. This is the last place where I have seen them," said Dart, too stuck in her own thoughts to hear Pouncer's comment.
Her brother thought about the situation. His sister was the last person to have seen them, so she was his best bet to find them. "Dart, think carefully. What is the last thing that happened before you went to find us?"
Dart went through the morning's events. "Stormfly came. She said that a viking ship had been dragged by the currents and was next to the edge. And then they sent me to find you."
Finally, all the pieces clicked in Pouncer's mind. "Does 'a viking ship arriving' sound like something you'll just stay in your home cavern for?!" he roared out. He had jumped after his sister as soon as the race started, and trusted she knew where to go. He blamed himself for not giving the situation more thought.
Dart realised what had happened. Humans weren't supposed to get here. This was a big deal. And being the alpha, her father would be at the king's crystal to decide the best course of action. She had to beat Pouncer to the crystal, which was…
"In a straight line race from here." said Pouncer as he met her gaze. For a moment, the two just stared at each other, Dart's face filling with fear while Pouncer's grin got wider. Dart leapt into the air. A second later, he followed.
His initial many, rapid wingbeats turned into large, powerful strokes as he screamed out of the tunnel. Dart was losing her initial lead by the second. He breathed hard, his wings fully deployed and slashing through the air. As he passed over her sister, the high pressure air under him frustrated Dart even more. She could have headed straight for the king's crystal after the dive, but the impulsive dragon hadn't thought far enough. A mistake that Pouncer was sure he wouldn't have made in her place.
In fact, Pouncer fully considered himself as the more mature of his siblings. He was a strong, well developed dragon who knew what really mattered. Unlike the other two, he actually cared about finding a mate. And of course, his two siblings had therefore laughed at his courting attempts, too scared to try for themselves. He rolled his eyes.
After crossing the cavern's entrance and continuing north for three minutes, Pouncer caught sight of the enormous crystal, and noted the large crowd of dragons there. Scanning the place, he caught the indistinguishable sight of a black and a white body, always pressing against each other. Twenty years after their first encounter, Toothless and his mate were closer than ever.
Thinking of mates, Pouncer thought about how to use his wish. A look back showed Dart almost a hundred metres behind her, so there was no more question about it. He would win, and his two siblings would have to do something he told them for the rest of the day. His mind immediately went back to that light fury. Her back had been so smooth under his wing. But how could he impress her?
Got it, thought Pouncer satisfied. Ruffrunner would fake attacking her and he, a strong, benevolent male, would swoop in and save her. He would say 'Be careful darling. What's your name?' and she would magically fall into his paws. He was by now less than five seconds away from reaching his parents, after which he would be able to put his flawless plan into action.
"Leave me alone for the rest of the day!" roared Ruffrunner in front of him, his paw firmly pushing against his mother's side. The black nightlight had managed to figure out that their parents would be at the King's Crystal before any of his siblings, and had won the race. In an instant, his brother's hopes and dreams were shattered.
The nightlights' mother turned away from Toothless' side and faced her children, her usual warm smile partially covered by worry. "Good, all of you are here. Please stick close, we'll need all the help we can get. This is important. Got it?" Ruffrunner groaned in despair, reluctantly giving up his thoughts of a calm day. But when his mother used the word 'important', it was important. He nodded along with his siblings.
"But what is going on exactly?" asked a panting but focused Dart, who had lost the race but was ready to face this new challenge the world had brought.
"Have a look."
The crowd of dragons was standing in a circle, and the trio pushed its way to the middle. What the dragons were looking at was a small group of half a dozen frightened humans huddled together in a desperate need for safety. Their horrified faces were staring at the surrounding dragons who didn't seem to show any sympathy for them.
At the front of the circle stood the furious alpha, gritting his teeth at anyone who stepped too close to the vikings. After hearing the same, outrageous proposal for the thousandth time, he roared so as to make everyone fall quiet. "We will not murder humans just because they happened to sail a bit too close! And I will not listen to anyone else who suggests it!"
This fic is updated on Sundays. However, I am incapable of writing a chapter every week, so there will be many Sundays without an update, depending on how fast I write.
Now, of course, reviews will be greatly appreciated. Constructive criticism is even better, as it also gives me ways to improve.
Now, you have read the first chapter, and you have formed your opinion. Do what you feel is the best for you, and goodbye.