Rarity's shriek nearly shattered the glass in her shop, but fortunately due to previous incidents she had magically and structurally strengthened both the panes and the glass. The windows were the last thing on her mind, however, as she levitated her stool menacingly at the Vikings in front of her. For a moment they weren't even paying attention to her
"Great, even with a magic thing taking us from Barf and Belch, I'm still stuck with you" Tuffnut muttered.
"Am I still glowing? That was cool"
"Vandals! Hooligans! What are you doing in my shop?!" Rarity yelled.
"There's no Vandals in our family! At least, I think so" Tuffnut scratched his head
"What about Uncle Hairy?" Ruffnut asked
"Nah, he was a Goth" "You'd think that if she knew our family she'd know we're Vikings" "Whoa, what if there's talking horses with horns that were Hooligans?"
Rarity started to calm down. There were strange-looking creatures in her shop that knocked over one of her prized Nappanese vases that Mr. Misaki gave her. So far, however, they didn't try to kidnap her or steal her valuables. They just looked lost and, as Applejack would say, a few apples short of a bushel.
"Hey, talking horse with a horn, are there any Hooligans you know?"
"First of all" Rarity cleared her throat, reforming her composure, "I am not 'a talking horse with a horn'. I am a unicorn, citizen of Equestria, of several generations of notable unicorns. My name is Rarity, and I am an artist, designer, and model. Is there anything I can do for you….?" She trailed off, unable to identify their species.
"Well, I just asked if there are any other Hooligans around here" Ruffnut continued
"And have you seen any other Vikings or dragons today? I mean, Vikings or dragons that aren't trying to eat people" Tuffnut added
"Are you Vikings or Hooligans? Is either the proper name for your species?"
"We're Vikings AND Hooligans!" They said in unison.
Rarity sighed. It would be a long day.
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Hiccup woke up on a cold, hard floor. He squinted as he sat up, suddenly in very bright light.
"Toothless? Astrid? Can anyone hear me?" He called out, blinking. No response.
At least it was comfortable. Looked like a kitchen-there were pots and pans and spoons and knives all over the place, but in strange colors and shapes, some were tools he couldn't recognize at all and some looked like they weren't wood or iron at all As he stood up, he noticed how brightly colored it all was. This wasn't wattle and daub or even timber. The walls were painted over in grey with red designs, the closets pink and green, and the floor itself may have been wood but it was painted green.
He pulled himself on his feet, still groggy. Well, that was definitely magic that hit him. First time it happened, but the one thing he was sure about now was that something supernatural had happened. Was Alvin nearby? Alone, armed with only his knife, he didn't have much hope. Should've brought his shield, but that wouldn't let him know what was going on, he thought.
"Hi! Are you new here?" The door opened and a small pink horse spoke to him. Hiccup had never seen a horse live before, only in tapestries and pictures from far-off places. He was pretty sure they weren't pink and didn't talk, however.
"Uh, yes., My name's Hiccup and I'm-" Before he could finish she slammed the door close.
"Hello?"
The horse popped back in, with a huge cart that suddenly sprang flags and horns, automatically playing a musical tune
"Welcome, welcome welcome, a fine welcome to you!" She sang, dancing around the kitchen. "Welcome, welcome, welcome I say how do you do?" at this part she yanked a tall conical hat with a tassel onto his head.
"Welcome welcome welcome, I say hip hip hooray!" Somehow she had procured a huge drum and pounded on it during her dance
"Welcome welcome welcome to ponyville todaaaaay!" The song was punctuated by a huge blast of streamers and colorful shredded paper from the wagon.
For a moment there was an awkward pause. Hiccup was speechless and the horse had jumped on the counter and spread out her forelimbs.
Then he started to laugh. On Berk, most of the laughs came from sheep and other Vikings. Hiccup and Toothless found new ways to make each other laugh. In this case, it was the sheer absurdity, the total surprise, and the utter surreality of the scene that just got to him.
"Yaaay! I got a giggle!" the horse cheered.
"Do you do this with everyone?" Hiccup said with a chuckle.
"Yup! If someone's new in Ponyville, I roll out the welcome wagon. Neat, huh?"
"That's…friendly of you. Are there any, um, humans around here? "
"Nope. Just ponies. And Gummy. And the mules and donkeys. And all the critters at Fluttershy's. And there's sheep and cows and pigs and chickens. And sometimes griffins and zebras come around. But mostly ponies. Oh, and Spike"
"I don't suppose you've seen a dragon around here. Do you know what dragons are?" Hiccup talked to her as patiently as possible, the same way he talked to the more unruly dragons, or Snotlout and the Twins.
"Yeah! My friend Twilight lives with a baby dragon, my friend Spike! Are you looking for him, Mr. Human?"
No humans but a baby dragon. A town run by intelligent talking horses. This couldn't be a dream-most of his dreams involved either dragons, his dad, running from pointy objects, and occasionally a wet Astrid.
"Does he talk, too?"
"Of course!"
A talking baby dragon. He had to see this.
"I'd like to meet him, miss, uh-"
"Pinkie! Pinkie Pie!" She grinned.
"I'm Hiccup Haddock, I'm from Berk" What else could he say, really?
"Sure! Follow me! Hiccup, huh? If I startled you or if you drank a lot of water, would you disappear? Or do you just hiccup a lot? I just like saying the word hiccup. It's a funny sound, so it gets a funny name. Like pop! Or whizz! Oh, and Twilight and Fluttershy say that when I bounce up and down like I always do, it's called pronking! I love that word, pronking! It's almost as fun as doing it! Pronk! Pronk! Pronk!"
"Oh Toothless, where are you?" Hiccup muttered to himself.
Astrid woke up outside, in contrast. First thing she saw was the trunk of a huge tree looming over her. She sat up with a start
"Stormfly? Stormfly, where are you?"
As she looked around, she realized that she was in a town square, but one unlike Berk's. Instead of carved wood, the houses were painted all sorts of bright colors. Even more colorful were the horses walking around. They didn't seem to notice her at first-good thing in case they were hostile.
With a hand on the hilt of her sword, she stood up as quietly as she could and started walking around the tree. It was absolutely huge, not as tall as some of the redwoods of Berk, but much wider, wider than some of the houses. Were those windows in the tree? Was the tree a building, too?
As she look up to try to peer inside the window, something bumped into her.
"Whoa!" both the Viking and the stranger yelped. Sword came out. She knew Hiccup didn't like it when she carried a weapon when Stormfly could fight for her, but she felt safer with it, it was her grandfather's sword, and, as she had pointed out many times, they could get caught away from their dragons.
Right now, her sword was pointed right at a dragon. A small, purple dragon who stuck up his arms in surrender.
"Don't hurt me, whatever you are! I'm with Twilight Sparkle!" it protested
"Are…are you a dragon?"
"If I said yes, will you impale me?"
"No, that might just make you pretty interesting" said Astrid as she sheathed the blade.
"Well, yeah. I'm Spike the dragon. Basically the only dragon in Ponyville. And I like to think that I'm interesting"
"I'm Astrid, the human" it was awkward, but maybe the dragon would know where other humans were. She was still trying to wrap her head around the idea of a talking dragon.
"Uh, nice to meet you?" he offered a claw. She shook it. Well, that was one point in common.
"I hate to sound stupid, but I've never heard of a human before. I mean, I live in a library for crying out loud, but I've never heard of that. Do you always walk on two legs?"
"Do you?" She smirked.
"Most of the time. Believe me, the ponies really appreciate it since, well, you know, hooves and all"
"The ponies? Do they live here? Do they talk, too?"
"Sure. That's how I learned how. Let me take you to my best friend, Twilight Sparkle. She raised me since I hatched and I bet if there's anything about humans, she'd know"
"Um, okay" A talking dragon was taking her to meet a talking horse. She once dreamed about a talking horse one time when she accidentally drank a whole horn of mead, but then the horse caught fire and turned into a fireworm and Hiccup somehow froze it and smiled at her in just the most irresistible way….. Yeah, not happening here, so not a dream.
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Next to wake up was Fishlegs, also next to a tree. The familiar smells of sea salt and Meatlug were gone-he was definitely not at sea anymore.
"Girl? Hiccup? Anybody?" Then an object fell on his head and fell in his hand.
Blinking awake, Fishlegs took a look at the object. It was an apple. Huh. So he was next to an apple tree. That narrowed things down…somewhat. Sitting up, he casually munched on the apple that fell. It was ripe and delicious, and much juicier than those on Berk. It calmed him down-apples mean civilization (well, at least Berk level civilization), and people, and probably help. Hopefully help, anyway. Outcast Island didn't have any apples, so this was still a good sign.
"I hope you plan on paying for it, unless you don't have any money. Do you, now?" A strangely accented voice interrupted his thoughts.
Fishlegs turned to see an orange horse with a bright yellow mane wearing a wide-brimmed hat. And it was talking to him.
"What kinda critter are you supposed to be anyway?"
Fishlegs froze and stood up straight as a board. Hiccup taught him about this, right?
"My name is Fishlegs. I live on the island of Berk". Perfect. He remembered the drill. Took him a few times, but it was surprisingly easy when it was a talking horse and not any monster or Viking warrior that his active imagination usually came up with.
"Never heard of Berk, but it's been a while since I took geography" the horse replied, "Got anything like foreign money? If ya don't, it's okay. I'll think of somethin' you could do around the farm"
"Farm?" Ah, of course. That would explain the orchard. It just was hard thinking about horses who do their own farming.
Applejack sighed. She had to admit it took her a while to think about what to say to the strange critter that suddenly was lying in the orchard. Still, it looked friendly, and might just be a potential customer.
"Yessiree! This here's Sweet Apple Acres, the best apple orchard in Equestria if I do say so myself. We've got apples of all varieties, and you're in luck since it's the bucking season! We're affordable, got a full menu of apple recipes, and we even cater!" Big Pony welcome, always calms 'em down, she thought.
It was Fishleg's turn to sigh. "Well, I don't have anything to trade, although that was delicious." Then business came back in his mind.
"Uh, ma'am? Are there any dragons around here? I mean, have you see any dragons, specifically a short one, kinda wide, small wings, tail like a mace, big mouth, adorable smile?"
"There's only one dragon in Ponyville, sugarcube, and that's Spike. He might be able to help you out, Mr. Uh?"
"Fishlegs. Fishlegs Ingerman"
"Applejack, at yer service!" She tipped her hat with her tail, "Let's see if Twilight and Spike can find these dragons for you. Could you help me with the wagon? Hitch's a little fussy."
As Fishlegs hitched a large pink cart full of red apples to the horse, he had to ask her one more question.
"How big is this Spike, anyway?"
"Aw, he's just a little guy. Nothin' be scared of, and he's pretty nice, too. Mind you, sometimes he tells these terrible jokes"
"Yeah, I know these two-wait, tells jokes? He talks?!"
"'Course he does, as good as anypony"
Fishlegs couldn't wait to tell Hiccup about this.