Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, and knowing my luck, I probably never will. All rights go to the author of the books, Cressida Cowell and the company that made the much-loved films and series, Dreamworks. This fanfiction is set in the Dragons: Riders of Berk series.

"Toothless is too dangerous to go without it," Spitelout said monotonously. "Hiccup, I know you don't see it as much because you live with him, but Toothless is actually seen as rather intimidating to some of the villagers. They think he'll kill them some day."

"You can't do this!" Hiccup protested. "Toothless is trained and won't hurt you unless you hurt him!"

"He still needs the muzzle, boyo," he explained, as if Hiccup was a small child. "He's a dragon; he's unpredictable!"

"He's tamed!" Hiccup argued. "Let me see him!" He tried to rush over to Toothless, who was being held by ten strong Vikings on the other side of the room, but Spitelout effortlessly held him back and away from his best friend.

"Sven, get the muzzle and put it on him as soon as you can," Spitelout ordered. A Viking with a hook arm took a muzzle out of a sack and tried to put the muzzle on Toothless, but the scared dragon screeched and tried to get away from the metal contraption. "Hold him still!" Spitelout roared, and four men held his head still so Sven could properly attach the gods-damned muzzle to his face. Once it was done, the Vikings stepped away from him, leaving Toothless to panic and roar as he tried to shake the muzzle off him. Eventually he stopped, sitting still.

"Take it off him!" Hiccup shouted. "Can't you see he's scared?"

"Oh, it'll teach him obedience, boyo, don't be so soft on him," Spitelout dismissed. "Besides, he's stopped roaring, so it must be working. He's accepted the muzzle now."

Spitelout was wrong. Toothless hadn't accepted the muzzle in any way, and he was only sitting still so he could find a way out of it. The little hole that Viking had put the odd-shaped piece of metal inside kept the device together. Slowly, curiously, he inserted one of his sharp claws inside the hole and started wiggling it around. Nobody noticed a thing, as they were riveted on the argument Hiccup and Spitelout were having.

"You can't just put a muzzle on him just because you think it will teach him obedience!" Hiccup protested. "There's a reason why I never did it myself!"

"That's because you dote on the dragon," Spitelout replied, murmurs of agreement backing him. Meanwhile, going unnoticed by the crowd, Toothless starts picking the lock.

Click.

"What was that?" Hiccup asked.

"Your ears are playing tricks on you, lad," Spitelout told him. Then he heard it too.

Click.

Hiccup and Spitelout turned to where the noise was coming from, only to find Toothless picking the lock like it was nobody's business. Spitelout's jaw dropped. The people that were watching Hiccup and Spitelout argue were now focused on Toothless.

Click.

There was a pause.

Click, click, click.

And then one final click.

Finally satisfied, Toothless slid the horrible muzzle off his face, letting it drop to the floor with a thud.

The crowd of Vikings that had previously been holding Toothless still yelled with terror and took off.

Several stood in awe of Toothless. They'd never seen a lock-picking dragon before, and they didn't know how he learned how to do it, but they definitely didn't want to find out any time soon. "That's why I never used a muzzle on Toothless," Hiccup explained. "He's picked his way out of stronger locks than that. Don't ask me where he learned it from; I honestly don't know."

And with that, Spitelout Jorgenson of the great Jorgensons, a man who bludgeoned his own head in for sport, let out a terrified whimper and fainted.