"Whoa there, slow down Astrid. I'm fairly certain that too many of those things would be bad for your health!" a concerned Hiccup said to Astrid, who had wolfed down her third brownie with awe-filled eyes. "Just one of those things was enough to send Toothless into a frenzy, so who knows what three of them would do."
"I can't help it! I've never tasted anything so...like this!" Astrid exclaimed while seeking a word to describe the incredible taste that invigorated her taste buds. Astrid's eyes glanced around the room when she bit into a fourth sweet, taking in some of the strange items that lay around Sugarcube Corners. "Y'know, for talking horses they sure seem to be able to do and make some pretty amazing things. Back in the town I ended up in I saw the strangest...inventions that blew my mind."
"You think that's weird? I found out that some of the ponies here can do magic," Hiccup said, giving her a serious nod when Astrid skeptically looked at him.
"What strange place have we ended up in this time?" Astrid asked as she rubbed her fingers against her temples. "I mean, we've dealt with some strange dragons and beasts from time to time, but those were all...believable. But not only do the ponies talk, but they can also use MAGIC? That might be a bit too much for me to handle." Hiccup reached across the table and placed a hand upon her shoulder, gaining him a grateful look from the Viking. "How do you handle this?"
"I'm still struggling with it myself, but right now my explanation is that we're in a part of the nine realms that we never heard of," Hiccup said. "It's the only thing I can think of that makes some sense."
"Yeah...yeah, I think I can accept that," Astrid replied, before she looked up as the ponies walked in through the front door of the Corner. "You feeling better, Applejack? Sorry if the ride was too much."
"Ah'll live," AJ responded weakly as the group pulled up a number of chairs and sat with the humans. "Are ya sure, though, that ya can leave yer dragons out there unattended? The two of them were playing tug a war with a large branch. They might destroy something."
"Are you kidding? Who doesn't love a game of tug and war?" Pinkie asked as she grabbed hold of a towel and began to play tug of war with herself. Her friends smiled at the pink pony while Astrid just gave her a look.
"So...Hiccup, you didn't completely tell us who your friend...Astrid, was it, is?" Rarity asked with small laugh. Hiccup opened his mouth to answer, yet was cut off when Astrid reached over and pulled him into a half hug, half headlock.
"Friend, Girlfriend, second in command, the only reason he's survived as long as he has; any of those would be accurate," she bragged, Hiccup smirked at her display as he gently pushed her off.
"Hey, I've saved you just as many times as you have saved me."
"Eh, details."
"Um, Hiccup?" Twilight began weakly, snapping the two humans out of their little debate and turning their attention to the princess. "I was told to give you this." She slid the gold and green gem across the table to Hiccup before looking down at the floor, an action lost on the humans as Hiccup picked up the gem with a frown.
"So, what have you gotten yourself into this time?" Astrid asked, the look she gave Hiccup telling him that she knew something was up. Hiccup explained quickly and Astrid's face fell further and further as he relayed what had happened. "A future seer. Okay, that's bad, that's really, really bad. Ugh, and I thought giant dragons were bad enough."
"It could be worse. According to Wijida, she can't see into the future where Hiccup's involved, so maybe she can't see the future with you either," Rarity spoke up while elbowing Twilight under the table, but her action barely got a reaction out of her.
"That might be true. She never did mention Astrid once during the entire time we were talking to her," Hiccup added. "So she can see the ponies' futures, but she can't see human's futures?"
"Perhaps that's because the both of ya aren't from Equestria?" Applejack suggested.
"We'll take that as our working theory for now," Hiccup said as he picked up the gem and held it up to the light, Astrid moving her head in close so the both of them could examine it. Hiccup cast a quick glance at Astrid before standing up, Astrid following suit without a moment's hesitation. "Excuse the both of us for a moment," he said as they left the room and headed outside, where they were immediately tackled by the pair of dragons who had a Fluttershy sitting on one of their backs.
"Here are your tickets back, Rarity," Twilight said softly as she placed the tickets on the table in front of Rarity. Rarity let out a small gasp as she looked from the tickets to the sad Twilight, her brows furrowing with rage before she grabbed the tickets and placed them back into Twilight's hooves.
"I am sorry darling, but I cannot allow my friend to lose what might be the perfect stallion...person...gah, for her without any attempt to aid her!" Rarity roared in a whisper as fire blazed in her eyes, not noticing the look that Twilight was giving her.
"Rarity, it's fine. Hiccup already has a girlfriend and it's not that-"
"Not that important! Darling, this is love, true love that we are talking about! The chance to be with your soul mate!" Rarity interrupted with passion in her voice. "You and Hiccup are so alike that it must be destiny! Twilight, as your friend I will do everything in my power to make sure that this destiny comes true! You focus on showing Hiccup the best side of yourself, I will deal with the rest!"
With speeds that made Rainbow's jaw drop, Rarity burst forth from the Corner and sprinted off into the distance, leaving AJ, Rainbow and Pinkie to share a quick glance while wondering what that was about. They turned to Twilight and were about to ask what had happened, when Hiccup and Astrid walked back in.
"Well, that was a long talk," Rainbow muttered.
"Sorry, just needed to talk to Astrid about something...important about the dragons," Hiccup responded before his eyes went wide and a smile crossed his face, a smile that made Astrid slightly back up when he faced her. "Dragons! That's right, you and Stormfly haven't met Spike yet! Oh you're going to love this!" Hiccup said with excitement as he grabbed her arm and took off outside again with the confused Astrid in tow.
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"Look at the little guy," Astrid said with a smirk as she bent over slightly to look at Spike, whose face turned red at being referred to as a little guy. Hiccup had asked Spike to come outside so he could meet someone, but the little dragon had been shocked to see another human. Astrid was just intrigued. "But aside from the color, what's so special about this dragon?" she asked Hiccup, who stood behind her with a knowing smile.
"Hey, I'll have you know that I'm the right size for a baby dragon around my age!" Spike said with some heat as he crossed his arms and glared up at the stunned human. "And what's special about me is that I, unlike other dragons, can use my magic to send letters from Celestia to Twilight, so there!" Hiccup had to bite down hard to avoid laughing, as Astrid looked from the talking dragon to him with a gobsmacked look on her face.
"He can talk. T-the dragons here can talk?" she stammered out. Hiccup nodded while a small laugh slipped out, snapping Astrid back to her usual self. She gave him a quick look before kneeling down in front of Spike and looking at him with the same wonder that Hiccup had in his eyes. "Okay, so dragons can talk here. So, what's your name then, little guy?"
"It's Spike, not little guy. Stop calling me that," Spike grunted. All of Spike's chaff vanished when the blue and yellow Stormfly walked up beside Astrid, his eyes shrinking slightly as the dragon moved her nose close to his face and sniffed a couple of times. Stormfly almost seemed to smile before she began to nuzzle the little dragon, who was completely caught off guard by the sudden display of affection.
"Don't worry, that's just how she shows she likes you!" Astrid laughed as Stormfly began to bathe Spike with her tongue, getting cries of disgust out of the baby dragon. He ran for his life with his hands over his head, but instead of leaving well enough alone, Stormfly let out a cry of delight and began to case after him. Astrid then cast a quick glance at Hiccup, who waved her over.
"You still have your axe, right?" Hiccup asked when she joined his side.
"You expecting a fight?" she asked in reply.
"Wijida's going to try something soon. I just know it," he said with certainty in his voice while he crossed his arms. "This is all just one big game to her and the dragons and ponies are just pieces of that game...she doesn't care at all about the citizens or the dragons!"
"Hey, we'll beat her," Astrid said as she wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him closer. "We'll stop her just like we've done all the other crazies that tried to use dragons as weapons. And don't worry, Berk will be fine without you there for a while. Your mom and Gobber can cover for you."
"What? But...how?" Hiccup began before Astrid gave him another look that shut him up.
"Because I know you. And I know that you're just as worried about Berk as you are about the ponies here. You like to worry about others. One of the many things I like about you." Hiccup turned to hide his smile as he wrapped his arm around Astrid, the two of them watching Spike try to hide from Stormfly and Toothless, who seemed to think chasing the running dragon was fun.
"We should probably go break that up," Hiccup said after a minute.
"You're no fun." After a moment of getting Toothless and Stormfly to stop chasing Spike, and after an even longer time of having to chase their dragons down themselves, Hiccup and Astrid managed to get a hold of their dragons once again. But it was clear to the pair that the fresh air of Ponyville, and the gently breeze that wafted through it, was invigorating the dragons and making them playful.
"Wow, they really want to go," Astrid said as she had to stop Stormfly from flying off for the fourth time, but it was clear from the way she was acting the dragon wasn't going to stay down much longer. A wicked smile then crossed Astrid's face as she looked over at Hiccup, who slightly shrunk as he felt Astrid's gaze upon him. "Hey Hiccup, we never did finish that race back on Berk. And I was this close to beating you."
"Oh really?" Hiccup began as a smile crossed his face as well. "Because I'm fairly certain that I didn't see either you or Stormfly in front of me as I approached the finish line. Are you sure that the strange air here isn't messing with your head a bit?"
"It is on, Haddock!" Astrid laughed as she pulled herself up into Stormfly's saddle, only to see Hiccup and Toothless rocket right past her as they took off.
"Come on Astrid, race has started!" he called back with a laugh. Astrid smirked before nudging Stormfly on, but the Deadly Nadder didn't need any encouraging to chase down Toothless. The two quickly were out of sight of the castle, allowing Spike to leave the bush that he had been using as a hiding place with a shake of his head.
"Ugh, I'm glad that's over. Those dragons are weird."
The wind whipped by Hiccup's face as he leaned down onto Toothless are far as he could, trying to provide as little wind resistance as possible while the two screeched over Ponyville. But to both his surprise and confusion, he found that no matter how fast Toothless went Astrid and Stormfly were right behind him.
"What's the matter Hiccup, you seemed surprised to see us here!" Astrid roared over the wind, while with a great effort, Stormfly managed to catch up to the pair and fly alongside them.
"Wow, I do not remember Stormfly being so fast!" Hiccup yelled over to her, getting a smirk out of Astrid as she placed her hands behind her head and smugly smiled at him.
"Yeah, I think the air here has really done wonders for her. It's sad that the two of you will be second for the rest of your lives now, but at least you can say you're girlfriend's a winner." Toothless and Hiccup both looked at each with "oh really?" written on their faces before the both of them looked forward with determination carved into their faces.
"If you want first place, then you'll have to win it from the both of us. First one around the mountain and back takes the prize!" Hiccup roared as Toothless flapped with ferocity, hurtling the two forward while splitting the air with their speed. Astrid and Stormfly tore after them at top speed, not letting the two spread the gap as the dragons shrieked across the sky. Ponies in the streets looked up to see two blurs fly overhead before vanishing in the next instant.
Toothless was the first one to make it around the top of the mountain, but when Hiccup looked back to see how far ahead they were he found Astrid right on his tail and slowly gaining. "What has she been feeding Stormfly?" he muttered to himself before looking forward and placing a hand on Toothless' head. "Alright Bud, time to go all out!" Toothless roared in agreement as he flapped with every muscle in his wings, gaining both speed and altitude with each wing-beat.
Astrid watched from below with confusion as the pair climbed higher and higher, allowing her to catch up to and in a few moments pass the pair. But with a smile on his face and a plan in his head, Hiccup angled Toothless downward at a diagonal angle. The air shrieked as the two rocketed downward at incredible speeds, quickly passing Astrid and Stormfly and taking back the lead in one quick motion. With another flap of his wings Toothless leveled out while keeping his momentum, put the dragon and rider on a straight course right for the Crystal Palace.
KKKKRRRRAAAABBBBOOOOOOMMMM!
Toothless and Hiccup had just enough time to register the sound of the sky shattering before a rainbow blur tore past the both of them, the shockwaves generated by the action nearly knocking Toothless and Hiccup out of the sky. The blur skidded to a stop in front of the Crystal Palace nearly ten seconds ahead of Toothless and Hiccup, who landed with stunned faces when they saw who had outraced them.
"Like I told you, there was no way that overgrown lizard would be able to beat me," Rainbow Dash said with a smirk on her face as she examined one of her hooves.
"Rainbow Dash? Where in the name of Thor did you come from?" Hiccup asked with shock written on his face as he looked at the Pegasus, barely noticing when Astrid and Stormfly landed behind them.
"I saw the two of you racing and I decided to get in on the action. Of course, it wasn't much of a competition once I entered it, but at least the head start I gave the both of you made it a challenge," Rainbow said with a smug smile.
"It wasn't a fair race. You entered later than either of us," Astrid spoke up in defense of both the dragons and Hiccup. "If all of us started at the same time, I have no doubt that Stormfly would be able to outrace you, let alone Toothless."
"Please Astrid, there's no way any overgrown lizard would be able to beat me. Neither of your dragons provide a challenge," Rainbow bragged.
'Then how about I provide a challenge for all of you then?' The moment the voice echoed across the group's minds, a mighty roar was heard and a massive green and gray dragon erupted from the ground in the center of the town, taking to the skies with its six wings before it began to rain spikes down upon the ponies. Astrid and Hiccup barely shared a look before the two had taken to the skies again with Rainbow rocketing ahead, so focused on the mission that they barely heard Wijida speak in their minds once more.
'Another human arrives that prevents me from seeing the future. It is very nice to meet you, Astrid. Here is your 'welcome to Equestria' present.'