//------------------------------// // A Fair Day For A Fair // Story: How To Ponify Your Dragon // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// Twilight couldn't help but smile when the screams of ponies plummeting down the metal tracks reached her ears, and as she gazed up at the massive attractions that belonged to the traveling fair, she managed to forget about Wijida and the mind-controlled dragons for a moment. 'Just think, when I was little I never even gave these fairs a second chance, and now they're some of my favorite ways to relax,' she mused with a smile when the smell of kettle corn reached her nostrils with their delectable scent. 'But I wonder how Hiccup and Astrid are going to react to a place like this? Heehee, it'll be funny seeing the looks on their faces.' "Twilight, darling!" Twilight shook herself free from her thoughts and turned her head to spy Rarity trotting up towards her, making sure to dodge every stain or discarded piece of trash that lined her way. "I am so sorry that I'm running behind, but I had a brilliant idea that just had to be created and...oh, is Hiccup not here yet?" "Not yet, Rarity, but I'm sure they'll be here eventually," Twilight replied while Rarity raised an eyebrow with interest. "Unless of course they got lost, which would mean that I'd have to go find them right away..." "Twilight, you say they'll? Did you invite...Astrid as well?" Rarity asked with a half-chuckle, yet her eyes pierced into Twilight's in a way that made Twilight back away from her friend slightly. "Of course I did, Rarity. I mean, neither of them have seen anything like this before and I wanted to see their faces when they do. I can see the look of surprise on them now!" Twilight smiled with a small laugh, yet the laugh faded when Rarity let out a sigh and held a hoof to her face. "Twilight darling, you may be the smartest pony I know when it comes to magic, but your dating skills leave a lot to be desired," Rarity groaned while Twilight tilted her head with some confusion before the realization set in. "I wondered why you'd dare going to a fair Rarity, but for the last time-" "Okay, how did the ponies get a cart to stay on those tracks without casualties? Because the last time I tried to invent something like that, I set half the village ablaze." Twilight and Rarity turned to see the pair of Vikings walking towards them, both sets of eyes glued to the giant roller coaster with awe. "I remember that day. We all had to help you put out that fire--after chasing down that one poor sheep whose cart refused to stop," Astrid recalled as the memory brought a smile onto her face. "I had never seen your father so mad at you, except for the first time you saved Toothless. That was pretty bad." "And now that you've brought up another one of my many failures, hi Twilight. Hi Rarity," Hiccup greeted the ponies after gently nudging Astrid in the side with his elbow, before turning his gaze through the entrance before them and into the land of fun within. "So, is this the fair that you were so excited to show us? Because that massive...cart racer?...is worth the trip alone. I wonder what sort of pulley system they used to keep the carts on the tracks while..." "So, you managed to get a ticket after all?" Astrid asked as Hiccup began to make notes of the coaster. Twilight nodded before she flashed the piece of paper in front of Astrid, who nodded before glancing over at Rarity. "Oh hey...argh, keep forgetting your names. Are you the shy one?" "No darling, I'm Rarity," Rarity clarified with a slight bow, yet neither Astrid nor Twilight caught any sign of kindness in the motion. Rarity's gaze then glanced down at Astrid's attire and her face scrunched up with disgust. "And if I may be brutally honest with you darling, you should come by my boutique after we are done here. I have a number of outfits that you might-" "Well, that's about all I'm going to learn about that contraption from out here. Come on, let's get going!" Hiccup unintentionally interrupted as he quickly walked in-between the ponies, grabbing Astrid's arm when he walked by her and half dragged her towards the entrance. Twilight shrugged at the pouting Rarity before following the two, who were trying to figure out how to get past the pony taking tickets. "Well, that got a lot easier once you showed up," Astrid pointed out to Twilight after they had all gotten inside, which had been sped along by the mere presence of the princess. "That pony took one look at you and practically threw himself to the ground. Being a princess sure has its perks." "Well, I will admit that it is nice being looked up to, but I would prefer to be treated just like everypony else," Twilight quickly said with a wave of her hoof before she glanced up at Hiccup. "I'm sure that being chief of Berk gives you similar..."perks" as Astrid put it...when it comes to dealing with others?" Hiccup's face slightly fell the moment Twilight mentioned Berk, but before Rarity or Twilight could say anything, Astrid punched Hiccup lightly on the shoulder and laughed. "Well, you two didn't get to see the one time Hiccup had to deal with an entire fleet of traders that had all gotten lost and washed up on our shores, especially since only some of them spoke our language. I thought for sure he was going to pull his hair out trying to work it all out. Ah, good times," Astrid said with a smile as she shook her head, yet her eyes quickly flashed towards Hiccup with concern deep within them. "Then, there was that one trader that just wouldn't cooperate no matter what I tried, so you hopped onto Stormfly and flew him around the island while threatening to drop him into the water," Hiccup said with a laugh, a laugh that allowed Astrid to sigh slightly with relief when he wasn't looking. "After that he sure behaved himself." "Yeah. Twilight, Rarity, can I see the two of you for a second?" Astrid asked as she waved the two of them over to her, bowing her head low so that only the two of them could see the annoyed expression that she cast at the both of them. "If the two of you wouldn't mind, try to refrain from calling him the Chief of Berk unless absolutely necessary," Astrid hissed with annoyance, taking the two ponies aback. "There are some painful memories there, and I would prefer that neither of you bring them up!" "And what would the cause for those memories be?" Rarity ventured to ask, but a look from Astrid silenced any further questions. But Twilight looked beyond the annoyance in Astrid's face and found the concern and worry underneath, allowing her to see the Viking's true intentions. "Alright Astrid, I'm sorry. I'll do my best not to bring up any painful memories," Twilight apologized with a slight bow of her head, getting both Astrid and Rarity to look at her in shock. "Oh...thanks?" Twilight broke free of Astrid's grasp and motioned for the others to follow her into the main part of the fair. Rarity followed after her friends with a puzzled expression adorning her face, but Hiccup slowed his walk until he was right beside Astrid. You know I don't like it when you do that, right?" he whispered to her with a look. "Do what? I was just asking them to watch their words," Astrid replied with no sign of regret, but she peeked at Hiccup's face out of the corner of her eye and sighed in defeat when she read his expression. "Just trying to look out for you." "Thanks, but I can handle myself. Just as I can handle being the Chief of Berk," Hiccup said as he gently held her shoulder before his smile returned at the sight that greeted the both of them. Hundreds of ponies were amassed in a large area that held a plethora of tents, games and attractions, getting both of the humans to gawk in awe at the sheer volume of attractions. "Okay, this fair just got really interesting." "And it wasn't before?" "Come on you two, over here!" Twilight called out from beside a large object with a bell at the top. Astrid and Hiccup walked over to her and Rarity with both amazed and confused looks at the object. "Uh, and what sort of fun activities are you supposed to have with this?" Astrid asked with a smirk as she looked down at the round piece of wood that sat near the bottom, before her gaze caught the large hammer that rested beside it. "Oh, what you do with this is you hit that circle there with the hammer as hard as you can, and then the board here will tell you how strong you are," Twilight explained as she motioned to the board in between the circle and the bell, which Astrid and Hiccup both realized had a number of names on it, ranging from "newborn foal" to "strongest in the land". "And what is the point of this?" Astrid asked with a raised eyebrow. "If you manage to win at this barbaric game, not only do you get to express yourself as strongest in the land, but you also get a prize from that stallion over there," Rarity explained as she pointed to a pony in a stall, who had a number of stuffed animals and creatures that adorned his tent's walls. She then cast a coy glance at Hiccup before levitating the hammer to him. "Why don't you go first, Mr. Dragon Master. I'd like to see just how strong you are." "I-I don't think that I should do this," Hiccup stammered as he glanced at Twilight, hoping that she would stop her friend. But an interested look from Twilight and an amused expression on Astrid's face told him that he had no way out, so with a sigh he stretched his arms and grabbed the hammer. "Alright, but stand back as I show all of you just how strong this Viking really is." "Try not to hurt yourself, babe," Astrid "encouraged" from the sidelines, getting her an expression from Hiccup that made her smile. Hiccup then grasped the hilt of the hammer tightly before swinging the hammer back over his head, taking perfect aim before bringing the hammer down with all of his might to strike the circle dead center. The moment he struck a bar of light shot out from the bottom of the large board...only to come to a stop about halfway up the list of titles. "Hmm, middle aged mare. You know that sounds about right for you," Astrid teased with a smirk that turned into a full on laugh when Hiccup looked at her with a raised eyebrow and a slightly silly expression. "By all means Astrid, if you believe that you can do better, go right ahead," Hiccup teased in reply as he tossed the hammer to her, which she snatched out of the air with one hand before a smile crossed her face and she walked past Hiccup to the circle. "Don't worry about it Hiccup, you tried your best," Twilight said kindly to Hiccup once he had rejoined the ponies. "Yes, these inventions are meant for ponies. I doubt Astrid will do any better," Rarity muttered under her breath. "I would bet against you on that." "Stand back, Hiccup and let a real Viking show you how it's done," Astrid called back over to Hiccup before she lifted the hammer over her head with one arm, before bringing it down in one mighty swing to strike home. The force of the strike was so great that the light shone all the way up the board and it struck the bell almost immediately, before the whole contraption fell over. Astrid looked back at the two gobsmacked ponies and smirking Viking with a smile, as she rested the hammer on her shoulder before she strutted past the three and to the tent with the prizes. "So, what do I win for doing that?" she asked while she looked at the stallion, who was slightly cowering before the Viking with both eyes glued to the hammer that she hadn't put down. "You can take whatever you want. Just don't hurt me." "Here ya go babe, since you like dragons and all," Astrid laughed as she chucked a small, red and green stuffed dragon to Hiccup, who caught it with a smile of his own. "Well, now that I've defend your honor and broken one of the attractions here, where should we go next?" "Um, how about we go to either the shooting gallery or the roller coaster, since you seemed to interested in that earlier?" Twilight suggested nervously. "Let's go to the roller coaster. I have to know how it works," Hiccup offered before heading off on his own towards the attraction that nearly towered over the rest of the park, leaving the three ladies to follow after him. "Um, Astrid? You're not supposed to take the hammer with you," Twilight informed Astrid, who was resting the hammer on both of her shoulders. "What? This is my prize for winning that game. The pony did say I could take any prize I wanted," Astrid reminded them both with a smile before looking ahead. "Besides, I needed a new stick to play fetch with Stormfly. She's chewed through all her other ones." "Speaking of your dragons, just where are they. I trust that you didn't leave them with Spike or let them loose within the town?" Rarity asked with some fear as she glanced off towards Ponyville. "Left them with Fluttershy. She seemed really eager to spend a day with them for some reason," Astrid said with a shrug. "Hiccup told her what to do and how to act around them, so she should be fine and...uh-oh. Where did he go?" Twilight and Rarity both looked past Astrid to find that indeed Hiccup had vanished into the large crowd of ponies. "He probably got lost in the crowd. We should split up and look for him. A human among a crowd of ponies shouldn't be that difficult to look for. I'll look in the north section of the park while Rarity checks the south. Astrid, look wherever you want," Twilight ordered, getting nods from both Astrid and Rarity before the three of them split off in three separate directions. \\\\\\\ ========= /////// "Hiccup!" Twilight called out as she ran around the northern part of the fair, having taken to the air once or twice, but she was unable to find any trace of him from up there. "Hiccup! Darn it, how can one human have gotten away from us so quickly? And how can he be so hard to find?" She ran around a corner to see a tall, human figure walking far ahead of her. Figuring that it was Hiccup, Twilight began to chase after the figure. Yet her chase only led her to the front of the fair once again and to her annoyance, she found no trace of the human that she thought she had been following. 'Wait, why do I detect faint traces of...her magic?' Twilight asked herself as a faint trace of magic that she had learned to memorize alerted her, and she glanced around for any sign of the pony. 'But whatever she's here for, it can't be good. I need to find the others.' \\\\\\\ ========= /////// "Hiccup Haddock Horrendous the THIRD!" the hammer-wielding Viking yelled into the park, scaring off a large number of ponies that had been close to her. "Ugh, how hard can it be to find the only other Viking in a place filled with nothing but ponies?" she growled in frustration as she swung her hammer into a wall, startling the ponies on the other side. She sighed as she glanced up at the attraction beside which she had come to a stop, an attraction called the house of mirrors. She shook her head and was about to turn to leave, when something in the back of her mind told her to look within the house. Astrid glanced behind her quickly with some annoyance, only for shock to overwrite her annoyance when she spotted her boyfriend standing at the end of the first line of mirrors. "Hiccup, what are you doing in there? Come here!" she yelled over to him, but a smile that Astrid didn't know Hiccup could make crossed his face and he vanished deeper into the maze of mirrors. Astrid narrowed her eyes before she sprinted ahead into the maze, hammer grasped in both hands as she prepared to use it. 'I know you, Hiccup, and I know that something's up,' she thought to herself as she ran into the maze. 'I just hope that you're alright.'