//------------------------------// // Mirrors and Monsters // Story: How To Ponify Your Dragon // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// Every one of Astrid's senses were on high alert as she took one step after another down the endless maze of mirrors, trying to avoid glancing into each one of them as she passed. Yet, when she did catch a glance of what was within, the images scared her more than any nightmare--or Nightmare--she thought ever could. The many images of her dead body were bad enough, but then, every once in a while the mirror would have more than just her body. Sometimes, Hiccup's was there with her. Sometimes, it was Stormfly. But each image made her sick to her stomach. 'Focus Hofferson. Hiccup's in here somewhere and you need to get to him,' she reminded herself as she clenched down on the hammer with enough force to turn her knuckles white. A particularly nasty reflection caught her off guard, but a moment later the horror was replaced by rage, and in one swift swing she shattered the mirror into thousands of pieces of glass which splintered across the floor. She breathed heavily while she stared down at the glass, a small smirk crossing her face when she saw the images vanish. 'Temper, temper.' Astrid's head snapped up as the coy and seemingly happy voice sang in her head, causing a shiver to run down her spine as she glanced at the hundreds of mirrors, all of them reflecting her nervous expression. 'You'll never find me if you can't keep your cool. But that does seem to be a problem of yours, doesn't it?' "How are you doing that? Get out of my head or in the name of Odin I swear I'll-!" Astrid's threat was cut off by a high-pitched laugh that echoed both throughout the maze and through her mind, shaking her enough to force her to drop her hammer as she planted her hands over her ears in a futile attempt to block the voice out. 'You'll what, Astrid? I'm genuinely asking, because for some reason I can't seem to see the future of you and your lover,' the voice asked with a chuckle, the voice just as loud despite Astrid trying to block it out. 'But that's what makes the both of you so much fun. Not to mention that most of my powers, such as my telekinesis, don't seem to affect you either. But as for my telepathy,' the voice continued before another hair-raising laugh roared across Astrid's mind, 'that seems to be working perfectly.' "So, you're Wijida? The crazed monster that's causing innocent dragons to attack these ponies," Astrid roared, trying to block out the voices with rage while she glared around the room for the source of the voice. "Then you made a mistake coming here, because once I get my hands on you..." 'We'll meet in time girl, but first...aren't you worried about a certain somepony...one?' As Wijida said this, all of the mirrors that had surrounded Astrid flashed images of a broken and bloodied Hiccup. Astrid's eyes went wide while horror crushed her heart, yet a moment later she shook her head and growled with fury and rage. "No...Hiccup wouldn't go down that easy! He's knows that if he died on me, I'd kill him!" Astrid roared as she swung the wooden hammer into another mirror, shattering it as well. She then charged ahead into the maze, never taking more than a second to decide which way to go whenever she came to a crossroad. It took nearly ten minutes, but she eventually came to the center of the maze, where she found a black pony with white eyes and strange markings smiling at her. "Finally, you make it here. I can see why you and Hiccup make such a good team. You'd be hopeless without his brains. But it is finally nice to meet you in person. You're far more interesting than anything else I've looked at," Wijida taunted with a laugh. Astrid's response was to swing the hammer back before, with a Viking battle cry, she hurled the hammer for all she was worth at the pony. But to her shock and terror, the hammer came to a dead stop right before it struck Wijida in the face. The pony chuckled before narrowing her eyes, which caused the hammer to splinter into hundreds of wooden fragments. Astrid was barely able to make sense of what she had just seen, because Wijida tossed the pieces aside and smiled at the human once again. "See? I should be able to do that to whomever I please, but for some strange reason..." Astrid felt the faintest sensation of something touching her and when she looked down, she found that her fur hood was slightly moving. "That's all I can do to you humans and your dragons. And it fascinates me. Why are you immune, when most ponies are not?" "Maybe because cheap tricks don't work on real Vikings!" Astrid yelled as she began to run forward, but with a flash of light hundreds of glass shards floated into the air and all aimed themselves right at her. Astrid came to a dead stop as the light reflected off of each of the deadly knives that floated around her, not daring to move as Wijida chuckled. "Do not mistake my inability to touch you with my powers, to mean that I cannot kill you if I wish," Wijida clarified for Astrid, who was looking for a way out of her predicament. "Then why not just kill me and Hiccup if you're so powerful?" Astrid asked as she glanced to a mirror on her right that hadn't been shattered yet, an idea coming to her while she slowly brought her hands up. "Hiccup told me that you can't see either his future or mine, so you have to know that we're the only ones that stand a chance of beating you. Can it be that you can't actually kill us? Or maybe you're not as strong as you claim to be?" "Because, as I stated so clearly for your partner and the ponies, this is the first time I've not known the end of a story or event, and I'm going to make sure that nothing happens to ruin it," Wijida began with a laugh, closing her eyes as she did so and giving Astrid her moment to act. "I want to see if I can best the two of you without already knowing the outcome, to see how you will react to my plans, and when I finally win, it will be the first time that I had done so without knowing the outcome. Now after hearing all that, how could you possibly-?" In one swift motion, Astrid lunged to her left and clenched her hands around the mirror beside her. The moment she did so, thousands of shards of glass hurtled towards her with deadly precision. Yet as one of the strongest Vikings on Berk, Astrid was strong enough to rip the mirror from the floor and fast enough to move the mirror in front of the shards the moment before impact. She braced herself as the glass shattered against glass, gritting her teeth while even more bits and pieces of splintering glass cut into her. "Impressive, Astrid. These are the kinds of actions that make fighting the pair of you so-" Wijida was cut off mid-sentence while Astrid roared with fury as she hurled her makeshift shield right at Wijida, catching the blind and arrogant pony off guard. A laugh escaped Astrid's lips as the mirror smacked Wijida dead center in the skull and snapped her head back, the mirror crashing to the side while the pony collapsed to the floor. Astrid smiled as Wijida pulled herself up with a growl, blood trickling down her face while she turned to glare at the human. "What's the matter, oh seer of the future? Didn't see that coming?" Astrid taunted with a laugh while she grabbed a larger glass shard and held it like a knife. Wijida snarled with rage a few times as she stood up, but then she let out a small sigh and let a smile cross her face. "That's it. That's the fighting spirit that I want to have opposing me," Wijida said with a nod before her eyes flashed with a light that blinded Astrid, who snarled with rage when the light cleared and she found that the pony was gone. 'A week from now though, Astrid, I'm going to do something in a town not too far from Ponyville. I'm looking forward to see what the you and Hiccup will do to stop me. Give my regards to him by the way. Oh, and go to a doctor, you've got a couple of cuts.' Astrid opened her mouth to respond before she looked down and found that her arms were covered in blood, with multiple cuts on her face and a few pieces of glass imbedded in her skin. Another flash of light went off and every mirror collapsed to the ground, allowing Astrid to see both exits around which a large number of ponies had congregated. She then looked back to where Wijida had vanished with a snarl, before clutching at her wounds while she staggered towards the exit. \\\\\\ ======== ////// "There you are!" Twilight called out when she finally spotted the human from the air, finding him next to the Ferris Wheel where he was getting yelled at by the maintenance pony that ran the wheel. "This sure as heck doesn't look like the roller coaster!" "Oh, hey Twilight," Hiccup waved to her after the pony managed to kick him away from the wheel, Twilight shaking her head as she landed next to him. "Sorry if I just ran off, but I spotted this and I just had to see how it worked. Then, I met that charming pony over there and well, you saw the rest." "Do you know how worried we've been about you?" Twilight asked him as she started to escort him back to where she had last seen the others. "When you just vanished, we assumed that something bad had happened to you, so we split up to look." "Sorry, but what could happen here?" Hiccup asked, yet when he saw Twilight glance around before motioning him to get closer, his smile fell. "Did something happen?" "I sensed some of Wijida's power near the gates," Twilight whispered to Hiccup once they reached a spot where there weren't that many ponies around, getting the human's eyes to widen in shock. "I haven't been able to find her, but any reason for her being here can't be good. I sent Rarity to find Astrid and then I came to find you. Glad to see you're safe." "Forget about me. Astrid might be in danger," Hiccup said with concern as he began to march forward through the crowd, glancing over the ponies while his search became more and more desperate. Then, after five minutes of searching, both of them looked to the sky as a white bolt of magic exploded like a firework above a section of the park, confusing Hiccup, while Twilight's eyes widened. "That's the signal Rarity uses whenever she needs help! She might be the one in danger!" Twilight yelled. Hiccup began to run towards the light, but a moment later Twilight had taken to the sky and yanked the human up with her magic as she flew towards the flare. "I see Rarity...and she's with Astrid. They both look alright but..." Twilight descended without another word and dropped to the ground next to the pony and human. "Twilight! Hiccup! I know that the flare is only supposed to be used in emergencies, but when I saw Astrid like this I..." Rarity let out an exasperated sigh before she held a hoof to her head and collapsed right in the center of the road, yet Hiccup raced past her to Astrid's side without a glance. "Astrid..." Hiccup whispered as he laid eyes upon her and her numerous injuries. Twilight had a similar reaction once she had moved Rarity out of the way and joined Hiccup. "Are you alright?! Here, let me stop the bleeding-!" he clamored while he reached into his suit and removed the emergency bandages he carried. However, before he could apply first aid, Astrid grabbed hold of his hand and looked up at him with a smile. "Please Hiccup, I got worse injuries when we dealt with that rouge Nadder. These are nothing," she said with a slight grit of her teeth as she stood up, refusing to let any pain show on her face. "So, instead of worrying over my scratches, let me tell you how I got them. Because you might find that far more interesting." "You encountered Wijida, didn't you?" Twilight asked, getting a nod as well as a confused look from Astrid. "I sensed her magic when I went near the front of the park. I sent Rarity after you and went to find Hiccup the moment I realized she was here." Twilight didn't know why, but she looked away from Astrid's gaze as she said that last part. "So, she did this to you?" Hiccup asked with an eerie calmness in his voice, but both Twilight and Astrid were able to pick up on the bubbling anger building beneath his blank face. "You should have seen what I did to her. Caught her right in that arrogant mug with a mirror," Astrid said proudly while crossing her arms, yet it only took a moment for her to realize what a bad decision that was as she burned with pain. "We need to get you medical attention," Twilight said as she glanced over Astrid's arms and face, looking at the glass shards sticking out of her skin with a horrified expression. "Some of these wounds are..." "I'm fine. These are nothing." To prove her point, Astrid grabbed one of the shards and pulled it free, biting her tongue hard to keep from making any sound. "See...nothing to...worry about." "I'm with Twilight, you need help," Hiccup agreed, staring down the look Astrid gave him with one of his own. Upon seeing the look, Astrid let out a sigh of defeat and leaned against Hiccup, whereupon he gingerly draped one of his arms over her shoulder and helped to move her towards the exit. "So...Wijida came after you this time," Hiccup stated as Twilight levitated the still unconscious Rarity and followed the pair. "I shouldn't have run off like that. I should have been there to help you when she-" "You were being you. Besides, I was more than a match for her," Astrid said with a smirk. "You should have seen the look on her face when the mirror bounced off her skull. For a pony that's supposed to be able to see the future, she sure didn't see that coming." "Heh, leave it to you to not only take on a pony that can...manipulate objects with her mind and see the future...and not only fend her off, but also manage to draw blood in the process," Hiccup said with a small smile. "You are amazing, you know that?" "Of course I know that, but I wouldn't mind hearing it again," Astrid smirked before her eyes went wide when she remembered something. "Right, knocking that smug look off the pony's face wasn't all that happened in that mirror place. Wijida also told me that in a week's time she's going to attack a town close to Ponyville. She didn't say which one." "There's only a hoofful of towns that are close to Ponyville," Twilight added as she walked up beside them, carrying Rarity on her back. "I need to get back to Canterlot and inform Princess Celestia immediately. Buckle up you two, we're going to take a shortcut back to Ponvyille." "Oh, no you don't," Astrid began as she tried to back away from Twilight's glowing horn. "I'm not getting anywhere near that magic of-" The two Vikings and the two ponies were completely enveloped in Twilight's magic, causing them to vanish without any trace of them having been there. \ / / \ "That was quite the move the human performed back there," a dark voice spoke from beyond the shadows while Wijida wrapped a bandage around her skull, smirking to herself as flashbacks of the fight kept flowing through her mind. "And you do not seem to be the least bit upset, that a regular human managed to do what no all-powerful unicorn has come close to doing. She hit you, Wijida." "Yes she did. I never saw it coming. You cannot imagine my surprise when I felt the corner of that mirror slice through my skull," Wijida responded with joy in every word. "Surprise. That was the first time in my life I truly felt surprised! And slightly scared too! For a moment, I thought that the human had flung her axe at me and that I was going to die! I feel so alive right now!" "And then, you told her of your next move...I swear, if you deny me my vengeance-" "Will you relax, I have seen the outcome of what will happen there," Wijida responded with a far more controlled and mysterious tone than the one she had been using. "Even with the humans' interference, all will go as I foresaw. And do not forget that you work for me. Now go. I believe that you have a rematch to get ready for, do you not?"