Astrid barely moved her head out of the way as a razor sharp scale hurled itself past it, nicking the end of her braid and showing her just how close she had been to losing her head. But a smirk crossed her face while she and Stromfly began to circle the green dragon.
"Stormfly! Show this dragon just how sharp your spines are!" Astrid ordered, her dragon letting out a roar of agreement before whipping her tail forward and hurling dozens of spines at the beast. They struck it in the foot and worked their way up into it's leg, getting the dragon to howl with fury as it locked onto her. It took aim with the razor scales embedded in its wings before taking a blast of fire to the face that made it change target.
"Looks like it's a Sharp class!" Hiccup yelled to Rainbow Dash as Toothless and the pony began to weave across the sky to dodge the fury of pointy objects.
"Could have figured that one out on my own!" Dash yelped as dagger-like scales tore by her head. Hiccup began to examine the dragon for weak points when Astrid flew over beside him, a number of scales embedded in Stormfly's armored body and a few cuts on Astrid.
"Are you alright?" Hiccup asked her with concern.
"Please, do you know how many times I've been cut by Stormfly before? This is nothing!" she replied with confidence while she reached down and knocked the scales off of Stromfly, revealing that the scales hadn't penetrated deep enough to inflict damage. "And Stormfly is more than tough enough to take this Sharp class on. You just do what you do and focus on calming this dragon down! Leave keeping this guy busy to me!" Astrid roared as she and Stromfly dove down at the dragon.
"Ha! I like the way you think!" Dash laughed before diving down after her, Stromfly letting out a cone of fire into the face of the razor dragon and gaining its attention. It bellowed with wrath before it began to chase after the Nadder and rainbow pony, who both began to fly higher and higher above the town. "So what's the plan, dragon rider?"
"Sharp classes generally stop moving the second before they hurl their spikes! You see him stop; you prepare to dodge!" Astrid informed Dash right before the green and grey dragon came to a stop above the clouds, giving Astrid and Dash a moment to share a smile before they both dove out of the way of the hail of razors. "Next up, see how his eyes are on the side of his head and not in front? That means if someone as small as you stays directly in front of his face, he may not be able to see you!"
"Maybe? I'm not flying directly at a mind-controlled dragon for a maybe!" Dash yelled over to Astrid before flying out of the way of a number of razors. Astrid narrowed her eyes before whistling out a tactic to Stormfly, getting the dragon to roar as she turned and began to fly straight at the dragon.
"Hey ugly! Over here!" The dragon turned towards Astrid, both of its eyes narrowing when it saw her approaching rapidly. The moment it saw her Astrid reached back and grabbed the handle for her axe, drawing it and lifting it over her head as she took aim. She caught the dragon moving its back wings where the scales were held and knew what it was about to do, meaning she had to time her action perfectly.
"Steady, Stormfly," Astrid muttered when Stormfly let out a worried bark, hefting the axe back as she concentrated. She waited until she saw the muscles on the dragon's wings tense and, for a brief moment, its eyes again narrowed at her.
"NOW!" she yelled as she let the axe fly, and in the next moment Stormfly had spun upside down, where both dragon and rider could hear the scales whistle through the air just over where they were flying. But even upside down, Astrid was able to track her axe as it flew right at the clueless dragon in a perfect arc. The sound of metal striking scales screeched across the sky as the axe struck the dragon right on the nose, getting a howl of fury as a claw reached up for its face and the axe began to fall.
"What I tell ya?" Astrid called to Rainbow Dash as Stormfly dove right under her axe, allowing Astrid to catch it before the pair circled around back for another run. "Now try to aim for the area around its eyes! If a dragon has trouble seeing it can't fight!" Both Dash and Astrid began to fly straight at the dragon, but before either could get close a barrier of magic placed itself between the both of them and the beast, cutting both off from the other.
"What gives, Twilight, we were just about to win!?" Rainbow Dash growled as the caster of the spells revealed themselves and the purple alicorn flew up beside Dash and Astrid.
"No, you were both about to put yourselves into the hospital," Twilight corrected with a glare at them both. "That dragon's scales are way too hard and sharp for a direct attack. Just take a look at Astrid's axe, if you don't believe me." Both pairs of eyes looked down at the axe to find that the blade had a huge knick in the center of it, and the rest of the axe was horribly scratched. "That dragon's scales can slice almost anything that touches it. We can't get too close without risking getting cut. And see that darkness emanating from his scales? It's preventing my magic from hurting him. We have to find another way."
"Twilight's right, getting up close is a bad idea," Hiccup agreed as he and Toothless hovered beside the dragon rider and ponies before giving a smile to Twilight. "You sure picked up on how that dragon worked quickly. We might have another dragon rider on our hands." Twilight beamed at Hiccup's words, but the moment was ruined as a hail of scales ripped past their heads that Twilight barely managed to deflect.
"Alright then, dragon master, how are we supposed to beat this guy if magic and hitting him doesn't work?" Dash asked with a growl as the dragon roared and began to fly towards them.
"Astrid, you're the Sharp class expert, any ideas?" Hiccup asked.
"Yeah, but you're the expert in generally all classes. Hmm, if we give this guy multiple targets, he might have trouble aiming properly," Astrid reasoned before having to dodge out of the way of another volley of scales. "Not to mention that there has to be a limit to how many scales this guy can shoot! Try to get him to waste his shots before bringing him down! Then Hiccup and Toothless can handle the rest!"
"Alright then, Astrid, you're with me! Let's get this guy to waste his shots! Dash and Twilight, focus on bringing this guy to the ground and keeping him there! Let's go riders!" Hiccup ordered as he and Toothless rocketed ahead, with Astrid and Stormfly following him closely. Twilight and Dash nodded to each other before Twilight began to sending bursts of blinding magic into the dragon's eyes, helping to make sure that he wasn't able to focus.
"Be careful not to hurt this dragon too badly! He's being mind-controlled by Wijida, so it's not his fault he's attacking!" Hiccup called over to Astrid, who nodded her head before flying low, while Hiccup went high. The dragon cleared his eyes with a shake of his head and looked from dragon to dragon, trying to decide which one to go after.
'The Night Fury rider. He has the gem.'
Crimson flooded the dragon's eyes and with a bellow of fury he shot upwards towards the Night Fury, fire erupting along his wings and scales as he chased after the master. Hiccup looked down just in time to see flaming scales rip and burn the air around him, motivating Toothless to go faster.
"Okay, didn't know that he could do that!" Hiccup yelled as another volley of flaming scales nearly ripped the two of them apart. The dragon was so consumed with Wijida's magical influence that he never noticed when magical chains wrapped themselves around his legs and started to drag him towards the earth, though with little to no effect.
"Urg, whatever form of magic or telekinesis that Wijida is using...it's incredibly strong!" Twilight grunted as she struggled to pin down the dragon.
"Argh, I'm doing nothing down here! I'm getting in on the action!" Dash yelled and tore off towards the dragon before Twilight could even speak. "Hey ugly, prepare to face the awesomeness that is the Sonic Rain-" The words were smacked out of Dash's mouth as the dragon's tail whipped her across the face, popping the rainbow pegasi straight up as the dragon turned to face her.
Hiccup saw what was about to happen and immediately dove down with Toothless firing blasts of plasma into the back of the dragon, taking his attention away from the rainbow Pegasus and towards the Night Fury once again. But with the sudden burst of speed Toothless was unable to completely avoid the hail of razor scales that the dragon hurled from its wing. Toothless roared as he lifted his body and head to shield Hiccup from as much of the storm as he could, but despite his best effort once the scales made it through and sliced right through Hiccup's peg leg, removing the leg from his body and also removing one of the only ways he was attached to his dragon.
"HICCUP!" Twilight called out with terror as Hiccup separated from Toothless and they both began to tumble through the air, forgetting her spell and releasing the chains on the dragon as she started to work up a spell to catch the human. But in an instant, Hiccup dove his hands through two leather rings on his pants before pulling up and revealing wings of his own. "Hiccup, this way!" Hiccup heard her and angled his body right for Twilight, where she cast her teleportation spell at the human and quickly teleported him to Twilight.
"Okay, wow, that was weird," Hiccup exclaimed when the magic vanished and he sat up on the ground, looking down at his missing peg leg to the unconscious Rainbow Dash, before both he and Twilight looked up at the still tumbling Night Fury, who was rapidly being approached by the other dragon.
"Why isn't he flying? He's going to be killed!" Twilight exclaimed with confusion as the dragon continued to tumble
"Toothless lost a tail fin years ago. Without somebody to aid him he can barely hover, let alone fly," Hiccup said with narrowed eyes as he watched what was happening.
"Then we have to do something! I have to try and catch him or-"
"Don't worry. Astrid's got this." Twilight looked back up at Toothless to see that Stormfly was barreling down beside him, lining up perfectly with the dragon, who streamlined himself as much as possible, before rolling over and placed Astrid in a spot where she could almost reach Toothless.
"Hang on Toothless, I've got you," Astrid calmly said to the dragon as she took in a quick breath to steady her nerves before, in an act that terrified both Hiccup and Twilight, she leapt off the back of Stormfly and grabbed hold of Toothless' saddle. With the dragon still tumbling in the air and the sheer force of the wind that was whipping past them, Astrid nearly lost her grip the moment she grabbed hold. But with sheer willpower she forced herself into the saddle of the Night Fury and slipped her foot into the fin control, flicking her foot to open up the fin again.
"Up Toothless, UP!" Astrid yelled as she pulled back on the handles as hard as she could, her actions mirrored by Toothless as he flapped with all his wings while the ground got uncomfortably close. Right before certain doom Toothless flapped with all of his might, rocketing forward as his underbelly just skimmed the ground before the both of them soared back into the sky.
"Oh, I hate it when she does that," Hiccup sighed in relief before placing a hand on his heart, while Twilight watched in utter bafflement.
"Okay Toothless, we can't attack his scales, we can't hurt his eyes...so we have to make him waste his shots and then bring him down!" Astrid growled and Toothless barked with agreement. The Sharp class dragon bellowed with fury before igniting his wings again and hurling the flaming scales towards the pair, creating an image of the very sky being set ablaze by the sheer amount of fire. But to both the dragon and Twilight's surprise, Astrid and Toothless ducked dodged and weaved around every shot and scale that was hurled their way.
"I might be Toothless' rider, but that doesn't mean I'm the only one who can fly him," Hiccup explained when he saw the confusion on Twilight's face, his words drawing her attention as Hiccup began to fiddle with what was left of his peg leg. "Astrid and I have been together for years now and have spent time learning each others dragons. She can fly Toothless almost as well as I can and Toothless trusts her completely. Oh, hey Stormfly," Hiccup said as Stormfly landed in front of him, sniffing Hiccup to see if he was hurt before barking up at Astrid when she discovered he wasn't.
"Aren't you going back up?" Twilight asked.
"Can't fly with one leg. Besides, Astrid's got this."
"Hear that Toothless? Hiccup's fine," Astrid informed the Night Fury before both of them looked at the other dragon with rage in their eyes. "And let's make sure he stays that way. Toothless, heart burn." With a roar Toothless shot forward towards their foe while hurling bolts of plasma into the stomach and chest of the dragon, getting him to roar with fury as he brought his wings back and set himself ablaze. Toothless' ears flicked for a second, but Astrid placed a hand on his head and kept the dragon straight.
Their foe bellowed with rage and hurled his flaming wings forward to finish off his foes...only to find that no scales flew forward and the fire that consumed his form quickly extinguished.
"Just like I thought," Astrid said when the dragon looked at himself in confusion. "You're out. Toothless, now!" Toothless rammed himself head first into the gut of the dragon, doubling it over and causing it to gag in pain. The moment it did so Toothless aimed up and spat plasma right down the throat of the dragon, causing an explosion to erupt from its mouth. The dragon's eyes rolled back in its head and it began to plummet to the earth below, as Toothless and Astrid flew after it. "Your turn, Twilight!"
Twilight nodded before creating a magical pillow to catch the dragon, strengthening it with incantations so that when the dragon crashed into it he would feel no pain. After catching the dragon she caused the pillow to vanish, allowing the dragon to slump to the ground where it looked at the pair with dazed eyes.
"So what happens now?" Astrid asked as she and Toothless landed next to Hiccup, Stormfly joining them a moment later.
"Now, Toothless works his own magic." Toothless walked forward and gazed into the eyes of the other dragon and once again the will of Toothless battled with the will of Wijida. And just like the past two times that their wills battled, the will of the Alpha won out and shattered the magic that was controlling the dragon. The dragon blinked twice before a small smile crossed his face.
"Thank...you..." He lowered his head to the ground and closed his eyes, where he began to softly sleep a moment later.
"Man, that was tough," Astrid groaned as she hopped off of Toothless' back and walked over to Hiccup, kneeling down next to him and examining his peg leg. "Yep, it's broken again. Why don't you listen to me and just make the whole thing out of metal?"
"Because then I would have to recalibrate Toothless' harness again to account for the extra weight, which would also slow the both of us down," Hiccup rebutted, but all his word did was get him a hard stare from Astrid.
"Maybe it would, but it would also prevent it from being destroyed as easily or cut off. And every other time that's happened, you haven't been able to fly Toothless at all," she reminded him before standing up and holding out a hand. "Come on, let's get you patched up," she grunted as she wrapped his arm around her shoulder and helped lean him against her.
"Um, Astrid?"
"Don't tell me. You don't have the spare."
"Sorry."
"Well Twilight, you know any place that works with metal, because we're going to have to make him a new leg?" Astrid asked Twilight, just barely noticing the look Twilight had before the alicorn put a hoof to her chin and thought about it.
"Yeah, I do know somepony who will be able to help us," Twilight muttered before looking up at the sun, which was just beginning to sink over the horizon. "But we'll do it tomorrow. You four should get your rest and I need to get Rainbow Dash to a hospital to make sure nothing's broken. I'll also send a letter to Celestia and ask her to pick this dragon up." Astrid looked back at the tired dragons and figured that Twilight was right, so with a grunt she helped Hiccup onto Toothless' back before the four of them headed back to the castle while Twilight levitated Dash away.
"Hey Hiccup?" Astrid began, once Twilight was out of sight.
"What is it, Astrid?"
"What in Thor's name is a hospital?"
Couldn't he technically fly on Stormfly? Since he only needs his peg leg to control Toothless's tail fin. Just a minor nitpick.
6297095
My guess is because he's unbalanced without his peg leg
*snickers at the last line*
They don't know what a hospital is... oh yeah xD hehe.
Silly vikings.
Nice job!
6297095 On a sharp turn, he'd probably fall right off the saddle, without that second leg to stabilize himself.
If it was just a gentle flight? Yeah, he probably could pull it off.
In a fight? Heck no.
Oh you Vikings and your primitive curiosity and culture!
That was a nice fight scene, and yet more evidence that someone really needs to call Rarity off.
I can see with how you are Writing this fic that many will root for Hiccup/Astrid, and it's easy to see why, you are really staying true to the relationship that they have in the series as well as Movies, also their strong bond forged from their years of friendship that later grew into them being a couple is really shown in this chapter, it also shows how synched with each other they really are, when he gives a command that sounds strange she might question it, but will not however hesitate to carry it out whitin a seconds notice, heh, she's also one of Three beings in existence that could fly and handle toothless almost as good as Hiccup, the last and third one being Hiccup's mother.
The same goes for Hiccup, he might have more experince with dragons in general and can bond with them much easier but he knows Astrid is his superior in some areas and are willing to let her take the lead with no questions asked when he sees they are dealing with her area of expertice, in the end they are one daring, dangerous, deadly, dragon driving duo.
So in short, i can see why many support Astrid/Hiccup in this fic, "besides the fact they are CANON in the HTTYD universe" and i can understand why many are raging on Rarity for encoureging Twillight for trying to get between Astrid and Hiccup, Now i'll have to quote Blade the vampyire hunter for this
"Some mother f*ckers are Always trying to ice skate upphill"
and that pretty much describes Rarity "well, besides the mother f*cker part" and her mentality with the whole Twillight, Hiccup and Astrid situation, but i do belive that if she knew all the things Astrid and Hiccup have gone throu together she would not be so eager trying to break them up, because in the end she is a romantic at heart, and she would never try breaking up what she knows is a perfect couple, the main problem here is simply Rarity's hopelessly romantic side, mix that with her loyalty to one of her absolutley best friends and her wish for Twillight to find happiness and we get a really dangerous mix.
(On a side note, i totally thought Rarity was going for Hiccup for awhile, but then it shifted to Twillight, boy what a spin!)
Now all logical thinking aside i still must say that a small part of me is rooting for Twillight and Hiccup, you can't deny that the thought of the shy gentle and slightly geeky Twillight crushing hard on Hiccup is utterly adorable!
Besides, this is a fanfic, and in fanfics anything goes and as much as i am a Hiccup/Astrid fanboy "Yes i ship them....HARD i love the whole strong brawny girl and the gentle geeky guy Chemistry they have"
i like to see diffrent things now and then, if i want to read a Astrid/Hiccup fanfic i simply go to Fanfiction.net and read one there, here i want to see the possibilities of a diffrent ship, and Hiccup and Twillight intrigues me greatly.
What i hope to see in future chapters is Twillight realising that her chances with Hiccup is slim to none, but she has to still battle her ever growing feelings for him, and that Hiccup's feelings for the brainy unicorn are slowly starting to change as well, wich sends him into a minor mental turmoil because of the STRONG feelings he has for Astrid, in short, i am hoping for a love trianle DRAMA!!!
However, in the end everything is all up to the whims of Onomonopia, and i do belive that whatever this author has planned for us in the end, it's going to be glorious!
6297268
The way Astrid and Hiccup argue over his broken peg leg sounds like an old argument. To me Hiccup sounds like a person that would have learned how to fly without his leg after this situation happened a few times.
Then again I said it was just a minor nitpick, so I am not too concerned about this.
Dat ending
What happened to Toothless' spinal fins? I thought he could use them to compensate for a short amount of time?
6299316 They help streamline him and do some maneuvers, but his tail is needed for control.
6292893 I really hope you don't use "interracial" and "interspecies" interchangeably in your regular life. Because that is some terrible wording you used there.
6301223 Sex denial is always funny! Except when it happens to you. (I am informed that "muffin muzzle" is also a thing. Poor Derpy.)
This story is great. One of the best parts is I know you are an experienced author due to your plethora of other works.
....damn PREPARE TO GET SCIENCE BUCKED IN THE HEAD
Hmm... it seems to fit that they don't know what a hospital is since they are Vikings, but it's still pretty hilarious! Great chapter.
Doesn't Hiccup have a safety line? For that matter - doesn't he have handholds on the saddle?
Should be 'words'.
At four points in this chapter, you have "Stromfly" as opposed to "Stormfly."
What happened to Hiccup's metal pegleg that he has in the second movie?
6355896 I don't think this takes place in that part of the HTTYD continuity...
or it might not be in the continuity at all.
6355896
It got sliced off by the dragon's scales.
Ooh, good bye peg leg...
Rainbow's ego will get her killed one day. I will be waiting for that day.
7761240
Well she survived everything reaching the end of the show I'm pretty sure she'll survive here too