This chapter is dedicated to Ferdoos' suggestion. Thank you for this simple yet genius idea.

-.-.-.-.-.

Hiccup tiredly walked outside the next morning, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Toothless had been pounding on the roof again, trying to get him to wake up so that they could go flying. He deeply breathed in the crisp, cold air, feeling refreshed as he did so.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," he said in annoyance as Toothless gurgled impatiently. He yawned loudly, wishing that Toothless could stick to a normal sleeping routine. Lately, his sleep patterns had been somewhat erratic – sleeping in one day and then getting up early the next. Hiccup wondered if there was a reason for that.

"You can't wake me up early every day," Hiccup grumbled to the Night Fury as he tried to wake himself up. It didn't pay to fly the fastest dragon in the world when you were tired.

Just as he was about to climb aboard, there was a sudden screeching sound. He looked up towards the bright blue sky and saw a serpentine form streaking across the endless yonder. It was heading on a direct course for the Great Hall, and its scales glittered in the morning light.

"Looks like Heather's back," Hiccup murmured, as both he and Toothless regarded the flying Siren. "I wonder how she's doing after her night in Breakneck Bog."

Toothless looked at him in surprise. "Yeah, I know," he conceded. "I never told you that Astrid dared her to spend the night there. I'm sure she's fine if she's here now."

The Night Fury nodded in agreement, then grunted and gestured with his head to the sky. "Alright, let's go then," Hiccup said with a chuckle, hopping aboard the saddle.

-.-.-.-.-.

Great Hall

About thirty minutes later, Hiccup arrived at the Great Hall. Already, most of the adults were gone, having finished breakfast and already moving on to their work for the day. However, his friends were all still there, chatting and laughing as usual.

"Morning, gang," Hiccup said cheerfully, grabbing a chicken leg and a mug of yak milk. "How's everyone" – it was then that he noticed the condition Heather was in.

She looked awful, with her normally sleek black hair a complete mess. Her eyelids were drooping as if she could barely stay awake. Her clothes were scratched up a little bit, and she looked ready to collapse at any second.

"What happened?" Hiccup asked concernedly. Heather only groaned exhaustedly and slumped against Batwings. He held her comfortingly and replied, "A bunch of Smothering Smokebreaths woke her up in the middle of the night and mobbed her until she found a more secluded place to sleep."

"I was up all night after that," the girl in question said quietly. She rested her head against Batwings' shoulder and closed her eyes as if hoping to get a few moments of rest right then and there.

"At least you're safe," Astrid pointed out, surprisingly. Just because the two had made up after the whole Book of Dragons incident, didn't automatically make them best friends. In fact, Astrid was the second-last person Hiccup would have expected to hear those words from, after Snotlout.

"So, who are you going to dare?" Tuff asked while Ruff held him in a headlock.

Heather opened her eyes a crack and muttered, "Can't this wait until tomorrow? I need sleep…" She yawned deeply before closing her eyes again.

"Come on," Snotlout pressed. "Dare someone! I dare you to dare someone, in fact." He started pounding his fists on the table and chanting, "Dare! Dare! Dare!" but he stopped doing so when no one joined in.

"Fine," Heather said irritably, without opening her eyes. "I'm daring Ruff to blow something up."

The girl Thorston was so surprised that she dropped her brother on the floor. "You're serious?" she asked with a this-is-too-good-to-be-true look on her face.

Heather yawned again and responded, "Yes. Make something explode. Go crazy. Just be smart about it."

Standing up just then, she muttered, "I'm going to go get some rest." She then trudged out of the Great Hall, with Batwings graciously assisting her in case she pitched forward onto the ground.

"I can't believe I get to blow something up!" Ruffnut enthused. She was so happy that she helped Tuff off of the floor and hugged him.

"Sweet, can I help?" the boy asked, too lazy to extract himself from her embrace. His sister nodded, too ecstatic to deny him and shove him onto the floor again like she usually would.

Astrid took a gulp of milk and offered Hiccup a potato. "Just be smart about it, like Heather said," she warned. "We really don't want any severe repercussions if you decide to blow up Mildew's house or Gobber's forge."

Ruffnut stopped and thought about it, then grinned slyly as inspiration struck her.

"That smile doesn't look too good," Snaketail commented. Fishlegs stared at Ruff worriedly, wondering what she was thinking about and deciding that he didn't want to know.

"It's not too late to back out of this, you know," Arachne suggested. Ruff snapped out of her fantasy and retorted, "Are you kidding? I wouldn't back out of this if Tuff's life depended on it."

"So what else is new?" Hiccup muttered.

"Don't worry about a thing," Ruffnut continued. "No one will even notice, you'll see!"

"Good luck with that," Astrid remarked snidely.

Fishlegs just covered his face in his hands and moaned. "Why do I get the feeling we're really going to regret this?" he asked no one in particular.

-.-.-.-.-.

Farming Grounds

The Thorston siblings and their dragon, the Zippleback twins Barf and Belch, snuck past Mulch and Bucket as the two comedic Vikings went about their duties. The duo was usually in charge of taking care of the barnyard animals, as they weren't really good warriors, and weren't the brightest of Vikings either (and that was saying something).

Ruff, Tuff, and the Zippleback all hid behind a large boulder as Mulch turned around to face their direction. "Bucket, please tell me I don't have to explain this to you again," he said sternly.

"No you don't," Bucket assured him, then suddenly scratched his bucket and asked, "Wait. Yaks lay eggs, right?"

The twins snickered and crept the distance that remained between them and the barn, making it without being seen. Smirking, they gestured for Barf and Belch to follow.

The two-headed dragon gurgled quietly in response and crawled rapidly behind the barn, barely escaping the attention of Mulch, who had turned to face the boulder from which they had come out from behind.

"Coulda sworn I saw somethin' there," he muttered, before noticing Bucket again. "No, Bucket! You don't milk the chickens!"

While Tuff made sure Barf and Belch were in position, Ruff ran around to the other side of the barn to check on the Vikings' location. They were over by the chicken coop, their backs to them. Grinning, she gave her brother a thumbs-up.

"Alright, Barf. Gas!" she instructed the Zippleback's right head. She brought her hand to her mouth and mimed breathing gas. Barf opened her mouth and let a stream of gas hiss out to cover the barn.

"I love this part," Tuff smirked, as he and his sister ran to hide behind a rock. "Belch, spark!" he commanded, snapping his fingers. The Thorstons quickly ducked behind their rock as Belch lit his sister's gas with a *kzatch*!

The isle of Berk itself trembled as the barn exploded in a mighty conflagration of fire and smoke. Vikings all over looked up, scared out of their wits, as the demolished barn rained ash, wood, straw, and animal fur all over the village. Bucket's scream could be heard across the island as he instantly went into panic mode, and Mulch didn't even bother trying to calm him down as he ran in fear as well.

And then came the animals.

Yaks, goats, sheep, chickens, turkeys, and more bellowed and squawked in terror as the barn was violently destroyed. Even as the smoke billowed out from the explosion and obscured the entire farmlands, the stampede of barnyard animals rushed out from the blackness, down the mountains, and into the village.

Complete and utter chaos ensued as the terrified animals rampaged through the village. Those few Vikings who didn't flee in terror boldly ran toward the herd with the intent of catching them and putting them back into their pens. However, the herd slammed into them with the might of Thor's lightning, sending them running with the other Vikings.

Meanwhile, in the town square, Mildew was wheeling his cabbages down to the docks, ready to be shipped off to Bog-Burglar Island (which was in the middle of a vegetable shortage). The ground began to tremble, and the old man's eyes grew wide as he saw the immense stampede rushing right toward him. He gave a high-pitched scream of fear just before he fell and was trampled under their hooves.

Ruff and Tuff observed all of this from their vantage point on the decimated farm. "Do you think this was what Heather had in mind?" Ruff asked her brother, plucking a hard-boiled egg from the ground and popping it into her mouth.

"No, but at least no one noticed," Tuff said, very satisfied with their work.

If they had been paying closer attention, perhaps they would have heard the bellowing roar and strong wingbeats of Thornado just behind them.

-.-.-.-.-.

… … … Wow. The twins definitely have some terrible repercussions in store for them…

Heather: "I thought I told you to be smart about this."

Ruff: "It was smart! Blowing up the barn was GENIUS!"

Tuff: "How come we haven't thought of that before?"

Heather: "…Because neither of you have brains."

Anyway, please review and give me a dare suggestion if inspiration strikes you.

Next chapter: Ruffnut dares Batwings