"Well, that's one down. Got any ideas where the other dragons could be?" Rainbow Dash asked Hiccup as Fishlegs, Meatlug and Twilight went towards the mountain to repair it.

"Nothing in particular. There's too many waterways to really pin down one" Hiccup examined Twilight's map.

"Dragons must be where dragons hang out!" Tuffnut snapped his fingers.

"of course, that's brilliant!" Pinkie Pie gasped.

"Well, duh" Snotlout scoffed.

"Wait, for once he has a point!" Hiccup suddenly looked up.

"Thanks for finally noticing-HEY!"

"Spike, Twilight-is there a place where dragons tend to gather? Like mating grounds or hunting grounds or anything like that?"he continued.

"Oh yeah" Spike scratched his spines sheepishly, "Dragons like this one place way down south. It's like a volcano, and they're pretty nasty down there. Tried living there-met some really mean dragons. Not a good experience. "

"Figures. Well, I guess we'll just have to look anyway. How far is it?"

"It's on another continent." Applejack explained, "We'll have to take balloons or take a ship. Those dragons are pretty violent, so we'll have to be careful."

"We're pretty used to violence" Astrid shrugged, "but what's a balloon?"

"A really slow way to fly" Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

"Don't diss balloons!" Pinkie Pike's eyes narrowed as she poked Rainbow with her hoof.

"Oh, balloons have their uses, darling-they can be a canvas, or a design in of themselves. Why must you always be pragmatic?" Rarity sniffed.

"Can someone PLEASE explain what a Balloon is?!" Ruffnut whined. Applejack opened her mouth, but was interrupted by the other ponies arguing.

"Funny when that happens to someone else, isn't it?" Hiccup said to Ruffnut with a smirk.

By the time they finally got an explanation out to the Vikings, Fishlegs, Twilight and Meatlug had returned, and had to be filled in on the plan.

"What about Meatlug?" Fishlegs interrupted, "I think she should come with us, she can handle herself"

"I dunno-they made fun of me for being so little and weak. A dragon that can't talk is going to be suspicious" Spike objected.

"A diversion…." Hiccup rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "She's pretty much indestructible anyway, and it might give us time to find the other dragons."

"As long as I'm not the diversion this time" Spike sighed in relief.

"Haven't fought a dragon in a while-this should be fun" Snotlout was the only one excited. Fluttershy just whimpered.

"We may not have to fight, though" Twilight said, "by your description the other dragons may just give this dragon his space. "

"That's usually the case with Monstrous nightmares, but on the other hand they actively go looking for fights" Hiccup explained.

"So we'll already be in a fight in progress" Twilight sighed in frustration.

"I wouldn't sweat it; Hookfang can take any dragon they throw at him" Snotlout scoffed.

"Hold on a second, sugarcube; I just realized a balloon ain't nearly big enough for all of us, 'specially if we take Fishleg's dragon here with us." Applejack interrupted with a sudden insight.

"We'd need an airship, but how would we get one?" Twilight agreed.

"An airship?" Rarity's eyes suddenly widened, "Darling, I know just the pony!"

Hiccup's expression was stuck in "awe" mode for a long time even after entering the yacht. For once he wishes magic was part of life on Berk just so he could construct something like this. A form of flying that didn't require a dragon! This would be perfect when the dragons needed their rest or needed to feed. His always-active mind exploded in possibilities.

"Is-is he okay?" Fluttershy whispered in Astrid's ear. The girl just smirked.

"Yeah, he's like that when he sees something he likes. He'll snap out of it when reality sets in"

"Your new friends are absolutely fascinating, Rarity" the mustached gentlestallion commented as the airship reached its flying elevation.

"Why thank you, Fancy Pants. I really do appreciate this favor from you. I hope this doesn't come off as too much"

"Captain Windy Step was a trifle concerned about the destination, but I assured him with Celestia's pupil and a crew of experience dragon-handlers aboard, there was nothing to be worried about. I've even acquired a bit of fascination for dragons myself since you talk about your friend Spike so much"

"Uh, thanks, I like to think of myself as interesting" Spike blushed.

It took a day to arrive, but the blackened lands of the dragon country was unmistakable.

"So dragons around here are like Gronckles, eating mostly minerals?" Fishlegs was talking to Spike.

"Well, gems. We can eat other stuff but we prefer gems. And it turns out this place is loaded with gems. I've read about pony expeditions here, but they don't get far before being chased off. "

As they landed, naturally Fancy Pants and Windy Step elected to stay behind.

"I-I-I think I should stay back, too" Fluttershy said.

"I'll stay with you, Fluttershy" Spike sighed, "I really have bad memories of this place"

"Fine then-keep the ship ready to take off quickly. We might run into trouble" Twilight nodded.

"Even without the other dragons around, Monstrous Nightmares are a handful" Hiccup agreed, "they're a lot more dangerous than Gronckles-excellent fliers, able to attack with their wings, plenty of fire blasts before exhaustion, and they set themselves on fire"

"You really don't want to miss it!" Tuffnut added.

"Shoot, my rope ain't fireproof" Applejack joked.

"Fine. I'll take point. Astrid, Snotlout, Rainbow Dash, cover , Applejack, run to the blimp when we need to get out"

"I'll go with you" Hiccup volunteered, "Fishlegs, you and Meatlug stay under cover. We might need you guys if there's a fight. Rarity, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, keep an eye out in case of more dragons coming in. And try to stay out of sight."

"Don't worry, I did remember to pack this lovely earth-tone cloak and hat. It should be decent camouflage. Darlings, did you-oh" Rarity stopped when she noticed that the twins had somehow managed to patch together rather elaborate tree disguises.

"We are so stealthy right now!" Tuffnut announced.

"Good. Everybody be careful. I see some dragons now." Twilight motioned as the team scattered.

As Hiccup approached them, he could make out they had a more humanoid shape, but oddly each looked quite individual. On Berk dragons varied mostly in color within a species, but it looked like radically different body shapes were frequent on Equestria. Were they different species? Is this just an individual thing?

"Hey, you look familiar!" The red dragon in the middle suddenly noticed Twilight, his small yellow wings flapping in surprise.

" 't worry, I'm not here to start any trouble"

"Good. We don't want any stupid little ponies and their namby pamby princess telling us what to do. You ponies usually are smart enough to leave us alone. What are you doing here?"

"Well, we're here looking for one particular dragon" Hiccup piped in, "It's about 60 feet long with a 20 foot wingspan, bright red, big horns, only two legs-"

"Sure, we've seen-what the heck are you?!" the red dragon did a double take.

"I'm sure you're not interested" Hiccup put on a pleading grin and put up his hands, "I'm just looking for a dragon I know"

The red one raised a scaly black eyebrow.

"That's right. We'll be on our way once we find him. Just keep doing what you're used to doing" Twilight couldn't prevent a sweatdrop from forming on her mane.

"Uh huh. Whatever happened to that wussy little rookie you hung out with, anyway?"

"Oh, you know, hanging around with ponies." Twilight managed to speak out the truth without compromising anything. Hanging around Applejack paid off.

"Ha! Knew it!" he snapped his claws.

"You're looking for that dumb one? The one that's probably related to Crackle?" The lanky purple dragon interrupted.

"That's the one!" Hiccup put on a smile even as he tried not to back away.

"Yeah, he was a really good fighter, but he didn't want to hang out. He just beat us-I mean, he sparred a little and then took off for the coast. "

"Thanks! That's all we needed to know, now we'll just be on our way-" Twilight spoke quickly as she and Hiccup slowly backed away towards the cover of the rocks.

A sudden crunching sound interrupted them.

"Hey, I was eating those!"

They all turned to see a huge brown dragon with large horns and a mace tail shake his fist at Meatlug, who was helping himself to a pile of gems.

"You're trying to help this idiot steal our food!" the red one turned with a snarl.

"But that doesn't make any sense!" Twilight and Hiccup said in unison.

And then the red dragon charged.

Hiccup dove for cover as Twilight intercepted the steam of fire with a shield of magic.

"Fume, Clump, get 'em!"

"A little busy right now!" Clump the brown dragon was tail-fencing with Meatlug at the moment, and was getting quite frustrating at meeting a dragon just as durable and strong.

"Um, right!" Fume, the purple one, had no such distraction. He was almost on top of Hiccup when Astrid and Snotlouts swords came down on his tail. "Yeow!"

"More of them!" the red dragon gasped.

"What's going on, Garble?" Fume asked his friend.

"I don't know! Just get them!"

"I'll tell you what's going on!" A voice came from above.

Garble looked up…then was kicked in the face at high velocity.

"Rainbow Dash is what's going on" The blue Pegasus announced as she landed next to Twilight.

"I'll run back to the ship with the others, we've got to tell"-Rarity's monologue was interrupted by the twins having cast off their disguises and taken their maces off their belts.

"Woohoo!" Ruffnut and Tuffnut didn't hear a word Rarity said.

"Lovely", the unicorn sighed before she galloped off after Pinkie and Applejack..

Meanwhile, Garble and Fume had Astrid and Snotlout back to back, slashing with their claws and tails. Snotlout's sword was knocked out of his hand by a swipe from Garble.

Then magical ropes suddenly wrapped around the Dragon's mouth, arms, and legs and he went down like a chopped tree.

Fume turned to Twilight, realizing it was her magic at work, and took a deep breath to roast her alive, only to be interrupted in turn by two maces smacking into his head.

"So much for stealth!" Astrid rolled her eyes before turning to Hiccup. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, are you?" Hiccup had managed to crawl behind a rock for cover.

"Run back to the ship, we'll hold them off!" she gave the command.

As milady orders, Hiccup thought to himself as he ran as fast as he could. Fume flew after him, hovering low over the ground. He was almost on top of him when a white hoof smacked the dragon in the snout and sent him reeling.

"Get on, darling!" Rarity gasped as Rainbow Dash and the twins caught up to the purple dragon. Soon Rarity was off again, Hiccup holding on at full gallop.

Meanwhile Twilight was concentrating hard to keep her spell working.

"Astrid, Snotlout, get out of here. We can't hold them off forever" She was referring to Fishlegs and Meatlug, who were keeping Clump at bay.

It was only after the two Vikings had run off from the clearing that Twilight turned to Fishlegs.

"Can you outfly these guys?"

"I'd have to do it now-Meatlug's tiring out as much as they are"

"Then we run." Suddenly, the spell stopped. As Clump and Garble slowly recovered, Meatlug and Twilight fled back to the airship.

"This ship can't outfly dragons!" Captain Windy Step protested.

"Huh. Oh well." Pinkie Pie said with shrug.

The engine was ready by the time the rest of the ponies and Vikings arrived, but the dragons were close behind.

"What happened?" Spike gasped.

"Negotiations ….kinda broke down" Hiccup panted.

"Is everyone all right?" the little dragon continued.

"I think so. We should try to hold them off here as long as possible" Twilight struggled to put together a plan.

"Are they as tired as we are?" Fishlegs asked Spike.

"I don't know. They might be, but if they're still chasing they might still want to fight"

"Hey, there's the squirt! And more ponies!" Garble interrupted them.

The Vikings unsheathed their weapons once more. Fluttershy and Rarity placed themselves firmly in front of Spike and Hiccup. Rainbow Dash and Applejack braced themselves as Twilight's horn crackled with magical energy once more.

And a deafening roar made everyone freeze in their tracks.

Down came a huge, red dragon, flying low until landing on folded, spiky wings. The great horned head opened its long-toothed mouth and roared again.

"Way to go Hookfang!" Snotlout pumped his fist.

The teen dragons all let out a stream of fire, but with powerful flaps of the adult dragon's wings stopped the flames in their tracks.

"Uh oh" Fume said.

Clump charged headfirst and Garble swung his tail, but in a smooth movement Hookfang met Clump head-on and rammed him back into a rock formation, then sent Garble tumbling backwards with a single swipe of his tail. A long blast of fire toasted the three dragons.

"Good boy!" Snotlout punched the Monstrous Nightmare on the head affectionately, "Now you guys clear out!" Hookfang punctuated with another roar.

All Garble and his gang did was let out a high-pitched scream of terror before they flew away frantically.

"I missed you, 'fang! I bet you're happy-" Snotlout got the dragon's attention. As in, the dragon chomped down on him, gave him a shake, then spat him out nearby.

"Aww, he missed you too" Astrid teased.

"That's the Hookfang I know" Snotlout groaned happily from the ground. To the amazement of the ponies, he simply got back up and climbed on the Monstrous Nightmare, "Yeah, my dragon's pretty awesome".

"That's how they express affection" Hiccup explained with a smirk.

"What did I just see?" Windy Step said to himself before shaking his head and moving back to the ship.

Meanwhile, Twilight joined Hiccup and Snotlout to inspect Hookfang.

"He's a lot closer to the dragons I'm familiar with around here. Of course, a bit less intelligent, but more recognizable", she said.

"Yeah, Stokers are more of the typical dragon shape, but they have what's called 'wyvern' style legs. Do any dragons around here have only one pair of legs?" Hiccup said.

"Come to think of it, they're all hexapodal" Twilight shook her head

"Well, that makes ours easier to find." Snolout added.

"And yet there's no reports. We'll have to go to less populated regions, where a dragon can hide for a while without being spotted. Unfortunately, there's a lot of those" Twilight thought aloud.

"We could go back to the waterway plan. Are there stretches of the river without any kind of settlement?" Hiccup asked her.

"More that you'd think. Maybe we should put in at Baltimare, rent a ship, and then go up the Rolling Rock River. We'll wind up at Ponyville or Canterlot depending on the branch of the river" As she spoke, she magicked out a quill and parchment, drawing a quick sketch of the geography.

"That's a good idea-if we wind up back in Canterlot, it's still a central location and we can fan out in any direction. Rivers often come down from the melting snows or springs in the mountains for my experience"

"Exactly! The rivers then come out and fan out to the coasts. That way we can start from Canterlot again, resupply, and follow established routes. I'll have to tell the captain to put in at Baltimare"

"Eggheads" Rainbow Dash sighed, having overhead the conversation.

"Yeah, we put up with that a lot" Tuffnutt nodded.

"Usually we wait for him to say it the normal way at the end" Ruffnut added.

Rarity, meanwhile, looked intensely embarrassed in front of Fancy Pants.

"I hope you weren't offended by this little…diversion. It's something I have to do for my friends and I really do appreciate your generous help on it" She stared at the ground.

"Oh, Rarity, I find these new friends just as charming and fascinating as your usual social circle. This adventure has been a real treat, and I can't wait to tell my friends about it. It will make quite the tale!" he assured her.

"Oh yeah? You should tell him about how you saved my life from that big guy with the sword who held me hostage! " Spike crossed his arms, standing protectively next to Rarity.

"My word! That sounds quite exciting!"

"Oh, it was rather unfortunate; I nearly lost my dear little Spike! I'd rather not talk about it"

"Of course; just let me know when you feel comfortable about it, although I rather say it sounds quite colorful!"

"Colorful.I suppose that's the best word to describe this week" Rarity half-muttered.

Hiccup tried to take it all in when they reached Baltimare. Great ships filled the bay, giant buildings rose into the sky, and ponies of all shapes and sizes and colors filled the city.

"Darling, you should see Manehattan someday" Rarity had noticed his expression.

"Sorry, it's just a bit much to take in."

"Yep, I 'member I felt the same way when I went to Manehattan the first time. When you live on a farm, the big ol' city makes ya kinda feel smallish" Applejack smiled at the memory.

"That was quite a delightful experience" Fancy Pants was saying his goodbye to Rarity as Twilight led the rest of the party to a ship. The captain didn't agree but simply said his polite goodbye to Twilight.

"I do apologize for springing this on you. I assure you the next time I have an invitation I won't obligate you to do anything for us" Rarity couldn't stop being embarrassed.

"It's a mere trifle! Next time you wish to catch up, do not hesitate to write me a letter. " Somehow the posh unicorn was entirely unflappable.

Hiccup tried to ignore the gawking as he followed Twilight to the ship; even back on Berk he hated all the attention. For most of his life he had wanted that kind of staring and gawking-after the fight with the Red Death, he pretty much realized it just made things very awkward. Sure, it was understandable given he was an entirely new species to them, but he couldn't help it. Is this what Toothless felt like back home?

The captain of the ship did the same double take that the airship captain had, but fortunately was just as professional, giving a shrug and allowing the Vikings to board. Well, the Vikings except Snotlout and Fishlegs, who had insisted on riding their dragons instead of staying put on the ship.

"Just think of it as an escort" Twilight tried to spin it positively.

"An AWESOME escort" Ruffnut corrected her.

As they started their path downstream, Hiccup turned back to his sketchbook. He couldn't help but start drawing Toothless again.

"I miss them, too" Astrid offered, looking down over his shoulder.

"I know should I be patient and optimistic and all that, but…I'm worried about him."

"Yeah, I know. We'll find him soon enough. He's a grown up-dragon, he can handle himself." She put her hand on his shoulder. It was exactly what he needed.

Hiccup turned to smile at her, "Thanks. I'm glad I'm with you"

Astrid smirked back, "You should be".