I can certainly dig that I have readers in 57 countries. Always cool! Just like you guys :)

Another three weeks passed. After a week of frost and two weeks of solid snow, the sun had made an appearance, so humans had begun their Snoggletog preparations. To avoid being put to work, Stormfly, Meatlug, and Lightning had quietly slipped out of the village that morning.

They had spent the day flying over the island, and now were fishing leisurely at an unfrozen section of a river not far from the village. The three females chatted and laughed, discussing the upcoming Snoggletog festivities. Lightning told them about Cinder and Ash, who, along with many of the other young dragons, enjoyed joining the humans in their holiday tasks, decorating high up places and generally relieving most of the adult dragons of their work.

The sun was now setting, and as the shadows of the surrounding trees lengthened on the snowy ground, an unfamiliar scent wafted in on the rising winds.

"Another storm is coming in," commented Stormfly, eyeing the dark clouds approaching from the east.

"We'd better get back, then," said Lightning, and Meatlug nodded her agreement.

Distracted by the news she had to deliver to Toothless, she didn't notice the sudden silence of the forest.

It had just happened this morning. It is a little premature, she thought with growing excitement, but hopefully he won't mind, I sure don't, maybe he'll even-

"Lightning."

"What?" she replied, before finally sensing the unusual hush in the atmosphere. She raised her nose in the air and took a deep breath, sniffing the air. Something is wrong. The sun slipped below the tree line, leaving the air cold and dark. "We need to leave. Now."

Dark shadows began appearing, crawling out from behind boulders and leaping from trees. Icy dread crept into her chest, and Lightning backed towards a petrified Stormfly and Meatlug.

"Fly," she said. "Fly," she repeated. "NOW!"

The Nadder and Gronckle took off, and Lightning leapt into the air after them, but it was too late.

Toothless had been watching Hiccup repair the roof of his house in the setting sun. Earlier in the day, an overeager and out of control Academy student and his Gronkle had crashed through the ceiling of Hiccup and Astrid's bedroom, creating quite the mess. Fortunately, the couple had been downstairs, and now that it was all cleaned up the Chief worked on replacing the smashed tiles.

He hadn't been back in the shelter since he had left it before the sun had risen, not bothering to go back inside since Lightning had gone off with Stormfly and Meatlug for the day. Eret, Son of Eret had returned from his long trading voyage with Skullcrusher that morning, and Toothless hoped to catch up with the Rumblehorn soon.

Cinder was on the ground with Ash, playfully wrestling with his sister around Astrid, who sat on the hillside next to the house with them. It was a gentle tussle, all of them careful to avoid the gentle swell of Astrid's growing pregnancy. They were giggling, little rumbles, and Astrid laughed delightedly with them as they tugged at her furs and licked her face. "You guys! That doesn't wash out!"

Absently, Toothless wondered for a moment what his mate and friends were doing. The sun was nearing the horizon, and they still hadn't returned. He was hoping they wouldn't be too much longer, as the migration to the nesting island was in less than a week, and he wanted to get a few good nights of sleep beforehand.

As the Alpha, he felt obligated to join the other dragons as they journeyed to lay their eggs. For protection, for support, whatever- it wasn't necessarily a requirement, it was just something a good leader did.

Lightning hadn't said anything about eggs, so he assumed with a mixture of and relief and disappointment that there wouldn't be any baby Night Furies this Snoggletog. Maybe next year…

His reverie was disturbed by the sound of approaching wings. For a moment it barely registered, after all, they lived on an island full of dragons, but then-

"TOOTHLESS!" It was a scream, of sheer terror.

Hiccup heard the shrieking of a dragon and turned quickly to see Stormfly barreling towards him. "Whoa!" he ducked as the blue dragon passed over him, landing heavily on the roof. He crossed his fingers and sent a quick prayer to the gods that the new tiles would hold under the Nadder's weight.

Stormfly was screeching and flapping her wings, seemingly shouting at Toothless in a language Hiccup wished desperately he could understand. Was that… blood on her scales? Suddenly his dragon's jaw dropped and his eyes went wide.

"Bud, what is it?!" Hiccup called, but the Night Fury had already leapt off the roof and sprinted to his shelter, almost knocking the door off its hinges.

For a moment, it was silent. Hiccup slid down the roof shingles, holding on with a hand as he smoothly swung himself down to the ground. He took one concerned step in his dragon's direction, passing Astrid as she got to her feet. Then the air seemed to shatter around him.

From within the shelter could be heard a keening wail, a roar of such despair it sent chills down every spine in the village. Toothless burst from the door, pupils slits, with a terrifying expression on his normally amiable face. Without pause he leapt into the air, flapping his wings once, twice, before bringing them down hard, creating a sonic boom as he exploded away from Berk.

Another roar could be heard from a nearby rooftop. It was Cinder, somehow he had managed to fly over there without being noticed, and he seemed to be… summoning the other dragons. He called out to them, again and again, until a cloud of them had gathered before him.

"Is that… Stormfly?" Astrid gasped, pointing. Her dragon had left the roof of their house and was in the air, hovering near Cinder as he called to the others.

"Yes… and Hookfang, and Barf and Belch!" Hiccup exclaimed. "What are they…" he trailed off as Cinder leapt from the roof and took off after Toothless. The flock of dragons wheeled and followed him, roaring and screeching as they flew.

Hiccup and Astrid watched the dragons fly off, before turning to look at each other, speechless. It must have something to do with… Suddenly, Hiccup turned and ran to the shelter, flinging open the door. Astrid followed, stepping into the dark room. "Hiccup?"

Hiccup didn't speak. He stood there, frozen, and Astrid peered around him.

"Oh, Toothless…" Astrid choked, and she buried her head in Hiccup's shoulder.

Before them, nestled in the blankets and straw at the back of the shelter, was a single, perfect, black egg.

Here's what's up. (Don't worry, this isn't the last chapter!) I've actually got this story finished, but I'm going to spread out the last few chapters to give you all something to read while I start work on the sequel. How about one every weekend? I know that's a long time for me, so I hope you all can be patient.

Even after this is over, I'd still love to hear what you've all thought of this whole thing. Reviews and suggestions are always welcome, so, you know, do that.

PPS! If you guys want me to update more than once a week, seeing as how I've got lots to share with you, just let me know. Seriously, if enough people review, I can be convinced to do all kinds of stuff. Mostly update, though.

Cheers!

A/N:

Okay so I guess there's some confusion regarding the egg. Lightning references that it "happened that morning" and Toothless mentions that he left the shelter before Lightning did that morning and hadn't bothered going back in. So the egg business happened then. I imagine that Lightning probably wouldn't want to leave her new egg, but she also probably didn't want to tell anyone about it yet, and so couldn't say no when Stormfly and Meatlug wanted to leave the village for the day. Does that help? :)