The cousins had never seen a Pegasus in real life before. They had only ever heard stories and seen drawings on scrolls. One laying in front of them was a magical experience. The sounds of carnage brought them back into the moment. One of the mares ran forward, going for the baby under the Pegasus's wing. Snotlout was able to move fast enough, picking up the horse and tossing it over his shoulder. His actions seemed to surprise the Pegasus, but the winged horse was also surprising Hiccup.

"Why didn't he fly off?" he wondered.

Cautiously, the boy started getting closer. This caused the Pegasus to become tense, but he did not try to move away. He just covered the baby more.

"We want to help," Hiccup insisted, hands raised.

He kept walking, gradually nearing the Pegasus. As he did, the other horses were still attacking. Hiccup ducked when one breathed fire at him, but Dagur caught it by the muzzle. Paranoia started to fade from the Pegasus's eyes. Maybe this group really was trying to help. He unsurely moved his wing, letting Hiccup get the baby. The inventor used his head to gesture to the sky.

"You can get out of here now," he said. "We'll make sure the baby gets somewhere safe."

Nothing happened. Hiccup's brow rose in confusion. He had expected the Pegasus to fly off, but he did not go anywhere. Instead, he let out a small noise. It almost sounded pained. Hiccup started moving to the other side of the horse and gasped. The Pegasus's left wing was missing. The wound was bleeding slowly and blood was on his coat.

"He's hurt!" Hiccup called out. "The mares must have attacked him."

The boy looked between the baby and the Pegasus. He would not be able to tend to the wound while also keeping the infant safe from the horses. His friends knew this as well, so they did their best to calm things down around them. When the sound of trotting reached Snotlout's ears, he maneuvered in time and pinned a horse down. Another beast ran at him, but Dagur caught its tail. He squinted at the animal.

"Podargos?" he asked.

Slowly, the horse turned to him in surprise.

"You remember their names?" Snotlout inquired.

"Yeah, she was always the fastest." Dagur frowned at the horse. "You and your sisters need to stop eating people."

"You can talk to horses?"

"No more than you can, but I know she understands me."

To help prove his point, the horse let out a disgruntled huff. Snotlout was quiet for a moment, then crossed his arms.

"So, these things just have been having fun all this time?"

He looked at the horse on the ground. It suddenly looked more disappointed than truly angry.

"If I get up, will you try to eat me?" the boy asked.

The mare made no attempt to assure him of his impending danger or safety. Snotlout decided to take a chance and get up. As soon as he did, the horse nipped at him. He yelped and fell back.

"Bad horse!" he chided.

Fire started appearing near the horse's mouth again. The other animals joined in, eyes blazing. Dagur began to frown at the group.

"Okay, you're getting on my nerves now. Snotlout, you knock out those two to the right and I've got these two."

The immortal rushed forward, catching one horse by the leg. He held on tight, not letting the beast escape in spite of the hard kicks. Dagur started dragging the horse as he went to the other one. His actions had spooked the second mare who was looking for an escape. It ran around, considering whether or not to try lighting the god on fire. This decision making took too long. Dagur was able to get close enough to trip the horse when an attempt to run was made. He sat on the animals, using some divine power to weigh them down. Snotlout adjusted his stance, bouncing back and forth on the balls of his feet to help him move faster. One of the mares lunged at him, but he dodged and hit it in the head. The beast fell to the ground in a state of unconsciousness. When the other one approached, Snotlout was not able to hit it as well. It moved back too fast. Just as the mare was about to charge for Hiccup, the Pegasus stood up and kicked the other horse. This sent it back and Snotlout threw the other mare. The two horses collided, knocking them both out.

"Did you bring any rope, Hiccup?" Dagur asked.

Glancing up, the boy nodded. He quickly went over to the fighters, using one hand to give them the rope as he used the other to keep the baby. They got to work tying up the mares.

"What do we do with them now?" Snotlout inquired. "They aren't dead."

"No, but they can work. I'm thinking about giving them to Hephaestus."

"You've gotta stop with this whole 'man-eating, fire-breathing gift horse' thing."

"It would probably work out for him. It's not like they can eat an immortal and as much welding as he does, some work horses who breathe fire would be helpful." Dagur started to grin eagerly. "Plus, I want him to make me some more knives. I doubt he will otherwise."

"Well, at least you finally found someone they'd be a good gift for."

Snotlout turned when he noticed Hiccup coming over. His eyes widened as the baby was put in his arms.

"Why are you giving it to me?" he asked.

"'It?' Really?"

"Yes, 'it.' As in, why do I have it?"

"I need to fix the Pegasus's wing. I can't do that with the baby and there's no one else over here right now."

Snotlout grumbled, only doing it more when he heard Dagur laughing at him.

"I could give this to you, you know," he threatened.

Mischievously, the immortal transformed into a wolf.

"Good luck with that."

Snotlout grumbled some more and with his hands free, Hiccup went back to the winged horse.

"Hey there," he said gently. "Could I have a closer look at that injury?"

The Pegasus regarded him with a careful, scanning look. Hiccup felt like he was being judged after entering the Underworld. When he was deemed suitable, the horse let him move forward. Hiccup knelt down and his brows furrowed in worry. He glanced at Dagur.

"Can you make it stop bleeding like you did for me?"

"It only works for mortals," the god revealed, looking apologetic.

"Then I'll be right back. I want to get some water."

Hiccup hurried off to the coast. He soaked a cloth in the seawater, then returned to where the horse was. The inventor tried to be as gentle as possible as he cleaned the wound. Still, he saw the muscles around the nub tense.

"Sorry," he apologized. "I know what it's like to have part of you bitten off."

At his words, the horse's eyes moved down to his metal leg. Hiccup thought that he saw a glimmer of empathy in the Pegasus's eyes. He kept working until the area was sanitized, then got a bandage to tightly wrap it. Hiccup did not stand up when he was done. A troubled look crossed his face.

"What's wrong?" Dagur asked.

"He won't keep bleeding, but he won't be able to fly again."

"Poor Pegasus," Snotlout said, mouth curved down.

The warrior paused, seeing a familiar expression on Hiccup. He raised an eyebrow.

"Uh oh, I know what that means. You're going to try to make him a wing?"

"I have to. I wouldn't feel right just leaving him here. What if another monster shows up and he can't fly away?"

"Have you ever made something like that?" the immortal inquired.

"No, the closest I've done are the wax wings, but this shouldn't be too different, right?"

"Not at all," Dagur said sarcastically. "It's just got to support the weight of a Pegasus instead of one tiny human. Basically the same thing."

Hiccup looked back at the horse. "I have to try. Maybe if I study the other wing, I'll be able to make a replica of it."

The boy got ready to look for supplies. Before he could go, Snotlout spoke up.

"Um, not to be a downer, but we still have this baby. I didn't really plan on becoming a dad today. If neither of you did either, we need to find someone else."

Dagur tapped his chin. "There's another god who might help us with this."

"Who?"

"Apollo. He loves teaching kids. This one's a little too young to learn much from him, but he might be willing to find a family who'll help out until he can start giving those lessons. It'll also give you more time to work on that wing while we do this," Dagur said, looking at Hiccup.

The boy turned to the horse, then his friends.

"That works for me."

"Okay, so we'll drop off the baby first, then the horses."

Dagur shifted his form, letting Snotlout hop on his back. The warrior hauled the horses up there with him.

"I know where one of his temples is," the immortal divulged. "Even if he doesn't want to talk to us, he'll notice the crying."

They flew off and Snotlout glanced down.

"Do you think Hiccup will actually be able to make something to help the Pegasus?"

"I don't know. If anybody can, it's definitely him, though."

Dagur squinted, starting to see a temple on the horizon. He flew lower and Snotlout hopped off. The boy beseeched the immortal, but he did not see anyone appear. Snotlout began getting worried, then looked at the baby in his arms.

"What if Apollo doesn't hear? Or if he doesn't come by. He didn't help Hiccup."

The thought had occurred to Dagur who frowned. They could not bring a baby with them with how dangerous their missions were, but with all the monsters, being abandoned on the temple step was the same as being killed. Before Dagur could come up with a solution, he sensed someone new.

"I still feel bad about that."

Fishlegs was there, eyes low. His face brightened when he saw the child.

"Aw! A baby!"

The immortal held out his arms. Unsurely, Snotlout handed the child to him. He felt awkward afterwards. He had been dismissed by the last immortal. The warrior was not sure what the protocol was with this one. He would have bowed, but the god was too focused on the baby.

"It looks like he hasn't eaten in a while," Fishlegs said. "I'll get him something."

The god of prophecy was about to leave, but he hesitated.

"I've been watching some of your missions," he admitted. "I'm not trying to spy on you, but it's been interesting."

"Glad to be good entertainment…I guess," Snotlout said, still wondering how he was supposed to respond.

Dagur was much more casual. "You don't need to be nervous. He's not smite-happy like some of the others."

Fishlegs nodded. "I don't like doing that unless it's really necessary. I…I've actually liked what you three have been up to, so I wouldn't smite you even if I was one of the more aggressive immortals."

"Really?" Snotlout asked, eyes wide.

"Yeah, you've been helping a lot of people. It seems like you're going to keep doing that."

"How far into the future did you look? Did you see us taking down any major enemies?"

The warrior did not want to ask too many sensitive questions. Although he had a feeling that Apollo was not one of the gods they would fight, he did not want him to accidentally warn someone else.

"The future is complicated," the immortal stated. "Like with Achilles. I saw him dying, but that was because the current path he was on had that happening. Sometimes, gods get involved and that messes with my visions. When I'm only looking at immortals, I know what'll happen however far I want to see."

"Oh, so because Ares is here, you won't know?"

"Pretty much. It's hard to see the future for other gods. It doesn't work very well, so I just vaguely see you and Daedalus doing good work. I don't know the specifics of it most of the time unless Ares isn't as involved.

"Did you see what happened to the Pegasus?" Dagur asked.

"I did. Actually, after I find somewhere to bring the baby, I want to go back to Thrace with you to help heal him. I saw what Daedalus will be doing soon and he's going to need the Pegasus back in full health."

The redhead's eyes widened in shock. "You're helping us out?"

Fishlegs lowered his head slightly. "I owe him this at least. I should've helped him back then."

"Feel free to keep clearing your conscience if it's going to be useful," Dagur said, grinning.

The other god was not really sure how to take his comment, but he went to bring the baby to a family, then quickly returned. Dagur gestured to Snotlout.

"If you can take him back, I'm going to drop off these horses really fast."

Fishlegs looked at the vicious mares and shuddered. "Okay, I can do that."

In fascination, Snotlout watched the other god turn into a large swan. Dagur vanished with the horses and Fishlegs began lowering his neck for the mortal to climb up.

"Woah, you're fancy," Snotlout commented. "I'm just used to vultures now." He held some feathers to keep from flying off. "Your feathers are way softer than Dagur's, but don't tell him I said that."

A small chuckle came from the immortal. "I won't tell him." After a moment, he spoke again. "Thanks for helping out Artemis's friend. She's a good friend of mine too."

Snotlout could not help smiling. An immortal was thanking him for something.

"No problem," he said. "She seemed really cool. I hope we'll see her again."

"You will."

Curiously, the mortal looked at him. "So, you were able to tell with that. How much of my life did you see before all this started?"

"To be honest, I didn't really look."

Snotlout tried to not let that hurt his feelings. "I guess you had better things to do than just look at a random mortal's life."

Fishlegs could hear some disappointment in his voice and felt bad.

"I don't check on a lot of mortals if that helps any. Most of the time, it's really sudden. I wasn't even trying to find out about Achilles. It just came to me."

This succeeded in making Snotlout feel a bit better, but it also raised questions in his mind about just how many immortals decided to get involved in mortals' lives. The duo landed back in Thrace before he had too long to ponder that. Hiccup was busy working on the wing and instantly bowed when he saw the immortal.

"He doesn't make you bow," Snotlout said.

"Oh, um, that's humble of you," Hiccup commented, standing back up.

He tried to think of a way to ask why the god was there without it coming across as rude. Snotlout could tell, so he shared the plan with him. A smile covered his face.

"Thanks! He's right over here. I don't want his wound to get infected. I think it's cleaned pretty thoroughly, but I'd definitely feel better if you were the one who healed it."

Hiccup led Fishlegs deeper into the city. When the blond saw the wounded Pegasus, he let out a sad noise. He only looked sadder when he undid the bandage.

"Can you make it regenerate?" Hiccup inquired.

There was a pause before Fishlegs shook his head. "I can't. When it's gone, it's gone, but I can close the wound and make it so that it doesn't leave a scar."

Gently, the healer god placed his hand where the wing used to be. The cousins watched as a purple glow came off his fingers, making the hair light up. This color went into the blood, seemingly making the Pegasus himself sparkle with purple. Gradually, the light faded and Fishlegs stood up. The horse looked at his freshly healed wound. He could tell that there was still not enough to fly on, but it no longer hurt. He turned to Fishlegs with a grateful twinkle in his eyes. The immortal smiled and patted his head.

"You're welcome. I wish I could do more."

"That's sort of what I've been working on," Hiccup admitted.

Intrigued, the immortal turned to him. "What do you mean?"

"I'm making a wing for him. It's almost done. If you're not too busy, you could watch us test it out."

Excitedly, Fishlegs grinned. "I'm not too busy. I've never seen a Pegasus have a new wing made. I'd love to see that."

Hiccup hurried back over to his work station. Snotlout noticed how his practice was improving his skills. His cousin seemed to work faster—more like an experienced inventor than a novice with nothing else to do. Snotlout helped Hiccup carry the large wing over to the Pegasus. As they reached him, they saw Dagur appear again.

"Four horses taken care of," he declared happily. His eyes lit up when he realized what was going on. "And I'm just on time! Let's see how this goes."

The immortal went to the other side of the horse. Like the wax wings, there was a harness. He attached that to the animal's body as Hiccup and Snotlout helped fit the prosthetic where it needed to be. When they were done, the trio moved back to look.

"That should work," Hiccup stated.

Almost timidly, the Pegasus stood up and expanded his wings. It felt strange for one of them to not be organic anymore. He flapped and was able to feel his hooves leave the ground. The friends cheered at the sight and even the other immortal had to clap. Some of their eagerness faded as the Pegasus tried to flap with more force. The wing struggled to adjust. It seemed to get stuck in one position, locking up. The Pegasus started falling and Hiccup gasped in horror. Snotlout caught the horse before he could hit the ground.

"I'm so sorry!" the inventor apologized, looking devastated.

The Pegasus seemed disappointed, but he was not angry. It was almost like he was assuring Hiccup that he appreciated the effort. Regardless, the boy would not accept defeat.

"I'll figure out a way to make it work." He paused, frowning in thought. "Maybe we can bring him back to Athens. I have some tools there that could help."

"I wouldn't mind an extra passenger," Dagur said.

The group looked at the horse who seemed fine with the idea. He went over to stand by the group.

"I'll leave you guys to do that," Fishlegs commented. "It was nice getting to talk with you, though."

"You too," the cousins stated, grinning.

They watched Fishlegs vanish, then got ready for their departure. Hiccup and Snotlout stayed on either side of the horse, helping him to not slide off the vulture's back. When they landed, Hiccup led him to his work area. The horse was intrigued by watching him. His eyes followed wherever Hiccup went. When the boy dropped a rod, the Pegasus used his muzzle to push it towards him.

"Thanks," Hiccup said, picking it up again. "This time, it really should work better."

The light from the forge was bright in the moonlight. It drew attention from their home. Within minutes, Spitelout was approaching. He saw Hiccup working on the wing, then noticed the Pegasus.

"What's going on here?"

"We found an injured Pegasus," Hiccup revealed.

"Why is it here?"

"I'm making him a new wing."

The man scoffed. "Can you believe that, Boy-o? Wasting time on a flightless Pegasus."

He turned when he did not hear Snotlout agree with him.

"You don't think this is a good idea, do you?"

"Sort of," the boy admitted.

"How?"

Snotlout did not have a good answer and his father's disappointed look was making him lose more of his confidence.

"This is why immortals don't bother talking to the two of you," the man accused. "You spend precious moments on pointless ventures like this. I thought you were going to stop the mares, but you come back with a Pegasus who can't do anything and act like you've done good work." Irritated, he pointed towards the coast. "Go back and bring me the head of one of the horses to prove you actually know how to do something right."

Spitelout's eyes moved from the boys when he saw someone else. Dagur was storming over to him.

"They already stopped those horses and are about to help a Pegasus fly again," he stated. "If you're so worried about getting immortals interested in your family, maybe you should do something worthwhile yourself instead of just expecting to benefit from their fame."

The man glared at him bitterly. "And who are you?"

"Ares."

"Nice try, but I know that no Olympian is wasting their time with—"

Spitelout stopped talking when the god's entire body began glowing. Immediately, he fell to his knees, forehead pressed to the ground.

"I didn't know it was really you!" he insisted fearfully.

Snotlout regarded him in shock. He had never heard his father's voice sound so scared nor ever seen him bow. The man seemed terrified.

"They told you a while back, but you didn't believe them," Dagur growled. "I bet the reason no immortal talked to them before is because you made them doubt themselves so much, the Olympians doubted them too."

"I'm sorry! I won't do that again!"

Dagur's eyes narrowed. "I don't believe you. You're just scared right now. You'll say anything."

Spitelout kept making grand promises, none of them meaning anything to the immortal. Dagur's anger only faded when the cousins approached him.

"It's okay," Snotlout assured him.

"Yeah," Hiccup agreed. "He doesn't have to be proud of us."

"We're starting to be pretty proud of ourselves."

The war god side-eyed them. "Are you sure?"

When they nodded, he let out a sigh. He snarled again at the man.

"Be lucky they care about you so much."

He turned away and Spitelout speedily rose to his feet again before rushing back to his home. A sort of peace went through the cousins as the night continued and the last touches to the wing were made. Hiccup lifted part of it to show the horse.

"Now, this is a little weird, but I think I found a way to keep it from locking up," he explained. "I connected more of it to the harness. If someone were on your back, they'd be able to work with you during the flight to adjust it. You'd probably need that person anyway since this will require some maintenance eventually. So…I guess this is a really long way of asking if you'd be okay with us flying together?"

His question shocked the Pegasus. He had never had a rider in the past.

"If we do this, it'll also mean that you would have to join our group," Hiccup added. He turned to his friends. "What do you two think? We could figure out how to get him flying again. We already know he doesn't scare easily. It could be helpful to have him on our side too."

The boy paused in worry. Maybe this was just something that he wanted because it took too much of a toll on his inventor's heart to stand seeing a creation fail. Maybe they would not think it was worth their time. Maybe Hiccup could not have been more wrong. His friends looked thrilled by the idea.

"Who can say no to hanging out with a Pegasus?" Snotlout asked.

"And a super brave one who stood up to carnivorous horses," Dagur added. "If he's fine with joining the team, I think it would be fun."

Hiccup smiled and looked at the horse again. "Well, what do you say?"

The horse's mouth opened in a version of a smile. This looked so silly that it made the group chuckle.

"He's going to need a name if he's going to stay," Dagur said.

"What should we call him?" Snotlout asked. "Peggy?"

The others cringed at the suggestion.

"What about Toothless?" Hiccup offered.

"But he's not," Snotlout commented, lifting an eyebrow.

"No, but the baby was and that's what led us to him."

The warriors looked at one another, starting to grin. Even the Pegasus seemed to like the sentiment behind the name. He smiled again and flapped his wings happily.

"In that case," Hiccup said, "welcome to the team, Toothless."

One of Apollo's sacred animals is the swan (something he actually shares with Aphrodite). For Pegasus, he is normally Poseidon and Medusa's son. In myth, he is a white horse. The hero, Bellerophon, captured Pegasus with Poseidon and Athenas's help. This seems like some odd uncle and niece bonding to torment their son and cousin, respectively, but I guess they had fun with this. It ended sort of badly because the duo tried to fly to Mount Olympus and were struck down by Zeus. Other stories say that Pegasus brings Zeus his bolts. Pegasus has also been honored as a constellation, so that's nice for him