Rainbow Dash tackled the Pegasus from behind, turning it around to face her. She let go suddenly as the Pegasus's large teal eyes focused on her face.

"Fluttershy?!" The smaller thing flying beside her looked to be a dragon, with oversized eyes and tiny wings flapping hard. "What are you doing out here? And what is that?"

"Oh, um... you see... um..." The pale Pegasus looked away from Rainbow Dash, making eye contact with the little dragon. "Um... I..."

The dragon hovered steadily in front of Rainbow Dash, pulling out a letter from the curl of it's tail.

Rainbow Dash skimmed the scrawl. "So, Toothless has finally summoned you. How're you going to tell him about his son? That's going to go over really well, I can tell."

"Um... I..." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I love him, okay! Just let me go."

The dragon rolled the letter up again and fluttered over to Fluttershy. She darted away at a steady, fast pace. The dragon looked back at Rainbow Dash in almost pity, and flew after her.

Rainbow spun, kicking a cloud in anger. She had lost so much daylight chasing Fluttershy. There was no way she could find Coronus before the sun set. She raced back to Ponyville as fast as her tired wings would carry her.

Raven ran a comb through Coronus's dishevlled mane as he squirmed in protest. One lashing paw almost hit her, but her instinctive flinch pulled the hair in the comb taught. Coronus screeched, yanking his mane free of the black mare's grip.

"Where are we going that I have to get all prissy for?" He complained, his tail now subject to her wrath.

"You're a colt, so I have no way of keeping you from rolling in the mud or eating bugs or whatever, but you may as well be presentable."

"I am!" Raven pulled a still-leavy branch, complete with small caterpillar, out of his matted tail, proving her point. With a snort, he changed topics. "Anyway, where are you taking me?"

"All dragon halflings must be taken to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna for proper care."

"Then why are we going this way? Care doesn't sound that bad."

Raven looked up at him, pushing his semi-brushed tail aside. "I've heard the screams, Coronus. Proper care is extermination. Dragon halflings can stir up the bad relations on the borders."

He was quiet for a second. "I'm turning more dragon, aren't I? You're taking me somewhere I can't hurt anybody." Raven went to protest, but he held up a paw to silence her. "I know you weren't brushing me for 'my own good'. You were checking for spines and fur loss. I know I'm changing, Raven. You don't have to try and protect me from it."

"Coronus, I was never going to hide it from you."

He curled his tail around his paws. Where the hairs split, dark blue scales could be seen. His muzzle was rounder, eyes more alert. "Then why are you hiding me?"

"Because I don't want any more innocent foals slaughtered."

"Twilight! I need a spell, fast."

The purple Unicorn woke up from where she had fallen asleep against a bookshelf. "Wha?"

"Anything for night vision and cold resistance."

"You need rest, just like everypony else. I can't keep you out at night."

"Would you rather I got Trixie to do it?"

"FINE! I'll do a spell." A few misplaced books and incantations later, Rainbow looked around the dim room, seeing everything like it was as bright as day, with the detail recieved upon hours of inspection. She blinked a few times before spinning and running out the door.

"Coronus..." she whispered to the sky, eyes closed in prayer. "I'm coming."

"Then I'll help." The sky answered. A pair of narrow green eyes opened in the starless dusk above her. The creature flew down gracefully, the sharp edges visible to the eyes of the Pegasus.

"Toothless?! But Fluttershy got a message from you!"

"Get on my back. She'll still meet us there, trust me."

One the ground, Twilight Sparkle watched the exchange. Wiping the spell from both her own eyes and Rainbow Dash's, she trotted back inside and turned off the lights.

Rainbow bucked at the sudden darkness, vaguely seeing the dragon's reflective eyes. As she landed on his back, a voice let out an annoyed snort.

"Get off my tail!" A pony yelled, turning to glare at her. His fur was pale pink, almost white, while his mane and tail were dark brown. His cutie mark was a dragon egg. "Toothless, are you sure about this? She looks pretty wimpy."

The dragon laughed, muttering something to himself in his own language before responding. "She's faster in the air than you are, that's for sure!"

The pony smacked Liponite's shoulder with one hoof. "By the way," he turned to face Rainbow Dash again, "my name's Hiccup. Hold on."

"To what?!"

Toothless began his quick flight, the tears once gaping through his wing healed over. The Earth Pony kept flicking his back hoof on some metal contraption. It took Rainbow Dash a while to see the thick cords and metal bindings running down the dragon's flank. One of his tail fins had been replaced by a red banner, which the pony was adjusting. There was a white shape on it, in the vague outline of a pony skull wearing a horned helmet.

"Hey, Toothless, when'd you get that?"

"This pony keeping us airborne took it out with a cannon shot." The dragon replied, surpressing a laugh.

"This pony keeping you airborne saved your life more than once!" Hiccup replied, jabbing the dragon's shoulder again.

"This dragon keeping you from splatting on the ground saved yours too!" Toothless snikered. "All but one leg."

Rainbow Dash looked down at the pony's feet. Sure enough, one was missing from the knee down, and was replced by a crude metal skeleton. She felt pride at having such finely made armor. "Did you decide you were too hungry or something?"

"A dragon did, but it wasn't me!"

They all laughed for the rest of the flight, dying down to gentle speech as Rainbow Dash decided to go to sleep. She could sense the bond of family between them as she let her eyes shut.

Raven carried Coronus by what little of his tail wasn't hiding scales. The colt was snoring peacefully in her grasp, swinging gently when she flapped. There wasn't much time left before Coronus woke up, but she wanted a nighttime start. For one thing, Luna didn't patrol her time as much as Celestia did.

A few hours later, she landed at a lengthy gallop, slowing to a stop as Coronus manged to land directly into a tree. She pulled his wings out of the branches until he could struggle free. He landed on the ground belly-up, grunting as he scrambled to his feet.

"Work on those landings, okay?"

"Yeah, whatever."

"Welcome to Berk. The village is just ahead."

Fluttershy was standing at the edge of a cliff, which dropped almost straight down to the grassy floor. Inside the ring of stone, there was a wide lake and a few large trees, hidden from a distance. Some other pony said this place was 'Raven Point'.

The little dragon had fluttered away once she landed, probably to go eat. She had told it over and over that she was sorry about her lack of speed, but it hadn't replied. At least, not in a language she knew.

A filly, looking about Fluttershy's age, meandered out of the underbrush nearby. She had a spiked necklace, with matching bracers. A thick belt around her waist held a heavy-looking battle ax in place. On the other side of the band, there was a gathering basket.

The filly's coat was an orange-yellow, with a blond mane and tail. Her mane and tail were done in thick braids, keeping it from falling in her eyes. She noticed Fluttershy and trotted over.

"You're one of Toothless's friends?"

"W-who are you? Who i-is Toothless?"

She rolled her eyes. "My name's Astrid. Toothless is thie big black dragon that sent you a letter? With a Terrible Terror attached?"

"Oh... yes, I'm here because of him. My n-name's Fluttershy." The filly was at least two hands taller than she was, and was looking down with a disappointed stare.

"Well, welcome." She snarled the last word before galloping off around the outside of the cliff-ring. Watching her, Fluttershy vaguely remembered the mare that she and Liponite had encountered. Maybe the two were related.

Toothless aced the landing, claws gripping the edge of the rooftop. Hiccup jumped off, followed by an uncertain Rainbow Dash. The dragon climbed down the wooden pillars built into the walls, getting to the ground with ease. Hiccup jumped right off the roof, landing safely on the wooden porch below.

"C'mon down! We don't bite."