Merida looked past Hiccup and saw the one thing she was hoping she wouldn't. She saw 6 full heads of hair, 3 red, 1 brown, 1 black, and 1 blond with a helmet and horns on top, running in the direction of the stables.

"Hiccup, do yer dragons get startled easily?" Merida asked him.

"Sometimes, usually you would have to be a complete stranger, why?" he replied while watching Astrid teach.

"Tuffnut, my brothers, and Ryan's brother and sister are heading towards the stables," Merida replied.

"What?" Hiccup asked and looked at her.

"Let's just go stop them before they burn the festival down," Merida told him before pulling him along.

They ran as fast as they could while trying not to push the people around them. Merida had to pull her dress up so as to not trip over it. They were almost at the stables when Merida's mom called to them.

"Merida! Hiccup! There's someone here who would like to introduce themselves," Queen Elinor told them.

They stopped running and turned around. The queen was walking alongside a young man. He was definitely not Scottish based solely on the fact that he dressed with a sense of refinement.

"How do you do Princess?" the man greeted and bowed down to her. 

'Definitely French,' Merida thought. She looked at her mom and noticed her eyes seemed to be a bit foggy.

"Fine. Umm, sorry to be rude but we really must be going," Merida excused herself awkwardly.

She turned away, grabbed Hiccup, and sighed before running toward the stables.

"That wasn't awkward at all," Hiccup commented.

"Mum used to look for potential suitors for me. I don't want it to start again," Merida replied.

Hiccup sensed the annoyance in her voice. She must have really hated it.

"I understand that you don't want to be forced into anything, but are you thinking about getting married?" Hiccup asked. "I mean, if you found someone, would you marry them?"

"Aye. I would if I could. I was only 16 when they fought for my hand, so of course, I didn't want to be tied down just yet. Now, I'm fond of the idea, but it'll never happen," Merida replied without looking at him.

"How come? If you don't mind telling me," Hiccup asked.

"The only one I've ever been interested in isn't interested in me," Merida replied.

"Well, I'm sure if you-"

"Look out!" Merida warned and tackled him to the ground.

They covered their heads as Meatlug, Stormfly, Hookfang, and Barf and Belch flew through the stable doors.

"Tuff what are you doing?" Hiccup asked.

"We're on a very important mission!!" Tuffnut declared.

"Please don't say-" Hiccup sighed.

"For Loki!/For Loki," Tuffnut declared while Hiccup groaned.

"Get off of them before you get hurt!" Hiccup told the kids.

"Are you kidding? This is the most fun I've ever had!" Lillias replied from Hookfang and giggled.

Merida's brothers nodded in agreement while Graeme remained quite. He looked a bit pale as he held on tight to Meatlug.

"Wait till we tell your parents about this," Hiccup warned.

"They'll have to catch us first!" Lillias retorted and flew off.

"I like the way this kid thinks," Tuffnut laughed.

The triplets went after Lillias on Stormfly. Tuffnut went in the opposite direction. Meatlug was still flying in place because Graeme was too scared to move.

"You know, despite being mad that they took the dragons I'm sort of proud they didn't crash right away," Hiccup commented.

Merida frowned and walked closer to Meatlug.

"Come on down, and we won't tell on ye," Merida told Graeme.

"I don't know how," he admitted.

"Don't worry, I'll help you down," Hiccup responded.

"Come here girl," Hiccup coaxed Meatlug to the ground.

Graeme immediately jumped off.

"Aye, you're alright," Merida soothed him.

"I'm never getting on a dragon again," he replied slowly.

"Now now, calm down. Go look for your brother and tell him to keep an eye out for the stray dragons," Merida instructed him.

Graeme slowly nodded before running off.

"Let's hop on Toothless and go after them," Hiccup told her.

"Princess Merida I really must speak with you," Merida heard someone say behind her.

Merida sighed and turned around.

"Right now is not a good time," Merida told him.

"At least let me introduce myself. I'm Gaston, the pleasure is all yours I'm sure," he introduced himself and reached for her hand.

Merida pulled back before he could touch her. Something in his eyes seemed to change.

"Right, well, we have to go," Merida said as she back away into the barn.

She pushed Hiccup inside as well. She refused to look away from Gaston until she was inside and with the doors closed.

"What's wrong?" Hiccup asked as he climbed on Toothless.

"He felt... odd. I don't like him," she told him.

"Are you sure it's not just because you don't want to marry him?" Hiccup asked.

"Whatever it is, I don't want him anywhere near me," Merida shuddered and walked over.

"Hello there Toothless," she greeted.

Toothless eyed her but didn't seem bothered by her presence. Merida scratched him under the chin, making him fall down. Merida chortled and while Toothless wagged his tail.

"How did you know to do that?" Hiccup asked impressed.

"He's just like Angus, except that Angus will hit me with his tail of I annoy him," Merida told him.

"Oh don't worry, Toothless does the same," Hiccup informed her and climbed on the saddle. Merida sat behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Are you sure you're holding tight enough?" Hiccup asked.

"Aye, don't worry. If I have to I'll hold on tighter," Merida replied.

"Alright, here we go," Hiccup announced and made

Toothless push the stable doors open.

Toothless jumped up and flew out with Hiccup and Merida on him. Merida looked down to see Gaston was going to go inside the stables but stopped when they flew off. He didn't seem at all surprised about the dragon and actually seemed to be smirking. Even from afar she could tell there was something strange about him because of his eyes.

"He's just making me more wary of him," Merida whispered.

Hiccup hesitantly placed his hand on hers to show he would be there for her. She squeezed his hand in return before letting go so he could hold on to Toothless with both hands.

"Do you see them?" Hiccup asked.

"Yes! I see Tuffnut over there!" Merida pointed toward a booth that was closer to the forest then the rest.

Tuffnut was on Barf and Belch, sneaking behind the booth. Toothless flew down but it was too late. Barf and Belch tipped the booth over causing the people there to back up screaming. A woman backed off and tripped on a wire which caused a bucket to fall on her head.

"Tuffnut, really?" Hiccup asked once they landed.

He and Merida got off and quickly walked over to the group. As it turns out, some of the people at the booth were Callum, Heather, and Aileas.

"Everyone, please calm down!" Merida tried to reassure everyone else.

Hiccup walked over to the group. Callum and Heather helped Aileas up and took the bucket off of her head. Some fish slid down her face which would have made everyone laugh if not for Aileas' scowl.

"Tuffnut what were you thinking?" Hiccup asked exasperatedly.

"Ahaha! I was thinking that the looks on their faces would be priceless!" Tuffnut replied still laughing.

Aileas was fuming. She walked over to Tuffnut and slapped him across the face.

"You better be glad I'm a lady otherwise I would have done much worse!" she yelled and walked off while trying to wipe all of the fish from her face.

Young MacGuffin walked with her back to the castle. Heather crossed her arms and shook her head at Tuffnut before walking to Merida.

"You're helping us find the kids and then you're going to- I don't know yet but you're going to make it up to everyone. Especially Aileas," Hiccup told Tuffnut.

When he didn't reply Hiccup walked closer.

Tuffnut looked at the MacGuffin's retreating figures with a smile.

"Tuff, are you smiling?" Hiccup asked.

"Huh? What- Uh no! Let's go find the kids," Tuffnut quickly replied and hopped on Barf and Belch.

Hiccup shook his head before climbing on Toothless.

"Tuffnut's going to get it! Good thing Toothless and Heather were there with me to show everyone that dragons weren't bad," Merida told him and climbed on as well.

"I'll get Windshear to help look," Heather told them.

"Thank ye," Merida replied.

"Alright bud, let's go find them," Hiccup told Toothless.

They flew off with Tuffnut following behind them.

"Where could they have gone?" Hiccup asked. "Hey, Tuff did they say anything while you were taking the dragons?"

"Tuff?" Hiccup asked again when he didn't hear a reply.

He looked back to find Tuffnut looking around expectedly. He had a sort of mischievous smile as he looked.

"Tuffnut, you are not leaving to cause more mayhem so don't even think about it," Hiccup warned him.

"Huh? Oh yeah, hey maybe they went inside of the castle. I should go check it out," Tuffnut quickly told them and flew down to the castle.

"Uh, no what did I just say?" Hiccup asked exasperatedly.

"No use chasing after him again. The wee devils have a sweet tooth. Maybe they're over by the food on the other side of the castle?" Merida suggested.

"Well, we have to start somewhere," Hiccup replied.