*peaks out from underneath sofa*

Hello...

*hides back underneath sofa again looking mysterious*

...I know I said I wouldn't do this for a long time, but...

*jumps out of from underneath sofa* *snaps fingers* *disco ball drops from ceiling* *rope holding disco ball snaps* disco ball shatters against floor* *angry shouting in background*

Oops...*stares at disco ball sadly* Um... *brushes pieces of disco ball under couch with foot to hide my failure* Heh heh...um...*clears through* *cough cough* Aaawwwkkkwwarrrddd...

BUT SERIOUSLY! I got too many ideas for this AU and I just couldn't wait for "a long time" to do it! The ideas were KILLING me! SO NOW YOU GUYS GET IT EARLY. I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY! No, seriously, I really do hope you guys are happy. :)

Anyways...yeah. I'm just going to stand here and...watch over the remains of my disco ball while trying to look cool...or hide from my angry neighbors...yep, definitely hide from my angry neighbors. XD Sorry, I'm so random. :D Enjoy chapter 1! :D *runs off*

This, is Berk. The best kept secret this side of...well...anywhere. Granted, it doesn't look like much, but this wet heap of rock packs more than a few surprises…

"Yeah!" Ruffnut and Tuffnut whooped in unison, swiping a sheep away from Snotlout with grace like a cat - like a cat that had just been dumped into a barrel of water and was scrambling to get out as fast as cat-ly possible.

"Hey!" Snotlout shouted in protest, but the twins and their Zippleback were already long gone. "Come on, Hookfang! That sheep was mine!"

Hookfang grumbled and followed Ruffnut and Tuffnut.

Life here is amazing, just not to the faint of heart. See, while most people enjoy hobbies such as drawing, or needlepoint, we Berkians, and Berserkers, enjoy a little something we like to call...Dragon racing!

"Wheeeeeeeha!" Astrid cheered. She passed Snotlout easily on Stormfly, making a break for the twins and their sheep. Stormfly turned upside down, snatched the sheep from Barf and Belch's claws, and sped onwards as if she did it every day. "Ah ha!" Astrid cheered.

"HEY!" the twins and Snotlout protested. "THAT SHEEP WAS MINE!"

Astrid smirked and spun overhead, holding the sheep just out of their grasp. She was enjoying teasing them way too much for her own good. "And NOW," she said, pausing for dramatic effect, "it's MINE!"

You see, dragons used to be a bit of a problem...but that was five years ago. Now they've all moved in! And really, why wouldn't they? We have custom stables...all-you-can-eat feeding stations...a full service dragon wash...even top-of-the-line fire prevention if I do say so myself.

Astrid swooped low towards the crowd, swung upwards, and slammed her sheep into her blue basket. The crowd cheered. Snotlout and the twins shouted in annoyance. Fishlegs came towards the baskets, Meatlug carrying a sheep of her own. They were just about to drop it in, when-

"WINDSHEAR, SPINESHOT!" Heather shouted from across the sky, and her dragon obeyed, spines flying in Fishlegs' direction. Fishlegs gasped and screeched, and Meatlug dropped the sheep in shock. Just before it fell in the bucket, Windshear grasped it in her claws, and shoved it into her own basket.

"Oh, YES!" Heather cheered.

That, is my sister, Heather the Superior. I totally came up with that name...okay, no I didn't, but it really makes no difference either way. She also just so happens to be the Chief of the Berserker tribe. She's been Chief for two years, and quite honestly, she's done a great job of it. Thanks to her, the Berkians and Berserkers have been at peace.

Heather dropped the sheep into the basket, laughing to herself. She loved dragon races. She loved them to death. She was competitive, naturally, especially when it came to her friends. Astrid was competitive, Hiccup was at least a little bit competitive, and Snotlout and the twins were beyond a doubt competitive, and Fishlegs…

Practically everyone Heather knew was competitive.

She wondered where Hiccup was. She and the other Berserkers had arrived earlier that morning to renew the peace treaty, and like they always did before renewing it, they had a dragon race, but so far, there had been no sign of her brother.

She wondered where he was. According to Stoick, there had been no sign of him since morning, and that thought alone worried Heather, although she said nothing out loud. Stoick didn't seem very concerned about it, so naturally, Heather wasn't, either.

Worried, but not concerned. That was what she was.

Then, she heard the horn: the horn she had heard whenever they had dragon races during the Peace Treaty renewals. The horn that meant-

"The black sheep!" Astrid gasped. She patted Stormfly's neck. "Come on, Stormfly!" she said. "We can still win this thing!"

Stormfly chirped in agreement and doubled back around. Heather smiled mischievously. "Come on, Windshear," she said. "Let's get her."

Windshear nodded and bolted after Astrid and Stormfly. Behind them, Heather could hear the shriek of Fishlegs, followed by a THUMP and the crowd going "Ooooooh!" in unison. Heather wasn't concerned very much. Snotlout was very violent, and the Berkians and Berserkers were used to it by now.

They learned to live with the violent people.

Heather wore face paint much like Hiccup's: two streaks underneath her eyes. Except, her face paint was silver, like the color of Windshear's scales. It was Hiccup's idea for her paint to be silver, and he even added powdered granite to her face paint to give it a sparkle.

Ah, she loved her brother. He was amazing.

But enough said. It was time for her to win this dragon race.

The black sheep shot into the air, right in front of Astrid. Heather mentally calculated her moves; she could swoop in underneath Stormfly and snatch the sheep. Windshear was faster than Stormfly. It would be simple.

Heather smiled.

"Up! Up up up up up!" Astrid chanted, urging Stormfly on.

Heather smirked even bigger, shaking her head. Not today, she thought silently to herself.

Just before Astrid grabbed it, Windshear swooped underneath Stormfly and trapped the sheep in her strong yet gentle claws. Heather laughed and whooped. "Aha!" Heather cheered. "Come on, Windshear! Let's finish this thing!"

Windshear growled in agreement and shot downwards, towards the baskets. Then, out of no where, Snotlout's shout of "THAT SHEEP IS MINE!" met her ears, and the next thing she knew, the sheep was no longer in Windshear's grip.

Heather mentally scolded herself. She shouldn't have been so careless. She was going to kill Snotlout.

She turned around, just in time to watch as Snotlout - her more-than-just-idiot of a cousin - threw the sheep to Ruffnut, calling out, "Here ya go, babe!" as he went. "Mine's worth TEN!" he bragged.

Oh my Thor, Heather mentally groaned.

"Oh, cool!" Ruffnut gasped. "The black sheep!"

Naturally, the first thing the twins did when they had the key to winning the entire race, was fight over it. Tuffnut grabbed it, yanking on it, and Ruffnut held firm. "Nu-uh!" Ruffnut said, jerking it in her direction. "This sheep is mine!"

"But half of it rightfully belongs to me!" Tuffnut said, jerking it back towards himself. "Remember!? Half a sheep is half the original amount of points, and since this one's worth ten, it means that we both get - um - seven points! See? That's even more than ten!"

Heather was just about to react, maybe to steal the sheep from them, but then, Astrid beat her to it. The Hofferson girl leapt off Stormfly's back and onto the Zippleback's while her Nadder flew underneath. Astrid snatched the black sheep, whooped, "YEHA!" and landed back on Stormfly's back once more.

It all happened so quickly that Heather didn't even have time to try and stop her. Stormfly and Astrid shot back towards the baskets, Stormfly spun upside down, and the sheep was accounted to Astrid's points.

All around them, people - Berkians and Berserks alike - began cheering. Stoick jumped up from his chair and beamed. "Aha!" he said. "That's eighteen! Astrid takes the game!" Beside him, Spitelout groaned, and Stoick punched his shoulder. "See that?" Stoick bragged. "THAT'S my future daughter in law!"

Heather smiled. It wasn't the first time her father called Astrid that. Heather even teased Astrid once by calling her "future sister in law", and Astrid simply laughed and told her to stop eating so much fish right before bed.

Once the crowds died down, Heather landed Windshear on the platform and began approaching her father, wiping the racing paint off her face as she went. "Hey, Dad!" she called.

Stoick looked up at her and beamed. "Hello, Heather!" he said. He clapped her on the shoulder, probably a lot harder than he intended to, because she nearly tumbled off the platform, laughing all the same. "That was quite some show you put on!" Stoick congratulated.

"Thanks, Dad," Heather said. "I was wondering where Hiccup was."

Stoick's smile faded into a frown, and he sighed. "Lad's been gone all day," he said. "It would be just like Hiccup to forget you were coming back today."

"Oh, it's alright," Heather said. "It just means I'll have to find him and give him a good slugging for not being here." She smashed her balled fist into her palm, grinning mischievously.

Astrid stepped up behind Heather, her hands on her hips. "And I'll help you," she said. "Hiccup can always use a good slugging here and there to keep him on his toes."

Heather grinned. "Lucky him only having five," she said as she mounted Windshear.

Astrid laughed, jumping on Stormfly's back. "True that," she agreed. "Come on. Let's go find Hiccup."

Heather nodded, and the dragons launched themselves into the sky.

Heather smiled.

It was good to be home.

Yep. Berk is pretty much perfect. All of my hard work has paid off. And it's a good thing, too, because with vikings on the backs of dragons, the world just got a whole lot bigger.