"Princess Heather it really won't be that bad"

"But Astrid, you've never been to one!"

"Not true, we've been servers ar them before" Ruffnut pointed out

Astrid sighed, bringing out yet another gown from the princess's wardrobe.

"What about this one?"

Princess Heather hesitated, giving the dress a glance "I don't think so"

Both Astrid and Ruffnut groaned in frustration.

"Princess, that's the seventh dress you've said no to!"

"None of them seem right"

"With all due respect, it is quite important you choose a gown now. This really should have been done months ago, but you ditched all your fittings. Now you have to choose an old one"

"It's just hard to know which dress is right for an event I despise so much"

The event was the annual royals ball. It was attended by kingdoms all across the Archipelago. In earlier years the princess had been overjoyed when the royal bal came around. She loved being able to see her other royal friends. Whilst Heather had many friends there were a group of four who she stuck with the most. Prince Fishlegs, Prince Snotlout, Princess Atali and Prince Hiccup. The princess loved their company. When Heather had stopped enjoying the balls, Astrid initially assumed that she had been excluded or ostracised in some way. However, since then she'd served at one ball and saw the five royals laughing and talking as though everything was normal, confusing her further. Nobody knew why Heather loathed the event so much. For the past years she's returned in an increasingly foul mood.

"You know, there was a time when this ball was your favourite thing in the world" Ruffnut pointed out.

"That was before we all became of marrying age. Before there was so much pressure"

The 'Before my father died' remained unsaid.

Heather and Dagur's father suffered a sudden, tragic death. This thrust the siblings into positions they were fairly unprepared for. Dagur had become the king whilst Heather remained as princess. Heather had felt a strong sense of duty to guide her people through a time of despair, all the while dealing with her own grief, adding more pressure to her role. Beserker Island was in a better place now. They were celebrating the union of Dagur and Queen Mala from Defender of the Wing Island. Although they had some impressions of each other at first, they somehow managed to fall in love. Still in the honeymoon period, Dagur volunteered to host the ball, much to Heather's dismay.

"All my brother cares about is marrying me off to another prince. I wouldn't marry any of them" The princess complained.

"No one?" Astrid grinned putting the dress away "Not even a certain prince from the Ingerman household?"

The dark haired girl began to blush as Astrid and Ruffnut burst into laughter.

"Fine, maybe I would consider marrying Prince Fishlegs. But he is not the man Dagur wants me to marry. Prince Hiccup is"

"Well of course he does! Who wouldn't want to marry the man who managed to unite man and dragon alike?" Ruffnut exclaimed

"He's a fine young man and a wonderful friend but I don't want to marry him. And he does not wish to marry me either"

"Well who does he want to marry?"

"He's not found a bride yet. He briefly courted Princess Camicazi from the Bobs Burglar tribe but that was short lived."

"I don't understand your complaint. You've got lines of attractive men wishing to marry you! Plus you get free food!"

"Oh Ruffnut" Heather sighed "You wouldn't understand"

"I always thought going to the royal ball would be fun" Astrid confessed quietly, looking through the many dresses, wondering which ones she'd already shown.

Astrid turned to show Heather another gown and found her grinning.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You should come to the ball!"

The blonde servant girl froze and accidentally dropped the gown to the floor. Once she'd realised what she'd done she instantly scrambled to pick it up "What are you talking about?"

"You should pose as a princess and come to the ball!"

"Princess Heather, please think about what you are saying. Posing as a princess... The idea is absurd. Tell her Ruffnut!" She looked to her other friend for support.

"I like the idea!"

"I should have seen that coming" she muttered to her herself, the plan was crazy, and Ruffnut loved crazy. She looked between the two of them "I could never pass as a princess"

"Sure you could! With the right dress and a touch of make up you could most definitely look like a royal!" Heather exclaimed excitedly.

"So could Ruffnut! And she clearly wants to go more than me!" The blonde serving girl pointed out.

"Yes, she could but she would not be able to act as one" She then turned to Ruffnut "No offence Ruff"

"None taken" Ruffnut dismissed "Come on Astrid, live a little"

"I don't know how to act like a princess"

"Sure you do! You're respectful, kind, you do as you're told, all you need is a few etiquette lessons"

"The ball is in a few hours, I'll never learn in time"

"Stay near me, if a situation arises I'll tell you whatever you need to know "

"I don't know..." Astrid hesitated "I wasn't raised amongst royals I'll more than likely stand out in some way. All I am is a servant-"

"Helper!"

Heather had an odd aversion to the term 'servant'. She found the term degrading and refused to call anyone under her power a servant. While the objection was sweet, it did not make Astrid's words untrue. If you stripped her job role down to it's essentials, servant really was the most suitable title. It didn't upset Astrid. She'd learnt to be content with her life long ago. It was why she didn't want to be a princess for even a night. She didn't want to be a living reminder of the person she could never become

"Please Astrid" Heather began gently "If you don't enjoy it you can leave. You don't even have to come back and serve, you can get on Stormfly and fly away for the rest of the night"

Astrid sighed, realising she was going to lose this argument "You two won't let this go will you?"

They both shook their head as she groaned with frustration.

"Fine! I will be a princess but only for a few hours!"

"Yay!"

And from that moment, the story began.

So I've never written fanfiction for the httyd fandom but I've been part of this fandom for ages!

Recently I've had lots of ideas for stories and decided to start off with this one! Im really excited •

Please feel free to review! All feedback is appreciated (just make sure any criticism is written constructively)

Should I continue this story? :)