In Berk, birthdays are pretty grand. Not as grand as festivals dedicated to the gods but, nonetheless, still grand. Normally there would be a big party in the Great Hall with food and drink aplenty and the celebrant could ask the Chief for whatever he or she desired, be it weapon, livestock or land. If the celebrant came from the Chief's family, then the celebration would have everything from the finest mead to travelling bards singing their songs and epics.
On this particular birthday the celebrant was Aurora, best friend of Zenna Arrowheard Fiersome and Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III and the future Dragon Queen.
When Aurora told the group that she never celebrated her birthday or didn't know she had a birthday, being that she was taken from her family for her own safety and raised by dragons, the group decided to throw her her first birthday party she ever had.
Aurora was still at home and sleeping in her bed, the entire village was in the Great Hall preparing for the celebration.
Spearheading the preparations were Zenna's parents, Henna and Edgar Fiersome.
"Move those tables to that corner! Presents go on the middle table!"
"No, it needs more chocolate. And add whole strawberries. She loves those."
Aurora's friends, Zenna, Hiccup, Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut busily hung up the celebration banners with the help of their dragons, Srtyka, Toothless, Stormfly, Hookfang, Meatlug and Barf and Belch.
Viggo and Venom, Aurora's Triple Stryke friend, now his friend, were also hanging up some banners.
"This party's gonna be awesome!" Snotlout whooped excitedly as he balanced on Hookfang's back to hang a banner.
"Yeah. Zenna's family always throws the wildest birthday parties. Remember last year when they had a wrestling contest during her Dad's party?" Tuffnut asked Ruffnut, his twin sister. "No holds-barred, fight till you're the last one standing. It was glorious!" Ruffnut reveled.
"They actually did that?" Viggo asked, surprised.
"Heck yeah! You should have been there..!" Tuffnut exclaimed happily.
"This surprise party's gonna be the best! I can't wait to see Aurora's face…" Astrid said to Hiccup while commanding Stormfly to pin up some more banners. That's when Gobber came in, "This is going to be the first party lad's ever had so it has to be the best. Astrid, you're in charge of decorating with Fishlegs. Snotlout…I can't believe I'm saying this, but you and the Twins are gonna help with the food." he sighed upon assigning the last job and left.
"Cooking? That's girl's work!" Snotlout whined.
"Cooking? That's it? No eating?!" Tuffnut exclaimed in horror.
Ruffnut could only mutter, "Thor, help me…" as she grabbed the boys by their tunics and dragged them to the Great Hall's kitchen.
"We've already hung the banners. What do you think we should add?" Astrid asked Fishlegs. "There's actually this sphere thing I've been working on. If we can hang it in the middle of the Great Hall and spin it against the candlelight, it can make a pretty lightshow." Fishlegs suggested.
"That sounds interesting. Let's go." Astrid chirped and followed Fishlegs out of the Great Hall.
That left Zenna and Hiccup in the Great Hall with Stryka and Toothless. The two Night Furies nudged their riders.
What were they gonna do?
"I don't know, bud. Maybe we can just help whoever needs helping." Hiccup shrugged as Zenna's parents and his father, Stoick the Vast, came over.
"Actually son, you, Zenna, Stryka and Toothless have the most important job of all." Stoick told him. "Which is?" Zenna quirked her eyebrows.
"Your job is to keep Aurora away from the village until we've finished preparing, Hiccup. Remember, she must not see any evidence of the party being prepared." Henna told him seriously.
"For how long?" Hiccup asked. "Bring her here just after sunset. But don't say anything about the surprise. Be careful that she doesn't suspect anything, understand?" Edgar replied, seriously looking at the one-legged teen.
Hiccup and Zenna nodded.
"Come on, bud! Let's go greet the birthday girl!" "Come on Stryka, let's go!" Hiccup and Zenna called earning licks from their two dragons, making them laugh. The two siblings not by blood but by bond then raced out of the Great Hall with Toothless and Stryka.
Aurora was sleeping peacefully in her room until she felt a small paw on her cheek along with a cute chirp. "Aunty Aurora, wake up, wake up, wake up." Dart's energetic voice came to Aurora's ears. Aurora smiled and she awoke to find the three Night Lights sitting on her bed.
"Good Morning... " the three of them said happily.
Aurora chuckled, "Morning, you three..." Ruffrunner, as usual, fell asleep and Pouncer gave him a deadpanned stare before he smacked him on the head, waking him up and the two started rough housing with each other, making Aurora laugh and chuckle. Dart placed her wing on her younger siblings, making them pause their playing when Hiccup, Zenna, Toothless and Stryka came up, "Morning Aurora." they greeted with Toothless and Stryka giving her gummy smiles.
"Morning.." Aurora greeted.
"So what are you planning on doing today?" Zenna questioned.
"I don't really know.." Aurora admitted.
"Well how about we go for a fly together, you, us, the Night Lights and the Furies." Hiccup suggested. Aurora smiled and nodded, it would give Eclipse, Midnight, Luna, Winter, Snowheart and Crystal he flying practice they needed. "Alright then, are we going to fly around Berk?"
"Nope, outside of Berk. We found some pretty cool areas where we can go flying, play and do a bunch of other fun stuff." Hiccup replied with a smile.
"Okay." Aurora said. The group went outside and found Midnight and Snow watching over their hatchlings. The little babies were roughhousing with each other happily. When the six babies noticed the Night Lights they came bounding over and all the babies played with each other.
"Midnight, Snow, you wanna go for a flight?" Aurora asked her friends.
"Hmm... alright." Midnight said. "We could use a small break from being in the stable all day."
"Yeah and it'll give our kids some flight practice." Snow agreed with a grin. Aurora smiled at her two Furies as she mounted Snow and the group flew off together. While Aurora was oblivious to her friends surprise, Hiccup and Zenna wondered how the others were doing.
"So when you said you were working on the sphere thingy, you really meant that you hadn't even started making it." Astrid deadpanned.
In front of her and Fishlegs was a metal ball, some string, a bucket of glue and a lot of tiny mirrors.
"Well all we gotta do is stick the mirrors onto the ball and let it dry before we hang it." Fishlegs said meekly.
Stormfly and Meatlug sniffed the materials curiously. Stormfly took particular interest in all the mirrors and admired herself in them while Meatlug rolled the metal ball around with her paws.
"All right, let's get started." Astrid sighed. But when she tried to pick up a mirror and Fishlegs tried to pick up the ball, both Stormfly and Meatlug growled and protectively curled around their treasures.
Astrid and Fishlegs looked at each other worriedly. How were they gonna make this thing if their dragons wanted to keep the materials as their playthings?
But then Venom came over and softly growled at the two to let the treasures go, but Stormfly and Meatlug wouldn't hear it... until Venom showed them his tails. Then the two backed off and gathered the items. "Thanks Venom." Astrid said and Venom smiled at her.
Meanwhile, Zenna, Stryka, Hiccup and Toothless had led Aurora and the Fury family to an island with a volcano and where the winds were blowing strong.
"This area's perfect for flying! The heat from the volcano creates thermals above the island while the natural winds give the thermals a boost. Wanna give the little ones a try?" Hiccup asked Aurora.
"Sure.." Aurora said.
The Fury hatchlings chirped happily and the Night Lights took charge. Pouncer led the Night Fury babies while Dart led the Light Fury babies, Ruffrunner, as expected, fell asleep while flying and just hovered in the air with his eyes closed.
Pouncer chirped at the Night Fury hatchlings and they followed her into a small dive in the air before she leveled off and flapped her wings. Pouncer looked behind him and saw the Night furies catching up with her. She then flew up into the air followed by the hatchlings and she did one flip and the hatchlings followed without a single sign of difficulty. "Awesome..!" Zenna cooed.
Dart had the Light Fury hatchlings flying in a small zig zag pattern in the winds, so they could get used to making turns. Dart then gave a flap of her wings and flew up followed by the hatchlings and she blasted out a plasma blast and dove into it, vanishing. The hatchlings then followed suit and vanished as well.
"The Light Furies can cloak when their young too!" Hiccup gasped.
"They are spitting images of their mother." Zenna chuckled in amusement. The four hatchlings reappeared and Dart led them over to the group. "Good job, you two..." Aurora cooed at the hatchlings. They all chirped happily and Ruffrunner woke up, "What happened..?" he asked groggily.
"So where to next?" Aurora asked the two. The four friends smiled before they lead the group to another island.
In the Great Hall's kitchen, however, things weren't going well for the three assigned assistant chefs. Hoark and Phlegma were already doing well with the meat and bread. Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout were in charge of the birthday cake.
"Do not touch those chocolates!" Ruffnut slapped her brother's hand away from the jar of chocolates for what seemed like the thousandth time. That's when she noticed that Snotlout was going for the bag of strawberries!
"Step away from the strawberries!" the female Thorston screamed. Both boys groaned while Ruffnut moaned.
It was bad enough she was stuck with cooking duty. Now she had to deal with two idiots who only cared about eating the ingredients!
"Alright, Zenna's parents told me that the cake should be a regular butter cake with chocolate frosting topped with strawberries. We'll need two bowls for the cake batter and the frosting, measuring cups and a big wooden spoon." Ruffnut told her brother.
"On it!" the male Thorston then headed to the cart of kitchen utensils at the back of the kitchen.
"For the ingredients, we'll need flour, butter, baking powder, eggs, sugar, vanilla and milk to make the cake and cream for the frosting." Ruffnut instructed Snotlout.
"Easy-peasy!" the Jorgenson boy said boastfully and trotted to the pantry.
"Well that was easy…" Ruffnut said in surprise, amazed that the guys actually got her directions right.
A sudden crash of cookery accompanied by the ripping of a sack got her attention. Tuffnut came back with one measuring cup hanging on one of his helmet's horns and another on his boot while Snotlout returned from the pantry, covered in flour from head-to-toe.
"Spoke too soon…" Ruffnut sighed, facepalming.
After spending some time at the island they now called Freyr's Air Island, Hiccup, Toothless, Zenna and Stryka led Aurora and her friends to another island.
"So what's so special about this island?" Aurora inquired. Hiccup put two fingers to his mouth and sharply whistled.
Suddenly, a whole group of Scauldrons surfaced! Toothless and Stryka warbled their greetings which the numerous Tidal Class dragons returned.
"Who's up for swimming?" Hiccup asked, smiling at Aurora's awestruck expression.
Astrid ducked behind her shield as Stormfly launched her spines. Fishlegs squeaked and narrowly avoided being bludgeoned by Meatlug's tail as she swung it. Both dragons still had the mirrors and metal ball. And Astrid and Fishlegs were both at their wits' end in trying to figure out how to get them back.
"Come on, girl…I promise I'll get you more mirrors the next time Trader Johann visits…" Astrid coaxed Stormfly who merely squawked indignantly and shook her head.
"Please, Meatlug? Daddy promises I'll get you an even bigger one." Fishlegs pleaded with his Gronckle. Meatlug merely yawned and tightened her grip on the metal ball.
Just when both teens were about to admit defeat, who should conveniently arrive but Trader Johann!
"Johann! Oh, thank the gods, are we glad to see you!" Astrid exclaimed, startling the trader who was pushing a cart filled with mysterious goods covered by a sheet of cloth.
"Well hello Ms. Astrid and Mr. Fishlegs! What's got you two in such a twist?" the good-natured trader greeted the two Viking teens warmly.
"Johann, you don't happen to have any mirrors and a big metal ball now, do you?" Fishlegs asked frantically. "As a matter of fact, Mr. Fishlegs, I do." Saying this, Trader Johann hefted two huge chests out of his cart.
Opening them, Fishlegs and Astrid discovered a large, ornate, oval-shaped mirror and an iron cannonball.
"We'll take them!" both Viking teens said at once and began rummaging around for any tradable goods.
"No worries, you two. Both items are free of charge." Johann stopped them.
Astrid and Fishlegs looked at him in surprise. Since when did Trader Johann give stuff for free?
"The Chief and the Fiersome family have paid me a hefty sum already. Those items were just some extra cargo I've picked up recently and have no use for." Johann explained, gesturing to the mirror and cannonball.
"What'd Stoick and Zenna's parents pay you for?" Astrid asked curiously.
Trader Johann showed them the cart's contents. It was full of small cylinders attached to sticks topped with triangular dome shaped pieces.
"Fireworks. They're for Lady Aurora's Special Day. Master Hiccup ordered them especially for the occasion." Johann said, smiling.
Astrid and Fishlegs marveled at the fireworks before hearing some familiar growls. Stormfly and Meatlug had noticed the mirror and cannonball and were now trying to get them out of the chests, leaving the materials for the sphere thing alone.
"I best be off. These fireworks won't set themselves up." With those words, Trader Johann headed to the Great Hall.
Fishlegs and Astrid quickly gathered the materials and left their dragons to their own devices. It was already close to noon and they had to finish making this fast!
"Cannonball!" Aurora shrieked, diving into the water with a loud 'splash!'
"Yeah, baby!" Hiccup whooped, following her shortly after.
The Scauldrons were very friendly and allowed the two friends to ride on their backs and swim with them. Midnight, Snow, Toothless and Stryka stayed on the island to have some quality time together on their own while their Riders and the hatchlings frolicked in the water.
Pouncer and Ruffrunner splashed each other in the water, chirping happily while Midnight, Luna and Ecplise played with Winter, Snowheart and Crystal spraying them with the water.
"What do you think the others are doing back home?" Aurora asked, brushing her hair away from her face. Hiccup's eyes widened. Luckily, his long, auburn bangs were covering his emerald green eyes so Aurora didn't notice.
"Um…probably just whatever they do on any ordinary day." He replied carefully, hoping Aurora wouldn't suspect anything. The one-eyed girl shrugged before giggling, "Dude, your hair's getting long." Noticing that Hiccup's hair was plastered to his forehead and covering his eyes.
"Yeah, I know…I've been meaning to get a haircut." Hiccup laughed, parting his bangs away from his face only to get splashed by Dart! The little Night Light made a small laughing sound, "Alright you tiny, Night Light, its on." HIccup said as he retaliated with a tiny splash. Dart chirped before she had her younger sibilings, Pouncer and Ruffrunner spray Hiccup in the face. "Hey, that's cheating...!" he whined. Dart chirped.
"Dart said, 'Who cares'?" Aurora chuckled. Hiccup gave a small pouty face before Ecplise sprayed him in the face again! "Oh come on...!" he complained, making the others laugh.
Back in the Great Hall's kitchen, Ruffnut had managed to get Snotlout cleaned up and removed all of the cups from Tuffnut and was now mixing all the ingredients for the cake in the larger of the two bowls her brother had brought her.
"I need more flour." Ruffnut she commanded. Tuffnut, having been schooled on how to properly measure flour earlier, scooped up one cup of flour and leveled it before adding it to the bowl.
"Egg yolk." Ruffnut said next. Snotlout carefully picked up an egg, cracked it and separated the white from the yolk and added the yolk to the cake batter and placed the egg white in the second bowl for the frosting.
"I have to say, boys. Not bad." Ruffnut praised the two before noticing that they needed more milk.
"I'm gonna get more milk. Do not touch the cake batter." She instructed Snotlout and Tuffnut and left.
The two boys looked at each other and at the bowl of cake batter. "What is it with girls and sugar?" Tuffnut asked, noticing the great amount of sweet stuff in the cake batter. "I know, right? This cake's got a lot of sugar but not enough spice." Snotlout agreed with him before producing a small bag of dried chilies from his pocket.
"Oh yeah…" Tuffnut said gamely but then stopped short and his eyes widened.
"Wait, Ruff said not to touch the cake batter." He reminded Snotlout who casually reached for the wooden spoon. "I think she meant not to touch the cake batter with our hands." He said, but a blast of fire came and burnt the chillies, "HEY!" Snotlout whined, before seeing Venom and Viggo giving him a scolding look, "I don't my girlfriend will like ghost peppers in her first cake." Viggo stated.
Venom nodded in agreement, "Do the recipe right.."
"Fine.." Snotlout grumbled.
"So, Where are we going now?" Aurora asked as they followed Zenna, Stryka, Hiccup and Toothless in the sky. "It's a secret." Hiccup stated simply and Toothless purred in agreement.
"Huh?" Aurora asked confused. Then the group saw another island below them.
"Here's our last stop, Zen." Hiccup told his best human friend.
Landing on the beach, Zenna looked around and noticed that the trees had…
"Are those orchids?" she asked, looking up at the flowers clinging onto the branches in wonder. "They are. You told me once that orchids are your favorite flowers, right?" Hiccup asked with a smile.
"I love orchids! And also tulips. They're my two favorite flowers in the whole world." Aurora gushed. Hiccup laughed and held Aurora's hand. "Then you'll love this." He said as he led her through the woods with their dragon friends.
Every now and then they would stop for Aurora to admire the beautiful blooming orchids lightly swaying in the breeze. Finally they arrived at a small meadow that was filled with tulips of all colors.
"Woah..." Aurora gasped as her eyes widening to the size of a plate. Midnight, Snow, their hatchlings, the Night Lights, Toothless and Stryka looked at the flowers, smiling toothlessly at how pretty they were.
"Its beautiful..." Aurora added. Hiccup and the others smiled.
"Yes!" Astrid and Fishlegs cheered as the dots of light danced around the Great Hall. Stormfly and Meatlug rumbled their approval before going back to their playthings.
"Well done, you two!" Gobber grinned as Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout wheeled in the cake.
"We present to you, our edible masterpiece!" Ruffnut said, grandly gesturing to the two-tiered, chocolate frosted and strawberry topped cake complete with some delicate piping made with white icing.
"I did the piping!" Tuffnut said proudly. "And I arranged all those strawberries." Snotlout added, puffing out his chest.
Everyone 'oohed' and 'aahed' at the cake. Stoick was pretty surprised and rather amazed on how the three troublemaking Viking teens actually did a pretty good job. But Zenna's parents were skeptical.
"Chocolate frosting, strawberry toppings…is it a regular two-tiered butter cake?" Henna questioned the three Viking chefs critically.
Ruffnut confidently said, "Of course it is, Mrs. Fiersome. Right, boys?" patting her fellow chefs on their backs. Snotlout and Tuffnut nodded in agreement.
"Excelent. Now all we have to do is wait for Hiccup to bring Aurora here…Where is that boy anyway?" Edgar asked everyone, only to get shrugs.
On the Island, the hatchlings and the Night Lights were bounding around in the flowers under the watch of their parents, Toothless and Stryka.
"Just think, one day the nine of them will be fully grown.." Hiccup sighed.
"Yeah, I like the Night Lights as hatchlings.." Aurora cooed. "I want them to stay that way..."
"Hehehe... you can dream Aurora, but I don't think that'll happen." Zenna replied.
"Maybe not, Zen. Her Amulet is magical. Maybe it'll have an effect on the Night Lights.." Hiccup thought.
"Maybe.. but for now, let's get back to Berk. We have one more surprise for you Aurora and it'll be the biggest ever!" Zenna exclaimed, confusing Aurora.
"Hurry up!" "Move!" Edgar and Henna yelled to everyone who scrambled to make the final preparations.
The other Viking teens had been sent outside to keep watch. Just as the final banner was hung up, they all burst in.
"They're coming! We just saw the Furies approaching the island!" Astrid warned them.
"Alright, everyone get into position!" Stoick ordered as the sound of dragon's wings flapping was heard.
Landing in the plaza to find it completely deserted, Aurora, Hiccup and Zenna got off their dragons. "Huh? Where is everyone?" Aurora asked, confused. "The plaza is usually packed... kinda..." Hiccup and Zenna silently chuckled.
As they approached the Great Hall, Hiccup and Zenna turned to Aurora. "We'll go on ahead. You and your dragons just wait a couple minutes before going in." he instructed her.
"Uh.. okay?" Aurora stated before seeing Zenna and Hiccup running ahead with their dragons. "Wonder what they could be up to?"
"Oh I bet its a napping party..!" Ruffrunner cheered.
"How is a napping party, fun?" Pouncer deadpanned at her brother.
"Because its quiet... and... nice... zzzzzzz..."
"And of course he falls asleep." Dart sighed, shaking her head. Aurora chuckled, "Well, we won't know until we go in." Aurora and her dragons went into the Great Hall and found the lights out. "Hello?" Aurora called inside.
"SURPRISE!"
Aurora gasped in shock and smiled a very wide grin at the sight of all her friends and family along with all the dragons and villagers gathered around, smiling. "W-What's all this..?" Aurora asked.
Zenna and her parents came over to her, "This.. is your birthday party."
"B-Birthday Party..?" Aurora inquired. "B-But I don't remember when I was born..."
"We know but we wanted to give you your own special day." Edgar explained.
"So we decided to make today your birthday.." Henna chimed in with a smile. Aurora couldn't stop smiling at the three of them, "T-Thank you..." she said. Zenna and her family smiled and hugged her.
Stoick came over to her next and smiled. "As the Chief, I congratulate and commend you, young Aurora, for your bravery and dedication to defending Berk." He said as Hiccup went to his side.
Aurora chuckled at him, "It's nothing, Chief honest.." Aurora said modestly.
"Oh! Oh! Oh! Aurora, check this out!" Fishlegs then signaled Astrid who yanked on the string, making their sphere thing spin. "That is amazing!" Aurora laughed as she watched the multicolored dots of light dance around the room.
"Amazing? Wait till you taste this!" Ruffnut then dragged the birthday girl to her cake. "Whoa! Who made this?" Aurora asked, eye wide with amazement.
"Me, Tuff and Snot!" Ruffnut said, proudly patting both boys on their shoulders.
"Really?" Aurora looked at the two, her right eyebrow raised.
Tuffnut and Snotlout meekly nodded. Aurora looked at her boyfriend for confirmation, "Indeed they did."
"Well, I must taste this cake then!" Aurora proclaimed, taking up the knife and cut herself a healthy slice. Aurora took a bit out of the piece, "Awesome...!" she declared making everyone smile. Then she noticed a small white paw trying to get a piece of the cake, "Dart..." she warned. The female Night Light chirped and froze while Aurora smiled, "Wait your turn for your piece of cake, alright.."
Dart chirped and nodded.
"And... Edgar and I have something to give you.." Henna said with a smile.
"Huh?" Aurora asked and Edgar gave Aurora some papers. Aurora managed to read through them, but she was still confused, "What kinds of papers are these?"
"... Adoption papers.." Henna stated.
The whole crowd gasped in shock.
"A-Adoption..?" Aurora gaped like a fish, "Y-You're adopting me..?"
Edgar and Henna smiled at each other, "We know besides Shadow, you never really had a real family before, so Edgar and I decided to give you one... by joining our family..."
Aurora was speechless but tears of happiness came out of her eyes and she hugged the two, "T-Thank you...!" she said and the crowd cheered happily and the dragons roared in celebration. Zenna literally did a back flip for joy. Now she had a new sibling.
"So... what's her full name now?" Fishlegs asked with excitement.
"Well, we both decided that your full name will be... Aurora Frode Fiersome..!" Edgar declared proudly. Everyone cheered loudly once more and Aurora couldn't have been happier. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I have one more surprise." Hiccup smiled and led her out of the Great Hall followed by everyone else.
"Many Happy Returns, Lady Aurora!" Trader Johann shouted against the loud din of the fireworks erupting in the sky.
Everyone, Viking and dragon, marveled at the sky as the small rockets were shot up into the sky with the help of some Terrible Terrors and exploded in the heavens, illuminating the nighttime sky with all the colors of the rainbow.
"We so gotta get one of those…" the Twins both said, eager to get their hands on some fireworks of their own.
Fishlegs and Snotlout 'oohed' and 'aahed'.
Astrid stood to Hiccup's right while Aurora stood at his left, their dragons behind them. "Hiccup got them especially for you, Aurora." Astrid smiled at the stunned speechless birthday girl.
Aurora could hardly say anything and just watched the fireworks display in amazement. Now, on her very first birthday, she gained a new family, ending the best day of her life.