"No! Let me go!" The angry little Hotdog Princess pounded on the ice-bars of her cage.
The Ice King stomped his foot on the floor beneath him and cried out, "But why? I'm being nice, aren't I? Just look at that spacious cage."
"No, you're not being nice, and Finn will be here soon to kick your butt! Hmph!" She shouted and turned her nose up.
The Ice King took his crown off and tossed it onto the floor. "Fine, I'm tired of being treated so poorly by you ungrateful princesses, when all I do is give and give."
He pouted and walked over to the cage, unlatching it and setting his prisoner free.
The Hotdog Princess jumped out and slapped him, before quickly fleeing the palace. He sighed and slouched against the wall, placidly fiddling with his crown.
"Oh, Gunter... I need a princess that'll actually give me a fair chance." The Ice King slumped down further and sighed deeply.
"Mrrp!" the stoic penguin chirped, pointing a wing towards a strange looking orb mounted atop a pillar of ice.
"What? The trans-dimensional flux-capacitor?" He placed his crown back on his head and stood up, intrigued to see where his henchpet might be going with this.
"Mrrp." he flailed his wings and jumped up and down.
"That's a great idea, Gunter! If I can't find a princess to marry in all of Ooo, then surely I'll find one in another dimension! Okay, let's light this bad boy up."
The freshly enthused king stood before the orb, lifting his hands and shooting a steady stream of glowing magic into it, which it quickly began to absorb. As the orb filled with the sorcerer's magic, it began to glow along with the magical flow. Nearly fully charged, it broke away from its pillar, floating several meters into the air.
"Is it working? How do you use this thing again? Where'd I put that manual?" The Ice King lowered one of his hands and fumbled behind the pillar, quickly finding what he sought.
Gunter panicked and pointed up. "Mrrp! Mrrrr!"
"Settle down, Gunter! Everything's fine." The king looked up to see a portal had begun to form beneath the orb, being shot out like a cone. The floor now appeared to be a gateway to a new world.
"Wow, would ya look at that," the king said solemnly as he stared deep into the bright and colorful opening to another realm.
Gunter jumped and chirped a bit more loudly, still pointing at the orb as it began to shake and crack.
"Whoa, what's happening?!" The portal began to grow wider, filling the entire floor.
The Ice King stepped back as the edge of the rift reached his feet. He continued walking backwards until he bumped into the wall, but the portal didn't stop expanding. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the manual he had retrieved from behind the pillar.
Warning! Do not overcharge orb, as it may become unstable and grow out of control. If left unstable, it may potentially consume an entire dimens-
The paper was ripped out of his hands and sucked into the portal. The orb suddenly began to emit a blinding light, before dramatically exploding into a fiery array of colors and flashes. The Ice King began to flap his beard in an attempt to gain flight, but the force of the collapsing orb was too great, and it sucked him into the colorful abyss.
***
His eyes flickered open, immediately seeing that strangely vibrant clouds and trees surrounded him. "Gunter?" He called out, and received no answer.
Leaning up, he brushed his robes off and took in the surroundings. Where am I? he wondered, his blurred vision beginning to focus as his dizziness slowly subsided.
"Um... excuse me?" A soft voice sounded from behind him.
"What? Whossat?!" He quickly turned around.
"Eeep!" A yellow pegasus fluttered her wings and lifted her front hooves, holding onto and hiding behind a branch much smaller than herself.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare ya." The Ice King attempted to apologize.
"Oh, that's okay, I just... Well you see, you're kind of, um, on my tail." The timid pony blushed and looked down.
The Ice King looked as well and realized he was sitting on a long pink tail. "Oh, I'm sorry little lady, why didn't you wake me up?"
"That's alright... I didn't want to disturb you..." As soon as he stood up, she backed away and blushed, "If you'll excuse me... I have to... go now."
"Wait, what's your name?" He asked.
"I'm..." She blushed and smiled, "I'm Fluttershy."
With that, the little pegasus quietly fluttered into the air and disappeared.
"What a cute little creature," the Ice King spoke aloud as he began to walk down a trail towards a mountain.
"Heh, kinda reminds me of my own palace, only with less ice," he laughed and scratched his head
Upon reaching the base of the mountain, he jumped into the air and took flight, his flapping beard quickly carrying him up the side of the mountain and allowing him to land directly in front of large palace gates. A bright light soon caught his attention: There was a beautiful alicorn hovering just outside the palace walls, her radiant mane waved like brilliant waves of pink and green light.
"Hubba hubba," the Ice King gulped while holding a chunk of his beard in his hands, slightly wagging it while he stared slack-jawed at the gorgeous pony. That's a pretty princess.
She pointed a hoof out over a dark and mysterious forest, shouting and commanding three pegasi in guards' armor to investigate something. They each saluted her and obeyed, dashing off quickly towards their target.
Nice; this princess knows how to get what she wants. He licked his lips and raised his eyebrows.
Raising his hands, he prepared to send a beam of magic her way, but flinched at the sight of the many guards beneath her hooves waiting to receive their orders. Gulping, he lowered his magical fingers and decided it'd be best to wait for a more opportune moment.
"You two, go guard my sister while she sleeps, I don't want anything happening to her. Go!" she ordered sternly, pointing towards the palace doors.
Ooh, sister huh? The Ice King raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
Tiptoeing, he followed the two guards through the front doors, being sure to stay out of sight. As they rounded the corner and began to head up a spiral staircase, the Ice King saw his chance to strike.
"Zaaap!" he shouted as he shot a stream of icy magic from his finger tips, freezing them both against the wall. "Hehe, too easy."
The Ice King continued his way upstairs, then opened a large wooden door leading into a dark room. Behind the veil of a large canopy-bed, a dim blue glowing light permeated. Light with sparkles flashed from behind it, illuminating the room with a mystical ambient lighting.
The king approached the source of the light, entranced by its beautiful glow. Pulling the curtain away, his eyes washed over the beautiful body of a sleeping princess. He gulped, captivated by what might be the most gorgeous thing he had ever had the privilege of seeing. "Wow... I sure wish Gunter was here to see this..."
"Hmm?" The Princess of the Night stirred in her sleep.
"Who's there?" she yawned and opened her eyes.
Instinctively, the Ice King shot out a wave of icy magic, encasing the alicorn in a frozen block.
He turned around and inspected the inside of the room, spotting a covered window. Looking out, he noticed a large mountain to the north, and easily visualized a palace of his own atop the frozen, icy heap.
"Yeah... yeah that'll do nicely." He spoke aloud, carrying the block of ice containing the princess on his back, and leaping out the window and towards the mountain.
***
"Ahhhh..." A young boy stretched out with a yawn, lazily crawling out of bed. "Whoa... Jake... Jake! Wake up!"
The boy looked down at his hands, noticing something was obviously different. "My hands! I'm... look at me! I'm so smooth, and... and colorful! This is definitely not right, dude."
"Relax, Finn, it's fine. You just had a bad dream." Jake the dog crawled out of his drawer, stretching and yawning as well.
"Seriously? You don't think everything looks... pretty?" Finn looked around, noticing how everything just seemed so much brighter and more colorful, even more so than their usual settings.
"Yeah, so? I don't see a reason to flip out, do you?" Jake casually walked into the other room, plopping down on the couch.
"We really need to check this out. Come on man, trust me on this one. Wait... are you color blind?" Finn asked, placing his hand to his chin.
"Uh... I dunno. Let's try a test." Jake shrugged.
"Ummmm, okay. What color is... this?!" Finn lifted a pencil and balanced it on his finger.
"Orrrrr-uhhhh- Yellow!" Jake wiped sweat from his brow, taking a deep breath.
"Hmm, I'd have said orange, but close enough." He tossed the pencil over his shoulder casually, then scratched his chin. "So you're telling me you don't think anything weird is going on? Really?"
"Look man, if you think we need to check somethin' out, then I'll follow your gut." Jake hopped up, brushing himself off.
"Alright... Let's take a look outside then." Finn jumped over to the door, kicking it open.
"... Whoa..." The two best bros looked to one another, neither believing their eyes. "Dude... I don't think we're in Ooo anymore."
Finn looked back at their home, noticing the hollowed out tree was vividly colored and covered in adorable little birds. He looked straight forward to see two flying horses pushing clouds across the sky, and a blonde gray one trailing behind, as if she wanted to help but simply couldn't keep up.
"What the... Dude, this is totally nuts!" The gray horse's attention was caught by the sudden shouting, causing her to investigate, turning and flying down to them.
"Hello, hey, uh... are you a monster?" The lazy-eyed horse asked cautiously, keeping her distance.
"Shmowzow! You can talk?!" Finn ran up to the horse, who then cowered away from him, fluttering into the air.
"Uh, please don't eat me!" She shielded her face with her hooves.
Jake slowly walked up behind his friend, placing a paw on his shoulder. "Hey man, I think that horse has a whacked-out-poo-brain. Look at its eyes."
"I think you're right, but she can talk, so we gotta make sure to protect her. She's not just another animal." Finn nudged his friend's paw away, slowly approaching the flying horse. "Hey there little one, don't be afraid of us. We don't want to hurt you, we're heroes, and if there's a monster around, you gotta tell us everything you know so that we kick its evil butt."
"Oh boy! You're heroes?! That's just what we need. My name's Derpy! Nice to meet you!" She fluttered down and landed, reaching a hoof out to introduce herself.
Jake chuckled and nudged Finn with an elbow, whispering, "Derpy, big surprise there."
"Be nice, dude." Finn glared down at his friend, then turned to introduce himself as well. "I'm Finn, and this is by best friend Jake. So you were saying something about a monster?"
"Yeah, no, I, uh. Princess Celestia said that Cerberus went missing, so there's all kinds of monsters running loose. We need a hero to fight them all and send them back to the underworld," the mare explained, then fluttered back into the air. "I gotta catch back up with my friends."
"Okay, see ya later," Finn waved her off. "Huh, what a friendly little horse-person."
"Yeah, and I think I'm beginning to suspect something weird is going on too." Jake narrowed his eyes and scratched at his chin.
HEEEELLLLLLLP!!!
A loud voice echoed across the sky.
"Aw man, did you hear that?! Someone needs help." Finn looked towards the source of the sound.
Jake followed Finn's eyes to what seemed to be the source, a large ice-covered mountain to the north. "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"
"Ice King!" they both shouted in unison.
Each adventurer made their way to the mountain with great haste, the need to save someone in peril being their top priority. They climbed the path up the icy mountain, and pushed through a large frozen door.
"Ice King! Come out and fight us, you coward!" Finn readied his sword and glanced around, noting the strange darkness in the room.
"Does something feel... off to you?" Jake whispered, nervousness crawling up his spine.
"Man, everything's felt off today. Let's keep our heads up." Finn tiptoed through the palace.
"I swear to you, if you do not release me, you will suffer the most severe of consequences!"
Finn nodded towards the direction of the sound.
"I can't do that, Princess. We haven't even talked about the ceremony yet."
"I refuse! I will not be wedded to a creature so grotesque! So unappealing!"
"You know... that really hurts my feelings when you say those mean things. I just want you to like me, is that really too much to ask?"
"Oh ho ho, too much to ask doesn't even begin to describe it!"
Finn silently signaled Jake to rush the room, creeping up on the entrance.
"AHHHHHH!!!" Finn charged with his sword drawn.
Jake followed close behind him, stretching his arms out, anticipating The Ice King taking flight. As expected, the bearded King began flapping his facial hair, levitating above the boy just before the sword made contact. However, that evasion led him right into the hands of Jake's trap. He wrapped around the king, pinning him to the floor. Finn quickly jumped back and put him in a head lock, knocking his crown, the source of his power, across the room.
"You give up?!" He shouted, slapping him back and forth.
"Yes! Ouch! Yes yes I give up! I give up!" He curled up into a ball, sobbing.
Finn then nodded towards his friend, who pushed the defeated threat against the wall.
"Hold on there, princess, I'll get you out of that." Finn used his sword to chip away at the small block of ice encasing her horn.
As soon as it broke away, the Princess of the Night used her magic to shatter her prison, spreading her wide wings and her eyes now glowing white.
"You! You who would so foolishly kidnap me, will now face your fate!" Her horn glowed brightly, lifting him into the air. "Have you any last words?"
"Whoa! You can't kill the Ice King. Let us take care of him," Finn pleaded.
"And who are you?" Luna's eyes calmed, and her magic let up.
"I'm Finn, and this is Jake. We're heroes, you can trust us."
"Heroes you say? Perhaps you could be of service to the palace. We need heroes in Equestria's darkest hour."
"We're here to help, Princess." Finn bowed his head respectfully.
"At your service, ma'am." Jake joined his friend's side.
"Excellent, follow me to the palace. I'll explain on the way." Luna turned back to the Ice King, her horn glowing once again.
She shot a wave of magic towards him, encasing his body in ice. "We'll give this one a taste of his own med-ice-in." The princess covered her mouth and giggled, snorting a little.
She then lifted the two adventurers in her aura and took flight, soaring back towards the palace.
"Equestria has never faced a threat quite like this. Cerberus, guardian of the underworld has gone missing. This has happened several times before, but he was always safely returned before any real damage could be done. This time, it seems to be permanent. All the worst monsters and demons of Equestria have escaped and are wreaking havoc across the lands. We need to figure out who is responsible for this crime, and how to undo the damage that has been done. My sister will be able to tell you more. For now, we must make haste!"
"If you need a hero... I'm your guy." Finn wore a stoic expression, preparing to face what could potentially be the greatest challenge in all of history.
