Could she really not take a break? First, there was a fire in Applejack's orchard. Then, Mayor Mare requested her to review a hundred-plus-page document for the construction of a new cinema in Ponyville. Why was it so lengthy again? Wasn't that Mayor Mare's responsibility? She knew that she was a princess now, but she had her own duties to attend to!
If she hadn't dealt with a fire just half an hour earlier, a hundred pages wouldn't have bothered her as much. Pinkie Pie, of course, wanted to throw a party for some reason, and she decided to help out. It was actually enjoyable and fun until Pinkie shot her out of a cannon and she landed face-first into the cake. How did it even happen? Well, Pinkie was involved. No further comment needed.
Finally, as she was flying back to the castle, Rainbow Dash crashed into her. She couldn't help but wonder if Rainbow was doing it on purpose, given that it had been happening at least once a day for months now. She almost lost her temper when she got home and accidentally knocked over an ink bottle on the book she was reading.
This wasn’t her day. And unfortunately, it wasn’t about to end since she had to deal with something else.
She was flying to the town square, accompanied by a brown pegasus. He nearly crashed through her door when he called her over because there was apparently a commotion in town. From what he said, the one making the commotion wasn’t a pony. Ponies weren’t the only race living in Equestria, so it shouldn’t be so alarming, except this was something he had never seen before.
“How many times do I have to tell you no… Uhm… Sir?” The princess heard shouting, which caught her attention immediately. That was probably where the problem was.
“It’s here, your Highness!” He pointed at the commotion as he flew down before Twilight could correct him. There were still some people from Ponyville that wasn’t calling her by her name anymore, even if she made it clear that they didn’t need to change their relationship just because she was a princess now.
“I told you I don’t have any money! Come on, can’t you do a favor for an old man like me? Just one little pie!” The strange creature exclaimed as it waved its arms around.
“Sir, this isn’t a charity… Also, you froze two of my customers,” The vendor replied as he pointed at two frozen earth ponies. The creature turned its head to look at the ice statues in silence, then looked back at the vendor.
“That wasn’t me,” He finally retorted with a straight face.
“I-I saw you do it!” The vendor argued only to meet a similar response.
Meanwhile, Twilight and the pegasus she came with stared at the scene in incomprehension. Well, the pegasus looked more panicked than anything.
“See? That… That here froze two ponies for no reason and started arguing with Berry Fizzle!” He explained as Twilight nodded along, not fully focused on his words.
“I can see that…” She muttered under her breath while narrowing her eyes to look at this new species, which wasn’t actually so new… It was clearly a male, who wore a large blue robe and had blue skin. His nose was extremely long and pointy, and his beard was even longer. A crown with three red jewels embedded in it rested on his head. No matter how she looked at it, he was… “That’s not a thing. That’s a human! A very… Hairy human,” She exclaimed as the pegasus beside her gasped. But what was a human doing in Equestria? She wondered.
“A human?!” He repeated in horror as Twilight looked at him quizzically. “Wait, what’s a human?” He suddenly asked more calmly.
“Look, Rio… Why don’t you thaw these two out while I talk to this fellow? I’m sure he must be scared since he’s in an unknown land. And thank you for calling me over, I’m happy you trust me to take care of trouble,” Twilight instructed him with a smile.
“Oh! No problem, your Highness!” He saluted as Twilight chuckled awkwardly.
“Actually, you can just… And he’s gone,” She started only to stop herself as he flew towards the ice statues. She approached the human, who was still distracted by the argument he was having with the vendor. Seeing that he didn’t notice her standing beside him, she cleared her throat. “Uhm, excuse me, sir?”
“What? What do you want? Can’t you see I’m busy? I’m hungry, and this guy can’t even give me a pie for free!” The human turned sharply towards her while slapping his belly. Twilight stepped back, not in fear but out of awkwardness since it had been quite some since a stranger yelled at her last.
“It’s alright, Berry. I’ll pay for him if that’s alright,” Twilight assured the vendor in a calm tone as he nodded.
“Of course, Twilight!” He replied happily before taking a pie from the stand and giving it to the human, who looked surprised and delighted.
“You… You would really buy me a pie?” He asked in shock with his lower lip quivering, then immediately dug in until there was nothing left of the meal. Twilight managed to stay unfazed since she was used to those things from Pinkie.
“Yes! I understand what it feels like to find yourself in a foreign world!” Twilight smiled cheerfully, happy that the argument was at least over.
“Ah! You know I’m not from here?!” The human exclaimed in surprise.
“Humans are kind of nonexistent here,” Twilight replied as the human deadpanned.
“Well, I don’t see what that has to do with anything. It’s not like there are many humans where I’m from either. You sure you know what you’re talking about, girl?” The human crossed his arms as Twilight raised an eyebrow.
“Ok… We can talk more about this later, but first, my name is Twilight Sparkle, nice to meet you!”
“I’m the Ice King. I’m pretty famous, so you should have known that already, but I guess I can forgive you since you’re from a different world or something,” Ice King introduced himself as Twilight widened her eyes.
“You’re a king?!”
“Yeah, That’s what I just said. Are you listening or not?” Ice King threw his arms in the air.
“Sorry, I’ve never met human royalty before…” Twilight apologized before calming herself. She needed to enter her diplomacy mode or else she was afraid she would mess something up. She didn’t want a human king to have a negative opinion of Equestria. “I am actually royalty myself. I am the Princess of Friendship!” She declared proudly.
She may have had a difficult time adjusting to the life of a princess, but she couldn’t deny being happy to share the magic of friendship all over the world. Meanwhile, Ice King stood there, watching her with wide eyes. Suddenly, he clapped his hands excitedly while smiling widely.
“Y-You’re a princess?!” He asked, ready to jump around in happiness. Twilight almost laughed, glad that she wasn’t the only one to be nervous when meeting another royal. He was nervous, right? Probably a bit excited to meet the princess of another nation, too.
“The Princess of Friendship!” Twilight declared as Ice King paused to look at her in awe.
“Oh, I can’t believe it! A princess! There’s really a princess! I’m so lucky!” Ice King waved his hands like an excited little girl.
“Oh? Why is that?” Twilight inquired, feeling a bit overwhelmed by his happiness since she wasn’t expecting such a strong reaction. She was even more surprised that he didn’t seem to react more shocked at seeing talking ponies.
“Well, that’s cause I’m gonna kidnap ya, of course!” Ice King replied matter-of-factly as Twilight widened her eyes.
“What?”
“Zap!” Ice King thrust his fingers forward, freezing Twilight in a block of ice before she could even react. “I’ll be taking this!” Ice King said as he grabbed the ice statue and started flying away with his beard.
“Princess! NOOOOO!” Rio, the pegasus that led Twilight here, screamed as he collapsed to his knees. “That monster!”
“You know you can fly, right?” Berry deadpanned as the pegasus continued to weep on the floor.
“And I couldn’t even protect her!” Rio lamented with his head between his hooves. Berry sighed and rolled his eyes.
“I’m just gonna call her friends, ok?” He said before walking away.
Meanwhile, the two frozen ponies looked at each other since only their eyes had been thawed out for now.
Twilight groaned in exhaustion as she tried to move, in pain, only to realize that she could only move her head. She lowered her eyes to see that the rest of her body was stuck in a block of ice, which immediately made her teeth chatter because of the cold. Looking around, the princess noticed she was in a room fully made of ice! Was she in the Frozen North?
“Ah! Princess! You’re awake! Welcome to my home!” Ice King exclaimed as he jumped in front of her.
“Where did you take me?!” Twilight demanded while trying to sound intimidating.
“My home! I literally just said that, didn’t you hear? A home I had to make myself, by the way! How come no one threw me a welcome party when I moved here?” Ice King replied exasperatedly as the alicorn raised an eyebrow.
“Uhm… Because we didn’t even know you were here in the first place?” She retorted as if it was obvious, making the Ice King pause.
“Good point, but still not cool!” Ice King huffed stubbornly with his arms crossed. Suddenly, Twilight lit her horn, ready to cast a spell to get herself out of there only for Ice King to outstretch his arms and freeze her horn. “Hey! No magic! I see you trying to get out!”
“Oh no… Well, if I wasn’t in trouble before, I definitely am now…” Twilight mumbled as Ice King started ranting again.
“What did I do wrong? You just came here and you’re already trying to escape!” Ice King threw his arms in the air before sitting on the ground, with his back facing her, and pouted.
“Uhm…” Twilight was unsure of what to say as Ice King suddenly turned around, cheerful again.
“Well, it’s alright! I’m sure you’re gonna love this place in no time! I just gotta find a new video game console and my drums! You’re not gonna believe how good of a drummer I am!” He exclaimed proudly as the princess looked from left to right. “Since we’re so close already, I’ll call you FP! Short for Friendship Princess!”
“That… That’s just my title. My name is Twilight-”
“No, it’s not!” Ice King snapped with his arms raised in the air, silencing Twilight instantly. “Oops, sorry. Got a short temper, hoo hoo hoo,” Ice King giggled sheepishly, having calmed down fairly quickly. “So you’re a wizard, too, Friendship Princess?” He asked in a flirty tone, which Twilight completely missed because of how oblivious she was, while leaning on the block of ice she was trapped in. Before she could even respond, he shouted again. “Me too! What a coincidence, huh? Also saw your wings, guess you can fly, right?”
“Well, I’m not as good as my friend Rainbow, but yes I can,” She replied nervously while moving her head as far away from him as possible, which wasn’t a lot.
“I can fly, too! We sure have a lot in common, don’t we?” Ice King wiggled his eyebrows while Twilight blinked in silence, still not sure what to make of this. Wasn’t he a villain? What was he waiting for? Wasn’t he going to give her an evil speech or something? “You know… I was thinking we could-”
“Alright, what is going on?” Twilight interrupted him, making the king frown.
“Hey, lady! Don’t cut me off, that’s just rude,”
“What are you planning? And why did you take me here?” Twilight questioned him.
“I kidnapped you,” Ice King stated calmly as Twilight deadpanned.
“Yes. I noticed. It’s hard not to when you’re encased in ice like that…” She responded as Ice King started giggling.
“To marry you!” He exclaimed excitedly as Twilight’s eyes nearly burst out of her sockets.
“What?! M-Marry me?” She stuttered while blushing madly. “I can’t get married! I have my whole life ahead of me! Wait- that’s not the reason… I can’t get married to the maniac that kidnapped me! I won’t! I won’t!” She started panicking as Ice King’s demeanor changed drastically, his smile quickly turning into a frown.
“Yes, you will!” He snapped again, threatening the princess with his magic, which made her quiet again. “We’ll get married, and be so happy! This is gonna be awesome!”
“But… But why me?” She asked in incomprehension.
Of all the foes she had faced, none of them ever proposed to her… Which was normal! What kind of villain would try to marry her?! And now because of that, she was imagining Sombra or Tirek proposing… Bleh. She was getting grossed out. Well, even with the more tamed enemies like Starlight and Trixie, it would have been weird. Wait… actually, Trixie wouldn’t have been so bad… No! She was getting off track here! What was a human doing here trying to purpose to her?!
“Well because you’re a princess! And you’re beautiful!” Ice King replied as if it was obvious and rushed to her, gushing over her mane as he tried to pet it only for Twilight to try and dodge his hand… Unsuccessfully.
“I’m flattered, really, but it’s going a bit too fast! I mean what even was your criteria exactly?” Twilight asked while still blushing. She was way too embarrassed to even think of an escape plan.
“Well, obviously, to be my bride you have to be beautiful and princessful”
“That’s not a word,” Twilight muttered under her breath.
“And you’re both! So let’s get married!” He finished as he made a ring made of ice. “See? I already got a ring! Just have to get your horn unfrozen, though, but that can wait! Now I know girls like to take it slow, eh?” He winked at her as Twilight shivered in disgust.
“No, no, no! Really, I’m flattered, but I really don’t want to get married. We can still be friends, though!” Twilight retorted nervously as Ice King frowned again.
“I already told you that you don’t have a choice! You’re lucky I didn’t build any cells yet, because you would have been in time out already!” Ice King pointed his finger at her.
“You think you’ll get away with this? I bet my friends are already on their way here, and will kick your butt!” She yelled at him.
The Ice King stared at her for a couple of seconds, then started mumbling to himself. It didn’t take him long to start shouting like a maniac while stomping on the ground. Was… Was he throwing a tantrum? Okay, that definitely confirmed that he was an unusual villain.
“Why?! Even in this world, princesses don’t want to marry me! This isn’t fair! What do I have to do for you to marry me?!” He asked as sat on the ground and started pouting again. He was so happy to discover a princess in this new world, and it didn’t amount to anything! She was rejecting him, too! He was fed up with being rejected every time!
“Have you tried asking them?” Twilight questioned in a harsh tone, even angrier since he apparently tried to do this with other princesses, likely from the human world.
“Of course, I have! But none of them want to get kidnapped for some reason!” Ice King replied in indignation.
“I meant asking them to go out with you! Why would anyone even want to be kidnapped?” Twilight retorted in incomprehension, then actually thought about it. Actually, there were probably ponies who really wouldn’t mind kidnapping…
“Pfft! Why would I do that?” Ice King crossed his arms.
“You might actually have more chances of succeeding,” Twilight pointed out as Ice King grumbled something she wasn’t able to hear. It seemed someone already suggested that to him in the past. “Why do you want to marry a princess specifically so badly?”
“Well, because princesses are pretty! I don’t know! I just want to! Come on, don’t you want to be my bride already?” He asked her again as Twilight frowned.
“No!”
“See? I just asked you nicely and you still rejected me!”
“That’s not gonna work after you’ve already kidnapped me!” Twilight retorted angrily as Ice King threw his arms in the air.
“Whatever! I didn’t want to marry you, anyway! Besides, you’re too fat for me!”
“What? No, I’m not!” Twilight looked at herself self-consciously.
“I’m used to break ups, anyway… I have my penguins! And Gunther! Well… I had, but they’re not even here! And I don’t even have friends anymore cause I’m stuck in this place! Now I’m just some old lonely guy! But I guess you wouldn’t understand that, Friendship Princess!” Ice King collapsed on the ice floor and began crying. “Gunther!” He called out to someone while Twilight started feeling bad for him. Villains also didn’t usually cry during their confrontations.
“Hey… Ice King, look. I’m sorry. It must be hard for you to lose your friends, and I understand the feeling. It’s horrible…” Twilight spoke softly as Ice King stopped his crying, turned to look at her, and sniffed a few times while wiping a tear away.
“Does… Does that mean you’ll marry me?” He said hopefully as Twilight sighed.
“I already said no!”
“I knew it! Nobody loves meeeee!” Ice King started crying again, gaining even more pity from Twilight.
“D-Don’t cry! I’m sure you aren’t so bad when you’re not trying to kidnap princesses! Besides, you don’t have to look for a princess to find somepony beautiful!” Twilight said as Ice King looked up and wiped his tears away.
“I don’t? But I love princesses!” He whined.
Twilight wanted to tell him that he could have a chance with a princess if he stopped kidnapping them and actually tried to be romantic and nice; however, she absolutely didn’t want to see him go for Princess Celestia or Princess Luna… Or worse. Cadence. If he did, her brother would probably kill him, and she wouldn’t even fault him for it!
“To me, it just looks like you’re looking for love, Ice King. And you don’t need a princess to find love! You know what? If you release me, I’ll help you out! I don’t know a lot about love,” Twilight chuckled embarrassingly with a blush as she realized that she probably had as much experience with love as Ice King, which amounted to nothing. “But I’ll give you any tips I can! I can be your first friend in this world, for starters! What do you say?” She suggested as Ice King started getting teary-eyed again, but not out of sadness this time.
“Really? You would do that for me?” He asked while getting emotional. Twilight simply nodded, smiling. “You’re a good friend, FP. Kinda reminds me of Finn and Jake… So, I was wondering if you-”
“I’m still not gonna marry you, Ice King,” Twilight deadpanned as Ice King chuckled nervously.
“Well, guess it was worth a try! Alright, you win. I’ll let you go, but keep your promise and don’t punch me in the face, got it?” Ice King said as he raised his hands, ready to release her only for a war cry to interrupt him.
“Let Twilight go, you creep!” Someone shouted before kicking him in the chest.
“Ah! My ribs!” Ice King screamed in pain as his breath was taken away. He stepped back, then got punched in the face, making his crown drop on the floor. Twilight widened her eyes in surprise: It was Rainbow Dash! And she wasn’t alone! Applejack landed inside after being carried by Fluttershy and immediately kicked Ice King, too. “Oh! My sternum! And I don’t even know what that is!” Ice King let out a painful wail.
“We’re here to save you, Twilight!” Rarity added as she joined the two other mares to beat up the ice monarch.
“Oh, girls! I’m so happy to see you, but…” Twilight trailed off as Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie ran up to her.
“Are you okay, Twilight? Did he hurt you?” The yellow pegasus inquired worriedly.
“I’m okay, thankfully,” She replied and was about to tell them they could stop his beating until Pinkie cut her off.
“I’ll get you out of this in no time, Twilight!” She declared cheerfully as Fluttershy stepped back. Pinkie gently nudged the ice block, making a small *ping* sound. Suddenly, the ice surrounding her body collapsed into ice dust, including the ice around her horn! She decided not to question it.
“Thank you, Pinkie! Girls! I think he’s had enough!” Twilight called out to her friends, making them pause.
“Twilight!” Applejack ran up to her, followed by Rarity and Rainbow Dash.
“I hope we weren’t too late, darling!” The unicorn said they all embraced her.
“If he hurt you or something, I’m going back there!” Rainbow warned as she pointed at Ice King’s body just lying on the floor.
“It’s fine. He didn’t do anything to me. I’m so glad you came!” Twilight replied as she hugged them back.
“What are friends for, silly?” Pinkie snickered as Rainbow looked puzzled, which Applejack was quick to notice.
“Is something wrong, Rainbow?” She asked as the pegasus shook her head.
“Nah, I’m just surprised. You know, usually, the bad guys are super strong, so all we can do is use the elements of harmony or some kind of super friendship blast,”
“I’m still not sure we should call that a friendship blast,” Twilight muttered with uncertainty.
“Now that you say it…” Rarity began pondering about the previous foes they defeated.
“Well, there were those small changelings that one time. We didn’t use the elements that time…” Fluttershy pointed out as Pinkie chuckled.
“I remember that! It was so much fun! Except for the part where we almost died,”
“Where are you going with this?” Applejack inquired as the wonderbolt shrugged.
“Well, we didn’t do any of that! We just beat the shit out of him! I’m kinda surprised that worked,” Rainbow remarked as they all turned to look at Ice King.
“Hurts… Everywhere…” He mumbled in pain. He had a black eye, broken teeth, and a crooked nose. Twilight was starting to feel bad. “I thought we were friends, FP…”
“What is he talking about?” Rainbow raised an eyebrow.
“Don’t worry about it. Just let me deal with this,” Twilight told them before walking up to Ice King. “Hey, Ice King… I’m sorry about that. My friends didn’t know we were friends…”
“I don’t believe you!” He sniffed as he sat up and crossed his arms.
“You know… I may know somepony you’d love to marry. Did you ever think of getting a queen as your bride?”
“A queen? Isn’t she married already if she’s a queen?”
“Oh, no, no, no! I promise she isn’t! You’ll see, she is one of the most beautiful maidens in the land! And she’s obsessed with romance and love! I’m sure you two will be a great match!”
“Oh la la! She loves romance eh?” Ice King chuckled. “I bet she’ll love my ice ring, then! Please, tell me where she is, FP!”
“FP?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow as the other girls shrugged.
Meanwhile, in the changelings’ nest…
“And then, we would become the most profitable cake company in Equestria!” A changeling, who was wearing glasses, explained as he pointed at a whiteboard while Chrysalis listened.
The changeling queen blinked a few times, as if unable to understand what he was saying.
“Okay, but why, though?” She questioned.
“What do… You mean? If you’re asking about the cakes, we can do something else! What about candies? I heard they really love sweets over there,” The changeling replied as Chrysalis facehoofed.
“No, I mean, why are you telling me about a company?! I told you to make a plan to conquer Equestria! How is that gonna help!” She asked exasperatedly.
“Uhm…” The changeling looked at the whiteboard hesitantly. “Capitalism?” He shrugged with a nervous laugh.
“Get out,” Chrysalis ordered before feeling sudden cold. She widened her eyes, then looked down to see that her body was frozen solid! “What the-”
“You are pretty! I can’t believe it! I’m finally getting married!” Ice King laughed excitedly as he flew above Chrysalis with his beard.
“Your Highness! An intruder!” A changeling shouted as his queen groaned.
“Yes! I’ve noticed that! Kill him already!” She ordered only for Ice King to raise his hands and make a rain of ice. It took less than three seconds to freeze her hive and her soldiers. “What?! What did you do?!”
“I froze them,” Ice King stated as if it was obvious. Chrysalis grunted as she struggled to break free, but was unable to move anything beside her head.
“What is this? What are you doing here?”
“We’ll be so happy when we get married!”
“M-Married? There’s no way I’m marrying you! Let me go this instant!” Chrysalis shouted in anger as Ice King snickered.
“Oh, don’t be like that, honey! Friendship Princess told me about your mood swings! Don’t worry, I’ll love you the way you are!” Ice King declared happily as Chrysalis’ eyes grew wide.
“Friendship Princess?” Chrysalis clenched her teeth, her fury growing tenfold. “CUUUUURSE YOU, TWILIIIIIIGHT SPARKLE!” She screamed at the top of her lungs as Ice King held his hands.
“She’s… Perfect…” He told himself with teary eyes. This was the beginning of a grand love story.
