> A Freezing Holiday > by TheClownPrinceofCrime > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > A Chilly Arrival > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was a snowy day in Equestria. As the temperature dropped lower and lower, the winds and breezes tended to get more cold by the second. Thus, everypony had to dress up for winter. But that was not the only thing that ponies and non-ponies had in mind. Hearth’s Warming Eve was fast approaching! Dozens of creatures gathered around the local train station to travel to their respective homes to celebrate the holiday with their families and friends. They all smiled brightly as they looked forward to the holiday and having fun with their loved loves. Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle went to her friends who were at the Castle of Friendship preparing everything for the holiday. Applejack was making apple ciders, Rarity was setting up a dinner table, Rainbow Dash decorated a tall tree with colorful lights and a star on top, Pinkie Pie was cooking her favorite pastries, and Fluttershy allowed her animal friends to decorate the entire castle with ornaments. As Twilight entered the castle, she wiped off the snow from her winter hat. “Phew! Every day just keeps getting colder and colder! I’m starting to miss summer already,” said the alicorn. She sighed in satisfaction as she felt the heat within the castle. Then she jumped in excitement. “This is gonna be a great time! I can’t wait till Shining, Cadence, and Flurry arrive!” Once Twilight entered the meeting room, she smiled at the progress her friends had been making so far. “Hey, girls!” “Hey, Twilight!” they welcomed her. “How did the shopping go? I hope it wasn’t too cold out there,” said Fluttershy, spreading her wings over her raccoon friends who were trying to keep themselves warm. “It wasn’t that bad, but it was still pretty cold. At least the store was pretty warm,” Twilight replied, wiping off more snow from her coat. “Good thing none of y’all saw Sweet Apple Acres,” said Applejack. “Ma place is becoming like a frozen wasteland for cryin’ out loud!” “(Scoffs) Please, Applejack, I am certain it pales in comparison to the way my mane was earlier this morning. It was literally frozen in ice! IN ICE!!!” Rarity screamed, showing snippets of ice on her hair. “Yes, Rarity, we get it,” Applejack muttered, rolling her eyes. “Come on, girls, this winter is gonna be amazing!” Pinkie shouted, popping out of her gigantic cake. “We will make some snow ponies, create snow castles, cook snow cakes—(gasp) WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT?! Snow cakes will be the best cakes for Hearth’s Warming Eve! I need to make them right now!” “Pinkie, I really don’t think that’s a—,” Twilight muttered until Pinkie already zoomed out of the castle and instantly came back with large cans of snow on her back. “....good idea.” Twilight finished, blinking. “The snow is not gonna slow me down, that’s for sure!” Rainbow bragged. “By the time we had our fun, the winter will be done and over with! It will fly by quickly before you even know it! So we won’t even need to worry about it.” “You do realize there are two more months of winter after this, right?” Rarity asked, arching an eyebrow. “Uh... yeah, I knew that. Definitely,” Rainbow sheepishly smiled. Spike then came through the open doors as he was carrying wrapped presents and laid them under the tree. “Hey, Twilight! I see your shopping trip went well.” Twilight nodded. “I still have plenty of gifts to wrap up, so I’ll be a little busy for a while until my family arrives later. I just wish I would have completed this sooner. Why did I wait at the last minute?!” “Hey, it’s okay. You still have some time left. They won’t be here within four hours,” Spike assured. “Still, I must manage my time wisely. There’s no time to waste!” Twilight determinedly spoke. She teleported to her room to get started. “(Sigh) Why does she always panic if she messes up just slightly?” Spike asked, face-palming. “Well, that’s just Twilight for ya,” Rainbow shrugged. “You can say that again,” Applejack agreed. Suddenly, a wrapped package appeared in a white flash in the middle of the room. It took everyone by surprise. “Whoa, did somepony order something?” Fluttershy wondered. She went to the package and noticed that it had her name mentioned on the tag. “To Fluttershy... from... Discord?” she read out loud. The moment she mentioned his name, the name tag opened its yellow eyes and floated in the air. “Surprise!” the tag yelled. It transformed to Discord with ornaments and candy canes flying everywhere. The ornaments landed on Rarity’s head. “Ow!” “Discord? I...didn’t expect to see you come!” Fluttershy said, surprised. “Sorry for being a bit tardy today. My order came in late,” Discord nonchalantly replied. “I presume you’re all getting ready for this Hearth’s Warming thing?” “Yep! It’s gonna be a big one too! I know you’re going to love my snow cakes I’m making!” Pinkie smiled, rapidly cooking and adding in snow in every baking ingredient. “Hahaha, now that’s something new! Speaking of new, I brought something just for you, Fluttershy. I figured you would love it,” said Discord as he began to hand her the present. However, Fluttershy placed her hoof on Discord’s paw. “Um, don’t you think it’s a little... too early to open up presents? Can’t we wait till it’s Hearth’s Warming Eve? If that’s okay with you?” Fluttershy advised. “Who said it was for the holiday? Besides, I think this is something you should see. Plus, I’ll just wrap it back up and pretend you didn’t see it yet.” “Well....” “Pleeeeassse?” Discord begged, having puppy dog eyes all across his body and within his own pupils. “Um... okay. I guess it wouldn’t hurt—,” Discord instantly hugged her without a warning. “Splendid! Splendid! You will be amazed by it!” he assured, grabbing his puppy eyes and throwing them on top of Rarity. “Hey, quit it!” As Fluttershy opened the package, her jaw dropped. It was a fairly big blue diamond with tiny purple spots all around it. She picked it up with her right wing as she gazed on the diamond. Even Spike and the others were amazed at the sight of it, especially Rarity. “It’s... it’s beautiful,” Fluttershy whispered. “That’s just what I wanted to hear,” Discord smirked. “Sweet Celestia! This is the most precious diamond I’ve ever laid my eyes on!” Rarity squealed, feasting her eyes on its beauty. While Pinkie was likewise idly staring at the diamond, she lost track of what she was doing that she accidentally spilled some cups of snow on the floor. Without paying attention, she slipped on them and hit against a wall of snow she made. The snow wall crumbled on the ground whereas snippets of it fell on top of the gem. At that moment, the snow was absorbed into the gem and it glowed brightly. The diamond then hovered in the air as it continued to glow. “What’s going on, Discord? What’s happening?” Fluttershy asked. “To be honest, I have no idea!” Discord confessed, gazing at the diamond. Back at Gotham City, it was also snowing at night. The majority of the people were storming the supermarkets, traffic was jammed, and Christmas decorations were everywhere in the city. Just when all the citizens were preparing for their most wonderful time of their year, one particular super-villain seized the golden opportunity to take action while everyone was pre-occupied. Inside the Gotham Museum, a security guard was walking across the first floor while making sure all the exhibits were all safe and sound as usual. He casually whistled as he went about his duty. Suddenly, the glass roof was broken to pieces as ice shards flew down from the sky. The guard looked up and immediately jumped out of the way before the shards could impale him. Right after he sighed in relief, a figure in a jagged ice covering and a cryogenic suit safely landed on the floor with his ice blasts. He lifted his head and saw the guard cowering in fear. “It’s... it’s you!” he shivered, walking backwards. The villain blasted him with ice, silencing him. Then he preceded to walk across the floor in search for something. As he was looking around, he finally spotted what he was looking for. He discovered a glass case covering a blue diamond with purple spots. Fascinated by the very sight of it, he lifted the case and threw it away. He gently grabbed the diamond while looking at it with awe. “Ahhh, the Chaos Diamond... the rarest blue gem in the history of diamonds. An attractive rarity now in my possession,” he said passionately. “Not for long, Freeze.” The said criminal turned behind him to see a man in a bat suit glaring at him in the middle of the room. “Batman. The night is quite chilly, don’t you think?” Freeze coldly asked. “Not chilly enough to prevent me from stopping you,” Batman retorted, grabbing his batarang. “I can fix that... permanently.” Freeze emitted more ice blasts toward the Dark Knight; however, the latter jumped out of the way and threw his batarang at him. The batarang struck Freeze on one of his arms, causing slight pain. Annoyed, he ripped it off his arm and crushed it with his ice power. He sent another ice blast toward Batman, but the Caped Crusader managed to dodge that as well. Thinking quickly, Freeze froze the entire floor with ice which caused Batman to slip up and fall down. Then he froze his entire body with ice except for his head. The Batman struggled to free himself from his icey predicament. Sadistically chuckling, Freeze looked down on him as he raised his free hand. “Farewell, Batman.” Suddenly, the diamond glowed brightly in his other hand which arrested his attention. Then a magical wave surrounded him as the diamond glowed brighter and brighter until the light teleported him. Once the light vanished, both Freeze and the diamond were gone. Batman was left astonished as he witnessed the unexpected event happen. He activated a device from his belt that enabled it to melt all the ice from his body. “I did not see that coming. Whatever that diamond did to Freeze, it must have taken him somewhere.” “Look! The diamond stopped shining!” Pinkie pointed out. The said diamond floated back down in the package as it went back to normal. “Ah never saw anything like it. It was... dazzlin’!” Applejack said. “It really was surprising, so thank you... um, Discord, for the gift.” “Haha, what are friends for, Fluttershy? I’m sure it made your day spectacular!” Discord happily chuckled. But just when things started to get better, Mr. Freeze teleported just on top of the friendship map. Groaning, he got up and saw a group of ponies and creatures staring at him with mixed reactions. Even he too was taken by surprise as he looked around and saw he wasn’t in Gotham anymore. “What... is this?” Freeze wondered. > A Cold Reception > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mr. Freeze looked left and right as he realized he was no longer in Gotham. In fact, judging from the appearances of the creatures who were staring at him, he could tell he was in a completely different dimension. He looked down and saw he dropped the Chaos Diamond on the floor; he quickly picked it up. “Well, well, well! It looks like Santa has come to town! A frosty Santa!” Discord grinned, chuckling. “Who are you creatures?! Where am I?! How did I get here?!” Freeze demanded. “You’re in Ponyville, silly!” Pinkie replied, appearing just behind his shoulder. “What’s your name? Why are you so icey? How come your eyes are red? *gasp* Are you actually from Sunset’s world?! Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!” She pressed her face against Freeze with her pupils enlarging. “Whoa, you look so cool! You look like a giant snow creature but with ice!” Rainbow complimented. “Darling, I don’t know what kind of suit you’re wearing but it looks so... robust! Although I can’t say the same for your face. You look terribly pale, sir,” Rarity commented, scrutinizing his cryogenic suit and appearance. Twilight teleported back in the meeting room. “What is going on around—AHHH!! Who in the name of Celestia is that?!” As they were talking, Freeze noticed another Chaos Diamond within Fluttershy’s package. Looking at his own diamond and gazing back at Fluttershy’s, he narrowed his eyes on his next prize. Putting his diamond in his pocket, he jumped off the friendship map table and walked toward the nervous pegasus. “There’s another Chaos Diamond? Interesting. I hope you don’t mind taking it from you, little pony.” “Um... but Discord gave it to me... as a gift. Why do you want it?” Fluttershy asked. “Just for... research purposes.” “Well... I don’t see why not.” As Discord was seeing this, he got angry. He jumped in between the two and pressed his nose against Freeze’s ice cover. “Just hold one a minute, Mister....?” “Freeze... will do,” he replied, a puff of steam blowing from his suit. “Well then, Mr. Freeze, I’ll have you know that Fluttershy is a dear friend of mine. I personally gave her the best gift I could ever think of!” Discord spoke, turning into a large diamond. “Can’t you see how precious it is?!” Then he turned back to normal. “So I do not appreciate you trying to take away her joy and happiness! So why don’t you back off and leave?” “Whoa, whoa, Discord, take it easy! He was just trying to be nice!” Twilight interjected, pulling the angry draconequus away from the ice villain. She nervously smiled as she flew to Freeze. “Sorry about that, Mr. Freeze. Discord can be a little sensitive whenever he’s around Fluttershy.” “I heard that!” Discord yelled, having a humongous human ear on the left side of his head. “Apology accepted, alicorn. I’m quite used to the...cold reception I usually get in my world,” Freeze replied. “Geez, I can’t imagine that. I’m Twilight Sparkle, and this is Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Spike, and Pinkie Pie. And of course, you just met Fluttershy.” Mr. Freeze saw each of the ponies give their own unique welcoming gesture toward him. He was amazed to see mythical animals who could talk, jump around, and even do things regular creatures wouldn’t even do. He especially noticed how very friendly the Mane Six were to him instead of feeling threatened by him. While fascinated by all this, he still couldn’t keep his eyes off the diamond the yellow pegasus had. Then he thought of a plan as he was now in a completely new environment. “This is rather unexpected. If I can grab hold of the second diamond, I might find my way back to Gotham. But... I would love to see if there are more where that came from. Hmm, I might as well play Mr. Nice Guy for now.” he mentally schemed. “It is a pleasure meeting you ponies. Your kindness warms my heart. If you would be kind enough to show me this home of yours, it would be appreciated. I’m rather... interested in knowing more about your species.” “Definitely! I can’t wait to introduce you to our friends!” Twilight replied, smiling brightly. “Wait, Twilight, what about the gifts you have to wrap up?” Spike reminded. “Don’t worry, Spike, you can handle them. We now have a visitor to talk to!” Twilight waved off. As the Mane Six led Freeze to the front door, Spike looked suspiciously at the villain. Even Discord himself crossed his arms with a look of distrust. “Is it just me or does that Freeze guy look kinda evil?” Spike wondered. “No, it isn’t just you. Did you see the way he looked at that diamond? He definitely is up to something. If he plans to hurt Fluttershy or steal away her rightful present, that snowman has another thing coming,” growled Discord, wearing boxing gloves. “Normally, we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. In this case though, I think I have every right to do so,” said Spike. “We just need to keep an eye on him... at all times!” Discord shouted, his eyes bulging out and floating in the air. “Okay, that’s two eyes on him, but you get the point.” “Well, what do ya know? The Lord of Chaos is being cautious, eh? Now that is a holiday miracle in and of itself!” Spike smirked, crossing his arms. “I don’t usually get my panties in a twist,” Discord said, twisting his entire body. “But Frosty the Snowman is no joke from the looks of it. If anything happens, I’ll be ready.” The draconequus appeared with a flamethrower and blew out the snow cakes with fire, melting them instantly. “I didn’t mean to do that.” Outside the Friendship Castle, Freeze saw all the other ponies having fun on the snow, putting decorations around their houses, and several foals running around until they bumped into him. One was a unicorn, the second was a pegasus, and the third was an earth pony. The three fillies looked up and saw a scowling Freeze staring them down. “Say hello to Mr. Freeze, Cutie Mark Crusaders!” Pinkie declared. “Greetings, little ones. Having a chilly day so far?” he coldly spoke, putting his hand out where a snowy aurora was formed. The crusaders fearfully shook their heads. “No, thanks. W-We’re g-good,” Apple Bloom replied, shaking. Then the fillies immediately ran off. “Eh, they’ll get used to ‘em eventually,” Applejack shrugged. “Don’t worry, Mr. Freeze. Spend some time with us, and you’ll have the best Hearth’s Warming Eve ever. I always welcome a new friend,” smiled Twilight. Still thinking about the diamond, Freeze gazed toward the cloudy sky and noticed the large mountains behind Ponyville as well as another castle in a far distance. Then he faced the other ponies who gave him either a surprised expression or curious look. “Oh, I am certain I will, Twilight Sparkle,” he replied, evilly chuckling. > Warming Up > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spike wrapped up all the presents Twilight bought for Cadence, Shining Armor, and Flurry Heart and placed them under the Hearth’s Warming Tree their friends set up. Meanwhile, Discord snapped his fingers to summon his chocolate chip cookies and had them walk around him. They helped place the Chaos Diamond under the dining table that was covered with a table cloth. After they were done, Discord snapped his fingers again to send them away. “Alright, looks like we’re almost done! Nearly all set for the celebration of Hearth’s Warming Eve!” Spike said, wiping his hands. “Except we have a new visitor who will slow us down for sure,” grumbled Discord, looking at the window. He saw Freeze standing with the Mane Six and strangely staring at Fluttershy. Spike joined the draconequus and also noticed the villain’s odd body language. “He’s looking suspicious alright. He doesn’t even look like he’s happy to be here,” observed Spike. “Did you notice how he doesn’t even have a mouth? I mean, look at him! I can’t even tell if that icey thing is not transparent enough to see his real face!” Discord pointed out, looking through his glasses. As Spike was thinking about a course of action, a light bulb appeared above him. “Wait, I have an idea! What if we—Discord, what are you doing?” The light bulb was taken by Discord’s tail and was implanted back inside his right ear. “I’m afraid that your idea is technically mine since I was the one who ignited that bulb. Finders, keepers, you know,” Discord chuckled. “No, no, listen, if we could just talk to him and either ask him about what he’s done before or maybe just interrogate him, we might find a way to discover his ulterior motives!” Spike suggested. “Oh, boy, I am such a genius!!” Discord’s head grew humongous and reached to the top of the ceiling. “Brains always save the day.” The baby dragon face-palmed himself. “Ugh... come on, let’s get out there.” “Allow me,” said Discord, snapping his fingers. Both he and Spike disappeared from the castle. Mr. Freeze took note of every pony’s reaction to his presence. While some ponies ran away out of natural fear, others were curious enough to stare at him. However, every time he looked toward them, they instantly turned their heads. He even heard some ponies whispering behind his back. “What kind of creature is he?” “Where did it come from?” “Is he an ice monster?” “Is that thing friendly?” Freeze groaned in annoyance after listening to their murmurings. His fists tightened which resulted in icicles sprouting from his palms. He broke them to bits before Twilight took notice of his troubling facial expressions. “Hey, are you alright?” Twilight asked. Freeze simply nodded. “Sorry if everypony is looking at you strange. But don’t worry. They’ll get used to you eventually,” Twilight smiled. Suddenly, Discord and Spike appeared next to Freeze and Twilight. “Heeeeeyy, guys! I hope everything is going well?” Spike asked, nervously grinning. “Mm-hm, once we show Mr. Freeze all of Ponyville, we will be ready for the Hearth’s Warming Eve holiday just in time!” Twilight replied. “Did you wrap up the rest of the gifts?” “Yup! All done and ready!” Spike answered, giving a thumbs up. “Great! We only have one more day until—,” “That’s great and all, Twilight, but I’m afraid we will have to borrow Frosty for a while. I am eager to converse with him so I can understand him more! Toodles!” Discord interrupted, grabbing Freeze. The trio disappeared, leaving Twilight and the others confused. “I have a bad feeling about this,” Pinkie muttered. “Ah hope Discord doesn’t do anythang stupid this time,” Applejack said. Discord, Spike, and Freeze appeared in the middle of the field. Then the duo glared at the villain as they crossed their arms. “Alright, Freeze, what are you really up to? You don’t need to hide anything,” Spike demanded. “And you really couldn’t resist eye-balling Fluttershy’s diamond earlier, could you?” Discord added, appearing as a police officer and had Freeze sit down on a chair with artificial light shining at his face. “I want answers! Speak now or else!” Having had enough of their shenanigans, Freeze punched Discord in the face and slammed the chair on his head. Then he blasted his ice rays at them, freezing both the draconequus and the baby dragon in thin ice except for their heads. “You abominations don’t know when to shut up, don’t you?” Freeze contemptuously spoke. Spike breathed out his fire on the ice, but Freeze instantly froze the insides of his mouth. “Do you really think your ice is going to stop the Lord of Chaos?! Ha! I’ll just snap my way out of it!” Discord tried to move his claws and paw to snap his fingers, but the strong ice prevented them from moving. Seeing this, his pupils shrunk in fear. “This can’t be good.” “I already hate this world thanks to you, your annoying little sidekick, and all those talking horses. Nonetheless, that beautiful little glacier your yellow friend has is just what I need for myself. With you out of the way, neither she nor her irritating friends will stand a chance,” Freeze taunted. “You will not touch a hair on her head, you diamond-obsessed ice freak,” Discord threateningly growled, eyes glowing with fire. Freeze wickedly chuckled. “That fiery spirit will only last long enough until the hypothermia kicks in. Maintain it while you still can.” With that, Freeze started to blast off with his ice powers. Discord then felt extreme coldness settling in and began to shiver thereby. As he looked back at Spike, his eyes widened in shock. The baby dragon started to choke from the ice inside his mouth. “Come on, Spike, spew out some fire! You’re a dragon for Scorpan’s sake!” Spike then tried to exhale with all his might. After a few moments, the ice slowly melted in his mouth and turned to water. He accidentally swallowed half of the cold water before he spat out the other half. He coughed excessively. “Are you okay, Spike?” “Yeah, I’ve been through worse situations. The bad news is it will take a while until I’ll start breathing out fire again,” replied Spike, spitting out bits of frozen ice. “Anyway, I knew that guy was up to no good! He’s gonna steal everypony’s gifts after he’s done getting Fluttershy’s!” “Great. Just great. The snowman will ruin Hearth’s Warming Eve because of me, and Fluttershy will be in danger,” Discord sadly sighed. “Hey, don’t worry! We’ll find a way out of this. I’m sure Twilight and the rest will hold him off for us,” Spike assured. “Perhaps you’re right. I truly don’t see how things could get any worse!” Discord agreed. Then he looked at the readers with a deadpan look. “In case some of you slow-pokes couldn’t already tell, I was obviously being sarcastic.” > An Icy Makeover > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mr. Freeze entered into a diamond cave before feasting his eyes on every single gem he noticed. He looked toward his left to see emeralds and then looked toward his right to see crystal diamonds scattered across the wall. He even looked down and saw rubies all over the ground. But he focused more on the diamonds then anything else. Suddenly, one of the Chaos Diamonds he stole brightened up and attracted all the other diamonds from the cave. Curious, he grabbed hold of it and allowed it to levitate in the air. All the regular diamonds magnetically attached themselves to the Chaos Diamond which increased its brightness. Once the light died out, it became an icy sword with a snowflake symbol engraved in the middle of its blade. “Magnificent,” Freeze muttered, stricken by awe. “This display of power... is flawlessly indescribable.” He tried to swipe the sword in the air; doing that generated a wave of ice towards the entrance. It was so large that it completely blocked his exit. Then he impaled the ground with the sword, causing a massive icicle to sprout from there. It rose up even as far as striking through the top of the cave. Seeing this literally sent chills through Freeze’s spine. “How fascinating! With this powerful weapon in my grasp, I can conquer not just this land but all of Gotham too! I will be the King of the Mountain! The Everlasting Emperor of Gotham!” Freeze exclaimed, raising the sword. “But... I just need one more Chaos Diamond to complete my destiny, and I know just who to—huh?” Freeze beheld multiple bats together just right next to the large icicle. Once they woke up and saw the intruder, they angrily screeched and flew down on him. “Curse this blasted wasteland! Even while I am in a different world, this still has Batman’s presence!” Cadence and her family finally arrived in Ponyville and were happily welcomed by Twilight and her friends. The Royal Couple looked around and saw the lovely decorations adorning the Friendship Castle, inside and outside. They even noticed the gifts wrapped up underneath the tree. Flurry Heart squealed in excitement. “Can’t believe it’s that time of year already! Today’s Wednesday, and Hearth’s Warming Eve begins this Friday!” said Shining Armor. “I know, right? I already feel like we should get started!” Rainbow agreed. “Indeed. I can hardly await for the imminent celebration!” Rarity grinned. “Twilight, just curious to know, is Spike with you? I noticed he isn’t in this castle,” asked Cadence, looking left and right. “Oh, he’s with Discord at the moment. They’re both giving our new guest a merry tour!” Twilight replied. “Oh? A new guest? Who is he?” Cadence asked, intrigued. “Freeze. Mr. Freeze. He’s actually a human from his own version of Earth! Isn’t that great?! A friendly human visitor from another dimension! I just wish Sunset was here to see him!” Twilight exclaimed, prancing. Cadence and Shining however looked at Twilight confused. “A... hooman? What exactly is a hooman?” Suddenly, the front half of the castle was frozen solid until it instantly exploded into tiny fragments of ice. With the entire half of the castle fully exposed, the ponies were subject to the frozen temperature. Then approached Mr. Freeze in the midst of the room. Twilight and the others gasped in shock as they saw their guest menacingly approach them. “Is this the ‘human visitor’ you were talking about, Twilight? Because he doesn’t look ‘friendly’ to me!” Shining said. Freeze then froze all the ponies in ice except Fluttershy. Twilight, Rarity, Shining, Flurry, and Cadence ignited their horns, but Freeze froze their heads before they could do anything. Thus, Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie struggled to move themselves to break the ice near a wall. “Hey, what’s the big idea?!” Rainbow shouted. “What are ya doin’?! Applejack added, vainly trying to move her hind legs. “I need ice... now,” Freeze demanded. “W-What do you m-mean?” Fluttershy asked, shivering from the cold weather. “Think about it. Think fast.” Freeze activated a heat rod and pointed it toward her friends. He impaled the rod into a nearby block of ice, causing it to explode into pieces. Shaking rapidly, she tried to understand what he was referring to. Remembering how he was persistently eyeing her own diamond earlier, she frantically looked all over the friendship meeting room to search for the Chaos Diamond. Then she finally spotted it underneath the table and grabbed it. She flew back to Freeze and reluctantly gave it to him. “Here... j-just don’t hurt my friends!” Fluttershy pleaded. “Excellent,” Freeze smiled, narrowing his eyes. He took the second diamond while gazing at it. “What’s the big deal, Freeze?! I thought you were cool!” Rainbow angrily shouted. “Don’t you mean 20% cooler?” Pinkie corrected, grinning. “Not funny, Pinkie!” Rainbow scolded, blushing in embarrassment. “This diamond is finally mine. Now it’s time to give this mysterious world an icy makeover. So... have an ice day,” Freeze finished, walking out. Pinkie suddenly laughed out loud which caught Rainbow and Applejack off-guard. “Pinkie, ya do realize that was an unfunny ice pun, right?” Applejack said, arching an eyebrow. “Come on, that was funny! Who doesn’t love ice puns?” Pinkie chuckled. Mr. Freeze unsheathed his ice sword and took out the other Chaos Diamond. The latter glowed brightly and levitated in the air just above the sword. Once the diamond slowly touched the tip of the blade, it launched into the cloudy sky. The diamond flew in circles and generated a massive ice wave. Every house in Ponyville was frozen in ice; the residents felt their hooves turning to ice which caused them to panic. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get the ice off as it froze their entire bodies at once. The clouds started to excessively snow, the birds froze in mid-air, the lakes and rivers were likewise frozen solid, and the Everfree Forest was becoming a frozen jungle. Freeze climbed on top of Mayor Mare’s house and beheld his icy handiwork. “Ahh, my new playground. If I can conquer one world, I can conquer more worlds out there. I will be the King of the Universe with this newfound power! It seems my destiny keeps looking better and cooler by the second.” As he was viewing the frozen landscape, he noticed a distant kingdom not far from Canterlot. Seeing it had a crystal-like appearance, it appealed to his lust for diamonds. He sent an ice blast which formed into a long bridge across Equestria. He walked on it after he sheathed his ice sword. Meanwhile, Spike continually attempted to breathe out fire while Discord held a time watch with his eyelashes. Spike exhaled over and over with no success. “Yawn, Spike. It’s been ten minutes, and you’re still struggling to spew fire. I guess we won’t need a firefighter to save Equestria,” he said, wearing a firefighter helmet. “(Groans) It’s no use, Discord! We’re never gonna get out of this stupid ice!” Spike yelled, sadly bowing his head. As Discord was thinking of an escape plan, he got an idea. He grabbed the lightbulb with his mouth and ate it. He spat it out, now a chili pepper. The pepper flew into Spike’s mouth, forcing him to eat it. Once he swallowed it, the hot temperature increased into full maximum. He involuntarily spewed fire on the ice, freeing himself and Discord at last. “Haha! Now you’re behaving like a dragon!” Discord smirked. Spike though looked at the smug draconequus with a death glare. “You... the Lord of Chaos... COULD HAVE DONE THAT TEN MINUTES AGO!!! Were you seriously just waiting for me to literally waste my breath?!” Discord nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders. “Well... yeah.” Spike face-palmed himself while groaning. “Come on, we gotta stop Freeze before he ruins everything!” “Don’t mind if I do!” Discord grabbed his own skis out of nowhere and started to fly in the air without touching the snow. “Can’t believe I’m gonna save Equestria with Discord of all creatures,” Spike sighed. He flew after him to catch up. > A Cold Invasion > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mr. Freeze walked across the frozen wasteland while large icicles sprouted across the landscape. He walked past the frozen forms of the terrified ponies and non-ponies as well, relishing their looks of anguish. He also held a bag that was full of diamonds and gems. After a few minutes, he found himself at the entrance of the Crystal Empire. Evilly chuckling, he unsheathed his ice sword and sliced the gates in half. The cut gates froze instantly before falling on the ground. At that moment, several crystal ponies spotted him. “Chilly day today, isn’t it?” Freeze taunted. Suddenly, the Crystal Guards ran toward him with their spears raised. “Hold it right there! Freeze!” “As you command,” he coldly replied. Raising his own hand, he froze all the guards where they stood. The crystal ponies gasped at what they just witnessed. They screamed in terror as they ran for their lives around the city. Freeze nonchalantly sent ice blasts to every random pony he came across. He froze a mare alongside two foals next to her; he froze a stallion carrying some mail letters; and he froze a unicorn who attempted to ignite her horn. More Crystal Guards confronted him and tried to shoot their arrows at him. However, the arrows froze in mid-air before they could even touch Freeze. “Somepony help us!!” a mare cried out. “Don’t worry! Cadence and Shining Armor will save us from that monster!” a stallion optimistically replied. “I’m afraid your rulers are... iced at the moment. They won’t save you now,” Freeze taunted again. The ponies were horrified as they heard this. Before they even noticed, their hooves started to turn to ice until it reached all the way to their bodies. A couple tears fell from a filly’s face as she too was frozen solid. The teardrops became ice the moment they touched the ground. The sun was then setting, allowing the darkness of the snowstorm to set in. Freeze finally sheathed his sword and created a pathway for him to reach to the top of the castle. “Have an ice evening.” Thus, he walked his way up to the crystal castle and entered the palace. The guards were alerted to his presence, but Freeze gave them no chance to confront him as he froze them on the spot. With no more hindrances in his way, he entered the throne room and spotted two empty thrones. “Ah, a lovely castle in a worthless world. Two thrones, eh? Well then...one throne for here and the other for Gotham. It would appear that fate has been generous towards me. Why only rule one city if I can rule two?” Freeze monologued. He sat on Shining’s throne after he said this. “And the best part? This world has no Batman, making me unstoppable! My reign will be gloriously cool for all my followers and deathly cold for my enemies!” Freeze reveled. Discord and Spike arrived in Ponyville where they saw everypony frozen. “Oh no... we’re too late!” Spike panicked. Even worse, they noticed the shattered remains of the Friendship Castle. Discord immediately teleported himself and Spike to the castle and saw all but Fluttershy in solid ice. “Fluttershy!” Discord shouted in relief. “Discord!” They both hugged each other tightly. “Thank Celestia you’re alright! We were worried that Freeze would hurt you!” Spike said to her. “Yeah, sure, don’t w-worry about us! We c-can keep ourselves w-warm,” Rainbow sarcastically interjected, shivering. “Think ya can get us out of this ice?” Applejack asked. Nodding, Discord snapped his fingers which triggered the ice to automatically melt. Thus, everypony was freed from the ice albeit not without the side effects. They all shivered from the extreme cold they got from the ice. Pinkie sneezed so hard she bounced from wall to wall until she laid on the floor. “Excuse me,” she said, sniffing. “My hooves are all numb! I can b-barely move!” Rarity whined. She fell on the floor, prompting Applejack to help her up. “Thank you both for coming back for us. It means a lot,” Cadence said, wrapping a blanket around her and her family. “Don’t thank us yet because Mr. Greedy Frost is turning all of Equestria into an Ice Age! I suggest we work together to melt that snowman down so that his plans go up in smoke!” Discord advised, wearing winter clothes and holding a shovel. “Discord’s right. We can’t let Freeze ruin Hearth’s Warming Eve, so it is up to us to stop him,” Twilight agreed. “Still, I can’t believe that guy caught us off-guard like that! I take back every cool thing I said about him!” Rainbow said. “Well, he did look kinda evil with the red eyes and creepy voice. His whole appearance just screamed BAD GUY!!!!!” Pinkie yelled. “You know what I mean?” “Yeah... we get it, Pinkie,” Applejack groaned, adjusting her ear. “Do you two know where he’s headed?” Shining asked. “I dunno. My guess would be...the Crystal Empire! He has a thing for diamonds, so I’m assuming he would go after crystals too,” Spike reasoned. “That makes sense because Freeze referred to diamonds as ice, and crystals also resemble ice. He could be there right now!” Fluttershy added. “If he thinks he could take away our kingdom, he has another thing coming for him!” Shining angrily replied. “No one hurts our subjects while we still breathe,” Cadence added. Flurry Heart cooed in agreement. “Well then...” Discord turns into a snow plower. “...let’s ice a snowman.” > A Holiday Wrap-Up > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mr. Freeze sat on the throne as he gazed on all the glorious work he performed throughout the Crystal Empire. He grabbed several crystals and froze them into ice, nailing each of them across the ceiling. Then he unsheathed the ice sword and gazed upon it again. “The more I think about it, the more grateful I am for the Batman in creating me in the first place. Little did he know a legend would be reborn as The King of Ice!” Suddenly, a giant snowplower crashed through the wall. The Mane Six, Spike, and the Royal Couple jumped off the plower before it turned back into Discord. They all glared at their cold enemy while getting into battle stances. “You’re under hot water, Snow Boy! Time to bring this to a swift end!” Discord shouted, pouring hot water on the frozen floor through his eyes. “You never cease in bringing chilly receptions, donkey. Allow me to chill you out,” said Freeze, aiming his sword. The ponies and little dragon jumped out of the way of the ice blasts. Discord however managed to deflect the blasts by snapping his fingers to turn them into random elements. He turned the first blast into butterflies; then he turned the second blast into chocolate pudding; then he turned the third blast into penguins. Rainbow dodged two of Freeze’s blasts effortlessly until the cold temperature settled in. She started to shiver again before her wings slightly froze up. She stumbled across the floor, but she suffered no injuries. “Oh, come on, really?! Why now?!” Applejack jumped over every ice blast sent in her way. She grabbed her lasso with her mouth and threw it around Freeze, tying him up. Then Fluttershy took the sword from him and threw it to Discord. “No!” Freeze cried out. He angrily snapped the lasso into frozen little bits and froze Applejack’s and Fluttershy’s hooves. But before he could run for the sword, Twilight and Rarity zapped him with their combined magic. He flew in the air until he crashed against the wall. “Looks like it’s game over for you, Frosty! We have the upper hand!” Discord boasted. “Not...for long,” Freeze groaned, getting back up. He sprouted icicles from his arms and aimed them at his foes. Twilight, Rarity, Shining Armor, and Cadence activated magical shields and deflected the icicles. On the other hand, Pinkie Pie bounced up and down without getting impaled by the icicles. Giggling to herself, she took out her party bazooka and aimed at the astonished Freeze. “SURPRISE ATTACK!!” she yelled. She shot at the villain with bomb-sized cupcakes; they all exploded with icing and sprinkles the moment they struck him. “Take that, you walking freezer!” she taunted. Suddenly, Freeze froze up the icing, smashed it to pieces, and then froze Pinkie Pie entirely. “Your demise may warm even my heart,” he growled. After he activated his heat rod, Shining and Cadence jumped in front of him and aimed their ignited horns at him. “Step away from the pony!” Shining demanded, glaring. Before he could engage the Royal Couple, he noticed Discord and Spike were trying to break the ice sword by either blowing fire at it or smashing it with a large mallet. The sword was only slowly melting away as it had very sturdy ice material. Seeing this made Freeze worried. Thus, he pushed back the Royal Couple and generated a massive ice wall between himself and the other ponies. “Discord, Spike, behind you!” Cadence warned. However, their reaction was too late as Freeze swatted them away and retook his prized possession. “You fools are only delaying the inevitable! You have lost, and I have triumphed!” Freeze gloated. Unfortunately for him, the Chaos Diamond was already taken off which caused the sword to disintegrate. “No... no! How...did you—?” “The Chaos Diamond responds to anything that is chaotic. Duh! In case you haven’t noticed, I am the Lord of Chaos. For you, you’re just a petty thief with no sense of morality. How boring and uninteresting, really.” Seething with rage, Freeze took off to the skies with his cryogenesis and grabbed hold of the other Chaos Diamond. “At least I’ll destroy you insufferable pests with my ace in the hole!” He directed the diamond’s attack on Discord and Spike, creating a snow tornado in the process. “Spike, be careful!” Twilight called out. “You too, Discord! It’s r-r-really freezing in here!” Fluttershy added, shivering. “Please take out that cold ruffian, Spikey-Wikey! I can’t endure this ferocious weather any longer!” Rarity complained. “Hang on, Rarity! We got this!” Spike assured. Discord and Spike swam around the tornado without losing sight of Freeze. As he was thinking, the draconequus got an idea. Snapping his fingers, a fire tornado appeared out of nowhere and collided with the snow tornado. The fire tornado prevailed and boosted both creatures up in the skies to meet Freeze. “Now we both have the high ground... or should I say... the high air,” Discord bragged, wearing sunglasses with an air horn blowing behind him. As Freeze was levitating in the air thanks to the magic of the Chaos Diamond, he blasted more ice toward his opponents. However, Discord blocked them with his honeybun shield. Then Spike swooped down and tried to grab the diamond. Refusing to yield, Freeze and Spike struggled in a tug-of-war. “Give it up, lizard! You...can’t...win!” Freeze taunted. “Oh yes, we...are!” Spike retorted, breathing fire at him. Freeze groaned in pain from the flames, forcing him to lose his grasp on the diamond. He plummeted down to the ground while screaming. “It’s all yours!” Spike said, tossing it back to Discord. The draconequus laid his paw on the diamond, generating a wave of warmth throughout Equestria. All the ice melted from the landscape and from the Crystal Empire. Everypony was unfrozen, the winter clouds vanished, and the clear night sky was revealed alongside the shining moon and stars. Freeze laid on the ground unconscious while his icy cover had already melted from the fire. Discord and Spike safely landed on the ground and looked down on Freeze. “Think we should lock him up in Tartarus?” Spike suggested. “Tempting, but no. Obviously, he’s a criminal from his own world, so sending him back to his dimension to face justice is the smarter way to handle this,” replied Discord. He grabbed all two of the Chaos Diamonds, imprinted a few snowflakes on top of them, and then dropped the diamonds on Freeze’s body. At that moment, a bright light shined around him and teleported him and the diamonds out of Equestria. Meanwhile, Batman searched across Gotham City with no luck whatsoever. Even police cars were everywhere on almost every street in search for the missing villain. Batman drove his batmobile in the middle of the night. “Still no sign of Freeze. He is nowhere in the city at all. That diamond must have taken him to a place outside of Gotham but where exactly?” Batman wondered. Suddenly, Freeze teleported just above his vehicle and roughly landed on the roof. The two diamonds rolled off him and landed on the hood, catching Batman’s attention. He exited the batmobile and saw Freeze weakened and groaning in pain. Seeing this made Batman slightly smirk. “Looks like the search party’s over.” He cuffed Freeze’s hands and took the diamonds off the hood. A few days later, the sun was setting and all Ponyville had already prepared themselves for Hearth’s Warming Eve. Every family sat together with gladness, every friend sang with their friends, and every foal was happy beside their parents. The Mane Six, Spike, Discord, and the Crystal Family sat together having pudding. Pinkie, of course, also ate snow cakes alongside the pudding. “This week was pretty rough for all of us, but I’m glad we made it out alive. Thanks to both Spike and Discord, we can celebrate Hearth’s Warming Eve!” Twilight said, smiling. “Indeed. It was quite a brave act you did in stopping that ruffian, Spike,” cooed Rarity, kissing Spike on the cheek. “It was nothing, really. Just did what I had to do,” replied Spike, blushing. “Frankly, I regret not reserving at least one of those diamonds for Fluttershy. If only it wasn’t used as a plot device...” Discord sighed. “It’s okay, Discord. The one thing I value more is our friendship,” Fluttershy comforted. Smiling, both the pegasus and Discord hugged tightly. “I’m still shaken...(sniff)...at the fact that guy was from another dimension. I mean, the odds of meeting human creatures every now and then is a little...(sniff)...scary to think about now,” Shining stated, wearing a blanket around him. “I’m sure there are beings out there who aren’t like him,” Cadence said, feeding Flurry Heart with pudding. “Besides, if there are villains like him who exist in his world, then there has to be heroes there too.” “If that’s the case, then that would be so awesome!” Rainbow squealed. “Ah don’t think we will see any creature from his world visiting ours any time soon,” Applejack doubted. “Unless some crazy crossover fanatic makes us visit their world instead...” Pinkie uttered, drowning herself with pudding. Twilight ignited the holiday lights in the room and laid out all the presents for everyone. “Happy Hearth’s Warming, everypony!” “Happy Hearth’s Warming!” they all replied. THE END