The Ice King went over the song, humming the rhythm. The businessmen were remarkably quick learners but they had no soul. All that meant was that the Ice King would need to compensate. Gunther applied the final touch to his glossy suit, while he donned his shades. The rest of the Businessmen nervously tweaked their instruments and brushed their hair back.

"Guys! Gather around." Barked the Jagged Ice King, twirling his drumsticks. "I know you're all nervous. Look, even I am. But we better blow them away. So, follow my lead!" Four heads bobbed in unison. "Besides, there'll be no one to challenge us..."

"Quack!"

"I know! I know Gunther. Ready!?"

Again the heads bobbed.

The curtain rose to a tough crowd. The Ice King would have liked a roaring applause, or roses, but all he got was sullen tapped the mic.

"Quack. Quack, quack, quack!"

He bowed to the audience and gave the stage to the Ice King, who was in an advanced state of stage fright. Sub-consciously he peddled the drum. The deep vibrating boom reverberated, filling him with confidence.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. I am the Jagged Ice King and these are my Icicles. And tonight.." beat beat beat "... we're rocking Candy Kingdom!"

Red Tie strummed his electric guitar to punctuate the last words. The Ice King did the countdown and then they started. It was a thumping rock melody. Blue Tie Bob strummed a rapid bass tune to Red Tie's chords, with Blue Tie Jones playing backup guitar . Blue Tie Smith was on the keyboard synth and Blue Tie James played the trumpet. It was an interesting cacophony and it had an undeniably raw indie feel. Red Tie and Blue Tie Jone provided the vocals to the Ice King's feelings.

Sitting, reluctantly upon his throne
The Ice King wonders at the world below
His castle is empty, except for one thought
Striving, driving him, on his way

It was a poignant tale, that started subdued, in contrast to their opening. But now, the Ice King changed gears into a drum major that rippled through the crowd, with a hypnotic rhythm

She said she'll always be mine!
But she'll never love me
I'm what's right for her
I'm all the things she'll never have!

But one thing, coming from me
To you
We could be so much more!

The trumpet wailed a solid sad note to the guitar riff and the Ice King's solid drumming performance, before fading out. The Ice King's hurt and angst he felt at all the princesses in his life melted away, finally being able to see them in perspective. And the audience even saw the Ice King from a different perspective. He was a rock god! No sooner had the last note played, the crowd wildly cheered the Ice King. Simon basked in the glow of approval and giggled stupidly. They started chanting:

"Ice King! Ice King! Ice King! Ice King..."

And beneath the visible surface of his mind something was stirring - the real answer to get a princess and what to do to be popular. Was it really so easy? All he needed to...

"Quack quack quack-quack" Burbled Gunther over the microphone.

"Wha.." began Simon, being pulled from his reverie and his podium of glory. He looked at Gunther for a explanation to his interruption. The second curtain was pulled aside and The Ice King narrowed his eyes. Finn the Human and his friends had arrived. The crowd effortless shifted their cheering from him to Finn, taking his glory as if it was his own! He gritted his teeth and felt a magazine of ice bolts lock into his hands. But, for once he held onto his cool.

Finn was grateful that the audience would have difficulty seeing that he was sweating at this distance. He had decided to abandon his flute at the last minute and had instead opted to simply be the vocalist. And second reason was that the Ice King didn't get boo'ed off the stage as everyone expected. And he had actually gave a performance worth cheering. He also was having second thoughts about that chocolate bar he had whorfed down before coming on stage.

"Quack quack. Quack." Gunther bowed again and left the stage to Finn and company.

"Hello everyone! We're here to defeat the Ice King with algebraic awesomesauce!" Said Finn in one breath. There was a short cooldown period as he got the next one ready: "One! Two! Three! Four!"

Princess Bubblegum set the beat, a thick electronica tone with her electric piano with Marceline providing the bass rhythm.

Comin' up here, with a different idea
Its not a miracle that you needed
She's drifting away like an iceberg
I'll be everything you need and more

The music flowed and Finn's simple and touching vocal style was a breath of fresh air, compared to the Ice King's angst ridden drone. As they came to the chorus, Jake struck up with his viola - which PB had electrified, transforming it into a bow-played 4-stringed Rickenbacker for the chorus riff. Finn had forgotten most of the lyrics on the way and was freestyling it.

You've
got-to-be-more-than-just-there
You're
just-thinking, that's-just-what-you-do
You'll
just-never-know-how...

Finn's stutter-stop had the crowd wiggling to the flow. And it was too much for the Ice King to bear. His crown seemed to glow ominously as he restrained the build-up of magical power, something which he wasn't used to doing. And wasn't particularly good at it either. And like a overweight kid doing a marathon, his self-control pulled its hamstring and hit the ground. Giving a hoarse shout he swept his drum set away with a mighty sweep of his arms, sending crashing aside. Finn, Jake and Marceline looked up in surprise. Around the Ice King, the air seemed to congeal as his latent deep-freeze abilities were coming to bear.

And then he drummed the pockets of subzero air...