A mysterious friend arrives again

Ice King sat on his recliner in his ice palace. After returning to his kingdom to find that it was pretty much exactly as it was before it was destroyed (but better – everything was restored to its former glory, meaning that his chair was back to normal), Ice King had promptly fallen asleep on the recliner for a while. Once he had woken up, he got to writing his fanfiction, captured multiple princesses (who were released by Finn and Jake), yelled at Gunther many, many times and eventually became bored and sat back on the chair.

"Dang, I'm bored" he exclaimed to the empty room. Unsurprisingly, he didn't get a response, so he said it again, slightly louder this time. With still no response, Ice King stood up and stretched. He went over to the table and picked up his crown, which he put on his head. Momentarily he looked over to the pile of clothes on the floor, which needed washing REALLY badly, before shrugging and muttering 'Gunther can do it', then he flew out of the window.

He flew around his kingdom for a while, which did nothing to ease his boredom, before landing on the border with the sea. The snow of his kingdom gradually melted here and became large ice cubes floating in a freezing sea. Not that Ice King noticed the cold. He dipped his bare feet in the water, and sighed. Even though he knew that Finn and Jake disliked his company slightly, he still missed having company and living with people (Gunther didn't count). And Abracadaniel had gone back to his own home, embarrassed after the incident with Kee Oth the demon.

"I wish I had someone to talk to." Ice King sighed, wishing out loud. There was a creaking sound, and Ice King turned his head towards it. He noticed an ice cube which had broken away from the rest, and was floating towards to land just to the left of where Ice King was sitting. Ice King stood up, and walked over to where the ice cube had landed. After all, it seemed more interesting than just sitting there wallowing. Ice King used his powers to make the ice clearer so he could see inside, and was surprised at what he saw.

"Oh my glob. It's…it's a dude!" he said, pressing himself up against the ice to get a better view. The guy was around the same height as Ice King, but he was a lot chubbier. Surprisingly, the dude also had the same white beard as Ice King himself, and wore the same style of clothing as him, except that it was a bright red instead of blue.

"Woah…" Ice King said. "This guy is RIPPING OFF MY STYLE!"

Using his powers once more, Ice King destroyed the ice enclosure surrounding the man in one single 'crack!' The man fell to the floor, and became half-buried in the snow. Ice King poked him with his toes.

"Hey bro. You dead or what?"

The man groaned, and turned over. His face was one giant bruise, and he appeared to have some teeth missing. His eyes widened as he saw pretty much the exact mirror image of himself staring back at him.

"Who are you, then?" he said in a deep voice.

"Who…am…I? Ice King said, angered. "Only the most powerful wizard in all of Ooo!"

"I see. Give me your hand."

Ice King looked at him suspiciously. "Uh, what?"

The man laughed a deep, jolly laugh that made him grip his stomach and seem to wobble all over.

"I am also a wizard, blue one. Don't worry, it won't hurt a bit. I would just like to see who you are inside."

"O…k…" Ice King said, holding out his hand as well. The man took his hand and used it to sit up. It was quite soft, but held many wrinkles in it simultaneously.

Ice King was suddenly filled with an overwhelmingly large sense of joy, making him want to jump around and sing for no apparent reason. Ice King whipped his hand back in shock. The man in red was looking at him with a look of confusion.

"That's strange…there seems to be something blocking your inner feelings, but I can sense that you are a good man…um…?"

Ice King realised that he had yet to give his name and receive this man's name.

"Oh, I'm Ice King. What's your name? You must give it to me. After all, you are in my kingdom."

The red man chuckled and stood up.

"Well well well, Ice King, I have many names, but you may call me Nick."

Ice King thought 'That's a silly name. If he wants to be a well-known wizard like me, he needs to have a cool name.' but out loud he said "Ok Nick, you know I have my own castle, and lots of penguins. It gets pretty lonely here in my kingdom…"

Nick laughed again. "All right Ice King, I'll visit your home."

"Brilliant!" Ice King said, beaming. With that, h began to float into the air, forgetting that Nick couldn't fly, until he looked down and saw Nick standing there.

"Uh…you want a ride, pal?" he said awkwardly.

"No no, I'll be fine." Nick said, and clicked his fingers. Ice King shrugged, and flew off to his castle. It didn't take more than a few minutes, but when he flew through the window he saw Nick sitting on his recliner and smiling.

"What…you…YOU'RE SITTING ON MY RECLINER!" he said, and Nick stood up and brushed himself off.

"Sorry friend, it just looked so comforting."

Ice King went to the door, and signalled Nick to follow him.

"Hey Nick, you just HAVE to see my room. It's so cool!"

Nick nodded and smiled a slow smile, before following Ice King to his room. Once the got there, Ice King turned around and said to Nick "Oo, I've just had the best idea! I have a game we can play…you know, I carved the game pieces from my own teeth…stay there, friend!"

With that, Ice King flew out the room. Nick smiled and sat down on the bed, pulling something out from his pocket.

A minute later, Ice King flew back to his room. Nick was gone. There was a gift, however, sitting on the bed. Ice King opened it in confusion, and read the card. The card read

'Dear Simon, I know that you are often lonely, so I have left you a little gift. Nick.'

Ice King unwrapped the box, and saw that it was an invite to Princess Bubblegum's annual winter celebrations. Ice King couldn't have been more shocked – how did this get here, and why would he be invited? There was another small box inside, and Ice King naively opened this. A cloud of blue smoke drifted out, and Ice King found himself unable to remember the past hour. All he knew was that he was bored, and now he had a ticket to company in his hands. He re-read the card, and it now read

'Dear Ice King, I know that you can get lonely, so why not join us for the winter celebrations? From, Princess Bubblegum.'

Outside the window, Nick smiled to himself. It had taken many years, but finally, he knew that Simon would be happy.

After all, wasn't that the job of Santa?

A/N: Are you getting into the spirit of Christmas yet? This was a longer chapter than I had intended, but I needed to fit it all in.

Merry Christmas everyone! Has anyone guessed what the Great Christmas Extravaganza will be yet? One person has, and so as not to spoil it for everyone I will keep their identity a secret, but I will congratulate them here. CONGRATULATIONS!

TOMORROWS STORY: HOW CHRISTMAS CAME TO AAA