Chapter Three: A Good Kind of Change

Suddenly the Ice King heard an explosion outside. He looked up abruptly, out the window, across his kingdom. And there, deep in his lonely land, in the center of the frozen plains that make up well over half of the Ice Kingdom, there spun a whirling mass of ice and snow and...

"Magic!" He gasped, knowing full well that he alone was able to use magic here in his lands. None of the penguins knew magic. Except for maybe Gunther. And none of his snowmen could fathom what magic even was! Which could only mean...

"INTRUDER ALERT! Gunter, Gunther, Gunty, to my side! Come to your King! To battle we go!" He raced across the sky, flying as fast as he possibly could toward the massive tornado. "No one enters my kingdom and uses such powerful magic without my permission! Come on, boys!"

His penguin army followed him, armed with- ah, who was he kidding? His penguins ignored his commands and simply looked up at him as he stormed off in a blind rage. The Ice King was definitely on his own... As usual.

He arrived at the site, ready to defend his kingdom and honor when the tornado exploded. The force, made stronger by magic and unusually dangerous by sharp pieces of ice and hard lumps of snow, threw the Ice King at least thirty feet. His head collided with the side of a glacier, rendering him unconscious...

Meanwhile...

Princess-Monster-Wife was in the eye of the tornado, out of harm's way when the magical ice storm exploded. She floated down to the earth gracefully, landing on her own two feet. She heard a faint crunch as her shoes sunk into the snow. She looked down at her feet, then at her hands.

"I'm alive," she whispered. She was no longer a lonely spirit.

"I AM ALIVE!" She cried, gripping her royal blue dress in her delicate white hands. She twirled, spraying fluffy white snow with the sudden movement. A giggle bubbled up in her throat. "Ahahahahahaha! I can't believe this! It's too wonderful!"

She stopped spinning when she noticed the lake. It was the Lake of Liquid Ice, filled with water so cold it freezes anything that comes into contact with it. She stepped over to it, wobbly on her new legs. Eyes closed, heart pounding, she leaned over the edge of the lake... Then she opened her eyes, finding herself face to face with-

"Ohhh!" She gasped, and pressed a hand over her heart. The reflection in the freezing cold water did the same. "Is that really... Me?" She couldn't believe the beautiful woman reflected in the lake was really her.

Her skin was pure white, as white as the snow. Her eyes were a dark, glittering black. She reached up to touch her hair, which was as blue and hard as ice, and pointed at the ends. The style was very pretty. She had bangs that hung over her forehead, and it framed her face elegantly with shorter pieces; The longer pieces fanned out around her bare shoulders. She was wearing a simple blue strapless gown that was shorter in the front than in the back- the front came just above her knees and the back trailed along the ground just slightly. On her small feet she wore a pair of gorgeous heels made entirely out of transparent blue ice. She was a vision of elegance, charm, and beauty...

Everything she had now, she had never dreamed of having before. Before she had been a monster, her body made up of the body parts of other princesses; she had been so hideous, people would look at her and scream, run away, vomit, or even pass out in horror. Now she was...

"Beautiful," she sighed happily. She put out a single heeled foot and dipped it into the water- or that is what she meant to do. Instead of dipping, it actually tapped down and she was pressing the tip of her shoe lightly onto a small circle of ice that was just big enough to fit her entire foot on it. She gasped, pulling her foot back. It came easily, and as she lost contact with the ice it immediately turned back into water...

"Hmm, I wonder?" She smiled and stepped out onto the lake. The ice that formed under her feet supported her weight. She laughed out loud, her voice echoing across the plains. Suddenly she had the urge to dance, to run, to jump! So she did, laughing and crying at the miracle that gave her this wondrous body. Suddenly, after a particularly high jump, she stopped midair. Surprised, and wondering how she had done it, she realized she was standing on a floating piece of ice that had formed underneath her shoes...

"My shoes are magic!" She squealed, clapping her hands. "How lovely! I must show my husband. Oh! My husband!" She sank gracefully down to the earth, realizing that she could now go to him. Her Ice King...

The spirits of Wind and Magic stood- well, more like floated- before her. Wind was a silver tornado filled with thousands of brightly colored eyes. Magic was a shadow cloaked in purple and gold, and he carried a golden staff topped with a diamond. They looked so powerful... And it had been their power that had helped her. She walked over to them, and thanked them.

"How can I ever repay you? Wind, Magic... You have made it possible for me to live again. I can go back to my husband now..." She began to cry. "I couldn't have changed without your help..."

"I am so happy for you, Ice Princess," sighed the Wind. She looked up through her tears when she heard the new name.

"Ice Princess?" She questioned. "I'm Princess-Monster-Wife..." Wind blinked several of her many eyes in rapid succession and spun with slightly more intensity.

"You are a monster no longer, Princess. You belong with the Ice King. Why should you not be the Ice Princess?" The spirit of Magic stepped forward and placed a golden crown upon her head. The movement caused the icicles that made up her hair to shift and bump into each other, causing a lovely sound similar to the music of wind chimes. Wind spoke again.

"Ice Princess. That is your name now. The powers of Ice and Snow are at your command. Go. Rule this land alongside your husband." At the word husband, the eyes of Wind all looked at something behind the Ice Princess.

And so she turned around, suddenly nervous and shy... Because in her heart she knew that she was about to be reunited with her beloved husband.
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