A necessary evil

It had been a couple of hours since the party had started and contrary to what Frieza expected, it wasn't as "wild" as he had thought. If anything, it was quite plain and boring, but then again, his parties usually involved mass murdering.

That time had been spent talking with Rarity, which involved a few tales and talks of her daily work in a clothing shop. It also included questions about Frieza's own species and further family information, which he had no problem sharing, especially when it involved boasting his father's status and diminishing his brother's.

At one moment, the chat went through the matter of his natural colors, with Rarity recalling his golden form. He had to admit, whenever she wasn't drooling over him, the unicorn was actually quite a tolerable company, especially since she had manners other ponies lacked.

Amongst the talk, he also learned of the group's signature 'weapon': The Elements of harmony. He silently scoffed at the name and wondered if anything in that planet was as sickly innocent as the name of a supposed power.

Regardless, the mention of turning evil beings into stone did catch his attention, as much as knowledge that the elements had been given up at one point then returned after yet another 'catastrophe' had assaulted Equestria. It was quite a convoluted story in the eyes of the emperor of evil, who actually wondered how much of a effect these Elements would have with his evil nature. In truth, Frieza believed he was powerful enough to ravage his way out of the stone, should the need arise.

However, the icing on the cake for the frost demon, was what lead the Elements' talk to another entity he knew quite well, by the name of Discord, the god of chaos he had met back at the tournament. In truth, Frieza thought Discord was nothing more than a sad excuse of a god and a joke, plain and simple, yet he envied his power as much as he envied Beerus'.

Abilities like those would certainly not be lost on his hands. The next pieces of information didn't catch the frost demon's interest as much, as he could care less about the weak events that led to a certain Nightmare moon, nor the rise of Equestria's enemies he had personally killed and even less about the supposed Changeling's that had left their former attitudes behind. All of those topics were just not important for him, nor worthy of attention.

Thankfully, before the chat could go blander, other ponies called for his company, forcing Rarity to excuse herself and leave the frost demon to his own thoughts.

His attention shifted, the emperor of evil turned around over to the nearest table, walking amongst the crowd of equines until he made his way towards Pinkie's enormous vanilla pastry. Placing both hands behind his back, Frieza remained silent, contemplating and thinking about his next course of action and although, he initially resisted the urges, the frost demon ultimately grabbed the nearest knife at the table and cut a large piece of the cake, it was his after all. Ignoring the rest of the equines, Frieza grabbed a nearby spoon, cutting yet another large piece of his portion before leading it to his mouth and soon feeling the expected sensation of sweetness and icing, yet...

The frost demon gritted his teeth in anger as he recognized it actually tasted good.

It seemed the pink menace had at least one thing going for her, which was a huge plus in his book. True, he didn't have the same monstrous appetite of Goku, but he did enjoy large meals and a good portion of pastries.

Letting that anger slip, Frieza turned around, plate on hand as he silently ate the cake, carefully cutting and consuming chunk after chunk until the pastry was no more. Setting the plate aside, the frost demon simply crossed both arms over his chest and observed everypony inside, noticing how several of them still exchanged fearful glances with him.

The whole thing caused Frieza to start feeling the tiresome sensation of boredom, after all, he was not going to participate in activities such as dancing, nor the games Pinkie had settled and it wasn't long before he would decide to take his leave.

Before he did so, however, some of Twilight's other friends attempted a conversation with him, all of them amicable but the talks were short and to the point, often as plain as a simple 'how are you enjoying the party?'.

In a way, he missed Rarity's conversation, at least they had an understanding... As morbid as that seemed to the emperor of evil. True, he had also expected to engage in a conversation with Twilight herself, but it seemed that the mare was currently taken by a bunch of equines.

Those thoughts aside, Frieza found an amusing change as time progressed, with talks of his fight against the three pathetic weaklings spread in more detail amongst the masses in the present party. All of that courtesy of a unicorn he identified as Trixie, the mare that just kept reminding him of Raditz.

Then a topic appeared that was actually quite appealing to him.

"Who do you think would win in a fight between the princesses and the frost demon!" Trixie, screamed, atop of a table as everypony in the party shared in on the fictional fight.

He did found it amusing how the crowd was divided and how nervous the princesses actually looked. Sure, he had humility forced into his face when Toppo brutalized him, but he still enjoyed seeing lesser beings trembling at his name.

Whether due to the drinks or sheer stupidity, for some reason the crowd, minus the so called Elements of harmony, began to chant a word that gave Frieza ecstasy.

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Frieza was fully surprised by the sudden turn of events, wondering how it was that mongrels such as those equines, would so blatantly go ever the princesses' authority to condone such insubordination, but then again, considering how defective the royal sisters were starting to seem in the eyes of the frost demon, it was to be expected. With that in mind, Frieza looked back at them and smirked at Celestia, who did her best to hold a smile while her mind raced through the implications.

Oh! I so knew you were going to get back at us for leaving you with Rarity. The sun princess thought, her mind-words being answered by Frieza whose smile widened as if he had some sort of telepathic discussion with her.

Neither she nor her sister wanted to test their abilities against Frieza, as they were aware of his capabilities, that for them, went barely over a full powered Tirek.

"Okay, okay, that's enough everypony!" Both Luna and Celestia released the breath they were holding as they saw Twilight pushing Trixie down to give herself room to stand at the top of the table. "All of you are forgetting that Celestia and Luna are our princesses and that they are above these kinds of practices." She said, a pleased smile forming on their faces. "You are also forgetting that Frieza is not here to deliberately hurt your rulers!"

Are you sure about that? Thought Frieza.

Twilight continued. "Therefore there will be no fight that could leave a stain on anypony's relationship!"

She smiled, noticing how the crowd began calming their excitement at her words, while leaving a frowning Trixie to grunt, who shortly after, received a small smack on the head, courtesy of Starlight.

Twilight was about to get down, when her plan utterly failed.

"Actually, I wouldn't mind having a small sparring session with your powerful rulers." The princesses' hearts stopped at this and at the same time the fire for a battle re-kindled amongst the crowd.

"Frieza, what are you doing!?" Asked Twilight, frowning at the grinning frost demon.

He chuckled. "Just giving a vote of confidence to the princesses, don't you trust them to give me a fight, dear Twilight?"

She was at an impass. Twilight knew the image of a ruler was important, regardless of how free Equestria was, yet having to fathom how the royal sisters', especially Celestia's carefree attitude would get them to share blows with a powerful intergalactic warlord, due to their subjects' sudden needs, was something she couldn't let pass.

Looking back, she noticed both Luna and Celestia in complete silence. They, as Twilight, knew how outclassed they were.

Returning her gaze to Frieza's, she noticed the smirk he was giving her and she recognized it. It was the Frieza she had met back at the last stand against the triad, the Frieza that made her blood run cold, the brute animal behind the gentle facade.

Twilight was about to voice her concern, when the unimaginable happened.

"We accept the challenge." The room went silent and on her part, Twilight's eyes shot open, as she heard her old mentor's voice. Looking at them, she noticed their determined faces regardless of how much the stakes were against them and even in spite of their visible fear.

Twilight narrowed her eyes as she saw something else in the royal sister's eyes. There always was something that appeared on the princessess' expressions whenever they would battle and it varied depending on the situation. Whether the thrill of a spar, a minor inconvenience, anger or just sheer survival.

In that moment, Twilight saw the four of them combined.

They were terrified, for sure, but they were no cowards. On his part, Frieza looked at them with a curious look, half expecting them to back down. The frost demon had to admit, they had gained his respect... An extremely small and almost non-existent amount of course.

As the crowd parted to the sides, both parties walked towards each other until they were inches apart.

"I have to say, your highness, you managed to surprise me once more." Frieza spoke, noticing the frown they held, although not one of anger, but rather one of determination given to what some would consider friends.

"Regardless of how much we admire your capabilities, Frieza, my sister and I hardly walk away from a challenge."

He chuckled, not out of mockery but actual amusement.

"So," he began, "where do you want to start this sparring session?"

Celestia smiled at him, her eyes still narrowed. "I was thinking at the edge of the Everfree forest, to avoid anypony getting hurt."

Frieza cocked his head to the side. "Still many will want to see." He stated. "I guess we will have to hold back our power."

Both princesses gratefully smiled at him, silently pleased that Frieza would consider how important their subjects were. In reality, he didn't care about them. Going all out would be devastating for the planet and these ponies were interesting enough for him to consider not killing them.

With a nod of confirmation, Celestia spoke. "It appears that is the case, Frieza."

The frost demon nodded back. "Then I guess no golden form... For now."

Lowering her head with a small shake, Celestia let out a chuckle. "You're doing this as payback for what happened earlier don't you, Frieza?"

The frost demon gave her a hearty laugh. "I'm not one to let grudges slip, Celestia."

She grinned at him, her horn charging up. "Are you ready?" He nodded back and with that, everypony present at the party disappeared.
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"I can't believe they actually agreed to go with this!" Twilight yelled in anger, incredulously noticing how excited most of the ponies were. Then her eyes landed on Trixie, who almost as if they shared a connection, felt Twilight's eyes staring at her. The unicorn did her best to pretend she wasn't there and ignored the alicorn.

Twilight grunted in annoyance.

"Yeah, I don't feel too good about this either, but then again..." Starlight said, a hoof under her chin. "Frieza did say he was going to hold back."

Applejack perked her ears at this, disappointment visible on her face. "You mean we won't be seein' that golden form thingy?"

"He better not or he won't like what's coming to him!" Rainbow fumed, staring daggers at the frost demon who currently found himself getting prepared for the fight.

Applejack shook her head at this. "Rainbow, you should really stop antagonazin' Frieza, he ain't done nothin' wrong to us."

"And picking a fight with the princesses isn't wrong!?" She retorted.

With a long deep breath, Twilight scratched the back of her head thinking about the specific words said by Rainbow. "Well," she began, getting the attention of the group, "he didn't exactly pick a fight, not when he specified sparring, plus, he did say he was going to hold much of his power back."

Rainbow roared in anger, rolling her eyes. "And what about Pinkie? She made this party for him and he just simply ruined it!"

The aforementioned party pony placed a hoof under her chin. "I did initially think he was a meany pants for stopping the party."

"Ha! See!?" Yelled Rainbow, a look of victory on her face.

That was until Pinkie's expression brighted up. "But then he came to me to apologize for ending it early, so I'm okay with it!"

At this, the blue pegasus simply lowered her hooves, sighing in defeat.

Suddenly, a chuckle took her attention. "Rainbow, darling, you really shouldn't concern too much about this." Said Rarity, who was currently laying down on the grass. "In the end, Frieza is a gentlecolt, regardless of his fighting needs and he won't overstep into seriously injuring the princesses."

Rainbow rolled her eyes, on his part, a certain young drake remained sat in there with his eyes closed and a frown visible on his face.

Twilight, noticing this, decided to step closer and proceeded to approach his shoulder with her hoof. "Spike..."

"It's starting!" Trixie's yells caught their attention, as she suddenly stood on her hind legs, placing both arms to the sides in excitement to let the rest know of the incoming expectacle. Shaking her head at the unicorn's simple-minded thoughts, Twilight gazed back at Spike. She knew what was angering him, but decided to leave that for later.

Her plan made, Twilight looked back at the open space at the edge of the Everfree and towards the soon to begin battle amongst Equestria's most powerful beings and the universe's most terrifying unknown.

Suddenly, she started laughing at what she was seeing, an action mirrored by many ponies who noticed the same thing Twilight had, who had completely forgotten about her gripes when she was caught up in the moment.

There, atop of Frieza's head, rested the party cone hat, hilariously covering the center of his big bald head. The laughs continued, but the frost demon paid them no mind.

"We're ready, Frieza!" Yelled Luna, her face as well as her sister's no longer showing a compassionate look, but rather the expression of a warrior.

Frieza chuckled at this. "And also eager I see."

Celestia gave him a warm smile. "We apologize in advance if we fail to meet your expectations."

At this, the frost demon waved his hand in dismissal. "Think nothing of it, your highness, besides this will help me avoid getting rusty." He said, his expression then turned serious. "Still, I don't plan going easy on either of you, so I hope you give this your best." As soon as those words left his mouth, he prepared for the incoming attack.

The princesses did the same... Until they noticed the cone hat.

Both royal sisters snorted at this, laughing at his expense while wishing Frieza didn't make it a new grudge. On his part, the frost demon cocked his head to the side, slightly annoyed by the intercourse. "Is something amusing you?"

Between laughs, Celestia managed to catch her breath and pointed with her hoof towards his head. "You do realize you still have your cone hat, don't you?"

Frieza lifted both eyebrows, until something made click. So that's what those morons were laughing at. He thought.

Without any words he decided to shut the crowd up.

Closing his eyes, Frieza took hold of the cone hat, then squashed it in his fist before throwing it behind him and towards the still laughing crowd. Suddenly he opened his eyes and turned half of his body around, raising a finger towards the hat that was close enough to the crowd and fired.

In a moment, nopony was laughing anymore.

Several wide open eyes stared at him in silence and fear, staring at the wicked grin of the frost demon who had just pulverized the cone hat in a red explosion. Even the princesses stopped their laughter.

Frieza had made a point.

Turning back, he fazed the royal sisters. "Shall we start then?"

A few seconds of silence passed before a set of roars took hold of the open space, both sisters flying against the frost demon who simply stood still with his grin still in place and both open palms at his side, slowly floating off the ground.

Celestia raised her hoof, ready to connect against Frieza, but he vanished in an instant. Luna flew past her and disappeared unto the sky, leaving Celestia to react in time to barely avoid a kick from the frost demon.

With another roar, she blasted against Frieza who dodged once more with ease, this time giving Celestia an opening, who disappeared and reappeared behind the frost demon. Her blast was soon to collide, creating a small explosion which caused the crowd to roar in excitement.

Celestia's smile of victory was wiped off her face when she suddenly felt an incredibly horrible pain in her stomach. Frieza made it out of the smoke and collided her with his fist. She could see his smirk, regardless of the very few scratches.

He was really holding back, yet his speed was as fast as she had expected, as well as his overconfidence.

Good.

"What's the matter, Celestia?" He asked in a taunting voice at the aforementioned princess, who was clutching her stomach as she tried to catch her breath, not noticing the dead silence from everypony. "I'm not even using half my power and you can't even make me break a sweat." He continued. "Should I call off this sparring and show Ponyville how pathetic and weak their princesses really are?"

She immediately frowned at his words, then with another roar and faster than he could react, Celestia fired another blast against his face, this time the impact was larger and more powerful.

She didn't waste any second before she blasted once more against the ground, with the attack drilling the earth before disappearing out of sight. After that, Celestia charged up her horn and her body soon became illuminated in a bright orange light, that once it faded, left the sun princess with a thick shield around her.

That set, Celestia prepared for Frieza's inevitable attack, as her horn glowed once more, the ground violently shaking for a few moments. Suddenly she was smirking.

Bam!

A purple blast exploded behind her, the shield receiving the impact full force without giving in to the frost demon's tremendous power.

"A shield!?" He asked, his voice lauder and with a hint of mocking joy. "Are you really so weak as to hide behind a cheap trick!?" He said, his finger pointed up as numerous blasts went out from its tip.

Celestia gritted her teeth behind the spell and wide opened her eyes when in the blink of her eyes, Frieza punched her magical barrier, which once more was resisting the brutal attacks.

The frost demon continued to punch and kick the sphere, with Celestia flying backwards from the impacts while her eyes focused on Frieza's. Noticing an opening, she suddenly made the magic disappear and blasted Frieza before making the bubble protect her once more.

The crowd was cheering once more, noticing how their princess was holding her own.

Suddenly, whatever thought Celestia had, was cut short the moment a white fist completely broke the sphere, causing her to go sailing back to the ground. She heard a chuckle before a big orange ball of energy collided against her, causing Celestia's eyes to go wide.

Frieza laughed in contempt. "You think a shield that pathetic would stop me!?" He yelled, feeling his victory easily assured...

Until his senses picked up something that surprised him.

"Not really, I was just counting on it to take your attention long enough."

"Uh?" Without any warning, an enormous rock collided against his head, managing to stop his smirk and actually doing damage.

The frost demon growled, hunching his body and closing both fists tightly, while noticing Celestia floating above him, a smirk plastered on her face.

Frieza went from his curled up position and back to his royal straight one. Soon after, his frown faded as a calm expression took over. Both opponents stared in silence while the skies went grey, drops of water falling unto the battlefield, soon accompanied by numerous thunders.

Suddenly, the frost demon smiled. "Not bad, your highness."

Celestia smiled back. "We ponies are full of surprises, Frieza."

Frieza chuckled at this, his eyes narrowing once more. "Let's see how much those surprises will help you." With that, he roared, sailing through the sky and towards Celestia.

Only to feel another rock collide against him, which although big enough, it didn't really do any damage to his back. It wasn't long before he felt another rock straight in the chest and with that, several others followed. His instincts taking in, Frieza used his finger blasts to pulverize any rock that was about to hit him as well as using his fists to destroy the ones that were too close.

Amongst the sky chaos, he began to track Celesta, using her ki for reference until her silhouette was visible, after that, the frost demon used the numerous boulders to help him get across the literal asteroid rain and towards the sun princess' location in the sky.

On her part, Celestia could see Frieza getting closer.

It was moment for the next part of her plan to take place. She grinned at the frost demon, not out of mockery but surprise. He was powerful, sure, miles above any of them, but she had thousands of years of experience behind her that would help her keep up with him... At least on his weakened state.

She had to shudder while thanking Zeno he had decided to stay in his white form, otherwise...

"Ha!"

She condemned herself for being lost on her thoughts, causing Frieza to close the gap between them and once they were face to face, he roared in anger, his body exploding in a lilac color which sent her flying backwards as well as destroying every rock around him.

She composed herself mid air to attack him once more, but her heart stopped once she noticed he wasn't there anymore. With a gasp, something wrapped itself around her neck, her hooves managing to grasp what she recognized as Frieza's tail.

He forced her pipe to close, careful enough not to snap her neck and brought her close to his face.

"Out of surprises so quickly, your highness?"

Before she could even react, the princess screamed in pain as she felt her back being burned by a blast, the drops of water touching her skin as she winced.

With one movement, he dropped the princess to the ground with the rest of the ponies watching and gasping upon seeing Celestia hit the ground. On her part, Twilight tried to run towards her former mentor, only to be stopped by Starlight, who was staring daggers at Frieza.

That wasn't the attack of a hero and neither of a good being. It was one she recognized first hoof, the one of evil.

On his part Frieza couldn't help but to release a chuckle. She was certainly strong and he was more than sure that had he faced her in the state he was when he fought Goku back on Namek, she would have defeated him.

But he was leagues beyond that by that moment and Celestia wasn't, as such the outcome was inevitable. Rasing his finger, a purple blast began to charge, the ponies below scared at his action while Twilight and the rest of the group prepared to face the frost demon regardless of their little chances.

The ki ball was about to leave his hand when something happened.

"Uh?" A dark tendril took hold of his arm and before he could even react, his body became electrocuted.

Frieza gritted his teeth, grunting in pain as smoke left his body. Between breaths he looked up, his eyes narrowing in realization. He had completely forgotten about Luna.

Above him, floated the night princess, a dark scowl on her face which made Frieza realize she was about to shock him harder. Powering up a little, he attempted to get free from his grasp, his eyes seeing Celestia's prone position on the ground.

Once he was done with Luna, he was going to finish the sun princess.

Frieza screamed into the air, a purple glow taking over his body when...

"What!?"

Another tendril, this one bright orange, took hold of his other arm, instantly setting him ablaze. Between the powerful energy he gazed back at the ground, his eyes widening once he noticed Celestia's body disappearing.

A physical projection!? He thought, realizing he had fallen unto the princesses' hoof, while cursing his own cocky behaviour.

Between his screams of rage, Frieza saw Celestia and Luna smirking at him, the former getting close to him.

"As I told you before, Frieza, we ponies have a lot of surprises."

She didn't even give him time to react before he was brought back down to the ground, his back colliding against the dirt. As powerful as his holding was, he could break free without reaching his golden form.

He concentrated to destroy his shackles, when yet another surprise caught his attention. Under him the ground began to shake and only until it was too late, he recalled Celestia blasting against the ground.

Then a tower of light was blasted from beneath him, shooting up to the sky.

Everypony cheered in excitement, while Twilight and her friends released the breath they were holding and relaxed. Perhaps the princesses had the battle won at the end of the day. Meanwhile at the middle of the still going blast, rested a figure, who amongst the light...

Smirked.

Soon enough, the blast stopped, giving way for the royal sisters to gracefully land a few feet away from the frost demon and giving them one good look at his body.

He was scratched, scorch marks adorned his body as well as numerous cuts. Celestia wide opened her eyes, she hadn't expected her attacks to injure him this badly. This caused her to give a few steps towards him. "Frieza, I-Im sorry, I didn't realize..." She stopped on her tracks, her heart freezing as soon as she noticed something that sent chills down her spine.

He was smiling, then after a few moments, a chuckle forced her and her sister to stand back. Regardless of the state of his body, he seemed like he wasn't even injured.

The royal sisters had no time to react to what was happening and soon, something else caught their attention. Every rock that was falling from the sky, stopped mere inches before colliding against the dirt, while being surrounded by a red glow. All of them remained in place and neither Celestia nor Luna were controlling them.

Suddenly the ground began to shake, even stronger than what she achieved.

Time stopped for the Royal sisters when they returned their eyes towards the crater caused by the frost demon. Only to discover he wasn't there anymore. As if it was a nightmare, both heard a very familiar chuckle in between them.

"My turn."

They could only react in time to see Frieza standing between them as if nothing had happened and with his hands on top of their chests, suddenly the world went purple. The crowd once more fell silent as they watched the real princesses sailing back to the ground, crashing on the floor as a crater was formed upon impact.

Luna stood up quickly to shout at Celestia. "Sister!"

Before the sun princess could even reply, several boulders collided against her. Payback hurt... A lot.

A similar fate was given to Luna, whose body flew back several yards. She was expecting the ground, but what greeted her was a million times more painful. In a quick move, Frieza collided his knee against Luna's stomach, the later spitting blood as she fell to the ground.

The frost demon kicked her away before turning around, his arm raised to stop an incoming blast, while numerous boulders flew from behind him and against the attacker.

In a moment, Celestia tapped into her magic and stopped the boulders midway. Like that, a fight of telekinesis took place, with both parties pushing forward and only one of them was smirking.

Soon enough, every single rock was pulverized between the two forces and amongst the rubble, Celestia saw a white blur incoming.

Her nose broke under the sheer might of Frieza's fist as she was sent flying away. Landing on the ground a few seconds later, she noticed her sister still unmoving, then gazed back at Frieza, realization hitting her.

He was not going to stop now.

Reacting quickly to prevent a finger shot, she teleported alongside her sister.

"Luna! Are you alright?"

Her sister grunted in pain, weakly looking at Celestia. "Tia..." She said. "We... We bucked up."

Regardless of their current predicament, Celestia laughed. Surprisingly enough, determination was still present on her face, determination and trust that regardless of their odds, they were going to come on top. "But the battle isn't over yet, Lulu!" She said. "Stand up!"

With that, Luna got back on her hooves, staggering a little before releasing a painful breath. Then both sisters turned to look at the approaching frost demon.

No words were said and he only lifted his finger. They knew what was coming.

"Oh! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho!"

Both sisters ran to their left, trying to get away from the attacks while they heard Frieza's maniacal laughter. As the blasts destroyed the ground behind them, Celestia turned to look at her sister and in silent agreement, she nodded back.

Without wasting another second, the sun princess changed course and ran the other way. She had expected Frieza to be confused by the action, but watched in terror as he simply lifted his other arm and started firing at her.

Suddenly, Luna's eyes turned dark blue and a thunder came crashing unto Frieza.

The frost demon tanked it, his grin still place. Like that, thunder after thunder and the occasional blast from Celestia, tried to hurt Frieza, but he simply remained in place, taking every single attack head on.

Deciding to close the gap, Frieza formulated a plan, only downside was the amount of energy he would waste.

Opening both of his palms, he pointed at the floor, ten blasts penetrating the ground which soon appeared all around the arena.

Both Luna and Celestia stopped running and focused on dodging the beams. They both knew what he was trying to do and it seemed it was going to work. Still, they had another trick up their sleeve.

Luna charged her horn and called forth another thunder, this time she used her magic to keep it in place, forming a circle around the frost demon.

On her part, Celestia created multiple copies of herself and blasted against their opponent who just as they had predicted, remained in place amongst a curtain of smoke. This was going to be the last struggle for them. If it didn't work, then a world of pain would be coming.

Both sisters and projections, flew towards the curtain of smoke. Horns at the ready.

Suddenly the Celestia copies were pulverized by Frieza's signature beams and before they could even react, the frost demon took hold of their horns. Luna cried in pain, feeling herself being yanked into the air, before feeling a foot collide against her chest.

She was out.

On her part, Celestia could only see Frieza's open palm against her body. She gulped. A powerful blast burned her entirety, as it flew past her and destroyed part of the Everfree. Once it all faded, Celestia remained there, in the clutches of Frieza and heavily injured.

The frost demon walked towards Luna, while still taking hold of the sun princess' horn, then chuckled for a bit before throwing Celestia alongside her sister.

The former could only watch in horror as Frieza lifted his finger, a sadistic smile plastered on his face. How had she been so fool? Tirek was right, Frieza was a beast, a threat and now, it was going to cost her sister's life and possibly the rest of...

"Do you need a hand, your highness?"

She blinked, then blinked again; her mouth opened but no words came out. The finger she was expecting seeing was replaced by a helping hand from a smiling frost demon. Wordlessly, she reached it, feeling Frieza's hand tightly get hold of her before being pushed to her hooves.

The frost demon cackled. "I'm not intent on killing just yet, Celestia." He said.

Regardless of his dark remark, the brutal and sadistic Frieza she had seen in battle was gone, replaced by the gentle and easy going one they had met for the past days.

Chuckling back and regardless of how weak she felt, Celestia gave him a warm smile but didn't answer back. Suddenly Frieza's eyes turned from her to Luna, who remained still on the floor.

Celestia scratched the back of her head. "You may have gone a little overboard there, Frieza."

The frost demon chuckled at this, stretching his arm towards Luna. "Then I guess we'll have to fix that now, don't we?" Not a second later, the moon princess was illuminated by a purple glow. Soon enough, her eyes shot open.

Luna, regardless of her situation, felt energetic enough to stand on her own, but recoil a little when she felt a tremendous pain on her back. Quickly enough, Celestia took hold of her.

The moon princess turned to look at her sister. "You look like crap, Celly."

"I guess this is a good reminder never to pull a stunt like the one you two did back at the party." The frost demon retorted, noticing the sheepish smiles the royal sisters were giving him.

"Duly noted." Was all Celestia could say before the three of them looked back at the crowd they had entirely forgotten about.

Everypony from the party remained in place, completely in silence and eyes wide open. There was no cheer, nopony clearing their throats, no words, just... Silence.

Soon enough Celestia's ears caught a voice she knew well.

"Princesses!" Twilight came running towards her, her expression looked as if she hadn't had a good sleep in days.

The rest looked similarly preoccupied, but none too close to how Twilight was. Celestia mentally figured how nervous she must have been during their... Particular sparring session. This chain of thoughts caused her to give Frieza a quick glance.

One thing she had learned from the frost demon was how absolutely terrifying he was when fighting, which was no wonder why Tirek seemed to be so scared of him. She could only imagine the unspeakable torment Sombra and Chrysalis had endured before death.

"You and I have a lot to talk about, mister!" Twilight's voice cut her thoughts short as she saw her former pupil pointing at Frieza which a scowl on her face.

On his part, he remained still, not smirking or frowning but in pure amusement.

"Come on Twilight, it was jus' a sparring session!" Applejack interjected. "And even Frieza 'ere didn't go away unscratched."

That perked Celestia's interest. Indeed, Frieza had a few scratches on his body, as well as a few burns, yet he was standing like nothing.

She could remember what he told told them about his golden form and maybe his theory regarding his resistance depending on his form, was correct.

"Besides," Rarity said, getting the attention of the frost demon, "as barbaric as these practices are, Frieza made sure not to gravely injure the princesses." She said, getting closer to Frieza. "And you should really give yourself a day to heal, darling, I'd hate for your beautiful smoothness to fade due to this event."

Frieza stood there, his amusement changed to nervousness. Celestia mentally chuckled.

"Actually, I could tend your wounds." Next was Fluttershy.

In a moment, a pink blur made it past them and floated in front of the frost demon. "And I could make you another party if you felt this one was wasted!"

"Could you girls just wait a second!?" Twilight shouted, putting a hoof over her templates. "You are missing the point here and the point is..."

"The point is, this was nothing more than a sparring session, young Sparkle." Said Luna, interrupting Twilight mid sentence, who was left unconvinced.

Looking towards Celestia, the young alicorn gave a few steps. "Princess, what do you think of this?"

Celestia looked from her, to the rest present, until her eyes landed on the frost demon, whose expression was unreadable. True, the battle had gone... A little bit more brutal than she had expected and regardless of their painful confrontation, Frieza held back... A lot!

Finally she gave a deep breath, stepping closer to her former student. "Twilight," she called, placing a hoof over the young alicorn's shoulder, "don't you think Frieza could have easily killed us if he wanted?"

Twilight lowered her eyes in deep thought.

"It was him who offered to lower his energy to make this a more fair fight and he kept his promise." The sun princess said before motioning towards him. "Not for anything does he have a few scorch marks."

Twilight remained silent for a few seconds before lowering her head, sighing deeply before gazing back at Celestia. "I guess that's true, but still, I don't know how the rest of the ponies will take it."

Suddenly, the last person she was expecting, stepped up. "If that is what is bothering you, dear Twilight, I can take care of it."

The alicorn wide opened her eyes as soon as those words left the frost demon's mouth and went even wider once he approached the crowd of ponies still in shock. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see Celestia smiling at this action.

Frieza noticed the faces he was receiving: fear, nothing but fear. He could only smile when everypony winced and stepped back everytime he got closer to them.

Their beloved princesses had been humiliated and inciting fear to them through further destruction wasn't necessary. And speaking of which, Frieza could only imagine the royal sisters' faces if he told them he was ready to kill them.

In the end, he decided to play his gentle card for a little longer, the same went for the fearful crowd in front of him.

The frost demons stared at them for a few seconds, savouring their terror, until his gaze landed on a certain blue unicorn.

"Who did you vote for?" He asked, his question causing Trixie to give a few steps back, nervously watching between him and the rest of the equines around her.

Finally, after a few seconds she managed to speak. "F-f-for you, o-of course!"

Frieza chuckled. "You are wise." He declared, moving his eyes from her and unto the cowering crowd. "Still, your princesses have surprised me, not only have they managed to keep up with me, but actually cause damage." He said, noticing the nervous expression the crowd, slowly fading. "You equines really are an interesting raze, one that I look forward to learn from."

The fear in their eyes disappeared and was replaced with nervous smiles.

He wasn't exactly expecting them to applaud and cheer, so them not bothering him with their pathetically low resistance to fear was a win in his book.

"And you certainly have quite the wise and experienced rulers." He continued. "You should be thankful of having such benevolent princesses."

This time, his last words actually caused an impact, as most of the group started clapping and cheering. In reality, he did mean what he said. They should really be thankful... Thankful of not having someone as him as a ruler, otherwise they wouldn't be breathing.

With that he turned around, noticing that they remained in place. He figured they still wanted to continue the party, definitely not something he was looking forward to.

Walking towards Pinkie, he said. "I thank you for your hospitality and for having bothered to make such a festivity miss Pie, but right now I would like to rest for what is left of the day."

Her ears fell for a few seconds, but went back up as a smile appeared on her face. "Aw! Don't worry none, Frieza! I'm glad you enjoyed it!"

He simply nodded, before gazing towards the royal sisters. "How are you two holding up?"

Letting out a deep breath, Luna placed a hoof on her back, stretching herself as a sickening crack was heard, causing the night alicorn to grunt and the rest of the group to wince. With that point made, she gazed at Frieza.

"Actually, me and my sister will take a page from your book and rest for the day." She answered, her horn flashing blue, an action mirrored by Celestia. Before going away, however, she gave Frieza one last smile. "I don't suppose you can lift a planet with telekinesis, do you Frieza?"

The frost demon placed a hand under his chin, thinking for a few moments about that question. "To tell you the truth, Luna, I'm wondering that myself right now." Shrugging, Frieza smiled. "Considering I've never really used that technique too much, maybe I should practice on it before lending a hand."

Luna raised an eyebrow in confusion. "So that's a no?"

Frieza didn't answer and simply gave her a look.

Noticing the unspoken answer, she gritted her teeth. "Dammit!" She said.

At this action, Celestia rolled her eyes. "I will help you today, sister." She said, gaining a smile from Luna who wrapped her left wing around her body. Giving one last look towards the frost demon, the sun princess grinned. "Ta ta, Frieza!"

A blinding flash illuminated the group and once it faded away, the princesses where there no more. Frieza placed a hand under his chin, thinking about Luna's request. He found it surprising how relatively weak the princesses were, considering the amount of energy needed to be able to move a celestial body, but then again being good at something doesn't mean you are good at everything. Plus, their planetary feat could be linked to a very specific type of magic.

Regardless of his power level, Celestia was quite stronger in telekinesis, still it wouldn't hurt to try. Once he was clear of ponies, Frieza would put his telekinetic powers to the test.

The frost demon suddenly felt something tug his shoulder, causing him to turn back and stare at a shamed looking Twilight, who was scratching her foreleg while staring at the ground.

"Frieza, I..." She staggered, avoiding eye contact with the frost demon who held an amused expression. "I'm sorry for having lashed out at you." She finally said. "You've been nothing but kind and friendly since you arrived, as well as considered in regards to the princesses."

He stared at her for several seconds in silence.I can't believe how stupidly innocent these equines are! He scoffed in his mind.

It did surprised him, as he recognized it took a lot of courage standing up to someone like him. Be it either out of stupidity or bravery, but Twilight had quite the courage. It was... Respectable.

He frowned. "Make sure not to bother me like that again."

Twilight's ears fell, staring in fear at his outbursts. Suddenly he gave a few chuckles, making the alicorn realize he was only pulling her leg. Releasing a deep breath, she couldn't help but to smile while shaking her head. "Please don't do that."

"Do I frighten you, dear Twilight?"

The young alicorn let out a cackle. "Yes Frieza, you do frighten me." She said, however the thing she didn't word, was the fact she also enjoyed his company.

"Psst!" Behind them, Pinkie called out for Applejack, who leaned closer to the party pony, letting her know she was listening. "Didn't he steal that lime from that weird blonde guy, who wears all black, including sunglasses and goes all like 'Complete. Global. Saturation! CHRIIIIIIIIIS!'?"

Applejack remained silent, staring blankly at Pinkie for a few seconds, until... "What?"

"Anyways!" The party pony lashed out, scaring Applejack who took a step back. "I should continue the party!" The rest of the group turned to look at her, however the party pony's eyes were fixated on the young alicorn. "Are you coming, Twilight!?"

The mare shook her head. "Actually, I'm also heading back to the castle, Pinkie, but thank you."

With that, they said their goodbyes, as only Twilight, Starlight, Spike and Frieza ventured towards the palace. Once home, the young alicorn would have a talk with her little drake.

Pinkie and others stayed, Rainbow glaring at the frost demon before following the party pony towards the bakery, alongside the rest of the ponies.

Rainbow was brave, although stupid and short sighted sometimes, especially when regarding danger towards her friends and Frieza... There was something about the frost demon that couldn't allow her to face him.

Hydras? No problem! Powerful overlords? Easy as cake! But Frieza? He scared her, more than anypony could imagine and she was more than sure there was something deeply wrong with the frost demon, something that made him even worse than any of the foes they had encountered.

She was not about to trust him, especially after his first introduction. Sure, he had saved them, but the medicine was worse than the sickness.

The brutality, the bloodlust, the animalistic approach to combat. With him in Ponyville, there wasn't anypony in the planet who would even dare attack them, but at the cost of potentially gaining an enemy they couldn't stop.

Unknown to any of them, a pair of green eyes watched the entire thing play out.

"You returned to us."

Far from Equestria, far from any civilization, a realm of void and darkness echoed by a deep rough, ethereal voice, lethal and venomous to all that heard it, yet not for its current receiver.

A Crystal mare stood her ground over the infinite plane, her arctic blue hair covered one of the two blue eyes. Her slightly scorched lilac coat remained under a large brown coat, from which her horn stood out.

The mare lifted her head, staring into the nothingness. "Not out of pleasure."

"No," answered the disembodied voice, "but rather out of hatred, thirst for revenge, pain.... Sadness." A low chuckle was heard, followed by a couple of animalistic growls. "The frost demon took something from you... And from us!"

The mare closed her eyes for a few seconds, holding back tears. Suddenly, her heart raced, as she looked up to the endless world. "Different from you, he meant something to me!"

Giving a step back, the unicorn heard laughter in all directions, a display of madness as she used both hooves to cover her ears. In a moment, her horn became illuminated, light shooting in all directions as she let out a scream of fury. "Stop!"

The laughter died down and only silence remained.

The mare cried, no longer able to contain her tears as they gasified upon contact with the inexistent floor. Between sobs, she lifted her face and addressed the entity. "Please, you have to help me!"

"And why should we?" The voice asked. "Sombra was useless to us in the end... As you are to us now!" The mare gave a step back upon hearing this. "He, on the other hand..."

The unicorn shot her eyes open, but before she could answer, the voice laughed once more. "He unknowingly managed in a few minutes, what you two failed to do in hundreds of years." The mare shook her head, noticing the signals. "Why do you think your entrance into our domain was easy?" He asked. "His title on this pathetic rock may be 'frost demon' but do you have any idea what the universe calls him?"

"What?" Asked the made, shaking in fear as the voice grew closer, alongside a humongous shadow.

"Countless planets fell under him, countless voices called him out by what he is." The shadow got closer, approaching the light generated by the mare's horn. "The emperor of evil." Her eyes grew wide, finally looking at the creature she had hoped never to see again.

An enormous mist pony, stared at her with white glowing eyes. His teeth were disjointed and large, giving way to droplets of saliva to fall unto the ground. On his back, two butterfly like wings supported his flight as he grinned at her.

"How?" Was all the mare could ask. "Sombra was the only on this plain able to free you."

The beast chuckled. "Apparently all we needed was the darkest soul in the entire planet, an evil beyond what any has seen and true power above harmony!" He replied, floating closer to the unicorn. "And now that we have it, the Umbrum are free again."

As soon as these words left the creature's mouth, it bared its teeth, getting closer to the shaking mare. Her instincts taking in, she blasted against the shadow, baring her teeth as she prepared to leave.

"I don't need your help, Rabia!" She growled, an idea forming in her mind. "I know why you haven't left this place!"

The beast laughed, flying around her. "Enlighten me."

She took a few deep breaths. "You are afraid of him." She said. "However, I'm not! And once I'm done with Frieza, I will come back for you!"

The shadow pony laughed once more. "Then run along, child and face him!"

With a snort, the equine used her horn to create a gateway and escaped the shadow realm, leaving Rabia to cackle.

"She cannot hope to stand against him." A voice called out, this one high pitched.

"She won't have to." Answered Rabia.

"She will bring him to us." Called another, his voice barely deeper than the high pitched one.

Rabia smiled. "And he will be ours, Hope will only be a stepping stone." He said. "The fate of the frost demon will start its march once the Storm has been avoided, until then... We wait."