The Price of Freedom

As the time for the final round of the tournament drew near, the six imprisoned ponies were going over the details of their plan, one final time.

"So let me get this straight..." Twilight said while addressing Fluttershy. "After today's match, we are to follow the six warriors just like the last two times, but instead of going all the way, we'll get intercepted by Hellbridge along the way."

Fluttershy nodded. "Mmhm."

"That's it?" Rainbow Dash asked in an unimpressed tone. "Doesn't sound like that much of a plan to me."

"Don't forget that this is just the first clan," Twilight added.

"Well, I sure hope he'll have a better plan for the next ones..." Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs "I mean...what if things go sour? Are we to just sit and do nothing as Hellbridge faces off against five of his clan's toughest warriors?"

"Not like he hasn't done that before," Rarity took over.

"But what if they kill him!?" Rainbow Dash asked with as much anxiousness as annoyance in her tone.

"We'll just have to trust Hellbridge until the very end," Twilight admitted with a touch of despair in her voice. "He is our only hope."

"This had better work..."

"Alright, out ya go!" the grumpy guard yelled while opening the cell block door.

"Remember, act natural!" Twilight whispered to her friends as they left their prison and followed the guard along the hall.

The shaman was already eagerly awaiting them further up ahead.

"I must admit, I didn't think all six of ya would last all the way to day three," the shaman spoke to them in a rather respectful manner. "I've seen creatures twice your size fall apart after a single day with one of the sons of Nor'Kholan."

The six warriors appeared behind the shaman in a moment's notice. Naturally, Hellbridge was there. However, none of the other five warriors that were there on the first day were with him anymore.

"If the lot of ya can manage to last two days with our warriors without bleedin' to death, then you are strong enough to carry our successors." The shaman stepped aside and welcomed the warriors. "It is good to see you on da winning side, Hellbridge. You make the kholanari proud."

The five warriors behind Hellbridge stopped, but he just kept walking forward as if the world around him didn't interest him at all. His pony of choice didn't even need a gesture from him to know she was his chosen one. Fluttershy followed him without faltering.

"Loyal to your lover, eh Hellbridge?" The shaman smiled. "You are as honorable in battle as you are in bed." He laughed at the amusing sight.

Following Hellbridge's example, the other five warriors also stepped forward and picked their companions almost simultaneously.

The first warrior simply pointed at his pony of choice. "You! With me! Now!"

Even if she knew that he wouldn't have to go with him all the way, Rainbow Dash followed him rather begrudgingly.

The next warrior didn't even utter a sound. He just pointed at Applejack and walked off. Applejack slowly followed him.

As for the last three, the warriors didn't even seem to care that much about what they get. They just all went forward at once, and the ponies would have to follow them as if expected to already know who to go with.

The last three warriors soon caught up with the first two. They walked together all the way up to the exit of the arena, where they had to make a stop because of something in their path.

"Lost your way, Hellbridge?" one of the warriors disrespectfully asked. The other four laughed quietly.

Hellbridge took a few steps towards them and spoke, "Brothers, we have been betrayed!" He raised his tightened fist up in front of his face. "The shamans have been secretly feeding off the power that should have been ours!" He seemed to be catching their interest. "For decades we have traveled across planets, always slaughtering our own kin and risking our lives nearly every day, while the shamans sit idly by and watch!"

A few of the warriors let out a sound that implied that they agreed with him.

"They force us to constantly fight for our lives, and all for what!? So that we can spend a night with..." He tried his best to sound disgusted as he waved his arm over the ponies. "This! And as if that wasn't enough, a few day later they send us back in there and make us slaughter our own sons!"

"Yeah! Yeah!" Louder sounds of approval came from the five warriors.

"I, for one, will not stand by and wait to eventually be forced to sleep with something that could swallow me whole during the night!" Hellbridge yelled with his fist raised up in the air.

"Yeah! Yeah!" The warriors kept cheering for him and also raising their fists up.

"Every kholanari has reason to hate the shamans..." one of the warriors said in a rather skeptical tone. "But what makes you say that they've betrayed us?"

"Isn't that clear?" Hellbridge asked. "They promised us immortality, and yet, we have been dying by the hundreds, while they haven't even aged by a day without so much as setting foot in the arena! How else could they achieve this, if not by severing our bond with our god, and taking the power of the souls of the fallen kholanari for themselves!?"

"Blasphemy!" the same, previously unconvinced warrior now shouted and unsheathed his weapon. "The shamans will pay for this treachery!" He raised his blade up in the air and shouted. The other four warriors followed his example and cheered for Hellbridge.

"Then let us waste no more time!" Hellbridge shouted and also held up one of his swords, pointing it in the direction of the arena entrance. "Onward, my brothers! Lets us see if Nor'Kholan will answer us, after we send him the soul of one of his oldest sons!"

Filled with rage. the shouting warriors rushed back into the dark corridor while holding their weapons at the ready. Hellbridge's speech had inspired them so much that none of them even bothered to look back and see that he wasn't leading them anymore.

"Well..." Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck. "That just happened."

"I told you we can trust him."

"It's not over yet," Hellbridge said before he started following his brothers. "Come on, there's no time to lose.

                                                                                                   ***

By the time Hellbridge and the ponies reached the shaman's quarters, the door had already been busted open. As they came closer, they heard the cough of a wounded man. Hellbridge walked inside and saw the shaman standing among a lot of broken furniture, as well as the bodies of five fallen kholanari warriors. He was leaning on his staff, miraculously still holding on to his life, despite blood pouring out of several spots of his body.

The shaman raised his head. The pain he was in only grew after seeing the only warrior he could have ever called his friend. "Not you, too, Hellbridge..." He coughed in pain. "Everything I've ever done, I've done for the good of our clan...Please, tell me ya don't believe in this nonsense about my betrayal."

"No," Hellbridge gave a firm and believable answer.

"Thank the blood god, mon!" The shaman's voice suddenly regained some strength. "At least one of Nor'Kholans sons is still-" The shaman did not finish his sentence, but his mouth still stayed agape after seeing the six ponies enter the room and surround Hellbridge.

"But I believe in freedom," Hellbridge confidently added.

The shaman sighed in despair. "All this time, I refused to believe about there being a traitor among our lines...I refused to believe that Nor'Kholan's proudest son could prove to also be his biggest disappointment...I should have known better." The shaman hung his head low. It seemed as though any breath could be his last at this point. "I only wish I could have had a chance to face da legendary Hellbridge himself, before my end...It would have been a glorious end." He looked at his only friend with reproach.

"Forgive me, Tel'Khadim," Hellbridge hung his head in shame. "After such a long time spent waiting for the right moment, I simply couldn't afford to take any chances...Freeing this system from Nor'Kholan's wrath is all that I still care about." He lifted his head back up to face the shaman. "After spending the last few decades murdering my own sons, my honor just doesn't mean that much to me anymore."

"I cannot blame ya for being clever, Hellbridge..." The shaman sighed. "You are a traitor to your own kind, you are everything I loathe and despise...but you are still a good one, Hellbrdige...You always have been."

Hellbridge watched in sadness, as one of the more noble kholanari started coughing away what was left of his life.

"Hellbridge...*cough*...There is one who might aid you in your fight...*cough*..."

Hellbridge walked closer to the shaman and asked in a bemused tone. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Horak'Din, Hellbridge...*cough*...Da old man grows weary of all the fighting...Talk to him. If he deems your cause worthy, he will follow you."

The shaman gazed into Hellbridge's eyes and saw him nod, right before he grabbed the shaft of his staff and started spinning it's head in a circle without moving the bottom of the staff. His body also repeated the motion. After a few short seconds, his body just slowly started evaporating and turning into a red cloud. His hands soon disappeared, but his staff still kept moving by itself. Only after the red cloud had completely disappeared did the staff finally drop to the ground.

Hellbridge knelt down on one knee to and whispered something, "Rest in peace, brother." He picked up the shaman's staff, stood up and turned back towards the ponies.

"What was that all about?" Rainbow Dash asked in a bewildered tone.

The ponies were still all rather confused about the sight.

"Tel'Khadim, just like all the other shamans, was centuries old. His mortal form died long ago, and his spirit only lived on thanks to Nor'Kholan's grip on him. At long last, his soul has been released."

Silence claimed the room for some time, until Twilight finally asked a rather sad question. "Hellbridge...how old are you?"

Without giving it much thought, the man only smiled and answered, "Too old." He then lifted the staff in his hands above his head and spun it around a few times before bringing it to the ground, shattering its headpiece into half a hundred fragments.

"Aah!" All the ponies gasped simultaneously.

"What just happened?" Applejack rubbed her head.

"I can fly!" Rainbow Dash announced with a lot of excitement in her voice.

"I can feel my magic returning!" Twilight also added in a cheerful state.

Without taking the time to revel in their victory, Hellbridge dropped the staff and marched passed the pack of cheering ponies.

"Where are you going?" Twilight asked, slightly confused.

"There isn't much time to celebrate. After we release the rest of the prisoners stationed here, you'll have to gather your strengths before we head out."

"Wait!" Twilight shouted and ran after the man. Her friends followed. "The shaman mentioned someone in his final words..."

"Horak'Din, yes," Hellbridge took over her sentence. "The shaman of the Red Veil Clan. It seems fortune favors us this day, for that is exactly where we need to head to next."

"Why there?" Twilight inquired.

"Every clan begins their tournaments a day after the last one. As it goes - The Sons of Nor'Kholan are the first ones, followed by the Red Veil Clan, after which come the Iceblood and Sand Wraith clans. Leaving the Crimson River Clan last," he briefly explained.

"So that would mean that the next clan will hold its final match of the tournament tomorrow?"

"Exactly! Which is why we cannot afford to lose any time. We need all of you to be at your full strength if we are to succeed."

"And where exactly is this Red Veil Clan?"

"I was actually hoping you could elaborate." Hellbridge stopped and looked at Twilight. "All I know is that they've settled in a place called Canterlot."

"Canterlot!" Twilight shouted in shock as she recognized the name. "That's where the princesses are being held!"

"The ones that are responsible for maintaining the sun and moon in your lands?" After seeing Twilight nod, Hellbridge clapped his hands together and laughed. "All the better! No matter which way you look at it from, all roads lead to Canterlot from here on," he announced in a very confident tone.

"Then I take it you already have a plan," Twilight said, picking up on Hellbridge's already celebratory state.

"Indeed, I do."