The Price of Freedom

It was a long and arduous journey, but the company of two kholonari tribesmen and six ponies reached the San Palomino desert with just enough time to catch their breath before the beginning of the last arena match. Their plan was no different than last time. Everyone already knew their positions without explaining. After taking a short moment to relax and take a few sips of water, the company sneaked into the Dessert Wraith encampment and entered the arena without anyone noticing.

Only a minor complication arose this time. Because one of the Sand Wraith warriors noticed Hellbridge dragging off the warrior behind him, only twenty nine warriors entered the arena that day.

"Desert Wraiths!" their wicked shaman addressed his people as soon as the last man fell in line. "You only get one order here today! Kill until I say otherwise!" he shouted and rung the arena bell.

As the fighting began, all of the warriors jumped away from the center of the pack and faced the enemy closest to them. Most of the kholonari that were in the middle of the pack died almost instantly after the bell was heard, leaving only about twenty warriors left alive.

"Wait!" A loud scream echoed across the arena. Miraculously enough, the kholonari actually stopped fighting, just as instructed. "Sand Wraiths! We have a traitor among us!" the shaman shouted and pointed at the only fighter wielding a blade in each hand. "The Sons of Nor'Kholan have sent one of their warriors to test our resolve! Lets show him just what we're made of! Kill him!"

"Uh-oh..." Hellbridge started backing away from the pack of warriors ready to tear him apart. Not even he could manage to fight off nineteen warriors simultaneously.

"They're going to rip him apart!" Rainbow Dash shouted and flew off.

"Rainbow, wait!" Twilight yelled to no avail.

The Desert Wraith shaman only laughed wickedly as he watched his warriors closing in on the traitor.

"Hey!"

"Huh?" As the shaman turned his attention towards the incoming scream, a strong kick to his face sent him stumbling a few steps back, also knocking his staff away from him. "Sand Wraiths!" he called out to his warriors again. "The prisoners have escaped! Forget the spy! Murder the prisoners!" He attempted to run for his staff.

"Oh no you don't..." Rainbow Dash flew forward to prevent him from doing so.

After the Sand Wraiths heard their shaman calling, not all of them obeyed and rushed over to fight the ponies. It evened the odds for Hellbridge, but created a new problem.

Hellbridge took advantage of the moment of confusion. He immediately charged forward and pushed his swords through the neck of the warrior closest to him. With ten warriors still on him, and eight of them on their way to intercept his allies, Hellbridge did what he could to hold his ground.

The five ponies that had just entered the arena began to tremble as the band of kholonari rushed towards them with their weapons ready for war. As they got closer, they were suddenly engulfed in a large, purple bubble and lifted up in the air.

"Go!" Twilight shouted. "Help Hellbridge..." She struggled to keep her spell going. "Now!"

Meanwhile, Hellbridge had managed to take out two of the warriors stupid enough to split from their pack, but the other eight had almost surrounded him.

"Hey!"

Something drew their attention. As the warriors looked away, one of them got hit in the face by a rather large stone. It didn't hurt him much, but it definitely pissed him off.

"Come and get me, ya goon!"

The warrior immediately responded to the provocation by growling and charging towards Applejack. Another one of the warriors felt like he was being mocked by the pink pony that just happily skipped by him without showing the slightest sign of fear and even happily greeted him. Without giving it much thought, he also split from the pack to chase after her.

Fluttershy was taken by the sight for a moment, but when she looked back at the pack, she saw one of the warriors staring at her like a hungry wolf. Too frightened to fly, she darted off, luring another one of the Sand Wraiths with her.

Again, Hellbridge manage to take advantage of the confusion and delivered swift justice to another one of their warriors. Not only did that even the odds, it also provoked another two warriors to split from the pack and come charging towards him. As they had nearly reached Hellbridge, they suddenly stopped dead in their tracks because their weapons had suddenly just levitated out of their hands. Confused, they stared at Rarity, who only giggled as a response. Before they could snap out of their stupor, Hellbridge drove his blades through both of their skulls.

With eight warriors trapped by Twilight's magic, and three more chasing after fairy tales, Hellbridge only had two of them left to deal with.

"This won't take long." He spun his blades in his hands and walked towards the two remaining warriors with a cocky smile on his face.

As both of the brainless brutes came charging at him, all Hellbridge had to do was kneel down at the right moment and let the two of them be their own undoing as they ran right into his swords.

While Hellbridge was busy dealing with the remaining warriors, Pinkie Pie and Applejack had led their followers in a merry-go-round across the entire arena. After they had gotten into a position where they were both running towards one another, they winked at each other and jumped side ways just a split second before colliding, making the two warriors chasing them ram right into each other. Luckily for them, they were charging forward with spears in their hands, so the problem immediately resolved itself.

As for Fluttershy...Well, as luck would have it, she kept running with her eyes closed up until the very moment she nearly ran into a spike decorating the arena sides. She flew up just in time to prevent her assailant from reacting in time.

She held her hooves up to her mouth in utter shock after seeing the kholanari warrior commit suicide by ramming himself on a spike. "Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to trick you!" She nearly burst into tears.

The warrior stayed conscious just long enough to hear her apologizing. One final thought sailed through his mind before he passed out.

I always thought that my killer would laugh after killing me, not apologize...Talk about embarrassing ways to die.

Victory was nearly at hand, but there was no time to celebrate. Right as Hellbridge noticed Twilight's spell about to fail, he grabbed a nearby spear, aimed it carefully and tossed it with all his might and energy. Luckily for him, Twilight's spell had done more than just imprison the warriors, it had also rallied them up in a straight line. Right as the spear exited the end of the bubble opposite of the one it flew in from, Twilight exhaled loudly and released the warriors.

By the time the warriors had fallen to the ground, they were already dead. The spear Hellbridge tossed had flown right under their helmets, leaving a massive hole in their necks.

"I can't believe that worked." Hellbridge sighed.

Apart from Twilight, who was barely drawing breath, the four other ponies gazed at the sight with their mouths agape.

"Uhh...Hellbridge?" Applejack addressed the man.

"Yeah?"

"Whoever taught you how to toss a spear...remind me to never get in his way..."

Hellbridge laughed. "What if I taught myself?"

Applejack had nothing to add. Her only reply was gazing at the man with wide eyes and taking a few steps backwards.

"Twilight!" Fluttershy shouted and rushed over to help her friend get up. The rest of the company also followed.

"I'm all right," Twilight said while leaning on Applejack to stand up. "But where's-"

"Nobody move!" A shout came from above, drawing everyone's attention towards the one shouting. The ponies gasped in horror as they saw the Sand Wraith shaman holding Rainbow Dash with a dagger at her throat. "Not one step forward, or I spill her blood into the sand!"

"Don't worry about me!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "You have to stop him!"

"Silence, pest!" The shaman pulled the blade closer to her neck.

"Enough, Toz'Khaleen!" Hellbridge shouted. "It's over...Let her go!"

"Hah!" Toz'Khaleen laughed. "If it's over, then what do I have to lose, huh? Give me one good reason not to take her as my companion when I return to Nor'Kholan!"

"Leave her out of this! If there's anyone that should be held responsible, then it's me!" Hellbridge stepped forward.

"Enough!" the crazed shaman shouted while pointing his dagger at Hellbridge. "Take just a single step and I'll-Aaah!" he screamed as Rainbow Dash bit his hand and freed herself from his grip. "You abomination! I'll have your he-" Before he could say another word, a spear through his brain shut him up for good.

"How's that for a single step?"

"I owe you one, Hellbridge!" Rainbow Dash shouted and saluted while facing the owner of the spear, after which she flew off to finish what she began. She picked up Toz'Khaleen's staff and smashed it against the ground, breaking its headpiece as a result.

Even if the company wasn't affected by the magic of this shaman, it still felt easier to breathe with his magic no longer present. After Rainbow Dash joined her friends below, it seemed like it was time to celebrate, it was the last victory before the final face-off, and yet, something wasn't right...

"Where's Horak'Din?" Hellbridge asked after taking a look at his surroundings.

"Hellbridge!" A quiet shout came from the arena entrance.

"Horak'Din!" the man responded and immediately rushed over to the shaman that sounded like he was wounded. "Horak'Din..." Helbridge quietly said after seeing the old shaman on the floor with a blade's handle sticking out his stomach. Hellbridge got closer to him and knelt down on one knee. "How?" he asked, puzzled by the event.

"One of the Sand Wraith warriors escaped during the fighting, Inhio..." He grabbed Hellbridge by his arm and stared into his eyes. "You need to catch him, before he...warns...Crimson River..." His grip on Hellbridge's arm faded as his hand reached for the floor. With his dying breath, he had told them everything he could.

With a saddened look on his face, Hellbridge drove his palm down Horak'Din's face, closing his eyes shut. "Requiescat in pace," he whispered.

The six ponies standing behind the man also frowned at the sight. It was mostly only because they felt sorry for his loss, but even they had grown accustomed to the shaman in the short time they had spent together.

"As much as I hate to just leave him here, we cannot waste anymore time." Hellbridge stood up and picked up the shaman's staff. "There's no time to wait on the last match to start. After we free the prisoners, we need to get to the sky city of Cloudsdale as fast as we can!"

"Cloudsdale?" Rainbow Dash asked in disbelief. "But why would they go there? They can't go to Cloudsdale unless they have wings!"

"Oh, they're not planning on going to Cloudsdale...they want to bring Cloudsdale to them," Hellbridge explained in a dramatic tone.

"Huh?" All six ponies seemed puzzled.

"I can explain along the way, but we need to move. Now!" he replied and started running down the corridor.

The six ponies could only shrug while looking at one another and follow the man onward.