The Price of Freedom

Hellbridge and the six ponies ran without stop. For most of the prisons they passed by, they only stopped to bust the lock and open the door before running off. Phrases like: "Get out of here, while you can!" or "Return to your homes!" were the only instructions the prisoners would get.

Poor Applejack didn't even have a chance to give her cousin Braeburn a hug. Even though she was glad to see him, it still pained her greatly to just run away before he could even realize it was her.

Despite all their efforts, by the time they got close to the last clan settlement, it was already clear that they were too late.

"What the?..." Hellbridge stared at the dreadful sight in front of him.

"What is that?" Rainbow Dash asked while pointing at the black shroud engulfing the Crimson River Clan settlement.

"I...I'm not sure..." Hellbridge stuttered. "I think...no...It can't be!"

"What is it, Hellbridge?" Twilight asked.

"For a moment there, I thought that it could be the result of dark blood magic, but that can't be true...It shouldn't be possible!"

"Dark blood magic?" Twilight repeated.

"Hellbridge nodded. "Yes, but it's only an ancient legend among the kholanari, there's no way it could actually-"

The man's monologue got interrupted as a loud, thunder-like sound echoed across the skies, making the black cloud around the settlement even darker. All of a sudden, a rift opened at the bottom of the shrouded camp, and out of it, an army of kholonari with completely grey skin and blazing red eyes started marching out.

"By all that's sacred..." Hellbridge exclaimed, completely baffled by the sight. "Dark blood magic! How is this pos-" He stopped mid sentence and took a look at the sun and moon that were still floating next to each other. "When the day and night become one..." he whispered and gazed at the sight as though he was being hypnotized. "Of course!" he shouted and turned towards the ponies. "We need to send a message to your princesses immediately! If they can't manage to restore balance to the skies soon, then all life on Equestria will be wiped out in a matter of days!"

"We can't let that happen!" Twilight stomped her hoof. "Rainbow Dash!" she addressed her friend. "You're the fastest one among us, you need to get back to Canterlot and warn the princesses!"

"I'm on it!" Without a moment of falter, Rainbow Dash saluted and darted away.

"Tell them it's not going to get any easier!" Hellbridge shouted. "It's now or never!" He turned his sights back towards the army of corrupted kholanari warriors. "Lets hope we can hold off long enough."

All of the warriors had finished exiting the shroud of darkness. It looked as though there was a total of about a hundred warriors gathered in front of it.

"But shouldn't there have been only thirty kholanari left by now?" Twilight inquired.

"There should have..." Hellbridge replied. "But their shaman must have used dark blood magic to bring the other seventy back to life."

"How is that possible!?"

"I suppose Equestria has its way of making legends come true," Hellbridge gave an alternate answer. "There was a rumor going around once, about Zel'Kiron, the shaman of the Crimson River Clan. Supposedly he struck a pact with Nor'Kholan himself. He foresaw the end of the universe some day, when the kholanari had finally wiped out every living being out there. He knew the day would come sometime, so he requested that Nor'Kholan give him the power to damn their souls and raise their bodies from the dead, should the need arise, thus making them permanently immune to death, enabling them to battle one another for all of eternity."

The very thought of such a thing sent shivers down the spines of the ponies listening to the story.

After a short pause, Hellbridge continued, "Nor'Kholan was not pleased, as an army of the damned would be of no use to him, and yet, he didn't want to make the shaman leave empty handed. For that would mean simply leaving the strongest survivors of his clan to just die. The shaman was pleased to hear that Nor'Kholan allowed him to perform this dark blood ritual, should the need arise, but there was one condition that came with his consent..."

"When the day and night become one..." Twilight finished his sentence.

Hellbridge nodded. "I don't think Nor'Kholan ever thought that would actually happen."

Dead silence fell upon the seven heroes. The only sounds that could be heard for the next few minutes came from the other side of the battlefield. Even though the thundering sound still echoed through the field, it wasn't nearly as fearsome as the savage roaring of the dark kholanari.

As soon as they all got in formation, the first line of the warriors stretched out their hands and drove their daggers across them, spilling their tainted blood into the ground beneath their feet. As their blood and the soil of Equestria were made one, the land started turning grey.

"What in Celestia's name are they doing!?" Twilight cried out.

"They're consuming the land," Hellbridge explained. "As long as they stand on the tainted soil, no force in the universe will be able to harm them."

The grey plague began to stretch forward, and as soon as the land under their feet was the same color as they were, the damned warriors would advance, always keeping themselves at the very border of it.

Ignoring Hellbridge's warning, Twilight shot a bolt of magic at them. Just as Hellbridge had suspected, it only vanished into thin air after colliding with the invisible barrier surrounding them. As a response to the threat, the dark kholanari roared loudly. As the intimidating shout struck fear in each one of the heroes, one of the dark kholanari charged straight at them after seeing their courage waver. Screaming without end in his decaying voice, he ran right towards Hellbridge while holding his blade over his head.

Hellbridge took a step forward and threw his swords aside. "His blood mustn't be spilled!" he shouted and charged at his afflicted kinsman.

The vicious dark kholanari swung his blade around in every direction. Hellbridge dodged his attack without too much trouble, and used the moment to deliver a swift kick or punch, but that only seemed to infuriate his opponent even more.

As the damned kholanari stopped to scream at Hellbridge, Twilight attracted his attention with a bolt of magic that left a small burn on his cheek. As he turned his vicious face towards her and gritted his teeth, Hellbridge quickly jumped behind him and twisted his head around, finally ending his rampage.

"One down..." Applejack gulped. "Ninety nine to go."

"He won't be down for long," Hellbridge admitted with little joy in his tone.

"What can we do?" Twilight asked in despair.

"We need to hold our ground and do what we can to disable the ones that stray from the pack."

"Is there really nothing else we can do?"

"I fear that if your princesses cannot bring balance back to the skies of Equestria, then everything we accomplish here will be in vain."

Silence claimed the air once more. Soon enough, another one of the dark kholanari broke free from the pack. Screaming as though his lungs held unlimited  air, he came charging just like the last one. Except this one had a spear.

"Get back!" Hellbridge shouted and started backing away himself. He backed all the way up to a lone tree. As the wicked foe was nearly upon him, he jumped aside and let him ram the tree. As his spear got stuck in the tree, he started violently screaming with his tongue sticking out and jumping around as he tried to get his spear back. Clearly, this creature had no soul left. Hellbridge didn't even feel the slightest bit of remorse as he sneaked up behind him and temporarily released him from his curse, just like he did with the last warrior.

"Zel'Kiron will pay for this!" Hellbridge shouted with great fury. "Nor'Kholan may be a twisted, wicked and heartless god, but someone who would do this to their own kin..." Hellbridge started breathing heavily as he stared at the unconscious warrior and gripped his fists tightly.

"Hellbridge..." Fluttershy walked up to the man and gently grabbed his hand.

Hellbridge snapped his eyes right at her as he first felt his touch, but the anger in his face quickly faded away as he witnessed the tranquility in Fluttershy's eyes.

"I'm sorry...It's just..."

Before Hellbridge could say another word, Fluttershy flew up to match his eye level and gave him a sincere hug. Just as she did, a brief vision of an old memory flashed through Hellbridge's mind...He remembered how his soul mate hugged him on her last day...Hellbridge had thought that he had lost the ability to love on that very same day, and yet...Here, just now, he suddenly remembered what it felt like to love...He returned the hug immediately as a single tear slid down his cheeks. As the two of them held tightly onto one another, the rest of the ponies also joined in and hugged Hellbridge at his elbows. He immediately knelt down to match their eye level.

As he disengaged from the hug, he gently drove his hand down Fluttershy's mane and said in a tone full of conviction, "Up until now, I had thought that the freedom of my people was all that mattered to me...I was wrong." He turned his sights from Fluttershy to the rest of the ponies. "We haven't known each other for that long, and even over the little time we spent together, we barely talked and mostly just ran around and saw nothing but blood and death everywhere we went...and yet, you have still become dear to me...You're the closest thing to a family I have left now."

After the six heroes spent some time smiling warmly at one another, Hellbridge stood up and continued in the same tone as before, "I failed to protect my family once before...I will not let that happen again!" He turned towards the army of darkness. "Do you hear me, Zel'Kiron!? Even with an army of immortals shielding you, you will not survive this day!"

"Hellbridge, look!" Twilight exclaimed while pointing at the sun and moon.

Everyone looked and noticed that the moon had started lowering itself slowly, while the sun was rising up towards the very peak of the skies.

"It's working! The sky is beginning to regain its balance!"

Naturally, the sudden shift in the skies didn't go unnoticed. A group of three dark warriors started charging at them, right as the heroes were about to start cheering.

"Nggh!" Rarity struggled. "I can't disarm them!"

"Let me try," Hellbridge said while pulling out the staff he had earlier taken from Horak'Din. Just as the three warriors were nearly upon him, he pointed the staff right at them, freezing them in place. "I have to admit, I didn't actually think that would work."

Even though their advance was halted, the warriors still kept on roaring furiously at Hellbridge and the ponies. As the strength of the magic force field began to waver, one of the warriors broke free and ran around it. Instead of going for the man with the staff, he chose to chase Applejack.

"Uh-oh!" Applejack tucked her tail and ran as fast as she could.

"Applejack!" Her friends shouted.

All it took was a second of gazing away for the second one of the warriors to be able to break free. He also ran around the force field and charged straight at Fluttershy.

"Oh no!" Fluttershy gasped and covered her eyes in fear.

"Oh no you don't!" Twilight shouted and started repeatedly blasting the dark warrior with magic bolts, quickly luring him into following her.

Realizing there was little point left in using so much energy to hold just one warrior captive, Hellbridge released his grip on the warrior and let him charge straight at him. He readied his staff and swung it at the warrior with all his might, knocking him unconscious in an instant. Without taking a moment to catch his breath, he called out to Applejack, who was leading her chaser in circles.

"Applejack! Over here!"

Applejack noticed him calling and led the dark kholanari in his direction. Too preoccupied to notice anything but his prey running away from him, the warrior ran straight into the ambush.

As Applejack ran past Hellbridge, he swung his staff around and hit the grey-skinned maniac right on his forehead, not only knocking him out, but also making him perform a full flip in the air before falling to the ground.

Right after Applejack and Hellbridge had smiled at each other after their little victory, they turned their sights to Twilight, who was up in the air and still pissing her attacker off by shooting magic bolts at him every second. The warrior had already lost his spear after trying to knock Twilight out of the sky with it and had resorted to simply standing there and screaming at her like a hungry gorilla in a zoo. He just made it easier for Hellbridge to put him out of his misery.

Just as the company of six had stopped to revel in their victory, they turned around and bore witness to a sight that turned their faces completely pale.

Every single dark kholanari was now charging at them, their screams echoing through the battlefield like cannon fire.

"Oh shit..."

"Hellbridge!" Rarity shouted. "Your language!"

"Really, Rarity?" Applejack said with a raised eyebrow.

The dark army was rapidly nearing them, and as the heroes gazed at the ground around them, they noticed the unconscious warriors starting to wake up.

"What do we do?" Twilight cried out in despair. "Hellbridge?" she asked after a moment of getting no reply.

Hellbridge still didn't answer. He stood there, completely stupefied by the sight.

"Hellbridge!" Twilight shouted as the army started closing in on them.

Before anyone could say another word, a bright flash of light blinded all of them for a short moment. As they covered their eyes, they heard a loud explosion coming from the spot between them and the dark army. All of a sudden, the white light had faded, but in its stead, a massive, circle of seven different colors lit up the entire sky. Everyone apart from Hellbridge had already recognized the signature move of the pegasus pony that had just flown up to them.

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything," Rainbow Dash said with a smug attitude.

"Perfect timing, Rainbow," Twilight replied, trying her best to hide her overjoyed smile.

"Was that..." Hellbridge paused mid sentence. "Did you just do that?"

"He he he." Rainbow Dash nodded and laughed proudly.

"Just as I had thought that Equestria couldn't amaze me any more..."

Not long afterwards, the dark kholanari started rubbing their eyes and regaining their sight. As they spotted their target, the wretched sound of their vicious roars returned.

"We need to move!" Hellbridge yelled and urged everyone to run.

Not being left another choice but to flee, the heroes ran as fast as they could. Not stopping to look back along the way.

"Any bright ideas?" Rainbow Dash asked as she flew up to Hellbridge.

"Less talking, more running," he answered.

"Gee, I wish I could have thought of that." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

The running wasn't getting any easier. Even though they never turned to look back, they could still hear the screams of the damned coming from behind them. They weren't sure if they were gaining on them, but the screams sure as hell weren't getting any quieter. They ran without stop. Even with how well they were all accustomed to long distance runs, they still felt every breath getting harder and harder to take. The dark kholanari, however, didn't seem to be tiring out, at all. Their screams only seemed to be getting louder.

For Hellbridge, it suddenly started seeming like time got slower. He could take the time to focus on every detail around him. Every heavy breath he took, every step he ran, every scream coming from behind him...For a moment there, it nearly seemed like time was standing still, but then, something just instantly made it go at a normal rate again.

"Aaaah!" A scream came from behind them

Hellbridge turned around. "Fluttershy!" he shouted as he saw one of the dark kholanari grab her by her hind leg. He rushed towards her without thinking.

Fluttershy completely lost her breath as she saw the dark warrior's blade coming down on her. As she lost the last vestige of hope for survival, she closed her tear-filled eyes and awaited her end.

However, the cold touch of steel was no what she felt. Instead, she felt someone's hand pushing her away from the danger. After opening her eyes, she gasped and held her hooves up to her mouth.

Hellbridge had managed to stop her attacker and get her out of harm's way, but now, he was in her place, and there was more than just one dark kholanari swinging his blade towards him. As time slowed down for her, Fluttershy looked behind her and saw all of her friends also being pinned down...At this very moment, even with Hellbridge's noble sacrifice that had saved her life, there was just no hope left. Right and left, Behind and in front of her, there was a hopeless sight no matter where she looked...so she chose to look to the skies, and in those skies, she found the courage she was looking for.

As the moon had slipped away behind the mountains, and the sun risen above everyone's head, Celestia's majestic sunlight lit up the skies and pierced the bodies of the dark kholanari. Before their very eyes, the  bodies of the corrupted nation turned to ashes and got blown away as they screamed in pain. Before long, the threat was gone and everyone could finally take a breath.

"Everyone all right?" Hellbridge asked. He gazed around and saw all the ponies physically unscathed. "Thank the heavens." He sighed with relief.

"Is it really over?" Twilight asked incredulously.

"Not while Zel'Kiron still breathes, it isn't," Hellbridge unwillingly answered. "Come on! We need to finish this, once and for all!"

Twilight nodded. Her expression spoke of courage and seriousness, but lacked any joy.

There was no time to waste. The brave heroes made their way back to the Crimson River Clan settlement to face their final challenge.