The Price of Freedom

by arkantos

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Human, Alternate Universe, Comedy
Length: 21474

An immortal tribe of bloodthirsty barbarians invade world after world. Equestria has also fallen victim. The only hope the ponies have of survival lies in an old legend circulating through the lines of the barbarians.

The peace in Equestria has been shattered. Those of the ponies that did not seek refuge in sky city of Cloudsdale have all been enslaved by a bloodthirsty race of immortal humanoids who call themselves the kholanari tribe.

With our magic suppressed by their powerful shamans, and our fighters too scared to even dare challenge the barbarians that are more than twice their size, the only hope ponykind still has of survival lies in an old legend we had heard some of the guards whispering about.

Note: Expect [spoiler]some wicked amounts of cheesiness, as well as Mary Sue… Also, nopony dies.[/spoiler]

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2016-04-07 18:50:01 UTC

Prologue: How the kholanari came to be

Once, on a distant planet called Earth, there lived a race of creatures known only as humans. This race, just like their planet, no longer exists. The planet fell victim to the cruel ways of this nation. And the humans themselves have ascended to become something more, or so they say...We believe they've become something far, far worse than what they used to be.

Blinded by their hatred and bloodlust, this race became devoted to worshiping an ancient god of war, blood and death. The humans called him Nor'Kholan.

As they followed the word of their god, they were led on an endless cycle of killing in the name of this god, and Nor'Kholan rewarded his followers. As long as they would continue to spill blood in his name, they would never age, nor would they require food, water or even sleep.

Massive arenas were established just for this purpose, where the disciples of Nor'Kholan would battle each other to earn the favor of their beloved god.

These barbarians knew only how to fight, maim and kill, everything else was secondary to them. Before long, they would even start killing the women of their tribes, calling them weak and considering them useless at the first sign of struggle upon giving birth to their children, thus, most of their women wouldn't even get a chance to live til the age of 30 before they were mercilessly murdered by their own mates.

Even though the shamans tried to warn them against such vile acts, they would not listen, and before long, their entire planet was devoid of any females.

Desperate to keep their race alive, the tribe shamans had to resort to very desperate measures just to ensure the survival of their race. They had to make a decision for which many of the barbarians would loathe them until their very last breath.

Through the answered prayers of their god, this race was able to cross worlds and continue their reign upon other planets. Even though the species inhabiting the other planets weren't the same women they were used to, they were still able to carry their children, the shamans made certain of that.

Unsurprisingly, the same scenario would repeat itself on every other planet they visited, thus, the barbarians traversed the universe, leaving dozens of planets devoid of any life in their way.

It was not long before they found Equestria...

The ponies of Equestria easily fell victim to their brutal ways. The shamans managed to render their magic useless, and the warriors more than twice their size would inspire such fear that none even dared oppose them.

Only some of the pegasi managed to escape their chains, seeking refuge in the sky city of Cloudsdale, but even they realized that if the magic of the barbarian shamans was powerful enough to even render the magic of their almighty rulers useless, then it would surely not be long before they found a way to force them to the ground.

Many of the braver  pegasi refused to sit cowardly by and watch as their friends and families got enslaved, instead, they chose to remain on the ground and help the struggle in whatever way they could, even though it was clearly hopeless.

Not long after their invasion, the barbarian clans settled in and established their encampments throughout Equestria. They had five main clans altogether, and each chose to settle in a spot most suited for them.

The cold-hearted clan of the northern barbarians known as the Iceblood Clan felt right at home near the mountains bordering the Crystal Empire.

Deep within the San Palomino desert, the relentless Sand Wraith Clan would spill blood and paint the desert sands in a color more to their liking.

The Crimson River Clan, the clan that was quicker to evolve and adapt than the other clans, they rested right under Cloudsdale, where they patiently awaited for their clan shaman to figure out a way to bring the sky down.

Among the five clans, the least brutal one in their ways was probably the Red Veil Clan. Their sophisticated shaman led them to Canterlot, where he felt even better than he did back at home. Even though their shaman wasn't the blood-hungry warhound the clan would have wished for, his profound knowledge of the art of war bore fruit. Under his instructions, the clan crafted weapons nearly twice as deadly as any of the other clans.

And then there was the Sons of Nor'Kholan. Just as the name suggests, the warriors of this clan were believed to be the direct descendants of the god they all worshiped. Brutal, fearless, reckless, relentless, cold-hearted and adept at war, this clan was the very pride of their nation, combining together all the strengths of the other four clans. Thus, it was only fitting that their clan rested at the very heartland of Equestria - Ponyville.

The heart of every clan's settlement was the arena, where tournaments would be occasionally held, in which a hundred of the clan's best warriors would battle to win the favor of their god, afterwards claiming their well deserved prize - a night with one of the female prisoners that waited in the dungeons below.

These tournaments lasted 3 days, over which only 6 out of the 100 warriors would be left standing. Since the massive bloodshed would harm the populace of their clans, they had to take breaks after each tournament to wait for their enslaved females to bring new warriors into their clans. The kholanari were not fond of waiting, and neither was their god.

Blessed by their wicked god, the kholanari were granted powerful blood that came with more benefits that just immortality. Because of their strong blood, their offsprings grew at an alarming rate, both inside and out of their mother's stomach.

Shattered, defeated and enslaved, the only hope of ponykind's survival now lies in an ancient legend they had heard among the barbarian tribes.

A tournament in Ponyville

As the very first tournament in Equestria took place, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle and Rarity could only listen to the sound of steel striking steel, and the screams of the dying warriors echoing throughout the dungeons.

"Enough resting! Get up!" a ruthless guard shouted at the six ponies lifelessly sitting inside their cell. "Did I stutter? Move it!"

One by one, the poor, tired creatures obeyed his calling and slowly stood up and walked out of their cell. As the last of them exited, the guard immediately shut the prison door without even waiting for the pony at the very back to get all the way out.

"Aah!" Applejack yelped as her tail got slammed in between the bars.

"Oops!" The guard mockingly laughed. He opened the door again so the pony could get her tail out and closed it right afterwards. He paid no heed to the scowl she devoted to him and just urged them to keep moving.

"I still can't believe our people have fallen so low..." The guard began talking to himself. "To think that someone would actually fight for the right to spend the night with the likes of you!" He stomped his foot on the ground near Rainbow's hind leg, just barely brushing it against her hoof. "Why...I'm not even sure if the ones that die out there are the unlucky ones...Blasted shamans and their "survival of the race comes first" speeches!" The guard imitated one of the shamans and then spat on the ground.

"Hard to believe, but I think me and this guy actually feel the same way about these so called shamans," Rainbow Dash whispered to her friends.

"Perhaps this could be used to our advantage..." Twilight slyly replied.

"No talking!" the guard yelled.

"Why don't you come and make us, then?" Rainbow Dash provoked the guard.

"You got a death wish, Rainbow!?" Applejack quietly shouted.

"You think I won't do it!?" the infuriated man shouted. "Do you really think that-"

"Silence!" a voice came from the other side of the tunnel. "Mon, what have I told ya about talkin' to da prisoners?" the clan shaman interrogated the guard.

"But I...She...It wasn't-"

"Silence, mon!" the shaman shouted at the stupefied guard. "You've said plenty enough already, mon...Away with ya!" he dismissed the man.

"Grrr!" The guard roared through his gritted teeth and waved a tightly clenched fist at Rainbow Dash before furiously stomping off in the other direction.

"He he he," Rainbow Dash laughed and stuck out her tongue.

"Now then..." the shaman drew their attention. "I hope the lot of ya be ready to entertain...guests!" The shaman smiled wickedly as five of the clan's warriors appeared behind his back.

"Ladies and gents..." the shaman addressed the warriors while leaning on his staff. "For this night, I have cooked up something special for ya hungry wolves." He waved his arm over the six ponies. "Equestrian heroes...The strongest of their warriors for the strongest of ours."

The eyes of the ponies met those of the kholanari warriors. Fear met with disgust and hatred. Decades had passed since the tribe had seen females that looked even remotely human, and yet, their grudge still had not faded away, and the creatures that they had to spend the night with just kept seeming less and less appealing.

The shaman looked around and noticed that there was still a warrior missing. "Oi!...Where be da sixth?"

Just as he called out, a reply came in the form of heavy, steel-clad footsteps coming from the darker part of the corridor.

"Well, speak of the devil!" the shaman cheered as he spotted the last warrior walking towards him and still cleaning one of his swords from the blood. "If it ain't Hellbridge himself! Making the very earth under his feet tremble, not from his weight, but out of sheer fear of all the bodies he's delivered to it!"

"Hellbridge..." Twilight quietly whispered to herself as she took a few steps backwards. Hellbridge was a name that all six of the ponies recognized.

Among all five clans, Hellbridge was a name known and respected no less than Nor'Kholan himself. The shamans treated him with great respect, and those of his brother barbarians that weren't complete fools, would also either respect him, or just fear him. Those of the Kholanari that dared to envy him, would only end up enlarging the number of souls he's delivered to their god.

As swift as the wind, as untiring as the ever flowing rivers, strong enough to rip a manticore apart with his bare hands, and so bloodthirsty that he could make even Nor'Kholan's cup flow over with blood, Hellbridge was a warrior who earned his name through his unrivaled skill in combat. For indeed, he was unlike any other man, but more like a living gateway, ready to send anyone that would stand in his way straight back into the ground from whence they came.

"This can't be good for us..." Rarity whispered as Hellbridge came closer.

As the living legend approached, his brothers stepped aside to make way for him.

"As always, Hellbridge, the first pick goes to the best fighter of the day." The shaman praised him and introduced him to his trophies. "No doubt you be wantin' da princess herself." He grabbed Twilight by her hoof and dragged her closer to Hellbridge. "Princess of friendship, she calls herself." He grinned viciously. "Hellbridge will judge just how friendly you really are!" he said and laughed in Twilight's face. "As a princess, I bet ya know a few tricks that your fellow ponies don't."

Twilight seemed too scared to even breathe...Either that, or was it simply that the shaman's breath had left her paralyzed.

Convinced that she was the one Hellbridge fancied, the shaman pulled her hoof closer to the man's hand, but Hellbridge seemed to have other plans in mind. He made his mind clear with an angry snort.

"Not a man for princesses, eh?" The shaman pushed Twilight back into the pack of ponies. "I hear ya, mon! Maybe this one will be more to your liking!" He took a few steps forward and grabbed Rainbow Dash in the same way he did Twilight. "This be a feisty one! I even saw her pickin' a fight with the guard just a few moments back. I bet she'd offer ya a good fight too, if ya know what I mean!" The shaman laughed in a crazed voice, scaring or inspiring disgust in the ponies.

Hellbridge stared at Rainbow Dash for a short moment, but quickly switched his gaze away from her, clearly showing that he had little interest in her.

The shaman immediately released her hoof. "Take your time, Hellbridge." He stepped aside. "The will of the winner comes first."

Hellbridge slowly drove his piercing gaze across the six ponies, inspiring a different reaction in each one of them. Before long, he set his sights on one of them. It was the only one that was too afraid to even look back at him.

Even with her sights turned away and her mane covering one of her eyes, Fluttershy still immediately noticed the finger being pointed at her. The motion was so swift that it startled her, making her jump back and gasp loudly. All five of her friends gasped as well.

"Oooh, ho ho ho!" The shaman laughed in amusement. "Ah did not see that one comin'. Not from you, Hellbridge."

Without waiting for a word of approval, Hellbridge took a few steps towards his chosen companion for the night.

As he approached, Fluttershy started slowly stepping backwards, stumbling after a few steps and falling on her tush. She cowered in fear at the sight of the man in front of her. She dropped down and covered her eyes with her hooves.

"Da poor thing is too afraid to even stand up, Hellbridge. Surely she won't be able to please a mighty barbarian like yourself."

Ignoring the shaman's advice, the kholanari warrior knelt down on one knee in front of the creature that was now moaning in fear as she felt the man's presence getting closer to her.

"Wait!" A shout came from one of her friends. "Take me instead!" Rainbow Dash stepped in between Hellbridge and Fluttershy. "Please, don't take her! She won't last long with you! Just take me instead! I-I'll do anything you want! I swear! I won't close my eyes for a second for the entire night!" She desperately begged the man to reconsider.

"She's right!" Applejack stepped in. "A man like you, you'd leave her in pieces after the first night! Please, think carefully about this."

"Well, ain't that just precious!" The shaman seemed to be enjoying the sight. "Her own friends offer to give their flesh and blood in her stead...Now that's the kind of courage I could admire."

Twilight quickly reacted after seeing that Hellbridge wasn't convinced by either Applejack's or Rainbow's words.

"She's not for the likes of you, Hellbridge!" She dared to call him by his name, hoping to provoke him. "She has a kind and gentle heart! It's something your people could never understand!"

Despite her efforts, Hellbridge didn't even look in her direction.

"I must say, darling, I-"

Before Rarity could say another word, Hellbridge pushed all the other ponies aside and picked up Fluttershy in his arms. Even though he carried her away gently, she still cried in his arms as the fear of what's to come clawed at her from the inside.

"Looks like the man's mind is made up." The shaman intervened. "You best be saying your goodbyes to your friend. I doubt Hellbridge will leave more than a bloody stain from her once he's done."

As he carried her through the dark corridor, the five remaining ponies could only watch him fade away in the darkness and frown as their hearts cried for their beloved friend...Deep down, they all had a feeling that they would never see her again.

                                                                                                   ***

The barbarian encampments were rather large. This one in particular. The Sons of Nor'Kholan clan's settlement engulfed the entire town of Ponyville, and since their arenas didn't have any bedrooms built in them, due to the fact that their warriors didn't need sleep, the mating process would usually take place in the houses of the mates that the warriors chose.

Before long, Hellbridge had reached Fluttershy's cottage and was already reclining on a small chair that could barely hold his weight. His companion, however, was busy quivering at the other end of the room. The only two souls in the room spent some time staring at each other. Even with the helmet covering Hellbridge's face, his burning gaze still inspired fear in the poor creature across from him.

Hellbridge leaned forward, placing his hands on his haunches to balance himself. He spent a good while in this pose. He did not move an inch, he simply sat there and stared at Fluttershy, as if waiting for her to make the first move.

As unlikely as it might seem, Fluttershy actually would end up being the first one to leave her post. She took her time, however. The fact that Hellbridge simply sat there like a statue eventually helped her stop shaking in fear.

Is...Is he waiting?... she wondered. Is he expecting ME to come to HIM? Part of her just wanted to stay there for the rest of the night, hoping that the man in front of her had actually been frozen solid and would not make a move for the whole duration, but part of her also feared that his patience was about to snap, and that he was ready to launch himself at her at any moment and brutally slam her against the wall and have his way with her.

She decided that staying there wasn't a wise thing to do. After taking a deep, long breath, she mustered what little courage she had and started slowly walking towards the man that chose her as his companion.

As the distance between them grew shorter, she noticed his sights following her. So much for being frozen... she thought to herself.

When she arrived close enough to be grabbed by him, she looked upwards and met his eyes. They stared at each other for some time. Despite how afraid she was to even speak a word to the merciless barbarian, she felt like she had no choice.

"D-d-did you want me to come to you?" she asked in a barely audible voice.

No answer came from the man. The longer he stayed silent, the more courage Fluttershy could muster. She decided to take a bold step and stood up on her hind legs, placing her forelegs on the man's knees to bring her head closer to his.

"S-should I do it myself?" she suggested. "Maybe you're feeling tired? I-I could just finish everything for you, with my hooves, if you don't mind..."

There still wasn't any reaction from the man. Fluttershy suddenly felt like she had angered or offended him.

"I'm sorry! I-" She let out a soft cry as the man's hand started moving towards her.

She closed her eyes, turned her face away from him and prepared for the worst. As she felt his war-scarred hand place itself on her head, the first thought that occurred to her was that he was about to grab her hair with all his might and toss her at the nearest wall. To her surprise, the hand only slowly drove itself down her main, going around and placing itself around her chin afterwards, only to surprise her again. Instead of clenching his hand and crushing her jaw with a swift motion, the man only gently rubbed his hand against the bottom of her chin...It felt...pleasant.

For a moment there, Fluttershy actually gave in and started enjoying herself, but she soon gasped loudly and placed her forelegs back on the ground. She knew better than to believe the deceiving acts of a ruthless barbarian that earned his name by mercilessly slaughtering hundreds, if not thousands of his own kin through the course of time...No...He must be toying with her emotions, waiting for her to start enjoying herself and smile at him, just so that the sadist could watch her happiness turn to suffering in a split second...That must have been it. The man was not only a bloodthirsty killer, he was also a sadist. That was the only notion that made sense to her.

She did not have much time to figure out the man's plot to deceive her. Right as all four of her hooves reached the ground again, the man stood up and picked her up in his arms.

"Oh no!" Fluttershy cried out as she saw the man taking her to the bed.

This must be it... she convinced herself. This is the part where he does his thing...This is where the real pain begins.

Despite how gently the man placed her on her bed, and how softly his hand was now sliding down her mane, she couldn't help but keep her eyes closed and tremble in fear of the worst.

Don't give in...That's just what he wants. He only wants to see you smile before he... Still unconvinced by the man's sudden change of heart, she continued to convince herself that his motives were foul and selfish. Only after hearing the sound of something metallic being placed on the ground, did she dare to open her eyes. She peeked at the warrior with one eye.

When she saw him, it became clear that the metallic object that he had dropped was his helmet, but the man's face didn't look anything like what she could have imagined. Fluttershy opened both eyes and faced Hellbridge, just so she could make sure she wasn't imagining things.

In his face, she saw a smile...An authentic smile, a warm and sincere smile, the kind that could spread more smiles as it goes, in contrast to the wicked smile of a perverted sadist who'd love nothing more than to hear her scream in pain. Fluttershy could only widen her eyes and stare back at him with her mouth agape as she tried to make sense of the sight in front of her.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to," he whispered to her without turning away. His voice was no colder than his smile.

After such an unexpected display, Fluttershy finally started believing that the man really meant no harm to her...The only question remaining was - why?

"I don't understand..." She shook her head. "I-"

"Shhh..." The man interrupted her by holding his index finger up between their faces. "Rest now, shy one. You have a long day ahead of you, tomorrow." Without saying another word, Hellbridge rose up, picked up his helmet and walked back to his chair.

Fluttershy was completely bewildered by the man's hospitality. Despite being tired, she still stared at him with her eyes wide open, unable to find the right question to ask. A thousand theories coursed through her mind, but none of them were enough to explain the current course of events...It just didn't make any sense...Any other kholanari would have probably ripped her in half by now, and yet, the same warrior would surely cower at the sight of the benevolent being sitting before her...

"Try not to think too much about it," he said while putting his helmet back on, which made his voice sound much more fearsome. "If destiny will allow us to repeat this event tomorrow, then that is when you shall have your answers." Even with the helmet altering his voice, he still sounded as sincere as ever. "But for now, sleep...sleep and regain your strengths...I shall watch over you during the night."

The more Hellbridge said, the more convinced Fluttershy became that his heart was pure. As if following an order, Fluttershy placed her head on her pillow, closed her eyes and tried her best not to think about everything that had just transpired.

                                                                                                   ***

No sun would rise on the next day, for those responsible for maintaining the balance in Equestria were now powerless to do anything about it. However, the kholanari cared not whether it was dark or bright. They did as they pleased.

By the time Rainbow Dash got escorted back to her cell block, Applejack was already ahead of her, snoring loudly while lying flat on her stomach. Her resting was immediately disrupted by the guard's response to seeing the second pony incoming.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha!" the guard laughed hysterically. "Revenge is a dish best served in bed!" He mocked the pony that was walking slowly while lifting her hind legs up higher than her head. It looked as though someone had shoved  an invisible broom up her rear end.

The warrior escorting Rainbow Dash snickered and gave a high five to the laughing guard. Without saying a word, he marched off into the darkness.

As soon as Rainbow Dash entered the cell block, she slumped to the ground near her friend and stared at her with a grimace that said more than a thousand words, and was immediately requited with the same kind of expression.

Without uttering a sound, both ponies closed their eyes and hoped that they wouldn't be interrupted for some time.

Before long, Two sets of footsteps were heard coming from the part of the corridor opposite of the arena entrance. Hoofsteps could be heard coming from behind them as well. The shapes of the two men soon became recognizable, but the same could not be said about the silhouette

walking behind them.

Only a few things were clear about the creature - It had two heads, its movement was slow and clumsy and it had a myriad of legs that it was clearly having trouble controlling, constantly stepping on its own feet. What was even more peculiar was that every time the creature lost balance and pushed itself against one of the walls, a voice saying "sorry" could be heard. The voice varied between two sets, depending on which side of the wall the creature collided with.

As the clumsy thing walked into the torchlight, it became clear that it was just Twilight  and Rarity leaning against one another.

As the guard held the gate open and waited for them to enter, him and the other two warriors quietly laughed while the two-headed pony made its way back into its cell. They moved inside and stopped near their friends. Their legs began to wobble vigorously before they finally collapsed.

"Sorry!" Both of them apologized simultaneously.

The two warriors kept on laughing as they walked off in the direction of the arena entrance.

Just mere seconds after their laughing left earshot, another set of footsteps came out of the shadows behind them. It was the fifth warrior. The only reason a set of hoofsteps wasn't following him was because he was holding Pinkie Pie by her tail. She was sound asleep and snoring loudly.

As the guard opened the cell block door, the man brutally tossed her inside. She flew all the way and hit her back against wall at the back of the cell.

If not for her loud snoring, her friends would have thought that she was in a coma.

"That one promised to be more fun than she really was!" the infuriated man shouted and walked away with very loud footsteps.

"Who would've thought that Pinkie would be the only one of us that didn't make someone smile," Rainbow Dash said with a tired smile on her face...The fact that the ponies could find a reason to smile in this grim situation was almost...uncanny.

Their smiles did not last long, however, as they soon remembered that there was still one pony missing from their group. They hung their heads in sorrow. They remained in their state of depression for some time, even after another set of footsteps entered their range of hearing.

When it comes to Hellbridge, even his steps can be recognized. He was, indeed, larger than most warriors, but it wasn't even his weight that left such an impact on the earth as he walked...it was...something else.

It was no surprise that a set of hoofsteps was accompanying him. Nor was it a surprise that they sounded like those of a perfectly healthy pony, neither slow, nor limping...No doubt, a replacement sent in Fluttershy's stead.

At this point, the ponies could only all assume that there wasn't much left of Fluttershy to even look at, other than, just like the shaman said - a bloody stain.

After even they could all only barely walk after spending a night with some of the less fearsome warriors, it would have been beyond miraculous if Fluttershy was even still walking, let alone, walking with unimpaired speed.

As Hellbridge passed by them, they raised their heads up to see if the newcomer was someone they recognized. To their utmost surprise, it was someone they knew all too well.

"Fluttershy?..." Twilight whispered with an incredulous expression.

She was all right! Perfectly fine, not to mention - smiling! Against all odds, she actually came back looking better than she did on the day she left.

As the guard opened the door for her, he couldn't help but constantly switch his sights between Hellbridge and the pony he just returned to her cell. Even he was unsure of how could she be left without so much as a scratch or sprained limb.

"Good morning, girls!" Fluttershy greeted her friends.

Even with her tired legs, Twilight immediately rose up to hug the pony she believed she would never see again. All of her friends joined in too...Well...Everyone apart from Pinkie Pie, who was still sound asleep in the corner of the room.

"How?" Twilight asked after disengaging from the hug.

"We thought Hellbridge would make mince meat out of you!" Rainbow Dash interjected. The rest of her friends glared at her with reproach.

"I believe what Rainbow Dash was trying to say is that we were all worried sick about you," Rarity translated.

As a response, Fluttershy leaned towards Twilight and quietly answered, "I think I've found him."

A man of two legends

"You mean..." Twilight incredulously stared at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy nodded.

"But...That's impossible."

"How else would you explain me being in such good shape after a night with him?" Fluttershy asked rhetorically. "He barely even touched me. He just gently placed me on my bed and caressed my mane a few times before smiling at me and telling me to have a rest," Fluttershy retold yesterday's events.

"It's hard to deny, that does sound like something he would do..." Twilight pondered while rubbing her chin. "But this is Hellbridge we're talking about! Hellbridge!" she shouted and threw her forelegs up in the air.

"Hey! Keep it down!" the guard scolded.

Twilight immediately calmed her voice and spoke more softly. "Are we to believe that the same living killing machine they call Hellbridge is our only hope of salvation? That every single life he took, he took in hopes that the fighting would one day end?" Twilight paused for a moment and looked deeply into Fluttershy's eyes. "Are you certain it's him?"

The link between their eyes remained unbroken for some time. After giving Twilight's words enough consideration, she gave a firm nod. "The rumors about him have been going on for some time, and it's no secret that Hellbridge is the oldest warrior in the tribe."

"It would make sense for him to be the one..." Twilight taped her hoof against her chin a few times. "It's just that..." She turned her sights away from her timid friend. "All the lives he's taken...He's been around for much longer than any other kholanari, and he slays no less than twice the amount any other warrior does in every arena match...I don't even want to attempt to do the math..." Twilight shuddered from just the thought of it.

"Fluttershy," Twilight reestablished eye contact. "At this point, to Hellbridge, taking a life is like breathing...If you're not careful with the questions you ask him..." Twilight's sad frown made it quite clear what would happen in such a situation. "I wish there was another way..." Twilight placed her hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder. "I can't ask you to do this, Fluttershy...but I hope you realize that there's much more than just our lives at stake here."

"I understand, Twilight," Fluttershy replied with a convincing smile on her face. "I'll do my best to ensure his cooperation."

Twilight closed her eyes from joy and hugged her friend. "Thank you, Fluttershy."

All of a sudden, a loud yawn was heard from the back of the cell block. The ponies turned their attention towards the sound, only to see Pinkie Pie stretching her limbs from an upside-down position.

"What'd I miss?"

                                                                                                        ***

Many hours later, the second match of the tournament took place in the Ponyville arena. Thus, the wicked screams and sounds of battle ensued, just as expected. This match seemed slightly shorter than yesterday's one. It was only natural, seeings how the amount of warriors participating in it was lessened since the last day.

Before long, six of the day's strongest warriors were on their way to claim their prize...The six ponies could only hope that Hellbridge would be among them.

Unsurprisingly, he was there, just as everyone had expected. Even though three of the warriors he arrived with yesterday had been replaced with ones that had proven themselves to be more capable fighter...Well, either that or merely more lucky than they were.

"As always, da first pick be yours, Hellbridge." The shaman stepped aside and presented the six ponies to the six warriors.

Hellbridge immediately set his sights on Fluttershy.

"It is not every day that a warrior as feral as Hellbridge takes a liking to someone...perhaps there is more to the shy bird than the eye can see." The shaman seemed rather amused.

Without much regard for the shaman's words, Hellbridge walked up to his favorite pony and urged her to follow him with a swift motion of his head. Just like that, the couple walked off.

"Oooh! Ha ha! And it looks like she likes ya too, mon!" The shaman laughed like a wild ape. "Only you could manage to please a vicious god of blood and war, as well as a frightened goddess of kindness and timidity, both on da same day! You're a good one, Hellbridge. That ya are." The shaman kept smiling at the amusing sight all the way up until the moment they disappeared into the shadows.

Good luck, Fluttershy... Twilight wished fortune upon her friend through her thoughts.

"Well, what are the rest of ya bunch waitin' for!?" the shaman addressed the other warriors. "Grab your whores and be out of my sight!"

"Aah!" Rarity gasped. "I am no Wh-whaaa!" As she raised her hoof to make a stand, one of the warriors grabbed her by that hoof and dragged her away.

Rainbow Dash couldn't help but snicker at the sight.

"Really, Rainbow?" Applejack stared at her rainbow-maned friend with a reproachful expression and a raised eyebrow, all the way up until the moment she also got dragged away.

"Really," Rainbow Dash admitted with more amusement than remorse in her tone. Before she could look back, she got picked up by another warrior who carried her away while holding her in his armpit. "Hey!" she protested against being carried in such an embarrassing position and crossed her forelegs.

"You were fun enough, yesterday...Hope you haven't gotten rusty." The warrior laughed quietly.

"Oh, I'll give you rusty, alright..." Rainbow Dash whispered to herself through gritted teeth.

"Gee, were you expecting a red carpet, Rainbow?" Twilight said in a slightly mocking tone. She then looked behind her and saw the next warrior staring at her as if expecting something. She let out an annoyed sigh and started walking forward. "Yeah, yeah. I get the picture."

The last warrior followed them without so much as glancing at the last pony.

Without much thinking, Pinkie Pie just started happily skipping alongside him and humming.

As the warrior directed his attention to the pink party pony, there was only a single thought coursing through his mind.

Something definitely wrong with that horse...

                                                                                                  ***

Before long, the first warrior and pony couple were already back at Fluttershy's cottage. Both of them had a feeling that there would be a lot of talking that night, so both of them made themselves comfortable. Fluttershy decided to sit in her bed, while Hellbridge placed his chosen chair closer to the bed and leaned on it's back while sitting on it in a reverse position.

"You had questions...and I promised answers." Hellbridge took off his helmet before finishing his statement. "Ask away."

"There's so much that I wanted to ask, I don't even know where to begin..."

"We have all night in store...Just start with the most interesting question, first," Hellbridge suggested.

Fluttershy gave a nod of approval and asked her first question right away. "Why are you treating me so nicely?...I thought you were supposed to..." Fluttershy turned her face away from her conversation partner and shifted her eyes towards something else for a moment. "You know..." She blushed.

Helbridge responded with a cordial laugh. "The act of love is meaningless if your partner is not the one you love."

"But I thought you do it for pleasure."

"What is pleasure for one, can be torture for the other." Hellbridge's expression suddenly turned dead serious. "Torture is not something that I'm fond of."

"But what about when you're out there? Fighting with a horde of your own kin!"

"I never torture." Hellbridge shook his head. "Those who oppose me rarely even get the chance to realize that their life is about to end."

"But...you seem so nice and kind to me, and yet..." Fluttershy paused for a moment. The question she was about to ask would no doubt clear all doubts about the man.

"Hellbridge...why do you fight?"

The two of them gazed in the eyes of each other for some time before Hellbridge finally spoke up in a solemn tone.

"I fight for those I've lost, I fight for those still alive. I fight because I must, I fight to stay alive." Hellbridge stood up as his voice got louder "I fight so that all the fighting I've done til this day would not be in vain!...I fight because I hope to see all the fighting end one day!...Not for myself, not even for my people..." Hellbridge sat back down and hung his head. "I fight for freedom."

For a short moment, total silence claimed the room. Fluttershy could only cover her mouth in awe.

"It...it really is you...You're the redeemer!"

Hellbridge immediately snapped out of his downed state and rose up from his chair. "How do you know you know that legend!?" he yelled furiously while pointing his finger at Fluttershy, leaving her a bit dazed. "Answer me!"

"I...I" Fluttershy gulped loudly. "I only know what I heard the guards whispering! I swear!" She began shaking her head "No one else but you and my friends know that I know this! I wasn't even sure if it was you, it was just a hunch! I..." She paused to take a breath.

"Forgive me," Hellbridge apologized and sat back down. He turned the chair away to not face Fluttershy face-to-face, but more like face-to-side. "I let my emotions get the best of me...that hasn't happened to me in a very long time..." he spoke softly.

Fluttershy moved a bit closer and placed her hoof on his shoulder to console him.

Hellbridge turned his head towards her. "I don't know how that rumor appeared, but it started spreading like wildfire once it did...A lot of the kholanari pointed their finger at me, since I had more motive than any of them, and to tell the truth, for a moment I actually believed that they would root me out and murder me in my sleep..."

"You said you had more motive than any of them..." Fluttershy repeated the words that she found most puzzling among Hellbridge's last statement.

The man did not answer right away. He turned his head away again before replying. "I'd really rather not talk about it," he unwillingly admitted. "All I can say is that it had something to do with my past, before my tribe became nothing more than just a band of savage killers," he gave an alternate answer.

"I understand," Fluttershy said and decided not to ask that question again.

After another short pause, Hellbridge continued from where he left off, "After I started hearing the rumors going around about me, I became ever more determined to hide my emotions...I became ruthless, brutal and merciless. I always wore a helmet to hide my emotions, and I only ever spoke when spoken to...Before long, my brothers recognized me as a soulless machine of mass murder, and the rumors died soon afterwards...I never thought I'd hear that name again, especially from someone other than my own brothers."

Silence engulfed the room. Fluttershy gave the man some time to dwell in his thoughts before asking another question.

"How do you plan to make the fighting stop?"

"The only way possible," Hellbridge quickly replied. "I once had hopes that our race could be severed from their bond with the blood god, but I'm no longer as naive as I once was...The only way to end this endless cycle of slaughtering innocents is to kill every single kholanari tribesman there is."

As Hellbridge spoke, Fluttershy sensed a lot of anger in his voice, as well as a lot of pain and sorrow.

"You would go up against your own people?"

With his fists clenched tightly, Hellbridge spoke without facing his conversation partner, "The last of my people died decades ago...The men that fight alongside me now are just spiritless bodies born from hatred. Corrupted souls that are being manipulated by a twisted god. Living weapons - tools created to kill innocents...Whatever once made them human no longer exists."

Fluttershy watched his anger grow as the conversation went on. She had to give him time to calm himself after each question.

"But why haven't you tried to do that before?...How many more have to die before you make a stand?" Fluttershy asked without giving her words much thought.

"Do you really think it would be that easy?" Hellbridge retorted. "There are five clans full of warriors that would tear the limbs off their own mothers just to please their god, and there's just one of me."

"I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to sound rude. I just..."

"It's alright," Hellbridge consoled her. "I didn't mean to yell like that." He apologized and smiled at the pony that gladly returned the smile. "Sadly, I am in a situation where I cannot afford to try anything. If I go for it, I have to go all in...Either they die or I do, and if it's me, then the hopes of every other race that they'll ever come across dies with me."

"You're not alone anymore, Hellbridge." The pink-maned pegasus smiled at him.

The kholanari gladiator smiled right back at her. "I was mainly waiting for two things before the beginning of my uprising," he explained. "First of all, I had to wait until the rumors had cleared so that the element of surprise would be on my side...I suppose this is as good as it's going to get...If I keep on waiting for them to completely fade from everyone's memory, then I fear that I'd no longer have any race left to liberate."

Hellbridge looked upon Fluttershy, and through the look in her eyes, he already knew her next question.

"Second - I needed allies...Powerful allies, allies that I could trust." He looked into the eyes of his companion. "And it seems like I have that now." Hellbridge stood up and then knelt on one knee in front of the bed Fluttershy was lying on. "Would Equestria be that ally?" he formally asked. "Would you fight by my side, til death do us part?"

Fluttershy couldn't help but blush a little because of the scene that reminded her of a marriage proposal. "I...uhh...I mean - we would!"

"Then it's settled!" Hellbridge stood up and raised one of his swords up high. "For too long have the kholanari been delivering death upon unsuspecting civilizations...It's high time someone turned the tables on them." He sheathed his weapon before continuing. "Warn your friends as soon as you get the chance. We've no time to lose! This has to happen tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow!?" Fluttershy cried out.

"Of course!" Hellbridge immediately replied. "If we delay this for so much as another day, all of your friends will be impregnated..."

Fluttershy gasped loudly.

"I thought you knew..." Hellbridge quietly added.

"I knew the tournament lasted three days, but no one ever told me why..." she admitted with a touch of sadness in her tone.

"Our tribe needs time to recover after every tournament. ninety four out of a hundred warriors fall during every tournament, and the victors - the strongest among the one hundred live on to create a new generation of even stronger kholanari."

"But then..." A single tear slid down Fluttershy's cheek as she realized something incredibly dreadful. "How many of your own sons have you had to kill?..." she asked in a shaky voice.

"They were never really my sons," Hellbridge replied with little emotion in his tone. "They are the sons of Nor'Kholan."

Even though there was truth in the man's words, it still felt unsettling to hear him speak of his own children as nothing more than just more meat for the arenas.

"But how come there are no women in your tribe? And doesn't it take years for just the six of you to bring your clan back to full strength?"

Hellbridge didn't mind the double question. He found it easy to answer both at once. "The blood of Nor'Kholan comes with it's own benefits...as well as a wicked curse." He switched to a more dramatic tone. "Because of the strength of our blood, the kholanari warriors can only produce more warriors...Apparently Nor'kholan didn't care as much for the race's survival as he did about it always being strong," he explained and switched back to a more casual tone.

"As for the growing process, our god has also seen to that. Because of how restless and tenacious our blood is, it can't stand still without jumping into a fight. Thus, the time it takes for a pregnant female to produce offsprings is usually no more than five days, and even after leaving their mother's stomach, the young kholanari don't cry, they grow so fast that they're already running on their own on the next day. Another day after that, most of them can already swing swords with ease. Give or take three more days and they're already itching to test their resolve in a real fight," he explained as though he was in a hurry.

"Oh my..." Fluttershy covered her mouth. "This Nor'Kholan sounds powerful...What if he interferes?"

Hellbridge paused for a moment and then sighed with a touch of desperation in his tone. "Sadly, all we can do is hope that doesn't happen."

Both of them hung their heads and didn't say a word for some time.

"There is, however, something that could help us ensure that Nor'Kholan can't intervene."

"There is?" Fluttershy asked in disbelief.

Hellbridge nodded. "The shamans. They are the spiritual leaders of the clans. Only they can speak to the god directly...If they should fall, then not only will that ensure that the blood god can't support them, it will also release your magic users from their grip. An advantage we must secure, if we are to win."

There were no more questions to be asked now. With a confident and courageous smile on her face, Fluttershy jumped off her bed and got into position for a fight. "Then lets not waste anymore time!"

"Easy there, young fighter." Hellbridge laughed warmly. "We still need to wait for your friends.

"Oh..." Fluttershy smiled sheepishly and jumped back into her bed. "Right."

Hellbridge walked closer to her and squatted down to match her eye level. "Before we go in, I need to fill you in on all the details of my plan."

Fluttershy answered with a firm nod. "I'm all ears."

"All right..." He clapped his hands against one another before continuing. "This is what you need to tell all your friends, once you see them..."

The way it must be

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."

Friends in high places

On the next day...

"Kholanari Warriors!" A white-haired shaman shouted loudly from his seat hanging above the arena fighting pit. "Welcome to the last day of the second tournament of the planet Equestria!"

As the gates to the arena opened, the final thirty of the Red Veil Clan's warriors started marching inside.

"You are, without a doubt, the best that the Red Veil has to offer! And after today, there will be only six of you left, and those six will have the honor of being the future of this clan!"

Too preoccupied to notice anything, the warriors just kept marching into the arena, one after another. Thanks to the loud shouting of their shaman, not a single sound could be heard as the warrior at the very back of the pack got dragged off into the darkness.

After all of the warriors had gathered inside the arena, the gates behind them were immediately shut.

"May Nor'Kholan have mercy on your souls," the shaman gave one final statement and rung the arena bell, which signalized the beginning of the match.

Before the echo of the bell even had a chance to stop ringing, one of the kholanari warriors already got knocked down as a massive war hammer struck him right in his temples. His death was immediately avenged, as his killer was pierced with a giant sword before he even had a chance to recover from his swing. After knocking the warrior off his sword using his foot, the two handed blade wielder immediately spun himself around, bringing his sword with him and taking off the head of someone that was charging at him from behind. He barely took a second to revel in his two kills within such a short time span, before a long spear jabbed him from his right side and exited through his left one.

The bloodshed didn't stop for a second. Torn limbs and guts kept flying around and sometimes even impairing someone's vision, making him an easy target.

Among all the warriors, a specific one caught the shaman's attention. He focused his sights on the only kholanari fighting with a blade in each hand...It was a tactic that he had not seen in a long time. Two-handed axes, swords and hammers and maces were among the most commonly used weapons in all clans. Spears were rare enough. A shield and sword was seen used no more than three times during any tournament, but the only time the shaman had ever seen someone using two blades was when someone was following the example of another, widely known and respected warrior...but anyone deluded enough to try this strategy would usually end up being among the first to fall...Well, anyone apart from one, that is.

That one warrior wielded each blade like an extension to his arms. When he fought with them, it was as though he had eyes in his back. During the fighting, there were at least three times when he would kill off two foes with a single move. That alone gave him a quarter of all the kills necessary to end the tournament.

Before long, only six of the kholanari warriors remained. The shaman held up his hand to let them know that the fighting is to stop. The smell of death filled the air, and soulless bodied filled the arena ground, but the fighting had yet to end.

One of the warriors had gone berserk, refusing to lay down his weapons. Compelled to defend their honor, the other five warriors charged at him.

With a spinning attack swift enough to leave his opponent temporarily dazed, the berserker claimed his first victim.

"Stop!" the shaman shouted to no avail.

Another warrior came charging in fast with his spear aimed at the betrayer, who only dodged his attack by spinning around him and then took his life by slashing his blades deep into his back.

The next warrior came at him while swinging a flail with a massive ball of spikes hanging from it. Despite the fact that a blow from a weapon like that could drive him halfway into the ground with just one hit, the berserker didn't even flinch. As his opponent swung his weapon downwards, he only took a minor sidestep and shoved a blade through the other warrior's neck.

"Cease and decist!" The shaman kept trying to make the conflict end.

The last two warriors came charging both at once. One of them came charging with a giant sword above his head, and the other followed him with his shield in front of himself. Before the warrior with the massive blade could make an attack, his opponent kicked him in the guts, forcing him back a few steps. He did not make the mistake of underestimating the other warrior. He held his shield like it had guided him through many fights before.

The betrayer chose to lure him in and let him make the first move. He kept backing away until the moment his opponent readied his blade for a swing, whilst still shielding himself. It was then that the berserker dropped down and knocked his opponent of his feet with a swift spin attack with his leg. Without giving the fallen warrior so much as a split second to recover, he drove his own sword through his head. After finishing him off, he stared at the only other man left in the pit. He saw the fear in his eyes. He started walking towards him with both of his blades at the ready.

With shaky arms, the other warrior started backing away. After seeing the berserker running towards him, he tucked his tail and ran, dropping his sword in the process. "Open the gates!" he yelled in fear. "Nor'Kholan has betrayed us! We need to warn the other cla-" Before he could finish his sentence, a flying spear nailed his head to the arena wall, leaving him hanging like a scarecrow.

After tossing the spear, the berserker sheathed both his blades and walked closer to the shaman's position.

The shaman clapped slowly. "Well done, son of viciousness...Whatever you came here to accomplish, I'd have to say that you've performed impeccably." Horak'Din jumped down from his spectator seat and walked closer to the traitor. "I suppose this is the part where you try and kill me."

"That's not why I'm here," Hellbridge replied and took his helmet off.

"Hellbridge..." The shaman recognized him. "Was winning the tournament in one clan not enough for you? Have you grown tired of waiting for Nor'Kholan's blessing?"

"He is nothing like the other kholanari!" a voice came from a distance. Twilight and her friends rushed over to support Hellbridge however they could.

"Redeemer..." Horak'Din exhaled loudly. "This is a dangerous game that you're playing, Hellbridge...Do you honestly hope to take on all five clans with just the help of these harmless creatures?" He waved his arm across the air in the direction of the six ponies.

"I'll give you harmless!" Rainbow Dash jumped up into the air.

"Rainbow!" Twilight yelled. Her reproachful look was enough to bring Rainbow Dash back to the ground, however unsatisfied she she may have been with the decision.

After landing, Rainbow Dash snorted and sulked over her denied chance.

"That's why I'm here, Horak'Din," Hellbridge replied and placed his hand on the shaman's shoulder.

"You want me to betray my loyalty to the blood god, and fight side by side with you and these creatures, against my own people!?" the shaman yelled. "Has all the fighting dulled your senses, Hellbridge?"

"It's the only way to end the fighting forever! I know it's what you've been wanting for some time."

Horak'Din shifted his eyes away from Hellbridge and sighed loudly. "Aye, it's true. After seeing thousands of my kin pointlessly dying in the name of a corrupted god, I can't help but wish for a different destiny...For when I look far into our future, I only see our imminent death. It matters very little whether it's by the hands of a more superior race, or by our own hands after wiping the universe clean of anything alive."

"That destiny won't come by itself," Hellbridge said with compassion.

"But of all the allies you could have chosen Hellbridge...Why these peaceful, innocent beings? What is it that you see in them that I do not?"

"Courage and determination," Hellbridge replied firmly. "Fluttershy! Could you join us, please?" Hellbridge called out.

Fluttershy stared at him and then at her own friends with a confused look. After getting a firm nod and a little push from Twilight, she slowly walked closer to the two kholanari tribesmen.

"Umm...h-hello?" Fluttershy addressed the two men in a shaky voice while hiding behind her mane and constantly shifting her sights between them and something else.

"Believe it or not, this was the only creature that was ever brave enough to stand up to me." Hellbridge presented the cute-looking, little pony to the shaman.

Horak'Din squatted down and stared into Fluttershy's eyes with a frighteningly serious glare.

"U-uhh...I..." Fluttershy trembled in fear and backed a few steps away from the shaman.

"Hmm..." The shaman rubbed his teeth together. "I see..." he quietly said while standing up. "Run along now, pony." After seeing the frightened, little being flutter back to her friends, Horak'Din addressed Hellbridge. "I believe there is more to it that just that...isn't there, Hellbridge?"

The redeemer raised his eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I know you well, Inhio, I've known you since before we devoted our lives to serving Nor'Kholan, and I know who you were before that."

"What are you trying to say?" Hellbridge asked, unable to pick up on the shaman's notion.

The shaman shook his head slowly. "Hellbridge...I know who she reminds you of."

The redeemer's eyes suddenly shot open from shock.

"Nor'Kholan's curse took away the love of your life, you had more reason to hate him than any other kholanari...It was because of that incident that the rumors about you being this redeemer even began."

"Do you plan to scold me for being unable to leave my past behind?" Hellbridge asked in a rather reproachful tone.

"Nay," the shaman quickly replied. "I just want to know if I am going into a fight to save my people from the blood god's curse, or will I simply end up blindly following a lover's whim?" Horak'Din stared at Hellbridge with a very solemn expression as he awaited the answer on which their future cooperation depended on.

Hellbridge took a quick glance at Fluttershy and then hung his head...There was no denying it, the painful memory of losing the woman he once loved was still eating away at him...but deep down inside, he already knew the truth, and so did the shaman. All Hellbridge had to do was remind him of it.

"You know I can never love anyone ever again," Hellbridge replied in the same kind of manner as the one asking the question. "Everything that once made me human died on the day I picked up a blade in the name of Nor'Kholan!" He gripped his fists in anger for a short moment, but he quickly calmed himself and said in a soft but serious voice, "And nothing I do could ever bring it back...All that I want is for others to be able to live the kind of life that I was deprived of."

"A noble cause, indeed," the shaman agreed with his beliefs. "Nor'Kholan will rue the day he decided to make you his champion, Hellbridge...That was the biggest mistake he's ever made," Horak'Din spoke in a voice ready for battle.

"Then let us waste no more time, brother!" Hellbridge made his way to the exit of the arena. "We have prisoners that need to be rescued and a sun that needs to be raised!" As he walked in front of the pack, he quietly whispered to himself, "And brothers that need to be slaughtered..."

                                                                                                     ***

Canterlot was a big city, so it took them a good while to rescue all of the prisoners that the kholanari had captured. After a good two hours, they finally reached the throne room in Canterlot castle, where the princesses of the sun and moon were being held captive in a special magical prison, designed just for them.

Horak'Din approached them and started waving his staff around, making the bubble surrounding the princesses slowly fade away. Celestia and Luna slowly descended to the ground and started regaining their consciousness.

"Uugghh..." Luna moaned while rubbing her head.

"What has transpired here?" Celestia asked before taking a look around herself. When she opened her eyes, fear ran through every bone in her body as the first two souls that she saw were the vicious shaman that had imprisoned them, and the most feared warrior among the entire tribe of kholanari.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight exclaimed as she appeared between the two kholanari tribesmen.

"Twilight?..." Celestia asked in a state of stupor. She hugged her beloved student as she rushed closer to her. "How is this possible?" she asked after disengaging from the hug.

Twilight stepped aside and introduced the two gentlemen. "If I may, I would like to present to you, shaman Horak'Din, of the Red Veil Clan."

The shaman just barely bowed his head. "I believe we've already met."

"And the man next to him is none other than Sir Hellbridge! The redeemer himself!" Twilight seemed to be enjoying herself.

"Hellbridge...The redeemer...both the same person?" Celestia whispered in disbelief.

Hellbridge bowed to the princess. "At your service."

"Surely, this cannot be true," Luna interjected.

"I know this is a lot to take in at the moment, but Hellbridge helped us all escape, after which he led us all to Canterlot, where he secured the aid of the only shaman who was willing to help us."

Celestia struggled as she tried to get up. Twilight let her lean on her.

"I have heard a lot about you, Sir Hellbridge..." Celestia walked closer to the man. "But none of what I've heard would lead me to believe that you would be willing to side with us over your own tribesmen." Celestia paused for a moment and looked into the man's eyes. "Why would you ever want to help us?"

"It's not just you that I want to help," Hellbridge answered. He didn't seem to like Celestia's tone too much. "I want to help save the lives of every race that the kholanari would make extinct if not stopped in time."

"And you would choose creatures you don't even know over your own people?"

"They are no longer my people!" Hellbridge retorted. "My people died out ages ago. The kholanari are nothing but soulless puppets under the control of a corrupted god! They kill without even knowing who it is that they're killing!"

"Forgive me..." Celestia took a step backwards. "I didn't mean to question your motives. I was just-"

"There's no need to apologize, you majesty," Hellbridge interrupted her. "But as much as it might pain you, you're going to have to throw your differences aside, if we are to succeed in this ordeal." Hellbridge stepped aside and let the other five bearers of the elements of harmony step closer. As all six of the ponies stared at Celestia with such conviction in their eyes, it was impossible to stand against it.

With a dead serious expression and a confident tone, Celestia asked, "What's our situation?"

"There are three more clans out there that are full of Equestrian prisoners," Hellbridge explained. "We need to get to the Iceblood Clan before the end of the next day, which is when their final round in the tournament will be held."

Both princess Celestia and Luna nodded in approval.

"What's our role in all of this?"

"What it always has been," Hellbridge replied, confusing both princesses. "We need you to lower the moon and raise the sun," he clarified.

Without faltering, both princesses looked upon one another and nodded before walking over to a large window and gazing at the sky, where the sun and moon were floating alongside one another. As they began the process to bring back balance to the sky, only a dim, flickering light appeared around their horns.

"It's of no use!" Luna regrettably admitted.

"The magic of the shamans has left us weakened, and I feel an interference whenever I try to move the sun. Something's blocking my magic."

"As expected," Horak'Din quietly added, drawing everyone's attention towards him. "Unlike the other magical chains that we shamans used to enslave all of the ponies, the spell which we used on your supreme rulers required the combined power of all five of our shamans...As long as the other three are still out there, you will experience difficulties while trying to use your magic."

"Then we must put an end to this!" Luna exclaimed.

Hellbridge nodded. "We will set out for the Crystal Empire, early on the next morning."

"We would accompany you, but I fear we will not be of much use to you without our magic," Celestia sad with a touch of regret in her tone.

"In that case, the two of you should remain here and bring balance back to the skies as soon as you feel you are ready," Hellbridge instructed. Both princesses nodded in approval. "As for everyone else not under Nor'Kholan's curse, get some rest...That's an order!"

The king in the north

Unlike the other clans, the Iceblood Clan held it's tournament outside of the city, within the cold, snowy fields of the north. As the last thirty warriors readied themselves for battle, so did Hellbridge. Just like last time, he had successfully managed to infiltrate their lines and disguise himself as one of them. He wasn't as used to the cold as the warriors of the Iceblood Clan, but thanks to a very convenient spell, he could easily suffer it...Courtesies of princess Twilight Sparkle.

The warriors looked at their shaman as if expecting some sort of speech from him. Many of them already had their hands gripped tightly around their weapon, like a bomb ready to go off at the sound of the bell.

Their shaman, however, just peacefully leaned on his staff while gazing at them without saying a word for quite some time. "Are you all waiting for an invitation or something? Get on with it already!" he shouted and swung his staff at the arena bell.

Just like it happened at the Red Veil Clan, at the very instant that the bell was heard, streams of blood started flying in every direction. The kholanari fell like flies. Five warriors didn't even manage to draw their weapons in time before being sent on their final journey.

Before long, the white snow under their feet turned into a massive, crimson puddle that stretched across half the arena. The shaman was amused. He only quietly laughed at the sight. He paid no heed to the fact that one of the warriors didn't quite fit in. Just mere minutes later, his laughing ended with a disappointed frown.

"What, that's it!?" he shouted at the only warrior still left alive. "The fighting went on for longer than it had to, and it still ended too quickly!" he kept shouting out his displeasure as Hellbridge slowly walked closer to him. "I don't know whether to congratulate you for you skill in combat and call you the king in the north, or break your neck for disobeying the laws of our arena, but either way, you have my respect...you know how to fight, at least," he congratulated the man with little amusement in his tone.

"I'm afraid the fighting isn't over just yet, Lakh'Toran," Hellbridge shouted, confusing the shaman.

"Huh?" Lakh'Toran turned around.

"Surprise!"

The dull edge of Horak'Din's staff was the last thing that the shaman of the Iceblood Clan ever saw.

                                                                                                  ***

As six depressed mares sat on the cold floor within their cell, they could only wait in despair, for the kholanari warriors to arrive and take them away. They already began hearing steps coming from the arena entrance side of the corridor, but much to their surprise, it didn't sound like it was humans making them.

"What is the meaning of this!?" the guard near their cell block shouted and pointed his spear at something. "Aah!" he screamed as a bolt of purple light disarmed him, right after which, the largest kholanari warrior they had ever seen just jumped forward and decapitated him with a swift blow. Some of his blood even got splattered across princess Cadence's face.

"Twilight?" Cadence stared in awe as her beloved sister-in-law just ran past the warrior with his consent.

"Cadence!" Twilight rushed over to hug her former foal-sitter. As they reveled in their reunion, the rest of the group joined them and gathered around.

After disengaging from the hug, Cadence looked at the strange company that Twilight was with. "I'm just going to assume that you haven't got much time to explain..."

Twilight giggled. "I think we can spare a minute or two." She hugged her tightly again. "I'm so glad you're all right."

"It's good to see you again, Twilight." Cadence disengaged from the second hug and smiled warmly at Twilight. "Are we ever going to have a meetup without something completely bizarre going on?"

Both of them let out a heartfelt laugh.

                                                                                                          ***

As the peculiar party made their way to the next dungeon, Twilight took the time to explain everything to Cadence along the way.

"Who would have ever thought that among every kholanari warrior out there, the one purest of heart would also be the most savage killer the kholanari have ever seen..."

"Don't judge a book by it's cover," Hellbridge added.

"I'm not," Cadence quickly replied. "I'm judging it by all the lives it has taken."

"Touche..."

Before long, they reached their last destination - a massive prison holding all of the Crystal Empire's male pony prisoners. As the prisoners heard steps coming their way, one of them stood up.

"Twiley!" Shining armor shouted out after recognizing his little sister. His excitement suddenly turned into a fit of rage as he saw the massive warrior following her. "You leave her alone!" he yelled while gripping the bars of his prison. "Or else, I swear I'll-"

"Shining Armor!" Twilight blasted the lock off of the prison door and rushed over to hug her older brother. "Don't worry, he's friendly," Twilight said while hinting at Hellbridge.

"He sure doesn't look too friendly to me..." Shining Armor stared at Hellbridge with a rather uneasy look.

"That's what makes him such a good ally!" Twilight noted. "If it weren't for him, we wouldn't be here right now."

"We?" Shining Armor looked behind the two kholanari tribesmen and saw the rest of the company. "Cadence!" he suddenly exclaimed.

Cadence immediately ran over to join in on the hug.

After taking a moment to celebrate the occasion, Shining Armor turned his head upwards to face the warrior. "I suppose I got you to thank for ensuring their safety, mister..."

"Hellbridge," the man introduced himself.

"Hellbridge!?"

Twilight and Cadence couldn't help but giggle at Shining Armor's priceless expression.

"Believe me, I had trouble believing it as well," Cadence added.

"We all did," Twilight also added.

Still a bit dazed from the sudden discovery, Shining armor just sighed with relief and admitted, "I'm just glad you're all right."

"Say..." Twilight said after the three ponies disengaged from the hug. "Shouldn't your magic be back by now?"

Shining Armor and Cadence both tried to cast something but couldn't.

"Doesn't seem like it." Shining Armor shook his head.

Twilight looked at Hellbridge for answers. He only shrugged and looked at the shaman who happened to be carrying two staffs. All of a sudden, all eyes were on him.

"Oh...right." The shaman lifted up one of the staffs in his right hand and readied it for a strike against the ground, but as he brought it downwards, he suddenly stopped. "Wait a moment..." He lifted the staff closer to his face. "He he he," he laughed sheepishly. "Wrong staff."

Twilight rolled her eyes.

The shaman reacted immediately and struck the other staff against the ground. Just as he did that, Shining Armor and princess Cadence gasped.

"Aaah..." Shining Armor sighed with relief. "Much, much better."

"As much as I hate to ruin the moment, we need to get going," Hellbridge interrupted and walked past everyone.

"He's right," Twilight sadly admitted. "We have to go with him. Equestria isn't free just yet."

"I wish we could go with you, but the Crystal Empire needs us now, more than ever." Cadence hugged Twilight one last time.

"I understand." After the hug ended, Twilight followed her friends and the two kholanari.

"Be careful out there, Twilight," Shining Armor told her and waved goodbye.

After she waved back at them, Twilight rushed forward and soon caught up with Hellbridge, who was in the front of the pack.

"Where to next?" she asked

"To the Sand Wraith Clan, in a place called the San Palomino desert," he explained.

"San Palomino?" Applejack interjected. "That's close to Appleloosa!" she exclaimed with anxiety in her tone. "They might have taken Braeburn and others prisoner!" the farm pony ran closer to her friend and placed booth hooves on her shoulders. "Twilight, we've got to get there! Now!" she started shaking her.

"Waa-aa-aah!" She brushed Applejack's hooves off of her. "Easy, Applejack. We've gotten this far through Hellbridge's plans. We can't start panicking now," she calmed her friend.

"I guess you're right..." she admitted, but she still wouldn't raise her head up. "I'm just so gosh darn nervous..."

"We'll be there before the last round of the tournament," Twilight promised.

"Right, Hellbridge?"

"You tell me," he replied. "You're the one that knows where this San Palomino desert is."

"Oh...right." Twilight rubbed the back of her head. "Hmm..." She began rubbing her chin and pondering on something. "I don't know if we'll have enough time to stay here and rest this night. San Palomino is on the other side of Equestria!"

"Then lets not waste another minute," Hellbridge replied and picked up the pace.

The red desert

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.

Army of darkness

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.

Wrath of the gods

Even though their bodies were tired from having barely any rest over the last two days, their minds couldn't allow them to rest while Equestria was still in peril. As long as the corrupted shaman, Zel'Kiron still lived, Equestria would not know peace.

They were nearing the settlement, the final battle was approaching.

"Come on, we're almost there!" Hellbridge tried to motivate everyone. "Just a few more-"

"Inhio Hellbridge!" An indescribably loud shout emerged from the Crimson River Clan settlement. It seemed loud enough to be heard throughout all of Equestria.

The seven heroes stopped dead in their track after hearing the screaming. As they gazed upwards, they saw something flying over the walls of the settlement in a straight course towards them. The object was not large. As it came closer, it became clear just what it was. It was Zel'Kiron himself.

As he made contact with the ground, he smashed his staff against the earth, emitting a massive shock wave that sent all of the ponies flying away, leaving only Hellbridge and himself trapped inside a magical barrier.

"Hellbridge!" The man's allies shouted as they gathered around the outside of the barrier.

Hellbridge stared at the possessed shaman, and in his eyes he saw the burning hatred of a hundred thousand tortured souls as they screamed for release.

"It's time you finally answered for your betrayal, fallen kholanari!" the shaman spoke in a demonic voice. "It's time to see if you live up to the legends that surround you." He turned his staff into a whip of pure, red energy and started walking closer to Hellbridge.

"Taking the word puppeteer up to a whole new level, eh Nor'Kholan?" Hellbridge mocked the possessed shaman, who ignored his threats and readied his weapon for an attack. "You never should have left your cozy, little spectator seat."

"Grrrraaagh!" As a response to his mockery, Nor'Kholan roared and slashed his whip at Hellbridge.

Hellbridge rolled out of its way. "You took away the lives my people could have had, and yet you still dare accuse me of betrayal!?" He jumped aside to dodge another attack. "How many souls did we send you? How many more lives did you want us to take before you were finally satisfied!?" he yelled and dodged another attack.

"They were all weak!" he shouted in fury and attacked again, failing to hit Hellbridge another time. "The kholanari were the only race worthy of living in this universe!"

"Living!?" Hellbridge retorted. "We would continue to kill everything in our path, only to ultimately kill ourselves after there was nothing else left to kill?...Is that your idea of living!?"

"You will be silent!" he roared and focused all his might in another attack. As he missed, he didn't manage to pull his weapon back in time. Hellbridge seized the moment and sliced off the longer part of his whip. "Grrrrr!" The living puppet gritted his teeth and turned his broken whip into a massive, two-handed blade. "Enough attacking from a distance! It's time I taught you proper respect!" he screamed out and charged towards Hellbridge.

As soon as Nor'Kholan reached Hellbridge, he brought his sword down. Holding both blades crossed over his head, Hellbridge parried the blow and kicked the shaman in his gut, forcing him back a few steps. "And I will teach you what's it like to feel mortal!"

Infuriated by the pain he felt through the mortal body, Nor'Kholan swung his blade across the air. Hellbridge ducked to dodge the attack and jumped forwards to deliver a swift right hook to his opponent's face.

The ponies outside the barrier could only lean against the magical wall and hope that Hellbridge knows what he's doing. He seemed to be getting the upper hand in the fighting, but it also seemed like he was a bit overconfident.

"Had enough yet?" Hellbridge asked after delivering another punch.

"Never!" Nor'Kholan shouted and missed another swing. After  taking no less than half a dozen punches, he roared and switched his weapon again. This time it was the same kind of weapon that Hellbridge used. "Lets see how you like the taste of your own medicine!" He swung both blades forward. They were immediately intercepted by his opponents blades.

"Don't fight fire with fire if you can't control it," Hellbridge replied and kept parrying one attack after another.

Dodging became harder as the shaman's attacks became more frequent. Delivering punches also became a task too difficult to perform under such circumstances, so Hellbridge had to resort to parrying only.

The fighting went on for quite a while, as neither combatant seemed to be getting tired. It did seem like Hellbridge was using his swords more efficiently, but when their weapons collided and forced them into a power struggle, the wrath of Nor'Kholan proved superior over Hellbridge's will. Nor'Kholan knocked Hellbridge's swords right out of his hands and instantly plunged both blades into his chest.

"Nooooo!" The ponies outside the barrier cried out and started banging their hooves against it, but their efforts were in vain. They could only stare at the sight with their eyes full of tears.

It would seem that all their hopes were about to die along with their hero. Among the six ponies, Fluttershy was the one that was most devastated by the sight. She fell on her knees and covered her mouth as her eyes teared up so badly she could barely see.

"Any last words, Hellbridge?" the victorious shaman asked with an overconfident smirk on his face.

"Just three..." Hellbridge whispered and raised his head up. "Go to hell," he said with a grin no less cocky and shoved a dagger up the shaman's jaw.

"Raaaaaaaaaaghhhh!" the possessed body released his grip on the swords and screamed with demonic fury as red flames engulfed him and began to melt his flesh.

"I will see you burn for this, Hellbridge! You and every, single, pathetic creature that dared to aid you! Mark my words! I will damn your soul for all of eternity! You will never know peace! You will never know freedom!"

The flames only got larger, and the screaming only got louder. Energies of black and crimson colors started coursing through the shaman's body. Thunder-like sounds were heard without end until the sight finally dispersed into thin air.

The battle had been won, the barrier was shattered and the air felt breathable, once more, but the cost of victory was grave.

"Hellbridge!" The six ponies shouted out and rushed over to the barely conscious kholanari warrior.

"Hellbridge..." Twilight whispered as she lied down next to him. Her friends also approached him and sat down. They all stared at him in sorrow.

Hellbridge coughed in pain. "Why are you sad?" he asked in a tranquil voice. "Equestria and its residents are finally free, as are the souls of the kholanari."

"I only wish you could stay and enjoy the freedom you've fought so hard to obtain..." Twilight whispered and wiped a tear off her cheek.

"He he he..." Hellbridge laughed quietly. "Spilling blood and killing things was the only life style I've known over the last century. Equestria could never house a monster like me...Besides, I've already outlived any other kholanari warrior." He smiled at the skies.

Fluttershy couldn't take it anymore. She burst into tears and threw her hooves around the man's back. "Please don't go..." she cried out softly. "Please...You can't just leave!"

Hellbridge didn't reply right away, he only caressed her mane as he let her cry her heart out. When she finally lifted her head and gazed into his eyes with more tears lining up at the bottom of her own eyes, Hellbridge whispered, "Without you, I never would have known what true freedom feels like..." As his eyes closed and his hand dropped from Fluttershy's mane, he manage to whisper just two more words.

"Thank you..."

Even though his last words did comfort her, there wasn't anything that could have relieved her of the pain she felt inside at that moment. Right as Hellbridge drew his final breath, Fluttershy dropped her head on his chest and continued to cry her heart out.

"Rest in peace, Inhio..." Twilight whispered. "Rest free."

Epilogue

Weeks had passed after the day that Equestria regained its freedom. The settlements of the kholanari were torn down and peace had once again been reestablished. Miraculously enough, while dozens of gallons of blood were spilled over the land of Equestria during the kholanari invasion, not a single pony had fallen victim to their cruel ways...and it was all thanks to one man.

The monument built in Hellbridge's honor had just been finished, and princess Celestia was about to hold a speech for the ponies that had gathered around it.

"Citizens of Equestria!" she addressed her subjects. "Just weeks ago, your freedom, as well as your very lives were at the brink of extinction. Many of you dared to stand up to the threat, because you were brave, but it was the one who dared to stand up to his own people that we owe our freedom to. For among the ranks of the vicious invaders, there was a man that everyone called Hellbridge. He was someone who was widely known and feared because he had killed more than any other man in their entire tribe!"

"While it may be true, many innocent souls have been taken by his hands, but at the same time, only the heavens alone know how many souls he ended up saving through his selfless actions! For if the kholanari were not stopped here, they would have continued to run rampart across the entire universe, consuming everything in their way. And so, we have gathered here today to honor his name, and to forever remember the lesson that he taught us all."

Celestia quoted the words written on the statue.

"When it is your very freedom that is at stake...there is no price that is too high to pay."

After the speech was done and the crowd had dispersed, only a small pack of six ponies remained near the statue. They stared at it for some time as the sorrow in their eyes stayed with them for the duration.

"You told us those words before, but we didn't even get a chance to return the favor," Twilight whispered. "Wherever you are, Hellbridge, if you can hear us..."

All six of the ponies placed their hooves on the statue and said in unison:

"Thank you...for everything."