Moonlit Eternity

Chapter 14

The outside of the city of Lost Child Canyon was just as barren and desolate as the town itself, save for the inclusion of less deserted and decaying buildings. Night had descended upon this region of Griffon Territory and the darkness empowered Steel Anvil. His strength returned to him in full as the time in which most vampires remained active gained precedence over day. Luna's moon illuminated the plane of dirt and dead grass just enough for a normal pony to be able to see moderately well. Steel's eyes, however, changed in darkness, and reflected the light of the moon in brilliant, red iridescence. He could see extraordinarily well, his eyesight posessing predatory power in the dark. He sighed as he waited for his enemy to arrive, and assuming he kept his promise to be fair about it, start the fight with both of them prepared. Steel heavily doubted that the pegasus vampire would keep to his word, so he stood at the ready, senses as finely tuned as they ever were, every movement of anything in the outskirts of the town, whether it be a living thing or a pebble, registered in his sensory understanding. If Brick Smasher attempted to approach from any direction, he would know.

Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Twilight Sparkle, struggled to move in the dark without making noise. They all understood that all of Steel's senses were amplified at night, hearing included, to enhance his ability to stalk prey, if he so chose. As soon as Rainbow rounded the corner of a large boulder, she layed eyes upon her coltfriend. She stopped her friends where they were and motioned for them to hide behind this boulder. They seemed to be a decent length away from him. She prayed that he didn't sense them, as she didn't want anything distracting him from his confrontation. She couldn't afford to risk his life. If he lost the battle, his friends stood ready to come to his aid. Rainbow, as well as everypony else, would rather have him alive (as alive as a vampire really was) as a vampire than completely dead. Rarity slowly stepped forward, coming down on a twig with her hoof. The snapping of the tiny limb was incredibly quiet and muted, but the girls all cringed as it most likely registered to Steel's hearing. Meanwhile, down in the clearing, Steel Anvil's ears perked up as he turned around to the large boulder quickly to see what the noise was.

"So you didn't puss out, huh?" Brick Smasher said, sitting in a tree behind Steel. He turned back to see the pegasus, lounging on the branch, looking him up and down, his irises also glowing a brilliant red.

"I'm suprised you didn't try to take me out with a cheap shot." Steel countered. "You seem to be the type to do that."

"Worked on your family didn't it?" Brick Smasher replied with a small laugh. Steel didn't react to the comment, but it burned him up inside as it reverberated inside his brain. His stomach boiled as he was filled with anger. He sighed, however and clicked his tongue.

"Ever thought of getting some new material? That's getting old." Steel said, smirking.

"Being undead sure had hardened your heart, hasn't it?" Brick Smasher said as he flew down and landed in front of Steel, looking him in the eyes.

"You have to be cold hearted to kill those who don't deserve to be killed." Steel responded.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Brick Smasher said, looking up at the moon. "You would think that Princess Luna knew this would be happening tonight, so she gave us this bright, beautiful moon to look at as we die."

"I'm not dying tonight, monster." Steel responded. "Tonight, I'm giving a cold-hearted murderer what he deserves, and taking back what was mine."

"And what exactly are you taking back?"

"I'll tell you before I kill you." Steel said confidently.

"You sure are sure of yourself, aren't you?" Brick Smasher retorted. "I've been a vampire for some odd three hundred years. You've only been one of one hundred and seventy two. I'm a lot more in tune with my powers than you are."

"We'll have to find out then, won't we?" Steel said as they looked into each other's eyes. Neither vampire moved, awaiting the other to make the first move and initiate the battle they both knew would result in one of them dead. Brick Smasher's face contorted minutely into a small smirk before he quickly and suddenly punched Steel, sending him flying back into a tree. Pain wracked his body as he quickly recovered from the impact, ready for a follow up attack from his enemy. Surely enough, Brick Smasher leapt at Steel Anvil, ready to inflict more pain. Steel quickly moved out of the way as Brick Smasher collided with the tree, splintering the bark. Steel then picked up the pegasus around his midsection and slammed him on the ground. He then immediately began delivering blows to Brick Smasher's face, getting three out before Brick Smasher kicked him away, causing him to land on his back. He immediately got up and witnessed Brick Smasher fly into the sky with breakneck speed. The pegasus vanished from Steel, even with his powers of vision in darkness. He breathed heavily as he looked around for Brick Smasher, seeing nothing. He looked up at the dark ether of the night sky, recalling that Brick Smasher did fly up. He was interrupted by a punch to his face, empowered by Brick Smasher's natural speed. Steel stumbled, dazed from the heavy impact. His hazy vision quickly rectified itself before he saw Brick Smasher's two back hooves flying toward his face. They connected with devastating force, rocking his skull with the impact. His mandible struggled not to break from his skull as he hit the ground ten feet from the impact. Steel's brain felt like liquid as he stood shakily to face Brick Smasher. His opponent was extremely powerful, this was sure. He saw Brick Smasher hunch over and begin to contort, his muscles bulging heavily under his skin. His teeth grew to fangs. Steel knew what this was as Brick Smasher roared at him, his wings flaring, expanding in size and power. Brick Smasher had learned to control his transformation. He was more in tune with his powers. Brick Smasher flew at Steel, both hooves raised, prepared to cause irreversable damage to Steel Anvil in any way, shape or form. He spread his two front legs as he reached Steel and brought them together to crush Steel's head. Steel barely managed to get his front legs up in time to block the blow. His strength began to rapidly fade, however, as Brick Smasher, in his transformed state, grossly outperformed Steel's current form in every way. Brick Smasher's forelegs pinned Steel's against either side of his head. Steel struggled to minimize the pressure Brick Smasher was applying to his skull. He was failing miserably. As Brick Smasher put more and more pressure on Steel's skull, the pain increased. He groaned loudly in pain as his eyes opened to reveal pure blood red.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Brick Smasher said in a rumbly demonic voice. "Give me everything you got!" Steel Anvil's muscles contorted and morphed to accomidate his rapidly changing physique. His forelegs quaked and trembled, empowered by the intense strength flowing through them. He let out a bestial roar as he began to push Brick Smasher's forelegs away from his head, revealing his long, razor sharp fangs. Brick Smasher's face took on an expression of suprise as Steel began to get up. It was a standstill, a test of pure strength. Steel finally stood to his full height, able to employ all of his power. He was larger than Brick Smasher, but not by much. Brick Smasher, grunted as his strength began to fail under Steel's sheer power. Steel bared his teeth savagely as he began to push Brick Smasher back. Brick Smasher began to strain heavily as Steel forced him down to his knees, overpowering him. The pegasus would lose this contest soon, he knew it and Steel knew it, so he threw Steel's forelegs to his side, sending Steel falling forward and cheaply socked him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Brick Smasher then grabbed Steel and flew into the air, ascending to great heights incredibly quickly. Steel's mind raced a mile a minute, frantically trying to decide on his next move on his opponent as they ascended further into the dark ether. He then realized that his opponent was taking him into the sky and was most likely planning on dropping him from an impossible-to-survive height. Steel decided against becoming a crimson stain on the dirt ground and punched Brick Smasher in the jaw, making him loose control and fall for a while. Steel followed up with a heavy left hook and a right jab, both hits connecting, jarring Brick Smasher to where he couldn't fly any more. They began to truly fall as Steel moved around onto Brick Smasher's back and punched him in the back of the head. Brick Smasher groaned and attempted to swipe back at Steel, who was clinging to his back, and succeeded in scoring a hit to the side of Steel's head, making him let go with one foreleg, sending them both into a spiral. Steel knew that if he died from this height, so would Brick Smasher, so his enemy would probably make the fall non-lethal, but even so, it wouldn't hurt to minimize Brick Smasher's ability to fly in general.

"Time to clip your wings." Steel said to his nemesis and grabbed one of Brick Smasher's wings.

"No, don- AAAHHHHH!!!!" He screamed as he was interrupted by Steel bending one of his wings completely backward at the middle joint, breaking it and crippling it. The pain was blinding, but it heightened Brick Smasher's senses. He turned around in the air and threw a powerful punch across Steel's face, stunning him momentarily. Brick Smasher wasted no time, as they were nearing the ground. He grabbed Steel and threw him beneath him before, slamming his back two hooves down on Steel's back, sending him plummeting down to the ground. The impact tremor was felt by Rainbow and the girls, hiding behind the boulder.

"Was that Steel?" Twilight whispered.

"I don't know." Rainbow responded, her heart feeling as if it would break from her chest.

"Ah think it's Steel!" Applejack whispered to the cyan mare.

"No! It can't be him." Rainbow whispered back, nearly frantically. She was certain she saw wings on the falling figure...or was she? She couldn't remember amidst the chaos and brutality of the situation. She wanted to know that Steel would be alright. She wanted to know that he'd be victorious in his battle and come back to her with that sweet little smirk on his face. She wanted to know that it was finally over.

"It's Steel..." Rainbow heard Rarity say grimly. "He's struggling to get up." Rainbow prepared to go to her love's aid. If she could save him...it'd be worth him staying a vampire.

'Maybe I can be a vampire too.' Rainbow thought. 'Doesn't sound so bad.' Meanwhile, Brick Smasher had clumsily managed to spiral to the ground with his one good wing, his other horribly maimed, swelling and bruised. He landed unceremoniously on his chin as he quickly managed to get to his feet.

"Son of a bitch!" Brick Smasher screamed at Steel, who still tried to get up onto all four hooves. "I'll be lucky if I ever fly again, you little prick!" Steel looked up and smirked as he clutched his side, silently gasping for air. He was certain a few of his ribs were fractured. The corner of his mouth leaked blood.

"Good." Was all he could manage to say. This small comment, however insignificant, infuriated Brick Smasher. He ran at Steel at breakneck speed roaring with anger. He brought a hoof back and threw it at Steel clumsily, expecting him to take the hit, seeing as how he was so badly injured from the fall. What he didn't expect was for Steel to block the punch, pull him in and deliver a heavy three jab combo to his face. Brick Smasher blindly swiped at Steel, who ducked the hoof and punched his stomach. Brick Smasher doubled over and coughed as Steel brought his right hoof back and delivered a massive uppercut to his chin, sending him fifteen feet into the air and onto his back. Brick Smasher screamed from the pain of falling on his destroyed wing. Rainbow Dash breathed in deeply, filled with a new hope that Steel could win. He could definitely do it. Rainbow lost this hope however, as Steel doubled over and clutched his side and shouted in pain. He fell to his knees as Brick Smasher stood, not without more pain however, and began to approach him.

"I will admit," Brick Smasher started after a long sigh, wiping the blood from his mouth. "You can fight. You really can. You took advantage of my anger and used it against me. But, now that I am all calmed down," He looked at his broken wing. "Relatively, we can really get down to business." As Brick Smasher got close, Steel threw a haymaker, a mad attempt to knock Brick Smasher on his back again. Brick Smasher merely reared back and came back down with a quick series of punches to Steel's face. He alternated hooves at different hooves at different intervals of the sequence of strikes. Steel struggled intensely to fight back, trying to return a punch, but the more he moved and stumbled from his enemy's barrage, the worse the pain is his side got. Even so, Steel managed to get a couple hits in on Brick Smasher, among the plethora he was receiving. Brick Smasher was in control here. A straight punch sent Steel stumbling back with a grunt, his face battered and bloody, some of his fangs broken and his nose swelling up. He then received a haymaker from Brick Smasher, delivered from his enemy with all the strength he could muster. Steel was thrown against a boulder before receiving yet another haymaker, knocking him to the side away from the boulder. Steel stood up quickly, suprising even himself as Brick Smasher approached, confident in his assault. Steel threw a heavy punch, which Brick Smasher ducked under. This is what Steel expected however, as he brought an elbow down on the back of Brick Smasher's head, sending him face first into the ground. Then, with strength he didn't know he had left, he picked up Brick Smasher and slammed him on the ground on his back. Brick Smasher shouted in agony as Steel picked him up again. Steel, however, was in his own form of agony. Fiery, debilitating pain shooting through his ribs.

'Come on! Just one more!' Steel thought to himself as he raised Brick Smasher up to slam him on his back again. 'I can do this!' This thought proved to be a fallacy, however, as the pain outmatched his strength, causing him to drop Brick Smasher on himself, sending him down onto the ground. The impact was painful for both parties, but far less so for Brick Smasher. He groaned as he elbowed Steel in the side of the head before getting up off of him.

"Godesses, you are tough." Brick Smasher said in his distorted voice. "Haven't had a fight like this in ages." Steel put a hoof up to try to block the next hit Brick Smasher would undoubtedly attempt to deliver. "Pathetic." Brick Smasher mused gleefully as he grabbed the hoof. "Can't guarantee you'll enjoy this." He then punched Steel's elbow, snapping his foreleg backwards. Steel screamed in pain and shock as his limb became immediately useless. He gritted his teeth and groaned heavily.

"Oh, get up." Brick Smasher said to him, pulling him up onto his hooves by the broken limb. Steel screamed again before Brick Smasher brutally punched him in the side, right in his broken ribs, destroying them further. The pure pain of the strike destroyed what was left of Steel's crumbling resolve. His lungs lost all oxygen as he fell down immediately to the ground. He made no sound whatsoever as he writhed on the ground, coughing up copious amounts of blood, which even further took away from his oxygen supply. "You think I didn't know you were hurting there?" Brick Smasher said, smiling cruelly before laughing to himself. The pain was the worst Steel had ever felt. He silently gasped as he clutched his side. The pain, between his broken front leg and his shattered ribs blurred his vision as he drifted in and out of conciousness. His eyes began to fade back to their normal state as his muscles shrunk back to their normal proportions. His teeth became blunt once again as he lost all his power. Rainbow, behind the boulder, shed tears and sobbed, her breath catching as she cried in agony for her love. She had watched the whole fight, silently hoping for Steel to win, for him to overtake his enemy. He had not. He had fallen. She could not stand idly by and let him suffer further. She could not let him die.

"I can't do this anymore!" Rainbow nearly screamed as she shot from behind the boulder and flied toward Brick Smasher. Her friends ran out after her.

"I won't lie, though. This was very fun." He said as he prepared to deliver the final blow. His ears perked up as he said. "'Scuse me." He stood and ducked in time for a flash of cyan to miss him. He threw a hoof up into the air at the same time, catching Rainbow Dash in the stomach and stopping her immediately in her attempt to hit him. She coughed up blood as she fell limp on his hoof. He held her with one foreleg. Brick Smasher sighed as he looked down at Steel. "Seems like we've both been here before, doesn't it? Save for the fact that back then, I was less...broken." He threw Rainbow away as hard as he could. On instinct, her wings flared in an attempt to catch her. This was a mistake as she landed back on it. She heard a snap followed by intense pain in her wing. She screamed as she rolled over onto her belly, turning to face Brick Smasher. Her mouth leaked blood as her eyes narrowed at him. He chuckled as Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity ran and stood in front of her.

"Your not gettin' any closer to Rainbow!" Applejack yelled at him.

"You'll have to face us!" Twilight added.

"We will kill you, monster." Rarity said, horn glowing with a magical aura, preparing for combat. Brick Smasher laughed, the distorted, terrifying sound echoing in the mare's ears. A chill of fear went down Twilight's spine, but she stood firm to protect Rainbow Dash, nonetheless. After he finished with his guffawing, he turned to Steel. His eyes were still scrunched in pain as he continued gasping.

"Y'know, I'm gonna give you a quick break while I slaughter your friends here." Brick Smasher said, turning to the mares. "I'm going to tear the orange one's head off, because I like her hat. I'll tear the white one's spine out, and I'll split the purple one's belly open. But the most fun I'm gonna be having is with the blue one, Rainbow. Since she seems to care so much about you, I'll let you watch as I eat her alive." Steel's eyes shot open, blood red again. Brick Smasher continued to walk toward the mares. "Yessir. It's gonna be-" He was interrupted by Steel Anvil grabbing him from behind and pulling him onto his belly. Brick Smasher squealed in suprise and fury as Steel began to punch his broken wing. Harder and harder Steel struck it, smashing the bones even further. Brick Smasher let out a bestial squeal as he struggled, unlike his usual scream. He fought back, swinging his forelegs wildly, scoring a few small hits on Steel, but Steel held firm and continued his assault. Once the bones in his wing were gravel, he kicked Steel off and made a mad dash for Rainbow, Applejack, Twilight and Rarity. He was stopped short however, as Steel grabbed him by his back hooves and slung him over his head onto the ground away from the mares. He then began to slam both of his hooves into Brick Smasher's face with a brand new, intense strength, smashing his teeth and fracturing his skull. Steel brought his broken foreleg back and slammed it onto Brick Smasher's eye, compressing it into his socket and spewing blood forth. He continued to brutally smash Brick Smasher's skull for minutes on end before biting down on Brick Smasher's ear with his fangs and tearing it clean off, earning another scream from his enemy. He then picked up Brick Smasher over his head, ignoring the pain in his foreleg and slammed his spine down on his knee, earning a satisfying snapping noise. Brick Smasher merely gurgled his own blood. No longer able to scream. Steel then threw him as hard as he could into a boulder. The mares had all turned away from the scene, not able to take the brutality of it. It was a necessary evil, however, as they remembered that a terrible creature was being removed from the world. Brick Smasher struggled to crawl away from Steel, who limped toward him. The fight was over. Steel had emerged victorious. Brick Smasher turned to look at Steel, his face brutally mauled and beaten. He was no longer empowered by his beastlike form, and laid there, choking on his own blood, in his normal form.

"I guess I'm going to die now, huh?" The words were hard to discern, due to his face being so broken and disfigured. "I'm not going to beg you to spare me...because I know you won't." Steel picked him up by his head. He put a rear leg on Brick Smasher's pelvis and began to pull while pushing down with his leg. The vertebrae in Brick Smasher's neck began to slowly seperate, crackling loudly as a sign of this. Brick Smasher gurgled on blood as the flesh on his neck began to seperate. He screamed. Steel, now knowing he was still alive, leaned down next to Brick Smasher's remaining ear and whispered-

"You want to know what I'm taking back? I'm taking back my life. By drinking your blood, I'll be cured of this condition. This is for my family, you son of a bitch. For my father, my mother, my uncle..." He squeezed his head slightly before finishing. "And Ember Star." He then decapitated Brick Smasher with a final pull, ending his nemesis' worthless existence. Brick Smasher was no more. It was finally over. His blood did not shoot out of the newly created opening, rather, it seeped out like molasses. Steel shifted back to his normal form and, upon hearing a groan of agony from his love, he ran over to her. She was struggling to stand up after her ordeal.

"Rainbow!" He said as he limped over to her and embraced her, not without feeling a sharp jolt of pain in his side. "Are you alright?"

"Look at you..." She coughed before she sobbed and looked up at him, tears streaming down her face. "Your body is so destroyed, yet you still only care about others. I messed it all up. I interfered. You can't be cured now..." She looked down as she continued to cry.

"Rainbow," He said, bringing a hoof to her chin and gently moving her face up to his. "if you hadn't interfered, I would be dead. So would everypony else here. You saved us all." He looked back at the corpse lying behind him. "Plus, you didn't really turn the tide of the fight, so I think it's still worth a shot." She smiled. He turned and limped toward the body. He knelt down toward the body and took it in his good hoof, bringing the gaping opening in the neck to his mouth. He engaged his fangs and began to drink. The syrupy, disgusting tasting blood was far from pleasant. He employed his natural ability to drink large amounts of blood as a vampire as he began to swallow mouthful after mouthful of the repulsive liquid. The body began to drain physically as Steel pulled back to take a breath before he continued to swallow the blood. The mares, again, had to avert their eyes to the disturbing sight. The body was completely drained after about ten more minutes, shriveled and completely pale, devoid of color. Steel Anvil felt no different. Perhaps Discord was lying to him when he told him about the cure, one final game before going back into his prison. He then looked over to the side of the corpse. The head of Brick Smasher lay there, an expression of pain lacing it's features.

"No..." He said to himself as he limped over to the head. "Please, godesses, no..." He immediately began drinking from the head, sucking all the blood from it. From the head, the more blood he drank, the sicker and sicker he seemed to get from it. The taste seemed to be declining fast, quickly growing unbearable. After a short period of time, he drained the head. He dropped the head, immediately swaying, dizzy and dazed for some odd reason. Did the blood poison him? The pain he was currently enduring helped nothing as he fell onto his side and began to shiver violently.

"Steel!" He faintly heard Rainbow yell before his eyes fell closed.

'If I die right now...' He thought to himself. 'I'm going to be so pissed.' His head fell limp to the ground as his concisousness quickly faded.

_____

Steel Anvil's eyes fluttered open at the sound of beeping. He felt a large blanket covering his rear legs and midsection. A large brace was strapped around his chest and a cast constrained his front leg to an uncomfortable, angular position. For a moment, he struggled to breathe, the brace on his chest limiting the movements of his diaphragm to an extent. He became acclimated to it's presence, however as he finally settled into his bed. He realized, finally, that he was in a hospital room. He looked around the place, seeing small vases full of flowers and balloons sporting good willed, hearty messages like- "Get Well Soon!" or "Hang in there!". He looked over at the other bed in the room and was relieved to discover that his love, Rainbow Dash was lying in it peacefully, breathing lightly, a cast on her wing and bandages around her midsection. She didn't look bad at all, in stark contrast to Steel. He was covered in different bandages and bindings, obviously to help the healing of his various injuries and afflictions he suffered from that fateful encounter with Brick Smasher back in Griffon Territory. That was it. Was he still in Griffon Territory? He could not tell from the look of the hospital room, seeing as how he hadn't been to a hospital in one hundred and seventy two years. He saw Rainbow Dash stir in her bed as her eyes slowly drifted open.

"Your awake." She said, joy lacing her words, but exhaustion overtaking her tone. "You've been out since that night." She looked at him in the eye that was not covered by a bandaged and smiled warmly. He smiled back.

"Where are we?" Steel asked her, looking around. "We're not still in Griffon Territory, are we?"

"No, we're in Ponyville General. We were brought back here from a hospital in Griffon Territory." She said.

"Well, what'd you tell them happened to us?" Steel asked her. She snickered and smiled at him.

"Twilight told them we were jumped by a whole gang of rough griffons and that you fought them all off. She made you out to look like such a hero." She laughed, as did Steel. He tried to move around a bit, but winced when he discovered that the injury to his ribs was still sensitive.

"Yeah, I wouldn't do that." Rainbow said as she looked at the curtains on the window, drawn to close off the light. "Well, we survived. We made it out and came back to Ponyville." Steel nodded.

"That we did. That we did. So, what do we do while we sit in here all day?" Steel asked her. She shrugged.

"Just sit here and be bored and wait for visitors. I would have the newest Daring Do book here with me, but I've read them all up to this point." She mused, looking up at the spinning ceiling fan. Steel chuckled to himself.

"You really love those books, don't you?"

"Who couldn't?"

"To be honest, I've actually never been much of a reader, so the books, along with all others, don't really interest me." Rainbow looked at him as if he had just suggested crucifying Princess Celestia.

"You don't like Daring Do?" Rainbow asked, shocked.

"Well, that and all other books, really. I just don't really like reading." He said, trailing off, looking toward the ceiling.

"Well, everypony's entitled to their opinion." Rainbow said before looking back at him. "You okay?" She asked, concern lacing her tone.

"Relatively. As okay as a guy with various bruises, gashes, broken ribs and a broken foreleg could be." He said with a chuckle. Rainbow giggled as well. She looked at the clock and smiled to herself as she began to smooth her mane.

"The girls should be in to visit in a few-"

"Rainbow! We're here!" Pinkie Pie interrupted her in the middle of her sentence.

"Right on time." Rainbow said, sighing. In walked Pinkie Pie, bright-eyed and (literally) bushy-tailed, a large bandage round her midsection, immediately followed by Fluttershy, then Applejack, Twilight Sparkle and Rarity. They immediately walked past Steel and went to Rainbow. He frowned slightly at the fact that they didn't even notice him as they came in.

"Rainbow, it isn't Daring Do, but I managed to find you more adventure books in the library." Twilight said kindly before putting the books on the bedside table.

"Thanks, Twi." Rainbow said to her.

"And, I brought some super-extra-awesomely-amazing cupcakes for you and Steel when he wakes up!" Pinkie exclaimed happily. Steel smiled.

"I am awake." Steel rasped. They all turned and brightened up significantly at the sight of their friend actually conscious. Pinkie bounded over to him and went to give him a massive embrace. Steel flinched, expecting a dagger of pain in his side from the show of love, but felt Pinkie Pie give him an incredibly gentle hug, ever so slightly squeezing his shoulders. He smiled and hugged her back.

"How are you, dear?" Rarity said to him.

"Better than I was, I guess." He said with a small chuckle.

"We thought you were a goner." Applejack said. "When you went into those convulsions, we didn't know what we'd do." Steel frowned at this comment. He looked up at her.

"Convulsions, huh?" Steel said, putting his head down, dejected and defeated. "So I guess the cure didn't work after all..." Pinkie Pie leaned forward and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Uh, Steel?" She said. He opened his eyes and looked into hers. She motioned toward a small screen above his bed. It beeped constantly, as if it was in a rhythm. He looked at the cord and followed it down until it was attached to his arm. He felt a pressure where it was attached that coincided with the beeps the machine was making. Suddenly, it all clicked in his head. His mind went a mile a minute as he looked at the screen, then down at his arm. It was all clear to him now. He looked at Pinkie Pie as she smiled at him, tears in her eyes. "Told ya so." A joyful expression fell upon his face as he looked toward the window. Fluttershy opened the curtains, letting in bright morning sunlight. Instead of shrinking away from the light, or feeling pain, the light felt...warm. It was beautiful. He felt no weakness. His curse...the source of misery that plagued him for one-hundred and seventy-two long years was finally gone. He was free. He was alive again. Rainbow got out of bed and walked over to his. She put a hoof on his as she teared up as well. He smiled at her as tears flooded his eyes. Joy, Ecstacy and Love flooded his system as he was overcome with emotion. He pulled Rainbow into a kiss. They broke it before Steel said to all of them-

"My best friends...and my love...you've all been here for me for so long." He said to them, his voice catching. "We'll be here for each other until the end, right?" They all smiled at him warmly and lovingly.

"My life sure as hay wouldn't be as interestin' without you around." Applejack said, tearful and smiling.

"I'll never in my life regret becoming your friend..." Rarity choked out, nearly sobbing. "Oh, Goddesses, I need a tissue!" Fluttershy gave Rarity a tissue as she smiled warmly at Steel.

"We'll always be together." Fluttershy said sweetly. Twilight smiled at him as well.

"It's going to be an adventure from here on out, that much is certain." Twilight mused, wiping tears away. "But it'll be a fantastic one for sure!" Pinkie Pie sniffled as she put a hoof on his shoulder.

"I knew you could do it." She said to him. "I never lost faith in you." Rainbow Dash kissed him lovingly again, tears falling down her face as she stroked his mane and broke the kiss. Her beautiful rose eyes gazed into his free, rich, brown one. She smiled at him as she said-

"Welcome home, Steel Anvil."

Obligatory End-of-Chapter Author's Note: WHOO! My God, that was fun to write. That's the final chapter, guys! I made sure to give those of you (however few you may be) who have read the story all the way through a happy ending! Because I LOVE happy endings! There will, in all likelihood, be a short epilogue that kind of wraps the story up. Please leave a comment telling me what you thought of the story! Cheers!