Rainbow dash woke slowly, her vision blurred and her head pounding. It felt like she'd been run over by a train. Still, it wasn't like she had anything to do today, so she might as well just stay in bed with Steel… She snuggled slightly at the thought, seeking to rest in the huge dip in the cloud mattress created by his vast weight.

It wasn't there.

Okay, don't worry. He's probably attempting breakfast again, you know what he's like. He does a better job of it than me… Maybe he's making me some hay bacon?

She sniffed, and her nose was met with a clean, sterile smell.

Okay, it definitely isn't hay bacon. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, that smells a lot like… no.

Slowly she opened her eyes a crack, and was met by the pristine whiteness that could only be a hospital ward.

Fuck.

She opened her eyes fully, and tried to lift her head. The thumping intensified, and she dropped back to the pillow, wincing. There was a swift, whirring movement and she could feel a large prescense before her. She forced her eyes open, and was greeted by her robotic coltfriend, smiling hopefully at her.

"S-Steel?" She asked quietly.

"Thank the gods, you're awake…"

"Yeah… what the hay happened? I feel like I took a rainboom to the face…"

"We had a… intruder…"

"Intruder?"

"Yeah, one of them. Called himself Chromium. A unicorn."

"R-really? What happened…?"

"Some… drug, or something, I don't know. A hallucinogen or something. To keep you occupied."

"Damn… I take it you kicked his sorry flank for me?"

The massive pegasus looked sheepish, and scratched the back of his neck.

"Well… no. He got away…"

"Yeah… wait, he what? That's not like you…"

"He used magic! I can't teleport…"

He looked down, and Rainbow smiled slightly.

"Aww, c'mon, Steel, it's not the end of the world, is it?"

"I… I guess not. It's just, he made me so angry, he got you hurt… I want revenge, is all."

"I know, I know. My little warrior. I'm sure we'll both get to whip his flank from here to Stalliongrad soon enough. We'll show him what you get if you take on Steelhoof and Rainbow dash, won't we?"

He smiled.

"Damn right we will."

She looked at the big stallion standing before her for a few seconds, figuring something out. This was hardly the first time she'd woken up in the hospital since they'd met, and something was… different. But what?

"Say, Steel? Aren't you usually in here?" She said, patting the bed slightly with her hoof.

"She won't let me." Steelhoof said in a foalish manner. With an outstretched right hoof, he pointed to the window, and sitting on the windowsill was nurse Tenderheart, a pair of defibrillators in her forehooves. The curtains were closed, and there wasn't much light coming in, the lamp by the bedside serving as the only illumination in the room.

The sight of the seemingly indestructible metal stallion afraid of the much smaller earth pony was amusing to Rainbow, and she chuckled lightly. He looked at her indignantly.

"What?"

"Sorry, it's just you, scared of her… it's kinda adorable. No offence, Nurse." The pale mare nodded dismissively at her, barely paying attention. She turned her gaze back to Steelhoof, and shifted in bed slightly. As she did so, pain shot through her head and she winced, tensing up.

Steelhoof looked at her, concern showing in his eyes.

"Are you alright Rainbow?"

She looked at him with big eyes.

"My head hurts. Fix it for me please?"

He smiled softly and looked toward the nurse, who gave him a disparaging look, but nodded curtly.

He turned back to her, and giving her a warm smile, unclipped his wristblades and gently rubbed his hoof on her head, ruffling her soft mane slightly. She sighed gently in happiness, and she relaxed into the bed. He continued using both hooves, lovingly relieved the pain as best he could.

She purred slightly with happiness, and snuggled under the covers as he did so. He smiled at her fondly and nuzzled her forehead, smelling her sweet mane.

The stayed there for a few seconds, enjoying each other's company, before Steelhoof broke the silence.

"Rainbow?" He murmured.

"Yes Steel?"

"You've got a… slight change in housing for a while…"

"Wh-what?" She said, pulling back and staring at him. "Did something happen to our house?"

"No, nothing like that. There's a… really nice vault going in the Canterlot catacombs, and…" Steelhoof's voice died away, and he broke eye contact nervously.

Rainbow looked around furtively, making sure that Steelhoof, the nurse and herself were alone in the room. When she spoke, it was in a low voice.

"Is this about the… attack?"

The big pony nodded.

"Any news on when it's happening?"

"Two days." He said quietly.

Her eyes widened and she let go of him quickly.

"Two days? Are you sure?"

He nodded again. "Chromium let it slip."

At the mention of Steelhoof's latest foe, Rainbow became slightly sidetracked.

"What's he like, this… Chromium pony?"

Steelhoof growled in a way that would have been threatening at the least to any other pony. But Rainbow knew she was safe with him.

"He was a… sadistic bastard. Wanted to do all sorts of things… with you… And… he was such a little coward!" He stamped heavily on the floor. "Spent the whole time running away, the little filly. And he spent half of it cooking up a bunch of parlour tricks to piss me off. At least Tungsten had respect for tradition…" He trailed off again, looking away with a dark scowl on his face.

She pulled his face back toward her with her hoof, looking into his eyes.

"I think we might need to prepare…"

He nodded.

"You're right. I had other priorities…"

"Come on, Steel. Ponyville comes first."

"Yeah, sorry."

"C'mon, big guy. Stop looking so depressed. I'm okay now, so you go and get everything ready so we can kick their asses pony style!"

He smiled. "Alright then. Are you sure you'll be okay? I don't really want to leave you by yourself…"

"Hey, come on! I'm Rainbow dash, Steel. I'll be absolutely fine. Now you go be a hero."

"Well, because you asked me so nicely…" He smiled and bent down, gently kissing her on the lips.

She nuzzled him back, and smiled.

"Come on Steelhoof, you don't have 'till hearth's warming."

"Right, gotcha. See you, later, beautiful."

Rainbow blushed slightly as he trotted quickly out the white double doors, narrowly avoiding crashing into a doctor as he went. He turned left as she watched him, the loud clattering of his hooves on the floor tiles slowly fading away as he left the ward.

With difficulty, she turned her head and faced the white earth pony sat on the windowsill.

"So how come you don't like him?"

Nurse Tenderheart scowled slightly. "He's a hindrance to our services. He makes a mockery of our profession, and made me threaten to kill him just to make sure you got better. There are fewer ponies who have given less thought for safety in all of Equestria."

Rainbow frowned in return. "Hey, you know he only means well."

"That may be so, but that changes nothing about what he does in serious situations. You don't know what he's like, you're always unconscious."

"Whatever…" Rainbow said, closing her eyes and resting deeper into the bedsheets. "What time is it?"

"About… four in the morning."

She groaned loudly.

"Okay, I'm gonna try and have a nap. You can too, if you like. Steel's not coming back."

"Alright." She heard the sound of the defibrillator being set down, and the sound of the nurse returning to all four hooves. "Just ring the bell if you need anything."

Rainbow yawned loudly. "Sure thing…"

She listened to the sound of hooves leaving the room, and the door closing behind her.

She relaxed into the bed.

"No way am I gonna be here for any length of time…" She murmured before falling asleep.

00000000

Steelhoof strode quickly down the darkened street, heading for the town hall. It was barely morning, and the sleepy town was still mostly asleep. A few lights were on, mostly around the square. He winced inwardly as he saw the ring of blackened flagstone surrounding the well. He trotted hurriedly past the scene, ignoring the curious, if slightly cross-eyed look from the blond-maned mailmare as she flew past him at low altitude.

Before long, the large round building came into view, and he hurried toward it, his hoofsteps echoing in though the quiet streets.

He burst in, only to find a very familiar pegasus stallion working at the desk, who looked up and glared at him slightly for disturbing the quiet of the reception room. He trotted over to him.

"Say, do I know you?"

"I should expect so. I came to your house not long ago."

"Oh yeah…"

"I must say, that was a vulgar and uncouth display that morning."

Steelhoof frowned. "Got something against love, buddy?"

"I have nothing against love. I would however appreciate it if you didn't force it down my throat."

"Why, jealous? I would be."

"Look, can I help you? Or are you just here to brag?"

"Sorry, my nerves are still fried. I'm just feeling confrontational."

"So, what do you want?"

"I need to see Mayor mare."

"Too bad, she just got here and won't accept visitors for at least another half an hour."

"I don't think you understand the urgency of this situation, secretary."

"I don't think you understand the importance of routine, Mr Steelhoof."

Steelhoof was exasperated. "Listen, pal! In two days time you're all gonna be dead unless I can talk to the Mayor right fucking now!"

His face paled. "Wh-what?"

"You heard me! There's an army on its way and unless we do something, everypony's going to die horribly. So let. Me. In."

"R-right this way, Mr Steehloof. I apologise, I didn't realise how important this was…"

"You just don't like me. But I understand. Lead the way."

The slate-green stallion stepped out from behind the desk and trotted over to the far side of the semi-circular room, and knocked on an ornate mahogany door. There was a muffled voice from within.

"This early, Quill? What in the name of Celestia do you want?"

"I have a visitor, Mayor."

"Visitor? Tell 'em to go away."

"It's Steelhoof mayor…"

"Oh, really? Send him in."

The stallion known as Quill sighed quietly, and pulled open the door, indicating the doorway with his muzzle. The big pony nodded and walked in.

The mayor's office was fairly large, but felt small and almost cosy. There was a fireplace in one corner, which was burning brightly and casting an orange glow over the room. The Mayor's desk sat in the middle, and the tan coloured mare sat behind it, a steaming mug of coffee by her side.

"I knew you'd come here… but does it have to be so early?"

"What time is it?"

"It's quarter past four in the morning, Steelhoof!" She said loudly. "And it doesn't help that you kept me up since half one… I work late hours as it is…" She slumped.

"Sorry about that… He was a… new guy."

"Fantastic… So you killed him?"

"Why does everypony assume that?"

"You did kill him, right?"

"Well… no."

She groaned loudly. "Do you have any good news?"

"That's as good as it gets, I'm afraid."

"It gets worse?"

"Yeah… we have two days until the army arrives."

Her face hit the table with a thud. "Are you sure?" She said with a muffled voice.

"Only too sure, I'm afraid. We need to do something fast."

She took a gulp of hot coffee, wincing. "Such as?"

"I don't know, get everypony out of here or something?"

"What would be the use? You said that this attack is on the whole world, right?"

"Yeah…"

"So what would running away achieve, if they're just going to cut us down as we run?"

"So you say we should fight?"

"Yes. We should."

"If you think it's a good idea, Mayor. I'll just go and-"

"You might want to wait a couple of hours, Steel." She interrupted. "Nopony's awake yet."

"…I knew that."

She smiled. "Sure. Should we meet in the square at six and sort things from there?"

"Sounds good."

"Oh, before I forget, how is Rainbow? I got a memo that she'd been taken into hospital this morning."

"She's fine, thanks. A bit tender at the moment, but fine. No serious damage."

"Good. I don't want my ponies hurt…"

He frowned. "There's going to be a lot worse than that soon…"

"Don't remind me. That's different though. We don't have any choice."

"I know, I know. I'll see you at six, right?"

"Right."

"Okay, have fun then." He said with a flicker of a smile, before walking out into the lobby. Quill looked at him worriedly.

"Are… are we gonna be okay?"

Steelhoof shrugged. "I damn well hope so."

And with that, he calmly walked outside, where the summer sun was just beginning to send it's rays over the horizon. He had more than an hour and a half to kill before the meeting at the square, and he wasn't allowed to visit the sleeping Rainbow dash. So what now?

00000000

And here we are again! Another chapter of Steelhoof, and another step closer to the end of the trilogy! I hoped you liked it, and as always, any thoughts, comments or ideas are music to my ears and I would love to hear them.