A/N: Drew here with another stupenderiffic chapter! You'll notice more revealing of the main story in this chapter, as well as a few surprises. Hope you like! As always, R&R.

To AstralElebit - While I could very well make Steel all-powerful and whatnot, that would be boring. That is not going to be the case, as everyone knows no matter how powerful a protagonist becomes, there's always someone stronger or someone willing to exploit his flaws and weaknesses. I assure you, our hero here is no different.

To zsd - The dark commanding hand, claw, and/or hoof will be revealed all in good time. I will say there are a few, and all are threats to our friends. As far as "dating rights" as you call it, Celestia told me there is no limit to the amount of mares a single stallion can have in his harem, the most in history being twenty. The only rule of course is that the other mares need to be okay with each other.

To JB - I'm glad you liked the last chapter, man. If I may ask, what's the matter waking up covered in mares? I mean sure the whole needing to breathe thing, but still...

To Guest - Well I'm glad you're enjoying the story. As I've said, Steel is not and will not be all-powerful, make no mistake. He has a very critical flaw, and you may find his greatest strength may become his greatest weakness. As far as the sexuality goes, THERE WILL BE ORGIES! SO IT IS SAID, AND SO IT SHALL BE! Lol, jk. Nah this is rated T for a reason, while the show is rated G or K I think? Not to sound like a dick, but if you were looking for a story that'll keep your image of the real show completely un-tarnished, you're in the wrong place. This is a fan-fiction site after all.

And ON WE GO!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters associated with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, nor the original story.

Chapter 11: A Stroll in the Darkness

Perspective change - Spike

I woke up in a bed Dark had made me in his apartment. Ever since Steel had gotten closer with Twi, I'd taken to sleeping in Dark's apartment in the basement. While I knew they weren't "screwing like rabbits" as Dark had said, I think with her finally finding a stallion she cared about that much, she deserved her privacy. Besides, Darkflight's room is awesome. It doesn't get cold down here like it does in Twi's room, and this "man cave" - as Dark had referred to it - gave me a place to get away from Twi when I need to. She's like a sister to me, and while I love her to death, we do bicker like siblings.

I didn't have to worry about being quiet, because Dark slept like a corpse, so I went over to the guitars that Steel had brought with him from Earth. In our spare time, Dark had been teaching me to play, and during one of his first days at his smithing job, he made me one my size - purple with green trim...just like me. I started to tune up my guitar when I heard a scream from upstairs. 'Ugh...what the hay...' "SPIKE! GET UP HERE RIGHT NOW!" ...that was Twi, and she sounded scared. I ran over to Dark and shook him hard. "Dark, get up! Something happened!" He mumbled something and opened his eyes with a growl and a yawn. "Dude, what's going on? Why did you wake me up?" "SPIKE, HURRY!" He looked up. "Was that Twilight? What's going on Spike?" I shook my head. "I don't know Dark, but she sounds really scared, c'mon!" We bolted up the stairs.

We ran all the way up to Twilight's room to find her crying and shaking Steel, screaming his name. He wasn't moving at all. Twilight looked at me in panic, tears in her eyes. "Spike, I can't get him to wake up!" I nodded. "Calm down Twi, freaking out isn't going to do any good. We need to get him to the hospital now." She nodded. I grabbed my saddlebag, and Twi cast her teleport spell. Next thing I knew, we were at the hospital in Ponyville. The staff up front just stared at us. I growled. "Don't just stand there, get a gurney!" One of the nurses nodded and ran off. I looked over to see Twilight cradling his head in her hooves, tears streaming down her face. She looked over to me and my heart almost broke. "I don't understand what happened, Spike. He was fine last night..." I nodded. "He'll be okay, Twi. I'll send a letter off to the princesses. They'll know what to do." With that, I pulled out a scroll from a saddlebag I'd brought and wrote a letter to Celestia, telling her what happened. I torched the scroll and it disappeared, on it's way to Celestia. A swarm of nurses and a doctor came and picked up Steel, placing him on a gurney and rushing him away. I then looked at Twilight again. "Twi, the other girls need to know about this, so Dark and I are going to go get them. Just wait here, we'll be back." She didn't look at me, but nodded.

Perspective change - Rainbow Dash

The sun woke me up from a great dream this morning, so I was a little cranky already. 'Ugh...I like daytime Celestia, but can't you put it off for just another hour?' I rolled out of my cloud bed and brushed my teeth and mane, then floated downstairs for some breakfast. Too lazy to really make anything, I just grabbed an apple and some water and walked outside. I sat down on the edge of my cloud and ate, admiring the sunrise. I may not be much of a morning pony, but I do know beauty when I see it. Of course I keep up the tough act around Applejack. She'd never let me hear the end of it.

"DASH!" I heard two voices yell. They startled me and I fell off my cloud. I landed on the ground to find Darkflight and Spike with panicked expressions. "Hey guys, what's up?" Spike was sitting on Dark's shoulders and we waved a claw to follow them. "Dash, something's wrong with Steel. He's at the hospital!"

I swear my heart must've stopped. My mouth went dry and I started trembling in terror. Steel? At the hospital? No...no that can't be right. I've seen him, he's strong. Why is he in the hospital? This has to be a mistake...this has to be a bad dream or something. I was frozen...I couldn't think...couldn't breathe.

It must have been pretty urgent because Dark just grabbed me and carried me, running at full speed back to Ponyville General. I still couldn't believe it...this had to be a dream.

This isn't happening...

This can't be happening...

Perspective change - Applejack

Steel's brother and Spike had run by the farm and told us to meet Twi at the hospital. They said something happened to Steel. I was so confused. Steel? Nah, that can't be right. This is the pony that stared down a timberwolf for Fluttershy. This is the pony that saved Twi from gryphons...twice. He didn't get hurt then...why was he in the hospital?

I walked in the front doors of the hospital and saw the other elements, minus RD, in the waiting room up front. Twi was in the corner with tear-stains on her face. She was just starin' ahead at nothin'. She didn't even move when I sat next to her. "Twi, how ya holdin' up?" She didn't move. "H-he was fine. I just talked to him last night. He was fine..." she whispered. She looked over at me and I saw the pain in her eyes, and fear. She broke into sobs when she looked at my face. I leaned over and wrapped my forelegs around her, and she buried her face in my chest. Nothing needed to be said, so I just let her cry and rubbed her back with a hoof.

A couple other ponies walked in. I recognized Vinyl Scratch and her friend Lyra, and two other ponies I didn't recognize. One of them was an earth pony, like me. She had a dark blue coat, and a shiny golden mane and tail. She didn't have a cutie mark. The other pony was a pegasus, bright red with purple mane and tail. She didn't have a cutie mark either. Both of them came and sat next to me and Twi, scared looks on their faces. The blue mare looked over at Twi, and then at me. "How is he? Is he okay?" I raised an eyebrow. "Ah don't mean ta sound heartless, but who are ya'll?" She smiled weakly. "I'm his mother." I was dumbstruck. "Kate?" She nodded. I looked over at the pegasus filly. "Jennie?" She nodded as well. 'When did this happen?' Just then, the princesses burst in the doors. Luna was in a panic. "Where is he? Is he alright? Please somepony tell me something, anything!" She looked over and saw Twilight. I got up and motioned for her to sit next to Twi, which she accepted. I walked over to Princess Celestia. "Howdy princess. When did ya'll change Jennie and Kate?" She looked sad. "Well when I'd heard what happened, I knew they'd want to be here. Luna and I went to the library and explained everything, then changed them into their new forms. It may not be formal as Darkflight's was, but the circumstances caused me to opt for a non-formal approach." I nodded and she walked over with me to the waiting room and sat down on a small couch across from me, gazing at Luna before turning her attention back to me. "Any word yet?" I shook my head. "None yet, princess. Ah jus' got here not too long ago mahself." She stared down the hallway towards the double doors that lead to the intensive care unit. "I have an idea as to what's happening. I just pray I am right, for the alternatives are not good."

Perspective change - Pinkie Pie

No...no...this can't be true. Not after I just got to know him. After our little talk the other day, Steel officially knew me better than anyone now. It sounds bad, but he was closer to me than Dashie has ever been. I felt bad about this, but realized it was my own fault. I was always just so afraid that my friends wouldn't like me anymore if I wasn't "Pinkie Pie: Party Extrordinaire Pony". It made me a little mad at myself, but now wasn't the time for that.

The front doors banged open and there was Spike, Dark, and Dashie. Dashie looked a lot like Twilight did. Are those...tears? No...Dashie doesn't cry. Dashie never cries, she's the toughest pony ever!

But she was crying...

I started to cry too, it was just too much. I saw Dashie sit next to Luna and Twilight. They all hugged and had tears flowing freely from their eyes.

...

Hours had passed, and we still hadn't heard anything from the doctors. Dashie was asleep with a frown on her face and Twilight and Luna had stopped crying. They didn't have a sad fearful look on their faces anymore. They looked...defeated. I know Luna and Twilight weren't the best at dealing with bad situations, but they were giving up already?

No...that's not good enough.

'Now's the time Pinkie, they need to know who you really are. You need to be strong for them...strong for Steel, the way he was strong for you.' I stood up and stomped a hoof loudly, growling. Everyone looked at me in confusion. I stared right at Twilight and Luna. "What are those looks for? Are you giving up already?" Luna started crying again. "Pinkie Pie, we have not heard anything in hours...it's starting to look hopele-" I cut her off. "Shut it!" This got everyone's attention...even Princess Celestia was staring at me in shock now, mouth hanging open. I was seething with anger. "Who do you think you are? You girls say you love him, but you're giving up now? How do you think Steel would feel if he knew you gave up on him this quickly? I'll tell you exactly how he'd feel...he'd be insulted. You all say 'I love you' to him all the time, but it looks to me like you don't mean it. If this is all the confidence you have in him, you don't deserve him." I stormed outside to get some fresh air.

I lay back against a bench near the front walkway, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. 'They must not care about him as much as they think they do. If that's love, then I love him more than they do combined. Maybe this will wake them up to just how foalish they're acting.' I ended up sitting by myself for about twenty minutes before anypony came outside. I was surprised when I saw Celestia. She said nothing and simply sat down beside me. She was silent for a tense few moments before saying anything. "Pinkie Pie...what was that?" I stared at the ground, almost like I was trying to burn a hole in it. "That's called tough love, Princess Celestia. If you came out here to yell at me for it, go ahead. I don't feel sorry for what I said though. Somepony needed to say it, and since nopony else was going to, I did." I heard a gasp of surprise. "Pinkie, this isn't like you...what's wrong?" I shook my head and laughed. "That is what's wrong, princess...this is me. The party pony that you all know and love is only a part of who I am. I guess if you are all this surprised, I did a pretty good job at fooling all of you." She still seemed confused. "I don't understand, Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash knows you well...and even she was shocked to see you acting as you were." I shook my head again. "No, Dashie doesn't know me as well as she thinks she does. She knows the random pony who bounces everywhere she goes and has a smile on her face whenever she's in public. Steel is the only pony who knows me...the real me. Steel knows me better than any of my friends. It makes me a little sad, but that's the truth." I looked over at Celestia to see a pained expression on her face. It almost made me cry how much I was hurting her and all of my friends, but they needed this shock. Celestia looked over at me with a sad frown. "Pinkie, I apologize...I had no idea." I nodded. "I was hiding who I was for all these years because I was afraid my friends would stop liking me if they knew who I really was, and how I really felt. I'm happy most of the time...there's a reason the Element of Laughter chose me. Still, I get sad and mad just like every other pony. And you know what? It's okay. Steel helped me see that." I felt tears well up in my eyes, but fought them back. "If everypony else wants to think it's hopeless after such a short time, then fine...they can leave for all I care. They don't deserve to be there. I won't lose hope though...I won't give up on Steel. He wouldn't give up on any of us if we were in his position." Celestia smiled softly. "Pinkie, you are displaying a courage and will that I never thought you possessed. I honestly didn't think you had it in you." I laughed sadly. "Well princess, there's a lot of things that you, your sister, or any of my friends never thought I had in me." She nodded. "You are correct Pinkie Pie. Shall we go back inside?" I nodded and we walked to the waiting room.

As the princess and I walked back into the waiting room, I could feel everypony's eyes on me. Normally everypony staring at me would make me feel nervous. Instead, I felt proud. I knew I had done the right thing, and for the first time in my life, I was proud of myself for something other than a party I planned or a cake that I baked. I felt my mane and tail curl up back to normal, and I felt happy. I wasn't sad, because I knew Steel was going to be alright. He was too strong to let whatever this was stop him, and I knew that.

I sat down on a couch near the door by myself, looking down the hallway towards the patient rooms. I closed my eyes for a second and just let my mind wander. I began to realize that I really liked Steel. A year or two ago, I used to have a bit of a crush on Dashie, but even when I thought of her, I didn't feel like this. This wasn't the infatuation I felt when I liked Dashie...this was something else. Something...more. I didn't know if it was love because I'd never been in love before...but I definitely had strong feelings for Steel. I giggled a bit. 'If only my friends knew what goes on in my head...'

A few minutes passed by and I felt someone sit beside me. I opened my eyes and looked to my right to see Luna sitting next to me, a smile on her face. She leaned over and hugged me tight, catching me a little off-guard. I returned the hug though. When we broke the embrace, she simply looked at me. "Thank you Pinkie. Thank you for helping us see our error. We should not have lost hope as we did." I waved a hoof off and smiled wide. "No problem, princess! I'm glad your frowny-wowny is turned upside-downy!" She giggled and I felt warmth in my chest. I loved it when my friends laughed.

After a few minutes, we saw a doctor walking down the hall towards us. I stood up and smiled at him. "Well? How is he doing?" The doctor looked confused. "Physically he's in perfect condition. I don't understand. I'm sorry, but he's in a coma...we just don't know why." I felt fear start to chill my insides, but I fought it back. I looked at all the ponies in the waiting room and smiled. "It's okay girls, he'll be alright, I Pinkie promise." They knew how I am about my promises, and thankfully this put them at relative ease. Celestia walked up to the doctor and nodded. "Thank you doctor. I need to see him." He nodded. "Of course, princess. Follow me please." and with that, they disappeared down the hallway.

Perspective change - Steelbreaker

Blackness...unending blackness. That's all I saw. What might have been hours ago - or years for all I know - I had decided to play a game of "bottles of beer on the wall"...only starting at one million, just to see how far I'd get. I thought it was weird that I was conscious of the fact that I was not conscious(which in itself is a sort of paradox), but that quickly faded into extreme boredom. I had gotten to 887,923 bottles of beer when I felt another presence behind me. Normally I would be a little cautious, but I was just happy I wasn't alone. I turned around to see Frostrender. "Wow Steelbreaker, you are really bored." I nodded. "I'm stuck here for Celestia knows how long, and I thought I would be by myself. I'm just trying to keep some semblance of sanity." Frostrender walked up to me and sat on his haunches. "Steelbreaker, you are in a coma." My eyes widened. "What? What happened to me? I don't remember getting hurt. Did I fall out of bed really hard or something while I was asleep?" He laughed and shook his head. "No Steelbreaker, in fact you are completely fine. And before you start worrying, you will come out of this coma very soon." I breathed a sigh of relief and nodded, but was still confused. "Well why am I in a coma in the first place then?" His eyes grew very stern. "It may be partially my fault. With the addition of me to your body, the levels of magic within you rose exponentially. Your alicorn body forced you into a coma to adjust itself. You will wake up when the process is complete." I was still confused. "Wait, this doesn't make sense. When Luna was Nightmare Moon, she never had this happen to her. I wasn't in Equestria at that time, but I'm pretty sure the news of the feared Nightmare Moon falling into a coma would have made headlines." He laughed at me again. "This is true, but you have to remember that your change was not the same as Luna's. Luna became Nightmare Moon, whereas you and I are two separate entities within one body. Had Luna's change been as yours was, the same thing would have happened to her." I thought about it. It did make sense. Every body is meant to support one soul. I'm just glad my body is simply adjusting instead of dying. "Well okay then, when am I waking up?" He smiled. "Very soon actually. Since your mind works faster when you're sleeping, you will be waking up any minute now. However in reality, two weeks have passed." My eyes widened. "Two weeks! What the hell! Oh my God, the girls are going to kill me for putting them through this..." I could start to hear other voices around me and a faint "beep...beep...beep" sound. Frostrender smiled. "It is time to wake up, Steelbreaker. We shall speak again sometime."

"g...ov...ere..una...He's waking up!" I groaned and opened my eyes, and instantly felt an intense burning in them. "Please somepony turn off the lights!" I yelled in pain. I heard the clopping of hooves and a *click* as the lights turned off. I opened my eyes again to a mercifully darkened room. Everything was blurry so I rubbed my eyes. When I opened them again, I saw myself face-to-face with Dash. I smiled and pulled her into a tight hug. "Oh Dashie...you don't know how glad I am to see you." She giggled and hugged me back. I released the embrace and looked around the room. All my friends were there, even Celestia had made an appearance. Pinkie was smiling a giant smile. "See? What did I tell you! I told all of you he'd be fine but nooo, no one believes Pinkie Pie." I smiled and motioned Pinkie over to me. When she got close I grabbed her in a tight hug, making her blush something fierce. "Thank you so much Pinkie. Thank you for watching out for me." She giggled and nodded. "I knew you were going to be okay. You wouldn't let something as small as a coma take you down." I nodded. "Darn right." I looked around the room trying to spot Twilight when I felt a pair of hooves around my neck. Thinking it was Twilight I turned to my left with a smile, and found myself staring at a blue mare with a golden mane. "Umm...you're obviously glad I'm okay, so thank you for that...but who are you ma'am?" She looked at me and smirked. "What...don't know your own mother?" I stared with my mouth open. "Mom? Wh-when did this happen?" A small red pegasus with a violet mane and tail jumped on me, smiling. "The princesses changed us the day you got here." My eyes grew even wider. "Jen? Wow...this is intense. I might fall into another coma just from the shock." I felt a large hoof punch my shoulder. I turn to my right to see a very angry Luna. "Don't you dare, Steel!" I laughed. "Oh please, it was a joke. I'm not planning going anywhere anytime soon, Luna. You're stuck with me for awhile." She rolled her eyes and pouted. "Well it was not funny." I chuckled and pulled her into a tight hug, kissing her on the forehead. "I'm sorry I put you through this Luna. I'll make it up to you somehow, I promise." I began to see all my other friends close in, and was pleased to see Lyra there as well. I held up a hoof. "Whoa whoa, let's save the group hug for when we get outside please. I need to get out of this bed, I'm all stiff(giggity). Someone get a nurse please so I can sign out and get out of here." Nurse Redheart must have heard me because she stepped into the room. "Well hello there Steelbreaker, it's good to see you're awake. How are you feeling?" I grinned. "No offense Nurse Redheard, but I'm feeling like I want to get out of here." She giggled. "Very well, let me get the forms and we'll get you signed out."

After signing out I was wheeled out by Nurse Redheart. Because of hospital policy, I had to leave in a wheelchair, which I was none to happy with. All the same, I was happy to be leaving. After getting a few feet away from the hospital, I was tackled by ten ponies and one little dragon, while Celestia, my brother, and my mom looked on. I could have sworn I felt a hoof or two feel me up. Had I air in my lungs, I would have been laughing...it was great to be back.

We all headed home after I said goodbye to all my friends. Pinkie looked a little sad though. I walked over to her and ran my hoof through her mane. "What's wrong, Pinks?" She giggled. "Rainbow Dash calls me that." I laughed. "Well now Dash and me call you that. But what's wrong?" She huffed. "I'm glad you're okay Steel, but I kinda wanted to spend some more time with you. I know you have marefriends now, but..." I smiled. "It's okay Pinkie. I'm pretty tired today, so I'm probably just going to go to bed, but if you're not doing anything tomorrow I'd be more than happy to hang out with you if you're okay with Dashie, Twi, and Lyra coming too. I promised Lyra I'd hang out with her as well." She smiled her massive Pinkie smile. "I don't mind, I'll bring cupcakes! We'll have a picnic in the park!" I smiled. "That sounds great Pinkie." She started to bounce away but I grabbed her tail in my teeth. I yanked it back and pulled her into me, hugging her. "Thank you Pinkie." She blushed. "For what, Steelie?" I smiled and nuzzled her mane. "For giving everypony hope when they started to lose theirs." She smiled and returned the hug in earnest. "You're welcome...you all are." We broke the hug and she bounded away faster than she should have been able to. I missed Pinkie's odd physics...

When we arrived home we ate a quick dinner and got ready for bed. Dash helped me clean in the shower, as I felt like I needed one bad after a week in bed. Feeling refreshed I headed to Twilight's room to find only her there. "Twi, where's Luna?" She looked a little sad. "Luna had to leave. There's a lot of things to take care of back at the palace. She said she'd be back in two days though, so don't worry." I smiled. "Well that's good." I slid into bed and tried to fall asleep, but oddly found myself unable to, even with how exhausted I was. Twilight was soon snoring beside me, as was Dash, so I just headed out to the balcony to look at the stars. The air was chilly with winter being only a week away, so I closed the door behind me. I stepped out towards the railing and leaned my forelegs on it, just looking at the beautiful night sky Luna had no doubt made for me. I let my mind wander aimlessly for a bit before I found myself thinking about the world we left behind. I found it odd seeing as how I didn't really miss it. I realized the only emotion I felt towards Earth...was pity. Earth, a world where war was the norm. A world where someone being kind was so rare, it might as well be a super power. A world where everyone cared about themselves before anyone else. A world...where Celestia and Luna did not exist. I found it strange sometimes that I no longer even thought of Earth as a former-home. It was just a place I had stayed until Luna had come to get me and my family. My home is here now...and maybe, in a way, it always has been.

My thoughts were broken when I heard the door open behind me. I look down to my left and see a very sleepy looking cyan pegasus. "Hey Dashie, what are you doing awake?" She smiled at me, albeit a little sleepily. "You know I have trouble sleeping when you're not there. What are you doing awake Steel?" I looked out again at the night sky. "Nothing...just thinking." She looked confused. "You're up in the middle of the night just thinking? What are you thinking about that's keeping you awake?" I shook my head. "I'm thinking because I'm awake, not the other way around, dearheart." She blushed at the pet name. She stood up against the railing as well, looking into the night sky. "You know Steel, your world is out there somewhere. If you miss it, I'm sure Luna could help you find it and get back." she said a little sadly. I chuckled and shook my head. "I was just thinking about that very planet Dashie, but not in that way at all. I don't miss Earth, not in the slightest. My home is here...I think it always has been in a way. I may not have always known about Equestria, and definitely not that it existed...but I think somewhere deep within, my soul always belonged here. I feel it in my very being...this is home. Here, with you and your friends...this is where I am meant to be." She sighed and leaned against me. "I love you Steel, and I'm so glad you're here. I'm glad you decided to come here when Luna asked you." I smiled and looked down at her, then planted a soft kiss on her lips. "I love you too, Dashie. When Luna asked me and told me my family could come, there was no contest. I liked you and your friends even before Luna came to get me. Knowing you in person just adds a whole new dimension to that connection. I'm glad I came here, and I'm glad I met you and all your friends. You don't have Earth to compare it to, so you have no idea how great you girls are."

We headed back inside after Dash started shivering. We climbed in the bed and I pulled Dash and Twilight close to me. Twilight murmured and smiled in her sleep, and Dash kissed me on the cheek. "Goodnight Steel. I'm glad you're back." I smiled at my rainbow wonder. "I'm glad I'm back too, love. Goodnight, Dash." I found myself awake for only a few more minutes before falling asleep...a smile on my face.