Something was wrong.
This much was obvious to the four Fluttershy splinters that had the intelligence to realize that the DASH-1 should not be coming back yet.
Their radar had picked up on the massive airship coming back, but Tinker was not responding to radio calls.
Something was very obviously wrong.
Fluttershy, Manticore, Butter, and Diamond all were on edge as they patrolled the hallways of the Department, ready for anything. So far, everything was fine. The turrets beeped softly as the searched the corridors for any sign of intrusion, the doors were locked, and would only open for an approved member of the Department.
Things were fine, but something was wrong.
She knew something was happening, even before the DASH-1 had turned around. The Beast, the dark, feral, and final part of her that yearned to slake its thirst, was more active today. It growled and paced in the back of their mind, very awake, and very agitated.
She walked carefully down the hallways, searching for the problem her instincts knew was there. She hoped that Spike was okay, despite herself. If the DASH-1 was coming back without him, then that meant something dire indeed.
Manticore insisted that this was an attack of some kind. It had to be, there was no other explanation. Diamond disagreed, and pointed out that it could be a supply run, from the Commander. Butter then injected that Tinker would have answered radio contact then, if nothing else, but at the same time, they couldn't be sure of an attack.
The Beast merely growled.
Fluttershy eventually found her voice, and made an attempt to try and calm them. What was happening didn't matter as much as making sure everything here was safe. Spike could take care of the ponies, so she had to take care of the base.
“Siren,” Manticore called. “Siren, you hear me?”
“Yes, I hear you,” the spectre said as she poked her head through a wall. “You know I hear everything that happens in here.”
“Then you know about the DASH-1?” she asked.
“Yes,” she sighed. “I’m trying to check up on it, but you called me away.”
Fluttershy immediately apologized, but Manticore refused to let the words pass her lips. “Then why’d you let me stop you?”
Sweetie Belle groaned, before she slipped away back through the wall.
So Siren was checking it out, good. That made it easier. Siren would take care of it, and the rest of them could focus on the base, and keeping the perimeter.
The Beast growled.
With every step, Manticore tried to push the growing worry of the others aside. Things were fine. Siren was checking it out. All she had to do, was focus on the base.
Unfortunately, dealing with Fluttershy’s stress was a full-time job. “It’s fine,” she whispered, trying to get their attention. “We can handle anything that comes our way. We are fine.”
The Beast roared.
Somebody shut that thing up! Put it back to sleep, it's distracting.
“Yes, besides, you have so much more to worry about.”
All but the Beast froze at that voice. Even Manticore felt her heart grow cold at the sound of their vampiric voice.
“I need you to let me in.”
The Beast took control.
No! Stop it!
Manticore tried to take it back, wrestling with the Beast for control of their limbs, but the monster was awake now, and it would not relinquish this chance without bloodshed. Manticore was shoved back, thrown to the back of her mind with such strength that it gave her pause.
Butter, Diamond, and even Fluttershy rushed in, trying to win back her body as the Beast began to prowl.
“First, my dear,” Valentine said into her mind, “I need you to deactivate the defenses.”
No! You can't do that!
The Beast was already moving, slinking in the shadows as she moved.
No! Stop it! You're not allowed to go to the defense interface!
She doesn't know what that means, she just needs to stop!
Manticore ripped the command of the body away, halting their progress for a second or so.
“No, my dear. It's time to show the others your true strength. Obey me, and drop the defenses.”
The Beast obeyed. It took back control in a second, mentally tossing Manticore like a rag doll out of the proverbial pilot's chair.
Stop her! Stop her, stop her, stop her!
The four gathered together, throwing all their strength at the Beast, trying to tear it away. The tugged, yanked, heaved, and struggled, struggled against the inhuman mental strength of the Beast.
When did it get so strong? How? When?
Doesn't matter! Just get it off!
The body of Fluttershy leapt through the hallways, past the labs, engineering workshops, medical facilities, and everything. Past the barracks, past the mess hall, all the way up to TWI’s computer room, and the defense terminal.
Finally, they took control, with Diamond at the helm, and she spun on her hooves to run as far away as possible. She skid across the concrete, trying to escape, only for the Beast to wrest control back again.
Years! Centuries spent asleep, but now! Why is it so strong?
The Beast prowled back into the room, and took to the terminal.
“Deactivate the defenses.” Valentine ordered.
We...we don't know the code! Ha! We don't know the code!
But Valentine knew. He knew, somehow, and the Beast typed the code, as it was instructed.
TWI’s voice spoke up. “Manticore, it is unadvisable to deactivate the turrets at this time. Are you sure you want to proceed?”
The Beast, as wild as it was, had orders. So, with difficulty and slow, deliberate sounds, it spoke. “Y-yesssss…”
The Beast made one ast keystroke, and the defenses whined to silence.
“Turrets deactivated,” TWI said.
“Good. Now, invite me inside.”
The Four threw themselves at the Beast with renewed vigor. They could not, dared not let him in. There was no redemption from that sin. No saving grace from this danger.
And the Beast was still walking.
They tugged, and pulled, and begged, trying to get their body to stop, if only for a second, so that they could stop this tragedy before it began.
But the Beast would not stop.
They all marched closer to one of the few emergency exit doors that accessed the surface, while the Four continued to pour their strength into dragging the Beast back into the shadows of their mind. They had to do something to stop this, but they were weakening, they lost strength with every grasp they made toward the monster.
No! No! No! No! We can’t do this! We mustn’t!
The Beast brought the body up to the door, and opened it without a second thought, revealing none other than Valentine himself.
“Well?” he asked. “Are you just going to stand there?”
“Come...in…” The Beast grunted.
And Valentine did, stepping into the Department, with his ghouls following behind him. “Well done, dear. You’ve done perfectly. Now I have but one more job for you before you can return to your sleep.”
The Beast waited, listening intently for its next instructions.
“Make sure the ghost leaves us alone,” the vampire ordered, before his army began to pour in through the door.
The ghouls yelped and howled as they rushed into the darkness, eager to bring their teeth against anypony they saw.
And the Four could only watch through their eyes as they doomed all the workers and the non-combatants to a death by ghouls. Manticore cursed in the darkness, all these years of anger and hatred wasted the second they were within arms reach of the monster that birthed them. Diamond was shaking in fear, trying to keep herself small and undetectable in case his eyes fell on her. Butter was still trying to get the Beast under control, pulling and yanking at her while Fluttershy did her best to help.
All these ponies would die because of the Beast, the least she could do is hit the alarm before it was too late.
But it was already too late, and the Beast was leading them out, onto the surface to face Sweetie Belle.
===ᐁ===
The ghouls ran, drooling at the thought fresh meat to consume. They started in the labs, breaking down the door with their unleashed, undead strength, and ripped the scientists apart. They were easy pickings, and hardly stood a chance against the sharpened teeth of the monsters.
One of them did manage to hit an alarm though, not that anyone was listening.
With their feast in the labs finished, they quickly moved heading for the workshops next.
They ran, eager and hungry, they slammed into the doors with their terrible strength. They threw everything they had at the large, locked doors, before they finally broke through.
Unfortunately for them, they immediately ran into Velvet Storm’s blunderbuss.
Tearing the head off of one ghoul, before kicking another, Velvet and the engineers unloaded the old, obsolete flintlocks the Department never got rid of. The first wave of ghouls went down, before Velvet yelled. “Patch up those doors! We’ll hold them here! The Commander’s not that far away, we can make it!”
The ghouls slammed into the door, howling got flesh.
“Gonna have to do better than that!” Velvet yelled as she took another loaded gun and fired into the gathering crowd of ghouls.
“I wouldn’t taunt them so much,” Caramel said from her head jar as he body reloaded a flintlock. “After all, I’m pretty sure I’m the only one in this room that’s immortal.”
“Well brag about it, why don’t you?” Velvet yelled.
The engineers quickly barricaded the door, tables, chairs, leftover steel, and more were all shoved against the doors while a hooful more held their flintlocks high.
“It's time to hold the line, gentlecolts,” Velvet ordered. “Time to make our stand! They will come to this line and no further! We stand!”
===ᐁ===
The DASH-1 hovered over the landing pad, and Valentine stood nearby, watching as Sparky stepped off of the cargo door. The moment he was off, the airship was moving, pulling away from the Department with all speed.
“She's going to pick up the Commander. We have ten minutes, if that,” Sparky said to the vampire.
“Let her go,” Valentine said, “It matters not, I have my own goals here, and the good Commander won't be able to stop me here.”
“You're going to wipe the Department out in ten minutes?” Sparky asked. “That's impressive.”
Valentine smiled. “No, no you’re not thinking right yet. Why kill them when you can keep the alive as cattle? No, the ghouls are simply here to keep the others out of my way.”
“Wait, so we’re not wiping out the Department?”
“We're cutting the head off the snake, boy,” Valentine said with a cold, hungry smile. “Now, take me to his office.”
Sparky stared at him for a moment, before he gave a wry smile himself. “Right this way, sir.”
The vampire followed the scout deep into the compound, down stairs and hallways before finally coming to the lone, wooden door with a candle carved into its face.
Valentine opened the door, and walked into the small room, where a thousand tiny knick-knacks from an age long past met him. An outfit that belonged to the mare whose wings he ripped out, the hat of the one he broke, a balloon that should have deflated long ago, and more.
He ignored these. These were secondary.
He was after a grander prize.
He walked up to the desk, where a set of gems sat in the open. A glance into their faces revealed a number of scenes between the six mares that Spike loved, and that was enough.
He picked them up in his blood-red magic, and slowly crushed eac gem until they were little more than dust.
First the white, then the orange, then the blue, then the pink, the purple, and finally the yellow all crunched in his grip.
Then he looked up, and found what he was looking for. “Well, well. It has been some time hasn't it, Miss Rarity?”
===ᐁ===
Manticore finally took control back, and slumped to the rocky floor beneath her. She gasped for air, exhausted by the effort of taking control back one more time.
Now she just had to deal with Siren.
“What was that about?” The ghost yelled. “What possessed you into thinking that giving me the Stare was a good idea?”
“Not me…” Manticore gasped. “Valentine.”
There was a beat of silence. “What?”
“Valentine, he’s here…”
“He...he’s here? Right now?”
Manticore nodded.
Siren’s chest began to open up. Wounds from her death began to appear and ooze. Her face hardened, and she ground her teeth as her eyes went blood red. “V-Valentine…” she growled, as the night of her murder flashed through her mind.
“Valentine!” She roared, throwing all the fury of her death into her being. “Valentine!”
She dove into the ground, passing through it for the Department below, leaving Manticore where she lay in the dirt whimpering to herself.
“I’m sorry, ladies,” she whispered to the others. “I’m sorry.”
===ᐁ===
Valentine had his prize, and he gladly left the rest. Sparky walked next to him and the crystal coffin that hovered next to the vampire. A smile adorned the unicorn’s face, and his fangs glinted in the light. “You have done well, Mr. Spark. Done very well, in fact,” Valentine said with a grin.
“As long as I have a chance to drown in mares, we’re on the same page.”
“Excellent. Then perhaps I should mention that I have one final job for you before I induct you into the ranks of the living dead.”
Sparky frowned. “I thought we were square?”
“We are, we are my friend, you have earned your new estate already, but the transformation takes time, time neither of us have. Instead, I ask that you do this for me, that you remain here as my eyes and ears, and in return, I will provide you with an estate to begin your empire in.”
Sparky narrowed his eyes. “I suppose that's a fair deal.”
“Of course it is,” Valentine said with a smile. “Unlike the Commander, I treat my partners as equals. If you work for me, then I shall pay you equally.”
He held out a hoof, offering it to the pegasus that was standing beside him. “So, do we have deal?”
Sparky met his hoof. “Deal.”
===ᐁ===
Velvet fired into the tide of undead flesh. They had ripped a hole in the door, and were currently trying to claw the rest of it open. The engineers were throwing everything they could at the ghouls, but the monsters simply ate the bullets and continued to beat their way in.
“Keep bringing us ammo!” The headless horse cried as she handed a recently reloaded flintlock to another one of the defenders.
“We don't have anymore!” One of the engineers yelled.
“What?” Velvet yelled. “Why? We should have more!”
“We’ve been converting most of it into auto-cannon ammunition!” another pony cried. “Whatever’s left of its in processing!”
Velvet cursed.
They were dead ponies.
They couldn't fight off these monsters, not with eight or so shots left. They were doomed, and that fate was soon hovering over the engineers like a cloud.
They were dead.
Soon to be eaten alive.
Their flesh would be swallowed, and their bones gnawed to nothing.
And...and…
Was it getting colder?
A shaky breath from Velvet left a puff of steam hanging in the air, and she shivered as she felt the cold, two hundred-year-old wrath of a furious ghost.
“Back away from the door,” she said, before she nearly leapt off her own barricade. “Back away from the door!”
A piercing wail shot through the air, and every engineer there dropped to the ground, covering their ears as Siren's voice tore through the building.
The ghouls stopped their banging against the door, before screaming as something tore them apart. The hallway beyond thundered, and a thin layer of frost formed on the surface of the doors as a terrible, terrible scream echoed beyond.
“Where is he! Where’s Valentine! I will be avenged!”
Gusts of freezing wind wafted in into barricaded room, followed by a strange, ethereal, furious heat that they could not explain.
“I know he’s here! Where is he!” Sweetie’s voice roared from the hallway. “Where is he!”
Velvet listened as the ghost took two centuries of vengeance on the ghouls outside. She shivered at the thought of the fury the otherwise sweet poltergeist held, and shook her head. At least they would survive this.
It was hardly a comforting thought, but it was all she had.
===ᐁ===
The Commander and the others arrived only a few minutes later.
He rushed out of the DASH-1, weapon drawn, and the teams followed after him, all searching for enemies to gun down.
Instead, they found a pile of dead ghouls, already being piled by the survivors.
And then Manticore told him that Valentine had walked in.
The dragon’s heart went cold, and his blood froze in his veins, before he ran for his room. He ran to the old wooden door with a candle on its face, and pushed it open. It creaked on its hinges, it’s back burnt to charcoal.
He felt his heart drop when he saw the ashes.
Everything had been burnt to cinders. There was nothing left.
They were gone.
His friends were gone.
Taken again by that thing.
Taken by him.
“Vaaaaallennntiiiiiiine!”