As Silk was slowly making her way back to the war room, where the others were waiting, her eye caught sight of the Commander stepping into a SCOOT.
She watched him as he powered up the small flyer, and saw him disappear into the night.
Most importantly, though, she saw the fury in his eyes.
The moment he left, she ran for the war room, and burst into the room. “The Commander just left.”
These four words were met with blinks and empty stares as they all tried to understand what exactly she just said.
“The Commander left, he’s taken a ship and flown away,” Silk repeated.
Everypony there all slowly turned to look at the table, with the magical hologram of Valentine's castle.
“Oh, no.”
And then the room exploded in activity. The teams scrambled as they grabbed their kit and gear, before rushing for the door.
“Who’s going?” Silver asked.
“We’ll hold the fort,” Hunter said. “If you guys don't make it back, we’re the last line.”
“Chrome?”
“With you to the end,” he said as he checked his metallic arms with Chestnut a few steps behind.
“Plan of attack?” Mandible asked.
“Follow the Commander’s mess, and go in through that way,” Silver said.
Manticore’s voice popped in over the intercom. “Attention! Attention! Rescue mission to leave in t-minus two minutes. All personnel prepare for urgent rescue mission! Code V! Code V!”
Alpha and Gamma teams ran for the hangar as alarms and klaxons began to sound. Engineers began running this way and that, carrying equipment that the assistance personnel was once in charge of. Crates of ammo, medical supplies, the towering exosuits, all of it was rushed onto the DASH-1’s landing pad, and Tinker Bolt, the pilot, was throwing on her equipment as fast as possible. As the Auto-Jack ponies slipped their limbs into their suits, the rest of the team began stuffing their pockets full of supplies.
“This is not a drill, ponies, not a drill!” Silver yelled.
They rushed forward, getting everything into place, moving crates, weapons, bolts, stakes, incendiary grenades and more.
To their credit, they were ready in fifteen minutes, but that was fifteen minutes late.
Gamma and Alpha piled into the back of the DASH-1, and Tinker just finished warming up the engines.
“Did Manticore get you the coordinates?” Silver asked.
“Have them right here,” she said, before the engines began to growl. “Lifting off! Buckle up everypony, we’re going a little fast on this one!”
“You heard the mare! We’re kicking this into overdrive! So strap yourselves in, ready your crossbows, and kiss your butts goodbye!”
The DASH-1 began to float upwards, toward the opening bay doors, the engines already whining as the magitek engine began to chug faster than it had ever before.
It would be hard, even with the engine in overdrive, to catch up with the smaller, faster SCOOT, but by Celestia, they were going to try.
===ᐁ===
Spike growled, before his legs gave out from under him.
Valentine, the monster, stood over him as Rarity screamed until her voice went hoarse.
“Not bad, Commander,” he said with a grunt as his foreleg slowly reformed. “Unfortunately for both of us, it wasn't enough, was it?”
Spike spat at him, flames leaping from his mouth to char Valentine’s face.
He didn’t even scream, he just sat there until the flesh was seared black. “What’s worse is that I think you could have done it, too. If I gave you another century, maybe two. That’s all it would have taken, wasn’t it?”
Spike reached out and tried to claw at him.
“But I moved too quickly. Damn my impatience,” he muttered. “Forgive me, Spike, I should have given you more time.”
Spike pushed himself forward, hate burning in his eyes.
“You were the perfect specimen, and I ruined it by jumping the gun. It happens every time.”
“I’m not finished yet!” Spike roared, dragging himself forward for one last blow.
“You were close, Valentine, close and you ruined it.”
Spike didn’t care what he said, he only drove his powerful claws into the monster’s flesh, and ripped it apart.
Valentine didn’t even care.
“You should have given him more time.”
Spike clawed him again, tearing a hind leg off, before Valentine turned.
“Forgive me, Spike,” he said. “All this and I’ve ruined you now.”
Spike raised his claw a third time, but Valentine’s ruby claws slapped them aside.
“Everything I’ve done to you wasted. I am sorry Spike.”
The dragon raised his claw again.
“At least now your suffering will end,” Valentine said, before he raised his own claw for the killing blow.
At this moment, two things happened, almost simultaneously. The first was a crack of thunder, sounding from back toward the door. The second was the grenade the size of a soda can slamming into Valentine’s chest at subsonic speeds.
The vampire was thrown back a few feet, before the grenade exploded, throwing fire and shrapnel into the air before Cotton Swab and Prim Rose, the Gamma Medic, descended on Spike like madmen, applying the spray on bandages, and injecting him with synthetic blood.
The thundering of massive, mechanical hooves rumbled behind him, and Spike looked up to see Chestnut charging in his massive Auto-Jack suit. The earth pony-turned machine slammed into the still recovering vampire, and forced Valentine to defend himself as Chestnut poured all his strength into crushing him.
“Gamma medic, secure the hostage!” Silver’s voice called out, before Prim ran forward to Rarity, who whimpered as pain thundered through her body.
“Gamma, secure the Commander!” Chrome ordered, as he loaded a magnesium incendiary into his grenade launcher.
Within moments, Spike was surrounded on all sides, protected by numerous ponies that had suddenly appeared in Valentine’s castle.
Silver then slid next to him, with the Commander’s handgun in his magical grasp. “Sorry, Commander, but we decided to move up the time table a bit.”
Spike glared up at the unicorn. “If I hadn’t lost so much blood, I would have smacked you for that.”
“I know you would, sir,” Silver said, handing over the magical firearm. “Luckily, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to try once we get out of here.”
Spike took it. “I hate you all,” he said.
“Noted, sir.”
As Spike stood up, he took a moment to gather himself before he shouted.
“Alright! Demos, cover that area in as many explosives as you can throw! Heavies, fire every shot you have into the explosions! Everyone else, throw your bolts into him! Alpha Heavy on three!”
“Three!”
The massive mech lept backwards as Chrome and Lemon began pouring molotovs and magnesium down on Valentine. White and vermilion flame exploded over the ruby-clad monster. Heat and flame could be felt in the back of the room, and Valentine burned.
A moment later, the heavies began pouring their sun-blessed bullets into the flames, hoping to hit him in the storm of fires and lead.
The silver-tipped bolts came next, the yew shafts burnt to a crisp almost instantly, while the heads shot into the mess, hopefully tearing the flesh and heart apart.
And then Valentine came.
His flesh simply sloughed off his body, charred black from the heat. The flame blackened bones, and the beating, terrible ruby heart that had grown into terrible thing that gave the skeleton claws and wings and more.
“Hit him hard!” Spike ordered.
And they did.
Yew wood shot forward as waves of the pneumatic crossbow bolts slammed into him. It hit the flesh as it tried to grow back, causing a reaction that made it hiss and dissolve.
“Commander!” The thing yelled, its skull smiling wildly.
“Keep firing!” Spike yelled, before he drew the stake he still carried at his side.
Silver saw it, and drew his blade.
The dragon began running toward the skeleton, his weapons raised. Shot after shot of the small, but powerful handgun slammed into the skeleton, digging into bone. “Valentine!” he roared.
Valentine raised his claw, ready to bring it down on the dragon.
And a single, magically-reinforced obsidian blade caught his open arm.
In a single moment, a moment that seemed that drag on forever, Valentine watched as Spike drove the stake into his heart, followed by his claw. For a brief moment the heart held. For a second, the stake didn’t penetrate. Then it ran him through, first the stake, then the claw, and they all felt the heart shatter.
In that last moment, the three of them stood there, Valentine, Silver, and Spike.
And Valentine gave a sigh. “It’s finished then, is it?” A chuckle escaped his teeth. “Then my work is over, and I can finally thank you, Spike the Dragon.”
And then he was silent.
And just like that, two hundred years of vengeance had finally ended.
===ᐁ===
The DASH-1 was back in the air in fifteen minutes. Rarity was in a stretcher, being pumped with so many painkillers it could kill...well...a horse.
Spike merely stared at her as Tinker piloted the ship back to the Headquarters. He stared at her, watching her breathe for the first time in two hundred years. He sighed, it was over.
Finally, finally over.
“You alright, boss?” Silver asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “It was a little faster than I thought it was. His Demon form must have slowed his regeneration abilities.“
Silver waited a moment. “Well, you know, it's just like what the guard book says about revenge. Most of the time it doesn't feel like it pays off.”
Spike smiled. “I literally wrote that part,” he said.
“You did?”
Spike nodded.
“Oh. Well, what about the extended consequences of the act?”
“Wrote that too. We're going to have to deal with all the thralls that are now perfectly free again,” Spike said. “With Valentine's death, every thrall he ever gave birth to are free. Fluttershy will be happy for that, at least.”
“Oh, well, that should be easier to deal with, right?”
“Walk in the park by comparison,” the dragon said with a smile. “I just hope I get to say goodbye to Sweetie.”
“What? What about Siren?”
“Her unfinished business was avenging herself and Rarity. Valentine was responsible for both. She could very well have moved on by now.”
“I…” Silver began, unsure how to continue.
“We both knew it might happen,” Spike said. “Two hundred years is a long time to deal with impermanence.”
“Alright, I’ll take your word for it, sir.”
Spike nodded. “I’m fine, Silver,” he said. “I’m just processing everything.”
“Yes sir.”
Spike nodded, before his eyes turned back to Rarity, who lay asleep on her stretcher.
She was alive.
By Celestia, she was alive.
===ᐁ===
Once the DASH-1 landed, Spike ordered Rarity to immediately be taken to the intensive care unit. As Gamma took her, taking her stretcher with all the care they could manage, Siren floated up to the great ship.
“It's done, then?” She asked.
Spike nodded. “Your sister’s alive, and Valentine is dead. You’ve been avenged, but I’m sure you know that by now.”
She nodded. “I know, but I wanted to wait to hear you say it.”
Spike smiled, and nodded. “It's over. It's finally over.”
Sweetie Belle smiled, ethereal tears dripping from her face, before she reached out and hugged him tight. “Goodbye, Spike.”
“Goodbye, Sweetie Belle,” he answered as his arms wrapped around her.
“Don't keep Rarity too long, I want a turn with her too,” she said with a laugh.
Spike smiled back, before she simply dissolved in his grasp.
Spike let his arms drop as the faintest sensation of warmth filled his chest and touched his cheek. “I’ll miss you,” he said, trying to hold back tears. “But I’m glad you can finally rest.”
Manticore walked up a moment later. “He’s dead then?” She asked.
Spike nodded. “You're free.”
Manticore smirked. “Of one voice. I still have a few others to deal with.”
Spike nodded, before he sighed.
Now there was work to be done.
===ᐁ===
Spike had another stop to make.
For the past two days he had been scrambling to finish the warnings to the other Department branches, as well as general updates as to what happened. Admittedly, this would have been a slightly faster process if he wasn't worried about Rarity.
She was basically in a coma. The doctor insisted that she was resting, though her heartbeat was a little slow. Still, Spike pushed through, forcing himself to fill out his paperwork, and deal with the needs of his team.
Still, he was missing his favorite, undead confidant.
Still, he could not ignore this last duty. With Rarity recovering, and Sweetie Belle gone, he had to let one other pony know that the job was finished. One more ghost needed to know that her work had finished Valentine.
As Spike approached the old, dilapidated tent, he found Madam White waiting for him.
The old ghost smiled as he approached. “Then it is done. Souls and bodies finally at peace. The living and the dead are both released.”
“Madam White,” Spike greeted.
“Come in, then, share the tale of your victory,” she said, motioning him inside her tent.
“I didn’t come give you that news, Madam,” Spike said.
Her brilliant, sky blue eyes stared back at him. “Hm? Then for why are you here?”
“I just wanted you to know that Sweetie Belle has moved on. She’s passed through the gate.”
She stared at him. “Is that all you wanted to say?” she asked suddenly. “I knew that the moment she passed.” She snorted. “Here you stand in the middle of good news and frown. What has come over you, I wonder?”
Spike blinked. “Well…”
“Your enemy is dead. Your friend has found peace, your love is avenged, what more could you ask for?”
Spike blinked again, before a faint smile graced his lips. “Y-yeah...I suppose you’re right.”
And Madam White smiled herself. “Finally. It’s about time you smiled.”
Spike had half a second to look confused before Madam White unraveled her turban. It fell at her hooves to reveal an old, but wild mane. Her robe likewise fell, revealing her tail to be just as curly, with streaks of pink laced through it. But the most damning of all was the cutie mark that decorated her flank with three balloons.
“All I wanted to do was see my friends smile one last time,” Pinkie Pie said, staring into the shocked face of Spike.
“P-Pinkie?” the dragon said, shock running through his veins.
Had Madam White been Pinkie this whole time? How had I not noticed? How could I still treat her like this? Why was she a ghost? Did she really have unfinished business? Had she been wandering these past two hundred years just to see him smile?
Spike suddenly felt very sick. “P-Pinkie, why didn’t you tell me it was you? I...I would have...I…”
She drifted forward and enveloped Spike in a hug. “I know, Spike. I know you would have. I know you would have done everything you could to help me. But I wanted a genuine, and happy smile, nothing forced for my sake.”
“P-Pinkie...Pinkie, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to send you away,” he said, tears starting to form in his eyes. “I didn’t want you die alone.”
“I know you didn’t. You just wanted to keep me safe.”
“I didn’t know, Pinkie! I didn’t know!” Spike cried.
“Hey, now...that’s enough of that,” she said, her voice calm and gentle. “You’ve shed enough tears for all of us. It’s time for you to smile now.”
“I didn’t want you to be alone, Pinkie. I wanted you to live!”
“We all have to go sometime, Spike, you know that,” she said, as she began to disappear before his eyes. “Now come on,” she said, wiping his eyes. “You’re the Commander, can’t have anypony see you cry now, can we?”
“Pinkie, I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
“I know you are, Spike,” she said. “And I never once blamed you for it. Just remember to smile for me every now and then, okay?”
Spike looked up at her, even as she began to move on, as her form became more and more intangible with every passing second. “O-Okay. I’ll smile more, Pinkie, I swear I will.”
She smiled back at him, kissed his forehead, and disappeared, leaving Spike alone in the forest, where no one could see his tears.
===ᐁ===
Coming back to the Department headquarters, Spike was smiling the best he could. It was the third day now, since Valentine’s death, and the teams were back up and training, getting ready for the thralls that would soon flood the world without their master to bend them to his will.
“Clear! Clear! Clear!” their voices cried from the room-clearing training room, as they virtually cleared room after room.
“Good work, Alpha, Phi, you’re up. You need the most practice.”
“Rub it in, why don’t ya?”
Spike listened, but kept moving. He had to get back to his office. He still had work to do.
Velvet Storm was waiting for him. “Sir, you wanted me to report on Miss Rarity’s condition.”
“I did, what news do you have?”
“Well…” she began, before hesitating. “She’s awake, but…”
Spike didn’t bother hearing another word. Walking past her and down to the medical wing, Spike moved with a singular and unshakable purpose. He strode down, and did not slow nor stop until he was finally in front of her room.
That door gave him pause.
He stood before that terrible, single door, the door that separated him from the mare he loved, and the mare he had doomed to a death-like sleep for two centuries.
He waited a moment, just a moment more, before he gathered his courage and walked in.
Rarity was sitting on her bed, staring at the wall.
“Rarity?” he called to her.
Her ear flicked, showing that she heard him, but offering little more than that.
“Rarity, it’s me, Spike. Are you alright?”
“What happened?” she asked.
“You were hurt,” he answered, meekly. “Very badly. I never had the time to save you, so I took you to Twilight. She put you to sleep, and you’ve been here for the past two hundred years.”
She didn’t react, at least not openly. “What happened to Sweetie Belle?”
“She died more than a hundred years ago. She tried to avenge you.”
Still no reaction.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“The San Palomino Desert,” Spike answered. “We’re in the Department of Supernatural and Paranormal Investigation headquarters building, some hundred feet below ground.”
Still nothing.
“Are you okay?” Spike asked this time.
She did not answer.
“Are the others dead, then?” she asked.
“All but you and Fluttershy, but she’s a vampire now, so that hardly counts,” he said, hoping that she heard the joking tone he added to that.
A moment of silence passed.
“I suppose you want to me say you were right. That I needed the bodyguard?”
“No. I don’t care about that anymore. I’ve suffered over the decision long enough for both of us. It’s fine.”
Another second of quiet.
“I think I want to talk to Fluttershy for a while,” she said.
“I can bring her in,” Spike said, turning the doorknob.
“And, one more thing, Spike.”
Spike turned, ready to answer.
She stared at him with sad, hurt, brilliant, blood red eyes. “Why am I so hungry?”