I Blame You, Too

by Whitestrake


There's a man who has been in 692 movies. His name is Frank Welker.

$%$%$% Amos's POV $%$%$%

Mach one was a good speed when you only have one intact leg; too bad Delphine had me soaring at mach twelve. We arrived at the Crystal Empire in about four minutes, at the cost of almost overheating the strider's engines, not to mention almost crashing to a fiery death. We circled the city a few times as I activated the atmospheric brakes, trying to lose speed so we didn't crash through the palace when I took her down. None of us were taking Dahl's betrayal lightly, least of all Alexander, who had been with him since he became a full inquisitor.

Dahl saved my life right around the time Taylor said he developed a mental barrier that prevented him from reading his mind, which meant I would be under serious suspicion once we turned them in. How would we prevent the Inquisition from finding out about this world when Taylor would have to face interrogation as well? We couldn't lie, not when they could pry the information from our minds. I shook my head and decided to worry about it later; we'd find a way to cross that bridge eventually.

$%$%$% Taylor's POV $%$%$%

It didn't take me long to fall asleep after I went through my armor's energy settings. In many ways, I was most comfortable in its confines, like a protective shell, but it did nothing to comfort me. It was a bit like sleeping during the war, in the short time between Trixie's death and the first trenches dug in griffin territory; I was restless, and dreams brought no mercy from reality.

There was a field stretching out before me, covered in a thin layer of snow. In the distance, a black obelisk rose, and I could see the many holes adorning its surface. It was the dead of night, and in the sky, I saw a swirling mass of pink and purple that seemed to glare down at me. A feeling of dread washed through me as I looked at it, the Ocularis Terribus, more commonly called the Eye of Terror. At that moment, I felt Eye of Queasiness seemed a more appropriate name, but I digress. If I was looking into the Eye of Terror from lightyears away, and there was a black spire in the distance, then I could only be on Cadia. I have no idea how I got there because they shoot fucking everybody out of the sky if they don't have the proper authority.

It took only a moment for me to shiver in the cold, reminding me that I was in winter clothing and standing in a tundra. For Cadia, everything seemed awfully quiet; there wasn't even the slightest peep from any animals that may have lived nearby. It must have been winter, because I got colder the longer I stood still.

“You're either brave or stupid,” A heavy, distorted voice came form behind me. I turned and saw what appeared to be a giant box on two stubby legs, only it had a Gatling gun for a right arm, and some sort of claw on the end of its left. A wolf's head was painted on its front, its black on yellow standing out against the machine's blue chassis. “I'm not sure which makes more sense.”

“Bjorn, I'm not so sure, myself,” I replied, laughing into the cold wind. Bjorn the Fell-Handed, one of the oldest dreadnoughts in existence, was saying something that amounted to a compliment. He may not have been all there, but that hardly mattered. Now I still needed to figure out why the fuck I was on Cadia and talking to a Space Wolf. “Whether brave or foolish, we're setting out in a month's time. I trust Logan Grimnar and his Great Company will be alongside us?”

“He gave his word; it is insulting to think he would do anything but.” If Bjorn was offended, his modulated voice did not show it. A number of ships soared overhead, bearing marking I did not recognize, but they did not arouse any negative feelings beyond apprehension. “I am rather surprised you managed all of this, working with xenos.”

“Yeah; and who knows, maybe we'll find Leman Russ while we're in there?”

My head shot up, and it took me only a moment to realize I was unarmored, which could explain why I was shivering in the room's chilled air. It took only a moment longer to realize I was still injured, and the sudden motion agitated my ribs.

“Bad dreams?” Chrysalis asked, making herself known. She smiled at me, but still looked upset. There were a few issues we needed to address, but she was thankfully waiting until I was healed. I nodded as best I could, trying to avoid pain. “Feel like talking about it?”

I thought for a moment, mulling over everything I'd seen in my dreams. Cadia, the Eye of Terror, Bjorn the Fell-Handed; it was all too much. It made sense, sending me to fight some greater enemy, perhaps the greatest enemy any universe knew. Still, the possibility was terrifying, as were the consequences if I failed. The only way to guarantee our victory in this grand game was not to play at all, but Chaos already pulled us in by sending Ophidia and Dahl our way.

The Deceiver, and in many ways, Jay and I, had uplifted Equestria into the planet’s superpower. We grew stronger, stranger, for our time on the magical world, and it showed. The Deceiver and I were telepaths, and Jay was developing his pyromancy, but as much as we changed everything around us for the better, some problem always reared its ugly head. Now, we really payed for our interference; what could best be described as the legions of hell knew of this place, and no amount of preparation would ensure our survival.

“I feel like Prometheus of old.” My words made Chrysalis look at me strangely. She didn't know about the Titans of Greek myth. “Prometheus was a Titan, and he gave humanity the gift of fire.”

“We've had fire for a long time, Taylor.” She just wasn't seeing what I meant, but that didn't matter; I could always explain.

“Fire gave us everything else our society has now, or did when Jay and I left.” I sighed and looked at my armor, and I thought of Earth for the first time in a long time. World War Three had probably already broken out, and I was glad I missed it if it had. “But he wasn't punished for just giving us heat and light, Chrissy; he was punished for giving us knowledge.”

“I can't imagine why anyone would be punished for that.” Chrysalis, despite not being a pony, was still largely ignorant of true evil, or what many people classified as evil. Even Discord, who was once claimed to be evil incarnate, was only a trickster. “Were the other Titans responsible?”

“No; the Olympians were. They feared humanity, and did everything they could to keep themselves above us. For his perceived crime, Prometheus was bound to a rock, and each day, and eagle would eat his liver.”

“That's an odd punishment,” She said, now more confused than before. “And you equate yourself to him?”

“In this case, I have been both the Prometheus and the Eagle.” I looked at her, and tried to sit up, clutching my chest. I gave her the best smile I could, and continued. “The Deceiver manipulated the world; he had his fingers in just about every pie even baked on this planet, and I know this because he kept rather detailed logs.” I waved my hand in front of me, rolling it like I needed someone to speed up a story. It was may way of explaining something, a little tic my hands had. “The eagle is the symbol of my former nation, and I struck down the Deceiver, where he had been imprisoned by his own doing. I've taken his place and launched your own age of industry.”

“And now you're worried about being killed yourself?” She asked, knowing I did not fear death, only what it would do to my survivors. I shook my head and sighed; things were just never easy to explain when I was speaking to a native of Equus, like teaching a cat to bark.

“The symbol of the Imperium of Man is the Aquila, a two-headed eagle. Even if we, by some godawful miracle, manage to keep Chaos off our back permanently, the Imperium will kill us all, whether by war or Exterminatus.” I smiled, enjoying the oddness of what I was saying. Defeating Chaos, real chaos, was like trying to move an ocean using only a spoon; it was impossible without a helluva lot of spoons and even more hands helping. “We have Prometheus, the Eagle, and event the gods of Mount Olympus, now all we need is a Hercules to get us out of this bind.”