I Blame You, Too

by Whitestrake

The first breast implants were tested on dogs

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

We barely had time for anything but a dead sprint, running through the palace's crystalline halls to reach the throne room. The walls were made of some sort of crystal, stronger than stone and much harder for anything short of a tank to damage, but the natural patterns served to add a labyrinthine quality to the otherwise straightforward layout. But I didn't need sight to find my way; the hive mind needed to know where everything was in case of emergency. I'd say this qualified.

The changelings with me formed a small branch of the the hive mind that I was fully capable of joining while retaining my independence. We kept looking around as we ran to maximize our shared field of vision, passing tactical information between each other as the situation demanded. We came across a dead Crystal Guard, nailed to the wall by the flag of the Crystal Empire. There was a look of dull surprise on his face, like he hadn't had the time to fully understand he was being killed. Ophidia and his crew had definitely been through here.

I regretted not looting the grenades from the Marine's corpse, because they were strong enough to tear through just about any armor the cultists would have. I'd have to make do with what I had; it wasn't like I could just turn back. Still, I wanted to, if only because Chrysalis was worried about me, but I needed to catch Dahl, for everyone's sakes. I didn't know if he was going to kill Ophidia, or join him, but the fact remained he was a dangerous individual who was on the loose in the Crystal Empire.

The throne room had two more dead guards in front of it, hacked up by an ax or something similar. It hadn't been Dahl's power sword, certainly, no had it been a power weapon of any sort. A barrier had been erected in the doorway, but I could tell it was focused on keeping things in instead of out. Thirteen people were inside, not counting Cadence and Shining Armor. Ophidia, who I recognized from Dahl' mind, stood in the center, speaking to his old friend. There wasn't peace between them, but the numerous cultists pointing a myriad of guns at the two kept things civil. I noticed Jay was nowhere to be seen.

“You son of a bitch!” I slammed a fist against the magic wall, and I realized Shining had actually erected two shields, one of which surrounded only him and Cadence. Dahl looked at me like he'd seen a ghost, though his old friend seemed a bit less impressed. The changelings next to me charged their magic for a concentrated spell meant to distort Armor's barrier for a moment, and allow us through. I instructed them to instead target half the cultists. On cue, it flickered, and we jumped in. Autoguns fired at us as soon as we were clear of the pink bubble, but Chorion's brood shot before they met their fates, reducing the eleven armed cultists to five. Those five, not including Dahl and Ophidia, gave me the creeps.

“Your pet Marine almost killed one of my friends!” I charged Ophidia, not caring that Dahl had his own sword out. He blocked my swing with his own, using both arms to hold against my augmented strength. It flapped my sabre to its side, letting the face rest against his bladed edge. The force of our attacks caused my sword to slide down the length of his, through the guard, and cutting clean through a number of his fingers before finally whipping through the air and hanging over my shoulder, primed for a good lunge. Instead, I tossed Dahl out of the way, and aimed for the rogue inquisitor.

What felt like a cold sledgehammer knocked me away, but I kept on my feet. One of the cultists looked at me intensely, and I could feel the air chill around him. Psykers, that what the remaining nutjobs were, that meant I had to deal with six of them, if I included Dahl in the mix. I had no backup; the changelings were dead and Shining Armor couldn't risk dropping his barrier for even a moment. How the hell was I going to handle this?

A massive first caved in the skull of one of the psykers, immediately followed by a gout of flame that caught three more. A heavily distorted voice voice rang above their screams. “I have come to destroy you.” It was Jay, back in his armor, and ready to kick ass. I used the distraction to take care of the last psyker, stabbing through her eye before she even knew what was happening. A weight on my back told me someone was trying to wrestle me to the ground, and judging by the fingerless hands, I assumed it was Dahl.

I jumped and slammed him against the floor, then got up before Jay could roast Ophidia, only to see the barrel of an ornate pistol staring me right in the face. It looked like a European dragon, which wasn't exactly what someone would put on the a powder-based weapon, and this certainly wasn't any sort of laspistol. Not liking the only alternatives, I ducked back, hoping the energy would pass over me. My armor registered temperatures above three-thousand degrees Celsius; the air hissed and my faceplate was barely out of range, but still started to melt. There was a high-pitched roar as the inferno pistol found a target.

Jay's armor fell into a pile of molten metal, which I could only guess had once been its legs. It was only a moment more before he was out of his suit and running around, trying to nurse a scorched ass. I whipped back into a standing position before Ophidia's gun had a chance to cool down for another shot, and gave him a well-placed and well-deserved punch right in the mouth. Maybe it was the force, or maybe it was luck, but he went down all the same. I ripped of his coat, and used one of the sleeves to tie his wrists behind his back.

“So, Cadence, still think my methods are extreme?” I asked, looking up. She had her mouth open in disbelief, either amazed that I swooped in and saved the day, or terrified that this was only the beginning, because she knew these men weren't genestealers. She also had no idea those bugs were dead, but that would be rectified soon enough.

“I wish I'd listened earlier.” She looked at Shining Armor, and he lowered the barrier. She stepped away from her throne, but made sure to keep clear of the corpses as best she could. Dahl and Ophidia were unconscious or otherwise harmless, and all that remained was to have them picked up by the Inquisition. I should have figured that mental barrier I felt in Dahl's mind was connected to Chaos, but I ad been too concerned with rooting out Ophidia's cult. “I don't suppose you need any help now, do you?”

“We have three serious injuries, and whatever you could classify Jay ass burns as. So, to be brief, can we have some painkillers?” I was started to feel everything that had happened to me. I think that Marine left as imprint of his fist in my skull; I could certainly feel where his thumb broke my cheekbone.

“Sweet Celestia! What happened up here?” Rarity must have been the first up the stairs if she had called out like that. She was wearing her Element, as the princess instructed, but it was no longer needed to end this. She covered her snout with a hoof to block the smell of burned human flesh and spilled blood. There may have been a few other bodily fluids mixed in with that, but they weren't worth mentioning in polite company.

“Ugh, I'll never get over this smell.” Dash looked like she was going to be sick for a while, but also looked like she would tough this out. She looked at the small pile of burnt corpses like it was the most disgusting thing she had ever seen, which it probably was.

“I'm glad I missed this party.” Those were the exact words I never thought I'd hear Pinkie say outside of a situation like this. I actually kind of regretted teaching her to call things like this a party, but we had been watching a marathon of action movies, and it kind of slipped out one day. I bent down to pick up the dropped inferno pistol, and, realizing there was an actual safety mechanism on it, popped it into the holster alongside Delphine's bolt pistol.

“I think we need to get the Medic out here, and soon.” I really didn’t want anyone's injuries getting infected, least of all Jacques's. But I also didn't know if Amos was able to fly the strider or not, because I most certainly couldn't. The train would take too long, and we needed speed to accomplish this with any chance of success. Sky-chariot would take too long, so he was really our only option in comprehensive medial care. “I'll go see if Amos is capable of flying right now.”

“Ca-, um, can we please leave?” Fluttershy asked, more than a little freaked out by the bodies. She was used to animal corpses, but only after proper mourning, so this was a completely new world for her. Knowing her sensitive nature, Cadence gave her a sad, sincere smile.

“I'll set you all up in a nice hotel. How does that sound?” They nodded hesitantly, but relished the chance to get the hell out of there. Shining looked at me with worry; he knew this was only the beginning of something worse. We'd shared a moment like this on the train when we left Canterlot six years ago. But, until Delray decided when to clear the genestealer infestation aboard the Skyward Valkyrie, we had won. The two of us didn't speak until Twilight helped Jay hobble out of the room and changelings collected the rogue inquisitors.

“Taylor, be honest with me. How big is this, really?” I took off my mask as he asked that; he would need a visual aid to fully understand, I was sure. My faced was bloody, broken, and bruised, and there was a clear outline of a large fist imprinted on my skin. It was also painfully clear in the bones beneath the bruising, too. When he saw, he looked at me like I'd taken on an army and barely walked away at all. “What the hell did you run into down there?”

“A Chaos Marine, and there are millions more where that one came from.” There were also things tougher than Space Marines, a lot of things, really, but I had no desire to scare him out of his wits. Truthfully, I didn't want to admit it, either.

“Can this planet even survive anything like that?” Our odds were zero, even without knowing what else stalked the Milky Way. If the Black Legion or any decently-sized warband attacked Equus, we would fall shortly after the princesses, who were very much killable, though it would be insanely difficult for any human to do, even with high-powered weaponry.

“We damn sure can't do it alone.”

Comments

[Inrix]

"cant do it alone"

Only one question... Who?

[Whitestrake]

2650432 I'll hold an official poll when the time comes

[Bazing]

DAMMIT BRING IN TAU! TAU ARE OP AS FUCK! TAU ARE BAD-ASS! TAU ARE THE BEST! TAU TAU TAU!

[Nightmare Wolf]

2650170 It's only going to get more awesome, I can tell.

[DaCrazyOne]

And for this planet, it's all downhill from here....

[Rhodesm96]

2651472 Calm your tits.
Also, any normal human could probably beat a Tau fire warrior in a fist fight.
Just saying.

Also, I vote that he brings in Eldar. They don't really have any enemies other than Chaos, so they seem like they'd readily form an alliance with Equus.
Also calling it "Equus" is like calling Earth "Homo"

[Cobra of England]

Right, options-
Tau- they'd be utterly mauled by Genestealers.
Orks- Blood Axes/Freebooterz? Possible, but not probable.
Eldar- God please no. Eldar helping Imperium is too mainstream.
Dark Eldar- No idea, but the Ponies would hate them.
Nids- Obviously not.
Imperial Factions- HERESY *blam*
Chaos- Chaos vs Chaos is a intresting idea. Do it.

[ArchAIngel]

How about the Blood Ravens from Dawn of War 2 that you play as.. That should cause some very interesting results. Or maybe the necrons, even Chaos hates necrons. Love to see that happen.

[G S tol Kriaal]

but I ad been too concerned

Dropped an h

[Chuck Baleigh]

Alright, picture of an inferno pistol, and details on the weapon, please.
I assume this is the end of arc 1?

[Moak]

2654688
Picked up an "n"

[Razzy]

Finger lickin' good.