Once again, I found myself toiling away in a dimly lit work area. The Deceiver was a psychic, leagues beyond anything I could ever hope to match and far older than any organism has the right to be. Without a doubt, he had seen enough that nothing could possibly surprise him, no matter how improbable. I worked with that in mind while Chrysalis and her mother talked with the other queens. Cadence was faithfully seated by the door, eyes upon me as I connected wires to the scrap abomination laid before me. The pink alicorn knew better than to question my actions, if only because it would get her nowhere fast.
If the Deceiver, my only remaining enemy, could read my mind and learn what I would do, I merely had to avoid planning. The ramshackle device I was building exemplified such qualities, if only in the most idiotic and dangerous of ways. The bits of rusty metal and old circuitry were much the same as the first prototypes of my FTL gun, though they served a purpose far different, if on along the same lines. While it did not possess the synthetic-diamond lens, it would still deconstruct what it was attached to. Provided it worked, it could theoretically release my body's atomic potential energy. For reference, the average adult human male contains enough of that potential energy for three large hydrogen bombs.
The beauty was in that delightful if factor. The Deceiver couldn't know what would happen if I didn't, and we were both exceedingly aware that I was crazy enough to turn myself into an organic weapon of mass destruction if I felt the need. I was doing my best to ensure there would be a perfect fifty-fifty shot of going boom. For a brief moment, I wondered how dazzling the blast would look from orbit. It was a real shame no one would get to see it, even if the suicide device worked without a problem. Maybe Celestia could bear witness from Canterlot. Actually, given that I don't have a power source capable of setting off the fission, I may need to enlist some help.
No, none of this was even feasible. There was no fucking way I could use Luna and Cadence to power a fission reactor, even if I could actually get it running in time. I've never been angry enough to actually throw something off a table, but that didn't mean I couldn't sweep the waste of my time away with my arm. Cadenza, for her part, had been lightly dozing off when the scrap metal slammed into the opposite wall. Being the princess in charge of love, I think she was perfectly aware of how much I felt the exact opposite for the Deceiver at the moment.
“Something wrong?” the pink alicorn asked, using her magic to hold my fist an inch from the stone wall. It seemed that, in my anger, I was ready to punch a fucking granite wall to relieve tension. I shot the young, possibly-mortal princess a flat look.
“No, I always do things like this when I'm about to fight physical gods.” Actually, given how I acted when I found out Jay had been talking to Celestia when we first arrived in Equestria, that wasn't far from the truth. The only real difference was that I would likely face my demise tomorrow at the coronation. Combat was not my strongest front, as exemplified by the stab wounds in my gut at the moment.
“You've got something on your mind; talking about it might help.” Cadence shot me a smile, hoping to ease my nerves without the need for chemical depressants. As much as I appreciated the gesture, and I really did, she couldn't possibly understand my predicament. Actually, she probably knew how I felt, given that both of us, at some point, came very close to losing our lovers to being much older than ourselves, and not in a romantic sense. With a sigh, I realized she might be right.
“Listen, I'm a guy, we don't talk about our emotions on Earth.” At that, Cadenza looked a bit taken back. It wasn't that I offended her or anything, just that I seemed to be too stubborn to come clean about something so important to me. “Which is why what I'm about to tell you will never be spoken to anyone else.”
“I wouldn't dare betray your trust.” Cadence's smile widened, and with good reason. Her victory over my innate, asshole nature was the first such battle to end in equine success. If anyone had told me a year ago I was going to admit what I would say next to a talking, pink pony, I would have beat them into the ground. “I'm sure it's nothing I haven't heard before now.”
“The Deceiver is still very much alive, and you can not believe how terrified I am right now.” Eighteen simple words were all I needed to convey my message. It took ten seconds for everything to process in the alicorn's mind. Mi Amore Cadenza sputtered a bit, trying to say something but words remained as elusive as an honest politician. She just sat with her mouth open as I hobbled to the bed and flopped down, waiting for me to elaborate. The pink pony knew as much as Twilight and Trixie in when it came to the supposedly dead god, that he was much older than Celestia and possessed what had been confused for magic by ancient equines. “Alive is kind of a stretch, but he's too active to be dead, and I hesitate to make any assumptions.”
“How is that even possible?” Cadence asked a question I wanted answered as well, but neither of us would likely find it. I shook my head at the crystal princess, too concerned with far more important things than what the hell the Deceiver actually was. “There's more, isn't there?”
“Yeah, more than I'd like to admit.” I stared at the pony with an intensity I rarely managed; the sort of look reserved for an assassin as he gazed into his mark's eyes for the final time. I think the young alicorn could tell something very dire haunted my thoughts. “He's strong, pushed right past my mental defenses like they didn't even exist.”
“Maybe he just got lucky.” Cadenza tried cheering me up, though she really had no idea how powerful my own anti-psychic abilities were. The pink princess knew of my earliest communications with Celestia, and how we would often speak for hours by means of telepathy. She also knew I improved my own skills with every sentence, but she failed to grasp how rapidly I had improved. “I mean, a lot of ponies use mind magic for things; it stand to reason he just knew how to crack your lock.”
“I forced Celestia out of my head one week after arriving in Equestria.” That wasn't quite true; I was able to conceal information from the solar princess during my interrogation. Even with the modesty, Cadence wasn't exactly prepared for that. To be honest, there wasn't much she actually knew about Jay and me before we showed up to work the wedding. I doubt she expected anything quite so stunning from the humans that had become national heroes, but she could deal. “The Deceiver looked through my eyes earlier today; he could have made me kill Chrysalis at the drop of a hat.”
“You're not worried about yourself, you never were.” The pink princess realized something that would have been obvious to Luna after my first sentence, but better late than never. I think Cadence found my concern sweet, though strange. Ponies, as far as I knew, preferred to avoid conflict, drawing away at the first sign of danger to themselves or their mates. Humans and changelings lacked such a prey instinct, but there was very little possibility anyone besides a dedicated scientist knew the obscure fact. “Why not just head back to Canterlot; if the Deceiver wanted to kill you, he could have done so long ago if what you're saying is true.”
“Who dares, wins.” The meaning was clear, but Cadence didn't know where the words originated. The alicorn looked like she was about to ask why I cared about something so stupid as pride, and cared enough to risk not only my life, but the life of my rather significant other. We were thankfully interrupted before anything more could come of this.
“Thank you for watching Taylor for me, Cadence.” Chrysalis's words were kind, but there was a clear undertone that suggested the alicorn leave. It wasn't rude or anything, but the crystal princess made a hasty retreat nonetheless. A large, black blur flew at me just as the door clicked closed. In a flash, I was pinned to the bed, but the future Grand Matron kept her weight off me. A pair of stern, green eyes looked at me from their ebony setting, glittering like the finest emeralds. “Now, do want to tell me why I felt you in the hivemind?”
“Your Deceiver decided to look through my eyes and I made the mistake of resisting.” Chryssy looked at me strangely, before I could see the color drain from her face. For changelings, the hivemind was something of comfort, a constant buzz of family that kept one from ever truly being alone in the cruel reality of their existence; for outsiders, the mountains of whispering voices and quiet thunder were deafening, causing only fear and insanity. “I'm really sorry for scaring you.”
“You? Sorry? I'll believe that when Tartarus freezes over.” The giggling queen nuzzled my face before dropping beside me. There was still tension, still worry and anxiety over the future, but we wouldn't let that hang over our heads. We held onto each other, embracing as tightly as we could manage with my still-recovering body, enjoying our victory, if only for a moment. “We'll get through this, alright? There's no reason to worry about anything.”
“I've worked too hard to die now.” I never mentioned what I worked for, but my meaning was more than implied. My excessive affection was odd, and Chrysalis easily noticed. Our relationship may have been hate-hate-love-hate in its early days, in fact it was the day of Karapass's visit that both of us actually admitted to it. Even then, I was still an ass, but that was one of my charming qualities, if women back on Earth were to be believed.
“What's got you so chipper?” She wasn't complaining, but my behavior was unexpected. I could express my emotions easily, for once in my life. I pressed my forehead against Chrysalis's, though a bit to the side to avoid her horn.
“Chrissy, I'm going to eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow I die.”