//------------------------------//
// Chapter 24: New and old connections 
// Story: The Equestria Diaries 
// by Istaran 
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Frank was getting sea-sick by the time Bardrick's fever broke. Wind Chaser and I had taken on earth pony forms and were rocking the boat quite a bit with our sparring. Wind Chaser was a better fighter to begin with, and had earth pony might magic to back it up, but I could take the punishment, and needed to learn both the skill and the magical data. It was really hard to catch anything going on other than her simply being strong and tough, and I new some of that came from mere bulk. But I had the bulk to match, a bit more even as a stallion, and couldn't come close to her might. 

I actually couldn't see it until we stopped to take a break. With the magical equivalent of adrenaline draining out of her body, I finally recognized the power for its absence. And with that the painful process of working with the crude initial prototypes began. It reminded me of my first fight with the manticore, when my hastily conceived adrenaline surge let me smash my own arm against his thick bony skull. And that memory reminded me that I had more than just magic to work with.. pony biochemistry was different, but it had its own analog to adrenaline, with very similar effects. And working with molecules was what the fractal spiders were made for.

As Bardrick awoke, his newly minted subnet, 'Phoenix', quickly enquired about my progress, and started sifting through our recent memories, critiquing both of our fighting techniques as well as my newly minted crystal designs. "And how are you feeling, Bardrick?" I inquired, while the spiders conversed. 

The elder griffon stood up, stretch his wings, feeling them out before stretching every other inch of his body, and then declaring. "Fit and fine and ready for action! I feel a dozen, no three dozen years younger. Why didn't you tell me it would be like this?!" In a fit of impulsiveness, he leapt into the air and took flight, flying circles around us. 

"It appears he took to your 'magic blood' well," Black Rose commented, her eyes heavy from being awake so late into the day. "But aside from a few of our veterans and retirees, we would need more than renewed youth to justify your proposal."

I nodded to Black Rose tossed Bardrick his spear, and exuded my own. "I'm overdue for a spear-fighting lesson as it is," I said with a wink. As a pegasus, I took flight once again, meeting Bardrick in the air. 

Our own sparring match was a learning experience for both of us. He was a much more experienced fighter, and more experienced in the air in general, but the high speed maneuvers as we both made use of the flight crystals were something I was more adjusted to, especially the blending of my mind with my spiders' that allowed them to calculate all the locations, trajectories, and accelerations for me. He got the hang of it quickly, to his credit, but he refused to copy my electromagnet trick, leaving me with an advantage at a range. He did opt to copy my might-magic crystals, combining them with his own natural griffon might magic to make him a serious threat at close range. 

When I was roughly slammed into the water a fifth time, and the splash looked like it threatened to capsize the small vessel, we finally called it a day. Cross Guard was quite upset with us, having been roused from his sleep by a face full of seawater from the incident, and I apologized to him repeatedly as we cracked open the last of the supplies for a much needed meal. 

"I will admit, you have my attention now. However, given the potential side effects you mentioned, I cannot accept your augmentation until I consult with Princess Luna. Your own followers will have to suffice as demonstration of your abilities until you can convince them of the wisdom of your plan," Black Rose conceded as we ate.

As we finished, before we could get up to anything more troublesome, Deus regained contact with the spider in Zeke's backpack. I produced another to set on the empty cardboard box, as I sifted through the memories of the one in Canterlot. By luck, it was in a meeting with Robert and several high ranking Equestrians, so I had it get Zeke's attention quietly, and wait for an opportune time to take center stage.





When Robert finally finished fielding questions from his briefing, before Shining Armor or the royals could take their leave, Zeke coughed to get their attention as he approached the middle, a fist-sized metallic spider in hand. He held it up, and my voice crackled through. "Hello? Princess Celestia? Queen All Heart? Captain Shining Armor? This is Daniel. I have Frank, Relena, and a handful of ponies with me, on our way back to Manehattan. It's good to finally get in contact with you all. Can you spare the time to discuss some important matters?"

"We have been waiting to hear from you for some time, Daniel. How did you come to have Frank with you? Last we knew he was our guest in the castle, under observation."

Cross Guard cut in, as the spider on our side was also serving as a makeshift radio, "your majesty, Cross Guard of the lunar guard here. Princess Luna sent Frank, Black Rose and myself on a quest to find Daniel, and get him to stop conducting experiments which were producing.. severe thaumaturgical damage off the coast of Gryphonia. However, we now have reason to believe the results of the experiment may help turn the tide of our war. If you or your sister could recover us from Manehattan when we dock in about an hour, we could share our findings with you in person."

"I hate to break it to you, " Zeke answered, "but I'm afraid Luna is on the casualty list for the war already, along with a large chunk of the night guard and quite a few changelings. I hope your new idea doesn't hinge on the night Princess in particular."

"It doesn't," I replied, "not specifically. But losing any large chunk of troops will make it much less effective. Though.. if you can get civilian volunteers, my idea could help them get up to fighting form very quickly. The more the better."

"I will not have my civilians dragged into the perils of war if I can avoid it, human. Make your suggestion. I promise only to hear you out," Celestia said.

"Alright, I'll try to explain. I've developed a technique to integrate my spiders into the body of a living person. I have two here with me who have undergone the conversion, not counting myself. The spiders make them heartier, heal them faster, and can even reverse some of the effects of aging or other forms of poor health. They allow for faster thought, direct communication between minds, and now certain forms of magic. I can give anypony a changeling's shapeshifting ability, a pegasus' flight including speed bursts that few can compete with, and an earth pony's brawn. I haven't had a chance to study unicorn horn magic yet, but with it we would be able to make every one of your soldiers capable of airborne ranged combat. Even without it, I've been able to work out a few methods of attack that could work. In short, my proposal is to make as many of your guards as are willing to volunteer into a sort of super-soldiers."

"What about side effects?" Celestia countered, "including this thamaturgical damage the guard mentioned? We would know what we are proposing before we ask for volunteers."

"In the short run, it takes several hours to integrate into a pony, and the last few hours they will be passed out from a fever. Once that passes, they should be good to go, however. The thaumaturgical damage is a side effect of the granted magic, and only really causes problems when it is heavily used for a sustained time. The effects create a temporary, localized, low-magic zone that can interfere with ordinary Equestrian magic such as pegasus flight. The.. well, the worst side effect is that you'll have to trust me. I umm.. I have considerable power over anyone who has my spiders in them, and they can't ever be safely removed. While I can put in some blocks to make it harder for me to abuse that power, I literally can't lock myself out entirely. At best, I can give you my word not to betray your trust."

There was silence on both sides for a minute, as Celestia processed the information I had given her. Finally, she returned with "I thank you for your proposal, Daniel, and we will take it into careful consideration. I hope you have a safe journey, but I am afraid you will need to arrive here on your own. I recommend the train from Manehattan, once you reach that point."