My first thought when I regained consciousness was that I was in a changeling feeding pod. I was wrong, but not totally. My subnet, Deus, was able to identify the green goop I was floating in as a somewhat decayed version of the feeding pods' fluid contents, kept in a state of minimal rot by some preservative spell that had been applied a little late. It still had its normal properties, including paralysis and suppressing consciousness, but once I had healed enough Deus was able to compensate. I was still sluggish, however, and could only barely manage to open my eyes.
The goop might have been changeling in origin, but the container it was in was not. It was smooth glass, covered in a bracing mesh of some kind of metal, which explained why Deus couldn't reach any of his kin. The metal was absorbing the radio signals, making it impossible to connect to my subjects, even to let them know I was okay.
But I could at least see out, somewhat. There were a couple of unicorns in lab coats working in some kind of laboratory. The tesla coils gave it a very 'mad scientist' type of vibe, and their mane styles did nothing to dissuade the notion. For a moment I thought they were some kind of miniaturized ponies, until I realized it was just a trick of perspective; at some point I had returned to my human form, and it wasn't until I was looking at the little ponies that I noticed. I got a bit self-conscious when I realized I was a naked human, but pushed those thoughts aside. I had plenty of more important things to worry about than whether some pony scientists had a clear view of my man parts.
[Don't worry, I have a plan and it is in action,] Deus reassured me. That made me a bit nervous, since the nanospiders were not prone to such initiative normally. But as he reviewed it with me I decided it was a decent plan. Devious in its simplicity.
In accordance with the challenge I was bound by, Deus had been deconstructing any part of himself that was removed from my body. That had, understandably, frustrated the scientists. They had some kind of analysis magic that could easily detect Deus' presence: it covered everything in the room in colorful lines when used, with markings and patterns that one familiar with it could 'read' to learn all kinds of insights. But anything filled with nanospiders, such as myself, came up looking like static on a TV screen: the constantly moving, high density information created a sort of information overload that was really obvious if somewhat incomprehensible. So, naturally, they had taken samples to study in isolation. And they had promptly become denatured, the nanotech disassembling itself and leaving plain, boring blood.
While the blood of a mythical creature like a 'human' might ordinarily have been a subject of much interest, the strange static seen within was naturally the subject of the most interest. And so, naturally, they had experimented to see how they could keep it fresh enough to study. Even small samples of my flesh soon denatured themselves, but a sample of blood injected into a living earthworm had remained functional. Better yet, the subject had begun to show incredible properties! The earthworm, deemed one of my 'subordinates' by Deus, was now the size of a medium snake and had a small unicorn-like horn, while otherwise retaining its usual appearance. It clearly responded as though it had sight and hearing despite lacking obvious organs to that effect, and could levitate chalk and answer simple questions, especially mathematical ones, by writing on a chalk board.
The scientists were too enamored with their miraculous success to consider where it was going. The earthworm never did anything to suggest to them it had sapience, or any thoughts more complicated than doing tricks for treats. But in truth it was as smart as any of them and getting smarter, and it had an agenda in mind. If the scientists didn't play along, it would grow big and strong enough and break me out of the tube, and help me escape. But that was only plan B.
An earth stallion in a sharp business suit entered the room, approaching the lead scientist. "So, what do you have that's actually useful? The boss is getting tired of waiting for results."
"Shades! I didn't expect to see you here today," the lead scientist said nervously as she fidgeted. "We've actually gotten amazingly promising results experimenting with hosting the sample in a living body. As you can see here," she began, gesturing to the earthworm.
"A giant earthworm? We need super-soldiers, not garden pests! Get yourselves on the right track, or you're going to find your loans coming due, do you understand me?" he asked, throwing some beakers and test tubes on the floor to shatter in a big mess for dramatic effect.
"Yes, sir, Shades, right away! We'll, uh, we'll have a proof of concept ready by next week..." the scientist offered hastily.
"You'll have a working prototype by tomorrow or we'll find someone who can get real results. Understood?!" the stallion insisted.
The scientist nodded vigorously, until he was satisfied enough to walk away and leave them to their work again. The other scientist came up behind her, levitating a broom and dustpan to start cleaning up the gratuitous mess. "Good thing we started laying out those decoy chemicals for him to smash up, right? Still, how are we going to get anything ready by tomorrow? That's insane. We're not ready for pony trials yet. Where would we even get a volunteer we can trust with this kind of secret?"
The lead scientist sighed, as she slipped right into Deus' plan. "You know where, Miss Beaker. The only question is... will it be you or me?"
"You can't! What if it's deadly to ponies? Or instead of making you smarter, it makes you as dumb as Wormy? No offense, Wormy, you're a really smart earthworm," Bubbling Beaker quickly corrected. 'Wormy' didn't respond, as he generally didn't to such social stimuli. Wormy was hard to offend. "It's too much of a risk... no! I'll do it, then you can measure what happens. If I do end up like Wormy... you'll take care of me, right Miss Burner?"
Bunsen Burner shook her head, tearing up a bit at her friend's loyalty. "I don't know if I could stand to just watch you pass, or lose your mind. I'd rather it was me that had to suffer through it if something bad does happen."
"I feel the same way! And what about if it works?! Do you think they'll just leave us alone? They're going to make us prove that it makes us better fighters, and how else to do that but make us fight? And if we are really successful, they'll just make us fight for them! Oh, Wormy, what should we do?!" Bubbling Beaker cried, hugging the earthworm in her telekinetic grasp.
The earthworm then lifted the chalk in its own telekinetic grasp, and started writing.
Take the blood
By taking the blood you agree to lifelong loyalty to the Itinerant King and his designated intermediaries, including but not limited to following all direct and standing orders, particularly those pertaining to the use and distribution of the 'kingsblood'(tm) nanotechnological enhancement substance.
Then fight back and free yourselves!
"Wormy! You are a genius!" Bubbling declared.
"Umm, what's that tiny squiggly bit in the middle there?" Bunsen wondered.
"I don't know. Looks like Legalese. I didn't know you spoke Legalese, Wormy! See, he really is a genius!" Bubbling answered.
Bunsen Burner sighed. "I'd worry we might regret this, but I think we should both take the blood. Then whatever happens, we're in it together. Agreed?" she asked as she started hooking up the tube to extract a bit of my blood and inject it directly into herself.
"Way ahead of you," Bubbling Beaker said as she grab a second set of equipment.
"Umm, there's only one access port on the tank, you'll have to wait your turn," Bunsen said.
"Nuh uh. I'm going to extract it from Wormy to see if there's any degradation of the effectiveness by being part of an earthworm for most of a day," Bubbling countered. "SCIENCE!" she yelled, cutting off Bunsen's attempt to argue.
They assumed, incorrectly, that they would need a sample proportionate in size to the creature being affected. While it was unnecessary, it did speed things up. After an hour of taking notes on the changes happening to them, the fever overtook them and they collapsed into each other's embrace. Wormy took the opportunity to lock and bar the door, and drain and unlock my tube.
Bunsen Burner found herself in a bizarre space. I would describe it as 'the Matrix', but her society lacked the cultural reference point. To her it was simply a black void interlaced with constantly shifting streams of green symbols. The symbols, what she saw of them, were all familiar: letters, digits, and so forth. But they changed constantly and without observable pattern. At least she wasn't alone in here. She saw Bubbling Beaker nearby, with Wormy wrapped loosely around her neck, talking to an unfamiliar yellow pegasus stallion, with an upside down compass rose on his flank. He wore an odd circlet made of copper wire, bone fragments and wild flower stems woven together, and cocked a bit at an angle, as if to not take himself too seriously.
"Umm.. hello?" Bunsen offered timidly, as she approached us. We all turned to her, and as I looked at her, I imparted the recognition of who I was into her mind. Both that I was the human who had been in the tank, and that I was the Itinerant King, to whom she was now bound. In that instant she not only knew, but knew that I knew, and that she knew because I willed her to know. "Are you a god?" she asked.
I laughed a bit, shaking my head. "Some call me a king, but some would scoff even at that much. I am.. someone who was granted one wish, and wished for more wishes. And I was lucky enough to phrase it in a way that I got what I asked for, and enough troubles to ensure it never seemed like enough. And you are Bunsen Burner, Bubbling Beaker's friend and colleague. It's a pleasure to meet you properly, or close enough. I owe you my thanks and an apology."
Bubbling waved her closer, grinning happily, "come on, he won't bite, I promise, even though you were right about those pointy teeth." That made her even more nervous until I smiled widely, letting her see that at least my disguise had nothing but flat, herbivorous, pony teeth.
"So, umm... what did you want to thank us for? And apologize for?" her shamed look showed she felt like she owed me an apology.
"I want to thank you for giving me a safe place to recover after my injuries. The, uh, faraday cage was a bit of a problem, as it left my other subjects worrying about me, but other than that. Clever use of the changelings' feeding pods. Perhaps when we are able to set you up in a new lab you'll be able to make even better use of fresh fluids. Though I can't promise that will be soon," I answered the first part.
"Oh! Well, umm, you don't mind that we had you basically locked up and sedated to experiment on you then?" she asked.
"I don't have time to hold a grudge for such a thing, especially since on net you've profited me. Though that brings me to my apology. I need to apologize for Wormy, working on my behalf even if not entirely under my direction, used deception to get you to agree to terms you might not have agreed to otherwise," I pointed out.
"What do you-" her mind was suddenly aware of the fine print on Wormy's directions, and all of their implications. She dropped to her haunches, sitting suddenly. After a few seconds though, she shook her head. "It's okay. I've signed worse contracts. Speaking of which, I imagine you're going to help us out of the last one?" she asked. She was about to begin explaining, but realized she didn't have to.
Her memories streamed past us quickly, along with Bubbling's, mostly in sync with one another, though Bubbling's memories of the events lacked several of the scenes. We watched the two science ponies floundering financially, with very little funding and very expensive materials needed for their investigations. We watched funding grant application after application denied, while the few that were approved were neither lucrative nor especially interesting. But they didn't give up, and finally Shady Bough had approached them, with offers of funding beyond their wildest dreams, and truly interesting research projects. And sure enough.. their now well funded research quickly began to outstrip the boundaries that legal channels had tried to bind them to. The last several months had focused around applications of changeling biology from the dredges they had been able to acquire: changeling corpses and body parts, abandoned feeding pods, occupied and otherwise, and so forth.
It had all been very exciting work, but it had a habit of testing their commitment to morality, and finding them on the wrong side of most ethical questions, whether they wanted to be or not. Their funding had apparently all been a 'loan', with useful inventions their only form of repayment that would be accepted, and the precise bit value never to be mentioned. They had had other colleagues along the way, and when results were not forthcoming they soon had fewer colleagues. The exact fate of those ponies was left to the imagination, but darker assumptions were generally encouraged by 'Shades', and the few muscular individuals that came with him on occasion.
I closed my eyes and considered for a bit once the stream of memories had passed. "The question I have for you, then, is do you want to be bold or cowardly? We can slip away, get away from here. With the kingsblood in you now, we can easily change your fur and mane colors, give you new false cutie marks and disappear from Manehattan. Getting you a new laboratory will be a harder matter, and it may never be as impressive as this one, but I doubt Shades and his associates will be able to find you, and if they do... they'll have more on their hands than they can handle."
Bubbling looked to Bunsen, obviously planning to support whatever choice she made, as was her usual way. She was bright, cheerful, and 'bubbly' but never one to make serious choices for herself if she could help it. Bunsen steeled herself and looked me in the eyes. "So, what's the bold option?"
"We give them what they want. One super-soldier, ready to go. Namely, me. We play along long enough to find out who's backing him, what their agenda is, and why they want super-soldiers. Perhaps along the way we pick up some more inductees. And then..." in the dream-space I manifested a wicked looking scythe, making a slashing gesture that left the blade bloody even though it hadn't hit anything. "There won't be anyone trying to collect your 'debt'."
"Trust a predator to find such a violent solution... though, I doubt the ponies seeking 'super-soldiers' are out for any more peaceful of aims. So... you'd really do all that for us though? I mean, if we flee I'm sure you'll get away free even if we get caught, but if we go with your plan... you'll be in as much danger as we are, if not more. I thought we're suppose to be your slaves now, not the other way around," she said.
"Subjects, not slaves. And protecting his subjects is a key part of what a good king does. I'll let you make this choice, but make it quickly. Our window of opportunity to escape is getting slimmer as we speak, and either plan requires us to start preparing before Shades comes back."
Bunsen Burner silently wished she were a bravery pony, and her eyes opened wide in surprise as she felt her kingsblood melting her fears away, removing them from her very thought processes. Her eyes focused on mine once again, fears cast aside in favor of determination. "Fortune favors the bold. Besides, you could use a few more super-soldiers in your camp."
I nodded. "And super-scientists."
"And super-earthworms!" Bubbling added.
Their fevers breaking, it was time to wake up and get to work.