When Shady Bough returned to the lab the next day, I was properly disguised again as a pegasus, though I went for a red and black color scheme, and a sword breaking through a shield as my faked cutie mark. Shady looked at me in surprise a moment, before turning to Bunsen Burner. "This the test subject?" he queried.
"Yes, of course," the science mare confirmed, nodding nervously. "Did you want to see what he can do?"
"Yes, but not here," Shady said, taking a moment to eye the modified changeling pod I had been in when he saw me last. It was cloudy now, with a vague shape floating within, a decoy that proved enough for his scrutiny. "Come with me, all three of you. We have a meeting to get to. "
There were two other earth ponies flanking him when he arrived. The mare fell into step beside him as he lead the way out of the building, while the stallion held back long enough to fall in beside us. "You'd best be ready for a fight," he said to me, looking me over. It was clear he wasn't impressed by what he saw.
"I can take on anything," I boasted, flexing my wings and grinning fiercely. They still weren't impressed, but they didn't stop us from coming along.
Shady muttered to the mare beside him, however, likely thinking we couldn't hear him. "I can't believe we're presenting these dregs. Oh well. Too late now. Hopefully the boss is content to take out his wrath on them and not us."
While that wasn't encouraging, we had a fair idea what we were getting into when we decided on the 'bold' plan. I was actually more concerned with whether we would be pressed to harm an innocent during our demonstration than whether we ourselves would be hurt. We still didn't know anything about this 'boss', but we were going to find out.
"Do you have any more of that science stuff?" Shady asked. "We need more than just a pegasus to represent us. One of each tribe," he said, looking pointedly at Bunsen Burner.
"I'll do it!" Bubbling Beaker said, jumping in between Shady and Bunsen. "I had one of the test samples too," she admitted.
"I thought as much. Give Cracked Whip a dose too," Shady ordered, pointing to the mare.
"A standard dose takes about a full day to take effect, and can be crippling until then. Do we have time for that?" Bunsen countered.
"We have an hour," Shady said. "So give her a massive dose. If it doesn't work, we're dead anyways."
"Oh, can Wormy be our earth pony instead?" Bubbling asked, holding up the massive earthworm. "Earth worm, earth pony, close enough?"
The earth pony stallions were duly insulted, while Cracked looked uncertain, trying to decide between joining her tribesponies in being offended, or supporting the idea that could keep her from taking an extra large dose of an under tested drug.
"That will be our plan B," Shady suggested. "Now dose her up."
Bunsen sighed. "Alright, give me a second," she said, turning away and letting her labcoat obscure what she was doing, as she filled a large syringe with a concentrated dose of the fractal spiders, drawn from her own blood. "Do I have your consent to take this drug, with all of its implications and side effects?" she asked the mare.
"What do you care?" Cracked snapped back.
"This drug can have very serious, potentially undiscovered side effects, including but not limited to increased appetite, unusual vulnerabilities, weight gain, and mental changes," Bunsen said. "If you don't agree to the risks, you can't have it."
"If you don't take it, you'll risk my wrath," Shady said.
"Why don't you take it instead?" I asked Shady.
Cracked spoke up before Shady and I could come to blows. "I'll take it, risks and all. Gimme."
The syringe quickly emptied, before we continued our little trek. Fortunately, we were getting into a van I had to pretend not to recognize. So we didn't have to carry the unconscious mare for very long.
"Where am I?" Cracked Whip asked as she found herself in a field of grass and flowers that seemed to stretch on infinitely in all directions. It was impossible. Even if she had been abducted and carried to the largest, flattest plain in the world, there would be mountains visible in the distance.
"Welcome to Elysium," a filly said, having appeared soundlessly before the large mare while Cracked was looking behind her.
"Is this some kind of dream?" Cracked guessed. "Or what?"
"We call it the 'fever dream'. When you have ingested the Kingsblood, your body naturally becomes feverish in an attempt to fight back against the unknown, causing you to lose consciousness until the Kingsblood is fully integrated. Meanwhile, this gives us a chance to meet you. Hello, and welcome to the Itinerant Kingdom. I am Nightmare Core. Nice to meet you, Cracked Whip," the filly explained.
There was a bit of awkward silence as Cracked reeled a moment, trying to figure out just what was going on, then reeled harder from the new and unexpected feed of information directly into her mind, answering her questions while flooding it with new ones. Nightmare Core stood passively and patiently, her mind occupied with plenty of other matters that simply standing here in a field with the new recruit was no bother to her. For one, she was calculating the sway of each individual blade of grass in a simulated wind to project into Cracked's mind to maintain this facade.
"No!" Cracked said, gritting her teeth.
"No?" Nightmare questioned, pretending to need to. She already knew, but wanted Cracked to talk through it.
"You can't just steal my loyalties like this! I'm a part of the Revolution. You can't just claim me for your own group and force me to help destroy the Revolution from within like that!" Cracked objected.
"You did give your consent for any side effects, including mental changes," Nightmare Core replied. "However, there are still two alternatives available to you."
"And just what are those?" Cracked asked, half relieved that the presence in her mind chose not to simply dump the knowledge into her again.
"You can choose to reject the Kingsblood now, and have it denature itself immediately, while taking all of your memories from the fever dream with it. You'll awaken shortly, weakened and vulnerable, but you'll be your own mare again. Or you can choose to die. You will simply never awaken, and the sciencemares will call it an overdose," Nightmare offered.
"Those are basically the same choice," Cracked groused. "If not this, then Shady Boughs. If not Shady, the boss."
"What was your Revolution going to accomplish that was worth working for such a bloodthirsty organization?" Nightmare questioned.
"We're going to dethrone the princesses and welcome the black king back into power, then live our days as part of the new ruling caste," Cracked claimed. "When the power shifts, you'll regret being on the wrong side of the king."
"Well, now you have a new king," Nightmare offered. "One who treats his subjects much better."
Cracked grumbled more, slowly coming to accept her fate. "Alright... just who and where is this new king?"
The mare before me slowly opened her eyes, looked up at me from where she had been laid in the back of the van, and swore loudly.