//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8: "Death Of The King." 
// Story: Morning Meir Mysteries: Case 1: A Mad Mare Affair 
// by XombieSlayr 
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Chapter 8: "Death Of The King."

Its hard to explain exactly what I was feeling as I stood outside the front doors of Mareiposa General Hospital, adorned in a white doctors coat that Ralah had "borrowed" for me.

Here I was: A doctor, enlisted by the two most infamous thieves in the world to sneak into a hospital and help them locate and interrogate a dangerous criminal, who had not only killed their friend and mentor, but had been the one behind Mr. Regal's death as well.

I should've felt perfectly fine with it. After all Marquis was a criminal. But I was a doctor, and I'd taken an oath to never harm a patient. I hoped desperately that Salah and Ralah meant what they said about just getting answers from him. I didn't have it in me to even look the wrong way at a patient, let alone hurt them. I knew I wouldn't be able to stomach it.

I took a moment to calm myself, and went over the plan Salah and Ralah had laid out for me: All I had to do was make my way through the hospital to room 221A in the south wing. Salah and Ralah had already infiltrated the hospital in disguise to keep an eye on things. They had said that Marquis knew we were coming for him, and probably had guards posted all over the place to protect himself. I wouldn't have to worry about them, as long as I kept to myself and stayed out of their way. I just had to get to his room.

I took a deep breath and told myself everything would be fine, as I opened the door and went inside.

Mareiposa General Lobby (1:15 pm)

The lobby of the hospital resembled a vast and luxurious greenhouse combined with that of a regal palace. The sparkling tiled floors and healthy looking plants growing amongst the windowsills, filled me with a feeling of relaxation and comfort. Just the feeling I would expect from a place meant to heal the sick and tend to the injured. It made me feel pride for the position I had taken as a doctor.

I brought my attention over to the secretary's desk. She would be able to tell me where Marquis's room was.

I trotted over to her desk.The mare had her back to me as she was managing to do a great job of looking over worked and hassled, though she didn't appear to be doing anything. 

"Excuse me, miss?" I asked politely.

When she turned around, it actually took me a minute to realize who it was. Everything about her had completely changed. Her mane was now a light shade of auburn and her coat was the color of lilac. Her eyes were now bright green, and she wore a small pair of glasses that balanced on the tip of her muzzle. My brain could scarcely work out that I was talking to Ralah.

"Hey, Meir! I like your disguise." She said cheerfully, with a bright smile. 

I wasn't wearing a disguise exactly. i just put on a few things to make sure I wasn't recognized.

"I-I'm not wearing a disguise! But you-I didn't even recognize you!"

"Thanks! It didn't take long to work this one out. The secretary was nice enough to let me borrow her desk for a while. All it took was a little makeover, and now Ive been asked to take calls from 5 different doctors!"

"Must be a lot of work."

"Not really. I just have to stand here and look busy for a bit. If anyone asks me anything I just point them to the secretary in the north wing."

"We'll can you give me directions to Marquis's room then?"

"Sorry, you'll have to ask the secretary in north wing about that."

'What!? Ralah its me! You don't have to act with me."

"I'm not acting! I actually don't know where anything is in this place."

What? Then how does anyone not know your an imposter?"

Ralah just smiled at me. "Cause apparently, the real secretary wasn't very good at her job." She laughed.

I laughed too. It was good to know I didn't need to worry about finding Marquis by myself. I had Ralah and Salah to back me up.

Ralah continued to smile at me. "If it helps, I do know that my brother went looking for Marquis's room too. I saw him go that way." She pointed with her hoof down the corridor to the left side of the lobby. Looking at the sign above it, I saw that it read South Wing. The wing that Marquis had been staying in.

I turned back to Ralah and smiled. "Thanks Ralah. I think I know where to go now."

"Really? Awesome! I'll meet you guys in Marquis's room later on. Good Luck, Meir!" She exclaimed cheerfully.

I thanked her again, then trotted down the south wing corridor. I strolled past many other doctors as I made my way through the wing. Most of them paid me no mind, labeling me as just another doctor working at the hospital. Others turned and smiled at me, a few others wished me good afternoon. I replied in kind so as not to blow my cover. (Plus, I'll always return a polite manner when someone is speaking to me.)

I passed by several rooms, but none of them had the large 221A that marked it as Marquis's room. Crossing into a large medical bay I saw that every bed had a patient who was being carefully attended to by a nurse. I looked around for Marquis's room number in the ward dossiere, when a nurse approached me.

"Good afternoon, doctor!"

"Good afternoon, nurse." I replied instantly. I was used to being called into medical rooms and hospitals to aid in surgeries or perform lectures form countless eager medical students. I didn't need to think of a response to being addressed by a nurse, as I'd been addressed this way hundreds of times before.

She smiled at me. "The patient is ready for your inspection, doctor. You can begin whenever you desire." 

I was taken back for a brief moment. I was a doctor, but I had not come to this hospital to do any medical procedures. Still, there was no way I would leave a patient unattended. I had to do my job, regardless of the situation.

"Thank you nurse. I'll be attending to them shortly." I replied.

She nodded and gestured to the bed at the very end of the row. Nestled comfortably beneath the covers was a small school-age grey filly with a cobalt mane. She didn't look sick, and judging from the large cast on her suspended hind leg she must've sustained some injury and ended up here.

I nodded to the nurse who took her leave. Taking a breath, I put on my friendliest smile and trotted over to the filly's bed. She looked up at me with large brown eyes. "Who are you? You're not my usual doctor." She said with a light and cute sounding voice. Yet her face showed that she was confused and a little annoyed.

I wasn't about to lie to her. "My name is Morning Meir. I know I'm not your usual doctor, but I'm here to help you. What's your name?" 

She looked at me for a moment. Then she smiled. "Soapbox." She said, clearly still suspicious of me. "Why are you in disguise?" 

The question threw me off. I had only threw on a small pair of red glasses and done my mane up in a small bun, but I hadn't expected to be discovered so soon. Especially by a patient.

I stammered for a minute. 'What do you mean?" I managed to let out. I was nervous now. I didn't need to alert the entire medical community that I was here. I would be swamped by every doctor in the place, and marquis would definitely here about it. 

Soapbox smiled at me. "You think just cause I'm young, that I don't know who Morning Meir is? The smartest pony in the world?"

I blushed. "Oh, I know that's what a lot of ponies say, but...well, I guess I'm smarter than most, is what they mean."

Soapbox rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Why are you in disguise then? Did you do something bad?" She asked eagerly.

"What? No! I...well I'm looking for somepony."

"Who?"

"I'm pretty sure you don't know him."

She smirked at me. "You were pretty sure I didn't know you either."

Soapbox was clearly very clever and smart. I decided to tell her why I was here. Maybe she really could help me.

"Alright then: Do you know a stallion named Marquis?"

"Yep. He's in that room back there." She gestured with her hoof to a well guarded door, that had two very unfriendly looking hench ponies guarding the door. The door had 221A inscribed in bold on its surface.

She turned back to me. "He's been here longer than me, But I've heard lots of things about him from other doctors."

"Would you mind if I asked you about him?"

"Why? Do you know him?"

"I have to see him. He's a dangerous criminal, and he might be planning something."

"No way! really?"

"Yes."

"Cool!"

"So...can you help me?"

She thought for a moment but her eyes were sparkling with excitement. Finally she said "Sure thing!"

Questioning (Soapbox, Patient at Mareiposa General Hospital, Has information about Marquis, 1: 34 pm)

I felt a little uncomfortable asking information on a dangerous criminal from a filly. Let alone a patient in the hospital. But Soapbox had proven to be very clever and easily could've overheard a few things from marquis's room. I decided to go ahead and ask my first question.

"Have you seen anyone go into Marquis's room?"

"Nope. Hes under strict quarantine. Nopony goes in. Not even the nurses."

"Why is he under quarantine?"

"I don't know. The doctors haven't talked about it outside the room. All I know is that his room is off limits to all but, like, one team of doctors."

A room that was off limits to every doctor save for a small team of them. Was Marquis that dangerous? I asked her my next question.

"Do you know why Marquis is in the hospital?"

"He's sick. Like really,really sick. They give a bunch of medicines to him every hour, just so he can stay awake for more than five minutes."

"How long has he been here?"

"Longer than me. Longer than a lot of ponies actually. No one talks about when he first checked in, but it must've been years ago."

"He's been here for years??"

"Pretty sure."

So Marquis had been here in the hospital for a long time. And his room had been off limits to all but a few doctors. It wasn't hard for me to piece together what was going on: Marquis had been using his room at the hospital to run his criminal operations. And the doctors had been payed off to keep everything quiet. It made me sick to know there were doctors out there who were dishonoring the title by affiliating themselves with dangerous criminals. (Yes, I know I was a doctor affiliating myself with criminals. But Ralah and Salah were just thieves. Not killers or criminal warlords.)

"How can I get into Marquis's room?"

Soapbox thought for a moment. "Ordinarily a super famous doctor like you would be able to get in no problem. But they don't let anyone but those few doctors in there for anything. But..."

"But?"

"I might be able to distract the doctors. And those two goons go to the cafeteria at 2 every day. While there gone, you could get into his room!"

"You'd do that?"

"Sure. I'm bored laying in here all day, anyway. Its about time I have some fun!" She laughed.

I hated to involve her in this, but Soapbox clearly wanted to help. And she'd be helping to bring a dangerous criminal to justice. I wasn't about to turn it down. "Alright, but only if your sure."

Soapbox nodded. "Oh, I'm sure. Wait for me to start the distraction, then when the goons leave, head into the room."

"Okay. Thank you for your help."

"Don't worry about it." She said with a smile.

Around two, Soapbox had been right as the two goons guarding Marquis's door, left to go to the cafeteria. 

She smiled an winked at me, then put her plan into action.

"Hey, doc."

A tall beige stallion in a lab coat came over to her bedside.

"Yes, Soapbox? Do you need something?"

"My pillow's not soft enough."

"I shall fetch you a new one."

"And I'm hungry too."

"I can get you something from the cafeteria?"

"I'm not feeling all that good either."

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know. I think I'm losing....."

With that she pretended to pass out, alarming the doctor and every other doctor in the room. They swarmed her bed and began trying to wake her up.

I didn't wait another second. With the doctors distracted, I quietly slipped myself into Marquis's room, and closed the door. 

Marquis's Room, Mareiposa General Hospital, 2:02 pm

The room was surprisingly large for having a single patient. It looked average compared to th rest of the hospital. Not at all what I was expecting. The curtains were drawn back, and the only sound in the room was a steady beeping. I easily placed this as the sound of a heart monitor.

I looked over and there laying down in his bed was the oldest and most sickly earth pony stallion I'd ever seen. His eyes were sunken in, his coat was dull grey, and most if not all of his mane had fallen out. He looked terrible, in every sense of the word.

My doctor's instincts came running, as I wanted desperately to treat the poor old pony. But I stopped myself, begrudgingly. I had to get some answers from him.

I trotted over to his bedside, and sat down beside him. "Are you Marquis?" I asked softly.

He looked up at me with nearly lifeless, cold eyes. Then smiled. "...Yes. I am Marquis." His voice sounded as raspy and dead as he looked. I couldn't believe this stallion was an infamous criminal warlord, who had orchestrated this entire conspiracy.  

He blinked slowly. "Ive...been expecting you."

I was taken back. My eyes grew wide. "You-You've been expecting me?" I asked, unable to understand what was going on now.

He nodded. "I knew you would come for me eventually. Go ahead and get it over with!" He lurched into a coughing fit, as I instinctively caught him from falling over.

He looked up at me in surprise. "You....You are not one of The Hashashin." He managed to say.

I shook my head."No,I'm not. My name is Morning Meir. I'm here to get some answers from you about Augustus Regal. And why you had him killed."

He chuckled, then coughed again. "Oh yes. Augustus."

"So...Why? Why did you have Mr. Regal Killed?"

He looked up at me again. "Why...do you care? He coughed again. "This has nothing to do with you. You're just a doctor from a foreign country. Why do you care about the death of a self-made bureaucrat?"

I didn't need to think of my answer. Why was I risking my life to solve this case? Why was I teaming up with infamous thieves and sneaking around hospitals? Why didn't I just go home and leave it up to the police? Simple. "Because I have to. He entrusted me to solve his murder. No one else. Regardless of what you think, I made a promise to his wife and to him. And I intend to keep it."

"Oh my...so he knew after all."

"Knew what?"

He was silent for a minute. Then smiled up at me again. "You have done very well Ms.Morning Meir. I will answer any questions you have for me."

"You will?"

"I am a dying stallion whose already prepared his death bed. I have nothing to hide anymore."

Questioning (Marquis, Criminal Warlord, Instigator Of Augustus Regal and Argyle's Deaths, 2:15pm)

My first question was obvious. I had come all this way, and searched high and low for Mr. Regal's killer. Now here I was talking to the very pony who arranged the whole thing. It was time to find out the truth.

"Why did you have Augustus Regal killed?"

He inhaled silently. "Because he was planning to expose us."

"Expose us? Whose us?"

Marquis chuckled again. "There are more players in this game than just me, Ms. Morning Meir. I had no choice in the matter."

My eyes went wide. "You mean you were ordered to do it?"

"No. I simply had to protect our organization. We have been hiding our secrets from the world for so long. I was not about to let that fool ruin centuries of prestige and building influence."

I could stand it no longer. The anticipation was painful enough, without Marquis purposefully dodging the big answer. "Just who in the world are you? What organization are you talking about?" I asked desperately.

This time Marquis erupted into full blown laughter. He threw his head back as he laughed and choked at the same time. It wasn't a pretty sight.

I was angry now, and he knew it. He looked up at me without a care. "Oh Ms. Morning Meir. When I said I had nothing to hide,that didn't necessarily mean that I would tell you everything.

I glared down at him. "You have alot to answer for. You killed Mr. Regal and Argyle. You blew up a cafe! You endangered the lives of innocent ponies!"

Marquis suddenly lurched forward, his eyes nearly bulging out of his head. "AND I'D DO IT AGAIN!" He shouted. He fell back and began coughing violently. When he stopped, he looked up at me. "I would do anything for my organization, Ms. Morning Meir. And as for who we are...I'll be taking that secret to the grave."

Then before I could stop him, he suddenly reached over and yanked out his life support from the wall. "Nooo!" I shouted. 

But it was too late. 

As I sat there, in that empty hospital room, the only sound being the flatline of the life support machine, all I could do was think.

Marquis had orchestrated Mr. Regal and Argyle's deaths to cover up something. To stop them from telling the world about something. And when he had finally been confronted for his crimes, he had chosen death over revealing even the name of the organization he represented. I hadn't gotten any answers from Marquis, and instead of clearing things up, this case only became more twisted around than it had ever been.

Just what in the wide world of Equestria was going on this city?

When Ralah and Salah arrived, and I saw the looks on their faces...I didn't have an answer for them.