To Save a King

by Blackdrag-rose

V: Troubling Discovery

Rocket yawned, he just couldn't help it. After his experience last night sleep had come easy to him, yet despite the rest he got he still felt tired. Plus the rocking of the train was doing nothing to help him relax and, hopefully, fall asleep before they reached their destination.

Currently he, his wife, and their guards were traveling back to the Hive, by using the train system to help the economy out just a bit. It was his wife's idea to take the train again, instead of using his magic to open a gateway back to the Hive and arrive there in a matter of seconds. He opened his eyes for a second and looked up to see Rose reading a book, which one he failed to determine from his quick glance.

"Checkmate," Surprise exclaimed, sounding a little bit like Princess Luna as she bested Sucker Punch in a chess game, "What do you say to that Sucker Punch?"

"I don't understand how you did that," the poor Changeling muttered, his eyes wandering all over the board in an attempt to turn the victory against Surprise, "You are too good at this game. Where did you learn to place chess so good?"

"I learned from the Elders about strategy," Surprise answered, turning her head towards the door as she spotted another guard resting his head on one of the seats, "and the art of playing chess I learned from our good friend Marco, who usually plays it just to pass the time. Speaking of which, why haven't you starting playing a game of chess with Blackberry or Sunrise?"

"Blackberry lacks the skill to make the game exciting," the Changeling guard answered, leaving his eyes closed as he answered the question, "and Sunrise lacks the patience to properly plan out her strategy. I would speak about Polo and his limited skill of the game, but he has decided to opt out of playing the game until somepony teaches him all the rules."

Polo was, to an extent, the brother of Marco, but he lacked the cool mind that Marco had and tended to respond with a direct attack. Marco was one of the most elite Changeling guards, one so dedicated that he had become a member of the royal guards, a group of Changelings sworn to protect the crown. Polo wanted to be like his brother, but he still had a long way to go before he could officially join their ranks.

"I do not lack patience," a mare retorted, closing her book and glaring at the royal guard, "What happens to me is that you tear a gaping hole in my defenses and leave me with limited moves that result in me losing the game."

"It is called strategy my dear," Marco explained, "Maybe if you and Blackberry learned more about it I would have a tougher time trashing you and you would have a great time knowing that you can finally stand on my level."

"I give up," Sunrise said, picking up her book and picking up where she had left off, leaving Surprise to utter a small laugh before returning to her own board.

Blackberry was just staring out the window, watching the scenery pass them by as the train traveled down the tracks towards the Hive. She was going to miss the lush trees, the bright blue skies, and the soft green grass when she was back in the wastelands where the Hive was located. She was getting as much of the scenery as she could before it was all gone and she had sand to stare at.

"Pinkie Pie throws the best parties doesn't she?" Rose asked, not really asking her guards as she had aimed the question at her husband.

"Indeed she does," Rocket replied, stretching a bit as his eyes opened again, "My friends can be quite the party animals at times, but they mean well and they love to have as much fun as they can. I can see why Pinkie keeps inviting them to all of her big parties and large functions."

"You know what I'm not looking forward to doing when we return to the Hive?" Rose asked, staring at one of the pages in her book. "All the paperwork we missed while we participated in the war game and the meeting with my father that we promised him. He's been...anxious...to hear how well the war games have been treating us and our people, though I doubt that he's going to like hearing that Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Twilight keep trashing us.

Are you feeling okay Rocket?"

Rocket groaned, not because he wasn't feeling well, but because he had a bloody nose all of a sudden and his heart was starting to hurt for some reason. He got out of his seat and collapsed on the ground, breathing hard as his guards and Rose sprung into action quickly.

"Write a letter to the Princesses immediately," Rose commanded, watching Surprise pull out a piece of parchment and a quill, "Tell them that the King has had a heart attack under unknown reasons. Do any of you remember what he ate at dinner last night?"

"Just a normal salad," Polo piped up, then he remembered something strange about it, "but there was a strange red leaf with small spiked edges mixed in with the rest of it."

"We will go with that then," Rose sighed, returning to her husband as she put his head on a pillow, "When the letter is done just send it with the spell that Twilight taught us and we will see what any of them end up saying."

Within seconds the letter was completed, the scroll wrapped up nicely, and was sent on its way towards Princess Celestia, the only pony that Surprise figured knew anything about strange and random heart attacks.

~Canterlot~

Princess Celestia was just minding her own business, by that she was eating a large piece of cake, when a scroll suddenly materialized in front of her. She had been expecting a report from Twilight in Ponyville, but those letters were always encased by green flames due to Spike breathing fire on them and not the vile green color of the Changeling's own magic. Whatever the scroll was about it almost seemed like a poor Changeling wanted to tell her something that they didn't want revealed to their rulers.

As she set her cake down and embraced the scroll with her magic her sister came walking into the royal kitchen, surprising her sister in the process. Luna barely noticed her sister as she raided the royal fridge for one of her caffeine drinks, which she claimed without delay and closed the fridge to find Celestia standing next to a large piece of cake.

"Might I ask why you are still up at this hour Tia?" Luna asked, opening the can she had claimed as she stared at the cake her sister had nearly bitten into.

"As you can see it is a late night snack," Celestia replied, holding up the scroll for her sister to see, "and this scroll came from one of the thousands of Changelings. Didn't go directly to their own rulers, came straight to me and I have yet to open it."

"Well then what does it say?" Luna asked, bouncing over to her sister's side as the scroll was opened.

"Says here that King Rockey Sky has had a random and quite sudden heart attack while returning to the Hive," Celestia answered, her eyes rolling over the piece of parchment, "and there is a mention of a red leaf that he ate last night that was mixed in with his salad. What do you make of this...Luna?"

When Celestia looked up from the letter she found that her sister was already long gone and had left her caffeine drink behind. Whatever the red leaf was it seemed to have an incredible effect on her sister's actions. Celestia shrugged and picked up her cake, trotting happily towards her room as she forgot all about the letter.

~The Train~

There was a blinding flash of light next to Surprise and suddenly Princess Luna, fully decked out in her royal attire, stood right beside her, appearing by magic in an instant.

"I wasn't expecting a Princess to actually appear before us," Rose commented, hoping that it wasn't something too serious, "Do you know what could have caused this Princess Luna?"

"I am afraid I do," Princess Luna replied, taking a deep breath as she considered how best to tell the Changeling Queen the terrible news, "That 'leaf' that your husband ate is no ordinary leaf. It is really an ancient poisonous leaf called Demonshade, a poison so deadly that the amount of time it takes to kill a pony is always random. There's no easy way to say this, so I will be blunt with you.

Your husband is going to die a very painful death."