Blue stood off to the side with a thin glass of wine held in her magic. She heard hoofsteps approaching and saw Cadance making her way across the reception hallway. "What a lovely party, hm? You've had less interruptions than I had to deal with, thankfully."

"Twilight and her friends have proven themselves quite the helpful bunch." Blue inclined an ear at Cadance. "Thank you, for officiating."

Cadance dipped her head. "I said I would, and I meant it. It's the least I could do, considering what you did first." Her horn glowed, snatching Blue's drink from her. "But how are you enjoying things? You and Sand are together now, officially."

"I never imagined getting married would be so..." She sighed. "It was a wonderful day." She glanced over to Sand where he was making small talk with some Equestrians. "But it feels like we've already been married for months, if not years."

Cadance let out a dreamy sigh. "I know that feeling. We were united long before we said that final 'I do'." She took a good swig of the glass, licking her lips afterwards. "But it's still nice, isn't it? For the whole world to finally know what you'd been ho—" She fell back half a step, staggering.

Blue blinked at her actions. "Have you had too much?" She couldn't get much further, Cadance collapsing to the ground in an ungainly pile. "Cadance!" Blue rushed to her side and knelt next to her. "Are you alright?" She turned quickly towards the nearby crowd. "Somepony help! Please!"

Sand rushed over. "My flower?" He had heard Blue first, only spotting Cadance a moment later. "Guards!" With his call, activity became frantic. They swarmed around all three of them and kept all others away. "Call a physician, immediately."

He grabbed the fallen glass, chipped as it was from the fall. "Get this checked, now." He thrust it into the waiting hooves of a guard. Whirling on Blue, he grunted. "Your guest will be given our best, little flower. This is entirely inexcusable."

Blue Belle watched Cadance be carted away by the guards before she looked up at Sand with concern in her eyes. "Could something have happened? What if she got sick, and I didn't notice?"

Sand scowled with clear thought. "I have my suspicions, but best they be confirmed before I sully our day any more than has already been done." He threw a leg over her, but it seemed more of a protective measure than any real intimacy. "Stay close. Do you know where Cadance found that drink?"

"I, well." Belle pointed to herself. "I had it myself, but I'm a light drinker. I mostly had it to play the part. It hardly does to give off the appearances of—"

"Enough. I understand." He clutched her a bit tighter. "That habit of yours may have been quite the blessing. Let us see what is found first."

One pony as large as most of the others approached, but got the guards to hesitate on blocking her. Celestia nodded towards Sand. "What happened? I saw my niece hurried away."

Blue Belle looked up at Celestia. "She collapsed. We're not sure why, and they took her off somewhere. I'm so worried, Princess."

Celestia turned to Sand. He stood tall despite it all. "We are investigating the manner as we speak. Your niece is in the hooves of our best and we will keep you appraised as her condition changes." He turned an ear aside. "Does she have any enemies I should be aware of?"

Celestia recoiled faintly at that. "I am glad to say not, changelings excluded. She is a beloved pony. Please, do what you can."

"Princess," he said softly, his arm now more a friendly touch than protective. "I cannot promise her safety, but I will promise that Saddle Arabia itself shall pour out every effort into seeing she's well again." He nodded to Celestia. "For now, if you wish to retire, your room awaits you."

She looked off in the direction Cadance had gone. "I believe I would like to see her myself."

One of the guards spoke up. "The princess has been moved to a private room, your highness. The physician has arrived."

Sand gestured towards that guard. "Follow him, and kindly stay out of the physician's way. He works for her sake." With Celestia moving off, he turned his attention back on Blue Belle. "A pity this besmirches our day." He kissed the top of her head. "If we were alone, I would promise you my affection, but even a hug seems improper with a princess so ill."

Blue nuzzled against him lightly. "I entirely understand. To think." She hissed through clenched teeth. "How close I had been myself to such a fate. I do hope Cadie's alright. She has poor luck at weddings, dear thing."

Sand grunted at the mention of that. "Luck is fickle, for certain. They should have results soon, though." His hoof tapped with slow thought on the floor. "I do not wish for this to be a poison, but my instincts tell me otherwise." Despite that, he nudged her along into the throng of others. "But we shouldn't allow ourselves to look too paralyzed by this. Others are watching."

***

Celestia stood by as the physician hovered over Cadance, examining her with his eyes and using the tools of his trade, though he knew nothing of the magic she used. "How is she?"

The doctor offered no words at first, occupied as he was with a storm of checks. "She doesn't appear to be dying." He opened Cadance's snout to peer into it. "But she is showing severe symptoms. She will not regain consciousness tonight."

"Will she awaken?" Celestia's question had a slight note of demand within it, as if daring the pony to try and hide what he thought.

The physician drew a deep breath at that question, then sighed it out softly. "Not tonight, Your Majesty. Tomorrow, perhaps. Tonight, it would be a miracle. That she still breathes is already one of those." He pulled a glass vial out from his pack. "This is the anti-venom we keep on hoof for the most virulent local poisons."

Celestia took that and examined it, sniffing at it. She made a quick face at the smell that greeted her. "Some say medicines should be foul, so you avoid needing them for long." She took a slow breath, eyes not leaving Cadance. "Thank you, for looking after her. Please, do what you can."

The physician bowed deeply to Celestia. "The princess is in my care, and I would never neglect any pony."

She turned to the guards nearby. "Keep an eye on the doctor, if you wouldn't mind." Detecting little more for her to do other than getting in the way, Celestia rose and strode from the room into the hallway just beyond. "What a dangerous place you have found yourself." She sighed at the thought.

There, Celestia had a visitor.

A guard approached the Princess of the Sun cautiously. "Forgive my interruption, Your Majesty. Prince Sand and his consort request your presence, if you are available."

She perked at that. "Oh?" She weighed the options of moping in her room or seeing what they wanted. "Lead the way. I'll be of more use there than what I had in mind." The guard turned with a smile and led Celestia through the palace until they came upon a large room full of guards, Blue Belle, and Prince Sand.

Sand stood next to a pony-sized table, on which lay the remnants of the wine glass and its contents. He waved to a pony she didn't know. "The royal toxicologist." That stallion dipped his head. "He has examined the glass."

"A nasty poison." The stallion circled the discarded glass. "Designed to be fast acting. If Princess Cadance weren't so large, it would have ushered her from beyond our reach by the time she hit the ground." He turned sharply to the table. "Worst, the poisoner hedged their bets. I detected no less than four different toxins, in case any one were resisted. Somepony wanted the princess consort to never see the sun rise again."

Blue Belle stared with horror at the news. "That's awful!"

"I am so glad that you were not struck down, Blue," Celestia said with a nod. "And so sorry it was Cadance who did." Her frown was small, but, for her, immeasurable. "Do we know anything about who could have done such a thing? They have much to answer for, towards both of our ponies."

Sand gestured for the toxicologist to speak. "My focus is on poisons. Not who would dare to employ them. But if you seek one with knowledge of poisons, you might start with the Sand Fleas."

The prince took his part from there. "The Sand Fleas are a nomadic ponies. Saddle Arabian in appearance, they avoid the larger cities and barely acknowledge that we have a king. They are well known masters of such arts, but rarely use them directly. Others, on the other hoof, can pay them to secure such things." He pointed at the glass. "And, from the sound of it, somepony did. That isn't an idle mixture an angry chambermaid would concoct."

Celestia looked off to the side, deep in thought for a moment. "I will look into this matter myself. This is a crime against Equestria as much as Saddle Arabia." She drew herself to her full height. "They weren't aiming to get Cadance, but they did. If they didn't want us involved, they shouldn't have used such a tactic in the first place."

Sand placed a hoof on Celestia's chest, where he could feel her trembling faintly despite her even tone. "Princess, allow me. This is my responsibility. I will find whomever tried to attack my wife, and who dared to injure your niece. They will pay, but it would not do to have two angry suns over the desert. We barely stand the first."

Both he and a few others chuckled at that joke, even getting Celestia to relax a little. "Very well. This is your country, not mine." She smiled gently to the others. "I will stay with Cadance instead, until she wakes." She bowed to Sand and turned away. "Thank you for inviting me here to hear this. Poor Cadance." She hurried away with her measured frown.

Blue leaned closer to Sand. "She meant it. I know Auntie. She doesn't want to leave this to us, but it was the right thing to do. She just needs to calm herself down."

"Indeed." Sand walked past her towards the doors of the room, flanked by guards. "But we have work of our own to do. We are about to make some ponies feel the burn of their own poison."

Blue raced to his side. "While I adore the wordplay, how do you plan to do that?"

"We follow them backwards." He turned towards her in a whirl. "We find which Sand Flea sold it, and to whom. We follow that trail. With a bit of luck and speed, we'll catch them before they can flee from our fury." He leaned down to plant a gentle peck on Blue's nose. "I am quite angry, dear flower. None may strike my family without response. You will see what I am capable of."

On one hoof, his fury made her weak in the knees, but on the other, she knew it was for her sake, and she could but smile. "I will allow you to chase backwards, dear, but I will follow a different route." The arched brow was enough of a question. "I will find which ponies could have given me that drink and work down that line as you work the other. It'll be a bit of a race, my prince. Let us see who reaches them first."

Sand gave a slow, solemn nod at that. "You will make an excellent partner in my work as well. Go." He pointed with finality. "Seek the answers we need. For Cadance."

"For Saddle Arabia." Blue bowed with proper formality before hurrying from the room, but never too fast as to be proper for a princess consort. There were appearances to uphold, even on a case such as that.

***

The next day was a whirlwind of activity in the palace. Celestia remained at Cadance's side while Sand and Blue worked to locate the pony behind the poisoning. She watched over the pink princess herself, keeping the room peaceful and calm for the princess to rest in until she groaned.

Celestia was at her side in an instant. "Niece, how do you feel?"

"Like a cart decided I'd make an excellent brake by plowing into my side." She snorted with some faint amusement at the image even as she fought to sit up a little. "What happened? I was at the reception, I remember that."

Celestia held her back. "You had a bit too much to drink, it seems." She let out a sigh. "I can only thank the spirits themselves that your accident didn't happen while we were in the air on our way home. You might have fallen off into the sands below."

Cadance gave a weak chuckle. "You're teasing me. I feel awful, but it's not from some alcohol." She groaned, eyes closing against obvious pain. "Is everypony else alright? Was it just me?"

"Just you, dear one." She kissed Cadance just beneath the horn. "Everypony else is just fine. You focus on resting. Now, since you're awake, you can bother me for any little thing you want and you can trust in your aunt to look after you."

Cadance blinked at that. "There's something you're not saying, Auntie."

Celestia let a slow breath out. "You were poisoned." She turned towards the door. "Poisoned quite severely." She made sure the door was firmly closed. "You were caught up in local politics. If you felt guilty for what you caused Blue to do, know that your presence is likely why she trots about at all right now. Somepony tried to remove a foreign agent from Saddle Arabia's heart. Sand and Blue are working to find who."

Cadance lay back with a groan. "I didn't do enough." She pulled a pillow atop her face. "Oof, but I'm glad I get to complain about it instead of worse. Wait, you said Blue's looking? I appreciate the effort, but Blue? Seriously?"

Author's Note

What a foul way to start a marriage. This will not be tolerated.

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