Celestia and I had a calm, thoughtful discussion about the current political affairs of my recent gender reverting, and the effect it would have both domestically and internationally. That's the official story and we stuck to it. Yup, nothing but nice, G-rated Puritan approved activities from us. But man, playing checkers all night does make you strangely exhausted in the morning. When I woke up the next day, I realized that I was still in Celestia's room, and a quick glance at the clock told me that it was past noon. Not that this had never happened before, but it had been quite a while. We'd have to do something to make it up to Luna for her having to raise the sun and lower the moon again.

I got out of Celestia's bed and put on my regalia, stopping when I got to my tiara. I frowned and turned it over in midair. Now that I was male, a tiara... well, they aren't very masculine. Don't get me wrong: I liked my tiara well enough, but if I had to pick between that and something a prince would wear... yeah, I'd go for the male outfit, thank you very much. Our subjects are going to be confused enough as it is seeing me as a guy if I'm still dressing like a mare. With a quick burst of my horn I teleported my tiara to my room. I'd figure it all out later.

I walked back over to Celestia's bed, where she still slept. I noted with a trace of amusement that the bruises still hadn't gone away from last night's... checkers. They mostly had, of course, but if one knew where to look they'd see the faint marks. I chuckled and nuzzled her cheek, causing her to stir. She opened one eye and smiled up at me.

"Good morning, Antares. How are you?"

I returned her smile and sat down in front of her. "I'm doing rather well. It's kind of... nice being a guy again, you know? Almost three years as a female and now..." I gave a contented sigh. "I feel like a part of me that was missing has been returned." I snorted and rolled my eyes. "Well, because there was."

"Yes, and I can say that the real thing is far better than the spell we were using." Celestia sat up and leaned back against her headboard. "I cannot say I have ever experienced such a thing, even in my many years."

I shrugged. "Yeah, well, you know, you were my first, so I hadn't really experienced anything like that either."

"Indeed." Celestia's smile faded, and she turned to her window. "But despite my joking last night, I really do question how our subjects will perceive this." She sighed and leaned her head back. "You were seen as a maternal princess. A strong mare without necessarily being too aggressive." She shrugged. "Most of the time. We all have our moments. Regardless, you know that their perception of you will change. That is inevitable. What I worry about is that they will now see you as slightly more... dominating. Not necessarily angry or aggressive, but I fear you will be seen as less approachable than before, especially to foals."

I raised a placating hoof. "I realize that there's going to be some trepidation about it, and that'll take some time to get over, but I think that it's time that I have. They'll be nervous at first, but when they realize that I'm the same Antares that they knew before, they'll calm down and come to accept it."

"But you are a different pony, Antares. You realize that your transformation was more than just physical? There is a mental and emotional aspect to it as well. On top of not having to worry about going into heat anymore..." Celestia gave a slight smirk at that, and I returned it. I did hate having to go into heat. As an alicorn it didn't last as long, but... yeah. "You quite simply have a different chemical balance in your body. You have a higher testosterone level than you did before. That will affect you. You must see how differently mares and stallions act in this world, and yours I suspect. You will be no different."

I shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose so. Regardless, that doesn't mean I'm going to suddenly be a bad prince. Do any of my goals for this nation change? Are my passions or desires for the direction of this nation or its subjects different now? Of course not. I still want to be their protector and lead them to prosperity. I want them to be safe, and I want them to look up at me and know that they have nothing to worry about, because I will always be there for them. That doesn't change in the slightest because I'm a male. Does the dynamic change because I'm a male? Of course it does. But, if we handle this right, I think that our ponies can benefit from this."

Celestia smiled at me, and leaned in for a little kiss. "I really do like it when you talk like that. I think you are right in that if you handle this correctly we can turn this into a positive thing. However, how do you suggest we breach the subject? We can't just say that you happened to turn male randomly. There must be a viable reason, especially given your main motivation for changing. If Purgle finds out that you changed just to intimidate him, that will be his excuse, and he will have his war."

"I think that we should go for a variation of the truth: the Elements of Harmony. I was doing some research on them, activated them somehow, but not on the same level as the Bearers themselves, and I was turned male." I shrugged. "It's about as good as anything."

Celestia sighed and rubbed one of her temples. "I suppose that it is as good as anything, then. We shall see how that goes. If Purgle does not have proof that you changed to intimidate him, we will have a little wiggle room, I think. It's possible, then, that your little scheme will be successful and he will respect you more. Or at the very least our talks with him will go more smoothly."

"Yeah." I sighed and got to my hooves. "Well, if I had to guess, we're reaching the resolution of that soon regardless. We'll figure it out. Until then, I think I have to be going back to my palace. I gotta break all of this to my staff, if nothing else. Lieutenant Rapids knows to postpone my court if I'm not in."

As I walked towards the door to leave Celestia's room, I heard Celestia chuckle, and I noticed myself being surrounded by a golden aura. I raised an eyebrow as I felt myself being pulled back to the bed.

"And just where do you think you're going, my dear Antares? You're still in trouble, and you haven't served your punishment. You're not going anywhere just yet."

It's nice having time to yourself; something that we don't really get as monarchs. Luna handled things for us well enough, and our ponies, while they might be irritated, don't question us when we can't hold court. We're doing super secret princessey things. So there. So with all of that said, I didn't make it back to my palace until around five in the evening. When I landed on one of the balconies, Lieutenant Rapids alongside two other guards, waited for me with a vaguely irritated look on her face. I gave her a smile when I landed.

"Good evening, Lieutenant Rapids. I trust nothing went wrong in my absence?"

"No not technically," Rapids grumbled. "Other than the whole 'bunch of ponies show up for day court and I have to turn them down-slash-get all of their information so they could re-schedule, and you could study up on what they wanted before most of them come back in the coming week.'" Rapids scoffed. "Really nice of you to just leave like that. Really regal of you. Totally something you can do."

My smirk fell, and my ears flattened. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant Rapids. I realize that I should have at least sent word back of my plans, but I did not intend to stay in Canterlot as long as I did."

Rapids rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh. How many times did you and Princess Celestia go at it, then, after you finished your business?"

"Ehe..." I blushed and looked away. "Look, it doesn't matter. Our business is something that must be discussed with the rest of the staff, as well as the entire nation. You guys first, though. I assure you that it's most important."

"I'm sure that it is." Rapids clicked her tongue and began walking back into the palace. "Just so you know, Princess Antares, your 'turn me a male for the duration of screwing' spell hasn't worn off yet. You're still a dude."

I chuckled and followed my guards inside. "Yeah, ah, about that, it's not a spell. I don't really think that you can call me 'Princess' Antares anymore."

Lieutenant Rapids screeched to a halt, and her wings twitched slightly. She stayed still for a moment before slowly turning around to face me, a bemused look on her face. "Uh..." She exchanged glances with her fellow guards. "You care to run that one by me again?"

"I think you're going to have to start calling me 'Prince' Antares, both now and going forward. I'm going to explain it in more detail to you officers, but long story short, something happened with the Elements of Harmony, and I reverted back to my original gender."

Rapids blinked once, not moving otherwise. "Er..." Her ear flicked. After a moment she exhaled and shook her head. "Right. Fine. You're a stallion now. Okay, then."

I raised an eyebrow and tilted my head. "You don't seem completely surprised."

"I was shocked beyond belief, Princess... er... Prince Antares, but having served under you for about three years now, I've kind of figured out that I just need to go with it sometimes."

I shrugged with my wings. "Fair enough, I guess."

"So how would you like to handle this, Prince Antares?" Rapids rolled her eyes. "Would you like me to gather all of the staff and guards together?"

I nodded. "Yes, and we also need to prepare a statement for the press. This is not something that's going to be ignored. The reaction will be quite extreme, I think."

Rapids tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. "You think that they'll dislike it?"

I shook my head. "I doubt it. They'll just be really, really shocked. I love my subjects, Lieutenant Rapids, but their reactions to changes can be a bit..." I spun my hoof. "Extreme."

"Can't argue with that," Rapids muttered. "So what do you want to tell them?"

PRINCESS ANTARES GENDER BENDER: EQUESTRIA'S FIRST MALE MONARCH!

Three years ago, our great nation was graced with the ascension of a third alpha alicorn, who took up residence to rule in the great city of Baltimare. Princess Antares, a being previously called a "human" from another dimension, became the princess of snark, sarcasm, pastries, education, and foal services, and flourished in her role. Her snarcasti-guard proved to be highly effective, both in the rescue of the ponies captured by griffin raiders, and the Battle of Baltimare, where she was severely wounded. She thankfully recovered and has since returned to her princess duties.

Or are they indeed princess duties?

It well known that Princess Antares was male when she was in her human form, but in her three year reign, she has been female. However, in a statement from Princess Antares, it has been revealed that she has reverted to her original gender

"It is with great surprise that the crown reveals to you the events of a few days ago. Last week, I took the Elements of Harmony for study to see if I couldn't learn more about them. Somehow, the reason is still undetermined, I managed to activate them on a lower setting of sorts than what the Bearers would be able to do. I was hit with their energy, and when I awoke a few moments later, I found that I had reverted to my original gender. Any efforts I made to change back to a female failed, so I am forced to assume that I am male until further notice. I understand that this is a shock to all of you, but I will assure you that absolutely nothing has changed. I am still as devoted to leading Equestria to prosperity as I ever was. I will continue to lead Equestria to the best of my abilities. Thank you."

Neither Princess Celestia nor Princess Luna have given statements about this new development, but we expect those to happen in the next few days.

I chuckled and shook my head as I put the newspaper down next to my throne. It was one of the more unbiased papers regarding my recent change, which I appreciated. Other papers, mostly trashy tabloid nonsense, threw out a ton of random theories like how this was my first step back to being a human, or how I was planning on having a harem of mares now that I could indulge in that kind of thing. Yeah, no on that one.

Still, I was about to start my first day of day court since my gender change. I had no idea how the petitioners would react. One thing was for sure, this one would be a bit different than usual.

Lieutenant Rapids entered through the side door and walked to my side. I gave her a slight nod. "So, what's the crowd like?"

Rapids deeply exhaled. "Yeah, your additional part has drawn in a lot of extra attention. I haven't seen the waiting hall so packed since you first ascended."

I sighed and flattened my ears. "Of course. I didn't expect anything less."

"Oh, and most of them are mares. Like, the vast majority of them. Ninety five percent."

I closed my eyes and rubbed one of my temples. "Of course. I should have known."

"You could start that harem that the Vanhoover Inquirer was talking about in the next half hour if you--"

"Yes, thank you, Lieutenant Rapids, I get it." I groaned and took a deep breath. "Okay, I’m ready to get started."

"The single stallion guards out there keeping order will be most disappointed, Prince Antares."

"Part of the job, I'm afraid," I grumbled. "Send the first one in."

"Very well." Rapids nodded to the door guard, who returned the nod and opened up the door. A green pegasus mare with a beaming grin on her face walked in, followed by a blue earth pony who had a similar smile. I internally sighed, but refrained from my usual habit of rubbing my temple.

"Good morning, ladies," I said, forcing a smile on my face. "How can I help you?"

The two mares stopped just in front of the throne and bowed to me as usual, but I could hear them whispering to each other.

"Oh my gosh, Rain, he's even more muscular than I thought," the earth pony muttered.

"I know, right?" the pegasus replied.

I cleared my throat. "You may rise." The mares instantly straightened up, their grins still more than present. "So, what can I do for you?"

I noticed the tails of both of the mares flick upwards slightly, and I bit the inside of my lip to keep myself from throwing them out instantly.

"Prince Antares," the pegasus mare began, "my name is Summer Rain, and this is my friend Fertile Fields." My ear flicked at that one. "We're with a local newspaper, and we were wondering if there was any truth to the harem rumors."

"I see." I alternated looks between the two of them. "So where are your press credentials? What paper are you even from? Why would you come to my day court when you can contact my secretary and set up a meeting with me like all press ponies do?"

That got the smiles off of their faces, which may have put one on mine if not for the fact that I suspected that I would be dealing with mares like them all day.

"You do know that lying to a monarch in court is a crime that carries with it a sentence of one to three years, as well as a ten thousand bit fine, right? That's not to mention the crime of impersonating a member of the press which could get you another year and another twenty thousand bits onto the fine."

Both of the mares went white, and their ears flattened, something that sat very well with me. I allowed myself the tiniest of smirks. "But I am nothing if not a merciful prince, so long as you don't bother me with this kind of thing again. In fact, I'd like you to go out and officially announce this to all waiting petitioners. I will not be creating a harem, nor do I plan on having a mate, bang buddy, one-night stand, or physical intercourse of any kind with any of my subjects. Is that clear?" The two mares nodded glumly. "Good. Now if there's nothing else, then you may go."

The two mares turned around and dejectedly walked out of my throne room, their ears flat and their tails between their legs. When they were out, I groaned and rubbed my temple. "This isn't the end of this, is it, Lieutenant Rapids?"

Rapids shook her head. "Nope. Alicorns tend to be paragons of physical perfection. As a mare you were quite beautiful, as Celestia and Luna are. As a stallion, you're handsome, rugged, muscular, and are presumably well endowed. Or at least, that's what all of the rumors have said." A pause. "Including the ones from some of the mares who work for you. Just because they've known you, doesn't mean they haven't noticed that you've changed into a paragon of stallionhood. "

I growled and facehooved so hard a crack went through the room. "Rapids, I don't... I don't need to know that kind of thing. It's just going to make a bad day worse." I shook my head and motioned to the guard next to the door. "Send the next one in."

The guard opened the door, but instead of a petitioner, one of my guards flew in, rubbing the back of his neck uneasily. "Er... Prince Antares? Almost all of the petitioners have left. We only have about three that have stayed behind."

"Oh for goodness sakes!" I grunted and rolled my eyes. "Send them in, then day court is over after that."

Well, there was one good thing that I had to look forward to about the day: Tulip's ultrasound had been scheduled for right after court. The doctors still insisted that she be confined to the infirmary just until after the ultrasound, but the first test showed that nothing seemed off about the foal, so I suspected that everything would be fine there. Working for me, she had some of the best medical care in Equestria, after all.

As I walked down the hall with Lieutenant Rapids and Private Blaze by my side, I heard somepony behind me call out.

"Prince Antares!"

I raised an eyebrow and turned around to see a familiar mare standing behind me with a rather unsettling grin on her face. I inwardly sighed. "Day court is over, Duchess Coin. Whatever you want can wait until tomorrow. I have other appointments."

Duchess Coin chuckled and sashayed up to me, her tail flicking. "Oh? Well then maybe I can come back tonight, then."

I sighed and rubbed my temple. "Duchess Coin, I really--"

"You understand the benefits of it!" Duchess Coin began walking around me and flicking her tail. "My house, one of the richest ones in Equestria, combined with your power, we could do anything we wanted with an alliance! I think you'll find that I..." She chuckled. "Am not so bad in the area of physical desires, either."

I nodded and tapped my jaw. "Indeed?" Duchess Coin nodded. "I see. Well, that does certainly sound tempting, Duchess. I do spot a flaw in it, though, particularly regarding your plans for tonight. You see, if you are aware that you have prowess in the bedroom, then you must have a large amount of experience to draw that conclusion from. Following that line, I am forced to assume that, despite my endowments, the accommodations you are offering me are too roomy for either of us to gain any benefit. Therefore, I am afraid that I must decline your request." I gave the now stunned duchess a single nod. "Good day to you. I'm sure if you got in here without escort, you can leave my palace in the same fashion."

With that, I turned around and walked away, leaving Duchessess Coin to pick her jaw up off of the floor. Once we were out of earshot, Blaze and Rapids both began chuckling. "Wow, Prince Antares, prince of snarcasm indeed."

I shrugged with my wings. "Well, if I'm going to get propositions of that sort from mares presumably for the rest of time, it behooves me to have a good comeback."

"Can't argue that, I guess," Blaze said with a shrug. "Though... I kinda envy you just a touch."

"Stallions," Rapids muttered, causing me to grin slightly.

"Yes, well, dripping in mares may sound nice, but I hate being objectified. They don't give a rats about Prince Antares the pony, they only care about my physical aspects." I shrugged. "I know it comes with the job. You're right, Rapids, alicorns look good. If our subjects see us as the ideal of physical beauty then we can't really stop them, nor can we stop places like The Princess' Den or the prostitutes who dress like us or the adult magazines." I grimaced. "I just hate it being so out in the open, you know?"

"Well yeah, I can see that," Rapids said with a nod. "I don't think I'd like it either." She shot Blaze a look. "And neither would you."

"I guess not," he muttered.

We dropped the subject as we had just reached the infirmary. I walked in and already saw a group of ponies at the end of the hallway, presumably around Tulip. I trotted down to join them.

"Doctor," I said, nodding at the pony taking Tulip's vital signs. "Nurse, Valiant, Tulip, how are we all doing today?"

"Pretty good, Prince Antares." Tulip chuckled and shook her head. "I don't know if I'll ever get used to that. We're going to have to re-write the Liber Sanctus again."

I returned her chuckle and patted her leg. "Let's worry about that later, alright? Right now let's focus on how you're doing, yeah? You've gotten..."

"Bigger," Tulip grumbled. "A lot bigger. Having a foal does that, I know, but I feel like my barrel has been wrapped in, well, a barrel stuffed with pillows or something. It's kind of unpleasant. Killing my back."

"Yeah, well, so it goes, I'm afraid. My mother had to go through the same stuff when she gave birth to me and my sister."

Tulip's eyes widened. "S-sister? Y-you have a sister? Oh my goodness, why didn't you tell me?! Does the church know?! What is she like? I--"

"Tulip, honey, just calm down," Valiant said, pressing down on her shoulder. "This is about the foal right now, okay?"

Tulip blushed and flattened her ears. "Right. Sorry about that."

"Well speaking of the foal, we can get started now if you want," the doctor said, standing up and levitating his clipboard and a pen over to him.

"Sounds good to me," Tulip said, grabbing ahold of Valiant's hoof.

"Excellent. Now, I am obligated to say that this is the test where we are first able to discern the gender of the foal. Would you like me to tell you, or would you rather wait?"

Tulip and Valiant looked at each other for a moment before Valiant nodded. Tulip returned it and looked back to the doctor. "We'd like to know."

"Excellent. Alright, this will just take a moment."

The doctor fired up his horn, and a bright yellow ball of energy floated out of it. He pushed it away from him, maneuvering it to move into Tulip's baby bump. Tulip flinched when the energy entered her, but waved her hoof when a look of concern crossed Valiant's face.

"Okay," The doctor began. "Preliminary analysis shows..." The doctor's eyes widened, and he blinked once. "Ms. Tulip, I'm afraid our initial analysis was incorrect. You're not merely having a foal... you're pregnant with twins. One filly and one colt."

Tulip and Valiant gasped before breaking out into wide grins. Tulip grabbed Valiant's hoof and nuzzled it, while Valiant wrapped her in a gentle hug.

"Their vital signs are completely normal from what I can see," the doctor continued. "They are growing at a natural rate, and..." The doctor's smile slid off of his face, and his eyes widened again. But instead of surprise like with last time, I could see a glint of fear in them. "Uh..." He blinked and rubbed the back of his neck.

"What?" Tulip looked at the doctor, then Valiant, then to me. "What? What's wrong with my foals?" She sat up a little. "Doctor, what's wrong with my foals?"

"Ms. Tulip your foals..." The doctor took a deep breath and looked over at me. "Prince Antares, if I may speak to you for a moment."

"What is wrong with my foals?!" Tulip screeched.

The doctor ignored her and pulled the energy ball out of her before trotting down to the other side of the room, the ball and his medical folder floating lazily beside him. I motioned for my guards to stay behind, then followed after him. When we reached the end of the room, the doctor whirled around, his face bearing a slight glare.

"Prince Antares, I know this sounds ridiculous, but there are spells for such things, so I must ask you: have you ever had intercourse with that mare?"

My eyes widened, and I took a step back. "I... no! Never once! I swear on my crown that I have never touched her like that."

The doctor pushed his glasses up and draped a foreleg over his muzzle. "Oh dear. That just makes this all the more disturbing."

"What?" I leaned down so my head was at his level. "Doctor, what's wrong with her foals?"

The doctor took a blank sheet of paper out of the folder. He maneuvered the ball so that it merged with the paper, causing an image to form on it. A grainy image that looked a little better than the ultrasound images that we had back on Earth, but I could get what the image represented. I illuminated my horn and took the picture from the doctor, my jaw dropping when I saw it.

Yeah, he had every reason to be worried and scared, because now I was too. The picture showed two foals, a filly and a colt, as expected, but something was definitely off. The body structure, the hooves, the tail. These foals were a cross between a pony...

And a scorpion.