Author's Notes:

Reminder: to understand some parts of this story, you'll have to check out the side story - Of Gelding Aftermath

"It is so good to see you awake at last, Luna," Celestia cooed as she sat by her sister's bed.

Recently awoken from her coma, The blue alicorn was being attended by nurses as she scowled and complained at their fussy nature. "Sister? Care to explain why I am being attended by these invasive hens and not our palace geldings? Surely you haven't gone soft."

Celestia snorted. "Hardly. With recent events, what few remain are being tasked with finding alternative solutions to the practice of castration."

Luna quirked a brow as one nurse fluffed her pillow. "Alternative? Sister. It's an ancient institution. Were their better ways, they'd have already been found."

Celestia nodded. "Be that as it may, it was necessary to help calm certain members of the populace."

"There was a time no one dared defy us, sister," Luna spoke in a low voice. "How could this happen now?"

The white alicorn shrugged. "Who knows what drives the minds of the mad to do anything? Rest assured, soon enough, ponies will come back to their senses. Until then, we must hold our ground."

Then she looked as if she remembered something. "Oh. Nurses, please leave my sister and I alone. There are private matters to discuss."

The mares swiftly obeyed, closing the door behind them. Celestia did a quick magical scan of the room and then, as an extra precaution, covered herself and Luna in an umbrella of silence so that no one could hear.

"What is it, sister?" Luna asked cautiously, doing her own scan of the room.

The whole time she had been in the room, Celestia had had a basket beside her, a sweet aroma wafting from it. Anyone that knew her would simply assume it contained whatever cake she felt like having that day. But, when she removed the lid...

"A foal?" Luna inquired, looking at the sleeping form held inside. Obviously drugged to keep from moving or making noise.

"A colt," Celestia corrected her. Then she corrected herself. "Actually, a gelding now. Plucked him out of an alleyway."

"A street orphan? Really?" Luna tilted her head incredulously. "Are we really so desperate that we've taken to scraping the bottom of the barrel? Are their no more noble families willing to part with their surplus males?"

Celestia chuckled good naturedly. "I don't know whether or not he is an orphan or some noble colt wandered too far from home matters not. I just needed a test subject. One only we knew about. No one else."

"A test subject?"

Celestia nodded. "Indeed. These rogue revolutionaries have some sort of spell that can reverse the process of castration. So... I have created a deterrent of sorts. One that should make them think twice before their next raid. If successful, shall bring us an upper hand in this fight."

Luna looked from the young gelding and back to her sister. "Please, do explain."

"Well, it was quite a simple thing, really," she started lifting the drugged child from the basket and passing him to Luna, who reluctantly held him. It. "Testosterone is the key factor in making stallion behave. We take a away a means of him producing a lot of it, and he becomes calm and obedient. As they should be."

The gelding shifted a little in Luna's hooves, she regarded it with contempt.

"Now, it has become apparent we can't stop these ponies from stealing our property in a moments notice every weekend, but we stop them raising an army testosterone pumping stallions from our gelding and eunuchs. I simply placed a tiny, hidden spell on him, where, were he to start producing more testosterone than the average gelding does... well... the revolutionaries would have to watch as he died writhing upon the floor in a most agonizing fashion."

Luna actually recoiled a bit. "So... we break our toys so that no one may play with them?"

Celestia nodded. "This is a game, Luna. One which we shall win. From now on this gelding will be your personal servant. Now that you're awake, make sure you out into public and socialize as much as possible to give these revolutionaries a chance to seize him and see what we are willing to do."

Luna nodded as she set the gelding down upon the top of her sheets. "What of the others we still have?"

Celestia shrugged. "Unfortunately, this had to remain absolutely secret. It would not do for someone to see me casting a spell on one of them. But... if the test is successful... it will become a royal decree to cast this spell on every gelding in Equestria. For now, we need just sit back and await their next move."