Geldings

After washing myself and tying the bag to my neck, I kissed Mom and headed out.

Once I'd trotted out of sight from my house, I switched to a full-tilt gallop. I'm a good flyer, but not a fast one, and I wanted to get to the Hayburger immediately. I wasn't remotely looking forward to the potential encounter but I still had to race the clock. Even though Sundown wasn't due for a couple of hours, I had everything to lose. I was terrified of what might happen if I failed to get there in time.

In retrospect, going to the Hayburger was easily the stupidest and most dangerous thing I've ever done in my life. I should have immediately reported the mare to Mom and Cheerilee, or even taken it directly to Princess Twilight Sparkle. It was obvious I was trotting into some kind of a trap. The most likely scenario was that the mare was a pedofoal (or working for one) intent on kidnapping and abusing me, but it could have been something even more sinister. Somepony who would threaten a foal like this could be capable of anything.

I was so scared, I wasn't in my right mind. But that was clearly what the anonymous pony or ponies were counting on: a frightened and desperate foal willing to do anything they asked, without question.

The restaurant was packed when I got there. At the entrance I slowed down to a walk so I'd appear less conspicuous. In the back of my mind, I wondered what might happen if Mom found out I'd lied about meeting friends here, but I couldn't risk wasting time to establish a better alibi.

As I headed for the restroom, another colt waved to me. "Hay, Featherweight, over here!" It was Skeedaddle. He was seated at a table by himself, without his family or any friends nearby him.

I turned in his direction and trotted over. "Hay, Skeedaddle. I need to hit the restroom right away, or I'd stop and chat," I said.

"Go on," he said, with a broad smile. "I'll be here when you get back, promise."

I didn't really know what Skee's deal was. He was a nice colt, but he was shy and we didn't interact much. He was older and in a different grade of the class, so we didn't share math group or anything.

Maybe he's trying to be nice because of my detention, I thought. If I eat with him, he might be able to match my story for coming here so there won't be danger of Mom finding out I lied.

It's funny that Skee was such a shy colt. Even I had to admit he was really cute for a gelding, with his chiseled jaw and wild, colorful mane and tail. I didn't think I was gay or anything like that, but the fact he was attractive was undeniable. The fillies loved him, too, but he was always so bashful around them. He was the polar opposite of Rumble, in other words.

So I nodded to Skeedaddle and cantered quickly over to the Colt's room.

The Hayburger restaurant was something of an oddity. Despite not having an old-timey theme, it had old-timey sex segregation for its restrooms. Most restrooms in Ponyville were unisex, for mares and geldings alike. Sex segregation became irrelevant after the Gelding Edict (not that it was ever a good idea, to be completely honest). But the Hayburger had high traffic, so they installed separate bathrooms so they could have a pee trough in the Colt's room. Unisex bathrooms rarely have pee troughs. Most geldings are too shy to use them with a bunch of mares around, even now.

I stepped into the Colt's room, fully expecting to find the mare who slipped me that threatening note. Even though it's the Colt's room, nopony really cares who uses it, of course. There was a gelding standing at the sink, but I didn't see anypony else, and he didn't appear to notice me.

I entered one of the stalls and sat down on the toilet. I didn't even look at the seat, but fortunately it wasn't wet. Then I heard the sound of hooves on ceramic tile, and somepony entered the stall next to mine.

"Hay," came a low, whispery voice from the adjacent stall, clearly an adult gelding. "Our conversation stops if anypony else enters the room. Do you understand?"

"Y-yeah," I said.

"I represent a group of ponies willing to help you keep your balls. We can even keep it a secret from your family and friends. Are you interested?"

"Wait, what?" I said. "How—"

I heard somepony enter the restroom, and I immediately fell silent. This pony took the stall on the other side of me. Then a second pony entered, and from the sound of it, possibly a third. I had a lot of time to sit there awkwardly and think about the bombshell offer, but it didn't help—my mind was spinning. The idea of hiding my balls seemed impossible. What was going on here?

A couple of minutes passed, and I started to worry that Skeedaddle might walk into the restroom looking for me. Then I saw a hoof reach under the wall of the stall, holding a piece of toilet paper with something written on it. I took the paper in my shaking hoof and read it.

Well?
Yes = crumple and drop
No = fold and drop

My heart pounded in my chest as I stared at the paper. I definitely did not want to keep my testicles, but I felt like saying 'no' might be dangerous. Would they still reveal my secret? Shuttering an option I had only just learned about and didn't fully understand seemed like a huge mistake. My choice was forced.

I crumpled the paper and dropped it on the floor. The hoof picked it up.

"We'll contact you," whispered the voice, even though other ponies were still clearly in the restroom. "Stay here until I leave."

I waited there for about a minute. I didn't realize I'd had to pee until I started doing it right there in the toilet as I waited. I wondered if my response had been triggered by fear alone.

After flushing, habit made me wash my hooves, then I headed out. I noticed Skeedaddle was still seated by himself, which surprised me.

"Sorry for taking so much time in there," I said, trotting up to him. "You really didn't have to wait for me."

"As long as you washed your hooves," he joked. "But I wanted to wait. We never get to talk, and I'm here by myself, which is kind of boring. I figured if you wanted to eat we could eat together."

I blushed. An older boy wanting to hang out with me? And one as handsome and shy as Skeedaddle? None of it added up, but it gave me a neigh-perfect alibi, and I wouldn't have been able to refuse him anyway. As I said, he was a nice colt.

"S-sure," I said.

We took a seat, and Pinkie Pie skated by. "Are you finally ready to order?" she asked Skeedaddle. "I see you have company now!"

"Hay, Pinkie. How do you have time to work here and at Sugarcube Corner?" I asked her, trying to distract myself from the situation. (Besides, I was curious.) "Not to mention teaching at the School of Friendship and saving the world...?"

"Ooh, good question," said Skeedaddle.

"Hmm. I dunno?" said Pinkie. "I only work here one night a week. I can't resist it because this is the only job in town where I get to wear roller skates! It's more like a game than a job!"

"Ooh, good answer," said Skeedaddle.

Pinkie hoofed us both menus. "I already know what I want," I said, and ordered a double cheese hayburger with hay bacon and onion fries, and a cola. Skee was ready too, which was no surprise since he'd been sitting here for several minutes at least. I don't remember what he ordered. Pinkie took the menus and skated off, doing a headstand with her forehooves doing the skating.

While we waited for our food, Skee and I talked. He'd already spoken to me more in the past ten minutes than he had since I first met him, and he still seemed unusually enthusiastic.

"Sorry about your detention," he said. "That must suck."

"Not really," I replied. "I deserve worse."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. You got angry. It happens," he said. "Rumble forgives you, right?"

"Yeah. He's a pretty special bud," I said.

"He's cute, too. He'll go far in life, just like his brother," said Skeedaddle.

I thought the 'cute' comment was a little weird. I was thinking that about Skee himself right when he said it, but I'd never tell him that!

I nodded. "Yeah. I'm still upset about what happened, though. I'll feel a lot better about this once I'm finally a gelding."

Skeedaddle's nostrils flared and his brows rose slightly. I hadn't expected him to react with surprise. "Really? Um, you don't need to rush things, Feather. It's nice to have balls while you have them."

Pinkie delivered our food on that line, and I sat there in mild shock as he began to eat. I stared down at my meal, then took a big bite myself. It gave me a little time to think.

"You're a gelding," I finally said, my voice muffled by half-chewed sandwich. "I mean, you don't miss your balls, do you?"

Skee swallowed and took a drink of whatever beverage he'd ordered. "I'm just saying there's nothing wrong with having them while you're a colt, that's all," he said, sidestepping an answer to my question. "They're a part of your body, after all."

"Yeah..." I said, uncertain where the conversation was headed.

I carefully thought back in my mind. I was certain Skeedaddle was a gelding already. He was definitely old enough for it, and he hung out mainly with older geldings. He was shy around fillies, unlike Rumble, but fillies liked him anyway. Fillies don't usually take after colts who haven't been cut yet.

Then again, he was incredibly cute.

I decided to broach the topic again. "So, do you miss them?" I asked.

"It was brave of you to defend your balls like you did in class that one day," he said, changing the subject. "If you're scared of being castrated, that's totally normal. It isn't something to be ashamed of."

"I... yeah, I guess," I said. "I've just been waiting for so long. It'll be a relief to finally be like my friends."

"You already are like them, Feather," he said, placing a hoof on mine. "You belong to the herd, one hundred percent. Your balls don't make you a bad pony. Okay?"

I nodded slowly, finishing up my food. "I guess so. Maybe I shouldn't worry so much." I didn't really mean it. I just didn't know what else to say.

It seemed to satisfy him, though, as his ears pricked up and he cracked a warm smile. "That's the spirit."

"You don't mind if I run off?" I said, between sips of my Colta-Cola. "I need to get home before Sundown and I'm a little worried about being late. I appreciate you spending time with me." All of that was true. At least one thing had gone right for me today.

"No problem, friend," he said. "I'll see you around."

Friend. The sentiment warmed my innards, even if it seemed premature. I blushed, and trotted off.

I turned my head to catch a glimpse under Skee's tail as I left, however. I was able to get a clear shot of his trimmed sac and scar. He was a gelding, naturally. For some reason I felt relieved by this, then I realized why. What if the ponies blackmailing me had gotten to him too? It must have been in the back of my mind while talking to him. I was starting to see dark shadows all around me.

Still, like a cow with her cud, my mind wouldn't stop ruminating. It seemed impossible that a colt could hide keeping his balls. Colts rarely wear pants or skirts or anything like that, and you gotta move your tail sometime. Besides, when you first get gelded, everypony is going to check!

The offer I'd received didn't make any sense. You can't pretend to be gelded. So how could I possibly keep my nuts without Mom knowing? Something wasn't right here.

There was still one possibility: unicorn magic. But it seemed super unlikely, and what I knew of unicorn magic (which as a pegasus colt, wasn't much) suggested this was still impossible. It would need to be some kind of an illusion spell and those can't be maintained for very long, unless maybe you're a changeling or something. For all I knew, changelings didn't even have balls.

Regardless, It didn't matter. It was clear I'd just fulfilled my part of the bargain, and what did these weirdos have to gain by threatening me, anyway? They might try to contact me again or something, but I'd just refuse.

Just to be safe, I decided I wouldn't get gelded tomorrow after all. I'd take an extra day to think things over just in case there was something I hadn't considered carefully, since this had all happened so fast. I could do it early on Saturday instead, and then my nightmare would finally be over. One more day with balls wouldn't kill me.

I'd still have to suffer through detention Friday, but I felt like I deserved it, so it wasn't a big deal. It'd probably be cathartic, even, now that I'd resolved to have my testicles removed like a civilized pony.

I decided to sleep with the feather once again. I didn't want to deal with Mom finding a big emission. The thought disgusted me. Besides, I only had two more nights of this, and then I'd finally be cured.

As I lay in bed that evening with an uncomfortable quill poking my penis, something weird about my dinner with Skeedaddle floated to the surface.

He had used the word 'castrated'.

To my knowledge, I hadn't heard that word before Mom said it to me me a couple of days ago. It was like a dirtier version of 'gelded', I recalled. Less civilized, she'd told me.

Very unusual. Then again, Cheerilee once told us about a psychological effect where you hear a word or an idea for the first time, then it seems to pop up all over the place. This had happened to me a few times before, so it was probably just that.

Still, it was unsettling. Even though I had no reason to question Skeedaddle's motives, I felt like I couldn't trust him... or anypony else, for that matter. I knew the feeling wasn't rational, of course. So what if he used that word? My anxiety had nothing to do with his actions. He was a totally normal gelding. I had been so affected by this blackmail that I was turning into a paranoiac. This whole mess was probably just some pony's idea of a prank, for friendship's sake.

Fortunately, my luck is about to turn, I thought. I only had to endure one more day as a colt. I was certain that lopping off my gonads would mercifully take all my suspicions and fears with them.

If only I'd been right.