Author's Note

I very much would like some advice on the tagging of this story and content warning. I know the subject matter will make some people queasy and piss of others, however I'm not sure what else to tag it for to help those who wish to avoid it, well avoid it.

It's neither dark, violent nor non-consensual. The profanity is tame even by Teen standards and there is no death or self harm. Arguably the painkiller potion is narcotics, but that feels like a stretch. There's also no sex, in fact quite the opposite.

Domestic Bliss

Doctor Redheart looked at her schedule to remind herself who her next patient was and what they had booked time for.

"Hmmm, ah yes, one of those." She hummed happily, noting that the booking had two names. That wasn't all that unusual, some stallions wanted their partner present during such a life changing procedure.

She assembled the tools she would need. The clamp obviously, and a scalpel, generous helpings of painkiller potion. She was relieved he had gone with that option, she really hated the screaming that inevitably followed otherwise. "Let's see what else do we need?" She mumbled to herself. Thread and needle, sterilization potion, healing salve… that seemed to be it, and a bowl.

With her preparations done she trotted over to the door that separated her OR from the waiting room and greeted the couple.

"Lucky Clover?" She asked as she trotted up to the only two ponies in the waiting room. The stallion, a gray earth pony, looked up at the sound of his name.

"And you must be his marefriend?" Redheart said to the pony sitting next to him, a brown maned pegasus with a cutie mark of a burning tire.

They both smiled and confirmed who they were so Redheart went on and introduced herself.

"I am doctor Redheart, and I will be performing your procedure."

"A pleasure to meet you, I am Wild Fire." The mare shook her hoof. The stallion meanwhile just shifted nervously and mumbled a "Hello." As he moved Redheart noted that his cutie mark matched his name perfectly.

"Oh don't be nervous, I've done this a hundred times." Redheart assured him as she led them toward her operating room.

"Well, you can hardly blame him." The mare chuckled. "Given the nature of the procedure."

"Oh indeed." Redheart agreed. "Getting gelded is a rather life altering experience after all.

The stallion blushed deeply and hurried into the OR. The mares exchanged grins with each other and then followed him.

"So." Redheart said to the couple as soon as the door closed behind them. "You are both aware of the consequences of the procedure?"

They both nodded so she continued, retrieving a clipboard and ticking off points on it. "And you want to go through with it anyway?"

Another nod, Redheart noted it down.

"You've had all the foals you wanted then?" She asked, looking up from her clipboard.

The stallion shifted but his mare answered promptly. "We don't want any." She gave her stallion a smirk. "Which is an extra reason to get him gelded."

"I understand, it is the most secure form of birth control after all." Redheart agreed, noting this down to.

"And you wanted what method?" She asked the couple.

"Clamps." The mare was quick to reply. Not surprising, it was the traditional method and the quickest. However surgery had become more and more popular in recent years, especially since many geldings wanted additional work done.

A noise from the stallion reminded them both that he was part of the discussion.

"Uhm, I've heard it hurts terribly." He mumbled when he realized he had both mares's attention.

Wild Fire looked concerned but Redheart was quick to reassure him. "Oh no, we have very good painkillers on hoof. You won't feel a thing unless you want to."

He seemed quite relieved to hear that, which was hardly surprising, but then he frowned. "Wait, you mean some stallions want to feel it?" He sounded incredulous.

"Oh yes." Redheart confirmed. "Some want the, well, traditional experience. No painkillers at all."

The stallion shuddered, and Redheart could hardly blame him. She didn't particularly like to put patients through that kind of pain, but it was their choice to make, not hers.

"The strongest one then I presume?" She asked, pen hovering over the form.

The stallion nodded gratefully so she asked if he preferred to be put under, he did not.

With that concluded she retrieved a bottle of one of her stronger potions, though it was one she had started to use for the majority of her operations.

"Well, that is settled then. If you care to drink this and sign here, we can get started." She handed him both the vial of potion and the consent form for his own castration.

He took a deep breath before signing and then chugged down the potion.

"I don't feel any different." He said as he handed the signed form back to the doctor.

"That's the point dear." She said as she scanned through the document. "It will cushion your system against trauma, it also completely removes your sense of pain and hinders bleeding." She explained, and demonstrated by giving him a pinch on the thigh. No reaction.

"Neat." He commented, now seeming to relax as he knew the procedure would be painless.

"Now this is your very last chance to back out." Redheart warned, but he told her to go on. His marefriend was trying to catch his attention, so he turned to talk to her, inevitably presenting his backside to the doctor.

Redheart found this excellent, with the potion in his system she wouldn't even need to have him lie down. She washed her hooves and saw to her instruments as the couple chatted away. It was clear that the mare was trying to distract him from the procedure so Redheart got to work under his tail.

Raising the appendage she found her dangling prize, two jewels of modest size encased in their silky grey pouch. Well not for long, Redheart thought as she picked up her tool.

The tool, or Clamps as it was usually called gleamed in the light. It was a wicked pair of calipers, as long as Redheart's leg and made of shiny but cold hard steel.

She felt the soft pouch with her hoof, eliciting no response from the stallion. His orbs were of quite average size, but to Redheart they were beautiful.

The organ looked so vulnerable between the unforgiving jaws of the tool that was about to take it away. The stallion didn't react as Redheart located the cord, he just kept chatting with his marefriend, blissfully unaware of what the doctor was doing.

"CRUNCH!"

The grisly sound was not in fact all that loud, yet it made all three ponies in the room pause. The sound of a stallionhood dying will do that.

Wild Fire was the first to recover. "So as I was saying..." She tried to bring her mate back into the conversation to distract him from what he had just lost.

He on the other hoof seemed to be about to panic. He tried to turn his head to look at the damage, but his mare stopped him. She grabbed his muzzle and made him look at her. "Only one more." She promised. "Then you'll be my gelding forever."

He hesitated for a few moments, torn between his wills, but relented and lifted his tail for the Doctor to finish the job.

Redheart naturally took exactly 30 seconds before she moved. The clamp had to be held down for that long and she was going to savour every second of it.

The doctor was pleased to see that the stallion lifted his tail back up just as she reached 0. That meant she could get a better view as she detached the tool, and hopefully the testicle. It also meant that he consented to the rest of the procedure, which was the most important thing of course.

She noted with satisfaction that the ball now floated free in its sack and that the stallion seemed to have felt no pain at all. He kept on talking to his mare, even if his body had gone stiff.

With his tacit permission Redheart placed the tool over his final testicle. She took a moment to admire the organ, larger than its twin, and more importantly, the last vestige of his stallionhood.

Not anymore. She thought to herself as she slammed the handles together.

"CRUNCH!"

This was the last one, and they all realized it. The Stallion began to squirm, trying to pull away from the emasculating tool, his instinct not realizing it was already too late.

His mare grabbed his muzzle harder. "Look at me." She urged, doing her best to calm him down.

Redheart counted down from 30, moving the tool to keep up with the stallion's squirming. Well hardly a stallion anymore.

She reached 0 and detached the tool, giving the new gelding a reassuring pat on its flank.
"There, that wasn't so bad, was it?" She said.

"No." The gelding replied, its voice sounding rather relieved. "Is it over?" It asked.

"Well." Redheart hated to disappoint. "Depends, do you want to walk away now with dead balls dangling between your legs, or should I take them out?"

This caused a bit of discussion between the couple.

"Take them out." The mare said, but the gelding was reluctant. "Can't we leave them in?" It said, turning to look at the doctor.

"Well." Redheart said. "You could, but why would you?"

Lucky blushed. "I don't want everypony to see I'm a gelding, okay."

The comment caused its marefriend to giggle and give it a pat on the head. "Stallions." She muttered good humoredly.

"Ah." Redheart said, giving it a shake of her head. "I'm afraid that they will atrophy. You will look normal for a couple of days, and then they will continue to shrink until you have nothing left but an empty piece of skin between your legs. Ponies will be in no doubt of your status then."

"I see." The gelding said, lowering its head in defeat.

"It'll be okay." The mare reassured it. "There's nothing wrong with being a gelding, love. Some of the most successful ponies in Equestria are geldings." She coed, doing her best to bring its spirits back up.

"I guess." It muttered, not even the encouraging pats of it's marefriend seemed to do much to cheer it up.

Cheer him up, Redheart corrected herself. If Lucky wanted to present as male, then she should respect that.

"There are options for that too." The doctor spoke up, bringing the stallion out of his moping to focus on her.

"Ey?" He said, looking confused but hopeful.

Redheart clopped over to one of her medical cabinets and retrieved something, which she then held up to the stallion, giving him a reassuring smile. "If I put these in, nopony will be able to tell the difference."

"Really?" The stallion eyed the two plastic orbs with cautious optimism. They looked rather like ping-pong balls.

"Yes." The doctor reassured him. "Only way to tell would be to give them a good feel." She winked. "I doubt anypony but your marefriend would do that, and she already knows."

"So true." Wild Fire cut in, giving the artificial balls a cursory glance. "I don't care if anypony else knows." She said, giving him a loving nuzzle and a peck on the cheek. "As long as you are my little gelding in private."

The stallion nodded, happy by the compromise. "That seems acceptable." He agreed, returning the nuzzle. "We'll go with that option." He informed the doctor.

Redheart was only too happy to agree. "Splendid." She said, placing the balls down and made a swiveling gesture with her hoof. "If you'll just turn around we'll have this done in a couple of minutes.

The stallion complied, turning to face his marefriend, his tail flagged, signaling his consent and allowing the doctor easy access to his dead meat.

Wasting no time, Redheart produced two stainless steel bowls, one for the fake pair, which she dumped the plastic balls in and covered with a sterilizing potion. It wouldn't do to risk him getting an infection.

The other bowl was for his real pair, and she placed it on the floor, between his hind hooves.

A slash of her scalpel was all it took for the balls to drop.

"Plop!" The first said, as gravity dragged it from its home and dumped it into the cold steel bowl. The stallion shivered at the noise, even moreso when a second meady thud announced that it had been followed by its brother.

Redheart contemplated what to do with the bowl. It was tradition to place it in front of the freshly made gelding so that it could see what had been done to it. It helped cement their new status.

However, this time the gelding still wanted to present as his former gender. So discreet disposal of the organs seemed in order. She looked at the marefriend for guidance, holding up the bowl with his severed stallionhood.

Wild Fire was quick to grab the bowl from Redheart, settling the issue by practically shoving the bowl in her stallionfriend's face. "Look bitch." She sang. "Look what I took from you." She held the bowl with what used to be his stallionhood up to his muzzle. "Now we know who will win every argument from now on."

Redheart couldn't see his expression from this angle but the marefriend was clearly enjoying the look on it. She giggled and cooed as she showed him his foalmakers.

Redheart smiled at the happy couple and got back to work. It was easy work to insert the fake testicles and sew his pouch back up. Since he clearly didn't want anypony to be able to tell that his equipment was fake, Redheart used very neat stitching and a powerful healing salve. Her procedure would leave no visible mark, not an empty pouch, not even a scar. She also healed the bruises on his pouch from the clamping. They would have gone away by themselves in a couple of days, but she didn't think he wanted them to show. Unlike most geldings who seemed to wear their scars as a badge of honour and take pride in their new gender, this guy seemed determined to pretend it hadn't happened. Which made Redheart wonder why he had agreed to it in the first place. It wasn't her job to make decisions for her patients though, she just carried them out.

"Oh, you look perfect!" Wild Fire squealed, having taken a break from literally rubbing his new status in his face and inspected the incision area. "Nopony will be able to tell that you are anything but a big strong stallion." She hefted the apparently intact stallionhood, testing the new contents. Lucky didn't react, not even when she gave two orbs a hard punch. The painkillers were still working. "You look like an absolute stud." She complimented him, giving his bag one last punch and sliding over to embrace him.

"But we both know the truth, don't we." She whispered in his ear, loud enough for Redheart to overhear.

The stallion just nodded.

"And what are you?" She purred, giving his ear a hard nibble.

"Ow! I'm yours!" He yelled, pulling his head away from the mare.

"My what?" She prompted, letting him go.

It was precious to see, he lowered his head and looked down at the floor, only for his eyes to meet the bowl with the two meaty orbs that had just been taken from him.

He took a deep breath and let out a sigh, accepting his new status, in private at least, if not publicly. "I am your gelding, miss." He mumbled, eyes still fixed on his severed stallionhood.

A huge smirk spread across the mare's face. "Yes you are." She waited until he looked up at her and asked. "Do you regret it?"

Lucky took his time before replying, but in the end he smiled back. "No, I don't."

Wild Fire looked awfully relieved, but quickly put her smirk back on. "Then thank me."

"Thank you miss." Lucky mumbled. "Thank you for making me yours."

"Excellent!" The mare exclaimed, her mask slipping once more to show just how happy she was. "Then kiss my hoof!" Her voice turned stern and she took half a step forward, her left hoof a clear invitation. "Kiss it and accept your position."

To Redheart's amazement he did. He walked over to his marefriend, kneeled and kissed her hoof. She was just about to step in and demand that they take their sex life somewhere else when Wild Fire gave a squeal of happiness, pulled her stallion back to his hooves and into a massive ribcrunching hug.

"I love you so much!" She exclaimed.

"I love you too." He replied, and even if his smile wasn't as wide, it sure was genuine. He pulled his mare in and kissed her.

Well then. Redheart shrugged. As long as they are happy. She waited patiently until the pair pulled apart.

"Go out and wait while I have a few words with the doctor will you." The marefriend ordered and he meekly complied, leaving the room and his stallionhood behind.

"Well Doctor." Wild Fire said after the door had closed behind him. "You did most excellent work, thank you." She complimented, shaking Redheart by the hoof and handing over the agreed upon sum of bits. "I will most assuredly recommend your clinic to my friends."

"Oh thank you." Redheart gave an embarrassed smile and brushed the compliment off. "Just doing my job." It did feel good to get recognition for her hard work though. "Just happy to help, really."

"But of course." The pegasus mare replied, picking something up from the floor. "Speaking of which… any chance I can take these with me? " She held up the bowl with her stallion's former pride. I'd love to be able to show them to him if he ever forgets who has the balls in this relationship."

Redheart had heard this request before and was prepared. "Certainly, I sell glass jars with preservatives just for that very reason. Only ten bits."

She fetched one and held it up for the mare. "Would look well on your mantelpiece, don't you think." She teased, handing the jar over, it had a lid and was filled with clear liquid.

"Oh definitely." The mare agreed, inspecting the jar. "Though I fear my stallion would not like that one bit. Too public." She explained. "I think his nightstand would be better. A constant reminder to him when he goes to bed, yet the neighbors will be none the wiser."

She handed the jar back and went to count up another ten bits while Redheart washed the family jewels off and put them carefully in the jar.

"Once again, thank you." The mare said as she admired the jar, and then put it in her saddlebag. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a gelding to attend to."

After another exchange of pleasantries Wild Fire left, leaving Redheart to clean up for the next patient. Not that there was much to clean up, this had been a swift and clean operation after all.

Doctor Redheart truly loved her new job.