//------------------------------//
// 69 - Breaking of the Dawn 
// Story: The Silver Stars 
// by David Silver 
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Twilight looked to Silver silently a moment before repeating Silver's question. "Is that possible? I mean... Silver's spell bends the rules a bit, but a full-on stallion princess, er, prince?" She shook her head out of the building fog. "Is that possible?"

Celestia was about to answer, mouth already opening when Silver thrust up a hoof. "No. Enough changes. Enough new things. I think I'm unique enough without adding 'first alicorn prince' to the bundle. I didn't ask to be a mare, but I've gotten used to it, and I can get the dangly bits back when the mood strikes." Silver tilted her head at Celestia. "It's a very nice thought, and I do appreciate it."

Celestia nodded softly. "I confess, I am relieved to hear you say that."

Silver shrunk back a little. "Why? Were you still afraid I'd go on a homicidal spree the moment I had some testosterone?"

Celestia held up a hoof. "I am certain you would not do that, but no. I feared you may be amassing power, perhaps not even while aware of it. Tell me, Silver, what do you desire?"

Silver pointed at Twilight. "I want to be a good wife for her. I want to raise my foal properly. I'd like to get back to my talent and dive into magic. I want to be there for my herd. I want to meet ponies and have them smile at me instead of scowling and whispering." Silver turned her hoof at Celestia. "I'd like to escape your hate list."

Celestia's wings folded over the table, the left brushing Silver's cheek, the right on Twilight's. "I would like to be a positive aspect of both your new lives. We are already working to undo the damage done to your name. We'll be ensuring your coronation goes off without a hitch and the ponies of Equestria are properly impressed that you are a good and kind princess. Twilight." Her eyes focused on her former-student. "What do you like about Silver Stars?"

Twilight appeared startled at the question, wings ruffling a bit as she considered it. "She doesn't know the meaning of giving up, as far as I've seen." She raised a hoof. "Allow me to clarify that. She doesn't know how to give up on other ponies. She will keep right on digging, searching for that nugget of goodness in anypony she comes into any serious amount of contact with." She snorted then. "She even wants to try to make friends with a psychotic brainwashing despot. It infuriates me, but it's also... commendable, and I love that in her."

Celestia directed a hoof at herself. "Much like she appears here, willing to give me another chance, even if I may have come off as abrasive in the past."

Twilight nodded quickly. "Precisely. It is a special and rare thing." She looked across at Silver. "Even I could see Silver really wants this meeting to go well. She wants to be your friend, like you are mine."

"Are we just friends?"

Twilight blinked, caught off guard. "Er! Well... No! I mean... We're very close. You are very dear to me, Princess Celestia." She started fidgeting quite nervously. "You were my teacher, and I still consider you my mentor. You've shown me so much, about magic, and later about friendship. You pushed me out into the world I would have hid from on my own. I... I don't know how to say thank you deeply enough."

Silver cleared her throat softly. "Sorry for butting in, but what are you driving at, Celestia?"

Celestia raised a fine brow, then pointed at Silver. "Why does she refer to me as Celestia more often than you?"

Twilight began to go frizzy around the mane. "I... I didn't know you wanted me to... I was trying to be polite, P--Celestia."

Celestia shook her head. "I want to know what draws you together, and better understand your strengths and challenges."

Silver began noticing the pattern, and fidgeted herself a bit before a thought came to her. She looked across at Twilight and focused on her intently, trying to burrow into her with new thoughts. ~Twilight? If you can hear this, please raise your left hoof. It's Silver.~

Twilight looked surprised, then raised her right hoof a moment. Silver frowned a little. "Celestia. Are you being completely honest?" As she watched her, she thought to Twilight. ~Watch Celestia, closely, especially when she looks at you or talks about you.~

Celestia nodded firmly. "Of course. I want Twilight to be well-cared for, and I want our newest princess to adjust to her role smoothly. You've had a very rough time, and it's past due for me to help even out those edges."

Twilight suddenly asked. "Celestia, would you like to be my best mare?"

Celestia recoiled as if struck. "Wouldn't you want to pick one of your friends?" There was a subtle hope in her eyes, but much of it was suppressed. "Rarity would make an elegant choice."

Silver heard some mental noise that sounded a bit like Twilight, but the words were badly mangled. She decided that practice would be needed before she was half as good as Luna was at mental speaking. Twilight continued unabated with a gentle smile. "I'm certain she would be, and she and the others will certainly be hoofmaidens, but you have played such a vital part in my upbringing, and as a friend. I think you should do it."

Celestia's front began to crack as she gave her own fidget. "Twilight... I would be honored, but I must refuse. I offer instead to officiate." She smiled brilliantly. "Who else could oversee a wedding of two princesses?"

Silver raised a hoof. "Don't forget my herd."

Celestia tilted her head. "About that... Accept this as an idea only. There is no compulsion... but I would be much more at ease if you were marrying Twilight directly, instead of bringing her into your herd. How strong is your bond to the others?"

Silver's eyes widened a moment before narrowing. "My foal is in one of them, to start. I just finished comforting her. I can't even fathom the idea of abandoning them after they've been there for me through so much. That was a brutally mean question."

Twilight nodded in agreement. "I don't see how that could end well, Celestia. Night and Fast are both wonderful ponies. Why wouldn't you want them involved?"

Celestia waved a hoof. "Consider it forgotten. It's just been many many years since the last royal herd. Are they aware of what's expected of them?"

Twilight tilted her head. "Besides being good herd-mates to us?"

Celestia nodded and her horn glowed. She drew out a book from under the table and set it on top. "Take this. It goes over all of that, for them. Royal herd-mates have more to do than just being a good husband or wife. There are official functions and expectations." Celestia coughed into a hoof. "The stallion is expected to sire foals in a certain period of time, or the herd is dissolved."

Twilight frowned sharply. "Seriously? I don't remember any such laws."

Celestia shook her head. "Royal herds. Specific rules. Normal marriages have dropped and changed laws over the years, and so have normal herds, but royal herds are largely unchanged since before Luna was banished. There are rules for how often you should share a bed, be seen in public and with whom, and so on."

Twilight thumped the top of the book. "Nopony even remembers this. We should just change it, now. There's no reason for a royal herd to behave differently than any other."

Silver bobbed her head in agreement. "Not that I imagine Fast would mind a mandated amount of breeding." She gestured at Twilight. "I don't think Twilight is ready for motherhood. We're still working on fatherhood."

Celestia drew the book closer to herself. "Then we will do what we can, but laws concerning alicorns are not ratified by alicorns. That would be a gross abuse. This has to go through less royal means."

Silver wilted a bit. "You mean I have to rely on the nobles of Canterlot?"

"I'm afraid this is true." Celestia looked between the two. "My suggestion was not that you had to separate from your partners forever, but at least until the laws are changed, then you could invite them in."

Twilight took a slow breath. "We should talk to them first. Even if it's just on paper, being told Silver is leaving their herd is not something to just do casually. We'll bring it up when we get back." She smiled timidly up at Celestia. "Was there anything else you wanted to discuss?"

"Show me that spell."

Silver tilted her head. "What spell? The damage shield? Fireball? Fire wall?"

Celestia pointed at Silver with a hoof. "Become a stallion."

Silver went frozen. Twilight glanced across at Silver, then at Celestia. "Um... Perhaps... I could demonstrate?"

"That will work just as well." Celestia nodded lightly. "Go ahead."

Twilight's horn glowed with the subtle play of magic. Her deep wells of magic allowed her to cast it with a lack of effort that never failed to impress Silver. Soon she was between sexes, having both properties visibly. "Were you looking for something specific?"

Celestia shook her head slowly. "No, but I have removed all mentions of this spell from the academies. You do understand why, do you not?"

Twilight frowned in thought. "I'm not entirely sure? It's very high level and complicated. A pony could hurt themselves trying it, but that's true for many legal spells and why they have a rating."

Silver shook herself out. "You're afraid mares won't need stallions."

Celestia gave a soft smile. "Luna was not wrong. You can see the patterns. If mares can replace the need for stallions with themselves, then stallions become marginalized. Especially since there is no equivalent spell for a stallion, this spell cannot be left in public eye. I may have spoken... poorly... on their behalf, but I have no desire to see my ponies, male or female, suffer that way. Besides, there are places magic is best not introduced, and the basic, loving act of foal making is one of them I feel."

Silver looked at Twilight, glancing down at her addition before looking to Celestia with a blush. "Twilight gave me a child with it, er, foal, and I don't regret it."

Twilight nodded in agreement to both. "I'm certain if used entirely responsibly, it would be fine, but I can also see how it could easily be abused, and monitoring for it would be basically impossible until after the fact with a foal on the way." She leaned closed to Silver and nuzzled her once. "It's just our little secret now."

Silver warmed before another thought came crashing down on her and she sat bolt upright. "Alicorn breeding."

Celestia reached across and pet Silver across her soft mane. "I knew I had only to wait a small time."

Twilight tilted her head. "I don't get it."