Silver couldn't sleep, but he wasn't really awake either. He fidgeted faintly through the night, dimly aware that Celestia returned to the bed. He felt her warmth join that of the Windsong girls, and he felt comforted by it, only to increase when her wing folded over him. When he peeked internally, his vision was fuzzy with a lack of focus, but he didn't see anything being destroyed, which was some comfort.
Pain suddenly blossomed and his eyes turned towards his bejeweled jewels in time to see a golden glow fade from the bangle. Celestia nuzzled him softly. "I had to try."
Time passed fitfully. The girls and Celestia eventually rose from bed and prepared for the day. They said some things but Silver couldn't focus on them, then they were gone, leaving Silver to lay there. He wasn't exactly uncomfortable or comfortable. He felt disconnected as if he were cut away from his body and watching from above while waiting for the bangle to finish its job.
The door creaked open and a feline slinked in, shutting it behind himself before approaching Silver's prone form. "You're quite lucky, horse prince. If we were still of the mind to excise troubles with a knife, this may have been the end of you."
Silver felt his blood quicken, and the disconnect faded a bit. He forced himself, struggling against the lethargy until he sat up to face this cat, feeling triumphant for the simple gesture.
The cat clapped his paws. "Very good. You're not entirely without spirit. Impressive enough with what's happening to you."
Sliver snorted softly before asking in a shaking voice. "What is... that?"
He leaned forward. "First things first. I am not your enemy, oh no. I just talk with them, and I'm in no mood to have an angry horse at my neck. Promise me you'll keep your friends from chasing me, or I'll quietly leave as I came."
Silver nodded lightly. "If you haven't harmed me, then I won't let them harm you. What is it, and what is it doing?"
The cat pointed at the golden bracelet. "That is a very mighty gift, but the pharaoh is wrong if she thinks it was granted to any willing cat. Your magic is being turned as we speak, becoming one with your fertility, until your entire body is one big pool of masculine power."
Silver grit his teeth. "I have a lot of magic."
The cat rolled a paw. "And so it takes a lot of time. I shudder to think of an Equestrian prince's reserves turned to this. A pity, all that magic internalized."
Silver grunted. He meant to sound much louder and angier, but it was hard to move still. "I need my magic."
"There's not much to be done about it," He shrugged his shoulders. "Short of rendering you a eunuch and ending its influence early."
Silver shuddered powerfully. He wanted his magic, but having his balls lopped off hardly seemed a reasonable price. "Why are you telling me?"
The cat smiled gently. "I have limits. This is too cruel. You have acted with everyone's best interests in heart, and I am not so blind as to not see that. Kind prince of a foreign land, I do have something to offer you."
Silver lifted an ear. "What is it, and what is the... price?"
He clapped his paws. "I thought you might be foolish enough to not ask. Yes, keep surprising me. Tell your wife to seek out the cat that crows about the Anubians like some sort of parrot. He has the key to your salvation. Kindly don't mention me while you do it. In the meanwhile, I'd avoid enjoying the company of your mares."
"I didn't hear a price." Silver snorted softly. "What do you want?"
He shrugged softly. "I think it's more than enough to be certain the Equestrians know the pharaoh does not stand alone in a sea of hostility. She may have started weak and feeble, but you have lit a fire in her heart, and others of like mind are eager to see that fire stoked to a raging inferno that will see her father's work continued. I trust you still plan to depart, yes? Your presence is very distracting, if motivational."
Silver nodded lightly. "Yes... thank you." The cat slipped from the room, but Silver didn't allow himself to sink into that stupor. He turned his thoughts inwards and worked against the cursed bangle, feeling out where its influence reached already. Its tendrils had fully settled in his stallionhood and sac, though that was hardly surprising. It spread up into his hips and tail, spreading down his hind legs and working towards his hooves.
It was like a cancer, he decided, and cutting off its spread seemed important. He began gently pruning at connections, working at the ones it seemed to favor passing down, while ignoring the connections it too seemed to ignore. Each snip brought a twinge of discomfort as he mangled his own aetheric net, but soon the influence of the bangle didn't seem to be encroaching any further. A deep breath suddenly overtook him, and awareness returned fully. Was it that easy?
Silver slipped from bed and tried out his limbs one by one. Even his fully converted hind legs seemed to cooperate with his will, and he felt whole again. A glance showed the bangle still rested where it started. Huffing with annoyance, Silver grabbed his cloak and soon had the area covered from sight under bright red cloth. Silver levitated his saddlebag over only to start trembling. As he conjured his magic, his balls began to tingle and the bracelet became warm. It thankfully faded as soon as he had the bag in place and let go of his silvery magic. "Alright, maybe it's not quite fixed yet..."
Silver slipped from the room and trotted briskly through the hallways. He quietly entered the court and crept as non-intrusively as he could through the seats until he could settle beside the other ponies there. Shei smiled at him and leaned close. "You look better."
Silver nuzzled Shei but moved his snout towards Celestia afterwards. "The military cat knows something about my little 'gift'."
Celestia softly snorted and nodded, but didn't make a stir in the middle of the proceedings. "Amenti has been making friends, and some enemies, but mostly allies. The people of the city sent her a gift at the start of the day. I believe she is gaining control of the situation."
When court ended without any great surprises being unleashed, Celestia rose and followed after the military cat. Amenti looked at Silver directly. Silver glanced about before deciding to see what she wanted, even if Celestia wasn't present.
Amenti smiled gently. "I... have been informed of certain things."
Silver perked an ear at the ambiguous statement. "I'm sure you have?"
Amenti cleared her throat. "Will you consent to one more meeting? It will be the last, I swear it. I will trouble you no further."
Silver felt she was being truthful, and she looked so scared he would turn her away. He sighed softly. "I will do that, but can Celestia be with me?"
Amenti stiffened a moment, but slowly nodded. "Yes, it would probably be best. Bring her. Tonight." Amentine slipped to her paws and walked away without further word.
Silver returned to the room to find Celestia seated there with a male cat beside her he didn't recognize. Celestia pointed at Silver. "Silver, meet Thrice Cooked. He will be helping us."
Thrice smiled. "A pleasure to meet you, Prince Stars. May I see it?"
Silver flicked his ears softly, looking between Thrice and Celestia before he pulled off his cloak with his magic, the tingles returning for the brief moment it took to get his cloak off and let it fall to the ground.
Thrice gave a soft whistle, rising from his seat and approaching. Silver could see he had two tails, a nekomata. The feline cupped his balls with one paw as the other felt along the bracelet. "Did you do something to it? It's cooling down."
Silver was loathe to admit it, but any gentle attention paid to him felt fantastic, regardless of the gender or species of the giver. "Uh, yes. Any magic seems to set it off."
Thrice nodded. "Alright, let me see it then. Go ahead and do something."
Silver looked down to his dropped cloak and lifted it with his magic, trying his best to ignore the tingles as he put the cloak away. His efforts were erratic at best, growing decidedly worse as Thrice had no shame in feeling him up as the bracelet did its magic. His paws wandered away from his furry sac to feel across his belly and hind-legs. "Your magic seems severed right about... here." He trailed a circle along silver's belly where he had performed clumsy magical surgery. "Did the bracelet do this?"
Silver let out a loud sigh as he got the cloak where it needed to be and could stop. "No, that was me. I was trying to stop it from spreading any further."
Thrice clucked his tongue. "I'm not sure that's really an option. It's still spreading, if slower. Any amount of magic use is going to let it spread every time."
Silver tried to sit, but Thrice was in the way, still pawing around. "I don't want to lose my magic. I've grown quite attached to it."
Thrice tilted his head. "Hmm? Oh! You won't do that. I mean, yes, it will be internalized at first, but I'm told you're very persistent. You'll sort it out."
Celestia raised a brow from where she sat. "Is this something that can be... gotten used to?"
Thrice sat himself down, out of Silver's way. "I've read a few papers on the subject. Cats with internalized magic at birth have learned how to perform external magic. It's... different, but not impossible." He poked Silver lightly. "Besides, you obviously do internal magic despite having an external focus. Same thing, backwards. You don't even have to change your spells, just how you go about them."
Silver sat with the opportunity to do so. "Why on Earth would someone want something like... this? Is there any benefit to it, or is it just cursed?"
Celestia pointed at the golden object. "And can it be removed?"
Thrice shook his head. "It was, if I looked up the right artifact, designed as a punishment for an overly-amorous nekomata, robbing him of his prized magic and ensuring his spawn would be just as magicless. That part of the curse has dulled over time, the kittens without magic part, but that's how baastians were made, or so they say."
Silver cringed. "Alright, so... it wasn't a complete lie... Let me guess, it comes off when I'm dead?"
Thrice smiled. "Got it in one."
Celestia put a hoof over her face. "Does it have any benefit at all?"
"Well, I suppose there is a silver lining." Thrice paused and waited for a chuckle at his joke. There were none coming. "Once your magic is running that way, it becomes a lot easier to enhance yourself with it. It'll probably happen by accident at first. You'll just have to work out the external parts. Of course, that thing's more a legend than not, so it could do other things." He reached out and batted at the purple heart crystal that hung from Silver's neck. "It doubles as one of these. So there is that." He rose up to his hind-paws. "I should be going. I don't think there's too much more I can do for you?" Soon he was gone, and Celestia was left to stare at Silver evenly.
She nodded lightly. "Not the way I would have preferred it, but perhaps..."
Silver let out a slow breath. "If it helps do my job, then I'll muddle through it, even if it means mastering whistling while inhaling."
Celestia smiled. "Have you done that?"
Silver considered. He hadn't whistled all that much since becoming a pony, but he had lips! He puckered up and let out a few warbly notes before getting a bit more clear, then inhaled with the sound of a dry gasp. "Before I get too focused on that, Amenti wants to see us both."
Celestia grabbed his cloak and wrapped it gently around Silver in her golden magic, restoring his dignity. "Then we should be off."