The Tales Of The Lunar Consort, Volume II

Part I : The Rebirth of The Children Of The Night

Sub-Part II: The Consort Returns As He Was Known

Three hours later...

The five mares surrounded the slightly-snoring stallion, fast asleep in the bed. He was... not?... Grandfather. Grandfather was a very old stallion, thin, emaciated, actually, due to his disease that he refused to name. He was so old that his mane and coat were both grey, almost white. The stallion laying in the bed had a sky-blue coat and a thick black mane. His body had filled out and was now filled with layers of muscle. The only thing that had survived the reversal from Grandfather to this stallion was the eye color. His eyes, once so cloudy with cataracts, were now scarlet-irised and clear, although very much dilated. The pain from the procedure, undoubtedly.

He'd been sleeping for three days now. On the third morning he'd shown signs of waking soon, and they'd quickly brought a veritable feast for both they and he to partake of. No doubt he'd be hungry...  and Grandfather had told them to look after the stallion he'd apparently turned into, as he might very well need some help for a while. Disorientation, amnesia, many things he might suffer from. And they would care for him, because Grandfather had told them to.

The stallion groaned and shifted in the bed. Like Grandfather did when he had one of his nightmares. But they knew he was waking, not sinking deeper into sleep. Moonlight Rose stood by while her sisters retrieved the food they'd found, caught and brought with them from their house and set aside a portion for him, and the sisters took their share of the food and settled down to wait. Waiting was nothing to them; they'd learned much patience from Grandfather and had waited for many years.

Quercus Alba sat on a bed and stretched herself out on it lazily, settling down for a quick nap, tucking her arms behind her head; she was known to be quite lazy. Starlight Streak took her plate and retreated to a corner, savaging the food. Night Flight had disappeared to somewhere; she had seemed a bit bothered by something, and had probably gone off to alleviate it. Noctilucent Terra was on the opposite side of the room, exercising, the fitness junkie; two hundred push ups, sit ups and wing ups each. Moonlight Rose herself merely sat in one of the chairs that occupied the hall, throwing one leg over the other, content to simply watch the stallion.

He was not a small stallion, long in body and broad in shoulder. He was about six feet and seven inches in height, and looked like he weighed around two hundred and thirty-five pounds. Very muscular, his chest, arms, shoulders and back rippled with banded muscle, and his big, broad wings had powerful flight muscles. He was also quite decently... equipped, shall we say, with large, healthy, ovoid testicles, but that was neither here nor there. His face was, if not a terribly handsome one, at least somewhat attractive, features lean and angular; a heavy brow, scarlet eyes, chiseled cheekbones, a strong jaw. Now that she examined him closely, she saw that his face was almost identical to Grandfather's, just younger. Younger-looking, she reminded herself. More evidence to suggest that he was Grandfather.

She'd gotten so caught up in assessing him and comparing the two stallions that, when he moved, it took her a moment to realize it. It was just an inch, maybe, but he did move. Then he rolled over onto his back, stretched. Numerous bones cracked and popped, and the stallion blearily opened his eyes. The pupils instantly dilated, and the old-young stallion recoiled, arching his back in surprise and flinging an arm over his eyes to block out the painful light.

"AH!" he cried, startling an annoyed Quercus Alba out of her nap (the mare jumped out of her fur and landed on the floor of the infirmary, having moved a surprising distance). She scrambled to her feet, hissing, her wings flared aggressively. The stallion growled something unintelligibly and curled up in the bed, pulling the blanket over his head. Starlight Streak's head snapped up (she fallen asleep after her gorging)and she looked around, her eyes narrowing. Night Flight returned to the infirmary, a pleased look on her face, and trotted to a bed, smelling her hand and imagining that it was coated in a certain... stuff. Noctilucent Terra simply stayed where she was and continued her fitness-ing, entirely unperturbed by her sisters' aggravation.

The stallion continued to writhe beneath his blanket, until he cautiously poked his muzzle out from under it, scarlet eyes flicking hither and yon. Moonlight Rose nickered in amusement; he looked so foalish.

"Where..." he began hoarsely, then ended in a slight cough. "Where... where am I?"