Lovebirds by Zay-el · 3:18am Feb 6th, 2014

Hey guys Fireemblemspider here and welcome to another day in the month of love.

As it is the month of love, I will be reviewing romance fan fiction for the entire month. This is probably going to suck, but I’m doing it anyway.

And the first one of the month is a story called Lovebirds by Zay-el

It’s a really fun story that doesn’t get the respect or views that it deserves. I would highly recommend it as it is writing very well and the story is actually really interesting and a lot of fun.

But don’t take my word for it. Go off and read it. Seriously, click on the links and check it out.

And for those of you who aren’t going to click on the links, I’ll give you my thoughts on it.

The story starts from the point of view of Owloysius ,and the first thing I want to point out is, I love the descriptions on this story. The first sentence makes it sound like I just stepped into a battlefield as she compares the simples of things as if she was on the eve of a war. It’s really rather interesting and it definitely grabs your interest. There was nothing that stopped me from reading it once I started. A very clever tactic. (See what I did there?)

Anyway, the story starts with Owloysius noticing a strange light that appears in the night. This mysterious light is causing Twilight to lack sleep for days and as such, her performance starts to suffer. Owloysius, realizing that his master is becoming exhausted by the many sleepless nights, begins to plan to catch the mysterious light and discover its source.

After cleverly building his trap, with Spike and Twilight wondering what in the world he is doing, Owloysius stays up to guard Twilight and await his assailant. After several hours, nothing happens. However, Owloysius proves to be quite patient as his mysterious visitor finally arrives by traveling through the branches.

The intruder is then caught by Owloysius trap, which turns out to be a giant pale of water falling on her. This is actually quite clever, all things consider. When Owloysius goes to investigate his mysterious visitor, he comes across a phoenix, who is actually Philomena.

As expected, Philomena isn’t exactly fond of Owloysius at the moment and looms over him like he’s about to attack him. Owloysius accepts his end, closing his eyes. However, several seconds pass before Owloysius opens his eyes and discovers that Philomena has stolen a parchment from Twilight’s library.

Now this was the part that I thought was kind of weird. The story suggests that Owloysius has been researching into pony psychology. … Yeah, kind of weird. But that’s nitpicking at best.

Anyway, Owloysius chases after Philomena, where they eventually end up at Sweet Apple Acres. However, thanks to Owloysis being familiar with the area, he is able to catch up with the faster phoenix and steal back the parchment from her.

However, much to Owloysius’s surprise the parchment is blank.

Philomena starts to laugh as Owloysius carries a blank expression on his face, still trying to figure out what happened. Philomena, however, does feel sorry for Owloysius and even respects him for being a good racer. Just as Owloysius is about to throw some angry hoots at her, she pecks him on the beak.

With that, Owloysius is frozen in shock and Philomena goes off into the night. She ends up in Everfree Forest on the endless search for her own kind. She starts to think about the event that happened 1000 years ago when her master was forced to battle her sister.

Suddenly, a swarm of Serpent Flies attack Philomena. Philomena tries to get away, but is overwhelmed by the creatures.

Meanwhile, Owloysius is finally snapped out of his daze by Winona, Applejack’s dog. Winona gestures to Owloysius to explain the whole thing and Winona offers some advice to him. And this is one of my favorite parts in the story. Owloysius started out as thinking that Winona was a mindless beast. Owloysius thought himself superior to her because of his incredibly intelligence. However, Winona being able to comfort him and being able to put him back in reality is a really great scene.

Anyway, Winona mentions where Philomena went off to and Owloysius investigates after seeing flashes of light, near the Everfree Forest.

We cut back to Philomena where the Serpent Flies have given her quite a beating. After the creatures knock her to the ground, she decides that the only way she can survive is by taking her own life. As you know phoenixes can revive themselves after dying. She figures using an explosion of fire is preferable to being eaten alive.

However, before she can take her own life, Owloysius swoops in to save her, distracting the flies for a moment. As the Serpent Flies head back to their helpless prey below, they are then set upon by an army of owls.

Philomena, after losing consciousness, wakes up to find herself in Zecora’s hut, with Zecora nursing her back to health. Owloysius appears beside her and Philomena starts to develop a real fondness for the owl that saved her life.

We then go back to Canterlot Castle where we learn the Princess Luna has been releasing Philomena so she can explore. Apparently, Celestia thinks Philomena goes too far with pranks and wants to keep her near the castle. Some people might call “Tyrant-lestia” on this, but frankly, this is the same bird who faked her own death as part of a prank on somepony. That’s not exactly inspiring trustworthiness. Anyway, the story ends with Owloysius comforting Philomena and Philomena convincing Luna not to tell Celestia about this.

So, now I presume judgment. I ask for silence please.

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This story is just absolute fun! It takes something odd and unique and runs with it very nicely. The description are incredibly good and the story is very sweet and entertaining.

The characters of Owloysius, Philomena and Winona are fantastically done. They are each given their own personally, even though they don’t have a single sentence of dialogue. I also can’t help but think how similar they are to their pony counter parts.

Owloysius is very analytical, knowledgeable and very intelligent. However, he is also very pompous as he conducts himself in a very serious and proper manner. This could be due to a heritage as owls are often considered to be the smartest of birds. Regardless, it’s a really interesting factor to his character.

Philomena is portrayed as an innocent prankster, much like Celestia is. While we don’t see as much from her as we do Owloysius, she does mean well and is brave enough to fight off attackers. She also seems to be very manipulative.

Winona doesn’t receive nearly as much attention as the other two, but her personality seems to mimic Applejack pretty damn well. She’s supportive and always tells ponies (or owls in this case) what they need to hear. Again, not much exploration into her character, but from little you gather, she’s still an interesting character.

Again, a great story to read. The story was impressive for being unusual. The characters were fascinating. The descriptions were well done. It was well written, save for a couple spots. And overall, just a fantastic story. But don’t take my word for it, click on the links and check it out for yourself. Have a good day guys.

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