Moments before sunrise saw Jason perched on the balcony rail, eyes closed and wings slightly extended. The first rays of sunlight peeked over the horizon, casting their warmth upon him. As he opened his eyes, his gaze lingered on the rising sun for a moment before he turned, flying back inside.
He flew through the open balcony doors and landed on the stand next to the bed. Jason looked over at Philomena's still sleeping form, a serene smile on her face. She had been instrumental in helping him get through these last seven weeks. Although he still did not completely enjoy being stuck as a phoenix, she had shown him why he could not hate it. Learning how to fly had gone a long way with that.
It was a feeling that was unlike any other he had experienced in his many lives. The freedom flight brought with it; the ability to go up, down, anywhere you could imagine, was a rush. Philomena had been a wonderful teacher, putting him at a skill level that would have taken over a year to learn without such guidance. Even though Philomena and most pegasi could still fly circles around him, it was enough in Jason's mind.
Jason dwelled further on how she had helped him since his arrival to Canterlot. The most obvious one that came to mind was how she kept Celestia from frying him on the spot. With what he knew know, Jason was not sure if he could reincarnate after the sun itself fried him. In the months following that first encounter, she had become his first true friend in a long time.
As he looked back on it, he chuckled quietly, as he had been quite pathetic at first. It was to be expected, truthfully, as he had spent lifetimes wandering around without any place to call home with no care for his own life. To say that he had been depressed would be akin to claiming that the changelings had caught Canterlot with its pants down. Philomena had known just when to invite him along on a prank, sing one of her songs, or just talk to help him out of his constant funks.
After the swap, it seemed that she was still helping him on a near daily basis, as the drastic changes brought back his depression. She seemed to be able to read his mood as if it were her own mind and always acted accordingly. It was odd, only having her, Celestia and Luna capable of understanding his words, and it made him feel trapped to a degree. Philomena had been able to keep his mind off of that fact and instead focused on such things as flying.
The newest development had not been completely unwelcome either. For the last seven weeks, she had been relentless in her taunting and teasing, all of it directed towards him. Jason had a nagging feeling that she was looking forward to him reincarnating as a human just as much as he was, if her signals and words were to be believed. It seemed that she had come to see him in a new light since he saved her life, and since her change he had to admit that she was highly attractive physically too.
Twin emerald pools slowly opened and met his eyes, pulling him from his thoughts as Philomena laughed. "Someone is lost in some good thoughts I think." She tossed the covers back and stuck her tongue out at him, hopping out of bed a moment later. Jason flapped his wings and launched himself into her chest, wrapping his wings around her.
She returned the embrace briefly, carefully setting him down on top of her dresser as she began rummaging through her clothes. He squawked questioningly, which caused her to pause for a moment and raise her eyebrows at him. "Jay, you know that Tia doesn't think it's time yet. I know you're impatient, but there's not much that you can do about your magic regenerating that slowly." Jason made a few more noises, sounding rather annoyed. "Yes, but as much as I'd love for you to be human again, if she says it's a good idea to wait, then..." she paused a moment, thinking as her hands went back to sifting through her drawers.
"Just be patient." she said as she pulled out the last garments needed for her shower. "It won't be too much longer, just relax, Jay... if that's even possible for you." Philomena smirked at him before turning and disappearing into the bathroom. The sound of running water reached his ears moments later, and he flew down to the bed to wait for her.
The water turned off, and moments later Jason heard a hiss of steam. That was something else he found interesting, although Philomena had claimed that he would have to wait before learning it himself. Apparently, given time Jason could learn how to call upon his magic and basically set himself on fire. It would be nice to be able to do that to dry off after a shower or getting soaked.
Philomena walked out of the bathroom and began to make her way to breakfast, Jason taking to the air and following just behind her. After only a minute they ran into Shining Armor, who was walking with pep in his step.
"Someone appears to be in a good mood this morning for once." Philomena noted, greeting Shining. Jason squawked quickly in agreement, and the stallion simply beamed the widest smile he had at them.
"It seems that we found the last of the safe houses in Canterlot last night, and there's only one more location. Of course, it's in the Everfree, but..." he widely grinned, "it's just a matter of time now. I can almost go back home, spend some time with Cadance, and all will be great!"
"That's wonderful news! I know that it's been giving Tia some concern lately, not to mention Luna's reaction to it." Philomena stated, a small smile on her face. "Not only that, but you'll be able to see your sister too, yes? It sounds like things are improving for you."
A wry smile danced across Shining's face as he turned to reply. "Yup, that's the gist of it. And Luna's not concerned so much as hoping that once we capture the cultist, she'll get a chance to be alone with her..." He shuddered, hair raising slightly. "I never want to be the attention of her anger... ever. That's something mighty scary, even moreso than one of Twily's surges."
Jason suppressed a shudder at the thought of Luna angry. For a moment, a flash of that cold, uncaring voice entered his mind again, a memory from the distant past surging to the front once more. He wobbled in the air as Philomena was replying to Shining. "She does have a way with those who cross her, yes. Really, I think she just wants to try and figure out why those idiots thought it was a good idea to try and summon an eldritch abomination back to Equus. Sure, it's a weaker one, but doesn't make it any less of a bad idea."
Shining simply raised a brow in her direction as she rambled on. "Oh, right, you've only been around for twenty years or so. They were a common occurrence in the Discordian Era. Really big, bad magical monsters that were hard, if not downright impossible, to kill. Usually the best one could do is mortally wound it and banish it back to its plane. The Nightmare was actually one of the weakest ones. Pretty easy to deal with, but still a massive pain. Better to try and prevent her return than to have to deal with putting her back into her cage."
"Okay, then... I'm just going to go and take care of these reports now." he said, slowly inching away from Philomena before taking off down a side corridor.
"Was it something I said?" she asked innocently, laughter filling the air as they let loose, walking the last bit to the private room they had started using with Celestia for breakfast. It had been an odd morning a few weeks ago when Philomena and Jason had gone on a walk with Celestia along for company.
It was early in the afternoon, and Celestia had called Day Court to a close earlier than normal to spend time with Philomena and Jason. They had picked out one of Celestia's private gardens located in the rear of the castle to spend their time in, and were currently seated at a small pavilion located within.
Jason rested on the wooden bench, Celestia laying on it with her head partially in Philomena's lap. "I must say, this is quite comfortable," she commented as she lifted her head a little bit, giving Philomena a small grin.
"I suppose that I can understand the attraction behind it," she replied, one hand on Jason and the other running through the soft strands of Celestia's mane. "I must say, this does feel odd. I'd always imagined that it would almost be like smoke, almost no substance behind it, but now that I've actually taken the time to run these fingers through it," she wiggled all of her fingers in front of Celestia's face, eliciting a giggle, "it's just like any other mane. Silly magic."
Celestia let the power behind her mane wane, gravity pulling the strands down as a solid hue of pink filled them. "Indeed. Luna actually came up with the spell a long time ago, it's become second nature for us both to keep it up." Jason let out a slightly strangled sound, shuffling closer to get a good look at her mane. He carefully ran his beak through it, letting some of the strands brush against his face.
Philomena giggled, then got their attention. "Jay, Tia has something to tell you." Jason looked at her first, confused, then shifted his focus to Celestia. After a few moments of silence, he squawked.
She sighed before talking. "Well, Jason, as you know Philomena and I have known each other for a long time. Our friendship goes back to before Nightmare Moon, back when Luna and I had just defeated Discord. She is basically a sister to me at this point... she helped me get through the low points during Luna's banishment. Nothing can really come between us, however she brought up something that was a very good point."
Celestia fixed her gaze onto Jason, never wavering as she started speaking. "During the short time my sister and I have known you, you've managed to become an amazingly close friend to me, and even with your fear, I believe Luna would count you as a friend too. Now that I know you're immortal, well..." she trailed off, a small smile coming to her face.
Jason listened intently to her words, squawking his thanks at how she saw him. "It's important for us to stick together. As you know, the world moves by without consideration for anyone, and it's truly visible to those of us who have been around for such a long time. I'd love to extend the same relationship that I share with Philomena to you. As long as you decide to stick around," she glanced at Philomena with a smirk, "consider yourself family, just as Luna and I shall consider you as such."
Celestia beamed widely at him, Philomena resting a hand on him. He opened and closed his beak, unable to even utter a noise of shock. Finally, he responded by carefully walking to her head and holding out his wings, doing his best to give her a hug around her neck. Philomena giggled, wrapping her arms around both of them, eliciting sounds of surprise.
"Aww, one big happy family!" she sang, letting them both wriggle out of her grasp. Jason indignantly squawked a few times, staring at Philomena. "Oh, don't worry, I plan for you being more than family, Jay."
Celestia nearly fell from the bench in laughter as Jason squawked and backpedalled, tripping over his feet and landing in a heap on the ground. She met his gaze as he shakily stood up, fluffing his feathers. "Oh, Jason. I know Philomena all too well. Just give up now, you don't stand a chance."
Jason shook his head to clear his mind as they walking into the room, Celestia already present. "good morning, you two. Doing well today?" she asked as they took a seat.
"Oh, you know. The usual. Like, Jay being impatient as always for example." Philomena replied, grinning at him as she did so. He replied with a series of sounds and comically crossing his wings, eliciting a chuckle from Celestia.
"I see, that's good to hear. I do have some news you both might be interested in. Twilight is on her way back today with all of her friends. So, expect one of Pinkie's parties tonight." Celestia spoke, levitating pancakes onto Philomena's plate.
Jason made a few noises, all directed towards Celestia. In return, she frowned slightly, brows furrowed in thought. "...I don't think so, Jason. Cadance told me that she seemed to have moved past that and realized that the feelings were only founded from the high emotions at the time."
He sounded out a reply, seemingly satisfied with her words. Smiling, she returned her attention back to her breakfast, inwardly chuckling at the sight of Philomena devouring her pancakes.
"So, anymore fallout from that pompous ass' downfall?" Philomena asked as she set down an empty glass. "I figure that with how stupid these so-called nobles are, they're probably still giving you grief."
Celestia sighed, setting down her cup of tea. "Yes, they're still bickering over the supposed power gap his absence left in their structure." She snorted, resisting the urge to slam her hoof down on the table. "Power structure, pft. I only keep humoring them because they mostly serve a purpose. Luna has been trying to talk me into removing them, and her idea is sounding better by the day..."
He fell over onto his side laughing as Philomena snorted. "That means that they'd have to get real jobs. I think you should take Luna's side, Tia."
The laughter continued for a short time, bringing their breakfast to an end as a bell chimed the hour. Celestia stood up with a sigh, looking towards the door. "Well, sadly I've got to go start court. Take care, you two."
Philomena quickly embraced her before she left, then turned to Jason. "Go on with your flight, I'll be in the skies in a few, okay? I want to see something real quick."
Jason followed her as far as their room, heading straight for the balcony and to the air. He found a thermal and let it carry him high into the sky, causing Canterlot to quickly shrink in his vision. With a few flaps of his wings, he passed through a cloud in the sky, leaving a small trail of moisture in his wake. Moments later, a large body slammed into him, knocking him unconscious.
Philomena entered the bedroom, pausing a moment to watch Jason head out the balcony. Smiling to herself, she rummaged through one of the dressers and checked to ensure a package was still safe and secure. Satisfied, she set it back in its place and piled clothes back on top of it, then closed the drawer.
She took her time walking to the balcony, enjoying the gentle breeze wafting in from outside. The warm rays of the sun struck her face, drawing out a smile as she spread her wings wide. With a mighty leap, she took to the air, looking for Jason in the sky.
Climbing higher, she noticed a lone pegasus flying high in the sky as her eyes roamed around. Just as her eyes moved off the dark pony, she caught a glimpse of oranges and reds sticking out of a package at the pegasus' side. Her eyes narrowed and followed the path the pony was taking, which led straight into the Everfree forest.
Philomena called upon her magic, creating a signal that she had decided on with Shining Armor and Celestia shortly after the mansion. A giant flash filled the sky, visible to all even in the light of day. She took off after the pegasus, who had the advantage of being slightly faster than her.
The chase took her into the Everfree, the thick canopy obscuring the ground from her sight. Every minute took the pony further and further away, and Philomena hoped that she would soon set down, otherwise she risked losing her trail.
Luckily, only a few minutes later saw her target drop below the canopy. It took her a few minutes to catch up, a small reservoir of water creating the only hole in the dense foliage. Philomena dropped to the ground, looking for any obvious signs of recent passage in the underbrush.
Finding what she was looking for, Philomena slowly tracked the hoofsteps that were in the soft earth. The sun's light was heavily filtered through the dense canopy, providing the illusion that it was dusk or dawn, rather than late morning. As much as she wanted to rush forward, she took her time, making certain to not lose the tracks.
As the ground started to become firmer, the tracks became harder for her to track. By the time they were nearly invisible, she found herself at the entrance to a small cave. Cautiously she entered, the light barely illuminating the first few feet. She paused, a faint light illuminating the surrounding area as the leading feathers of her wings went up in flames.
Shadows created from the illumination seemingly danced upon the floor and walls, lending an almost otherworldly ambience to the cave. Philomena looked around and noticed that there was only one possible path and began at a steady walk, eyes constantly darting around.
The cave narrowed as she continued deeper, wide enough for a pegasus to fly in, but too narrow for her to spread her wings and fly. The ceiling was well above her head, the light barely reaching it. As she continued forward, she felt something snag on her foot just above the ankle, and heard a popping sound as it gave way.
From the ceiling a few small objects fell, which were shown to be vials filled with some type of dark liquid. Philomena managed to catch one of them, but with the sound of shattering glass the remaining ones crashed against the rocky floor. Immediately following, the liquid exposed to the air began to turn into a thick cloud of fog that rapidly filled the narrow pathway.
Philomena coughed, the air thickening and becoming harder to breathe with every passing second. A hand moved to her throat as the coughing turned to choking, and out of reflex her wings wrapped protectively around herself. At the edge of her mind she took notice at how the fire appeared to burn the noxious fog away, and she tried focusing on lighting the rest of her wings on fire while fighting for breath.
The flames expanded slowly as she fell to her knees, the air beginning to thin out once more. She remained on her knees for a few minutes as her breathing slowly returned to normal; the majority of the fog now gone. She got back up on her feet and kept one hand on the wall as she continued deeper into the cave.
She walked deeper into the cave, avoiding another two tripwires along the way. With her heightened sense of cautiousness, as well as the added illumination, she was able to notice the traps before triggering them. However, since Philomena hoped that the guard would be shortly behind her, she took the time to carefully disarm them, each time coming away with two or three vials filled with mysterious mixtures. After three such traps, the cave opened up into what appeared to be a roughly circular chamber.
Still alert, Philomena flew a foot off the ground in an attempt to avoid any ground based traps. She examined the edges of the room first, once more finding only one passage that led deeper. In the center of this room was a large object made of obsidian. She closely examined it and gasped.
It was circular in shape, a basin that sloped downwards as it got to the center of the circle. At the center was a hole that she could barely fit her hand in, which funneled down beneath it. Looking below the contraption, she saw where a container could rest underneath it. The sole purpose of this object was as simple as it was cruel. It was designed to catch and contain the ashes of phoenixes.
Philomena hesitantly reached out and touched the end of the funnel, her fingers coming away with fresh ash. She barely suppressed a snarl of rage before taking off flying, her destination whatever lay deeper within. Very few thoughts were present within her mind, only Jason's safety and the fact that whoever did this would die being those.
This pathway was not booby trapped, and soon light became visible up ahead. Philomena still had the presence of mind to extinguish her flames, although she kept the magic near the surface in case she needed it quickly. Slowly she walked forward, rounding the last bend in the path to come upon an odd sight.
Someone had converted this next massive area into a combination of home and workplace. Alcoves were carved into the wall, various vials and containers contained within them. Tables lined the walls as well, alchemic equipment and what appeared to be tinker's tools on the surfaces. A cot rested in one corner, and a cauldron was on the opposite side of the room. All told,
Philomena's eyes narrowed with lethal intent as she saw the dark pegasus from earlier standing over a boiling cauldron. Next to it was a large container filled with ashes, and she put two and two together. With a scream of rage she stormed into the room, aiming for the smaller pony.
Night Shade's head perked up at the outburst, giving her enough time to fly out of Philomena's way. "Oh, what have we here?" she asked, her head tilted sideways in partial confusion. "an unwanted guest, and one who made it through all of my traps. Oh, what a pain."
Philomena carefully kept her distance as she noticed light glint off of something on Shade's forehoof. Shade immediately turned to an alcove and grabbed a vial, then lobbed it at Philomena. As soon as it was airborne, her hoof raised and she sighted along it, a slight clicking sound emanating from the device.
A small dart shot out from it, meeting the vial in midair just next to Philomena, who had sidestepped out of the object's path. As they collided, a small explosion resulted, knocking her to the ground as she was caught by surprise. Fire painlessly licked at her skin, sticking to it but causing no harm.
"Oh, so you're like him, too? Oh, this is too good, it means once I kill you I'll have more material to research with!" she exclaimed giddily as Philomena slowly got back to her feet. "It's truly interesting. Phoenix magic combined with an otherworldly, magical-null presence? Who knows what sort of breakthroughs could be made!"
Philomena snarled, her face twisted in anger. "You won't get the chance to, bitch. I'm going to end you right here and now." She rushed and closed the distance between them, throwing a punch to Shade's jaw, which soundly connected with a thwack. Shade flipped once in the air before righting herself, an angry look on her face.
She raised her hoof as she steadied her flight, three clinks sounding out alongside three accompanying projectiles. Philomena ducked in alarm, one missing her, but the other two striking her. One lodged itself in her shoulder, the other in her left wing and she winced in pain. Her left hung uselessly at her side, all feeling lost in it.
Growling, she used her magic to cause a bright flash, temporarily disorienting Shade long enough to close the distance between them again. She grabbed onto her left wing shaft and twisted it hard, a snapping sound reaching her ears as Shade dropped to the ground. Philomena leapt back as a hoof swept towards her, her numbed hand hitting against something in her pocket.
She quickly reached in, grabbing the vial she had grabbed from the first trap. Grinning, she tossed it hard with her right hand at Shade, her throw a little high. It skimmed the top of her head, smashing into an alcove crammed with other containers and flasks.
Philomena was tossed back as an explosion rocked the cave, a deep rumbling sound reverberating through the chamber. The ground began to shake as the flames moved to the nearby table. Philomena felt more of her body gradually going numb even as she took pleasure in watching Shade become engulfed in fire.
Stumbling as the ground continued shaking, she carefully grabbed the glass container filled with ashes, stumbling towards the exit. After only three steps, however, part of the ceiling collapsed, burying Shade’s burning body and half of the room and knocking Philomena to the ground. She landed hard, the wind knocked from her lungs, and she lay on the ground with the container close to her chest.
A few minutes later awareness returned to her, sight and sound the first. Her eyes focused on the fire raging within the chamber, consuming anything flammable and then some. The back half was buried under rubble, a hoof sticking out from underneath it bringing a sense of justice to her mind. As she went to move her right hand to prop herself up, it buckled under her weight and her vision swam.
Spots filled her vision and she stopped moving, realizing that she was unable to feel over half of her body. She tried moving again, but was only able to manipulate her right arm from the elbow down and her legs. Philomena curled up around Jason’s ashes and let out a sigh, realizing that escape was impossible until this poison either passed or it killed her and she reincarnated.
Slowly, the numbness consumed the rest of her senses, her vision fading to black. The last one to go was her hearing, the crackling of the flames slowly faded into nothing. The last breath left her lungs, then nothing.