This story is a sequel to Grading on a Bell Curve
Sunset's looking forward to a relaxing afternoon in the West Gardens.
Philomena has other plans.
Featured on FimFiction on February 28 & 29, 2017! 
Featured on Equestria Daily on March 10, 2017! 
Historian’s Note: While Habits is part of the Wavelengths Timeline, knowledge of the series isn't needed to enjoy this tale.
Set in a timeline where the Sonic Rainboom didn't happen, Habits of the Equestrian Phoenix occurs about two years after the events of Grading on a Bell Curve.
Cast: Sunset Shimmer & Philomena with Princess Celestia.
Stories set in the Wavelengths Timeline in chronological order:
Origins Arc
The Alchemy of Chemistry
Bards of the Badlands
Grading on a Bell Curve
Habits of the Equestrian Phoenix
How Not To Use Your Royal Prerogative
Applications Arc
The Application of Unified Harmony Magics
Princess Celestia: A Brief History
The Cloudsdale Report
Dreamers Arc
Tactics of Snowbound Unicorns
A Study in Chaos Theory
Teahouses of Saddle Arabia
As the Raven Flies
Cover Design by Amber Spark
Sunset Shimmer Cutie Mark By Millennial Dan
Philomena Design by Oelderoth
Beta Reader & Editor Credits
Ebon Quill - Audio Director & Quest Designer on The Manehattan Project
Little Tinker - Master of Systems at Poniverse & Scripting Engineer on The Manehattan Project
Beltorn - Commenter-at-Large on FimFiction
Word Count: 4,500
Version: 2.0
"If it makes you feel any better, you can throw them into the study. They do seem to enjoy being airborne."
"You heard her, boys! Throw them in the study! If you happen to take me a bit too literally, that's my fault for phrasing it badly."
EDIT: Didn't realize this was first comment. My bad. Spoilered everything.
For when you TAKE OVER THE WORL--Er... Assist your friends with...stuff! Yeah! That's what I meant.
Fun comedy break from the super intense emotional pieces. Awesome as always!
> sees notification
> clicks story
> sees it has 0 likes
> clicks the like button
> sees it has 10 likes
Welp, that was fast.
I'm just gonna nickname this the lit'verse by now.
Making book titles trigger adventure, trouble and shenanigans for a bunch of bibliophile fillies? Now that's almost cruel.
Teleportation stealing, the best kind of stealing.
I bet older guards know that She "might use," shudders "Sarcasm. Or even. Oh, Harmony, Irony" on those who disappoint her.
Cool proper Lady is cool. "Silk hiding Steel".
7983968
Oh please, it's not like taking over Equestria is all that hard. Really, you just have to get moderately powerful and sit back for a while. Twilight already became the de facto ruler of the realm by simple process of elimination more than once in the show.
7983933 You spoiler'd it fast. You're good. Now I kinda wanna write that scene though.
Exactly! And this is more proof to myself that not everything I write needs to be dramatic. 
7983968
7984007 Mean I'm doing somethin' right!
7984071 Yeah, I came up with that idea shortly after Applications. I even renamed the entire universe to fit the motif. So yes, the title of each story is a book you'll see at some point during the story. What can I say? I like themes.
And if it's only almost cruel, I'm not working hard enough.
7984112 You know, that's true. Twilight could easily just say "Nah, they can get themselves out of it this time" = New undisputed ruler.
My memory isn't that good, so I don't remember if its been brought up before that Sunset could draw on the sun for more power. I've sometimes wondered if she had the aptitude for it, given her name and cutie mark and all, as well as serving as another way to link her and Celestia (for better or worse).
Nice to see Philomena get some of her comeuppance, I hate that annoying phoenix. Not sure if Sunset could call her a fine feathered friend after their punishment, but at least an understanding. Wonder how long it took you to come up with such alliterative chapter titles.
The chase, the little taunts Philomena plays on Sunset and how it ends for them strongly remind me of older cartoons, i watched as a kid.
And all those tricks Philomena uses on Sunset definitively asked for some sort of retribution with a capital R. And what better way than a good dousing with water against a phoenix? And of course the usually gentle owner scolding her pet?
Though, pet, might be too simplistic a concept for their relationship. All the antics Philomena performs, clearly mark her as quite intelligent, proud to a fault and with overly developed sense of humor. So, i guess, she is more of a companion to Celestia.
And then one might remember the implications of the fact that Philomena is a phoenix and Celestia is Alicorn of the Sun.
More importantly, the ending is what makes the heart of this story for me. Sunset, now having some experience with friendship, tries it again and it proves its reliability.
Celestia, retains her perfect characterization of a gentle trickster mentor and shrewd practical-minded ruler. The punishments are rather creative and awesome . Captain Rook will be pleased.
All in all, a fun little story and an enjoyable reading. My first thought when i finished it was - will there be an Epilogue? Come on, they are a team now, Philomena and Sunset should be pranking half the castle during that next month. "All part of their research into highly complex behavior of phoenixes" of course.
Well that seemed like a chase scene fit for yakety sax...
Phoenixes seem to be born trolls.
Highly amusing! I have to agree that the ending really makes the story.
Also did you intentionally name the Captain of the Guard after another bird to go with the bird-theme of the story?
Philomena the Phoenix. Raven. Stalwart Rook. Sunset ShimPigeonmer.
7984132
I don't quite remember... was "Tactics of Snowbound Unicorns" actually a book title? That seems a little too silly even for ponies.
7984388
A fine text on cold weather threat management, penned by a brilliant Earth pony from Stalliongrad.
7984388
7984544
Military history is a fascinating thing uncovered by highly meticulous people.
Err, ponies that is.
7984374
Bird pun, and a powerful chess piece. Multilayered meta-for the win!
Not much I can say except superb work on this truly entertaining two-shot. :-D Definitely some great humor throughout the story, complete with, as other reviewers already mentioned, a chase scene worthy of Tom and Jerry. I particularly liked the appropriate comeuppance at the end. :-D I'll definitely be looking forward to the next story in the series, but am quite willing to be patient, because I KNOW real life must come first.
That was an interesting story. I might want to give this timeline a closer look.
As much as I am enjoying the Wavelenght AU, this story was kinda boring... And a bit predictable. Say, are all stories of this AU going to be like this? Some lesson of Celestia to Sunset that allows a "guest character" to have fun with the fiery unicorn?
I am aware that you've written one or two stories that are not like this for this AU... But it's getting kinda boring.
7984157 Very good catch.
You are quite right. This is the first time we've seen Sunset's special talent in action in the Wavelengths Timeline. Bet you didn't expect that in a silly little phoenix-chasing short story, did you? 
As for the chapters, the first I did from the get go. The second I did have to use the thesaurus a bit for.
7984208 Well, considering that's used in the first (and to date, only) episode where we see Philomena... I think that would do nicely.
I couldn't figure out how to write that doorway scene though...
7984362 Maybe they are. Maybe Philomena's special. Maybe you'll find out more in a future story...
7984388 Tactics of the Snowbound Unicorn is a classical military treatise by General Thorn, written during the pre-Unification Period as a tactical guide to fighting pegasi in winter conditions.
Yes, actually. I had planned that beforehand. Though 7984544's version is entertaining as well.
7984374 Can we pretend yes?
7984886 Hopefully, you like the rest just as much.
Silly troublemaking bird.
This story has given a possible prompt for a story. Sunset and philomena become best friends and when she eventually leaves what kind of impact would it have on the Phoenix
That was fun, I may have to look further into this series.
7986548
You are getting aggravating, Allan. And frankly, this pretty much is harassment in my eyes.
I suggest you move on. There are better things to do, than stalk others
One of these days Sunset is going to realize the correlation of a book with a heavily descriptive title and all her plans being thrown out the window. Though, it would be hilarious to see her react to the wrong book title in one of these.
7985476 cdn.meme.am/cache/instances/folder973/65329973.jpg
7985911 There's an epic comic that made me burst into tears at 6:20 AM when I came across it that talks a bit about one possible version of that... though sadly is it incompatible with Wavelengths.
7986256 I'm glad you enjoyed it!
7987571 If I ever do that, it'll be because Main Timeline Pinkie Pie somehow got involved. Shenanigans ensued.
I hope I get a little Sunset and Celestia interaction out of this story. Last one was disappointing in that regard.
Philomena, I have decided, is not in fact a birb. Based on her love of messing with Sunset and friends for no reason other than to mess with them, I have come to the conclusion that phoenixes are a type of cat.
This was a cute little story. I'm glad I read it right before bedtime like this.
Alternate title for the story: It's Always Sunny And Philomena
I suspect that birb is good at take cookie. *nods sagely*
What is The Blueblood Mystery? It sounds like something iisaw would write.
A delightful little romp. Honestly, I would've liked to have seen a bit more of the shared punishment detail, but this works quite well as is. Definitely looking forward to the next installment. Thank you for this one.
7987950 yep the feels in that comic are real
7988280
It's called a story hook. Deal with it.
That being said, you weren't the only one to say that.
Headcanon accepted.
7988303
...dammit, it is, isn't it? And actually... I have no idea what it is. I haven't come up with any explanation for Blueblood save for Sunset pretty much loathes him... even before she came back from the Dark Side.
7988701
Okay! Okay! You people, I swear. Let me get the hamsters in my brain to see if they can come up with a sequel. Yeesh!
7988805 Real right in the freakin' face. Still makes me tear up. Not fair.
7996859 An effective summary, to be sure.
I have some ideas.
7988303
I imagine the Blueblood Mystery is along the lines of “Why in Equestria would Celestia give that brat the title of ‘Prince’?”
Raven is Castle GM
8365534
Dang right. She's learned way too well from Celestia.
And when the Dungeon Master smiles, it's too late.
Wait, am I allowed to reference something by the same author, and from the same series, no less? Is that within the rules of referencing things? Does it count as a reference, or is it something else, like throwing your own words back at you?
Too late. I've done it.
Also, may I add, I like that every title of the series (at least as far as I've read) has come from an in-universe book that makes an appearance somewhere in the story of the same name. The literary analyst in me doesn't know quite what to make of it, but the reader in me loves the consistency. It's a nice touch, and frankly, I don't care if it "means" anything.
8678183
Yes.
It was an idea I had after doing Applications. I thought "hey, this might be fun." The best part is that it can be just about anything. There's so much flexibility, but it's a cool ongoing dynamic!
You can has review!
Someone was having fun with alliterations this chapter.
9576518
Yes?
Excellent wee story, Novel. Philomena embracing her role as a wind-up merchant's always great fun, and her interpreting her orders from Celestia in the most mischievous way possible's entirely fitting.
That ending is so Celestia. She could be best princess, were it not for two things:
One, she's not Princess Cadance.
Two, she's not Princess Luna.
And to think, she used to be second. Way back before the S2 finale.
How did I miss this when it first went up?
why do Sunbutt's students seem to fear that? Oh yes, Moonbutt.
Oh man I would have laughed so hard if us had the doors open and said "Lucy you've got some explaining to do." I know that reference would have gone way over an equestrian's head, but anyone from Earth probably would have gotten that reference