Jason held out his hand to Philomena, who took it as they walked out to the balcony. Just out of the shower and clothed once more, they opened the doors and took in the crisp evening air, the last vestiges of the sun's light illuminating the vast landscape within their sight. The mountainside gave way to rolling hills and valleys, and in the distance the humble town of Ponyville was visible. The rays of light cast a light red tint to everything as it began its slow trek below the horizon.
He slowly let go of her hand as he rested both of them on the balcony, taking in another deep breath and smiling as he looked over the landscape. "That was... something else, Philomena. I never thought something like this would ever really happen, y'know?" he spoke, melancholy underlying his words.
She came up behind him, being careful of his wings as she wrapped him in a hug from behind. "Tell me about it, Jay. For nearly two-thousand years I stayed by Celestia's side, and while Luna was... gone, I felt obligated to stay near her rather than continuing to search for others of my kind. Time hasn't been good to them, after all." she quietly spoke, nestling herself into his back. "...but still, I'd say it's all worth this, here and now."
"...I'd say so as well, Philo." Jason stated after letting silence dominate for a few moments. He carefully removed her hands from around him and then turned around, taking both of her hands in his. "A lot has changed in just the last few years, I feel... free, almost. That sounds kind of silly, though." he chuckled, squeezing her hands tighter. "Although I disliked it, spending time as a phoenix was... enlightening?"
Philomena laughed her musical sound and then leaned up to plant a quick kiss on his mouth. "Enlightening? That's an odd way to put it, Jay. You sure it wasn't me saying that I'd finally found someone worth spending some quality time with, hmm?" she sighed, leaning into him. "When you first showed up, I had felt... something about you that just seemed right. Then, we got to spend all that time together, pranking, talking, anything really... and then things happened.
"You ended up having a phoenix's magic within you, and then I died in that mansion..." Jason wrapped his hands around her, pulling Philomena tight to him as she shivered slightly. "you saved my life, and Celestia said that we were... unique. A start of something new. I'd already known you as a great friend, it really wasn't that large of a leap, was it, Jay?"
He smiled reassuringly at her, lightly pecking her on the forehead. "Yeah, it has been a bit crazy lately, and no... it wasn't. The whole being a bird bit got in the way of things, though." Philomena lightly bit his shoulder, then looked up and glared slightly, causing him to laugh. "Hey, even if it had been seven months instead of weeks, I still wouldn't have liked it completely." He stuck his tongue out at her childishly. "Still, we were able to spend plenty of time together, and learning to fly was amazing."
"And it was very enjoyable teaching you, Jay. Even if you were a slow learner," she quipped. She sighed and wrapped her arms around him, closing her eyes and resting her head on Jason's shoulder. "At least now we can go on proper dates, and have other days like this one, right? Cause... that was amazing."
Jason laughed, sending reverberations through Philomena. "Yeah, that was. Gotta thank Celestia too, otherwise who knows who might've heard us... You're pretty damn loud!" He tightened his embrace before she could move to hit him in retaliation. "Nope, none of that now."
She struggled for only a few moments before relaxing again, opening her eyes and piercing him with that emerald gaze. "...just remember who wears the pants in this relationship, Jay."
He looked down quizzically, a confused look on his face. "Uh, I do at the moment it appears. You're the one wearing a skirt."
Philomena laughed, looking at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "So, Rarity really liked the skirts, who was I to tell her otherwise? But remember who it is that comes up with all of those pranks... you don't want to be on the receiving end for once, do you?"
They both laughed, Jason loosening his embrace and passionately kissing her. She leaned into it, returning the kiss with equal fervor. It was not until they needed breath that their lips parted, a radiant glow surrounding them. "...I think I'd rather keep giving you a place to come back to after you pull a prank on someone else."
Jason sighed, looking at the horizon in time to see the last pinch of yellow dip below the horizon, the moon and accompanying stars filling the night sky. "Shall we head back in? It's going to be a busy day tomorrow, between Twilight, her friends, and who knows what else." She nodded in response as a small yawn ripped itself from her throat. Philomena let out a surprised squeak as Jason leaned down slightly and picked her up in his arms; one supporting behind her knees and the other her back, being mindful of her wings the entire time.
He took one last look at the rising moon, a smile on his face as he turned to Philomena. Their eyes met, and he impulsively locked lips with her one more time, slowly walking inside while doing so. Jason gently set her down on the bed, removing his shirt before taking a spot next to her.
"Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, but even then... No matter what it brings, we'll be able to tackle it. Together."
Wait... He's blonde?
3276362
The darker colors are eclipzed to a degree in the back. She went with a light to dark scheme, so it almost looks like a shadow. On a tablet it looked good enough, when I get home I'll look at it on my desktop.
EDIT - and yup, the red and oranges are there. Just look at the sides of his head, not the front.
Cool! Got an image to go with the story and MAN is she short.
3276397
He's actually tall, she's ~5' 9" or so.
3276362
i see it more of a pale red transitioning into the more defined red at the ends of his hair
Not bad. They're definitely a bit younger looking than I was imagining.
This picture is just...Nya!
3276411
Hmm. Next one I'll ask for it to be a bit more obvious, but I sort of like how she did it there, though. I like to give the artists as much room for creativity as I can. Restricting the artist only hurts the piece in the long run, to my eyes.
3276417
Didn't specify anything beyond 'young adult' to Billie, I like to keep details precise while leaving as much room as possible for the artist to use their own creativity. I'm not the artist, so hey. Plus, they had recently both reincarnated. : p
3276441
Yup. I love it!
Now I'm left wondering what will happen next since all the craziness ended.
I kinda wish it wasn't so 'anime'y like. Pictures like this I like realism in, after a long time of reading manga every time I see an anime picture I think cuteness, silliness and impending funniness about to happen. I just can't take it seriously, not like with the gritty realism that they went through a trial and became the better for it.
That's just my opinion though
3276522
...for now.
3276561
Style is always a major factor in artwork and preference. I'm a pretty big JRPG fan, and have played quite a few to include the Star Ocean and 'Tales of' franchises.
I do have another artist that I'm waiting to open for commissions, and his style is much more realistic. However, he was bogged down and I was looking for art semi-quickly. I probably will be reusing this artist in the future, though.
3276607
Loved the pic space. Can't wait to see where it goes from here.
Nicely done. Still as good as before and I have to say, I really like the pic of them. Real nice.
3277333
Thanks.
Was at a minor loss of what exactly to do as far as something for the picture, and the timing was right for an interlude, so I went ahead and made up this small 1,000 word section. I'm... okay with it, it's not that great in my mind though. Will probably revisit it later.
3277344 There's always room for improvement no matter what, right?
3277352 Diaries of a Madman, nightmare night chapter edited. That was almost perfection :P
wooooooow~ that's some awesome art, and now I can picture them in the story :D
3277352
Yup. Speaking of, it's almost time I went and edited Chapter 1, as I think my editors have stopped stomping all over it now.
3277558 Uuugh. Too fucking long, same damn characterization. I lasted for maybe 400,000 words. Could only take so much of 'I'm bitter and fuck every relationship up, ever, or get raped.'
3277573
Yup, it's the first piece of what I hope to be quite a few.
for some reason this story sparked an image of some kinda gostridery four fallen angles merging with the clasical elements style of thing with four humans merging with four immortal sources of magic at the fall of nightmare moon like how Jason has become a creature of fire rebirth and in classical mythology phoenixes are beings of civilization I figured one would probably merge with nature to become some ever-free being of earth fertility and freedom and another would merge with the river Styx and become a being of water death and despair (the Styx is polluted by all the hopes and dreams thrown off by the souls of the dead) and still another could merge with a windigos magic to become an avatar of air barrenness and hatred just a random thought that's been bouncing around in my head.
also the windigo guy is probably a viking
3277613 Wow. That's cruel.
3277686 ..... What?.... On an alternate note from this story on whenever I see a chapter labeled "interlude" or "intermission" I will post this song:
this is the start of something new for sure! I anxiously await for the next update :)
3277613 When did he fuck up a relationship? And if you ask me, he deserves to be bitter.
Awwww we missed the sexy time....Oh well its great anyways
3277686
...uh, I have absolutely NO clue what you're saying here. Punctuation and sentence structuring are very important.
3280103
While we could go into a discussion over it, not in comments. Feel free to PM me if you wanna chat bout it. It's been months since I've even glanced at that story though.
3280181
For now. I'm still playing around with the idea of doing a Mature story, not sidestory, for these two in the future.
3280707 Its ok...I was just kidding. Do anything you want...except babies.
3281029
Kids can make for a really good Slice of Life story. But, tricky to work with. Involves time skips, and I kinda suck with those.
3281149 Yeah I really don't like them either...
All's well that ends well, but then, this story isn't finished yet, is it.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
3280707 One day, perhaps.
I enjoyed reading this chapter.
I started I might as well continue.
3276407
Hold on, she's 5'9"!?
How tall is is Jason!? 6'7"!?
When you were in the chat, you mentioned that you had a story. I thought it was going to suck but DAYUM. This is nice, really nice. I commend you sir.
anyone else think that Philomena is hot?
Oh my God!! *squees* They so cute together!!! *big fangirlish squee*
Random moustache!
24.media.tumblr.com/a257ad5165644b1f79354634dfdee284/tumblr_mqo61uYbwk1rj6vd5o1_400.png
This was a really nice read. Fav'd. And just curious, are you still working on another chapter?
(sees Philomena) Sorry, I was expecting someone well... taller.
denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw5269-we_never_had_a_single_fight____by_myminiatureequine-d536j0y.gif
Worth it for the hate I may receive for this.
Did you do that picture or did someone do it for you?
No offence meant, but that's a really good pic.
Dayum that pic
Anime style! Love da feels!