A tolling bell signaled the hour, eleven crisp rings echoing throughout the large chambers. Princess Celestia was currently holding yet another session of Day Court, her best friend standing next to her. A rather imposing figure himself, standing at a solid six feet in height; Jason absently looked on, boredom evident in his hazel eyes as he ran a hand through his short black hair.
"I still don't see why you feel the need to deal with some of this stuff," he grumbled under his breath to her, "I mean, seriously? 'Oh Great and Powerful Princess, even though this document clearly shows my property lines, I demand that I be able to annex my neighbor's land... Oh, what's that? Am I envious of his highly profitable gem mine? Why no, your highness, I simply want the land because...'"
Celestia could not help but chuckle, covering it with a hoof as the next petitioner stepped forward. "You know very well why I do this, Jason. Still, I'll admit it's highly tempting at times to establish some sort of procedure to handle those specific cases you just mentioned." She briefly looked down at the Day Court’s scheduled petitioner list. "At least today, it would seem no nobles plan on attending."
Jason just snorted, sitting down and leaning back into the seat next to Celestia's. "Still, this seems like a massive waste of time. I dunno why you want me to sit through a few of these with you; I see nothing to gain from doing so."
"What if I said I merely enjoyed the break in monotony and your scathing sarcasm after some of these more... enthusiastic petitioners, hrm?" She focused her attention away from him, looking at the approaching pony.
With a sigh, Jason did his best to focus on the next case. Celestia had forced him to attend her court once a week, claiming that it would help to supplement his still limited knowledge on how things operated in Equestria. He couldn't help but sigh once more, letting his attention drift to the crowd.
Jason smirked as he noticed his partner-in-crime lazily floating about near the ceiling, flying in small circles over the gathered crowd. Philomena was a fun friend, having taken a liking to the human quickly after their first meeting. With a gentle caw, she descended to land on one of the chair’s armrests, fluffing her wings for a moment before looking at him.
Reaching out, he ran a finger underneath her chin, gently scratching it while moving to offer his lap to her. They had a natural understanding of each other, and more than once Celestia had nearly locked them both in cages following the aftermath of some of their collaborations.
Unnoticed amongst the crowd, a unicorn stallion joined the masses, a dark travel cloak covering his entire body, leaving just his face visible. Mulling about the other ponies, he slowly walked towards the throne, his gaze never once leaving Celestia. When an opening in the crowd made itself known, he deftly slipped between the ponies and advanced further.
Nopony noticed this behavior as Celestia's petitioner continued to drone on, attempting to explain why the inclusion of Princess Twilight Sparkle should necessitate the extension of dusk and dawn in an effort to give the newest princess her own time of day. It took a few minutes before the petitioner wrapped their speech up, patiently awaiting Celestia's reply.
"Thank you for your input. Jason," she turned and inwardly scowled, noticing that all of his attention was focused on Philomena, "what do you think of this idea?"
"Oh, it's uh," he scrambled as Philomena let out a humorous caw, "a wonderful idea?" Jason merely shrugged his shoulders as Celestia glared death at him before turning back to the petitioner and clearing her throat.
"While I understand the position you are coming from, and your most eloquent manner of putting forth your idea, I will have to say that we won't be changing the length of dusk or dawn." She raised a hoof before the petitioner could offer a rebuttal. "The day and night cycle are too important to adjust, even for something as monumental as a new Princess of Equestria. Have a good day."
With only a small huff, she walked out, Jason quietly snickering to himself as Celestia turned to look at him. "I make you sit through these to learn, something that is hard to do when Philomena is taking your attention." She turned to the bird, who pretended to hide under a wing. Celestia sighed as she scolded her. "Philomena, you know that it's important Jason learn these things. Besides... the less time you two have to collude together, the safer this castle is."
Philomena let out a caw of laughter that was abruptly cut short, as she was launched from Jason's lap. "Death to the Sun Tyrant!" a pony yelled out, a small dagger flying through the air, propelled by magic. Before anypony else could react, Jason had already shoved Celestia out of her chair and took her place in the projectile’s path, even as guards began to dogpile the would-be assassin.
"What is the meaning of–" Celestia heard a wheeze next to her as she pulled herself to her hooves. "Jason!" She ignored the guards in favor of going to her friend, who lay on the ground, a dagger embedded in his gut.
Coughing, Jason cringed as he moved slightly, the pain staggering. "C-Celestia..." he managed to pass between his lips even as he felt his body start to go numb. "Poison."
The guards had the unicorn subdued, an inhibitor locked firmly around his horn as his hooves were shackled together. Furious, Celestia rounded on him. "What did you use? What poison?"
The unknown stallion sadly laughed, "Night's Bane, he has no chance. I was hoping to get you, Tyrant, but I suppose your monkey assistant will have to do. It's a da–" One of the guards silenced him with the butt of his spear to the assassin's gut, knocking the wind from his lungs.
Celestia turned her attention back towards Jason as the guards finished clearing out the room. She gently propped him up with her forehooves, removing the dagger and doing her best to heal the wound, even though she knew it was futile.
"S-Stop..." Jason muttered, also aware of the futility. Night's Bane was a potent poison that ignored magic and quickly circulated throughout the body, paralyzing the victim before shutting down their body. It was simply a matter of time before his end, time that could be counted in minutes.
Celestia simply held him, ignoring the blood that slowly seeped onto her hooves as the guards solemnly looked on, keeping the room locked down. Philomena cawed sadly as she landed on Jason, nuzzling against his neck.
"Heh, h-hey now. Don't cry," he weakly said, chuckling before violently coughing. He tried to reach out with a hand, but his arm felt like it was made of lead, impossible to move in his rapidly weakening state. Celestia raised a hoof to her face, not even noticing the fact that she had indeed begun crying.
As the seconds ticked by, she noticed something odd. This was not her first time holding somepony, or someone, who was on death's door. However, for some reason as the life slowly fled his body, Jason began to warm up in her hooves. She continued to hold him, comforting him with softly spoken words, even as his temperature passed a point that would have left burns on a normal pony.
Celestia looked on in confusion as he merely smiled, closing his eyes and exhaling for the last time. Philomena flapped her wings, moving to rest herself on a nearby chair and began to sing a calming melody. Celestia rapidly backed away in confusion, alerting her guards who all tightened their grasps on their weapons.
Jason's body began to shine, a bright light filtering through his skin that looked as if it were trying to burst out of him. Seconds later, a massive surge of heat pulsed through the air, causing Celestia's guards to back away in fear as his body violently burst into flames. Celestia and Philomena were the only two capable of remaining in close proximity, the former watching in awe as the latter continued her song.
The flames grew brighter and hotter, incinerating the rug that had been underneath him within seconds as the marble floor began to blacken from the fire. Jason's body was rapidly consumed. As the heat and light died down, a large pile of ash was left in its place.
This whole event lasted for only seconds, although it seemed like forever in everypony's eyes. As the last of the flames magically disappeared, the ashes stirred, a hand reaching out from it. Somepony screamed as the guards finally took action, weapons levied at the unknown even as Philomena took to the air.
"Wait!" Celestia cried out as a groan emanated from the ashes. She focused her magic and a light breeze moved the large pile, revealing an ash coated creature in its wake.
"Impossible..." the assassin muttered, not a single guard moving to silence him this time. "He should be dead!"
With another groan, the figure slowly got into a sitting position, spitting out a mixture of saliva and ash to the side. "J-Jason?" Celestia muttered, a small amount of elation in her voice, as shock and disbelief were evident on her face. Philomena settled down on his shoulder moments later.
Rapidly blinking his eyes, Jason turned and met Celestia's. She noticed that he looked much younger, and his pupils now were like fire, a hot mixture of angry reds and cool oranges all blending together. He tried speaking, but only a rattling cough came from his throat. Trying again, he managed to squeak something out.
"H-hey, Celestia... damn, that smarted," he groaned, before he completely froze, shock in his eyes. A lock of fiery hair fell into one eye, even as a hand slowly reached behind him. Moments later, it came into contact with the leading edge of something, and he cautiously tugged on it to bring it into his view.
Philomena let out a small cackle as feathers greeted his vision, feathers that were quite firmly attached to a wing that he could now feel. His head turned to the bird on his opposite shoulder, a look of confusion greeting Philomena's smug expression. "You... you had something to do with this, didn't you?" She merely took off in flight, a tittering caw erupting from her beak.
"I want you to continue the lockdown, and escort the prisoner to the cells. I'll have a word with him later. Right now, though..." she turned her attention back to Jason, who was still glaring at Philomena, his hand fidgeting with his new appendage. "Jason... what exactly is going on?" Celestia asked, having never witnessed a rebirth outside of the phoenixes. It just wasn't possible, and everypony knew it.
Jason shuffled around, turning to face her. Before saying a word, however, his cheeks suddenly went crimson in embarrassment as he realized something. "Can you get me some clothes, first?" he asked, doing his best to keep as much of himself covered as possible. Although his new wings covered his back and bare buttocks from view, he did not want to expose himself to everypony.
"Shining Armor," Celestia spoke as the stallion entered the room saluted her. "I want you to comb the castle and search for any other would-be assassins. I'll be in my quarters with Jason," she pointed a wing towards him, "attempting to figure out what in Tartarus just happened here."
As he saluted again, Shining immediately turned to the gathered guards. "Soldiers, you heard the Princess!" Celestia drowned him out, focusing on Jason who was still sitting on the floor.
"Jason," she began, using her magic to remove the rest of the ash from his body, "I'll make a stop at your room first for some clothes, and then we'll go and have a lengthy discussion in my study... I believe that is more than fair?"
Jason meekly shrugged as he scratched his scalp with a hand. "I suppose I do have a lot to explain..." Celestia extended a hoof to him which he grasped, and as Philomena landed on his shoulder once more, the trio disappeared in a teleport.
Johnny Cash is a bad-ass, by the way
I fell down through the burning ring of fire
I went down, down, down and the flames went higher
Ironically enough...
My real name is actually Jason.
~Skeeter The Lurker
3190211
3rd person who has looked at this who said that...
Oh boy. I've apparently sent quite a few of my friends to Equestria with this story, it seems.
This phrase right here made me put down my laptop, step outside my house, and facepalm.
3190220
Totally unintentional pun, I swear! Please don't hurt me!
3190226
I would, but I am currently on an airplane.
Oh... This... This is gonna be good.
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Im surprised this has so few likes.
I my self have a story im working in my head that involves inmortality, tricky businesses that.
ramblings aside i like this ANOTHER!
Human imbued with now-proven phoenix-like regeneration, with promises of moar shenanigans, hijinks and possibly romance? Space, you just know how to make my day.
Y'know what? You've more than earned this, Space. You're rapidly becoming my new favorite author.
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I'm also not sorry about the pun. I saw it and had to add it.
Seems interesting. Tracked!
Pretty interesting. Liked and fav'd, waiting for more.
Just hope it doesnt take along time inbetween chapters. MOAR!!!
How long will it take in between chapters?
Also, it reminds me of the Doctor.
3190258
Hopefully so. The whole basis for this story is with the single idea, so it can go... almost anywhere. Plan to have fun with it though.
3190516
sometimes a story just kinda explodes, othertimes it has to claw its way up from the bottom to be seen. Fireworks might help that. And explosions. Lots and lots of explosions.
3190569
Lol, thanks Ultra. Glad to have ya along with yet another story.
3190652>>3190664>>3190820
Thanks a lot!
3190834
2nd one is mostly done, just tweaking things like style of it and such, as I'm playing with new concepts. Honestly, right now I've got 5 stories running. One is about to end, but it picks right up with a sequel, so that doesn't really make an impact. Ideally, I'd like to have it once a week at a maximum, with the second chapter going up in ~24 hours.
3190851
Kewl, that's a good pace, considering that most of the stories I read take a month to update one chapter.
3190861
I've been in a ridiculous writing mood lately, to give you an idea I've put out 30,000 words over 5 stories this month alone. So long as I can keep the pace, I can keep things updating just as quickly.
3190848 good luck,my friend, here's hoping you reach 100 soon.
So is Jason going to actually have a reason he's some kind of pheonix knockoff? Or will it amount to "LOL IDK MAJYYKS?"
I expect, knowing how well your other stories tend to work out, you'll have something nice planned.
Give me credit! I helped in the planning stages. In fact my name should PROBABLY go above yours. *nodnod*
3190895
You see, 3190909 gave me a rather wicked concept. When it's revealed, it's going to be awesome. Him, and the reader, and everyone else, will have no idea why until that moment happens.
3190883
Thank you very much.
3190848
Canne wait to see more... Seems all your stories do that to me... You sir, are a textual crack peddler of the highest order. Thank you for all you do and please, for the love of Luna, don't stop being awesome!
dude... more human on pony stories? This made my day. Keep being awesome spacecowboy. Speaking of spacecowboy's; I just finished Cowboy Bebop and I fucking loved it!
3190211
Well, that's another thing we have in common.
3190975
Haha, go figure.
~Skeeter The Lurker
3190975>>3190980
And that makes the 4th person to make that remark in the last 24 hours.
3190985
Seems to be a common name.
Don't change it, though... I like it.
~Skeeter The Lurker
This just made my month, I was literally just thinking how cool it would be to be a phoenix/phoenix in nature
3190848
I'm at nine faves of yours and climbing. I just checked. My record so far, is Art Inspired, with 14 at last check.
3191029
Glad I could help. It's a somewhat original concept, and I'm going to have fun with this.
3191032
Not bad, since I have 11 of em, and 2 of those are rather... abandoned. I've got the 12th coming out soon, FeMale's sequel.
cant wait to read what you come up with for this story it is intrueging so far
After i enjoyed Becoming One With the Night and Fallen From The Light (and waiting for more ) you just earned a follower with just this description of you Story...
Chapeau, mister!
definitly an interesting story, i can't wait to read more and I will be honest I haven't read many humanXalicorn stories but if it can inspire this story I think i will give them a shot.please update as soon as you can i'm looking forward to reading more.
3191070>>3191392
2nd chapter, I'm changing things up a bit, so back down to 2k out of probably 5k written. Aiming to finish it tonight, though.
3191349
Thanks very much, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed both! And thanks for the watch, glad to have earned it.
3191070 That is an understatement in my opinion. It's AWESOME.
not bad. i like it
I can see it now, best quote ever in the future. "You just wish you could be as hot as me and Philomena princess."
3192136
Oh... Oh my... THAT's GOOD.
Now, excuse me while I find my stomach again, I just laughed it out of my throat.
On a more serious tone, him and Philo are definitely BFFs. Next chapter does a lot in explaining some things.
this is awesome squared
This is an interesting setup and I am curious to see where you take it from here.
Hmm. I'll be watching this one, but I can't make a judgement about its vote or favorite-worthiness yet.
3192333
Next chapter will be out tomorrow, it goes a fair length towards giving some of the backstory. Maybe that will sway you one way or the other. : ) Currently at 3500 words, will probably end around 5000.
3192308
Thanks.
3190985
Also, congrats on being featured. Tis a nice story.
3192445
Thank you very much. hopefully I'll have the next chapter out really soon. 3,750 words in now, just need to quit being so distracted.
Hope that this fic got updates fast, it is so good
3192682
Putting the next chapter in now, lol.
Interesting concept, worth the fav in my book.
So........ Its a Philomena shipping a human story? I kinda like that idea. No I love that idea!
A...regenerating human?? FASCINATING. Now THIS is a story I would like to hear!
And from a reputable author, too. The proper course of action is clear: onward!