The door to Fluttershy’s cottage opened as she walked in… with Philomena riding her back!
“Oh you poor little thing, how did you get into such a condition?”

She gently placed the bird onto her sofa, the fowl wobbling as her head rested onto the cushion at a weird angle.
“Don’t you worry, Philomena. I’ll nurse you back to health.”

“Can I help?”

Fluttershy gasped and turned around to see, “Twinken? What’re you doing here?”

“I saw you take Philomena from her cage and followed you,” Twinken said, “Are you really gonna help the princess’s pet, Fluttershy? That’s so nice of you!”

“Well, yes, um…” Fluttershy tried to find the right words. “But does Midnight know that you’re here?”

Twinken startled, realizing he’d been caught.
“Well… I wouldn’t say that he knows per se…”

“Oh Twinken, you shouldn’t wander off from him,” Fluttershy gently scolded, “He must be looking for you right now!”

“Please, Fluttershy!” Twinken pled, “I wanna help! I promise, as soon as Philomena starts looking better, I’ll go find Midnight!”

“Well… I suppose I could use an assistant,” Fluttershy considered, especially given Philomena’s condition as the bird wheezed some more.

“Yay!” cheered Twinken.

“And we’ll help Philomena right up,” Fluttershy couldn’t help but giggle at Twinken’s excitement. “As a favor to the princess who’s obviously too busy to care for her properly.”

Philomena let out another raspy cough, Fluttershy and Twinken giving each other a sympathetic look as she helped the bird’s head up, “I’m sure the princess will appreciate the help.”

Philomena just dizzily held her head before letting it wobble over again at a weird angle.
“Uh, that angle of her neck doesn’t look right,” Twinken commented with a disturbed look.

“Oh my!” Fluttershy picked up the bird, saying, “We’d better get her to bed right away!”

Fluttershy placed Philomena in a small bed just her size, Twinken pulling on a blanket, saying, “There, nice n’ cozy!”

Fluttershy placed a thermometer into the bird’s beak, and they were surprised at how quickly her temperature flared, made evident not by the thermometer but how she turned red and sweaty. Fluttershy gasped as she pulled off the blanket, Twinken placing an icepack on Philomena’s head.

They sighed when her temperature went down but gasped as she quickly started shivering, turning blue, and her pupils oddly looked like icecubes. Fluttershy removed the icepack and put the blanket back on, only for Philomena to heat up again. Twinken removed the blanket and replaced the icepack, and again Philomena turned blue. The cycle repeated a few more times until the thermometer just burst.

“Is it normal to go between hot n' cold so quickly?” Twinken asked with an apprehensive tone.

“I don’t think so, in fact I’d say this is even worse than I thought,” Fluttershy stated, “What she needs is some medicine, STAT!”

They flinched as Philomena coughed and spat the thermometer out.

In no time at all, with Philomena sitting on a couch in front of a coffee table, Fluttershy placed a plate with a small orange and yellow pill in the center.
“Here you go, Philomena! This will fix you right up.”

They watched as Philomena gave the pill a sniff but stuck her tongue out in disgust, Twinken silently agreeing medicine tasted yucky.
“I don’t think she’s gonna take it.”

“Doctor Fluttershy expected that,” Fluttershy said smugly before pouring some birdseed onto the plate, burying the pill in it.

They watched as Philomena gave it an experimental taste and suddenly started eating away, sounding like a jackhammer, Fluttershy smiling at Twinken, “Always works!”

Twinken’s eyes popped and he pointed out, to Fluttershy’s surprise, that Philomena had eaten all the seed but had not been fooled. The pill was still on the plate!
“I wouldn’t count on it,” the colt chuckled, seeing the look on Fluttershy’s face.

“Well, almost always," Fluttershy amended before Philomena coughed some more.

“Hey! I got an idea!” Twinken spoke up.

A little bit later, he walked out of Fluttershy’s kitchen, levitating a bowl of soup.
“TLC always gives us soup when we’re sick over at the orphanage!”

“Wonderful idea, Twinken,” Fluttershy agreed as she took the bowl, blowing on it a little. “Homemade soup’s always a good remedy!”

She placed it on the floor and nudged it towards Philomena. She gave it one look and turned her beak up at it.
“Come on now, you’re not gonna get better if you don’t cooperate.”

Twinken went over with a spoon, levitating out a spoonful of the soup, saying, “Try it, it’s good!”

Philomena just turned her head away and crossed her teeny wings, Fluttershy and Twinken giving each other a look at how stubborn this bird was.

“Here comes the choo-choo train!” Fluttershy kept holding the bowl towards Philomena’s beak, who kept turning her head away.
“Chugga-chugga, chugga-chugga, woo-woo!”

This went on until Philomena’s body suddenly span as she’d been rotating her neck one way, and she fell face-first into the bowl.
“Ooh!” Twinken groaned.

“I have another idea! Wait with her, I’ll be right back!” Fluttershy went down the hall while Twinken kept Philomena company as the sickly bird ate some birdseed spilling out of a seam in a bag of the stuff.

“Look, Philomena!”

They looked to see Fluttershy had returned, a hummingbird on her hoof.
“I brought a fellow feathered friend to cheer you up!”

“Oh he’s so cute,” Twinken smiled at the tiny bird.

“Yes, Hummingway here was sick once too but he let me help and got better in no time,” Fluttershy explained before nuzzling the bird, “Didn’t you boy?”

The hummingbird hummed affirmatively before he flittered over to Philomena, Twinken saying, “Say hello to your new friend, Philomena!”

Hummingway nuzzled against Philomena’s neck, the bigger bird simply regarding the smaller one as Fluttershy said, "Aw look, I think he likes you!”

Hummingway fittered into the air, Fluttershy rising up to join him and she vocalized, “Ahh, ah-ah-ah, ah!”

Hummingway repeated the tune, Twinken clapping his hooves together.
“Bravo! What a pretty little song!”

“Thank you Twinken,” Fluttershy giggled. “Your turn now Philomena!”

She approached the bird, saying, “Go ahead, you can do it!”

But Twinken noticed Philomena looking odd while Fluttershy vocalized the same melody.
“Uh, Fluttershy? You might wanna-”

*HACK*

Philomena had vomited the birdseed up… right into Fluttershy’s face.

“Um… good try?” Fluttershy said nicely as Twinken got her a towlet.

They then retired to the bathroom where Fluttershy had placed Philomena on a towel rack and wrapped her lower side and top of her head with towels, saying, “I know what’ll help that tickle in your throat – a humidifier!”

She turned it on, the humidifier pumping the air moist, Twinken inhaling and sighing, “That feels good! What about you, Philomena? Better?”

They watched as Philomena took a deep breath, the both of them smiling hopefully… only for them to be dashed as Philomena wheezed out, the both of them groaning as some feathers molted from Philomena.

“Fluttershy? She actually… looks worse than before,” Twinken said hesitantly.

“Don’t worry, I know lots more cures and remedies,” Fluttershy assured him but had a nervous look as well. “We’ll make her better! Um, let’s try… Aromatherapy!”

They set up scented candles and incense around the lit fireplace, placing Philomena in a pet bed near them. However, the scents only made Philomena sneeze, and molt more.

They drew a bath, placing Philomena inside, Twinken saying, “Warm baths are always relaxing!”

But Philomena suddenly soaked up all the water, like a sponge, engorging and looking very uncomfortable. And molting more.

“Ointment?!” Fluttershy suggested as she placed some on top of Philomena’s head… only for the bird to break out, and molt even more!

Later, Fluttershy, looking like a doctor, was concentrating.
“Scalpel.”

“Scalpel,” Twinken echoed as levitated the instrument to her.

“Surgical tape.”

“Surgical tape.”

“Feathers!”

Twinken levitated a small basket containing the feathers Philomena had molted, and held it out to her. As Fluttershy worked, her pet bunny, Angel, noticed how she was sweating and dabbed her forehead.

Finally, Fluttershy stepped back, and they regarded the patient. Philomena gasped, her head falling over in a weird angle again, Twinken groaning.

“Oh Philomena! I thought it would be easy to nurse you back to health,” Fluttershy worried. “But I’ve tried everything I know! And now look at you, you’re worse than ever!”

At that moment, they were alerted to a knocking, and in walked Twilight.
“Hi Fluttershy! Oh, Twinken? Midnight’s been looking for you. Anyway, I wanted to thank you both for making such a good impression on the princess today-”

She gasped when she saw the sight in front of her.
“What is Celestia’s pet doing here?!”

“Fluttershy took her to help her,” Twinken spoke up.
“I couldn’t leave the poor thing there, she needed my help!” Fluttershy defended.

“Oh no… No-no-no-no, this is bad!” A thousand worse-case scenarios were buzzing in Twilight’s head like a hungry swarm of parasprites, Twinken and Philomena watching the conversation like it was a ping-pong match.

“How could I not do anything?”

“B- E- She doesn’t belong to you!”

“I had to do something!”

“Without telling anypony, without asking permission?!”

“Uh…” Twinken wanted to say something, as Philomena rasped again.

“I know you had good intentions, but you have got to return the princess’s pet!”

The two mares were so engrossed in their dispute they didn’t even notice Philomena fall off the table.

“Uh, girls?” Twinken spoke up and they all noticed as Philomena pulled herself up, gasping a long breath before suddenly she appeared to freeze in mid-inhale.

“You’re right…” Fluttershy conceded with a sigh. “Okay, let’s” – Philomena finished her gasp with a raspy cough, making them all flinch – “go…”

The three spread out, Fluttershy grabbing a basket, Twilight grabbing the bird, Twinken grabbing the lid as Fluttershy placed the basket on her back, Twilight placed the bird in the basket, and Twinken placed the lid on top.

“If we hurry, we can put her back before anypony even notices she’s missing,” Twilight urged as she opened the door… and gasped fearfully to see the two royal guards who’d accompanied the princess earlier, their expressions stoic and unreadable

They came in, saying, “We were told we could find Twilight Sparkle here.”
“We regret to inform you, miss, but the royal pet has gone missing.”

“Really?! You don’t say,” Twilight said with a nervous smile when a hacking startled them.

Thinking quickly, Twinken pretended that it was him coughing and wheezing, making sure to do it every time Philomena did so from inside the basket
“Sorry!” He said with an intentional rasp. “My throat’s been a little dry today!”

“Well! We’d better take care of our little friend here,” Twilight said as she pushed the guards out, “And you guards should be on your way if you’re gonna find the princess’s missing pet, Philomena was it? Thank you ever so much for keeping me in the loop, bye!”

She slammed the door in their faces, sighing in relief, “Quick thinking there, Twinken!”

“I try,” Twinken chuckled.

Elsewhere in town, Midnight was walking around looking for his little brother.
“Twinken! Where are ya buddy?” He sighed, thinking, I swear that little pony can look forward to a lecture. Maybe I’ll try Pepper Pony’s…

Approaching the pizza parlor, Midnight saw Thunderlane and Rumble at one of the outside tables.
“Hey Midnight, wanna join us?”

“Can’t, I’m looking for Twinken,” Midnight replied. “I lost track of him after the princess left the party. Have either of you seen him?”

“Nuh-uh,” Rumble replied, “Why don’’t you try asking them?”

They looked in the direction he was pointing and saw the two royal guards approaching, and saw they looked concerned.
“Excuse us, Midnight Blaze?”

“That’s me,” Midnight nodded.

“In case you were not informed, the royal pet has gone missing,” the second guard explained. “Have you seen it by any chance?”

“Not since the party,” Midnight shook his head, “But speaking of, have you seen a little indigo unicorn colt with red eyes, blue mane and no cutie-mark?”

“We saw such a colt as you describe with Twilight Sparkle,” the first guard replied. “They were both at the cottage of Miss Fluttershy.”

Suddenly Midnight gasped!

”The Princess’s pet bird!” cried one of the Royal Guards and everypony looked up to the top of the statue in the middle of the public fountain, and there was Philomena, almost completely naked of her feathers, letting out another disgusting hack.

“Philomena, come down from there!” Fluttershy scolded, “You’ll hurt yourself!”

At that moment, the last feather Philomena fell off, and she suddenly started going through a dramatic phase of hacking, coughing, and for a moment seemed dead before jolting back up, gasping as she grabbed her neck, and fell.

Everypony gasped while Fluttershy yelled, “I’ll catch you!”

She hurried as fast as she could and dove for a catch but gasped! Still falling, Philomena burst into flames, and all Fluttershy caught was a pile of ashes. Everypony gasped at what they had just seen while tears welled up in Fluttershy’s eyes.

“What is going on here?!” demanded Princess Celestia as she walked up, her guards bowing as they made way.

…Sir Midnight? Sir Midnight!”

“Huh?! What- What’d I miss?” Midnight shook it off

“You… appeared to space out, Midnight Blaze,” one of the guards said. “Is something wrong?”

“Uh… No, I… think I’ll just head over to the cottage and… collect my brother, bye!” Midnight streaked off, thinking, Oh what’s gonna happen this time?!

As he approached the cottage, he heard a screaming squawk and was surprised to see a very familiar and ugly-looking bird run by, somepony shouting, “Wait, no! Philomena!”

Out ran Fluttershy, Twilight, and Twinken, who yelled, “Big brother, after that bird!”

Chaos and hilarity ensued as the four ponies chased after the not-so-feathery fiend. She led them into the park and started running circles around a tree, the ponies following as they circling got faster till it became a blur. But none of them noticed Philomena had given them the slip by somehow getting up into the tree and then running away along the branches.

They finally stopped, skidding into each other, upon realizing they’d been duped. Looking around, they shrugged and ran off to find her.

Philomena gave the royal guards the slip as they held a picture of her to Cherry Fizzy, asking him if he’d seen Philomena. But he shook his head no.

Later, the four chasers ran past someone reading a newspaper on a park bench, when they came over and asked for their time. The reader looked uncannily familiar as they lowered the newspaper but the mustache threw them off as they explained who they were looking for. The reader shrugged and resumed reading their newspaper.

Although the reader had looked familiar, Twilight, Fluttershy, Twinken, and Midnight moved on, realizing too late Philomena had duped them again when Midnight noticed her throw down the newspaper and run off, the mustache falling off her beak. He skidded to a halt and whistled to the others, pointing out their mistake, and they resumed their pursuit of the ornery ornithological one.

She managed to run past the royal guards unheard, but they didn’t take any chances as they tiptoed behind the guards so as not to attract their attention though Midnight couldn’t help making a face at them until Twilight gave him the stink-eye, making him smile shamefully.

Twilight then noticed Philomena peering out a door and chased her, but she ran into a building just across the way. She came out the neighboring door, Fluttershy following her into the door in the building opposite, Twilight going into the building through another door, Philomena going back to the other building through that first door, Twinken chasing her in, Midnight coming out one and going into the neighboring door, Twilight sticking her head out one door, and saw Philomena do the same from the opposite building. She launched herself at the bird, only to crash into Fluttershy, and then Midnight and Twinken came out, tripping over the two mares, Philomena once again giving them the slip.

The ran past town hall, while Philomena slipped from her hiding place and went the other way, just missing the royal guards as they put up a missing poster for her. But after they left, Philomena appeared and drew a mustache and bushy eyebrows on the image and ran off.

The four continued to run in their search for Philomena when Thunderlane flew up alongside them, Rumble on his back, “Hey guys, what’s your hurry?”

“Are you having a race, can we play?!” Rumble asked.

“Not the time, guys!” Midnight snipped as they kept moving but gasped as they came upon the fountain from his vision, all their friends hanging around it.
Oh no… this is the place but- where’s the bird?!

Fluttershy peered under Pinkie who was eating an apple.
“Excuse me!”

“Beg your pardon!” Twilight said as she lifted Rarity to look under her.

“Put me down!” Rarity gave Twilight an indignant look.

She obliged while Midnight lifted Big Macintosh’s rump to see under where he was sitting.
“Hey!”

“Emergency!” he explained before getting out of his way.

“Wha’ in tarnation?” Applejck gave them a wierded-out look.

“Sorry but we gotta find-” Twinken tried to say but he was cut off as somepony yelled, “The princess’s pet bird!”

They followed their line of sight and gasped to see Philomena, almost completely naked of her feathers as she let out another disgusting hack.

“Philomena, come down from there!” Fluttershy scolded, “You’ll hurt yourself!”

But at that moment, Philomena’s last feather fell and the theatrics began as she coughed, wheezed, hacked, gasped, and for a moment appeared to be dead. But she jolted up, grabbing her neck in a gasp and fell over, Midnight yelling, “SHE'S FALLING!”

“I’ll catch her!” Fluttershy ran as fast as she could but Midnight said, “No, I got her!”

Midnight focused and his aura surrounded Philomena’s falling body and she floated in place, everypony sighing in relief as he levitated her towards Fluttershy.

“Oh thank goodness,” she sighed as she reached out to grab the bird… only to gasp and jump back as Philomena burst into flames!

Everypony gasped as ashes poured to the ground, Fluttershy gaping in shock as tears began to well up in her eyes, her lip quivering as she squealed, upset.

“What is going on here?”

They all gasped to see Princess Celestia approach, her guards bowing and making way. They all bowed as well, as Celestia called, “Twilight?”

Twilight stood up nervously, but sighed.
“You’re Majesty? There’s been a terrible accident.”

“It’s all my fault,” Fluttershy spoke up.
“No, Princess, Fluttershy didn’t know any better. It was my fault,” Twilight insisted.
“I’m the one who did it!” Fluttershy debated.
"But I wasn’t able to save her! You were only trying to help,” Midnight pointed out.
“Some help I was,” Fluttershy scoffed woefully.
“Would you two butt out?! She’ll go easier on me!” Twilight butted in.
“But it’s my fault!” Fluttershy insisted.
“No, it’s my fault!” Twilight argued.
“Ooh! It’s my fault!” Pinkie popped up. “Wait, what're we talking about?”

“Pinkie, butt out!” Midnight snapped as he pushed her out of the picture, in no mood for her nonsense.

“Thanks for trying to protect me, Twilight, but Princess Celestia?” Fluttershy walked up to the princess. “I’m the one who took your pet bird. I really was only trying to help the poor little thing, then I was gonna bring her right back to you, honest.”

Princess Celestia walked past them and peered down at the ashes before her hooves, her face unreadable.

“So… if you wanna banish me and imprison me in a dungeon in the place that you banish me to,” Fluttershy went on, “Then that’s what I deserve.”

“Please don’t be too hard on Fluttershy, Princess!” Twinken was close to tears, Midnight holding him close as he gently told him to shush.

Princess Celestia looked at everypony present then lowered her head with a solemn expression… before she pulled a grin.
“Oh stop fooling around, Philomena! You’re scaring everypony.”

At her words, the pile of ashes shivered before sweeping up in a swirl, to everypony’s shock, as it twirled around before it burst in a flash of fiery light! As the light dimmed, they gasped in marvel to see a flaming red and orange bird, majestic and beautiful.

As it flew over them, Midnight gasped, “Wow! A phoenix!”

“Wha- What’s a phoenix?!” Fluttershy asked in confusion as the bird landed on Celestia’s outstretched forelimb. “And where’s Philomena?”

“Fluttershy, that is Philomena!” Midnight said, pointing the bird out. “Am I right, Princess?”

“Indeed you are, Midnight Blaze,” Celestia confirmed. “As I said before, she’s quite a sight.

“A phoenix is a magical and majestic bird, known for its power of resurrection! Every so often, it goes through a stage of renewal by shedding all its feathers and bursting into flames!”

They all marveled as Philomena flew over them, shrilling happily as Princess Celestia whispering to Fluttershy, “Rather melodramatic if you ask me.”

She then said aloud and held out her limb for Philomena to perch again, “It then rises from the ashes, fresh as a daisy! All just part of the normal life-cycle of a phoenix. I’m afraid mischievous Philomena here took the occasion to have a little fun with you, Fluttershy.”

Philomena sheepishly hid her beak behind her wing as Celestia held her out towards Fluttershy, scolding, “Say you’re sorry, young lady.”

Philomena gave Fluttershy an apologetic tweet.

“So, aren’t you gonna banish me? Or throw me in a dungeon?” Fluttershy asked, everypony looking scared for her. “Or banish me and throw me into a dungeon in the place you banish me to?”

“Of course not, my little pony!” Celestia assured her, letting Philomena fly again. “Where on earth would you get such an idea?”

“Where indeed!” Midnight gave Twilight a smirk and chuckled, ignoring the stink-eye she gave him.

“Fluttershy and Twinken did do everything they could to try to take care of Philomena for you, Princess,” Twilight spoke up.

“And I do appreciate that your hearts were in the right place, my dears,” Celestia understood but added, "But all you needed to do was ask and I would’ve told you that Philomena is a phoenix, and you would’ve been saved all of this trouble.”

“You’re right, I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions,” Fluttershy apologized. “Next time I’ll ask before taking matters into my own hooves.”

Liking the sound of that, Twilight asked, “Should I send you a letter regarding that lesson, Princess?”

“That’s quite alright, Twilight,” Celestia assured her as Philomena landed on her back. “I think I can remember.”

“And as for you, young colt,” Midnight spoke up, giving Twinken a look. “You and I are gonna have a talk about wandering off without telling me where you’re going.”

Twinken chuckled nervously while the guards brought Philomena’s cage. Fluttershy then felt something in her hair and looked up to see Philomena had given her one of her feathers, trilling kindly.
“It’s beautiful! Thank you, Philomena, no hard feelings.”

Rainbow Dash gave those stonefaced guards a look when she had an idea. She flew up to Philomena, whispering something to her. Philomena nodded and landed on top of her cage but she reached down with her wings, tickling the guards’ noses. They struggled to stifle their laughs and hold their composure, but they let it out in life-cleansing laughter, Rainbow Dash and Philomena high-winging as Philomena squawked in success, and soon, everypony joined in on the laughter.

This was fun