//------------------------------// // In 995 Years I'll Be Dead // Story: The Sun Never Sets // by Mr Fislewait //------------------------------// The Crystal Palace was central to The Empire in every sense of the word. It was geographically the dead center of the city, politically the hub of the government, home to the royal family and house to The Crystal Heart (spiritual center point to the entire race of crystal ponies. For many ponies a tour of the palace would likely have been a once in a lifetime experience but the appeal had long been lost to Eventide. That wasn't to say she disliked the palace (it was no castle of the two sisters but it was a vast improvement on the crystalline monstrosity in Ponyville), rather she had long ago come to think of it as the home of her BFF at which point the allure and mystery of the building had quickly faded. Perhaps had its halls and chambers not been long since cleansed of all traces of Sombra's dark rule then her youthful fascination and explorer's instinct might have still held, but several minor adventures while she had been a foal had found no hidden passages or lost chambers. The thought brought a genuine smile to her face. The two of them running amuck while Flurry's parents were out on business, evading the guard and leading Starburst on a wild goose chase about the castle grounds as he desperately attempted to fulfill his role as royal babysitter. Back when she was still a tiny little thing, barely capable of putting together a full sentence, Flurry would pick her up on her back and the pair would fly short distances across the halls (much to Starburst's consternation). She almost felt sorry for everything they had put the poor unicorn through, if she chanced upon him over the weekend she should probably apologize. They had never behaved maliciously towards him of course, at worst they had playfully pulled pranks on him and the most awkward situations they had ever forced him into were simply the result of youthful naivety or hilarious misunderstandings. She had fond memories of him turning bright red when little filly Eventide had asked him why he didn't live with mama and her. At the time of course it had made perfect sense, they had a similar color of coat and he was a unicorn just like her. From what she understood about families at the time it seemed extremely logical that the unicorn stallion who she was regularly forced to spend time around whenever her mama was unable to look after her had to be her father. "Evey!" Eventide turned to see the speaker and a grin spread across her face. Of course there was only one pony that still called her by her nickname but seeing the magenta alicorn bounding across the lounge towards her still came as something of a surprise. Flurry ran up to her and grabbed her in a bone crushing hug pulling her off of the divan she had been reclining on. She wasn't normally one for such shows of physical affection but for Flurry she was willing to make an exception. The hug concluded, Flurry gave her a conspiratorial smile and knowingly raised her eyebrows. Evey happily returned the smile while mockingly rolling her eyes. The two parted and instantly crouched down facing one another. "Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" the two sang as they carried out the ancient ritual of greeting passed down from generation to generation of Flurry's family (Cadance had taught Flurry and a young Flurry had decided that in her role as 'assistant babysitter' it was her royal duty to teach little Evey). "Pretty sure that got old like eight years ago, Flurry," she said with a smirk, "besides, imagine the scandal if the tabloids were ever to catch you behaving in such a foalish manner!" "If it's so foalish then why dost thou never seem to tire of it?" Flurry retorted, playfully sticking her tongue out at Evey. " 'Cause if I don't indulge you I'm pretty sure I'll wind up getting locked away in the dungeons for my treason never to again see the light of day!" she fell backwards onto the divan in an overly dramatic swoon only to immediately jump back up and give the alicorn a mock glare. "Serious talk though, 'dost thou'? Not even Luna speaks like that these days. Did you hit your head on an antique desk or something?" "Ugghhhhhhhh," Flurry groaned performing the singularly least graceful face-hoof Evey had ever seen. "It's Twilight's princess lessons. She has me reading up on the usage of 'the royal Canterlot voice'." "Princess lessons? I think your mom mentioned something about that earlier." "It all started a month ago. We were all visiting Twilight, the two of us had some alone time and I made the mistake of mentioning that I was having a little bit of trouble understanding my role as a princess," she slumped backwards joining Evey on the divan. "Twilight commiserated with me having apparently had similar issues when she was first crowned and everything would have been fine if we had left things there, but...." "But then Twilight decided to be Twilight." "Yep," Flurry stifled a giggle at the memory. "So Twilight says she knows just what to do and disappears for the next two hours leaving me and my parents with Spike. When she came down she had written a three page check list of potential lessons and activities to help me become a better Princess based off of her own experiences and a whole lot of 'solid theory'. The Canterlot voice thing? That is a part of what she likes to call 'Princess History'. I'd tell her that I don't think the lessons are helping that much but trying to persuade Twilight that lessons aren't fun is like trying to persuade Pinkie Pie that you don't want her to throw you a party. Soooooo for the time being I'm putting up with the lessons and trying to work out what in Equestria I'm supposed to be princess of, it's like trying to earn a second cutie mark to be honest," Flurry sighed looking at stylized arctic wind emblazoned upon her flank. "Well, Flurry, in the name of friendship I insist that you put aside any of your princess lessons for the duration of my stay, Twilight can hardly complain about you being a good friend to your BFF now can she? Now then," she clapped her fore-hooves together, "I have come bearing presents." Evey removed her saddlebags and began levitating some of the contents out. "First of all, for Shining Armor we have some authentic dragon made fire wine, tested for safe consumption by ponies courtesy of yours truly," she placed a hefty bottle of glittering red liquor upon the lounge table. "Next, for Cadance, a necklace carved from empathy emeralds, a mythical mineral said to glow a different color depending on the wearers feelings. It's meant to glow pink for strong feelings of love so they should go with her coat perfectly," she levitated an elegant jewelry case next to the bottle. "Last but definitely not least, for Flurry Hearts we have this," she levitated a sealed bell jar out of the other saddlebag and placed it onto the table with the other gifts. Inside the jar was a beautiful flower with curling ice blue petals that curled around into crystalline white tips. The stem spiraled in a seemingly impossible fashion like a helter skelter, the light of the room catching off of the inside and making it look like a stream of water continuously ran down it in a cascading waterfall. "Is that a polar crystal orchid?" Flurry stared at the plant in disbelief as Evey nodded, "but those were meant to have gone extinct over three hundred years ago! First of all, you don't need to bring us gifts on every social visit, secondly how did you even manage to find this, and third how did you prepare all of this at such short notice?!" Evey tilted her head sideways and stroked her chin in a comically over the top pantomime of thinking. "In order, yes it is, three hundred and twenty four to be precise, I don't have to bring you gifts but I love you guys and you've always been there for me so It's nice to return the favor every once in awhile, it was frozen dead in the ice caps but perfectly preserved so with a little magical assistance we got it stuck in stasis inside the jar and I've been sitting on these gifts for a little while waiting for a good opportunity," she paused to suck in breath before continuing. "Before you go trying to open the jar up to bring the species back from the dead I think you should know that I checked with some leading botanists and that is never going to happen. I managed to bring back two preserved specimens, the other one has been donated to the Canterlot Museum of Natural History but I was given express permission to keep this one as a souvenir. Now once you are done pining over the long dead flower how about you get changed so that we can hit the town!" Flurry exchanged a couple of disbelieving looks at both the long extinct orchid and the curious little mare in the fedora and jacket. She did sometimes wonder if the legality of some of Evey's 'finds' was everything she said they were but could never really reconcile the notion of her as some law breaking treasure hunter with the image of the little filly that she used to play big sister to. Perhaps it was her being sentimental but she just couldn't ever find it in her heart to believe half of what the other ponies said about her lil' Evey. ------------------------------- The pair made for a curious sight as they sauntered through the streets. Evey dressed up in her hat and jacket, while by her side walked a suspiciously tall magenta unicorn with a wine glass cutie mark. The pair had come up with the illusion when Flurry was eighteen as a means of slightly reducing the attention they suffered when trying to have some lighthearted fun. back then they still received some unsolicited stares but Evey was happy to pander to her fans. Both had agreed that it was a vast improvement over the dreaded alternative of the pair being dubbed marefriends by the public, the scandal would have been only marginally less mortifying than the truth. It seemed their concern had proved warranted though as within about a day of their first excursion the press had begun speculating about where the young explorer had picked up her 'charming new marefriend'. The first stop on the tour was a fashionable little bar called The Heart's Desire, a little cheesy for Evey's own tastes but it had always been a firm favorite of Flurry's. As Flurry went to collect the first round of drinks Evey picked out a small table in one corner away from the worst of the bar's prying eyes. Identifying a quiet looking corner she made her way across the room, no less than three ponies 'accidentally' knocking into her en route. Anywhere else she would likely have gotten up in their face about it but not here, not where Flurry could see her. "So," Flurry said putting the first round of drinks down on the table. "How's little Evey doing?" "I'm not that little, Hearts," their official name for the persona was Berry Heart but Evey generally referred to her by the shared second name, she found it made it easier to not slip up and reveal her true identity. "The only reason I look small is because you share so much in common with your mom." "Evey, I may be tall but that doesn't change the fact you are kinda short for a unicorn your age." Evey shot her a glare from across the table as she began downing her first cider, as much as she hated to admit it she had always been short for her age. While Flurry had been growing into her heritage Evey had desperately been awaiting a sudden growth spurt so that ponies would stop mistaking her for an adolescent. If she had been born an immortal alicorn princess she was willing to bet she would still barely come up to eye level with a mare her own age. "Yeah, well I may be short, but I think you'll find that I have something you are sorely lacking," while she was a little touchy about her height she did enjoy a bit of playful banter with her BFF, and she was quite able to give as good as she got. "Oh, and what would that be?" Flurry asked taking the bait. "A coltfriend," Evey sneered before downing the rest of her current glass. The look of horror on her friend's face was priceless. "Please, please, please don't tell my mother!" she begged a mortified look upon her face. "I'm really happy for you and I want to hear all about him but if Cadance finds out about this I will never hear the end of it! Princess of Love, Evey! She has been nagging me about when she's going to meet the handsome young stallion or beautiful filly that has caught my eye, forever! I mean don't get me wrong I'm so happy that mom and dad had their own little fairy tale romance but can't she just accept that I'm not ready to get into a relationship right now? She just has all of these expectations, and hopes, and the wedding folder! Have I ever told you about the wedding folder!?" "Including written correspondence? Nineteen times and counting," Evey grinned. "Don't worry I won't say a word. As for my coltfriend all I'm going to say is that we have a lot of shared interests but we are taking things slow on account of it being a rather long distance relationship. Now, how about another round?" ---------------------------------------- They were four bars into the night when Flurry finally decided that it was time to see about getting Evey back to the castle. While Flurry had been sticking to a maximum of two glasses per visit (often low alcohol and in the current bar only soft drinks) Evey had been showing no such restraint. At present she seemed to be wobbling back and forth (both literally and metaphorically) between being inebriated and plastered. Helping her up off of her seat Flurry managed to get Evey to lean on her as they walked, offering some much needed support to the intoxicated unicorn. "Flur- I mean, Hearts. Hearts," Evey paused as if in deep though then giggled to herself. "Hearts is like the thing on your mothers flank. She named you after her butt picture." Flurry gently shook her head, she could easily correct her friend but at this point there seemed to be little point in trying. "Hearts, are you going to miss me when I'm gone?" Flurry winced and ignored the question, a lot of the time Evey tended to be a happy drunk, unfortunately tonight it seemed as though she was going to be a little more maudlin. "In nine hundred and ninety five years I'm gonna be dead, Hearts," she had heard this speech before, the last time had been two years ago when Evey had spent her birthday getting wasted, back then it was nine hundred and ninety seven. "Course, I'll be dead before then. A loooooooong time before then. Will you still be round, Flurry? Alicorns live so long and I don't wanna... don't wanna," she paused and stared at her hooves, Flurry had gotten her out of the bar and into the streets but they had a long way to go yet. "I don't wanna leave you, Flairy," she slurred. "If you're still around then though, if your still kickin' about. Can you tell her that I miss her?" Evey wiped the tears from her eyes before they could begin to gain momentum. "I'm gonna miss you too, Flairy," this was new, Flurry had heard this speech a few times but this seemed to be a new development. "I'm gonna miss you when I'm gone but whatever you do, don't come lookin' for me. It's a reeeeeeal maze out there and I don't wanna think about you getting lost somewhere." "Evey, what are you talking about?" the concern in Flurry's voice was genuine, Evey kept her secrets close to her chest but had been known to spill them when drunk. She had only found out about the big secret after Evey had somehow managed to acquire some spirits to celebrate her fourteenth birthday and had engaged in a little bit of private drinking after her party had concluded. "I'm gonna be going away. Don't tell anypony, it's a big secret. Princess might try and stop me," she paused again as she tried to process her thoughts, "not sure which Princess, I'm gonna go with Celestia though cause she has a stick lodged so far up her-" thankfully Flurry didn't have to hear the rest of the sentence as Evey suddenly rushed over to a nearby bin and vomited inside. Flurry trotted up to her and patted her on the back to help her with the coughing fit she was struggling with. "Thanks, wa was I saying again?" "Something about going away, Evey. Listen, Evey, we all care about you, if you're in trouble or if you just want to get away from Equestria for a little bit you can count on us. Evey, I love you like a sis-" she caught herself before she could finish, realizing the awful mistake she was making. It had long been something of a sore point for Evey and Flurry had long ago learned to avoid the topic but tonight she had slipped up. Worse, Evey had noticed her slip up. "But I'm not am I. I'm not your sister, not really. I don't have... have a wings, and a horn and a... a thing the earth ponies have.... hooves, yeah hooves, I don't have hooves. I don't get to go around calling some pony like Velvet my gram. Cause I'm the silly little filly whose records nopony can ever seem to find. No parents, no gram parents, nothin, an in nine hundred and ninety somethin years I'll be dead and... and she won't," this last comment was punctuated with Evey shoving her with one hoof, a futile gesture considering their noticeable size difference but visually it was an act of aggression, and that only made things worse. "Hey! You leave her alone you no good tribalist!" Flurry winced at the squeaky slightly nasal voice as Evey turned to face her accuser. They had managed to go an entire day without incident but such an encounter had been bound to happen sooner or later, after all, the changelings had been the third largest culture amidst The Crystal Empire since their acceptance into Equestria. Standing before them was a chitinous black changeling wearing a blue scarf and a trilby alongside a chocolate brown pegasus that she gathered was its marefriend. Clothing, alongside chitin dye, was the preferred method the changelings used to express individuality and tell each other apart and while Flurry had nothing against them herself she had hoped they wouldn't have any run ins tonight. "I'm not a tribalist dumbass, she's a-" Evey paused briefly to check Flurry out, "-a unicorn. Don't got anything against unicorns." "I'm not talking about her," the changeling growled through gritted teeth. "Still not a tribalist though," Evey giggled as Flurry desperately tried steering her away from the couple. "Cause I don't hate any of the three tribes. Bugs though, they aint a tribe. So I can hate them. As. Much. As. I. Want," Evey paused between each word charging up her magic as she advanced on the Changeling. "Come on, Tarsus, she isn't worth it," the pegasus mare pleaded, sharing the same look of worry as Flurry. "In a minute," Tarsus gently pushed her aside to fix a glare on Evey. "You know ponies like you should disappear and never come back. Go screw the demon bitch you filthy tribalist. Oh wait, you already have," Evey's magic dissipated harmlessly from her horn as she gave up on any pretense of subtlety and launched herself at the changeling, tackling him to the ground and screaming a predatory roar that had no right to be coming from a mare her size. Hooves slammed against flesh and chitin as the pair brawled in the middle of the street, splashes of red and green beginning to stain the pair's faces. Flurry and the Pegasus tried to separate them but to no avail, Evey flailing wildly whenever either pony got too close to her while Tarsus used his own magic to try and counter any attempt at separating them by telekinesis. Shouts from down the street confirmed that a number of bar patrons had begun to notice the fight outside and were quickly converging on their position to watch the show. With little time before the fight managed to have enough witnesses to make for a news worthy story in tomorrow's paper Flurry took a deep breath, tried to clear her mind and cast her spell. With a barely audible pop and a flash of light Flurry and Evey disappeared, teleporting across the city and into the castle. She had been aiming for her bedroom but instead materialized out in the hallway, collapsing to the ground exhausted from casting an already difficult spell whilst under the influence of more alcohol than was probably safe to cast. To her left Evey rolled around on the floor yelling obscenities, but with her opponent gone and no suitable source for her rage remaining she quickly succumbed to the effects of the liquor and tumbled into a deep yet troubled sleep. Flurry stared at her friend with a mix of fear, concern and sympathy. When the guards arrived to check on the disturbance she would have them help her get Evey to bed in the guest suite before retiring to her own bedroom for the night to contemplate where everything had gone so wrong.