//------------------------------// // Cut to the Heart of the Matter // Story: The Sun Never Sets // by Mr Fislewait //------------------------------// "So you're the daughter of the Sunset who lived in Ponyville, but you grew up on the road under the care of a pegasus and it was on the road that you met the Sunset everypony knows..." "So you speculate," Eventide eyed up the reporter, it was clear that Tin Foil didn't know the whole story but he seemed to have come nearer to the truth than most other ponies. "Still, it would hardly make headlines would it? 'Eventide Trailblazer's obsession born from her mother sharing a name with Sunset'. Not exactly the most thrilling of articles." "Perhaps, but I've also been considering some of her motivations," Eventide nodded in interest, most of the papers put little thought to Sunset's motivations, 'evil for the sake of evil' or 'establishing herself as sole power in Equestria' were the two popular explanations. "Now then, Sunset's attacks on Discord and Princess Luna make a certain kind of sense. Either of them could have been a threat to her and trying to remove them quickly would make sense regardless of her motivation. No, the ones I'm more interested in are Fluttershy and her actions in the Crystal Empire." "Fluttershy was the weak link, she pretty much lived alone and she was never a fighter. Everypony agrees that Sunset went after her because she was the easiest of the former Element Bearers to defeat. With her out of the way she'd be safe from Twilight's rainbow power magic nonsense," Eventide muttered reeling off the common story that had been repeated again and again over the past five years. "Perhaps, I've also heard ponies call it an efficiency thing. Attack Fluttershy to lure out Discord, two birds with one stone," judging from the off hoof manner he was speaking Eventide judged that Tin didn't believe either of those explanations. "I briefly considered that it was some jealous fit of rage thing going on, that Fluttershy was the pegasus who raised you... but that seemed a dead end. So instead I looked at things from a slightly different point of view." Tin Foil pulled a letter out of his bag and scanned the contents nodding to himself. "While trying to find out a little more out about this address I got into contact with the mailmare who would normally do the local post run. The... unpleasantness left her a little traumatized, learning that one of her regular delivery addresses was home to," his eyes darted down to the letter, "to 'one of the worst monsters in Equestria', left something of an impression on her and she hasn't returned to work since. She's quite terrified that every seemingly normal house could be home to a killer." "Is there a point to this?" Eventide sighed as Tin Foil began to trail off. "Yes well, I interviewed the poor mare and she had a few little stories about her visits here. She was very struck by how normal the house seemed and how polite the resident was to her. With the exception of Sunset being 'a little tall and constantly dressed in dark cloaks' she was apparently otherwise exceedingly normal whenever the two of them met. One thing that did stick in her mind though was that the day it all kicked off Sunset had received a letter with a return address in Ponyville." "Is that so," that was news to Eventide, she'd never heard this part of the story before. "It is. Now I collected some hoof writing samples of a few mares I suspected might have been writing to Sunset and presented them to this mailmare, she pointed Fluttershy's out instantly. Quite curious don't you think? Not only did Fluttershy apparently know Sunset by name, but she knew her address and was apparently involved in some manner of correspondence with her. I'm guessing a little here but I'd imagine that whatever the contents of that letter were was what made Sunset attack her. Blackmail or threats are out of the question, this is Fluttershy we're talking about, but I wouldn't put it past her to have potentially been encouraging a reconciliation between Sunset and Celestia. Fluttershy might have had good intentions but if Sunset felt Fluttershy might ruin her cover..." Tin trailed off a little and eyed Eventide up, looking for her face to betray some hint of emotion. "I'm not going to lie, I'm curious about what Fluttershy would want with Sunset," Eventide had one idea but she had told Fluttershy that in confidence, would she really have shared it with Sunset? "But I can safely say that whatever it was she wanted to talk to her about, it isn't what you are thinking. Sunset and Celestia got through the whole reconciliation for their differences thing a long time ago," they might have had another falling out since then but Tin didn't need to know that. "Really? If so that changes everything. Why do any of it then if she had no intention of usurping the throne?" "Maybe she thought she knew what was best for Equestria better than Celestia did," when it came down to it that really was the cause of the unpleasantness. A lone mare trying to save Equestria from disaster, the best of intentions with...some rather poor application. "I assume your little book has some context to back that claim up?" Eventide nodded. "Fine then, that does still leave the question of what Sunset was doing in the Crystal Empire though. Judging from her other actions a lot of ponies assumed she was there to attack Cadance and Shining Armor but evidence suggests she didn't even attempt to find them. She turned up, refused to cooperate with the guards and forced her way through the palace. Then she left." "Your theory, Mr Foil?" Eventide sighed in exasperation. "She was looking for something, she found it and left," he answered. "Considering what she went on to do I believe it must have been some crystal pony relic, something similar to the crystal heart. A strong source of empathy magic," Eventide nodded along with him. "That would make a lot of sense. You're wrong again, but it would make sense." "Feel free to correct me, Miss Trailblazer, I'm here to research my story and any contributions that you might make would be appreciated." Eventide's eyes panned to the stairs, it would probably be the simplest way of getting him out of her hair. "Fine, Tin Foil. I have a copy of my book upstairs, might take me a little while to find it but if you're happy to wait around for about ten minutes I should be able to dig it out, a copy of my own notes as well." "That would be immensely appreciated," Tin beamed. "I'll be right back." ------------------------------------------------ As Eventide ascended the stairs to the first floor Tin Foil's eyes drifted to a second staircase right next to it. These stairs were hidden behind a sturdy looking door with several locks that at present was hanging wide open. The stairs descended deeper into the house into what Tin assumed to be the basement... no the wine cellar. One thing his research had turned up about Sunset's address was that it had originally belonged to a vintner who had fitted it with quite a large and robust cellar. Considering the fact that the ground floor hadn't collapsed during the fire the cellar had presumably survived intact. While he would be gaining more than he had ever hoped for from Eventide's personal account on the life of Sunset Shimmer what sort of journalist would he be if he didn't take this chance? Speculation would suggest that this was the very cellar in which Sunset had planned her attack, who knew what Eventide might have done with it. Perhaps she had set up some crude shrine to commemorate the object of her obsession? Or perhaps... Quiet as a mouse Tin crept down the stairs, wincing whenever one of the steps creaked or groaned. It was dark in the cellar but he had come prepared with a small magical flashlight that a friend had constructed for him. As he reached the bottom of the stairs he cast the beam of light about the room, pausing now and again whenever something caught his eye. There was no casks or bottles of wine, the vintner's furnishings had long ago been removed. By the stairs was a small end table with a few pieces of jewellery laid out on top of it along with lumps of chalk and small gems. Stretching out across most of the room were tall white shapes, sheets that were covering tall yet thin objects. Each was uniform in shape and size and covered in a dust sheet with a piece of paper pinned to the front. Squinting at them from a distance it looked as though the sheets each had a number written upon them. #4 #12 #21 #6... those were just the closest ones that he could see. Whatever Eventide was keeping down here she had a lot of them. As Tin's flashlight swept across the room he found himself briefly blinded by the light reflecting back into his face. Rubbing his eyes he focused more carefully on the reflective surface and blinked in surprise. Towards the center of the room, away from the collection of stored objects were a trio of full body mirrors. Considering the size and shape of them it was quite likely that similar mirrors were hidden beneath the sheets. The three uncovered ones were very strange though. The first one was more ornate than the other two, it had a thick purple frame encrusted with amethysts and with delicate ornamentation around the edges. The other two by contrast were much simpler in their designs. The mirrored surface was much the same as on the more ornate mirror, even going down to the size and shape, but the frames were much simpler and more pragmatic. Stranger still was their placement. While the ornate mirror and one of the simpler ones had been set up together the third and final mirror had been placed with a distance between it and the others. It stood at the center of a large collection of chalk markings on the floor, circular patterns and runic symbols surrounding it, the mirror sitting dead center of the pattern. "What have you been doing down here, Eventide..." Tin muttered to himself. "You shouldn't be down here." Tin almost leaped out of his skin as Eventide's voice came to him. Spinning around to face the entrance he could see her standing at the top of the stairs, a book tucked beneath one of her legs and a large kitchen knife levitating in her magic. "Stay here, I'll be down shortly. Was that too hard to understand, Tin Foil? If that even is your real name!?" bathed in the flickering light of the torch Tin could just about make out a look of anger and malice on Eventide's face, the knife flicking back and forth in front of her as she swung it about in her magic. "Now, Eventide, let's not do anything hasty..." he quickly looked about the room for another exit but it seemed the only means of escape would be to go directly through Eventide and for the time being she wasn't moving. "Be honest with me, Tin!" Eventide tossed the book to the bottom of the stairs where it landed with a dull thud. "Were you ever interested in my story or was that just an excuse to get in here so you could have a nose around? Who are you really working for?" "Everything I said was the truth, Eventide," he said, beads of sweat beginning to trickle down his face. "I really am writing the story, I just... I got curious about what you might be keeping down here. If you let me leave now I promise this will remain a secret between the two of us, I won't press charges." To his dismay she just laughed at his suggestion. "I bet you don't even know what all of this is do you? Bet you don't even appreciate how hard it was for me to set all this up!" Eventide kept twirling the knife as she talked, if Tin timed things right perhaps he could catch her off guard... "you really aren't with the ERS or with the changelings or the Princesses are you? You just came stumbling in here hoping for the scoop of the century and stumbled upon something so far above your miserable little world of experience that you wouldn't even know what to do with it. You're just so-" Sensing his opening Tin hefted his bag up in one hoof and turned sharply on the spot. Bucking it with all of his might he sent it flying through the air and straight into Eventide's face. Out of the corner of his eye he caught a confused look of surprise on her face before it smacked into her with an audible crunching noise. As she tumbled backwards Tin could hear the sound of hooves scrambling on wood. A series of sickening thuds marked Eventide's descent down the staircase, with her balance lost she came tumbling down them and with a final cracking sound came to rest at the bottom of the stairs...motionless. Originally the plan had been to throw her off of her guard and then sprint past her on the staircase but as she began to fall Tin had wound up staring at her tumbling form with morbid curiosity. There had been a sudden flurry of sound and movement but now...silence. is bag had ultimately wound up beneath Eventide's body, the unicorn had brought it with her as she fell down the stairs. Tin approached her cautiously, half expecting it to be a trap but the unicorns showed no signs of movement. He was soon standing directly over her body and still she didn't move. Lifting her in both hooves he flipped her sideways to extract his bag from beneath her and- Blood. There was a lot of blood. He tugged his back out and then put Eventide back down and got a better look at her. Her neck was thankfully not twisted or broken but her jaw appeared to have been dislocated in the tumble and a thin stream of blood was trickling down her face from her scalp. The source of the pooling blood though was quite obvious, protruding from Eventide's chest was the handle of the knife and a few millimeters of the blade, the rest embedded in her body. He dropped the body and jumped backwards away from it retching. He hadn't meant for this to happen, it was an accident. If she hadn't been holding the knife then she would have a little tumble down the stairs and maybe ended up needing to go to a hospital for some bumps and bruises, it wasn't his fault that she was... she was dead. The damage had been done though nothing could change that now a more practical part of his mind whispered to him. Eventide didn't have any family and from what he gathered nopony even knew she owned this address. He could clean himself up, leave and nopony would be any the wiser about what had transpired here. The same practical part of his mind reminded him to grab the book and check beneath the dust sheets. With Eventide dead there was no longer any rush after all. Turning away from the body and trying to put recent events out of his mind Tin trotted up to one of the sheets, #31 inscribed on the sheet of paper attached to it. With a single pull at the sheet he exposed the object beneath. Another mirror, identical to the two in the simpler frames that were sitting across the room. Why did Eventide have so many of these? What use did one pony have for so many mirrors? As the question gnawed at the back of his mind he spotted a detail of the room he had missed earlier. In one corner of the room was a stack of murky glass panes sat right next to a stack of empty frames. Perhaps he should readdress his early statement, why would Eventide make so many mirrors? A dull thudding sound from the entrance drew Tin's attention back to the body...or at least where the body had been. The knife lay discarded in a pool of blood where he had left her and a smeared bloody trail led from the pool over to the table with the chalk and jewelry but there was no sign of Eventide's corpse. "Eventide?" Tin whispered to the room. Behind him there was a rattling sound, he spun about just in time to see the mirror he had been examining lift into the air in a dark red magical aura and come hurtling towards him. He had just enough time to brace himself before the mirror impacted with his head and sent him spiraling into a heavy state of unconsciousness.