The Sun Never Sets

by Mr Fislewait

Flurry and Evey

Flurry Hearts Age 4

"Flurry, do you think you could come here for a moment? You have some guests," Sunburst called from the doorway. He was a very good pony, he was apparently something called a crystaller but Flurry Hearts wasn't really sure on what that meant. It just seemed like a big word for a babysitter.

"Coming, Sunburst," she hopped down from her seat at the table and trotted after the unicorn. Flurry often had guests but they were generally announced ahead of time, it was very rare for ponies to just turn up and visit her. Apparently lots of other ponies her age would make spur of the moment visits to their friends but with Flurry it was different, she was a princess and the palace guards weren't very keen on visitors turning up to see her out of the blue. As the two of them walked through the palace halls she thought of all the ponies it could be, certainly not one of her friends (they always told her ahead of time), maybe her grandparents, or perhaps Luna (she'd had a bad dream the other night, maybe Luna wanted to talk to her about it). Really there weren't very many ponies who it could be but judging from the smile on Sunburst's face it was somepony she should be happy to see (or that he should be happy to see, Starlight perhaps?).

"Auntie Twilight!" Flurry screamed as she turned the corner and saw the purple alicorn standing in the hall waving to her. "What are you doing here, Twilight?" Flurry asked as she hugged her auntie's leg. With her free foreleg Twilight rubbed her mane affectionately and smiled down at her.

"It's lovely to see you again, Flurry, you've gotten so big since I last saw you."

"Uh huh, I ate all my greens just like mommy told me to and I'm going to grow up big and strong and as tall as Celestia!" Flurry proudly puffed out her chest and fluffed up her wings putting on her best serious face, the one that always caused Twilight to giggle for some reason even though it was a very very serious face.

"That's very good to hear. Now then, Flurry, I have somepony very special with me today, she's going to be staying with you all for the next few months and she's a little shy around other ponies. I was hoping that the two of you might be good friends." Twilight took a slight step backwards and nudged forwards a tiny unicorn filly who had been hiding behind her legs. "Flurry, this is Eventide, but most of us call her Evey. She's a little younger than you and because her mother moves around Equestria a lot on...work, she doesn't have very many friends. Do you think you'd like to be friends with her while she's staying here?" Evey looked very scared, the little filly had very quickly tried to hide behind Twilight again but the older alicorn was having none of it and nudged her forwards once more.

"Hi there, Evey, my name's Flurry Hearts. Do you like drawing? I have some crayons in my room if you'd like to draw something, or I've got board games or we can play hide and seek!" She shook Evey's hoof and pulled her a little further forwards away from Twilight. "Wanna be friends, Evey?"

The little unicorn just stood there blinking, wobbling uncertainly on her hooves. Slowly though she shuffled forwards and to Flurry's side but her eyes quickly drifted away from the alicorn and to Starburst. "Who's he?" Evey whispered in a barely audible voice as she gazed seemingly in awe at the bearded unicorn.

"That's Starburst, he looks after me while my parents are busy, he's really nice. He can help us set up a game if you like, Evey," the little unicorn nodded in reply, still staring up at Starburst as though the crystaller was the single most important thing in the world.

"Uh huh," she managed to say as she slowly followed Flurry to her room.

------------------------------------------------

Age 6

"But why not!" Flurry winced as she heard the high pitched scream of Evey come through the wall. It was very unladylike to eavesdrop on another pony's conversation but Miss Rarity (the most ladylike pony she knew) did it so it surely couldn't be as awful as her mother had made it out to be. Still, there did seem to be something wrong about listening to Evey and her mom having an argument that was clearly meant to be kept between the two of them.

"Because, Evey, it's just a silly little crush and you'll forget about it soon enough anyway. Evey, the sooner you drop this nonsense the better." Flurry had only seen Evey's mom twice, both times she had been dressed up in a very heavy looking black cloak that made her look like a witch from out of one of her story books. Evey's mom was big, very big. Not as big as Celestia but she was one of the tallest ponies Flurry knew. She was also one of the scariest.

"But I love her, mom, and one day the two of us are going to get married!" Evey cried. Evey had a crush? That was news to Flurry, maybe she shouldn't be listening to this conversation after all, if Evey didn't want her to know about her crush then she didn't want to find out about it like this...

"No, Evey!" Miss Trailblazer bellowed. With a voice like that no wonder the guards were scared of her. In truth Evey's mom had never done anything to scare Flurry directly, but once when she was visiting to pick up her daughter Flurry had overheard some of the guards talking about her. She didn't catch all of the conversation but apparently Miss Trailblazer's job was to hunt other ponies, and apparently she was very good at it. When Flurry had asked little Evey about her mom's job she had been told that 'she travels a lot and sometimes has to go away on business without me', whenever she was away on business Evey would be left with either Twilight or Cadance. "This ends now, you can't marry Flurry, it's wrong!"

Miss Trailblazer put a startling emphasis onto the word wrong that sent shivers down Flurry's spine. Her own mother had taught her that love between two ponies was something very special and that it could happen between any two ponies, regardless of tribe or gender. She'd never heard love described as wrong before. As she mulled over the idea though another thought finally clicked into place. Evey had a crush on her?

"But why, momma?" from the sound of things Evey was crying now.

"I...I can't tell you right now," Miss Trailblazer's voice seemed to soften, becoming much more tender and loving. "Listen, Evey, when you're older I promise I'll tell you, okay?"

"Uh huh..." Evey said between sniffles. "Is this something to do with why I'm not supposed to call Mr Starburst daddy?"

"Yes, Evey, it's... it's complicated. When you're older though I promise that me, you and Twilight will have a sit down together and we'll explain everything to you. Now let's wipe those eyes and make ourselves presentable, just because she shouldn't be your special somepony doesn't mean I don't want you to be friends with the princess. It makes me very happy to see you getting along with somepony your own age."

"Okay, momma," Evey replied, her tears sounding more under control now.

"And if you're very good then I was thinking we might stop by Ponyville when I'm back from work, maybe visit all of mommy's old friends? How's that sound?"

"Could I get a muffin from big Pinkie?" Evey asked, her voice sounding much happier now.

"The biggest muffin she can bake!" on the other side of the room Flurry could hear the flapping of cloth and the ruffling of feathers, the two of them were probably hugging from what she could guess.

"Love you, mommy."

"Love you too, Evey."

When Evey stepped out of the room Flurry had managed to make herself look nice and inconspicuous, reading an upside down storybook while seated nice and casually on a chair. Definitely not looking like somepony who had only a minute ago been eavesdropping on a private conversation between her best friend and her mom.

"Hey, Flurry!" Evey cheerfully said as she sprinted over to her best friend. "Mom's just left, so what are we going to do today?" As happy as the little unicorn appeared to be Flurry couldn't help but notice that her eyes were still very red from her recent tears.

---------------------------------------------

Age 10

"Hey, Evey!" Flurry came bounding down the hall and wrapped her BFF in a great feathery hug. It had been ages since they had last seen each other. Evey's mom had apparently not had much work to do over the last few years and so the two had been on what seemed to have been one long vacation. Releasing Evey from the hug Flurry was very surprised to find that Evey wasn't returning her affection. She let go and looked at her friend to see- to see her cutie mark!

"Evey! You got your cutie mark! When did that happen?" a flame wreathed compass thingy now adorned both of Evey's flanks, an explorers cutie mark! That fit her friend to a tee! Evey had always been so inquisitive, exploring the palace and the Empire and wandering Equestria with her mum!

"What? Oh yeah that..." Flurry's eyes snapped away from her friend's new cutie mark and to her face. While she hadn't been crying recently it was pretty obvious that Evey was feeling upset, her ears were drooping, her eyes were heavy lidded and a great frown was plastered across her face.

"What's the matter, Evey?" Flurry asked with concern. Had something happened to her or her mom?

"I had a talk with mom and Twilight," Evey mumbled. "Mom didn't want to tell me but she'd promised Twilight that when I got my cutie mark the three of us would sit down and have a talk about some stuff."

"What sort of stuff?" Flurry had never seen her friend looking so depressed before. Upset or angry perhaps but not like this.

"Starburst's not my dad."

"Evey, we knew that ages ago."

"I know... But hearing it from them, I guess it finally killed the dream."

"Was that it?" Flurry asked, noticing that Evey was shifting nervously on her hooves. Clearly there had to be something else bothering her.

"There was some other stuff too. It's meant to be secret though," Evey nervously rubbed one of her forehooves across the length of her leg. "Hey, Flurry, you know that thing Aun- your Auntie Twilight calls your dad?"

"BBBFF?"

"Yeah that one. Do you think, do you think maybe we could have something like that between the two of us?" Eventide's eyes widened with a hopeful look as she stared at Flurry,

"Sure! I'd love a cool nickname like that between the two of us! What would we call each other though?"

"Maybe... maybe you could be BSBFF and I could be LSBFF?" Evey asked then flinched backwards as though scared of something disastrous happening when she said the words. Not entirely certain what the problem was Flurry just stared at her with a touch of confusion.

"You mean like, Big Sister Best Friend Forever?" Evey nodded in confirmation. "But, Evey, we aren't sisters."

"We could be though!" the little unicorn yelled with gusto before quickly shrinking back in on herself and lowering her voice. "I mean...I was always staying here when I was little, and we've always gotten on so well with each other...and I don't have any proper family...so I was thinking maybe we could...pretend?" Evey scrunched up her face, leaving one eye open to watch Flurry's reaction.

"Sure! I've always wanted a little sister or brother, I mean the two of us are practically family. So if you want me to be your BSBFF then that's fine by me. Sound good to you, LSBFF?" almost instantly Evey's expression brightened and she was back to her normal cheerful self.

"Sounds perfect, BSBFF!"

---------------------------------------

Age 14

"I'm sorry, Evey, but I just don't get the problem," Flurry said as her LSBFF paced back and forth in front of her.

"It's just, Twilight's so.... arrrghh!" Evey threw her hooves up in the air and slumped down onto the floor.

"It's only for another year though right? Your mom said she should be back in time for your fifteenth birthday," Flurry had never been entirely certain on the details, just that Evey's mom had disappeared almost two years ago and had left her in the care of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

"I don't think I can handle another year of this! I mean it was great at first, Twilight loved the fact that I was taking an interest in magic, she couldn't have been more thrilled when I asked to look over Starswirl's notes, but now!" Evey cleared her voice and put on a mocking impression of Twilight. "Practice your magic Evey, lift the book Evey, don't feel discouraged Evey, you can't expect to get it right first time Evey, maybe we should try something related to exploration Evey, don't worry teleportation is a very difficult spell Evey."

Flurry giggled a little at the impression. "Well just tell her that you've lost interest in learning magic then. I'm sure she'll understand."

"No. She. Won't. This is Twilight Sparkle!" Eventide groaned in exasperation. "This is the same mare who overheard me telling Rainbow Dash that I enjoyed the Daring Do book she lent me and then went out and bought the entire collection for me! There were copies in the library, there were her own personal copies, there was Dash's copies, but no! She gets it into her head that I like the books and decides I need copies of my own!"

"But, Evey, you love Daring Do!" Flurry gave a little chuckle, Evey could get so worked up about the silliest little things.

"And!? Twilight didn't know that then, she just assumed that because I expressed the slightest interest in something that I'd fallen madly in love with it! She's just so..."

"Kind? Generous?"

"Overbearing," Evey finished, shooting a glare at her friend. "Okay maybe I could tell her that the whole magic thing isn't for me, but do you really think she'd listen?"

"Give her a chance and I think you'd be pleasantly surprised, Evey." Flurry idly flicked through her date diary and stopped on next week. "So your birthday is coming up then, Evey, what sort of party is Twilight throwing you, something casual or will we be needing dresses?"

"Casual. Just show up at her castle, it's going to be a quiet little get together between friends. Mostly her friends but..." Evey trailed off and a deep red blush filled her cheeks. Flurry dropped everything she was doing and stared at her friend wide mouthed.

"No way! You have a special somepony!?" Evey's blush deepened. "Anypony I know?"

"Maybe," Evey giggled nervously. "He's not technically my special somepony yet... but I'm going to ask him at the party if he might be interested in going on a date with me." Evey was knocked off of her hooves as Flurry embraced her in a hug and spun her round the room.

"My little Evey's all grown up! So come on then, spill the beans! Who is it?"

"At the party, Flurry! I'll tell you at the party!" Evey gasped, crushed in the alicorn's hug.

------------------------------------------

Age 26

Flurry was sitting in her study drinking tea and going over some of the books that Twilight had lent her. Most of them were ancient old tomes hardly relevant to the modern day princess but some of them were quite interesting. A few had some very interesting ideas on the role of a princess in Equestrian society, a couple were amusing for how outdated they were and a small number were 'entertaining' for an entirely different reason. Evidently Twilight had not checked every single book about princesses that she had sent Flurry and as a result The Princess and her Seneschal, Noble Lance and the Five Princesses of Saddle Arabia and Romancing the Princess of the Stars had all managed to be included in the delivery. The third of the books had in fact only been written in the last decade and Flurry found the protagonists love interest (an adventurous purple princess with a lust for learning) to be hilariously familiar. She had quickly flicked past the scenes of passion in the book as she really had no interest in imagining her aunt ever doing that but the rest of the book was quite entertaining.

She was so engrossed in her current book (a thorough second reading of Noble Lance and the Five Princesses of Saddle Arabia, just in case she had missed something important the first time) that she almost fell out of her seat when a letter magically materialized on the desk in front of her, the scroll unfurling instantly and proudly displaying Starlight's signature at the bottom.

Dear Princess Flurry Heart

Please meet up with me in Canterlot as soon as possible.
Eventide might be in trouble. I was worried about some things I saw at her house when I recently visited her. I did a little research and then decided to check up on her again but now I can't find her. Everything important has been moved out of her house but she hasn't left any note indicating where she might have gone to. If she isn't with you then I'm worried that she might have run away or alternatively that she might have done something rash. Please get here as quick as possible.

Starlight Glimmer

Flurry's eyes flicked back and forth over the scroll making sure she hadn't missed anything. The letter seemed to be hastily written and lacking in any significant detail. One thing that was clear from it though was that Evey was in trouble, and neither of the two ponies who knew her best had any idea where she was.

Author's Note:

General query to the readers.
Do you think the story would be better if it had time/location indicators at the start of chapters/during major scene changes? For the most part I've been hoping that the narrative makes it pretty obvious which timezone the events are occurring in but if you guys feel that isn't the case then I might go back and edit in some dates at the start of chapters.

Comments

[Chaosreverent]

WooHoo, the two plot lines finaley sinc up.

[badninja]

So who was Ms. Trailblazer? Somehow I do not think Twilight would have been so careless as not to give Evie the name her mother intended. Could we be dealing with two separate universes here and the two Evie's are somehow swapping places?