The Sun Never Sets

by Mr Fislewait

Friends In High Places

In the years since the return of The Crystal Empire and the final defeat of Sombra there had been something of a cultural renaissance in the north. The crystal ponies seemed to have taken to their new found freedom with gusto and had quickly gone about making up for a thousand years of lost time. The result was that modern fashions and technology from around Equestria had come to be blended with the traditions and styles from the last millennium that were still fresh in the minds of the populace creating a fresh style entirely unique to the region. Unsurprisingly beautiful crystal patterns and motifs featured heavily in every aspect of the trend, sometimes subtly but always eye catching. Eventide loved the way the city skyline blended seamlessly between old and new, castles and skyscrapers, historic statues rubbing shoulders with modern art pieces. Were it not for the Empire's peculiar population demographic Eventide could have certainly imagined herself moving to live here in a more permanent basis. The city felt so much more alive it's thriving nightlife blossoming where Canterlot's had long ago seemed to have become stagnant and predictable. Where Canterlot and its surrounding environs were well mapped The Empire sat with the great northern wastelands and mountains upon its doorstep, a veritable treasure trove for an explorer like herself. She had joined two expeditions and lead one into the far north and in all three cases they had returned with new discoveries from the ruins of lost cultures to previously undocumented natural phenomena. And so it was great regret that Eventide sat in her jail cell holding a bag of ice to a black eye instead of meeting with Flurry to catch up with one another and maybe hit a few bars as had been her original plan.

To the credit of The Crystal Empire this was without a doubt the single most comfy jail cell she had ever been in. It had a bed (with actual mattress), bookcase packed with reading material, a bathroom that was not exposed her to the scrutiny of every passing guard and a table with two chairs (two!). Either the local constabulary had a really lenient sense of punishment for offenders or this particular cell was reserved for diplomatic prisoners that they couldn't risk offending. Probably the latter. At present she was lying down on the bed awaiting either, punishment or interrogation for her actions on the train. To Flittering's credit she was a lot stronger than she looked and had a pretty mean right hook. She hadn't quite expected her to recover so quickly and was caught off guard when the pegasus dived onto her and delivered her a black eye. She definitely hadn't been expecting the conductor (an aging but surprisingly sprightly earth pony stallion) to respond so quickly a tackle her to the ground in an attempt to break up the fight. That had all but ended the brawl as whilst Eventide was more than happy to buck the unpleasant little pegasus she couldn't really bring herself to take out her anger on an aging stallion who was just doing his job. The remainder of the journey had been spent under guard, watched by the disapproving gaze of the stallion and as soon as the train pulled into the station she had been handed off to the local guard alongside a full report of the incident on the train.

She guessed she had been lying in the cell for about twenty minutes before she heard the sound of somepony approaching her cell. Turning laconically to face the door it was with immense surprise that Eventide realized her visitor was not in fact a guardpony. Instead of the anticipated guard she found a bright pink alicorn with a heart cutie mark and Eventide's saddlebags on her back stepping through the door of the cell and politely seating herself at the table.

"Hello, Eventide, would you like to take a seat so we can talk about what happened on the train," Cadance sighed motioning at the other chair.

"Hi, Princess." Eventide took the seat but refused to make eye contact with her visitor, instead staring guiltily at the table, her shoulders hunched and her eyes pressed down against her head. "I think... I think I might have messed up, Cadance."

"That is one way to put it I suppose," she replied with barely concealed anxiety. "I've looked over the report and I know why you did it, Eventide, but you must understand that this sort of behavior isn't acceptable. Now this time you got off lucky, nopony was seriously harmed and ultimately Miss Breeze handled the situation just as poorly. The train line isn't pressing any charges and Miss Breeze was also willing to drop the matter in exchange for a complimentary tour of the castle for herself and her friend."

"So, am I free to go then?" Eventide asked skeptically.

"After you answer a few questions for me? Yes, you will be free to go." Eventide let out a distressed groan, this was not how she had been anticipating the start of her weekend break to go. "First of all have you been keeping to your appointments with Starlight?" so that was how the questions were going to go.

"Yes, but I'm starting to wonder if their meant to be helping me or helping her," as much as she hated to admit it the therapy sessions had been helping her, she had objected to them fervently when they had been practically forced upon her but in the years since she had come to appreciate that perhaps they had been of some help. "I've been making the appointments every month just like I promised you all, this months is next week. The last four sessions though Miss Starlight has had to excuse herself from the room," those were awkward memories to say the least. "She comes back after about five minutes, ten at the most, with red eyes and a clean face. Pretty sure she was crying in the bathroom."

"Have you told Twilight about this?" Cadance asked with concern. "I can't say I know her very well but she never seemed the type to ask for help when she needed it."

"I'm not speaking with Twilight at the moment. Things are a little awkward between the two of us at the moment and I could really do with some personal space so I may have been avoiding her a little bit."

"Oh."

"Perhaps you could let her know about Starlight for me though? She seems like she could do with a shoulder to cry on."

"Of course," Cadance said her mood noticeably brightening. "You know it's when you say things like that show just how good a mare you really are. The fact that you care even though the two of you aren't really friends is a good thing."

"Because it shows my heart isn't all black and shriveled up like half of Equestria seems to think it is? 'Cause it means I'm a little less likely to do the whole 'crazy vengeful unicorn gone made with power shtick' that was all the rage back in your day? News flash, Cadance, magic isn't my special talent so I don't think I really fit into that template!" She spat the words with such venom that Cadance flinched backwards in shock, Eventide's hooves flew to her mouth as though it would take back what she had said but it was too late. "I'm sorry, Cadance, I didn't mean that. I didn't mean it to come out so... angry," she had meant it all. Perhaps she hadn't intended for it to come across quite so accusingly but every word had been spoken from the heart.

"It's fine, Eventide. You have a lot to be mad about and it's better that you try and get those feelings off of your chest with friends and family then keeping it all bottled up inside you until you take it out on some poor unsuspecting pony that doesn't deserve it," she may have forgiven her for what had been said but Eventide could still feel the hurt in Cadance's voice. "This does bring me to my second question though," she said levitating a small bottle of pills out of the saddlebags. "Have you been taking your medicine?"

"Yeah. That's why I brought the bottle with me for the weekend."

"And you remember to take it everyday?"

"Yes"

"Right number of pills?"

"One every morning with a glass of water." The pair sat in silence for a little while as Cadance seemed to scrutinize the younger mare.

"Eventide. I checked the bottle. The prescription needs renewing in five days."

"Then in five days I'll go renew it," Eventide said through gritted teeth.

"There's still about a dozen pills in there Eventide. There should only be five tops," once more she found herself staring at the table to escape Cadance's gaze. "I'm not mad at you for not taking your pills Eventide, I'm worried. I'm not the only one either, I can't force you to speak to Twilight but if you keep shutting us all out of your life there's only so much we can do to help you get through this."

"Is that everything?" Eventide whispered, taking the pills in her magic and returning them to her saddlebags.

"Pretty much. I'm here for you if you want to talk anything over though, remember that."

"Will do," she took the saddlebags off of Cadance and placed them back onto her back. "I'll try talking over some of it with Flurry tonight if that's okay mam," Flurry was always good at listening to her problems. "Does she know about what happened on the train?"

"Not yet," Cadance shook her head. "She doesn't know you've arrived yet, she's still at the castle going over her princess homework from Twilight."

"Princess homework?" Eventide asked in disbelief prompting a giggle from the alicorn. "I don't suppose we could keep the business about the train private could we?"

"I'm not going to lie to my daughter," Cadance stated curtly, "but I suppose if it doesn't come up in conversation at all then I won't mention it. You should really tell her though, it won't change anything between the two of you."

"Thanks Cadance," she said forcing a smile as she followed the alicorn out of the cell.

"Oh, there was on last thing actually Eventide," from the change in her tone it was something serious. "You aren't in any money trouble are you? You haven't had to take out any loans or do anything questionable to pay the bills have you?" The question threw her, where was this all coming from?

"I'm not 'hooking' if that's what your implying Cadance, I can make ends meet," she shot the alicorn a glare at her insinuation.

"I didn't mean- ugh!" she face-hooved in a manner not normally expected of the royalty. "Look, you didn't hear this from me but the ERS have taken an interest in your finances. Somepony has got it into their heads that your up to no good and apparently there are some irregularities in your personal accounts. If you've got yourself involved in something shady tell us, we can help you. I know we might not have all been there for you in the past but we're here now," Eventide considered the words carefully before she answered.

"I'm not involved in anything illegal, Cadance. I know what the problem is but you don't have to worry, everything checks out. A few of my old expeditions brought in some real forgotten treasures. There's some real moral grey areas though with who some of them belong to but a few items have cleared recently and under some ancient bylaw I get a cut off the profit. Doesn't exactly fit into the normal tax forms though so I may have filled in some pretty hefty mistakes on my taxes. It's all fine though, I caught it early and me and the ERS are working it all out so it doesn't happen again."

"Well if you have any troubles don't hesitate to call me." She didn't like lying to Cadance like that but in this case the truth was not an option. In her defense though she wasn't technically doing anything illegal. She'd made certain to check and double check the law before she began her little venture and confirm without doubt that what she had been doing was presently deemed legal by omission. Nopony had ever even tried what she was up to, let alone made laws on the topic.