The Sun Never Sets

by Mr Fislewait

Bonus: Lyra

Author's Note:

Following on from the last chapter this one was meant to cover Lyra's relationship with Eventide in a little more depth while also showing Eventide's feelings during Sunset's absence from Equestria (prior to her banishment). In the end I replaced this little episode with a similar one featuring Flurry. This big reason for this was that Flurry's relationship with Evey was a lot more important to the overall plot than Lyra was, so Lyra was pretty much cut down to her single chapter appearance and I left it at that.

13 Years After Evey's Birth

Lyra ran her forehoof back and forth across her lyre producing haphazard sounds that barely qualified as music. With the rain hammering down outside she hadn't been able to go to the park to practice and she didn't particularly feel like playing inside. So instead she simply sat on the sofa and tried to pass the time till Bon Bon got home from Canterlot. Not that she would ever admit to her marefriend just how bored she had been all day, Bon Bon had even suggested that she accompany her on the trip to Canterlot, but Lyra had declined the offer, she would not give Bon Bon the satisfaction of knowing she had been right. It came as something of a surprise to Lyra then, when there was a furious knocking at the front door several hours before Bon Bon was due to return.

"I'll get it!" Lyra called out instinctively, even though she was entirely alone in the house. She walked to the door and pulled it open, revealing a miserable looking Eventide, drenched to the bone and eyes red. "Little Evey! What are you doing out in the rain?" Lyra asked, noting that the filly seemed to have been crying.

"C-c-can I come in?" she asked, in short shuddering breaths, barely suppressing a fresh round of tears.

"Sure," Lyra replied, stepping out of the doorway and helping the other unicorn inside. "Take a seat," she said, pointing to the sofa in the living room as she fetched a towel to dry off her young friend. "Everything alright with you? You kinda looked like doodoo out there," she asked as Evey began to get settled.

"Shit, you can say 'shit' around me, Lyra, I'm not a little filly any more," Evey mumbled as she began toweling herself down.

"I can, but that doesn't mean I should. Now come on you little grouch, tell auntie Lyra what the problem is."

"I'm not little!" Evey snapped, uncharacteristically. "I'm not, I'm just...just...still growing, that's all..." the small unicorn began to sniffle a little, nearly breaking out into a fresh batch of tears.

"Ooooookay, so I'm guessing this has something to do with your height then huh? Was Pound Cake teasing you?" It was pretty much accepted at this point by a few of the townsponies that Pound Cake had developed a crush on the unicorn, even if Evey was completely oblivious to it. There was about two years between the two of them but Lyra had to admit they would make a cute couple, assuming of course that Pound Cake realized that his 'playful teasing' was having entirely the opposite effect to what he was intending. The lanky pegasus looked like Big mac when he stood next to Little Evey, and she was a little twitchy about the matter.

"No, nothing to do with him," Evey grumbled. "It's all Twilight."

"Hooooookay, wow, well that is a can of worms I really shouldn't be touching with a ten foot pole," Lyra said, awkwardly rubbing the back of her head with one hoof, "but if you want to vent, I guess I'm here for you," Lyra had foalsat Evey a few times over the years and had quickly come to realize that 'aunt' Twilight was a touchy subject. Evey had her good days and her bad days, sometimes Twi was 'the bestest Auntie in the whole world' and other times she 'wasn't Evey's mom'. The kid was a real momma's filly and it was abundantly clear that nopony was ever going to be able to stand in for Sunset in that role. "How about I get us some tea, huh?" Lyra asked when it became clear that Evey was in no mood to speak.

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

With the tea prepared and Evey finally dried off, the two of them sat down at the kitchen table to drink. Lyra began dipping a biscuit into her drink using her magic while Evey picked up her cup with her hoof and slowly sipped at it.

"Okay, Evey, I know I'm not one to talk, but seriously? Pretty sure your mom taught you unicorn table manners," generally speaking a polite unciorn was expected to handle their cutlery in their magic, a fact that she was pretty sure Evey was aware of. Apparently though this was entirely the wrong thing to say as Evey instantly burst into a fresh wave of tears. "But I'm just silly old crazy Lyra, so what do I know?" she chuckled nervously, trying to alleviate some of the new tension that had been introduced into the conversation.

"Y-y-you're not c-c-crazy," Evey sobbed, "and it's n-n-n-not your fault that I'm a p-p-p-pathetic little failure of a unicorn," Lyra flinched at Evey's self-depreciating words, evidently today was one of her bad days.

"Trust me, I'm crazy. I came to terms with that aaaaages ago, but you Evey? You're not-" she really didn't want to repeat it, "any of those things you just said about yourself."

"One," she mumbled.

"Huh?"

"That's how many books I can levitate at one time. One. I can't hold a knife and fork at the same time and still be able to use them properly, it takes all my concentration to write with my magic, I can't even manage to get the light spell to work properly... I'm a failure, Lyra, I can't do anything right and it's all my own fault," she buried her head between her hooves and continued to cry. "Mom and dad were both powerful unicorns, I'm being taught by one of the most powerful magic users in Equestria... so yeah, it's pretty much all my fault that I can't do anything right..."

"Okay, so maybe you aren't good at magic, there's plenty of others things you're great at Evey!"

"Name one."

"Well... you're fast and agile!" Lyra could still remember the time that Evey had climbed up the outside of the town hall and managed to get onto the roof, an event that the two of them had both agreed had never ever happened if anypony responsible was to ask them about it. Lyra wasn't sure who she was afraid of being chewed out by the most; Sunset, Twilight or Bon Bon.

"Yeah, stick a pair of wings on me and I'd be a below average pegasus," Evey grumbled.

"Or... how about the fact that you're tough and strong?" as evidenced by how well she had handled the little jogs they'd been on through the tamer parts of the Everfree (or the Whitetail Woods if anypony else was to ask them).

"Yay... so I'm a sub par Earth Pony with a lump on her head, whoop de freaking doo."

"Well...what about your cutie mark?" Lyra asked, trying to hide the desperation in her voice.

"Exploration? Yeah, I'm really great at that. I've explored every corner of Twilight's castle. Who knows? Perhaps tomorrow I might discover the fabled 'Sugarcube Corner' spoken of in legends. Yeah, there's soooo many interesting things to be discovered in Ponyville," she snorted.

"Look, if things are rough at the castle you can always spend a few nights crashing here, I wouldn't mind and Bon Bon-"

"Why do you call her that?" Evey cut in, genuine surprise on her face. "Whenever my mom talks about her she calls her Sweetie Drops, but you always call her Bon Bon. Why is that?"

"You...you uhhhhh... you don't know?" Lyra nervously asked. She'd always assumed that Evey was well aware of the nature of her mother's business. After all, if she didn't know what Sunset did for work then what did she think was taking her mother away from Equestria for three whole years without any opportunity to send or receive mail? A lump suddenly formed in her throat as she considered the possibility.

"They do 'business' together," Evey grumbled, "business for Princess Celestia."

"But you have no idea what?" Lyra asked, wincing at the line the conversation had taken.

"Diplomacy or something I guess?" she muttered, finishing off the last of her tea.

"Okay... right...look, Evey, what I'm about to tell you doesn't leave this room, okay?" Evey frowned at her, but quickly nodded. "Bon- Sweetie Drops and your mom are both monster hunters, Evey. They keep Equestria safe from all the scary monsters that live in places like the Everfree."

"What...you mean like boogieponies?"

"Sure," not a word Lyra had ever heard herself, but every parent had their own little stories to scare naughty foals into line, her own parents had tried to scare her with stories of humans that would snatch a naughty pony away in the night. "The point is, Evey, that whatever your mom is doing is probably really important. She's out there keeping Equestria safe for little ponies like you."

"I miss her," Evey whimpered.

"I bet you do, kiddo, I bet you do. Now how about auntie Lyra reads you one of her awesome stories about creatures that definitely do exist and aren't made up, then we can see about getting you back home. Sound good?"

"Sounds great," Evey wiped the tears from her eyes and for the first time since she had turned up she was wearing a smile on her face.

Comments

[Granit]

Eventide Shimmer: Bargain Basement Alicorn!

[badninja]

Poor Lyra she doesn't know that humans are real and Evey knows several. I kinda wish this conversation had happened, but I'd does show Evey struggling to fit in typical Equestrian standards and I do see why it was cut.