The Sun Never Sets

by Mr Fislewait

Family Matters

It was almost midday by the time Flurry checked in on Evey. She had been expecting her to need a bit of a lie in to get over her inevitable hangover from the previous night but now she was beginning to get concerned. Growing up Evey had always been an early riser, 'any time spent in bed could be spent exploring' was a favorite phrase the filly would use when trying to get her friend out of bed. Delicately applying her magic to the handle Flurry opened the door to the guest suite as quietly as she could, Evey may have been an early riser but with her temper Flurry was not keen on the thought of finding out how she would react to being forced awake.

Stepping into the room she breathed a sigh of relief. Though the curtains were tightly drawn and the room dark she could easily make out the form of Evey curled up on her bed. Judging from her well groomed mane and the fact that she was now on top of her covers instead of tucked into them as she had been left last night, it seemed safe to assume that she had woken earlier in the morning and since then returned to her bed for a nap. While she would still be in for an awkward discussion with Evey about the events of last night it was still preferable to the dreaded alternative, that once again she would have eloped from the castle without leaving any note or message as to where she had gone. Growing up those had been some of the scariest days of her life, waking in the morning to the panicked sounds of the guards, her family practically tearing the castle apart in their search and little Evey's room empty and devoid of her belongings. To this day Evey denied she had ever mastered the teleportation spell but Flurry sometimes wondered as to the truth of that statement considering the ease with which the unicorn had managed to disappear without a trace at the age of five.

Flurry trotted across to Evey's bedside, being careful not to disturb her, and looked over the few items scattered on the bedside table. Her hat of course proudly occupied the bulk of the space but with that exception the remaining items were depressingly devoid of any emotional significance. 'An explorer packs light and practical' Evey had insisted upon returning from her first real 'adventure', yet Flurry felt it was a sad display of her friend's life that she had not brought with her a single photo or memento. Instead her chosen traveling companions were a scuffed and battered store bought pocket watch, a small tub of face wipes and a box of tissues. In addition to these items there was a bottle of pills and an empty glass. The glass still held a few residual drops of water in it and Evey had forgotten to screw the lid back onto the bottle. Cadance would be pleased to hear that Evey was remembering to take her medication in the morning, the pink alicorn had expressed concern about that several times over the past month. Six pills left, hopefully Evey would remember to refill her prescription this time.

"Hey, that you, Flurry?" Evey asked with a yawn as she rolled over in the bed to look at her guest. "I'm sorry about last night. I can't remember exactly what happened but I know I ruined it." Evey didn't sound exhausted but she was clearly still tired, her voice lacked any of its normal passion instead coming out as a drab monotone.

"Oh I wouldn't say the night was ruined. We had a very good time for the most part and it was a lot of fun catching up," Flurry said in her most diplomatic voice. It was all technically true, the night wasn't truly ruined but it had certainly raised some worrying questions. The encounter with Tarsus had even been a calculated risk of the evening's escapades, running into a changeling had always been a likely trouble.

"Anything I should tell Starlight this week? Or should I just let her know I got drunk," the mellow tone didn't suit her very well at all. Her emotional outbursts and abrasive personality had always been considered something of a vice by Evey's friends and family but without it all she seemed a different mare altogether.

"You got in a fight with a changeling," Flurry confessed "and you were a little bit aggressive with me shortly before that." As much as she hated burdening Evey with the truth it was important to her health that Starlight had access to all of the facts whenever Evey did happen to slip up.

"Okay, I'll make sure to tell her." Evey rose from the bed and levitated the glass into the en suite where she poured herself another drink. The ease with which she agreed to tell Starlight was startling, in fact come to think of it this was probably the first time Flurry could think of that Evey had suggested speaking to the other unicorn ever. Normally she was incredibly cagey about her appointments with Starlight and would go to great lengths to avoid the topic, perhaps the two of them were getting on better these days?

"There was one more thing..." Flurry whispered.

"Oh?"

"You said some things. They didn't make a lot of sense and then you trailed off into a little bit of a rant about alicorns." The things that Evey had said were not the words of a mare in her right state of mind but over breakfast Flurry had come to one possible conclusion as to what she had meant and since then had been debating whether or not it was safe to broach the matter. "Evey, you'd gotten back onto the thousand year speech again and then you started talking about 'going away'." It was very brief but Flurry was certain she detected a slight flinch in Evey's face. "Evey, you aren't contemplating... ending things are you?" With all morning to prepare Flurry had finally concluded that there was no easy way to ask your best friend if she was planning on committing suicide. For about thirty seconds the two of them stood in silence, Evey blinking repeatedly and looking about ready to drift back off to sleep at any moment.

"No. No I'm not." The way she said it was so calm and matter of fact, if Flurry didn't know better than to joke about such matter she would have been inclined to ask what had happened to the real Eventide. "Don't worry, Flurry, I'm just going on another expedition. I still have a lot of preparations to do but where I'm planning on going this time is really far away. I don't know if I'll be able to keep in touch while I'm there and I may be gone some time, so I suppose I was just feeling a little bit of trepidation about the whole thing." She slowly walked up to Flurry and gently embraced her in a hug. "Don't worry, Flurry, I'm not going to kill myself over Nightmare Night," and there it was. Something had clearly been bothering Evey for the duration of her stay, something she had been keeping bottled up inside her, hopefully this was it.

"What's wrong with Nightmare Night, Evey? Well other than the normal problem," she asked in a soothing voice.

"Some ponies have been saying some unpleasant things about me and about... her. I guess Nightmare Night is making it all feel like it's coming together," Evey shrugged. Perhaps Flurry had been wrong perhaps this wasn't the problem after all. It was hard to really judge anything that Evey was saying right now in her eerie exhaustion induced monotone.

"Think you could talk to Starlight about it?"

"Sure. Anything for you, Flurry," Evey acquiesced. A part of Flurry was proud of her for agreeing to confront her problems for once but at the same time there remained a lingering doubt at the back of her mind that she had completely side stepped the real issue behind Evey's behavior last night.

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Shining and Cadance had already left to go about their duties by the time Flurry managed to get Evey out of bed. To Flurry's great consternation the unicorn had insisted on packing all of her belongings into her saddlebags and bringing them with her, the visit had been meant to last for the whole weekend but it seemed quite apparent that Evey had no intention of staying. The journey to the dining room for lunch had been surprisingly difficult, with Evey nearly falling over several times in the halls and needing assistance to descend the stairs. As the cooks prepared the two of them a light lunch Flurry resolved that in the future she would be a lot warier about how much she let Evey drink when the two of them were together, she was clearly suffering from her actions last night.

"Can I ask you a favor, Flurry?" Evey politely asked between mouthfuls of sandwich.

"Well it depends on what the favor is but sure. We love you, Evey, if there's anything you need just ask."

"After lunch I'd like to take a pegasus chariot to Whitetail Woods. Alone." Evey still spoke in monotone but the serious look on her face made it clear what she meant.

"Evey, you've barely even been here for a whole day, why do you have to leave already? Whatever business you have can surely wait till later can't it?" She knew it was normally pointless to argue with Evey but it was possible that in her current state she might be willing to listen for once.

"I'm meeting Starlight tomorrow, I need to be back in Canterlot by then."

"So leave this evening, the chariots could easily get you back home in time. In fact if you wanted we could probably arrange for a chariot to take you straight to Starlight in the morning if you wanted."

"No." Evey shook her head and with that the argument was done. "Flurry, I blew up at somepony on the train, we got in a fight," Flurry had wondered about the black eye that Evey had been nursing for the duration of her stay but knew better than to ask how her friend had come by it. "Then I got in a fight with some bug in the streets last night. I'm going to go visit mom's place in the woods before my visit with Starlight, see if maybe I can calm down."

"Evey, have you looked at yourself in the mirror today? You look pretty darn calm to me," the conversation may as well have been over at this point but so long as logic was on her side Flurry wasn't going down without a fight.

"Flurry. This morning I was livid. I was riding a rage train from last night but I couldn't even remember what had set me off. I may seem good right now but that's all a lie. I don't know how long this can last but I can't keep this up without seriously hurting myself. All this," she waved a hoof gesturing at her whole body, "is the result of me doing something really, really dumb when I got out of bed this morning. If you love me at all Flurry, you have to let me go do this. I need to see mom."

Flurry examined her friend carefully trying to work out the hidden meaning behind her words. How had she achieved this calm facade? From what she knew of Evey she wouldn't have some sort of spell to do this to her and she had always scoffed at the calming methods taught to her by Cadance during their youth.

"Fine, if this is something you need to do, Evey, then I'm not going to stop you."

"Thank yo-"

"BUT. I want you to remember that you have friends here, friends who care about you. If you ever need to vent, or just need some time away from it all we are here for you," she strode over to her BFF and embraced her in a feathery hug. "Don't go waiting until you receive an invitation for your next visit okay?"

"Kay."

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The flight to Whitetail Woods was awkward to say the least. Evey had always loved flying, as a little Filly she had often wished she had been a pegasus 'jus like Dearing Doo!', she had taken every opportunity granted to hop on one of her guardians backs and fly across the sky. Then she had grown up and was too big to really be comfortable perched atop the back of another pony, Twilight had tried to teach her a spell to grant her temporary wings but the casting was above her level of expertise. The chariot flight brought back fond memories of the thrill she had felt back then but it was mired somewhat by the stony looks she would receive from the guards. While they maintained the air of professionalism expected of them she knew that if either pegasus were to meet her on the street then they would happily give her an earful about how awful she was and how their darling Princess Flurry Heart was to naive to realize it. They wouldn't be the first pony to warn her to stop bothering the royals.

When the chariot did finally touch down she quickly hopped off, straightening her hat and adjusting her saddlebags for the next portion of the journey.

"Thanks for the lift," she said receiving a pair of disdainful grunts in reply. The chariot flew off, leaving her alone as she pressed on through the trees. The Whitetail Woods were far from the wild untamed depths of the Everfree but even they had their secrets. She hopped over rocks and pushed through foliage, moving to where the trees were tall and the wood was dense, far from the traveled paths through the forest that most ponies knew. There in a small secret clearing was a pool of water, untouched by the hooves of ponies, that shone with a crystal clarity. More importantly though her secret spot was home to the wagon. The wagon had always been her home on the road but even now when it had long since stopped moving, its wheels rotted away and vines beginning to wind across its roof, it still felt more like home than her little house in Canterlot. Sometimes when she was feeling down she would come out here and spend days, even weeks alone in the wagon.

The vines had made some real progress in engulfing it since she was last here and the wildflowers had buried the stumps where the wagons wheels had once proudly stood. The bright red paint had almost entirely cracked and peeled away with the few spots it still remained having faded to an uneven pink. With a little effort she could probably restore the old girl but honestly she preferred it this way. It reminded her of some lost tomb or ancient mausoleum, some unknown grave or memorial to ponies long forgotten, the likes of which she had seen in her adventures across the world. So long as the door remained accessible to her and the magic keeping the walls together remained in place she was happy for the wagon to succumb to the ravages of time. The more it weathered the harder it was for somepony else to stumble across it by accident.

"Mom, I'm home," she called as she tugged the door open, a great squeaking attesting to the fact that it was in dire need of oiling. The windows had been almost entirely sealed over by the advances of nature so she conjured up a small ball of light, her own little sun to keep her company for her stay in the wagon. Everything was as she had left it, the family belongings neatly organized on the table and walls, a pair of beds on the far side, easily pushed together if need be, in one corner was her mom's mini-fridge, magically fueled and able to keep a meal fresh. What little space remained after that was reserved for an armoire and a dressing table, she couldn't bear to open either of them up. Her own clothes had long since been moved from the pair to her own house in Canterlot, all that remained inside now were her mother's belongings.

"I visited Flurry yesterday, mom, she's doing good. Twilight has her doing some silly princess training exercises, pretty sure she's the only one to have to go through it." She slumped down on her bed, it was dank and musty but it felt like home despite the neglect. "I spoke to Cadance as well, she and Shining Armor sound happy together," she paused and stared at the empty bed by her side, "I'm happy for them."

"I have a boyfriend, mom," she said as her eyes wandered over a crudely carved engraving in the wall behind her, 'Evey and Flurry together forever'. "It's a proper relationship this time, not some silly filly crush. I managed to get us some of Celestia's magic journals, we were in sort of a long distance relationship without them. He's nice, you'd like him. He studies magic and has some ideas about how to further my own research."

"Don't tell Cadance though mom, Flurry would never live it down. I know you didn't always get on with Cadance but you'd like her daughter, she's real nice. Maybe the two of you will meet some day," her eyes stopped on the second engraving 'Flurry Hearts BSBFF' she'd got a real scolding over that one. Hopping off of the bed she made her way to the table and began flicking through the photo album. The bulk of the pictures were all in the same style, a pair of unicorns standing together smiling at the camera. The young filly often posing for the shot or hugging her mother, while the elder's horn was invariably channeling magic to use the camera. In every picture the elder unicorn wore a thick traveling cloak, concealing her whole body from the neck back, in most of them she seemed to be masking a look of worry beneath a big goofy smile. Canterlot, Las Pegasus, Van Hoover, Manehatten, Griffonstone, Yakyakistan... the photos showed every place in Equestria and even some further afield.

"I'm going to be going away for a little while, mom. So don't be surprised if I don't visit for sometime. It's going to be hard, I might fail, I might never be able to come back..." she took a deep breathe, "but I'm going looking for dad. My real dad, no substitutions," she leaned over and kissed one of the rare solo photos of the other unicorn on her forehead. "Love you, mom, I really wish you were still here."

Comments

[Da Fennec]

Why do I get the feeling Evies mom was Trixie

[Mr Fislewait]

Trixie doesn't necessarily hold the monopoly on wagons across Equestria. That said I'm struggling to think of any wagons other than hers. I mean the Appeloosans have stage coaches. How do you circle stage coaches?

[badninja]

Wait is Evies Sunset Shimmer's daughter?!

[calinjc]

7300612 It's obvious she is.
The rocky relationship with Cadance is a dead giveaway.

[Son of Sanguinius]

By the Golden Sarcophagus of Sanguinius... This is getting very dark and very good very fast.
Also, I'm guessing Sunset had her own little 'Nightmare Moon' incident and got banished for a thousand years, hence Evey's angst.
Spoiler tag just in case.

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

7348789 I have to agree with you on that...