Ever

Neither word fits the sentence.

When I came, we ate dinner right away. She had never eaten dinner so early in the day.

No, it means always, but this is an odd use of the word unless it comes from a very old text.

Blue Jayvery old text.

... very very old, and lofty, poetic language.
Here are some examples from Google ngrams:

May he ever require his attendants to minister to his complaints with vapours and magic nostrums. With physic and ritual incantations. May they ever scurry to their retorts and furnaces to compound amulets and panaceas for the evil hum

Your sentence is certainly not a usage you would expect to see in modern English, and it's not one that would be readily understood. You may come across ever used to mean always in other contexts, though.
His music is as popular as ever.
Ever cool-headed and resourceful, she took charge after the accident and led the other survivors to safety.