Once all of the Equestrian visitors were back through the portal, and Sunset got her magic to die down a little so she wouldn't accidently set stuff on fire, the family attempted to get on with Christmas Day normally. However, there was one complication they hadn't taken into account: Twilight Sparkle.
"Did you actually need the horn? Why was it made of light? What were the wings? Why does Equestria have so much gold? Who-"
"Waitwaitwait. What was that about gold? I mean I know gold is in mass abundance in Equestria, but why would..."
"These coins." Twilight held us the hefty bag full of bits, before dropping it with a gasp, leaving it to spill out onto the table. "24-carat gold. Must be worth... $1375 a piece. And there's about, what..." Sunset left her to count the golden coins out, still processing the information she had been told. "199, 200, 201, 202," Twilight continued to count, before finally reaching her total. "345, 346, 347! So that's...$477125! That's... Sunset?"
The girl was holding one of the coins, staring at it with a wide gaping mouth, with eyes even wider. 'I could've... I am... oh Celestia...'
"Are you saying... that I could... that I didn't need to be... oh Celestia... I really had no reason to be homeless after all of that, did I? Almost close to half a million. Heh. Ha. Hhahah, HAHAHAHAA!" Slightly, actually no, very concerned for Sunset's wellbeing, the family looked around at each other, then back at the girl who was now laughing, dangerously close to being mistaken for a maniac. "Oh... heheheeeha! That is SO ironic! I spend all my time taking over a school, then all my time making friends, so I never fouind out anything about that! I mean I knew gold was worth something, but... wow!"
"S-Sunset?" Night Light was staring at her with scared eyes now, perhaps even slightly intimidated. "You g-good?"
"Woo, yeah. I'm fine. Haven't laughed like that since... eeheeheeee! Okay, NOW I'm good. Thanks, I needed that." She looked up to the family, having doubled over in her fit of laughter.
"I wasn't joking."
"Oh, I know. That. Is. Hilarious!" Sunset slapped a hand over her mouth to prevent it from letting loose another bout of giggles. "Sorry to be an inconvinience, but could you possibly bring me somewhere? I need to fetch some more of my possessions. Just realised I left some stuff I'd like to have back."
"This wouldn't happen to do with you new found wealth, would it?" Velvet raised an eyebrow at the girl, not wanting to encourage greed.
"Only because it reminded me of something." Sunset let out a knowing wink, before whirling around to no one in particular. "So, anyone going to take me? Or is it too much to ask?" Despite becoming comfortable with asking for things from her adoptive family, she still didn't want to impose.
"I'll take her." Shining Armor stood up, with Cadance copying him. "Provided Dad can be trusted not to destroy anything while we're gone." The father shot a glare at his son, but when he didn't get a reaction, Night Light slumped in defeat, allowing the blue haired man to walk out the door, with his wife and Sunset.
After a few 'detours', which eventually led Cadance to take over driving, Sunset was driven back to the area were she previously took shelter. After parking and locating the alley that used to contain a makeshift shelter, Sunset walked over to a large mound of snow, which she presumed covered the wreckage. Shining, meanwhile, appeared to be examining a dark patch of ground, which was devoid of any snow. Cadance paced up behind him, with a curious look on her face, but she shook it off, turning to walk to Sunset.
"Come on dear, you can use your police skills later."
The officer's head shot up and his wife, trying to look stern. "Maybe, but I think there was blood here." Rubbing the ground, he found dark red spots showed on his gloves momentarily. "Hmph. Fairly recently too."
"That's most likely mine." Sunset was crouched down in front of the mound of whiteness, slowly freeing it's contents. "Hurn. This was where I used to li- stay. Someone help me clear this mess?" She gestured to the pile of scrap laid out before her.
Shining stood up and slowly made his way over to her, reaching down to a heavy wooden beam and starting to heft it up. Cadance was helping Sunset move a large sheet of metal out of the way, but she also had a concerned look in her eye. "This is where you lived?!"
"For almost three years, yeah. Or at least until it collapsed, which was just before... yeah. Got away with the excuse that I was from a bad foster home, and refused to go into one under any circumstances. Now, I know I could go through the portal as of a month or two ago, but I made a life here, and I don't want to leave it behind."
"Sunset..."
"While I would appreciate the grand speech on asking others for help and so on and so forth, I understand now. I really do. I wouldn't have asked to come here otherwise."
"No, it's something else. Velvet wanted me to ask you this in a more private scenario, so I suppose this is as good time as any." The woman put a hand on the girl's back, and ran it down the jacket in two spots inparticular. "The medical report said there were three scars on your back, much older than the ones on your arms, and in almost impossible locations for you to do it yourself."
Sunset pulled away from the gentle touch, and turned. "Remember what I said about turning into a demon? That's the price of dark magic. Any extra appendages are removed forcefully, including wings and tail. The wounds turned into scars instantly, that's it. They don't hurt, they're just yet another reminder of my mistakes."
They spent the rest of the work in relative silence before most of the collapse roof was shifted, and Sunset was digging through the snow in search of lost possessions. "Ah ha!" Sunset tossed a bag over her shoulder, not that dissimilar to the pouch of bits from earlier. Only this one was much larger. Not paying much attention to it, she continued to root through random objects.
"Is that more..." The couple were eying the package, curious to its contents.
"Bits, yes. About three times as many, making me own two million dollars. I figure if I'm going to lead a proper life here, I might as well get the funds to do it. I kept these, thinking I could sell them to a museum as artifacts, and the others were back up if I ever had to stay in Equestria." Sunset continued to scrape the snow away from the ground, before shaking her head in dissapointment. "Dammit. Not here, or broken. Oh well."
"What were you looking for?"
"Personal items, both from here and Equestria. Nothing too important, but nice reminders of the past. Not that it matters too much anyway." Sunset sighed again, but did not continue to search, instead opting to drag the sack of gold back to the car. "Come on. This was a bust."
"So the huge amount of gold wasn't worth the trip?"
"Money means power in this world, and as you should know by now, I hate having power. Or at least now I do. Still, I can use it to do some good in the world, at the least stop the bad." Sunset finished hauling the bag of coins into the car, gesturing for the others to get in too. Seating herself in the back, she chuckled to herself before peering into the bag. "Better get to counting. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7..."
"You'd better not keep on counting out loud." With those words, an devilishly evil grin spread across the young girl's face.
"212, 213, 214..."
"Yeah, yeah we get it you're rich, now shut up!"
"Now I lost count. One, two..."
"NO!"
"Skip a few, 99, 100!"
"746, 747, 748..."
"SHUT UP!"
"Tsk. One, two..."
"NOOOOO!"
"1039, 1040, 1041! Exactly three times the smaller bag! So that's...1431375! And..."
"We're here, Ms. Multimillionaire."
"$1908500 total! Which does not make a multimillionaire, thank you very much."
"Yeah, yeah. Now get inside!" For about the seven billionth time, Shining Armor rolled his eyes, ushering his passengers into the house.
The three other family members were waiting patiently at the table, talking about the recent events. Before they noticing Sunset doing a poor imitation of Santa Claus, hauling a small sack over her shoulder. "Ho-ho-ho. Merry Christmas." With that, she slung the bag onto the floor, exposing the treasure within.
"That's what you were looking for?" Velvet looked at the haul in a dissapointed way, giving a quick glare to Sunset.
"No, I couldn't find anything I was looking for. This is literally all I could salvage. Not the most personal value, but still..."
"How much?" Twilight was already reaching for the gold, before her father smacked the hand away.
"Almost $2 million, in total." Seeing the other family members' reactions, she shrugged. "I probably should be reacting more to this, but money isn't of as much importance in Equestria as it is here. We barter, alot."
"I suppose I should ask: What are you going to do with them?" Night Light was almost drooling at the sight of such a valuable figure.
"If I stay here: donate some to charity, some to friends, use it to create an actual life for myself. Hey, it could even be used to get actual records. If I go back to Equestria, then I'll take most of it, since it isn't worth nowhere near as much over there, and probably give the rest to people I know." Sunset was becoming more and more casual by the second, showing almost no sign of being excited over becoming one of the richest people in Canterlot.
Night Light just nodded, causing Sunset to start to drag the two masses of gold away. "Look, I thought we'd agreed to leave this magic stuff -" Sunset took the time to glance at Twilight in annoyance. "- behind us for today. It's even a holiday in Equestria, for Celestia's sake, so maybe we just ignore this and go about today normally?" Grunting, Sunset gave one extra large tug before falling into the room she was staying in. the other occupants of the house could here the light metallic clanging of the coins against each other and the floor, as well as the quiet giggling that their owner emmited.
Once everyone had gotten over the revelation of a complete treasure trove now residing in her house, and Sunset had attempted to stop Twilight's questioning with duct tape, the household settled down for the afternoon, eating lunch out at a local restaurant that had managed to be open on Christmas Day.
"Sunset, have you decided if you're going to stay at CHS, or go to Crystal Prep like Twilight?" Sunset knew this question would come up, and had given it some thought as a result. She knew what she wanted to do, but she didn't know what was best for her.
"Well, I haven't decided yet. While I'd like to salvage my life and Canterlot High, I honestly don't know if it'll be possible. I might go back the first week, and see how it goes." Sunset continued to eat her meal, having developed quite an appreciation for good food over her years of homelessness.
It was the only real question directed at Sunset throughout the meeting, since all the other questions were banned due to them being magic related, and Sunset simply busied herself with what she was eating, letting the other conversations continue around her, until one query imparticular picked up her attention again.
"Cadance, you said you had something to say concerning Twilight and Cinch. Now's a good time as any."
"Alright. You know I took you to that meeting with Cinch?" Twilight, almost surprised by the sudden question, just nodded. "Well, it was bugged. We know what she said, all of it."
The younger girl's eyes lit up in hope, swiftly turning to her sister-in-law to hear what she was about to say. "Does that mean?"
"Cinch is now being investigated by the school board for various possible offences." Twilight just gave out a victorious gasp, seemingly delighted with what she had just been told.
Night Light put up his hand, as if looking for attention from a teacher. "Uh, can we get some context?" He looked to Twilight, though he got no response since she was hyperventilating from yet another surprise. Shining Armor filled in for her.
"Cinch was attempting to blackmail Twi into entering the Friendship Games later in the Spring. Her application to university came up multiple times."
"Twilight..." Velvet had reached over and put her hand on her daughter's shoulder, comforting her. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"It was Christmas, and I just- I don't know, didn't want anybody's holiday to be ruined, that's all."
"Twilight." Sunset was standing now, and had wandered over to where Twilight was sitting. "You should never hold anything back from your friends, and never, ever your family. I didn't have any family, and I drove all possible friends away from me. When I finally did get some friends, I kept everything about me to myself, and ended up becoming completely homeless, even managing to get myself kicked out of an abandoned factory! Eventually, all that secrecy built up and led to all of... this!" By this stage, Sunset was gesturing with her bandaged arms, making less and less sense, but still keeping a firm tone in her voice. Susnet was broken out of her encouraging rant by a lavender pair of arms wrapping around her waist.
"Thanks, Sunset." Twilight smiled warmly up at the other girl, letting any negative emotions slip away from her. After a short while, Sunset gently slipped away from the embrace, and returned to her seat, earning soft looks from everyone. While she had everyone's attention, she decided to bring up a matter that had been eating away at her for days.
"Sorry to spoil to mood, but can I ask something?" Several nods. "I appreciate what you've done for me, but this is only temporary. What's going to go on after the holidays." Night Light shot a glance at his wife, earning a response in the affirmitive.
"When we were out, we were talking about some subjects, and you deserve to know..."
As soon as Sunset had left the house to fetch some possession, the remaining three people were around the table, talking about the plans for Christmas day. They decided to open presents after lunch, then turned their thoughts to other matters. "Dad..."
"Hmm?"
"You know how Sunset is only meant to be staying with us until a proper foster home is found, right?"
"Well, that's what's meant happen, but..." Night Light trailed off, acting like he was losing hope.
"What?" Twilight returned his deflating look on her father's face with one that showed confusion.
"What he's trying to say is that we might adopt her. If she want to of course." Velvet entered to room having gone to get snacks, and seeing Twilight's still confused expression, she decided trying to attempt to get a reaction out of her. "So what do you think? Is she... sister material?"
The younger girl's face instantly lit up in excitement, and it took all of her willpower not to yell. "Of course she is! Yes! I mean she-"
"Twilight." Her father put a firm hand on her shoulder. "Lets not think about it too much now, eh? No point in making plans if she says no."
"A-alright."
"So you want to adopt me?" Sunset raised her eyerbows while she sipped from her drink. "Alright. It would be nice to have a family here." Sunset took another sip, before her eyes went wide and she almost choked on her drink. "Not that I would take you for granted, it's just that-"
"Is everyone finished? Because I think it would be better to do this in private, hm?" While slightly offended about being cutoff by Cadance, Sunset was quite thankful about it, unless she wanted to start hyperventilating. Regardless of her reaction, everyone agreed this was not the place to make a fuss, and decided to table the matter until they got home. Which was starting to become a habit for all of them.
Soon enough, they were on their way home, while Sunset was humming a small tune to herself, something that Twilight picked up on. "What's that song, Sunset?"
"Huh? Oh..." Sunset shook her head clear of thoughts, finding the answer to her possible sister's question. "Something from Equestria. I told you about Heath's Warming?"
"The equivilant of Christmas which celebrates Equestria's founding?"
"Yeah, that. It's just an old carol, one that's my family used to sing. Haven't heard it for over a decade."
Twilight scratched her head sheepishly, and looked to Sunset. "We have this tradition where we sing old carols. Do you think you could.. do that with us? With maybe one of the Equestrian ones?"
Sunset brightened up at the thought, not that she could be much happier at this point in time. She had come to enjoy teaching Equestrian history and other facts, so much so that Sunset considered become a teacher if she returned to Equestria with a fresh start. "Sure! Not that one though. I don't remember the words. I think I might be able to do something with my guitar too..."
The rest of the ride was spent in relative silence, mostly with the occupants thinking of what was to come.
Sunset got in, happy to be back in the full warmth of a house, and stretched fingers out. While she was happy she could move them again, she was still annoyed at herself was losing all feeling in her hands, permamently. She knew it wasn't just her fault, but the shred of selfloathing that had survived the battle of the bands forced itself upon her. She was ripped from her negative thoughts by Twilight who was calling her to do the carol, which she seemed very excited about. Maybe she was just being very excitable as a result of recent events. Still, Sunset said she'd so this, and would continue to do so, as soon as she'd fetched her guitar. Once everything was set up, and Sunset had decided on a song, she started to strum her guitar, idly setting on a chair. This wasn't the best instrument to play this song, nor was it meant to be sung by one person, but she improvised nevertheless. Getting into the tune of the song, she put it onto loop through her speaker, allowing to start to sing to her audience, now including Spike, facing them directly, swaying her now free hands gently.
"As dawn shines on us every morn
The fire of friendship is reborn
And all the friendships we have made
We cherish in every way"
Sunset paced over to the family, shaking grabbing Night Light by the hands, much to his surprise.
"Loyalty binds us and makes us strong"
She then shook Shining Armor's hand gently, giving a soft smile all the while.
"Honesty shows that we belong"
Velvet was next, as Sunset locked arms with her and gave a small embrace.
"And kindness shared will unite us through each day"
Wandering back to her guitar, Sunset added in a quiet melody to go with the next part of the song, moving so she was illuminated by the window light.
"The fire of friendship lives in our hearts
As long as it burns, we cannot drift apart
Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few
Laughter and singing will see us through
We are a circle of pony friends
A circle of friends we'll be to the very end"
She could feel the magic all around her, wrapping itself around it's user. A new kind of warmth rose from within Sunset, not one from any magical wings, nor natural fire. It was something being loved, but magical none the less, as evidenced by the pony ears that emerged from the red and yellow hair.
"Though the winter brings all its cold and storm
The glow in our hearts keeps us warm
The friends we now call our family
Will always see us through"
The girl grabbed Spike, tossing him slightly up in the air, as her smile started to widen.
"Loyalty binds us and makes us strong"
Sunset gently threw Spike to Twilight, letting her set him down, before moving to Cadance, hugging her as warmly as possible, giggling a little.
"Honesty shows that we belong"
Spinning her way to Twilight, she locked arms, rotating each other around themselves.
"And kindness shared will unite us through each day"
Sunset moved back to her instrument, adding a little more to the music, creating a setup for the finale. By now everyone was participating in some way, singin, clapping or dancing along with the carol. More mgaic flowed around, and to Sunset it felt wonderful. It was not intense like the fight earlier today, nor was it gentle like the other times she played music. It was just... warm. Nice even. It was welcoming, accepting, and just made Sunset want to embrace it, so she did, creating her various magical appendages to appear, and she teleported out of the window, above the garden to really finish off the performance.
"The fire of friendship lives in our hearts
As long as it burns, we cannot drift apart
Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few
Laughter and singing will see us through
We are a circle of pony friends
A circle of friends we'll be to the very end!"
Flourishing with all her blazing glory, Sunset twisted around in mid air, allowing the heated snow to melt as it fell, creating quite a light show for the occupants of the house, but no one else, since the illusion spell around the garden prevented any snoopers. qaround of applause erupted from the window, which framed a selection of smiling faces, clearly impressed by the performance.