Policy 5113 (a):
The Board of Education recognizes its responsibility under federal and state law to identify unaccompanied youth who meet the federal definition of “homeless.” The Board of Education holds responsibility to encourage their enrollment and prevent any stigmitization or segregation on the basis of their status as homeless. The Board will provide homeless children attending the district’s schools access to the same free and appropriate public education as other children. The District shall establish safeguards that protect homeless students from discrimination on the basis of their homelessness.
“N-now hold on,” protested Blueblood, “We don’t know that she’s homeless. She has an address listed on her file, and parental contacts. That should be enough, right?”
“Considering that she traveled here from an alternate world, she had to have been homeless at some point,” Fancy Pants thought aloud. “The school would have been notified of her situation if she was living with foster parents or in a shelter. Something has been covered up.”
“Maybe she was out of that situation by the time she enrolled here. She could have gotten a job, for heaven’s sake. I’m sure there are places here that would hire Sunset, even taking into account her unique status,” he rebutted.
“Even if she has a job, she'll be making pennies,” said Shining. “It might be enough for her stay afloat, but to get adequate housing without a trace of personal capital? Not in this city. And anyway, the type of place that would hire an undocumented girl like Sunset probably doesn’t care for its workers, so I doubt she’s taking home a lot of cash.”
“An’ don’t forget about her work-life balance,” Granny Smith added. “Ah don’t see how she could balance work, school, and a plan of world-domination without tiring herself out to death. I’d bet if she’s working a job—if at all—it’s not enough to pay for rent.”
“It’s still possible that she’s found a method to support herself!” said Blueblood exasperatedly. “Maybe she has an alternative form of income—something off of the books, if you know what I mean.”
“If you’re suggesting that she's resorting to illegal practices, whatever they may be, I suggest you stop now,” retorted Shining. “We’ll have an even bigger mess on our hands if we find that out. It’s best to only act on that if she elects to offer that information.”
“Did she bring anything with her when she came to the city, Celestia?” asked Fancy Pants. “A wallet of money, perhaps? I’m sure there were valuables within your castle that she could have brought and pawned off.”
“I honestly could not say,” said Celestia, still shaken by her realization. She braced herself against her chair for support. “But I would doubt the conversion rate here would take her very far. From what I can fathom, selling Equestrian bits as raw gold may have netted her enough profit to get a foothold, but not enough to sustain an apartment or buy a house—and that’s even if she could get a house in the first place, being undocumented and all.”
“Well maybe she was taken in by a kind, loving family,” said Blueblood.
“They would have been listed as her first contact, wouldn’t they have?” responded Fancy Pants. "Considering her 'parents' haven't shown themselves once, at best we have a case of child neglect on our hands."
“Well . . . it doesn’t matter!” Blueblood exclaimed, throwing up his hands. “What does her being homeless have to do with our case, anyway? Homeless or not, she still blew a hole in the school!”
“Don’t you have any humanity?” growled Granny Smith. “This changes a lot, I reckon. We have a written duty to support any student going through this, and even if y'all don’t want to accept it, she's still a student here!”
“I agree,” said Shining. “Sunset may have been a liar and a bully, but this could be a big deal if she was hiding this. This is the sort of thing you need to know about, and you could have acted earlier to prevent all this from happening if she was given the right support.”
“Well, if we expel her then it won’t be our problem anymore! There’s nothing in the policy that says we have to treat an egregious offense from her any differently than a normal student!”
While Blueblood continued his rant, Filthy Rich had been sitting silently by himself for several minutes, his face pale. The only other member of the room who took notice of Filthy’s change in demeanor was the draconequus at the end of the table, who couldn’t help but flash his toothy grin. “Excuse me,” Discord said, cutting of Blueblood. “But I think Mister Rich has something he would like to say.”
“What is it?” Blueblood snarled, turning toward the man.
Filthy Rich looked up at Blueblood, dread in his eyes. “If Sunset’s truly homeless . . . then you’re wrong.”
“Wrong? Wrong about what?”
“You’re wrong about nothing being in the policy to protect a homeless student from an expellable offense. There are several policies, actually. Could I have the book, please?” Filthy asked, and Granny Smith slid the book across the table to him.
Blueblood furrowed his brow. “You’ve got to be joking.”
“Look at the first paragraph of 5113.”
The District shall establish safeguards that protect homeless students from discrimination on the basis of their homelessness.
Blueblood paused, taken aback. “Well, that doesn’t list anything specific!”
“Right, but it sets up an initiative which was acted upon many years ago. We need to go back to Policy 5140, on Expulsion,” Filthy said. He flipped through the heavy tome before landing on his desired page. “Ah, here it is,” he said, pointing a finger at a small paragraph near the bottom of the page. “I can’t believe I forgot all about this amendment. It just never crossed my mind as important. Here we go: ‘In the event that a student is classified as Homeless . . .”
The District shall not expel a homeless student for conduct that is caused by the student’s homelessness.
Blueblood slid back into his seat, eyes locked on Filthy. “This is a confliction in our policy! 5140 says we have to expel her for breaking the rules, but now we can’t expel her for being homeless? Which one takes precedent?”
“You don’t have to expel her for breaking the rules,” said Discord.
“Oh, don’t start this again,” Blueblood groaned.
“Read 5140 again,” Discord responded. “You may expel the student. That word choice is intentional. Right, Filthy?”
Filthy didn't meet Blueblood's eyes. " . . . Yes," he said quietly, "But up until now Sunset more than surpassed the requirements for total expulsion."
“But now?” asked Celestia.
Filthy bit his lip. “I . . . I’m not sure. I need to make sure I understand this all the way..”
“Now hold on,” said Blueblood, “5113 says that we shall not expel her for conduct that is caused by the student’s homelessness. How does being homeless cause Sunset to blow up our front building?”
“Behavioral issues due to an extreme family situation,” Shining said immediately. “It’s not hard to see how this girl could get so jaded that quickly if she’s really been living on the streets. Her actions at school may have been the only way she could feel control in her life. The recommended solution here would be to attempt at making her home life better and see if that corresponds with an improvement in behavior at school. If this is the case, then the expellable act was a result of her homelessness; if she doesn't improve, then you can expel her for good.”
Granny Smith nodded in agreement. “If ya ask me, had Sunset been welcomed into a loving home and not forced to scrape up an existence, she might have found the family necessary to avoid this whole mess in the first place.”
Discord chuckled. “It doesn’t really matter either way, you know.”
Blueblood turned to the draconequus with a cold stare. “And why do say that?”
“Because the policy is intentionally vague. Someone hastily wrote it some time ago without a second thought, but they weren’t specific enough to truly develop its full meaning. It’s up to interpretation, and we can interpret this in any way we want to. Rich has realized it already, too.”
Blueblood turned to Filthy and saw the man silently staring at the policy book, his face pale and resigned. “There are specific requirements a student has to meet to be considered homeless, and to be expelled. But . . . how much one affects the other is open to our interpretation. If Sunset is really homeless . . . our hands might be tied.”
“So what, we’re just going to go to the community and say ‘Hey! We’ve caught ourselves in a loophole, so we’re letting her walk free!’ Do you really think this’ll go over well?” he pressed.
“I don't think that would go well," said Fancy Pants. "And how would Sunset feel about us outing her as homeless like that? Surely there’s a better way.”
Filthy Rich rubbed his chin in thought, before his eyes widened in surprise. “You’re right, just letting her stay would not do us any good in the community’s eyes. But we established another safeguard,” he said, rapidly flipping through the pages of the policy book. “There’s one more bit of policy that comes into effect when a student is classified as homeless. Go back to Policy 5113.” He flipped back to page and trailed a finger down to a sentence near the bottom. “In the event that a student is classified as Homeless . . .”
The District shall not disclose any information regarding a student or anything relating to a student’s status as homeless without the permission of the student, as well as the student’s guardian(s) or homeless coordinator.
“This clause in 5113 says we don’t have to offer a thorough explanation for why we’re letting Sunset stay in school,” Filthy explained. “Her status as homeless would be confidential, and as such we wouldn’t have to explain ourselves to the public or students. In fact, we wouldn’t be allowed to say anything, to protect Sunset’s privacy. If she meets the criteria as homeless, then . . . we have a loophole to let her stay.”
“But . . . ” said Blueblood, dumbstruck. “Why would we make that a policy in the first place?”
“Maybe because you don’t want to alienate a homeless student from their peers any further than they already have been by revealing their situation to the whole school,” said Shining. “It’s not a good look for the district to out a student like that without their permission.”
Discord’s chuckle turned into a complete guffaw. “You have an out! A loophole! Sure, the rest of the Board and Administration will want to hear your reasoning, but they can’t say a word either and won’t put up much of a fight. Rumors will get around the community that there was more to this story than folks realized, and that will be enough for most people. It’ll be swept under the rug, and in a few years time everyone will chalk this whole situation up to a freak accident caused by a girl who had more issues than you could count. Of course, the only requirement is that you’ll have to acknowledge Sunset as homeless and help her out of that situation, but you really should be doing that anyway. Tsk tsk,” he finished.
A silence settled over the Canterlot Board of Education, none sure of what to say. Could it be that easy? Discord stroked his goatee, eyeing each of the members responses. Granny Smith and Princess Celestia’s initial shock were both turning into a sort of relieved demeanor. Shining Armor was silently shaking his head, as if he was amazed by the development—or maybe disappointed that no one had noticed Sunset's situation until now. Fancy Pants had the blankest look of anyone there, but Discord could sense something twinkling in his eye—one more barrier broken down, perhaps? Filthy Rich had resigned himself silently, and Blueblood fumed.
“Hold on!” Blueblood shouted, jumping out of his seat. “Unless we go and find out where she’s living, we can’t assume she’s homeless. Our documents state that she has a home, so she has a home as far as we are concerned. If we can’t get definite proof, then there’s no point in thinking about this.”
Filthy Rich looked up at Blueblood. “You’re right. We should at least confirm that this is true. I think explaining this situation could even give us a few extra days of deliberation time. Should we put the meeting on hold?”
“Why would we do that?” Discord asked. “I’ll just take you there.”
Blueblood’s smile fell off of his face. “Wait, hold on. It’s the middle of the night. And it’s snowing.”
Discord smiled and snapped his fingers. "That's not stopped me yet."
Surprisingly, nothing seemed to happen after Discord snapped his finger.
“What was that?” asked Blueblood. "Are you taking us or not?"
“Hehe,” Discord snickered, “Give it a second to kick in.”
“Hold on,” Granny Smith said, “I—I’m floatin’!” The grandmother exclaimed as she slowly lifted into the air. Soon enough, the other members followed, each of them rising into air in shock and excitement. Upon closer inspection, each of their bodies had become slightly translucent, as if the light of the room was passing right through them.
“I’ve cast a little spell on us all,” Discord said, “That turns you all into spirits untouchable by the elements and unnoticeable by any other people. Consider it a gift of gratitude so we don't get caught stalking around outside tonight.”
Filthy Rich looked down at—or rather, looked through—his hands in awe. “How long are we going to stay like this?”
Discord shrugged. “As long as we need. Don’t worry, I’ll turn you back,” he said, flashing a grin at a very cross Princess Celestia. “But let’s get a move on. No use floating around.”
“There’s a slight issue with that,” said Shining. “If she’s homeless, how are we going to find her?”
Discord smirked. “Perhaps the listed address in her files is a start. If we’re right about her being homeless, it probably isn’t her exact address. But I’d bet she would want to be nearby.”
Celestia floated over to the table and picked up Sunset’s file, opening it. “It’s listed here that she’s on the corner of tenth avenue and forty-sixth street.”
“That’s near the edge of Canterlot’s commercial sector,” said Filthy. “There might be some housing down there, but I’m not sure if I can recall any off the top of my head.”
“Does she have a PO Box, or somewhere else listed where she gets mail?” asked Fancy Pants. “She’ll probably want to be near that, too.”
“There’s a PO Box listed on here,” said Celestia. “It’s not that far away from her ‘address’ either. I would say she’s definitely in that vicinity.”
“Well, no more wasting time, then,” said Discord, and he snapped his clawed fingers, teleporting the members into the cold nighttime air. They were at a streetcorner—assumedly tenth and forty-sixth—and surrounded by bland buildings lining the streets, two to three stories high.
Granny Smith clutched her shoulders. “Can anyone else feel the wind blowin’ right through them? Woowee,” she muttered.
“Don’t worry,” said Discord, “You’re only cold because your brain is telling you to be.”
Shining Armor looked down at the snowflakes that floated directly through his body. “Oh, that’s weird.”
"Discord, can you put us down?" Celestia said. "I know this is just for dramatic affect."
Discord sighed. "Fine, just don't make any sudden jumps, okay?"
The members floated down back onto the ground, but their bodies still held a somewhat translucent quality to them.
“So which corner should we be looking for?” asked Fancy Pants.
Discord spun in a circle quickly, examining each side of the corner. “I think it’s . . . that one,” he said, pointing at an empty, derelict lot.
“Nothing’s there,” said Blueblood.
“Yup,” Discord responded. “Nothing but weeds, broken bottles, and a little sign in the corner. What’s that say?”
“It’s real estate,” said Filthy Rich. “This corner lot is for sale.”
“How are you sure?” asked Fancy Pants. “It’s quite dark.”
Filthy Rich snorted and heaved a sigh. “I could recognize that sign anywhere. It’s mine.”
The members gasped in surprise. “What?” asked Granny Smith. “You own that lot?”
Filthy nodded reluctantly. “I told you all earlier, didn’t I? I went on a buying spree around town. I’m hedging my bets on the growth of Canterlot City. This street corner didn’t stick out to me until now, but I probably own a few more spaces down the street, too.”
“Are any of them housing units?” asked Celestia.
“Some, but many are just empty like this corner street.”
“But you have some that still have constructed buildings on them? Buildings that are still standing, just vacated?” Celestia pressed on.
“Sure, but we usually bought them because they were decaying. I went out of my way to look for lots that can be either renovated or demolished, depending on a client’s wishes. I can cover more ground that way.”
“Think about all of the lots you own that are still standing—or even ones you don’t own—that you know are in this area, Rich. Especially between here and the post office,” Celestia said.
“Are you suggesting that Sunset is squatting in one of my lots? I don’t take kindly to what that insinuates about me,” he said coldly.
“It would be an obvious place to stay for someone like Sunset,” said Shining. “Think of any ones you’ve owned for several years.”
Filthy took a step back from the rest of them defensively. “Oh, I don’t know! I can’t remember every single transaction I’ve made! That’s why we keep records. Besides my recent acquisitions, pretty much every lot I’ve bought around here has been either commercial, or sold already, except maybe one or—”
Filthy paused, his face darkening. “Except one. There’s one.”
Discord smirked. “Oh? One what, exactly?”
“One building. One that I haven’t been able to sell yet. If I could go back, I would never have bought the place. It’s more trouble than it’s worth.”
“Where is it?” asked Discord. “I’ll take us there.”
Filthy stepped forward and looked down the street, extending his hand and pointing off in the distance. “It should be in this direction.”
“That’s the same direction as the post office,” said Granny Smith. “It might be a match.”
Discord snapped and teleported them farther down the street. “Do you see it now?”
“Ah, yes, just a few more blocks down. It’s that beige one there, see?”
Discord understood and teleported them over to the building. It was quite an unassuming spot, completely square and covered with small windows, blending right alongside its neighbors. Any passerby would assume it was just another city apartment. On closer inspection, however, there were many signs of decay: some upper windows were broken, trash littered the small alleyways normally out of sight, and some paint was peeling off near the roof.
“So what is this place?” asked Blueblood. “It doesn’t look too bad from the outside. Why won’t anyone buy it?”
“It’s older than I am,” Filthy explained. “More people have their fingers in this property than I can count, and although I own it, I’ve been blocked at every turn to try and do something with it. I can’t even renovate the foundations on this spot, much less sell the whole thing. I wouldn’t want to be standing inside of this during an earthquake, to say the least.”
“But why won’t anyone help you rebuild the lot, then?” asked Shining Armor. “There’s surely been some buyer who sees dollar signs here. If your attitude about Canterlot City is shared by anyone else, then someone must want this place.”
“Because no one wants to be the one to demolish an orphanage,” Filthy said, glancing to the side away from the group.
Silence settled over the board once more. Filthy walked up to the his real estate sign posted at the side of the building.
“An orphanage?” asked Granny Smith. “You really bought an orphanage?”
“It was a standard homeless shelter too. Like I said, back when I bought it a few year ago, everything seemed fine. The foundation was faltering, but it was nothing we couldn’t fix. We gave the owners some cash and they let us have it—if only it was that easy. Thing is, this building has been here forever. And there are several people who won’t let this place get demolished without putting up a fight. So we’ve just been letting it sit until someone either buys it off of us or we can take it down when no one is paying attention.”
“You said you bought it from the owners? What about the children inside?”
Filthy paused. “There weren’t many left when we bought it. We didn’t factor that into my end of the deal.”
“That sounds like business-speak for you not knowing and not caring,” said Shining. “That’s despicable.”
“That’s just the nature of the game, right?” Discord added.
Filthy gulped. “I . . . I can’t attend to everything in my business. Sometimes you have to make tough decisions, and that blame should rest only on the sellers, not the buyer.”
“It doesn’t matter,” said Blueblood. “I only care about what Rich gets up to with his money if Sunset is in that building. If she isn’t, then we’re just wasting time.”
Discord nodded. “You’re right. Let’s go in, shall we?” He walked straight through the front door, not even bothering to open it. After a moment of hesitation, the others quickly followed.
The inside was actually quite clean, albeit barren. Remnants of a living area and wide kitchen remained, but everything had been pilfered from it long ago.
“No sign of her,” said Blueblood.
“There’s an upstairs too,” said Princess Celestia.
“You don’t want to go up there, it’s unstable,” said Filthy. “One wrong jump could send you through the floor.”
“You’re weightless and soundless,” said Discord. “You couldn’t break anything if you wanted to, so get a move on.”
They headed up the stairs and found the several rooms that would have been used to house children. The others started checking each room one by one, but Celestia pushed past and beelined straight down the hall.
“Where are you going?” asked Filthy.
“Sunset is a girl who always has a plan,” Celestia called back. “If she’s really here, she would set herself up in a spot where she could leave easily if she got caught. And look,” she pointed at the large window at the end of hall, “There’s the fire exit.”
The others glanced at each other and, deciding the reasoning was sound, followed Celestia to the end of the hall. As Celestia reach the end, she began gently peeking open the doors one by one. After a few empty rooms, she stopped at one, a pained expression crossing her face. “Oh, Sunset . . .”
The members of the Board quickly arrived next to Celestia and crowded around the door of the small bedroom. Sunset Shimmer had lain herself across the floor, shivering in a heap of blankets on a thin mattress. Her school supplies were strewn across the room, scattered on top of an old desk and small dresser.
Discord popped into the room and floated up near the ceiling, staring down at the destitute girl. “Well, Filthy, it looks like you’ve got yourself a squatter.” He didn’t bother to give his usual grin, instead staring coldly at the girl below. “Although, judging by how she looks right now, who knows for how long?"
“She’s managed to hide it from the whole school, this whole time,” he said, dumbfounded by the revelation. “On my own property, no less.”
“Well, no need to lose sleep over it,” Discord said nonchalantly. “It’s just business, after all. Hey, I’ll say you’ve even been generous by not kicking her out yet. Give her another year and she could claim squatter’s rights!”
“We have to help her,” said Fancy Pants. “She’s practically freezing to death. How is she gonna make it through the rest of the winter?”
Celestia stepped in the room and leaned over Sunset, gently running a hand through her hair. Due to their current physical status, however, her hand simply passed through Sunset, not connecting. She sighed. “Oh, my Sunset . . . I should have just forced you to stay, or forced you back long ago. We could have worked things out . . . so much for believing in your independence.”
“Discord,” said Fancy Pants again, “Whatever you’ve done to make us invisible to Sunset, you need to undo it. Let’s reveal ourselves to her and get her somewhere warm. We need to help her. Right?” he said, turning to the other members who nodded their heads in agreement.
Discord rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Hmm . . . no.”
“What?” exclaimed Fancy. “She could die out here!”
“Stand back, Celestia,” Discord ordered, and when she did so, he snapped his fingers. All of Sunset’s blankets briefly flew into the air and straightened themselves out before Discord quickly wrapped them all tightly around Sunset, as if he was layering her in a burrito. “There,” he said, wiping off his hands, “That should keep her nice and toasty all night. I even heated the blankets for her,” he added.
“Why won’t you just wake her?” asked Shining Armor. “You know, I can’t just sit by and let this girl suffer. None of us can!”
“Then we’ll go back to the meeting room,” Discord said slowly, “and we’ll vote for her to stay in school. Because if you want to help her, the fastest and easiest way is to do it through the systems already set up in the school district. So come back to the meeting, allow her to stay, and when she comes to school on Monday you can work on appointing her a coordinator and finding adequate housing. She’ll be safe until Monday. Cross my heart and hope to die,” he promised.
“That’s dirty,” spat Blueblood. “You’re trying to force us to vote yes in order to save this girl from harm!”
“Because it will save her from harm,” Discord rebuked, “And it is directly in your power to help her this way.”
“Okay,” said Fancy Pants, nodding his head, “Then I’ll vote to let her stay. We’ll use that loophole, just like you said. The girl stays, gets the help she needs, and we don't need to face too much backlash. It sounds like a good deal.”
“Because it is,” said Discord. “This is your get-out-of-jail free card, but time is running out to take it.”
“Discord,” Celestia said from beside Sunset, “Let’s get back to the meeting room. There’s no more time to waste.”
“Did you need a moment?” he asked gently.
Celestia attempted to run her hands through Sunset’s hair, but this time—snap—her fingers managed to connect. After a brief few seconds, she stood up and smiled at the draconequus. “Thank you,” she whispered.
With a smile and a nod, Discord snapped his fingers and brought the members back to their seats, and back to a fully functioning body.
No one made the effort to stand up.
“So,” Discord drawled, “Let’s take a count. All in favor of allowing Sunset to stay. Of course I am,” he said.
“There ain’t no doubt about it in my mind now,” Granny Smith said.
“I know I’m abstaining, but I think you can guess what my recommendation should be at this point,” said Shining Armor.
“I’m willing to face the brunt of the populace if it means we can help this girl,” said Fancy Pants.
All eyes turned toward the two men at the front of the room. Filthy sat deep in thought, his chin resting on his hand. Blueblood was shooting daggers at Discord.
“This has all been . . . completely twisted!” exclaimed Blueblood. “Don’t any of you believe in justice? In due process? Of ethics, standards, tradition? I’m as sad about it as the next guy, but this is beyond hypocritical! So what if there’s a loophole in the policy! What about everything else?”
“You said we didn’t have to worry about anything else, just the policy,” said Fancy Pants. “Well now we have.”
Blueblood turned to Filthy. “Rich,” he pleaded, “They’re trying to ensare you. Remember what you told me, about your business? How you’re building it now to invest in the future? For your family, and maybe your daughter will take the reins one day? Think about that, Rich. You’ve gotta protect them, and this vagrant is not worth compromising your ideals over.”
Filthy Rich bored a hole in Blueblood’s eyes. “I am thinking about it, Blueblood. Carefully.” He turned to Discord. “All of this, Discord . . . how'd you know?”
Discord started to chuckle. “What do you mean?”
“You wouldn’t have come in here if you didn’t know we had three separate polices that cross-checked one another perfectly. And then to get me here, the owner of one of the places she's living in? You must have swayed things without me realizing, just like you did with Officer Armor.”
Discord smiled. “I had no idea about that, Rich. Haven’t even read the policy, and I don’t really care, if you’d like to know the truth. No, that little loophole is all you. And her being in your building, well . . . just a lucky coincidence.”
Filthy leaned back in his seat with a sigh. “Okay. I’m convinced.” He glanced around at the rest of the Canterlot High School Board of Education. “She can stay.”