Homecoming

by Rose Quill

Chapter Thirteen - House and Home

I looked at the door, remembering where every little nick and dimple had come from.

Except for that one by the doorknob. I don't remember that one, looks rather fresh, too.

Glory walked up, a pile of sheets in her aura and she leaned against the door while she fumbled with some keys on a ring, missing the keyhole on the first try and managing to have the ring slide right into the impression on the door.

There's one mystery solved, I thought as I walked in and looked around. The furniture was different from the last time I had been here and slightly moved around. There were still books on the bookshelves and dishes in the cabinets. A lot more than I had in my little loft apartment back in Canterlot City.

Glory threw a sheet over the bookshelves, glancing at me as she did.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked.

I nodded, settling a sheet over one of the couches. "I'm sure," I said. "I'm not going to be here long enough to settle in, but I also don't have the time to wait for a realtor to show and sell the house. I'll just hold onto it until I have the time to deal with it." I didn't mention that I didn't want to think about selling the one place that was still full of memories that helped me continue past the grief. I smiled as I saw a picture of me as a little blank-flanked filly being tossed up in the air by Mom's magic, my eyes squeezed shut in laughter as Dew and Glory capered around her.

I traced a hoof across the outline of Mom's face, seeing a tear well up in my reflections' eye.

"Well, the appraiser said that the place was worth about one million bits," Glory said as she tied down the last sheet over the coffee table. "If you should decide to sell, it would be a nice little nest egg for you when you do decide to come home." She smiled at me. "Dew and I would love to see you more often, you know. We missed you, Sunny."

I smiled and nuzzled my sister. "I've missed the both of you too," I said. "Just, one thing after another and time got away from me. I'm sure you know how that is."

She nodded. "I do," she mused. "My desk is a mess right now with trying to schedule restorations and time to spend with Soarin and now with Hearth's Warming coming up, it's just a jumble."

I smirked. "I remember your desk. It's always a mess."

She held her nose up and sniffed haughtily. "It is not!" she huffed. "It's organized chaos."

We both broke out in laughter at that. We both had bad desktop organization skills. I had to throw a sheet over mine whenever the girls stayed at my place just so Twilight wouldn't have an organizational seizure.

"Sunny," she said, her voice going uncharacteristically solemn for her. "You are coming back, right? I mean, you won't disappear again like last time, will you?"

I looked at her in surprise. "Why?" I couldn't voice the rest of my thoughts, I was so shocked by how vulnerable she sounded.

"It's just that..." she hesitated. "With Momma gone, it's just us three now. And Dew is marrying Hue in the near future, and you're off helping the Princess with things, i just...I don't want to be left behind."

"Hey," I said, rubbing a hoof across her shoulders. "You're not alone! If you need me, just get a message to Princess Twilight and she'll forward it to me as soon as she can. Plus, you've got a Wonderbolt that seems to be a little hung up on you from what I hear. You won't ever be alone, Glory. I promise you." I hugged her as tightly as I could, feeling her tight press back against me.

"Thank you," she whispered. As we separated, she looked at me sheepishly. "Maybe you want to come back for Hearth's Warming? We could do the usual; snacks, cocoa, and the story."

I smiled, feeling a little warmth bubble up inside. "I'd love that, actually," I said. "I haven't had a Hearth's Warming at home since I left." The words were a little strange in my mouth. Home.

Once upon a time, this house was home. Then it was my quarters in the palace while studying under Celestia. Now, it conjured images of a little studio apartment with a storage loft in Canterlot City, mixed with the occasional glimpse of the band room at CHS.

"They weren't the same without you," Glory said, seemingly not noticing my silent contemplation. "There always seemed to be a hole in the carols and too much food at the table."

We climbed the stairs and started draping the furniture upstairs. I smiled as I threw the shroud over the beds that I had shared with my sisters years ago, seeming so much smaller than I remembered them.

"Well," my sister's voice said down the hall. "That's the last of them, I think. Can I see you to the train station?"

I nodded. "I'd be offended if you didn't, Glory," I said. "You might miss out on some salacious gossip on the way."

Her eyes sparkled for a moment. "You have some gossip? I find that hard to believe."

I kept up my stoic face for a moment, then we both laughed.

It felt good, laughing with my sister again. It was almost enough to cover the pain in my heart. It was almost enough to make me feel like I was home again, after all those years.

Author's Note:

Small edit on the house price after deciding the bit - dollar conversion rate of eight bits to the dollar.

Comments

[BenRG]

What makes this particular fanon interesting is that it does something that the show canon does not and gives Sunset a clear link back to Equestria that she simply doesn't have in the show. She'll be more conflicted about her future because of her sisters than she's ever been shown to be in Equestria Girls itself.

[Rose Quill]

8431705

Stop reading my mind, Ben!

[Akeion98]

"They weren't the same without you," Glory said, seemingly not noticing my silent contemplation. "There always seemed to be a hole in the carols and too much food at the table."

As someone who has a lot of family,this made me self reflect hard.

[Luna Aeterna Solutae]

Conversion rate is backwards.
It's about eleven dollars to a bit, minimum, based on comparative purchasing power.
(Two bits purchases a couple gallons of fresh-pressed cider of a quality that retails at orchards for around ten to fifteen dollars here.)

[Rose Quill]

9145310
But if you also consider the relative difference in time frame, lack of the inflations from the Nixon and Bush eras, and the larger crop of apples to make the cider from, it makes sense.

$1 in 1860 is the equivalent to $31 today, give or take the odd cent, and that’s the time frame I’m basing it in, along with an inflation of 0.0% that was documented for the era.

[ScisetShimmerEvan]

Must be hard having to let go of a place sunset once grew up in.