"Hey sis," Sunburst said. "Been a while, huh?"
Sunset's ears folded down, her muzzle working soundlessly. Her eyes were wide, moist, and lost.
Sunswirl stepped cautiously forward, her aged eyes wide, hopeful, and a touch fearful. "Sunset," she said in a trembling voice. "Is...is it really you?"
Sunspot trotted at her side, squaring his jaw. "Princess Celestia told us—but we didn't believe—didn't want to think—"
"M-Mom...Dad..." Sunset's voice was barely a whisper. She crouched down low on her haunches, curling her wings in tightly at her sides.
Princess Celestia walked into the midst of the group. "Sunswirl, Sunspot, I present to you your long lost daughter, alive and well and, as you can see..." She smiled. "Quite worthy of praise and forgiveness."
"H-how?" Sunset whispered.
Celestia tilted her head. "Sunset Shimmer, surely you must have realized that after your, erm...departure...I contacted your family and made them aware of the situation?"
Sunset averted her eyes. "I...guess it never even occurred to me..." She looked up at her family, her eyes desperate, pleading, searching. "I'm so sorry!" she wailed. "I...I was such a horrible, spoiled brat! I left this world and didn't even give any of you a second thought! I..." She sniffled. "And then, after...after everything that happened, I..." She pressed herself low on her belly, burying her muzzle between her hooves. "I...forgot you..." Tears welled in her eyes.
The attendants quietly left the room as Sunset's family looked at one another, pain, doubt, and the ache of old memories crossing their faces. "Sunset," Sunswirl said gently. "I...won't pretend we understand what happened to you. And...and it hurt that in all these years, we never heard from you even once..."
"The only way we even knew you were still alive was Princess Celestia contacting us," Sunspot said gruffly, his voice hoarse.
"If I'd known before today you were friends with Princess Twilight, I'd have come looking for you by now," Sunburst said. "Or...or maybe not. I mean...you hurt Mom and Dad pretty bad..."
Sunset whimpered. "And...and you?"
Sunburst sighed. "I've wasted most of my life feeling sorry for myself because I got all the brains but none of the talent," he said with an awkward half-smile.
Sunset blinked. "Huh? But..."
Celestia laughed. "Pay him no attention," she said. "Sunburst merely lacked confidence in himself. True, he has let much time pass without making the most of his abilities, but he has finally come into his own and made quite a name for himself."
Sunburst rubbed the back of his neck with a hoof and laughed sheepishly. "Oh, I just...y'know..." He coughed. "But enough about me, look at you, Sis! You're an alicorn!"
That broke the dam. Sunswirl burst into tears and flung herself at Sunset, sweeping her up in a hug and shaking her. "Oh, sweet Celestia, Sunset...you foolish girl..."
Celestia smiled. "I believe the four of you should take some time to catch up," she said. "We can finish preparing you for your coronation later." With that, she quietly withdrew.
* * * * *
After the initial shock and flood of emotions, during which a maid delivered tea and biscuits, the family sat down. Sunset told her family about everything that happened after she left Equestria: her time acclimating to the other world, her bid for domination, the theft of the Element of Magic, her transformation into a demon, and all the rest of it, finishing with her and Twilight Sparkle finding the geodes in the crystal cave and, with the help of their friends, defeating the corrupted Gloriosa Daisy.
By the time she was finished, her parents and brother were staring at her with wide, astonished eyes.
"...wow," Sunburst said. "You uhh...you've had a heck of a life, Sis."
Sunset grimaced. "Yeah, well, it feels like everything I've been through in the past eight months has just been my atonement for a lifetime of cruelty, ambition, and inflicting misery and suffering on others." She rolled her eyes. "I mean, by now I've pretty much put it all behind me and made peace with what I used to be. I'm in a good place. I like my life now. I have great friends and...and I'm cool with how things are going now." She glanced at her wings, spreading them out to examine them. "Not so much with this, I mean, it'll take some getting used to, but..." She shrugged. "Like I told Celestia, it won't matter when I go...back..." Her irises narrowed to pinpricks. "Oh."
Her parents drew back. "You're...you're not staying?" Sunswirl whimpered. "But...honey..."
"We've only just gotten you back, and you're going to leave us again? Hurt your mother all over again?" Sunspot asked.
Sunset winced. "Look...Dad...I..." She sighed. "Seeing you guys again, it's rough on me too, you know? Because...because I haven't..." She ducked her head. "You don't need a daughter like me. You're better off forgetting..."
"Don't ever say that again!" Sunswirl snapped harshly. "How could we EVER forget you?! We LOVE you! We..." She choked back a sob. "We..."
Sunburst adjusted his glasses. "We moved on, Sis," he said. "We...we got used to the idea that we were never going to see you again. It was hard, but..." He shook his head. "But...we never stopped missing you. We never stopped caring. It's just..."
Sunset's ears drooped. "You guys..." Tears welled in her eyes. "I...I'm sorry. I really am! I don't want to hurt you again. I really don't! But..." She shook her head. "Equestria...it isn't my home anymore. It isn't where I belong." She sighed. "I belong in that other world now, in that other life, with...with my friends..." She sniffled. "I'm sorry."
Sunswirl swallowed thickly. "As...as long as you're happy, dear," she said. "And as long as...as long as you don't shut us out of your life again. As long as we get to see you and hear from you...y'know...once in a while."
Sunset nodded. "I promise," she said firmly. "I have...I have a lot to make up for. A lot to catch up on." She smiled halfheartedly. "Hey, why don't you all come back to Ponyville with me after this silly coronation thing is over? I'd love to spend more time with you!"
Sunburst adjusted his glasses. "Ponyville, you say? Heh...why not? It'll give me a chance to visit Starlight. I mean, you know, as long as we're there." Sunswirl smirked behind his back.
Sunset raised an eyebrow. "Starlight? You know Starlight Glimmer?"
"Of course I know her!" Sunburst said. "So do you, remember? You used to look after both of us when we were..." He pursed his lips. "Well, it has been a while..."
Sunset blinked. Old memories, buried under a lifetime of studies, misadventures, and self-discovery, bubbled to the surface. "Wait. Wait. Starlight Glimmer was that little filly who used to scream like a mandrake whenever she wet her diaper?"
Sunspot rolled his eyes. "That, she remembers." Sunswirl giggled.
Sunset shook her head. "Wow. Small world, huh?"
* * * * *
The coronation was a long, pompous affair full of parades, trumpeters, and way too many orange banners decorated with Sunset's Cutie Mark. After the ceremony, she retreated to her private room in the castle and immediately shed her topaz-studded red gold crown. "I can't believe I used to be so obsessed with all this," she muttered as she carelessly tossed the crown onto the dressing table.
As she was disentangling herself from her fancy coronation gown, there was a knock on her door. "Sunset? It's Sunburst. Can I come in?"
"Sure," Sunset said as she carefully folded up her gown for the staff to deal with later and crawled onto the bed, curling up on her side. Sunburst entered, blinking at her.
"Umm...I can come back later, or...or we can talk tomorrow..."
"Nah, it's cool," Sunset said. "I could use some normal company right now."
"Eheh...right..." Sunburst chuckled. "Normal...just two normal estranged siblings who haven't spoken in years..."
Sunset rolled her eyes. "Yeah yeah."
Sunburst coughed. "So, uh, anyway," he said. "I was wondering something about your story about that other world." He began pacing. "You said these 'humans' over there, they're doubles of ponies here in Equestria?"
"A lot of them are, yeah. I mean, probably more than I'm aware of, but the two worlds aren't a perfect match."
"I see," Sunburst said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "Umm, see, the reason I asked is..." He coughed. "I don't know if Mom and Dad noticed, but you...kinda didn't mention how you managed to get by over there. I mean, you didn't say anything about how you managed to put a roof over your head or keep yourself fed or anything like that. I just..." He shrugged. "It's been bugging me."
"Oh," Sunset said, her eyes clouding.
"After everything you told us, the only thing I can figure out is you took the place of the other world's Sunset Shimmer," Sunburst said. "You forgot all about Mom, Dad, and me because...because you always had us, just...that world's version of us. Right?" He searched her eyes with his own gaze.
Sunset sighed and turned away. "Not exactly," she said. She swallowed. "The other Sunset Shimmer...actually had a completely different family than I have." She shook her head. "Don't ask me how that works, how two completely different sets of parents can have the same kid, but it's true. You, Mom, and Dad don't exist in that world. Her parents were Desert Sunrise and Sunset Satin."
Sunburst blinked, his brow creasing. "Aunt Satin?"
Sunset tilted her head. "Aunt Satin?"
"Well, we're not close with her or anything, but..." Sunburst shrugged. "You and me are second cousins to Princess Twilight."
Sunset blinked several times. "Really. Huh. Go figure." She shook her head. "Anyway, the other Sunset and her family died in an accident when she was little. The only living family they had was her grandpa. I, umm..." She shifted on the bed. "I convinced him I didn't die in the crash and that it was all a mistake. He was old and dying when I found him, had cancer. I just...I stayed with him until the end, and he left everything to me." She shrugged.
"Oh," Sunburst said quietly.
"Yeah." Sunset sighed. "I cheated an old man out of everything he had by pretending to be his dead granddaughter. And..." She tucked her muzzle between her hooves and folded her ears down. "Even now, even after all I've changed and grown since..." She let out one great sniff. "I'm still living off his money, still keeping the apartment..."
"Well..." Sunburst said thoughtfully. "I mean, yeah, it was kind of dishonest and immoral of you to do that, but..." He walked over and tilted Sunset's head up. "If you look at it another way, it sounds like you gave a sad, lonely old man some happiness in his last days. Didn't you?"
Sunset sniffled. "W-well...yeah, kind of. I mean, I guess..."
Sunburst smiled. "Then don't worry about it. You did a good thing for bad reasons. As long as you're atoning for all the bad things you did, I think it's okay for you to, y'know..." He shrugged. "Maybe let that one slide? Especially if you kinda have to in order to stay there."
Sunset swallowed heavily. "That's...that's kind of what I tell myself," she said shakily. Shaking her head, she added, "Anyway, I'm already at the point where I need to take a part-time job just to make sure I have, y'know, enough left for college and stuff." She let out a huge yawn. "Ugh..."
Sunburst yawned as well. "Yeah, it's...it's been a big day, huh?" He reached out and stroked Sunset's mane. "Good to have you back, Sis." He trotted for the door. "Get some rest. We'll talk more tomorrow."
"Yeah," Sunset said sleepily. "G'nite, Sunburst."
She was asleep before he even closed the door.