Sunset's Past
“Why?” Applebloom asked curiously as Sunset sighed.
“I had an unnaturally high amount of magic for a filly my age. I could use magic far more efficiently than any unicorn fillies my age, and sadly, it was the reason my life at the orphanage was so miserable. Everypony there, even the adults that were supposed to care for me, shunned me like their lives depended on it. I was so stressed out that I developed a fever, and nothing worked. With how much pain I was in and nopony comforting me, combined with my high fever, I guess it was to be expected that my magic would be unstable. All I remembered after that was the feeling of magic building up in my horn and then, I lost control. By the time I regained my consciousness, the part of the orphanage I was in was in ashes, everypony was huddled together on the far end of the orphanage and they were all looking at me with fear and a hint of loathing in their eyes.”
“That’s horrible…” Fluttershy gasped softly.
“But this is where things began to look up for me. I was on the verge of tears at how everypony was looking at me. I was confused at what happened. And I was terrified at the thought that I might have harmed somepony with the destruction I caused. And I still felt terrible from my fever. But then, I felt somepony place their hoof on my back comfortingly, and a soft gentle voice spoke to me, telling me that it wasn’t my fault. I looked up to see who it was and it was a dream come true, for lo and behold, Princess Celestia stood there dressed in full regalia, smiling kindly down at me.”
“You met the princess?!” Scootaloo leapt to her hooves.
“Yup!” Sunset gave her a wink as the listening ponies all have their mouths agape at what they heard. “I was scared at first though. My magical outburst was so impactful that the princess herself came down to investigate. As a little filly who caused the damage, you can tell how terrified I was. I thought she was here to lock me up or something.” She chuckled. “But then, she assured me that nopony was hurt, and that she came because she was impressed by the amount of magic I possess and therefore wish to take me in as her personal student.”
“No way! That’s awesome!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed in shock as Sunset nodded.
“I can assure you, I was just as shocked when she told me that. And so, she brought me back to the castle to live with her. I guess you can kind of say that she technically adopted me.”
“Adopted, by a princess? How fabulous, darling!” Rarity sighed dreamily.
“Yeah, I was overwhelmed at first. Everything was so different from what I had ever known. The princess made sure I received the best care from her own personal doctor, Twilight Velvet, and stayed by my side so I would feel secure. Thanks to her care, I quickly recovered. Once I was feeling better, Celestia pointed out that I had gained my cutie mark from that magical outburst.”
“You got your cutie mark during that magical outburst?” Pinkie asked as Sunset nodded.
“I’m not sure what it represents, but the princess had a theory for that. She told me that during my magical outburst, I had casted all kinds of magic which is apparently the reason the orphanage hadn’t been completely burnt down. She said that my cutie mark represents a lot of things. Perhaps it could be a sign of my strong magic. The flames could be my passion and drive to achieve. The lighter and darker parts could represent how I have two paths before me, the path of good or evil. The yin-yang symbol in the middle probably represents a balance.” Sunset shrugged. “Whatever it represented, I didn’t care much about it back then. All I cared about was how similar it looked to Celestia’s cutie mark.”
“Oh yeah, the Legend of Alicorns Princesses did show Princess Celestia’s cutie mark as a sun and Princess Luna’s as a moon.” Applejack mentioned. “I bet you were giddy about that, since you admired her so much.” Sunset nodded with a chuckle.
“You bet. I was elated. I thought I was destined for great things, maybe even good enough to one day become her successor. Sadly, I let that get to my head and that led to my downfall.” Sunset frowned. “In one day, I went from a nopony orphan to Princess Celestia’s personal student with a cutie mark similar to hers. I studied magic whenever I could and didn’t care for anything else. I became arrogant and selfish. Everypony was not worth my time. Everything I did was for myself. Celestia tried to correct my behaviour by showing me a mirror that would supposedly show me my destiny. Unfortunately, the stupid mirror decided to show me as an Alicorn and dumb me became even worse than before. I even started demanding that Celestia make me an Alicorn and accused her of denying me of my destiny when she refused, saying that I wasn’t ready. Angry, I tried to study the forbidden magic in hopes of achieving what I wanted, and of course, Celestia found out. She was furious and removed me as her personal student. She got guards to escort me out, but obviously, I wasn’t going to go without a fight. I casted a spell, and then there was a bright glow, and I found myself here.” She sighed as she looked to the Crusaders. “I understand how you feel. I pushed everypony away and didn’t bother getting along with anypony. And while getting adopted by a princess was great and all at first, the princess never had any time for me. Admittedly, I kind of saw her as my mother, but the princess probably didn’t think of me as a daughter. She always made sure to keep the distant between us and although I was just a little filly who had never been loved before, even though I loved her so much, there just wasn’t any signs that she loved me. I’ve never even heard her say the word ‘love’ to me before. That was part of why I wanted to be a princess too. I wanted her to acknowledge me, and maybe if I became a princess, I thought she would finally love me back, that I would finally be worthy of her love.” She blinked back tears, ignoring her friends’ and the Crusaders’ concerned gazes. “Anyway, my point is, I really do understand how you feel, and I’m sorry I made you feel as though I was stealing your sisters away from you and made you feel unloved by them. I hope you can forgive me for that.” They shook their heads.
“No, you’re not in the wrong! We’re the ones who should be sorry!” Applebloom said.
“We shouldn’t have just hated everypony just because things didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to!” Sweetie said.
“And it was wrong of us to destroy other ponies’ belongings and to frame you for it!” Scootaloo said as the three of them hugged her.
“We’re sorry, Sunset.” Sunset just smiled at them and held them close.
“GROUP HUG!!!” Pinkie yelled as Sunset instantly became sandwiched in one of the tightest group hugs she had ever been in.
“PINKIE! I CAN’T BREATHE!” She barely managed to yell out, heaving a sigh of relief as the group hug quickly dissipated. “Anyway, I believe some sisterly talk is due.” She said, nodding to Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash, while gesturing to the Crusaders. The 3 pairs of sisters stepped towards one another.
“We’re sorry for everything we did. We’ll be sure to apologise to the other ponies later too.” The Crusaders said as their sisters gave approving nods.
“We’ll come with you. This is partially our fault for having neglected you so much.” Rarity said, hugging Sweetie Belle.
“You’re not mad at me?” Sweetie asked as Rarity shook her head.
“Not anymore. I love you, Sweetie.” Sweetie squeezed her tearful eyes shut as she returned the hug.
“I-I love you too, Rarity.” Applejack looked to Applebloom.
“You’re my precious family, Bloom. I want you to know that the next time you want my attention, all you gotta do is ask, alright?” Applebloom nodded as she shared a warm embrace with Applejack.
“I know. I’m really sorry, Applejack.”
“I forgive you, Bloom. And I’m sorry too.” Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves.
“No way am I going to do something so sappy!” She huffed before looking to Scootaloo. “But I’m sorry for not being the sister you need, Scoots.” Scootaloo just smiled to her.
“And I’m sorry for being such a terrible sister too.” Rainbow Dash just grinned as she ruffled her mane.
“Nah, you’re the most awesome sister I ever had, squirt.” Scootaloo’s grin matched hers as she fixed her ruffled mane.
“You too, Rainbow Dash.”
Here's another chapter! Enjoy! 
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Surprised the existence of Cadence wasn’t brought up.
10187046
To be fair, most of them probably don't know who Cadance is as she is most likely still a Pegasus in this universe, so all of them except Sunset would just be confused.
All I can say is really good job on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in all the right places. Yeah, loved seeing Sunset share more details of her backstory with the Crusaders so that they know she can relate to them more than they think. And the stuff with BOTH sets of siblings accepting responsibility was wonderful too.
VERY certainly looking forward to more of this.
10187451
True, but it would make sense to bring up the gut punch that while being told you couldn’t/weren’t ready to ascend another pony pulled it off and was literally adopted by your surrogate family.
10187817
Yeah. Have to admit, that IS a good point.
Of course, we still have to wonder who is running Equestria with Celestia in self-imposed exile in this universe. My best guess is a democratically elected council comprised of equal parts unicorns, Pegasi and Earth ponies (since that would be one of the few reasonably fair ways to run things that gives all three tribes equal representation).
And I'm guessing this universe's Twilight is probably either a comparatively normal librarian (well "comparatively normal" overlooking the fact that she IS frighteningly powerful, even if she is too afraid of her full power to use it most of the time) or the personal assistant of one of the unicorn representatives on the council (assuming the "democratically elected council with all three tribes equally represented" theory holds water).
Of course, those are just self-admitted guesses and are just as likely to be wrong as right.
10187451
Well it possible she still an unknown person. Considering she was an orphan and because someone was defeated by her love she became an alicorn but ponies don't seem to have anyone to turn to in emergencies because it always twilight and friends. They can't be everywhere and even with the tree that still doesn't change what happened.
Oh my god! 😰
It's a good theory as to what her cutie mark is supposed to represent.
Years of neglect can make it feel like you're unloved you can become depressed and then suicidal I've seen it happen to many people way too many times it's really awful
Loving someone and showing a little Love is crucial as the old saying goes a little bit of love goes a long ways
I myself come from a loving family now I may not be family by blood but I do love the family I have and that's all that matters
That old saying blood is thicker than water is only partially true
It's only true in a literal sense not a familial sense If you know what I mean that is