Tear Jerker / The Tale of Two Sunsets

• In chapter 24 Sunset ends up in Manehattan after she falls asleep on the train and begins to cry after becoming lost, feeling she will miss Twilight's coronation due to her mistake. Fortunately Coco Pommel helps her out.
• Chapter 30 has Sunset visit her old home in Canterlot and discovers a letter by Moondancer asking her to come to her birthday party which Sunset never did. As she thinks back to her past Sunset realizes how horrible she was to Princess Celestia and everypony in general. Princess Celestia did so much for Sunset to show how much she cared for her yet Sunset took it all for granted by being a complete Jerkass. The chapter ends with Sunset breaking down sobbing over everything she has done.
• In chapter 33, Rainbow Dash gives a blistering What the Hell, Hero? to Sunset after the latter accuses Indigo Zap (Dash's pupil) of vandalizing the hot air balloon, causing her to quit the Wonderbolts; Dash even tells Sunset right to her face that she never changed, and makes it clear that they are no longer friends. Her last words to Sunset in the chapter are especially harsh.
  "Goodbye, you so called friend!"
• Chapter 43 features Granny Smith passing away and Sunset having to help comfort Applejack.
• Chapter 46 has Sunset meet her father Sunspot only to find out he's a total Jerkass. He refuses to talk to her until she pays him, constantly yells at her and outright says he never had a son or daughter. Even when Sunset is on the verge of tears, Sunspot is unmoved and yells at her to leave. Sunburst who was listening in on the conversation, is heartbroken to see what has become of him as he remembered his father to be a kind if not withdrawn stallion.
• Chapter 49: In a flashback when Sunspot learned Sunset disappeared into the mirror and Celestia was unable to open it due to the time limit and the danger it possessed, he exploded chewing her out for allowing this to happen and blamed her for brainwashing Sunset. Even worse is when his wife Solstice learned what happened she blamed Sunspot for losing their daughter and left Canterlot never seen by anypony again. Even though Celestia tried to smooth things over by giving him a fair amount of bits as compensation and reversed the law that prevented his wife from seeing Sunset the damage was done and Sunspot never forgave her for what she's done, blaming her for losing his family. Even Sunset believes this is the reason he became so bitter throughout the years.
• Human Sunset Shimmer had a harsh life. She was once one of the top 20 students at Crystal Prep with her at second place but all that changed when Indigo Zap started to bully her. Indigo forced Sunset to do all of her homework while threating to destroy her glasses if she told anyone about it. Sunset was pushed to the point of exhaustion doing both her and Indigo's homework that her grades began to slip and made her lose her spot on the top 20 list. The last straw was when Indigo tried to force Sunset to break into the school board to steal answers for a SAT test. Fed up with this treatment she went to the principal to punish Indigo for her constant bullying only for Principal Cinch to side with Indigo due to her family being a donator to the school's charity funds. Sick and tired of everything that's she's been through Sunset quit the school and left.
• Things didn't get better afterwards. When Sunset returned home her father Sunspot verbally chewed her out for not bothering to tell him or his wife Solstice about the bullying she went through. Even when Sunset explains Indigo Zap threatened to destroy her glasses if she told on her, Sunspot is unsympathetic over this and begins to complain about all the money he wasted getting his daughter into the school. Solstice is disgusted at his behavior and gets a divorce from him as he clearly doesn't care about Sunset at all. Afterwards Solstice struggled to support both her and her daughter. Sunset tried to help her mother by applying for several jobs but they all rejected her due to her lack of education. Solstice would be laid off from her job and became sick ending up in a hospital. Sunset stole money from Indigo Zap in hopes of paying for the operation to save her mother's life only to learn she died in her sleep the night before. With Solstice gone, Sunset lost the only person who cared about her and was left with nothing.
• Human Sunset lashes out at Pinkie Pie, yelling at her and calling her garbage. Pinkie is hurt by her insults and walks away in tears. It hurts even more as Pinkie is unaware the Sunset she is talking to isn't her best friend and thinks she became mean again for no reason.
• Just when Human Sunset is about to redeem herself and embrace the path of friendship after befriending Rara and Party Favor (her first two genuine friends in life), Gilda manipulates her back into her original dark path by reminding her of her troubled past and convincing her that maybe Rara and Party Favor weren't really her friends. Human Sunset gives Gilda the tiara she wanted that Rara gave to her, symbolizing her rejection of friendship.
• Flash's Heroic Sacrifice in Chapter 72 to save his friends from being consumed by the lava.

---