Sunset's Shutdown

"Sunset."

Pinkie flicked another folded-up paper football at Sunset's shoulder, the target hit its mark spectacularly, flipping through the air and landing on her hand.

"Sunset." Pinkie whispered again, only this time louder.

Sunset remained oblivious to everything that wasn't in her over-driven selective perception. The things that remained outside of her current focus in mind was Pinkie Pie, high-pitched sing-songy voices, touch, most emotions, and stress.

"Sunset, I've been trying to talk to you for twenty minutes! is there anything wrong? Sunset are you even paying attention?" Pinkie asked, prodding Sunset in the small of her back with the eraser of her pencil.

"I think the question is, are you paying attention, Ms. Pinkamina Pie?" The biology teacher asked, Pinkie looked up as she was caught in the act and replied with equal parts energy and honesty.

"Kinda!"

Mr. Labrat's already stern expression hardened into a deep scowl, "I'd like to see you after class. As for you, Miss Sunset?"

Her head twitched upwards in acknowledgement. "Care to tell the rest of the class what we were discussing?"

"Cell reproduction cycle, first the cell aligns itself by pooling at opposite ends of the cell, a seam forms and starts to split, finally-" Standing, the monotonous tone in her voice was only matched by her glazed eyes.

"No need, Ms. Sunset. Glad to see that you were paying attention, unlike someone who simply couldn't wait until the end of lecture to have a conversation. Try to look more alive, Sunset, you have a thousand yard stare and I don't want any students drifting off. Now if there are no more interruptions..."

Pinkie returned to 'kinda' paying attention to Mr. Labrat, and 'kinda' trying to get Sunset's attention.

"Sunset,"

"Sunset,"

"Sunset!" All five of them cried at once. Each of them held their own lunch bought from the food line in the cafeteria, but Sunset's measly peanut butter and jelly sandwich was all there was to show for her lunch, and she hadn't even taken a bite.

Rarity gripped Sunset Shimmer's arm and shook. She blinked twice, finally coming to.

"Oh, hey everyone." Life sparked into her eyes for each word, but then slowly withdrew.

"Sunset, ya wanna explain what happened to ya?" Applejack asked.

"Yah! You used to be loud and angry, then timid and scared, but now you're all mellow and calm, like all the time."

"Like your sister, Maud, right?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, Applejack launched her elbow into Rainbow's kidney, causing her to tip sideways and gasp out a short "Ow!"

"You know I have more than one sister, but yeah! Like Maud?"

"Everyone, I want to thank you for your concern, but the thing is, I'm just tired." Sunset's hands dropped to the table with a thud. Rarity quickly glanced to everyone for reassurance, but Applejack spoke first.

"Tired how?" she asked, Rainbow quickly flicked the brim to upset her hat. Sunset swept her head from side to side.

"Hit by a train doesn't describe it. Crushed by an elephant doesn't describe it, getting winded, soldiering on comes close."

"Are you all right, Sunset?" Fluttershy asked, her voice quivering.

"Yes, Fluttershy, I'm all right."

"When was the last time you slept?" she asked.

Sunset smiled, suddenly laughing before puttering out almost instantly. "It's not that kind of tired."

"How many types of tired are there?" Rainbow asked, "My muscles get tired after a long game, I get tired if there's too much stuff going on in class and it's boring, and all that goes away with a little sleep."

"Still not the same." Sunset replied.

"Girls, I believe Sunset here is fatigued." Rarity said, slowly placing her hand on Sunset's shoulder. A poignant nod was Sunset's approval in response.

"I know a way to get rid of the sleepies! I'll just need to run to my locker to grab the extra balloons, air horn, and warm up the espresso maker!"

"I don't need any coffee Pinkie, and I'm not surprised you have one in your locker either. Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, thank you for your concern, but I just..." Sunset trailed off, allowing the girls to lean in and wait for her to finish, but it was like all the lights slowly clicked off in her head. Rainbow expectantly rolled her hand to let Sunset finish, but nothing seemed to break her stare.

"Sunset?" They all asked,

"Sunset?" Pinkie experimented by poking her with a spoon which was slapped away by Rarity. Rainbow grabbed the spoon and poked Sunset harder. Rarity slapped Rainbow on the hand right as Applejack grabbed ahold of her shoulder and shook.

"Hey! This is just like my laptop when it froze!" Pinkied said, reaching over to the nearest table and grabbing another utensil.

"Pinkie Pie, I think she's having a mental breakdown." Fluttershy said, sliding over next to Sunset. Fluttershy grabbed a hold of her hand, holding it tight. "Rainbow, could you please run and grab the nurse?" Rainbow nodded and bolted for the cafeteria door, leaving the five of them alone. Fluttershy shivered, looking to her friends before leaning in to whisper into Sunset's ear.

"Oh, snap! Fluttershy's doing the voice!" Pinkie squealed, her pitch reaching the height of her capabilities.

"Pinkie, stuff a cupcake in it fer about five minutes so that Fluttershy doesn't break her concentration." Applejack replied curtly, Pinkie nodded and gorged herself on another confection as Fluttershy managed to get Sunset to start nodding.

Slowly, Sunset stood up from the table, latching onto Fluttershy as she guided them to the door. Rarity and Applejack cleared a path as Pinkie penned a note saying 'back in five' and left it on the table.

"She said she was tired and then just stopped talking!" Rainbow said, "I say she's broken but, Fluttershy thinks she's having a breakdown." Nurse Redheart nodded, spotting the group of teens walking towards them with Fluttershy still whispering to her the whole time. Tears were visibly streaking down Sunset's cheeks, but no other facial expression gave a hint as to the reason why.

"Ms. Sunset are you all right?" Nurse Red Heart asked. Sunset turned from Nurse Red Heart to Fluttershy and shook her head, unwrapping her grip from around Fluttershy's arm and giving her a hug. Everyone was equally surprised, especially Fluttershy as she shied away for a moment before returning the gesture. Parting, the nurse lead Sunset away, leaving everyone standing there in the hall.

"So that just happened." Rainbow Dash said, still watching Sunset and nurse Red Heart disappear down a turn in the corridor. "What'd you say to her? How'd you do that, Fluttershy?"

"I said what she needed to hear, I guess." she said, looking down at the spot on her jacket where a teardrop sank into the fibers.

"Is she gonna be all right?" Applejack asked, worry clearly visible on her face.

"Well, it's about time she had one-" Pinkie said,

"Pinkie!" They all shouted back.

"I mean! Just imagine! You came from another world were everyone is a pony where unicorns cast magic, Pegasus fly, and earth ones are really tough and good at non-visible magicy things. Then after holding a grudge-ish for three-ish years, you go back and cement in the fact that you're not to be trusted in your former universe, and the princess of that universe herself comes out, tells us that there are exact copies of us in pony form, ruins her popularity, then the whole demon thing and the elements of harmony blasting her into a crater! Yeah, like that's going to come out in the wash! Now she has to put up with her sworn frenemy's friends because she told us to watch out for her, even though she must think we absolutely hate her for how she treated us the past three years! Not only that, but we've actually been kind and nice to her, so that entire time, she must be waiting for us to slap her or make her do something menial as a way of making that up to us!"

The entire group stared at Pinkie in disbelief, Rainbow Dash mouthed "Wow," as she watched similar faces of bewilderment form on her friend's faces.

"Talk about your 20/20 hindsight there, Pinkie. So...she expects us to punish her?" Applejack asked, "I know when Mac or me screwed up on the farm, there was always the cane to rear us, back when Grandpa Jazz Apple was still around, we always knew it was coming too. Especially if we were acting bratty, one good smack would make sure any of that would stop right then and there."

"I think we're becoming a touch strung tight without Twilight, she was the catalyst for reuniting our friendship, but now, without her, the air does seem a bit thick with anticipation of her return." Rarity offered, the round of nodding heads were cut short by Rainbow Dash's observation.

"Wait, so you think she wants to be punished?" Rainbow Dash asked, "Didn't she like, have to rebuild the front of the school?"

"Well, partially, the builders did most of the work, she wasn’t officially working but it was a form of community service. From what Applejack and Fluttershy have said, Sunset's mental state must certainly be reeling in shock from the expectations she's put up in her head versus reality." Rarity put on a weak smile, trying to rationalize the reasoning behind Sunset's behavior.

"So, what, do we gotta push her down some stairs to make her feel better? Cause I can get behind that." Rainbow said, cackling at the thought.

"No, Rainbow, that is not what Sunset needs, I'm sure that if we did that, it would only confirm her fears and make everything we've done for her in the past month disappear in an instant." Rarity shot back.

"What about blue hair dye in her shampoo?  I mean, that's gotta be in the running, right? And- slow your boat Rarity- and if it doesn't work, you can just make it into a fashion statement."

"Rainbow Dash! Bullying her is not the type of punishment she needs right now!" Rarity growled, trying to dispel the entire list of plausible punishments from Rainbow's head.

"Like she doesn't deserve at least some gum in her hair!" Rainbow complained, "She does deserve it Dash, but that is not what we are going to do! We are going to rise above the social deviancy of petty pranks and do better than that to show Sunset she’s always welcome within our group."

"Forgiveness is always the greatest form of punishment." Fluttershy quipped, Rainbow's lips parted in a sneer.

"For what!? For reuniting our friendship? No! For telling us about the zillion other alternate universes and that the statue out front is proof? No! For making friends with Twilight who, without, would've turned us into zombies? No! Do we really need to apologize for turning her back into a human after she decided to become a demon? I'll give you a hint, it starts with short "N" and ends with a long "O"! What exactly do we need to apologize to her for? I would'a sent her off to juvey and be done with the witch."  Rarity and Fluttershy gasped at Rainbow's outburst, Applejack was quick to retaliate.

"Rainbow, just a dern minute! You are being way inconsiderate of how she feels! You heard her, worse than being hit by a train. Remember the crater she crawled out of? Yeah, dirt don't just disappear like that without some kinda boom! She's been wracking her brains on how to cope after the fact, and we don't need you to make anything worse by putting gum in her hair or a whoopie cushion on her seat."

"Are you SERIOUS!? That's it! I'm outta here! It's not like she would've been sent to juvey anyway. No, you'd have to do something crazy like draw on the walls, or replace the schools water supply with chocolate milk!" Rainbow stormed off, a scowl dominating most of her face as she clenched her teeth together, uttering curses as Applejack reeled Fluttershy back in before she could go after her. Pinkie quietly made a mental note to try that someday after calculating how much milk she would actually need to have it be in the pipes for a solid amount of time.

"Hold up now, Fluttershy. Rainbow needs to blow off some steam by herself. She'll come around eventually.”