//------------------------------//
// Exhausted Ensembles 
// Story: Chaotic Dreams 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

	Sunset was awakened by a slight poking in her ribs. Cracking an eye, she saw Twilight still snuggled up against her. The lavender alicorn was doing the poking, and she wasn't smiling. Sunset instantly knew something was wrong.

"We forgot about Starlight..." Twilight mouthed, eyes glistening. She looked to the side, indicating to Sunset to follow her gaze. Sunset looked, and there lay Starlight, awake but not moving, eyes fixed on the cuddling alicorns, face a picture of pain and despair.

Sunset sat up, and looked at her fully. Starlight looked back, focusing not on her but on the still-laying form of Twilight. "I failed..." Starlight's small voice grated, lungs heaving with the effort of talking. "Again."

Spreading her wings, Sunset slowly paced over. Starlight cringed, radiating fear and hopelessness.

Instead of talking, Sunset lit her horn, an aura of teal magic settling over Starlight's ruined body. Slowly, she combed over her, logging every sort of injury that could be expected from a fistfight in a storm in a burning building. Frost forming on her horn, she gently began sealing lacerations and soothing scarred skin.

"What a-are you doing?" Starlight coughed, forming a halfhearted frown, unable even to raise her muzzle off the ground.

"Helping you," Sunset replied, not looking her in the eyes. "I meant what I said, above the storm. Whatever wrongs I've committed in the past no longer represent who I am, and Twilight believes that more than anyone. I don't know how I can convince you of that. I want to understand you, Starlight Glimmer, but until I do, the only thing I can do to show you I mean well is this."

Starlight merely groaned. "Suit yourself."

Twilight arrived at her side, kneeling down. "Are you all right, Starlight?"

"No."

Standing back up, Twilight looked Sunset in the eye. "We should take her to a hospital."

Sunset merely raised an eyebrow.

Twilight fell back, ears folding. "Yes, I... know what she did. And what I almost did to her. B-But..." She looked away, then back at Starlight out of the corners of her eyes. "Starlight, do you even want another chance?"

"I want to survive..." Starlight silently rasped.

"If I help you..." Twilight hesitated. "Will you tell me why you hate Sunset so much?"

"Fine. Nngh... Help..." Starlight's voice trailed off, her eyes glossing over, chest rising and falling fitfully.

"Sunset?" Twilight turned, visibly shaking. "Can we help her?"

"If you're asking my permission, Twi..." Sunset sighed. "Yes. But please keep an eye on her until we've had a chance to talk things over and hear her side of the story, okay? I'm all for taking magical monsters and villains and finding the real people and ponies behind them, but... her track record isn't being the best right now."

"Good. We should hurry, I..." Twilight grimaced. "We left her alone for way too long already while we worked out our own problems. I don't need another thing to blame myself for tonight."

"Twilight? Before we go, I..." Sunset bit her lip. "Could you, maybe... promise not to tell the others? About what my Cutie Mark does? I know so little about how it works, and really want to find out before... you know..."

"I can do that." Twilight smiled softly. "You, um, might want to hide these too, just in case." She gestured toward Sunset's wings.

Sunset blushed. "Right. That's probably a good idea."

"And..." Twilight continued, hesitant. "Can we also not talk about what we just talked about here? Everything? With the others? I still... I need to think about things, sort them out in my head. I'll be all right, Sunset. But I do need time to think."

Sunset smiled back. "Sure thing, Twi. I guess I'll..." Moving to pick up Starlight in her telekinesis, she looked properly at the defeated unicorn for the first time, and trailed off. She blinked. Hard.

"Uhh, Twilight?" Sunset stared, and her tail flicked. "Has she always...?"

Curiously, Twilight gave her former student a look as well. "What are you talking ab- oh my." She held a hoof to her mouth, eyes widening.

Starlight was blank.

Sunset and Twilight raised their eyebrows at eachother. After all the night's surprises, Sunset didn't have it in her to be phased anymore, and suspected Twilight didn't either. Still, she had to ask. "Twilight? Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Twilight bit her lip. "She definitely had it a week ago. And the last time I saw her, which was the day before... this. What happened?"

Sunset stared at Starlight's ruined body. "If I had to guess? The same thing that cost me mine. She put on a crown... and used it to spread disharmony. When it was turned on her, well..."

Twilight glanced at her own flank. "Then, do you think she has one of these?"

Sunset bit her lip. "Honestly? I don't know. It doesn't look like it. If she does, where is it? But she's also been pretty much unconscious since our battle..."

"This... could be a problem when we take her to the hospital," Twilight said. "Grown ponies in Equestria don't just lack Cutie Marks. Ponies are going to ask questions, questions I don't know how to answer."

"Rrrnngh..." Starlight growled fitfully, seeming to flicker in and out of lucidity. Her horn sparked slightly, and with a pop, a gray equals sign appeared on her flank. "There..."

Twilight's eyes widened. "Uhhh..."

Sunset nudged her. "She'll also be unconscious for a whole lot longer if we don't get out of here. Act now. Questions later. How do we get out of here?"

Twilight put a hoof to her chin. "Hmmm... Well, this is a place for alicorns. And since we are alicorns... maybe it's as simple as just wanting to leave?"

"Try it!" Sunset waved with a hoof, checking to ensure her wings weren't present just in case.

Twilight hummed. Suddenly, a bright sphere of white light emanated from her horn, expanding and enveloping all three equines before any had a chance to react. Then, as quickly as it had appeared, it shrank to a dot and vanished, leaving the swirling cosmos empty and devoid of life once again.





In the throne room of Twilight's castle, eleven equines lay, fervently pouring through thick magical tomes and shaking their heads in confusion. Occasional whispers of encouragement flitted through the air, not that they were needed: none of them had any intention of breaking from their work even for a millisecond. A baby dragon scurried back and forth, fetching new stacks of books in hope that something of use could be found within.

"Meh," a Rainbow Dash sighed, pushing aside a scroll. "I'm fairly sure nothing in a book about plants and medicine is gonna help Sunset and Twilight. Unless this place has plants that can teleport you between dimensions?"

"Honestly? That would be pretty sweet," said the other Rainbow, floating past upside-down, an open book resting on her blue belly. "But I'm pretty sure we don't. Keep looking!"

Suddenly, the magical map in the center of the room flickered, and a pillar of blinding light shot toward the ceiling. Slowly, it constricted, eventually vanishing and expelling Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer.

Everyone in the room froze. Someone blinked. Starlight collapsed back to her side with a pained grunt, unable to stand. Sunset giggled nervously, taking in who was in the room.

"Chimicherrychangaaaaaaa!" blurted a Pinkie Pie. The tension in the room shattered, and both worlds' parties of friends surged toward them.

"Twilight, darling!"

"Well, I'll be! You made it back!"

"Did you get to fight any totally evil monsters?"

"Was Nightmare Moon there? Oh! Oh! Or Queen Chrysalis? Duaaah! It must have been Discord! Hee!"

"Um. Hi..."

Sunset lifted her head above the sea of fuzzy pony hugs to see six stragglers faceplanted on the throne room floor, clearly unaccustomed to having four legs. Disentangling herself, she lifted them back on their feet with magic and took turns nuzzling them. "You all came for me..."

"Duh! We're your friends!" Rainbow grinned, spreading her wings for emphasis.

Applejack punched Rainbow's shoulder, and the pegasus tipped over with a panicked yelp. "Well, it's not like we could just go and do nothing! If you're in trouble, and Princess Twilight's in trouble, it's our job to help you!"

"Yes," Rarity added, looking to the side, "except that all we did was trash Twilight's library and spend several hours flailing around in a strange world with these adorable pony bodies. I must admit, I wasn't expecting it to seem this natural, walking around without clothes."

"Strange!?" Pinkie butted in. "Are you crazy? This place is amazing! Look, look, watch this!" She picked up a book, and held it out in front of her. "I can hold stuff... without hands! It's like magic!"

"Actually, it is," said Twilight, carefully stepping closer one hoof at a time. "Apparently, that's how hooves work here! They have limited-range telekinetic fields that can-"

"Girls," Sunset interrupted, patting a cuddling Fluttershy's head. "You totally helped me. I'm serious. Each and every one of your messages to me in my book were... they were exactly what I needed to keep going, and not give up." She spread her forelegs wide, and tried her hardest to wrap everyone into a group hug. "Thank you..."

"Um, Sunset?" Fluttershy asked, pulling back slightly. "What happened to it? Your book, I mean."

Sunset grimaced. "I'm... pretty sure I lost it. I tucked it under my clothes to try to keep it safe for a while, but I lost those when I transformed, and... I didn't really have time to worry about it after that."

Twilight grinned curiously. "Wait, you transformed? Does that mean you got my pendant? And it worked?"

"Yup!" Sunset nodded, ears straight forward. "I probably would have died a lot faster without it, so thanks, by the way."

"You... died?" Applejack asked, tilting her head.

"I say, that sounds rather morbid." Rarity frowned. "Last we heard, you were merely not in control of your body!"

"Duh! Obviously, since Sunset was writing to us as a ghost, and you only become a ghost when you die, she was dead, right?" Pinkie looked up hopefully.

"Um... Maybe we should talk about this another time?" Sunset glanced over to Princess Twilight, who was picking her way out from her own mob. Starlight lay nearby, unconscious and alone. "I haven't really slept since I went to bed two nights ago... one? Three? I don't know. Actually, what time is it?"

"It's pretty much the middle of the afternoon," Rainbow replied. "And we've actually been up all night too, trying to find a way to help you. I guess we could stand to sleep on it, first..."

Pinkie nodded, eyes wide, then immediately flipped onto her back. "Shnorrr!"

"You can spend the night here, if you want," Princess Twilight interrupted, walking up from behind with Starlight cradled in her telekinesis. "I've got plenty of rooms to spare."

Rainbow winked. "Thanks, Twi!"

Twilight nodded. "Ask Spike when you're tired. He'll find something for you." She turned to Sunset, and bit her lip. "Sunset, I... have to go now. I don't want to keep Starlight waiting any longer. It's already been far too much, and..." Downcast, she turned away.

Sunset rested a hoof on her shoulder. "I understand. I'll see you again soon, Twi."

With a final hug, Twilight spread her wings and soared out of the throne room.

Sunset turned to her friends and grinned. "Well, that's that. I'm sure Principal Celestia will let us off lightly if we miss any school as a result."

Instantly, the atmosphere among the circle of friends ground to a halt. Sunset blinked, tilting her head as her friends stared at her. "What?"

"School's already cancelled," Rainbow said unentheusiastically.

Applejack nodded. "Remember that stuff I said in the book about a car crash?"

Sunset felt her blood run cold. "Uh... maybe?"

"Well, I didn't tell you then because I didn't want to distract you, or nothing, but..." Applejack took off her hat and hung it in front of her chest. "Celestia was in a crash the other night... morning, maybe. She wasn't alone, though, Luna was with her. So was Dean Cadence from Crystal Prep, for that matter. All were hurt. With nobody around to call the shots, the faculty kind of got together and agreed to just hold off on classes until someone was well enough to take over again."

"Well enough?" Sunset breathed a sigh of relief. "Then they're not...?"

"Not dead, no." Rarity shook her head. "When we left, at least. I think we're all just realizing now how long we've been here, and how much could have happened since then..."

"The last we heard, Celestia and Cadence had it pretty bad," Rainbow said, instinctively flapping her wings once. "Luna, not so much. Maybe she's back at school already."

"Great." Sunset blinked at the ground. "I-I guess coming back from that insanity to a bit of peace and normalcy would be too much to ask for, huh?"

Her friends looked awkwardly at her, mouths torn between frowns and sad smiles.

"Sorry, darling..." Rarity's voice spoke up, and they all looked to see Twilight's Ponyville friends walking over. Hesitantly, Rarity stepped forward, continuing. "I well know the feeling. But some days, insanity is all life has in store for you."

"So, you're Sunset Shimmer, huh?" Rainbow Dash sized her up, looking down from the air where she hovered.

"I must say, you look considerably... friendlier than you did the last time we met." Applejack half-grinned apologetically.

"It's nice to really meet you," Fluttershy said, boldly pacing forward. "Twilight speaks very highly of you, you know."

"Yeah! Sometimes, she tells us these stories about how you helped ruin those nasty Dazzlings! Like the time she was up late working on a spell, and you knew exactly what she was thinking!" Pinkie bounced and bounced, but was brought to a standstill when Applejack put a hoof in her mouth with a smirk.

Everyone was silent for a moment, before a Rainbow Dash piped up. "So... what was that all about?"

Sunset grimaced. "Do you want the long version, or the really long version?"

Pony Pinkie grinned. "I'd like the super deluxe triple-stuffed version served well-browned on a homemade platter and not to-go!"

The other eyed her counterpart slyly, chiming in at the end: "...With cheese!" They hoofbumped.

Sunset rolled her eyes. "Suit yourselves. But if you fall asleep during it, I'm not waking you up. And if you can't get to sleep after it, well..."

An Applejack chuckled and wiped her brow. "Hoboy..."





Sunset talked. She talked about Demon Sunset, making sure to save the reveal about her Cutie Mark for the end. She talked about the Sirens, and how they had picked a fight with Starlight. She talked about Starlight, and how she had fought Sunset to the death... as well as how she had served the school burnt muffins, and how she didn't know what UFO chasers were. She talked about the Element of Magic and transformations, describing her experiences with the pendant at length for Twilight. She talked about the collapsing school, her struggles to reach the book in the library, and the messages Starlight left on the intercom.

The only things she strategically omitted were her encounter with Snips and Snails in the gym, her wings, her talk with Twilight after the battle, and her fears about the full extent of her Cutie Mark. The former still pained her to think about, and she didn't want to burden anyone with her own fears before she even knew fully how the mark worked. Twilight had beaten it, and that was enough for now.

Eventually, Sunset reached the end of her fight with Starlight, sitting back with a sigh. "...And that's pretty much what happened. I'm alive, if shaken. So is Twilight. Starlight... We'll see."

The others blinked. Pony Rainbow Dash was the one to break the silence yet again. "Okay, seriously?" She raised an eyebrow. "First me, now you? What is it with Starlight targeting Twilight's friends with these dumb time loops?"

Sunset sighed. "I wish I knew. But right now? That's a job for Twilight to figure out. All I want is... for it to stop for a bit. I need a break. A vacation. I need to think stuff over, maybe talk stuff over, and deal with my problems before life throws something new at me. I mean, the Friendship Games were less than a week ago, and... who knows what could happen next, you know?"

A Rarity nodded. "I think that sounds like an excellent idea."

"All right, then..." Sunset looked around, taking stock of the room they were in. "You girls can stay here, or do whatever. I'm going back to the mirror world for a bit just to check up on how things are doing there, and make sure my book and the pendant didn't spontaneously appear somewhere they didn't belong, or something."

She began to leave, then looked back over her shoulder, smiling. "Don't be too hard on Starlight if you see her again. And I'd really appreciate it if you didn't tell others about the stuff I just told you... especially what my Cutie Mark does. I'm trying my best to leave it alone and let others keep being whoever they want to be, and I'd like the same done for me. This isn't who I am, and nobody needs a reason to doubt that."

A murmur of acceptance rose all around as Sunset stepped out of the throne room, away from the groups of friends.





In a high wing of the Royal Canterlot Hospital, Twilight Sparkle shuffled from hoof to hoof, nervously leaning against the frame to a door. Inside, Starlight Glimmer lay unconscious on a bed, under the effect of anesthesia. Several white-coated unicorns hovered over her, horns aglow.

Twilight whined, softly and constantly, unable to tell what was going on. It was only due to her princess privilege that she had been allowed to go this far, and she didn't want to push her luck.

Fortunately, a doctor eventually shuffled up to her, holding a clipboard in his aura. "Well!?" Twilight blurted.

"Miss Sparkle, I have to ask..." the doctor began. "Would you happen to know the last time this mare has been to a clinic?"

Twilight shook her head. "Not recently, though I don't know much about her youth."

"Hmmph!" The doctor smiled. "You're the first visitor I've seen all day who hasn't responded to the first thing I say with some form of 'will they be okay?' Kudos to you, Princess. And yes, since you're clearly thinking it, she will be okay."

Twilight stared intently at him. "Buuut...?"

"As I implied, her medical records are... very sparse. To the extent that we have nothing on her from less than twenty years ago. We did a search for any other official records she may have, only to find the same." He rubbed the top of his muzzle. "It's almost as if she doesn't exist, as far as the government is concerned. Princess, it's not my place to inquire as to your decisions in who you choose to train. Equestria need not be privy to your every thought. However, I wished to bring this to your attention, in case you it is something you desire to investigate further." In his hoof, he offered a very thin, thin folder.

"Will do. Thank you, doctor." Twilight smiled and took the file in her telekinesis, suddenly wanting to be on her own to think. That Starlight would be off the beaten path wasn't particularly unsurprising, but did she really have nothing? Mentally, she also began drafting a letter to Celestia requesting a meeting; they'd have to explain about Sunset's new wings soon.

The doctor nudged her, shuffling. "Princess, you can go in, if you want."

Twilight nodded, and thanked him. Quietly pacing in, she took a seat on the windowsill next to Starlight's softly slumbering form, sliding open the folder and examining its contents. A birth certificate from twenty-four years ago- interesting. I'd have pegged her as much older than that. Aaand an undated certificate of adoption- also interesting. Would that have been before or after Sunburst? The rest of the folder was bare.

She sighed, putting the items aside. Tucking her legs beneath her and fluffing her coat for warmth, Twilight closed her eyes, losing herself in thought.