Okay, before you read this, I must insist that you read the prequel story The Secret Life of Rarity. If you don't there is not a single thing in this story that you will understand. You are going to read the first sentence and be really confused about what is going on and then you're going to go back to read The Secret Life of Rarity and it'll all be ruined for you right off the bat so PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS UNLESS YOU HAVE READ THIS STORY FIRST!

Sweetie Belle looked at her unmoving sister, hoping that what she was seeing was a dream, but knowing that it was not. Her big sister Rarity, the pony that she had looked up to her entire life was dead. She had spent her last moments of life singing to Sweetie Belle the lullaby that she had sung to her so many times when she was a filly. Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head. Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed.

Sweetie Belle pushed on the glass that separated her from her sister as her executioners moved about her sister's body doing whatever official stuff they needed to do. Behind her Twilight and her friends moved to leave the room with Scootaloo in tow.

She continued watching her sister, still hoping that she would move and that she wouldn't actually be dead, but she knew that she was.

She felt a hoof on her shoulder and she turned around to see her parents, both looking more broken then they had ever been in their lives.

"Come on Sweetie Belle," said her father. "Let's go home."

"But what about Rarity?" asked Sweetie Belle pathetically. "What's going to happen to her?"

"I don't know," said her father. "But we can't stay here. We'll figure out what will happen with her soon, okay?"

No, it wasn't okay. Nothing would ever be okay ever again. Nopony could ever fix the hole in her heart that her sister's execution had made. She ran out the door towards the room on the other side. Her parents called out to her, hoping that she would stop but nopony was going to stop her now. She burst into the execution room, startling the guards inside.

Resolutely, she walked up to Rarity's body and put her front hooves on the the table to balance herself as she stood on her hind legs to meet Rarity's empty gaze up close. She was vaguely aware that the guards were talking but they didn't stop her.

Sweetie Belle stroked her sister's perfectly styled mane. Even in death she looked as beautiful as she always had. Her body was still warm when Sweetie Belle placed her hoof on Rarity's foreleg. Death had not yet taken that from her.

Sweetie Belle leaned in and quietly kissed Rarity on the forehead.

"Drifting off to sleep, the exciting day behind you. Drifting off to sleep let the joy of dreamland find you," sang Sweetie Belle to her lifeless sister, hoping somehow that finishing the lullaby would wake her sister up and they could all go home and be happy. Rarity didn't move and Sweetie Belle began crying silently. She reached a hoof over to her eyes and closed them. Now she could be sleeping. "Goodnight Rarity," whispered Sweetie Belle. "I love you more than anything."

With that, Sweetie Belle put her front hooves back on the floor and silently walked out of the room. She turned back to see her sister one last time before following her parents out of the station.

The ride back to Ponyville was dead silent as the train moved through the land. Each of the ponies in the car was feeling unbelievable grief at the execution of Rarity for the crime of being a serial killer and they stewed with their own thoughts as the train ride went on.

Pinkie Pie's mane and tail were both deflated and now hung like curtains instead of their normal bouncy state. Her pink coloration had lost its brightness as well.

Rainbow Dash had Scootaloo in her forelegs and the orange filly had her forelegs wrapped around her idol's waist, clinging desperately to the last bright spot that she had in this world. Neither was shedding tears as neither had any tears left to shed.

Twilight had Spike wrapped in a hug and Spike was holding on to her in the same way that Scootaloo was holding Rainbow Dash. Spike was shedding tears while Twilight merely looked contemplative.

Fluttershy was hiding in her mane and crying softly. Sweetie Belle knew that she still didn't fully understand all that had happened in the past few days or why it had happened at all. Rarity and her had been the closest of the group and so it had hit her hardest of all.

Her father had her mother wrapped in his forelegs as well. She was resting her head on his shoulder and both were crying silently.

Applejack and Big Macintosh were away from the main group and they were in the back of the car comforting Apple Bloom . All three of them were crying as well.

The silence continued for another hour before Applejack stood up and walked over to the main group.

"So...what now?" she asked. Twilight shrugged.

"I don't know," she said. "I suppose that we just...no, I don't know."

"Did Princess Celestia say anythin'?" asked Applejack.

"I talked to her briefly before...that and she used it as an opportunity to disown me as her student. I'm not her protégé anymore," said Twilight. Applejack gave a soft gasp of shock but Twilight merely shrugged again. "Once she found out that I knew about what Rarity was doing, I didn't expect anything else. None of us are getting a prison sentence for this though. But overall, that's pretty much the extent of what Celestia said."

"Oh Twilight-"

"I'm just a normal old librarian now," said Twilight. "No more advanced studies, no more letters to the princess, no more Elements of Harmony either. I'm just the town librarian."

"Is Ponyville going to hate us?" asked Rainbow Dash. Twilight shrugged.

"I imagine that they won't hate you, Fluttershy, or Pinkie Pie because you genuinely knew nothing about any of this. They don't need to know that Applejack and I knew anything either so I think they'll move on pretty quick in terms of suspicion of us."

"Will they hate us?" asked Rarity's mother fearfully. Twilight looked at her sadly.

"I can't say for sure since you really didn't know either but...yes, I think they will blame the three of you somehow, you two especially."

"But we didn't do anything!" said Rarity's father.

"I know that," said Twilight. "We all do. But they'll blame you for how Rarity turned out." Rarity's father groaned and he shook his head.

"It isn't fair," he said. "None of this is. It isn't fair that we have to suffer for what Rarity did, it isn't fair that Rarity was forced into a position where she had to kill in the first place, none of this is fair to anypony!"

"I know," said Twilight. "But we can't do anything about it."

Sweetie Belle looked up at Applejack and touched her foreleg with her hoof.

"Applejack...what do you think this means for me, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom?" she asked. Applejack sighed.

"I aint gonna stop you from seein' Apple Bloom. You weren't responsible for any of this and I don't want to punish you for stuff that Rarity did. As for Scootaloo I can't say," said Applejack.

"Why not?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"Because Rarity is the reason that Scootaloo is an orphan. Rarity killed her parents then dropped her off at the orphanage as a young filly."

Sweetie Belle looked at Applejack in shock.

"Rarity killed Scootaloo's parents?" Applejack nodded. Sweetie Belle looked back at the orange filly who was crying into Rainbow Dash's shoulder. Sweetie Belle wanted to go over to her and comfort her, but there was simply no way that Scootaloo would want to be around her right now.

The train reached Ponyville a few hours after midnight and the eleven ponies and one dragon departed and immediately parted ways. Sweetie Belle saw that Rainbow Dash was leading Scootaloo somewhere, presumably to her home. She hoped that Scootaloo could at least get a good night's sleep.

Sweetie Belle's parents walked in the direction of their house and Sweetie Belle followed them. Part of her wanted to go back to Carousel Boutique, it was technically her house now after all, but she knew that the royal guards would undoubtedly still have the place locked down tight. However, Sweetie Belle still planned to begin living there as soon as she possibly could.

As it was past midnight, the streets of Ponyville were empty and as such, the trio of ponies didn't run into anyone as they walked back to their home. As soon as they were inside, Sweetie Belle walked up to her room and shut the door. She didn't want to be around anypony right now.

She laid down on her bed and looked around her room. The various objects inside looked foreign and unwelcoming to her in the darkness. She almost felt that she was in some stranger's house. She felt that she belonged in Carousel Boutique with Rarity.

Sweetie Belle closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep. She remembered something that Rarity frequently said to her about how things always looked better in the morning after a good night's sleep.

But things wouldn't look better in the morning. Things would never look better ever again.