Hi everyone! Contrary to common belief, I'm not dead! The real reason for this hiatus was because of writer's block. (And that huge science project that I had to work on but whatever.)

Also, Season 5 is out! And because I've been waiting for this new dose of pony for so long, please excuse what I'm about to do:

YEEEAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Southern Moon, The Reader, Not Telling, and anyone else pissed off with what I did with Twilight in the last chapter: I won't tell you what she did EXACTLY, but Twilight's actions were anything BUT helpful to Celestia in the last chapter. And if Tia found out, well, she won't be happy!

Random Dude: Tru

Anonymous: It was one giant reference to Gravity Falls. If anyone wants to find out what I said exactly they can always PM me.

Here's today's chapter:

Rarity snorts when Clashing Blade enters the check-up room.

"Seriously, this is the fifth time this week," she says as she gets a roll of gauze for the cut on the stallion's leg. "You really need to be careful."

The unicorn waves her off. "Well, this is what happens when you work in the armory. Don't go too tight on the gauze, please."

Rarity smiles. "I-"

"Attention all medical in medical wards B13 to B16," the radio on the counter blares out, "if your patient is in stable condition, please report to the spaceship arrival area."

Rarity frowns. Why were the soldiers back already? It's only been ten hours since they left for Baltimare. Usually it takes at least twenty-four hours to get to Equestria, fight a battle, and get back. And why were they only asking for a few doctors and nurses? As far as Rarity knows, there are only about thirty staff members in all four wards.

She glances at Clashing Blade.

"Go," he says, "I think I can wrap my leg on my own."

Rarity nods and hurries to the elevator.

There are twenty spaceships still in the arrival area, but only one of them is surrounded by doctors and nurses. Rarity pushes to the front to get a better look. One pony, one of the doctors, stops her.

"Look, Rare," she says softly, "why don't you go back to whatever you were doing before this? I think we can handle it."

"Why?" Rarity asks absentmindedly, still trying to squeeze between the ponies. She has a reputation in the nearby wards for being squeamish about blood and gore, but she could usually handle it. Also, the doctors loved having her because of her good eyesight. "I-"

She stops cold when she gets to the front.

There are four ponies. They all have giant burns and cuts on their bodies that couldn't have been from combat. Three of the ponies Rarity didn't know. The fourth one is-

Babs Seed.

Babs Seed was in the same spaceship as Sweetie Belle! Whatever happened to Babs might have happened to her sister!

Rarity turns to the pilot of the spaceship.

"Where are the rest of the ponies on that mare's spaceship?" she demands. She doesn't want to hear the answer. She can't lose her sister too.

The pilot shifts on his hooves.

"The Solar Empire rigged the landing site with bombs," he says, "The first wave of ships all got blown up. There might have been more survivors, but then Princess Twilight and her army came and took away some of the ponies that were left in one piece. These four were all buried under some debris. They were the only survivors we found."

The world around Rarity starts to tunnel. She turns and dashes away from the ships. Away from the four ponies that survived the explosion on the mountain top while Sweetie Belle died. Rarity knows that what happened wasn't the survivors' faults, but it doesn't matter.

Sweetie Belle is gone, and now Rarity is alone.

Clashing Blade finds Rarity in the room that stores bandages. Rarity lets him come in, but still faces away from the door. She doesn't take her eyes off the wall that she's facing.

"Um, R-rarity," Clashing Blade says gently, sitting down beside her, "I heard about what happened, and I want to see if you're okay.

She glares at him, feeling another stream of tears run down her face. She's already had her cry. She does not have the energy to face this pony.

"Well, what do you think? Every member of my immediate family is dead. Even if I survive this war, I don't think I can ever talk to Babs Seed again without hating her for surviving when Sweetie Belle died." She chuckles bitterly. "How can I not be okay? I've never been better."

"W-well, um," the stallion stutters. Usually the ashy-maned unicorn was known to be smooth with his words. From the looks of it, though, he probably doesn't have much experience comforting crying mares.

"Look," he tries again, "I know how you feel-"

Rarity shoots up. "You know how I FEEL? You're going to use that line? How? How would you know how I feel? You've never lost a sibling! You've never promised your sister that you'd hang out with her after a battle, and then find out that you'd never hang out with her again!"

That might not have been true, but she didn't care.

"I was supposed to go with her, on that first wave of spaceships. If it weren't for your armory's stupid fire, I would have! I would have died!" Slowly, she slides down against the wall she was leaning on. "I would have died!"

Rarity bursts into sobs again.

Clashing Blade awkwardly holds out his hoof to pat her back, and then he draws it back.

"Well, actually," he says hesitantly, "I did have a brother."

Rarity looks up. She isn't sure how whatever he's going to tell her was going to make her feel better, but she is curious. "What happened to him?"

"I was about four when he was born. When I was seven my parents got fired from their jobs and we fell into some hard times. I didn't know it at the time, but my parent decided that they couldn't raise two foals.

"One day I went to school and when I came back, my brother was gone. I asked my parents what happened and they told me that they put him in an orphanage. When my parents got their jobs back, we couldn't find him anymore."

Rarity nods. So what she said wasn't true.

"What was his name?" she asks.

"Swinging Blade," he replies. There was a long silence after that.

"So," Clashing Blade shifts uncomfortably, "have I made you feel better?"

"Not really," Rarity replies, making the stallion's face fall, "But I think I'll go back to work now. I need to look at your leg. You're horrible at bandaging wounds."

As they left the room, Rarity decides on two things:

One, she will see if Clashing Blade can become one of the ponies to support her and Applejack.

Two, Princess Twilight was probably the pony that killed Sweetie Belle. She will find her old friend, and she will end her. It's either Twilight goes, or she goes.

On that happy note, remember:

Starlight Glimmer is a very cheesyname, never ask Bulk Biceps for a massage, and Luna's way of getting into dreams is kind of creepy.

Review!