//------------------------------//
// QQ 
// Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot 
// by Equimorto 
//------------------------------//

"I what?" Rarity asked, disbelieving, in a tone so loud Twilight worried it would alert the ponies walking outside.
"You were together with Applejack, and then you broke up with her. The human you and the human Applejack, that is," Twilight repeated. It was easier saying it the second time around, now that she was no longer revealing a secret.
"I... Darling, this is too much drama for me to properly overreact to it!" Rarity gave a brief look around herself, then moved to the centre of the room. And there she pushed herself up on the couch which had not been present a moment before, and sat on the edge of it with her head in her hooves. "You're forcing me to be serious here."
Twilight moved closer to her, stretching out a hoof to offer her friend some support. "I know it's a lot to take in all at once. I hope it's not too much."
"Oh, don't worry, it's only the second time I've been forced to reevaluate the potential relationship status between me and my friends against my will. This week." Rarity tried to pout, but her lips refused to cooperate. She kept staring at the ground for a while, hooves perilously close to entering her mane and only held at bay by years of self-discipline. "How different am I from the other me?"
"Well, she's younger than you, by a bit," Twilight began. She sat beside Rarity and continued, "She's not quite as popular or established as a designer. Still working under someone else, nowhere near having multiple boutiques of her own across the country. She plays the keytar. It's like a small piano you can hold like a guitar. But she's a lot like you in personality. The same sense for fashion and style, the same dreams of success. The same generosity."
Rarity quietly nodded along. "And how is the human Applejack?"
"She's a lot like our Applejack, really." Twilight rubbed the back of her neck. "Dedicated to her farm, close to her family, honest. Strong. A little old fashioned. Maybe not quite as obsessed with apples as our own." Twilight looked to the ground. "Younger, of course. Maybe a little less wise than the Applejack you know, and I think that goes for their Rarity as well."
"How long had they been together for?"
Twilight swallowed to help clear away the dryness in her mouth. "I'm not sure, I don't think anyone really knows. It took a while before it became something noticeable, a while longer before they made it official with the others. Months at the least though. But it must have happened after I went there the first time, they weren't even friends back then. So no longer than that."
"And why did they break up?"
"I only know what Sunset told me, and she only knows what they said. And they said it just happened. Their relationship wasn't working right, and they decided to end it." Twilight sighed. "It's still Applejack we're talking about. I don't know if she would lie about this."
Rarity finally turned to look at Twilight. "And I?"
Twilight sighed again, deeper this time. "Rarity still loves her. She says she agreed to the breakup, but it would be clear as day that she's still in love even without her admitting it when she's drunk. And there's a bit more." She swallowed. "Applejack left for a different city, not too long after they broke up. A job opportunity. She warned the others, but it still felt sudden. They all think it had something to do with the breakup, maybe she was trying to get away from the whole thing. Rarity has been getting worse ever since, not that she hadn't started spiralling down already." Twilight took one last, deep breath. "She needs help, Rarity. And you're the only mare who'd know her well enough."
Rarity placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "And I will help her."