Author's Note
And I feel pure angst in this Chili's tonight 
Coming Undone
Several nights after Twilight’s coronation as the ruler of Equestria, her five closest friends went out for drinks.
The simplicity of the evening’s plans suited everypony just fine except for Pinkie, who suggested a night involving more cake and party canons. After one drink, Fluttershy was the first to leave, and Pinkie left after five drinks.
Rarity sat on Rainbow Dash’s left, her tail swishing from left to right as she listened to the blue pegasus talk about the mole on Soarin’s butt, and the several instances Fleetfoot slipped into Spitfire’s office, in a voice boisterous enough to turn ponies’ heads in the booths a few hooves away. As Applejack drank more apple cider on Rainbow Dash's right, giggles escaped her lips with less difficulty, like a faucet running water.
Rarity found her tail to be moving slower, as her ears flattened and her smile withered away. At every party since that one Hearth’s Warming party, Rarity found Applejack making her way towards the white unicorn. They’d talk about their sisters, the boutique, the farm, and whatever new topic the mares could get their hooves on. Rarity even found apple phrases such as “apple-so-lutely” escaping her lips, or found herself visiting the earth pony for an apple pie for Sweetie Belle. Well, half of it anyway.
Finding common ground with Rainbow Dash was one of the most challenging trials of the unicorn’s life, and even then the two ponies just settled on their already founded friendship as their common ground. In that moment, where Dash’s rough laugh broke Rarity out of her longing thoughts, Rarity found herself asking a different question.
What does Applejack see in her?
Rarity couldn’t bring herself to step off the stool and leave the two ponies to their own devices, not when her feelings were forming like a tidal wave, threatening to break the damn of confession that stood firm ever since that day. A slip of Applejack's hoof around her ivory fur, mares tipsy off Hearth's Warming eggnog, the warmth of her oaky scent and the shade of her signature hat. One of her closest friendships transformed overnight, and the unicorn that usually pursued stallions that bended over backwards for her found herself not knowing what to do.
Expensive dates with red wine and heavy nights, body on body, came to her like candy came to a foal. But to dream about a mare that probably didn't think twice about her? It was her heaven, her hell, her purgatory.
My choice.
Rarity finally stepped off the stool, slower than a sloth moving off a branch, only for Rainbow Dash to swing her rainbow head in her direction.
"Leaving already?" Dash's hoof lunged for her purple mane, rubbing it like a lottery ticket.
"I need to check on my sister," Rarity emphasized, staring at Applejack. The orange mare's glassy gaze rested in the direction of Rainbow Dash's erect wings.
"You take care now," Applejack slurred, the words shaping into knives into Rarity's chest.
Rarity's head turned towards the exit of the bar, stumbling outside into the cold starry blue night. Blue, that color caused her to growl and stomp her hoof.
Why, after annual races and attempted co-teaching, did those two enjoy each other's company now? Beverages lowering inhibitions, a tangle of orange and blue in the clouds, the thoughts sent a chill up Rarity's legs and down the tips of her ears.
Please, I can't. Great Celestia, give me one more chance. I'll tell her everything, I promise.
The stars didn't budge, and Rarity stepped into the darkness of her cave.
"Rarity Rarity Rarity Rarity!" Pinkie chanted, leaping and throwing her hooves against the boutique door. "You need to come out here, you won't believe what I saw!"
"How do you not have a hangover, darling?" Rarity asked, opening the door with one hoof, rubbing the crust out of her eyes with another.
"Applejack and Dashie bucked!" Pinkie squealed inches away from Rarity's face. Rarity pulled back, as a jumpscare spooked her. If only it were a jumpscare.
"W-What?" Rarity whimpered, her blue eyes watering up in several different shades.
"Her hat flew out of Dashie's window, and towards Fluttershy's cottage!" Pinkie explained. "We have to go there!"
"P-P-Pinkie, I had too many," Rarity stammered. "Go on without me, please."
"Okie dokie!" Pinkie booped Rarity's nose. "Do take some tea, those hangover jitters are shaking you like a leaf!"
Pinkie grinned, turning around and jumping away like a pogo stick. Rarity willed, begged, for her hoof to just resume motion and pull the door shut. Her hoof trembled in protest, before lurching forward and slamming the door shut.
Rarity stormed throughout the boutique, checking the vacancy of the other rooms before screaming at the top of her lungs. Her hind leg lifted in action and slammed against the wall, cracking a dent into it, before Rarity collapsed in a shuddering heap of white and purple fur.
"No no no no no!" Rarity wailed. "Why her?! Buck her! Buck her to Tartarus!"
During the whole hour she spent laying on the floor, waves of relentless torment washed over her mind, the thought of her fading away in Applejack's drunken thoughts. After the waves washed away, a voice in her head scolded her for her foal-like behavior. After all, she had nothing stopping her from shooting her shot, and somepony had beaten her to the punch.
And two of her closest friends were likely to spend more nights in that house, nights in the barn, maybe in a house of their...no, no universe would curse Rarity with such a reality.
Her final tears of the morning spent, Rarity used her shaky magic to create some chamomile tea in a cup. After drinking it's contents, Rarity stood up and aimed a beam of magic at the cracked wall, repairing it without a single flaw. Rarity started at the mended wall, frowning as she placed her hoof on her chest.
Some things, Rarity determined, would always be cracked.
