A sudden lurch had shook Dusk from his slumber, they had arrived and from the looks of it they beat the morning sun, he look next to him which revealed Rarity resting her head on his lap. The awkwardness of the moment was hidden by the overall fatigue from a terrible night's sleep, he lightly shook Rarity and she awoke.
"Oh, we're here," she raised her head realizing she had been sleeping in his lap and sat up immediately. "Terribly sorry! I didn't realize I had been sleeping on top of you."
Her white cheeks bore a crimson undercoat, Dusk didn't mind. "It's quite all right, I didn't even notice until I awoke a moment ago, so, are you ready to go?"
"Yes, we just need to wait for my luggage," she answered. "Besides the princess won't be up for some time to welcome us to the city."
"I'm still going to give the train crew a hand." Dusk stood up. "I should make sure none of your luggage gets damaged in transit."
He walked out to see the sleeping city, the large buildings of intricate designs created a much different atmosphere than the one that existed in Ponyville. He turned to the luggage car, where the crew had already started with Steel, the conductor Dusk had met last night, supervising.
"Good morning, Mr. Runner,' Dusk greeted. "The crew need another pair of hooves this morning?"
"Ah, Dusk so good to see you up this early to offer a hoof," Steel replied. "Yes, we are having a slow morning waking up and could use the help."
Dusk went to work, the work took ten minutes but everything was unloaded, he looked up into the sky when he had finished and noticed the sky growing lighter. Celestia was getting ready to raise the sun as she did every morning, he didn't want to leave his mentor waiting this morning so he went to see if Rarity was ready.
Back in the passenger car, he noticed how nice Rarity looked before the sun had even risen. How does that mare keep her mane looking so nice overnight? He picked up his saddlebag and threw it over his back before turning to Rarity, "Everything is unloaded, anything else before we depart?"
"No Dusk," she answered. "After you good sir, my luggage will take some time to get to town as there is a lot to carry."
As he stepped out of the train car, the sun peaked over the horizon and the land became illuminated, giving the city a much different look. All of the ivory, traditional architecture and classical color choice left Dusk a feeling he hadn't had in so many years, he felt at home.
The two looked to the sky as a figure appeared from the clouds above and was heading their way. He knew who it was all too well, Princess Celestia. She came into view a few feet above him and landed gracefully in front of him, she looked happy to see him but also confused as to why he was there.
"My student," she addressed him. "Just what are you doing here? Surely you haven't become prepared to see them in a week. So, what brings you back to Canterlot?"
Before he could answer Rarity walked up next to him bowing her head before greeting the Princess. "Good morning Princess, I see you have met my guest here, I believe you two know each other."
"Oh, I see," Celestia answered, she leaned over to Dusk. "I thought you had a crush on Fluttershy."
Dusk and Rarity looked at each other in shock their cheeks grew a little red, Dusk explained, "Oh, no no no mentor Fluttershy are actually dating, I'm just here as a friend to aid her with her task."
"Terribly sorry for the confusion," Celestia realized her error. "You two came together, I could only assume that you two were together."
An awkward silence followed, Dusk couldn't take another minute of it, "Soooo, Rarity told me that you have arranged a room for us to stay at here."
"Indeed I did," she answered, "it's up at the castle, follow me." As the started walking, she pulled Dusk close with her wing and whispered, "So you do know they're still here right, you may be taking a risk coming here if you're not ready to confront them just yet."
"I'm well aware mentor," Dusk whispered, he looked at Rarity, who was busy taking in the scenery to notice the two whispering. "I have to first get used to the city, being ready to approach them isn't enough if I can't come back to the city to do so, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity."
Celestia nodded, she turned to Rarity. "So Rarity, Twilight tells me you will be helping in a fashion show tomorrow, I hope it goes well."
"Thank you so much Princess," Rarity replied, it was strange for Dusk to hear ponies referring to his mentor as 'princess' but could understand why they would. His thoughts couldn't distract him from the little flashbacks from the days after the incident. Every so often something would remind him of his friends and neighbors and how they had turned on him. Rarity turned to Dusk appearing a bit pale, "Are you all right, you seem a bit nervous?"
Dusk realized she didn't know he was from Canterlot, since Fluttershy was the only one who knew what had happened other than the Princess, so he decided to keep it that way. "Uh, yeah I'm okay, just not used to being in such a big city," he lied, telling her the truth right now would do no good, later seemed a much better time to explain.
"Oh, don't be nervous, a pony of your class will do perfectly well up here," Rarity encouraged him, "Fancy Pants seemed to think so when you met him."
Celestia's ears perked up. "My student, you've met Fancy Pants?"
"Indeed, two days ago," he answered, not sure what her response would be. "He was a very classy fellow, we met when I was waiting to pick up my suit for my date with Fluttershy on Hearts and Hooves Day."
A grin grew on Celestia's face, "So, Fluttershy is your first marefriend? I have met her a few times, you better treat her well, since she's such a nice mare."
"Don't worry mentor, I will tread carefully," Dusk assured. "She is the nicest pony I have had the pleasure of meeting in Ponyville." He realized Rarity was still walking next to him, "Oh I meant no offense Rarity. You've been very kind to me since I arrived, except for that one instance."
"Oh no, I'm not offended," she replied. "Very few can hold a candle to Fluttershy's legendary kindness, and I may have crossed a line, no matter how good my intentions were."
Celestia grew confused by their conversation. "Don't worry mentor I will explain later when we aren't out in public," Dusk promised.
The three had reached a high tower, "the room is at the top of the tower." Celestia explained, "I hope that's alright with you two."
"Mentor I have spent two years in the Everfree Forest, stairs will be the very last thing to do me in here," Dusk replied, both Rarity and Celestia laughed a little.
The trek up the stairs was quiet, the view became more astonishing to Dusk as they got higher up, once they reached the top, they group could see most of the city. The three entered the room, it had a much brighter color scheme than the one Dusk had in Ponyville, he looked over and noticed one bed, and immediately scanned the room for another one or at least something to else to sleep on, only to come up empty hoofed.
"Well I imagine you two have some catching up to do." Rarity chimed, "I will go fix us some refreshments." She headed into the kitchen, leaving Dusk and Celestia to talk alone.
"So, what was it like when you first entered Ponyville? I know I got your letter but I would like to hear all of the details." Celestia asked.
"Nothing if not interesting," Dusk replied.
"That much is apparent."
"Well, before I can even get to the town, a few timber wolves wanted to see me off."
"I trust your training proved useful."
"Well, I let one get too close and got my shoulder clawed. Other than that I took care of them. And of course, the one thing I'm terrible at happens to be treating wounds."
"You walked into town with a torn shoulder?"
"Well, yes. And that is far from the worst thing that happened to me."
"Please do go on."
"So, I'm walking into town when a pony ran right into my shoulder. I helped the poor thing up before she noticed she had blood in her coat. She then proceeded to drag me to her home, bandage up my wound and then we got talking. I stayed at her home for a few hours, a little too long considering I was supposed to be meeting Twilight."
"I imagine she was none too pleased about that fact."
"She most definitely was not, I almost lost my hearing when she opened the door."
"That definitely sounds like my pupil, We don't need to talk about what Twilight did, we both are fully aware. Now, how did you and Fluttershy become a couple? Also, what did Rarity do?"
"I can answer both at the same time," Dusk cleared his throat, "it was my second day in town, I was introduced to Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Each asked me a question, and Rarity asked me what my plans were for that night."
"Wait, Rarity was flirting with you?" Celestia asked in shock.
"Please save all questions until the end. So, after she so clearly asked me out on a date. I had to respectfully decline. After all, there was only one mare I had interest in. After everything was said I decided to get some sleep. I woke up a few hours later to the sound of a group of birds that were perched on my balcony carrying a note. The note was from Fluttershy requesting that I meet her at the lake outside of town in private, I wasn't about to ignore her request so I went out there."
"That's when you two became a couple?"
"Yes. She and I walked for a bit and talked about what happened at the little 'meet and greet.' I explained the reason why I declined Rarity's offer. Because there was only one mare that I was interested in and started hinting that it was her. We had a little romantic evening. It was really nice.
"The next day Twilight came up to me and asked for forgiveness and I wasn't ready to give her an answer. After thinking about and discussing it I decided I had enough on my mind as it is. So I gave her forgiveness. Then I decided to talk to Rarity about her offer and ask for a reason behind doing such a thing."
"What did she say?"
"She said that she was testing a theory, that Fluttershy and I had mutual feelings. She had a plan for me either accepting or declining said offer. I was still a little hurt, but the end result was more than worth it."
"I can only imagine so, but you must have forgiven her considering that you came back to the place you were abandoned just to assist her, while simultaneously risking running into your parents prematurely."
"Wait, WHAT!?" Rarity shouted, she had just entered the room with some tea, the tray was nearly dropped when she heard what Celestia said. Dusk rushed to take the tray from her and sat her down to let her catch her breathe, before turning to Dusk with a tear in her eye. "How could you not tell me that you were abandoned here before going to the Everfree Forest with Princess Celestia?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't think about it when I had made the decision before we left," Dusk could see how hurt Rarity was at that moment.
"Well, how long were you planning on hiding it!?" tears were running down her cheeks. "Do you really think I would have asked you to come if I knew what happened to you here!?"
"Well, it seems that I have to go and attend to some of my royal duties," Celestia declared heading for the door, "I will see both of you later, good day." She obviously wanted to get out of the situation, she had no need to be there and it was getting a little personal for Dusk.
"Now that I think about it," he sighed, considering how much he screwed up again. "No, there's no way you would have made such a request." He gave her a hug in hopes of stopping her from crying, it didn't quite work as tears started to drip onto his back.
Seeing how he made his friend cry just tore into Dusk's heart, it was the worst feeling he had felt since he came to town. He comforted Rarity and waited for her to stop crying, that apparently was going to be a while unless he acted. He knew what he needed to do to make her stop crying, for now.
"Do you want to hear what happened?" Rarity looked up at him in shock, his question had thrown her off guard, she nodded yes as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "Okay, it all started when I was a young colt...."