When Dusk came to, he was laying in a bed and staring at the ceiling, attempting to recall what had happened before he passed out. Then it hit him, Rarity had just kissed him! He jerked himself up, before he could see what was going on his head started throbbing in pain, when he finally regained sight, he saw Rarity sitting on the bed next to him.
She looked at him with shame in her eyes, "that was terribly unladylike for me, I'm so very sorry."
"How long was I out?" Dusk was still in a fog about what had happened.
"Not long, I would say five or ten minutes, I didn't expect you to pass out from a little kiss, did you faint when you first kissed Fluttershy?"
"First, that is not something I wish to discuss with anyone other than Fluttershy," he paused for a moment, "and second, why in the name of Celestia did you just kiss me!?"
She giggled like one of the school fillies from his childhood, "oh come now, you must have some feelings for me, why else would you have come with me?"
Dusk was speechless, was this really happening to him? Rarity completely changed right in front of him, "what do you mean? I came because you asked me to and that's the only reason I needed, as for my feelings for you, I don't have any, I am quite happy with Fluttershy."
Rarity began laughing and crawling on the bed toward him, "we'll see how you feel when I'm finished."
Dusk began backing up into the head board, "Oh no, no, no, no!"
A shouting came from inside the room but he couldn't tell where exactly, "Dusk wake up!" he opened his eyes to find Rarity standing over him, "Dusk what happened? You were screaming, your whole body was shaking and you on the verge of falling out if the bed."
Dusk was breathing heavily and his coat was saturated in a cold sweat and the spot he was laying on the bed was in a similar state. "Oh thank Celestia, it was only a dream, it was... only a dream."
"And from the looks of it, a nightmare at best, what did you see?"
Dusk thought for a moment, "it's probably best that you don't know, but what happened, I only remember... you kissing me."
"Oh yes, that was a bit out of character wasn't it? I don't know what came over me, just looking into those eyes of yours and it just happened, I guess." Rarity's cheeks grew red, "when I kissed you, you just fell over and I assumed you just fainted and put you on the bed, was it really that bad?"
"To be honest, I just remember the room spinning, I can't recall the actual act," that was a total lie and he definitely knew it. The kiss wasn't quite comparable to ones from Fluttershy, but it was something he enjoyed a little too much and wanted to avoid the scenario in the future.
"Oh well, it's probably best we try to forget that it happened here this evening," Rarity suggested.
"Yes, but I will need to tell Fluttershy, she deserves to know what happened," Dusk declared, he was not going to jeopardize his relationship over this.
"No, no, no you can't tell her, what do you think this will do to her?"
"A lot less harm than trying to hide it from her, I will not lie to her about this or anything else," Dusk's mind was made up.
"Please, please don't," Rarity began to beg down at his feet, "she could be devastated by this and I might lose her as a friend."
"If you really are worried about losing her as a friend, be at her side when I tell her and help me explain this," he held out his hoof. "She is the kindest pony I've known my entire life, I know that she will forgive this, she might not be able to right away, but in time, she will."
Rarity took his hoof and stood back up, "you're right, we have to tell her, it wouldn't be right to try to hide it, but what about our friends."
Dusk contemplated for a moment, "with the others, only tell them if it comes up, don't lie to them but don't simply tell them, they don't need to know if they don't ask."
Rarity nodded in agreement and the clock began to chime, ten 'o' clock, "well with that I'm going to bed," Dusk turned to the only bed, not a couch in sight and floor was much too hard. Splendid, this night just became that much more awkward, he thought, there isn't anyway around it so I might as well stop thinking about it.
He climbed into the spot he had already taken on the bed, he could see Rarity running around again putting little fine touches on the dresses. After a short time, Dusk could feel that Rarity was climbing into the other half of the bed and tried to slide as close to the edge of the bed as he could.
After a few minutes, he was asleep and had one of the strangest dreams of his life: Dusk was watching a memory from outside his body, he was staring at Rarity the same way that he was when she kissed him, he was reliving that moment, but something felt, off. Originally, he passed out shortly after their lips met, but in this memory was different, in this memory he was rescinding it! The two were actually making out, he couldn't believe what he was seeing and desperately wanted to wake up again, but that didn't happen.
He could here Rarity whispering, "What about Fluttershy?" in his doppelganger's ear and was appalled by the answer that was given.
"Fluttershy? I don't care about Fluttershy anymore, you are all that matters."
Dusk broiled with anger but before he could do anything, he opened his eyes and was staring at the far wall, it was just another dream, just another horrid, horrid dream. Dear Celestia what's wrong with me! I cannot have these feelings, I'm already in a happy relationship with a mare that I have strong feelings for, I cannot acknowledge such feelings for any pony other than her.
He spent the rest of the night staring at the ceiling trying to rationalize his nightmares, by the time the sun arose he figured it was the heat of the moment but fell asleep once more. He couldn't recall what happened in this dream, but when he awoke he could have sworn he was in another one of those nightmares. He could feel hooves crossed over his chest, but they were not his own, Rarity had clung to him for warmth during the night.
He kept calm and slipped out of her grip before getting out of bed, she hadn't woken up yet so he decided to make himself some breakfast. The kitchen was fully stocked and Dusk decided to try his hand at pancakes, after about ten minutes he had a decent stack of slightly burnt pancakes.
After eating part of the stack he decided to leave the rest for his roommate, not five minutes after he was done she awoke and walked into the kitchen. She looked at the stack of pancakes, noticing how they were a little burnt, "oh you shouldn't have, I could have made my own."
"Nonsense, help yourself I didn't need that many," Dusk gestured to her as he washed his dishes.
"Okay, I thank you for the hospitality," she took a bite of a pancake and cringed a little, but kept eating regardless, she probably didn't want to offend him. When she finished, she gathered her outfits from the night before and put them in her saddlebag, "the show will be starting in a little bit, would you still like to come?"
"But of course, I wouldn't have come all the way out here and not attended your show," Dusk announced with a bit of gusto.
"Excellent, I have made an outfit for you, specifically for an event like this," Rarity left the room with half of her food left on her plate and returned with a folded up suit. "I hope you like it, I took your requests from your previous suit to heart in the making of this one," she unfolded the suit and showed it to him.
The style was simple, it was only slightly different as it added some red accents and a red tie to the black suit and white button up shirt, Dusk smiled with approval. Simple, just what he requested, he took the suit and with a glow of his horn and a flash of light he put it on, feeling how it moved with his walking.
The suit was very nice, it fit him well and did not restrict his walking at all he very much appreciated the work that had gone into it. He then extended his hoof to Rarity, who was gathering all of her bags together, "shall we depart milady?"
She accepted his hoof and walked toward the door, "of course good sir, let us make haste," she was determined not to be outclassed by Dusk. The two had walked three blocks, along the way Dusk somehow found himself carrying some of her bags, but he didn't mind too much.
The two approached the studio about half an hour before the show was scheduled to start, Dusk held the door for Rarity and followed her inside. The building was buzzing with many different ponies running every which way, Dusk followed Rarity to the back stage, she stopped at the entrance. "I forgot to mention, only models and designers are allowed backstage, you can go find a good seat."
Dusk simply shrugged, handed Rarity the bags he was carrying and headed to the seats, since he didn't want to be noticed, he sat in the very back. The show wasn't going to start for some time now and the night before proved less than restful, so he tilted his head back and drifted into sleep.
He awoke shortly after to the sound of music playing. The show had begun, models started going down the catwalk. As the show continued Dusk recognized a few ponies were walking on the runway with a few of Rarity's designs, Dusk decided it best to focus on something else so he decided to focus on the show. The designs that the models were wearing were actually quite impressive, after about an hour of seeing amazing dresses and outfits, the show had ended. Dusk went to the backstage to congratulate Rarity on her success.
A crowd of ponies left the backstage area laughing and celebrating, Rarity walked out behind them with her large amount of bags. Dusk immediately took some to lighten her load, "congrats, that was an excellent show, I really enjoyed seeing your designs."
She remained silent, which struck him as odd, he was expecting some response, most likely joy in the success of such a show. "Did something happen back there?"
She nodded, still refraining from speaking.
"What happened, is everything all right?"
"At the castle, can we discuss it at the castle?"
She seemed somewhat distraught, Dusk respecting her request, "of course, wherever you want to talk."
She took the lead and the two had an awkwardly silent walk back to the suite, Dusk began to fear what happened backstage, mostly that some jealous designer had insulted her. After some time, the two finally reached the top of the ivory steps, Rarity had opened the door and he followed her inside and closed the door.
As soon as the door shut, Rarity threw herself around Dusk sobbing, now he was genuinely concerned, "please, tell me what happened."
She took a moment to regain some of her composure, "I... I realized something terrible, something that I cannot deny, but something I can't accept either."
Dusk was forced to ask, "what was it?"
Rarity was still crying, "I...I realized that I have feelings for you, I can't fight them, but you're with Fluttershy and I wouldn't want to come between you two."
With that his heart sank, he couldn't believe what was just said. It took him a minute to find some comforting words.
"Shh, everything's okay."
"No... no it's not! I-I can't believe this is happening to me. Me! Of all ponies this has to happen to me."
"I'm sure it's happened to someone else. But that doesn't exactly help things, does it?"
"No, no it doesn't. What do I do? Dusk, I don't know what to do!"
He backed up and gripped her shoulders. "First, you need to calm down."
She took a deep breath and relaxed a little and Dusk released his grip. "Okay."
"I hate to say this but, I think we need to keep some distance between us when we get back."
"I can't help but agree. I just hope these feelings just go away soon."
"I'm sure it's just a little crush. Just remember, you are still my friend and nothing's going make that untrue."
"What about Fluttershy?"
"I'm sure this is the only time you felt like this, right?"
Rarity broke I contact with him.
"Rarity?"
"Remember when I said I asked if you out to dinner to test a theory?"
"Yes..."
"Well, that's not entirely true."
"Can you elaborate?"
"I, uh, I actually didn't know about Fluttershy's interest in you until she came and talked to me after. I sort of came up with the whole theory on the spot. She would have been so heart-broken if you said 'yes.' I would have stolen you from her before she could tell you how she felt."
"So, you had the full intention of trying to go out on a date with me?"
"I... well... yes."
Dusk faced the door and rested his head on it. Dear Mentor, this was a very bad decision.
"I just... what is she going say?"
"Fluttershy can't know! No, no, no she can't possibly know about this! She will never forgive me for trying to steal you out from under her!"
"I will not entertain the idea of lying to her or trying to hide this. She needs to know, I need to tell her."
"But she will never forgive me! When she approached me about meeting you, she was staring daggers! She was furious about it the first time! I don't think she will forgive so easily a second time!"
"Okay, we will figure that out, for now it's getting late, a good night's sleep will help clear our heads and then we will figure out what to do when we head back home." His voice was assuring, he didn't want her to know that in his mind he was absolutely lost on what they will do, he was most concerned about Fluttershy. She might cut all ties with one of her best friends over him.
"Okay, let's get some rest, the train leaves early tomorrow morning, get to bed I have to clean up my workshop and be ready to leave in the morning."
"Are you sure you don't want help?"
"No, no don't worry get to bed, you will need the sleep."
Seeing no point in trying to convince her otherwise, Dusk climbed into bed and tried to get some sleep, hoping to have some good dreams.