//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Lunch Time 
// Story: Princely Pursuit 
// by Eyeswirl the Weirded 
//------------------------------//

The group met up again during the lunch period following the next round of classes, their usual table.

Sunset turned to Rarity the moment they were all seated, her face hopeful. "So, how'd it go?"

She sighed in response. "I must have been too subtle, he barely gave me a second glance before going off to look for you again."

Sunset's head met the table as she groaned. "Well, thanks for trying."

Pinkie scratched her head. "I don't get it, shouldn't you be happy someone likes you?"

"No. It's just embarrassing because I don't like him that way."

There was a pause and a few raised eyebrows.

Her eyes widened as what she'd said caught up to her, making her sit up straight. "I mean AT ALL, I don't like him AT ALL!"

Rarity giggled a little. "You may not be interested, but surely you can appreciate that there are worse fates than being fancied by a handsome, well-built young man that likes hugging." Applejack and Rainbow made a face. Rarity smirked at them.  "Ohh, please. You're telling me none of you noticed? At all?" 

Everyone else at the table blushed and averted their eyes, save Pinkie, who just nodded cheerfully. "Yep!"

"Well, uh," Sunset muttered while leaning an elbow the table, "yea, it could be worse, but I'd still rather he just not do it."

Rarity grinned a little wider. "What would you have a man do to earn your attention, darling?"

Sunset seemed to mull this over for a minute. "I'd, um..." She shrugged, looking down at the table somewhat guiltily. "I don't know, I only ever learned to destroy relationshi-"

"Hey," Rainbow interrupted, "we talked about this, remember? You've gotta quit beating yourself up about that."

"Past is in the past, Sugarcube."

"Quite so," Rarity assented.

Fluttershy nodded affirmatively.

"Besides," Pinkie chimed in after putting an apple in her mouth and pulling out only the core, "you don't have to do anything to be someone's friend, just be friendly!"

Sunset smiled at them. "I guess so, but I'd really rather avoid this one in particular."

Rarity snapped her fingers, regaining her vicious smile from a moment ago. "Sunset's laid her cards on the table, what about the rest of you?"

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Yer havin' a little too much fun with this, Rare."

Rarity giggled in reply. "I am a healthy young lady, I just wanted to know whether or not the rest of you were too."

Rainbow interpreted that as a challenge, scratching her chin in thought. "How we'd get a guy to like us, huh?"

Turning just a little rosy, Applejack shrugged. "Reckon Ah'd ask if he liked me first, see where it went from there."

Pinkie giggle-snorted. "I'd probably just throw a pie in his face!"

Rarity looked gobsmacked. "That would show affection, how?"

"Tough love?"

"Of course," Rarity muttered under her breath, hesitantly turning to Fluttershy. "I won't force you to answer if you don't want to, but...?"

Predictably, Fluttershy turned about as pink as her hair, attempting to take refuge in it. Sunset silently wondered if she dyed it that way to use it as camouflage. Her friends were just about to change the subject when she spoke up. "A-actually, I, um..." She spared everyone at the table a quick, nervous glance. "It's... I-it's not that I don't want to talk about this at all, I, uh, just don't, I mean..." She gulped, her voice getting softer and squeakier. "It's attracting a guy that I'm not comfortable with."

Some blushed, Pinkie scratching her head. "So, what, lemurs? Penguins? Kangaroos?"

There were some laughs as Fluttershy shook her head, giggling a little herself.

"I don't think she's that kind of animal lover, darling." Smiling gently, Rarity patted Fluttershy's hand. "I'm sure you'll find a nice girl in due time."

Fluttershy smiled warmly. Truth be told, she already had someone she adored. The trick would be getting a minute to talk to her alone.

"Okay," Rainbow said with a confident grin, having made up her mind, "if I wanted a guy's attention," she pantomimed a quick guitar solo, "I'd blow him away with my awesome shredding!"

Then Sunset realized something, her focus on the conversation fading in favor of that on the cafeteria door. Here. This is where it happens. The cafeteria. Lunch. A newcomer from Equestria comes in every time and... Sunset herself was the only one so far to be an exception to the rule, but both times before resulted in a song that the entire student body rallied behind, and there was only one thing she could picture Blueblood singing about if he did it at all.

She started to sweat. Him hugging her in public was embarrassing, but having him sing about wanting to woo her, everyone else supporting him because he did it when they were eating, would be nothing short of a nightmare.

What do I do?! She dared glance at the doors, no sign of him. Yet. She tried not to think about it, but then it would just take her by surprise! She kept glancing at the doors like they were portals to Tartarus, fearing that they'd burst open to the sound of his singing every time she did, fearing they'd do it anyway if she wasn't looking. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she jumped, barely stopping herself from emitting a terrified shriek. 

She turned to see Applejack quickly pulling her hand back, as though Sunset was about to spontaneously combust. "You uh, you okay there Sugarcube? You were breathin' a little funny."

Rainbow raised an eyebrow. "Hyperventilating, you mean?"

Sunset noticed her friends all looking at her with worried expressions. She might have blushed, but she had already been feeling uncomfortably warm. "Uh, s-sorry, I-I was-"

Pinkie interrupted. "Worried Blueblood would kick open the door, sing a catchy song that the entire school danced to and went along with, pretty much everyone supporting him in trying to win you over, adding an uncomfortable layer of peer pressure to the already unsteady situation?"

Somehow, hearing it out loud made it the possibility a little less scary, like she wasn't crazy for thinking it could happen. "...Yea, that."

"I think I understand her concern," nodded Rarity, "I'm not sure he'd unite the student body as Twilight and the Dazzlings did, but if he came in singing a ballad for and about Sunset, romantic a gesture as it might be, everyone would be talking about it for a while regardless."

Rainbow shrugged. "Couldn't she just, y'know, high-tail it out of here before he got started?"

"He might keep going anyway, in a 'shout it from the rooftops' declaration kind of way? If anything, it'd be criminal if she were to miss it, were that the case."

Sunset slooowly rested her head on the table, her arms protectively over her head. It was scary again. 

Fluttershy moved to gently hug her, whispering. "I'm sure it'll be okay." 

Applejack looked less sure. "Really? 'Cuz Ah think if he went all musical Romeo where everyone could hear, she'd prob'ly never live it dow-" she smiled sheepishly as she realized Sunset could still hear her. "-wwnnand, uh, a-and that's why we'll help ya!"

Sunset looked up, confused. "Help?"

Rainbow nodded, pumping a fist. "Yea! If he comes in looking all Broadway, we'll shut him down somehow."

Rarity looked hesitant, but decided against letting a friend suffer for the sake of romantic spectacle. "Yes we will. It loses something if the feelings aren't mutual, after all."

Pinkie beamed. "Ooh, goodie! I might have a chance to practice with my cupcake slingshot!"

Fluttershy didn't say anything, but maintained the hug and a warm smile. 

Sunset was almost in tears with gratitude, but before she could riddle out how group hugs were started and enforced, a voice from behind her made her heart leap into her throat.

"Someone mentioned cupcakes?"

Apart from Fluttershy ducking under the table in fright, the group collectively turned their heads to see Blueblood, an immaculate, white apron over his equally clean suit, holding a tray of colorful confections. He set it on the table, six cupcakes with wavy, red and yellow icing. The inspiration could only stare at them in shock as Blueblood knelt down to hug her again. "I was exploring the kitchen when I found local food to be... lacking. Luckily, the head chef didn't mind me making some adjustments with the ingredients at hoof-err, hand. The green lunch lady only needed to smell my work to know I'd done a good job." He blinked. "Or, at least I think she did, so hard to tell through peasant drawl, you know?"

Applejack stood up, slamming a hand on the table. "Hey!! Ain't Granny-Smith's cookin' or her talkin' needs no changin', ya hear?!"

No sign of contrition on his face, he nodded to the twice-vexed farm girl. "See what I mean? No clue what that meant."

Sunset decided to keep to herself that she, too, wasn't always sure what members of the Apple family were trying to say for the first few weeks. What she didn't mind sharing was her next thought. "That's nice, but would you let go of me already?!"

He smiled. "Certainly, I'll leave you to eat in peace. See you again soon, Sunset Shimmer!" This time, he let Sunset go entirely of his own volition, heading back to the kitchen. There wasn't a thing being served that couldn't benefit from his help, he was sure.

As she had feared, students stared at Sunset and whispered for a few minutes after he left, again making her lower her head and blush. Turning to her friends, she noticed Rarity looking starry-eyed. 

"He even cooks for you?!"

"W-well, uh, it was more like, I mean-"

Pinkie took a bite of one of the Sunset-themed cupcakes, grinning with delight. "'ish naw bahd, ee-ter."

Applejack only glared at them. "Fancy-schmancy blockhead an' his fancy-schmancy cookin', ain't nothin' wrong with Granny Smith's food." She looked a little uncertain, hesitantly reaching out to sample a cupcake herself. After about a solid minute of chewing, she opted to change the subject. "An' who calls the way people talk 'peasant drawl', anyway?!" 

All present noticed Sunset was sweating bullets, staring straight ahead and not blinking.

Applejack sighed dramatically, an amused grin tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Well, ya wouldn't go sayin' any'a that now, right?"

Sunset shook her head furiously, the rest of the table giggling.

"So," Fluttershy, who had silently taken her seat again, quietly inquired, "he used to bring you something to eat all the time?"

Scratching her head, Sunset searched her memory of long nights in the castle library. "Well, uh... sometimes? I mean, I needed something to fuel long study sessions, and he usually came by with something not-terrible." Looking cautiously at the tray, she tried a cupcake, trying not to think about the implications of auto-cannibalism. "He's gotten better, I guess."

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Yea, well, ain't a lot of ways you can screw up a cupcake."

Pinkie and Rainbow replied in unison. "Twenty-seven."

The rest of the table stared at them, waiting for elaboration, but the pair only grinned and high-fived.

Rarity turned to Sunset, repeating Fluttershy's question. "So, he used to bring you meals?"

Sunset tried not to blush. "I'd like to say I only took advantage of those offers when I was really famished... but he never really let me get to that point." 

Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy all had the exact same reaction, clasping their hands over their chests. "Aaaaaww!"

Now she blushed. "I only ate what he brought because going all the way to the nearest dining area when there was food right there would have been a waste of precious reading time!"

Rainbow wasn't the only one that smirked a little. "Uh-huh."

Sunset spent the remainder of lunch defending the completely practical benefits of not stopping what she was doing, leaving bookmarks in the appropriate pages, going to fetch her own meal, and walking back. While they might have agreed to try their best to defend Sunset from public humiliation at the hands of her formal personal chef, teasing her a little themselves felt like fair game. The face she made when they referred to him as her personal chef drew the most laughter.

They didn't see Blueblood again for the rest of the day, to Rarity's audible disappointment as they walked down the hall toward the exit. 

"I was sure he'd try to woo you at least four more times."

Sunset was decidedly less broken up about it. "Maybe he went home? if only for a while?"

"Here's hopin'," Applejack offered with a shrug.

Fluttershy looked concerned. "What are you going to do if he's still around?"

Sunset stopped walking, the others doing the same as they awaited her answer. "Uh... I, I'll... Actually, could I stay over with one of you guys for a while? I don't really want to risk him following me home or something."

Rarity's eyes widened in alarm. "You're worried he would... take advantage of you?"

Surprised, she let out a short laugh. "Him? No, but I'd rather not risk him being able to show up at my door without warning."

"So what," Rainbow asked with her arms crossed, "you'd rather he show up at ours?"

Before Sunset could reply, Applejack patted her on the back. "Iffin' we play musical chairs with sleepovers, he won't know where to look. Providin' somethin' always distracts him when school's over, Ah mean."

Brushing a lock of purple hair aside, Rarity grinned coyly. "I believe the words are 'Challenge Accepted.' Besides, anything has to be better than living in that old-" Fluttershy tapped her on the shoulder, nodding to Sunset, who looked just slightly down. "...Sorry." 

Sunset shrugged, only a small trace of sadness in her smile. "It's ok, I'm pretty sure we've all moved on."

"So," Pinkie said while reaching for something in her hair, "let's play roulette to see who gets to take Sunny home today!" Drawing a colorful, plastic wheel with a spinning arrow in the center and all of their faces on the surface, (they'd just spin again if it landed on Sunset) she flicked the arrow, which came to stop over Rarity's space.

The winner grinned brightly. "Aha-ha-ha!" She clasped her hands together, starry-eyed. "We can talk all night about your old beau, both in how to shun his attention and to seize it!"

"H-he was never my-"

Rarity had already grabbed her by the wrist, smiling ear-to-ear as she led her through the front doors. "Yes, let's get started right away, shall we?"

To Sunset, the mock-pitying looks her friends gave her and Applejack taking her hat off to hold it mournfully over her heart was only a little funny.



Little did they know that just out of sight stood Blueblood, watching as they left the school building for the day, his sight on Sunset and this world's Rarity. He'd stayed away on the chance Sunset would lower her guard, or he'd never find out where she lived. He was just about to move to follow them home when something in the back of his head spoke up.

Um, hey, not to interrupt the possible felony you're about to commit, but do you remember the time a filly followed you home after dark? How it creeped you out more than you ever thought was physically possible? 

He did, a familar shiver going down his spine as he recalled her wide, unblinking eyes as she stood on rooftops to watch him walk down the street like some grinning, re-appearing gargoyle.

Pegasi are capable of some frightening things, when so inclined.

As such, he chose a new course of action; returning to the library! That was where he'd spent the day after lunch, after all. He probably should have realized it had been too late to bring the cafeteria's meals up to Canterlot standards with lunch already started, but they'd at least preserve things for tomorrow. He'd have to get in there earlier to keep them from serving whatever that grey slop was supposed to be again.

Sitting in the corner he'd left the stack of books and a notepad, the area of the library Rarity had specifically told him would usually be vacant, he looked over the song he'd spent an hour and half writing, making little progress. Some ponies, some people, could just burst into song at the drop of a hat, but Blueblood was not one of them.

"Honestly," he complained aloud, "I don't even know how they do that!" Princess of Spontaneous Musical Numbers, that's what they should have called Twilight Sparkle. 

He had never been much of a poet, and Sunset Shimmer would let him know it. He'd try his best, he'd write the verse, but over time it just got worse. Hour and day he would whittle away, hoping and praying he'd know what to say, just to see her sweet face light up with glee, hearing ballads composed by none other than he! But with each passing day did that dream grow thinner, no way in the world in his way he would spin her, for with prose alone he could not be the winner, and was ever ignored by his dear Sunset Shimmer.

Nothing coming to mind, he gave up for now, opting to look up how massages were given with hands instead of hooves. It was one of the few things Sunset was happy content willing to tolerate letting him do when they were younger, if only rarely. What he knew as a pony was all but useless now, and his special talent would only get him so far. This and other things he researched in the library before drifting off to sleep in the Courtly Romance corner.