At the start of the first break period, the group met up again.

"Ok," Rainbow began, "what, was that about?"

Sunset hung her head. "I'm sorry, that, he was, uh-"

She was jolted upright by Rarity taking hold of her shoulders and beaming. "Yes, who was that gorgeous gentlemen? Is he a friend of yours? Can you introduce us?"

Rainbow face-palmed. "Tell me you are NOT going ga-ga over that jerk."

"Ok," Pinkie chirped, "She is NOT going ga-ga over that jerk!"

"Thanks. Thanks so much."

"No problem!"

Sunset cleared her throat, the others flashing apologetic smiles. "Anyway, his name is Prince Blueblood. He-"

Rarity clasped her hands together, her eyes shining. "A prince, you say?!" She sighed dreamily, her mind wandering off to the flowery fields of fairytale romance.

Fluttershy's face tinted closer to her hair color as she mumbled toward the floor. "W-wow, a real live prince."

Applejack rolled her eyes. "A prince? Ah might not have the highest grades in geography, but ain't no government Ah know of still has princes an' princesses today. Where's he from, anyway?"

"Well," Sunset tried to pick up, "he's from-"

"Equestria!" interrupted Pinkie, who began speaking very quickly, "He was like a playmate-slash-colleague-slash-minion while you were still kinda evil and studying under the princess in your world, but not princess Twilight, like another princess, and while you only wanted to keep your relationship professional, he fell deeply in love with you, but then you disappeared to THIS world, and he never saw you again! Crushed, he spent the next few years stewing in cold, lonely bitterness until he heard about a way to reunite with his lost love; the portal leading from your world to this one!"

Sunset's mouth hung open as the others awaited confirmation. "I... Uh... I-I only knew maybe the first part, but yea... How did you know all that?"

Pinkie smiled. "Just a hunch!"

Rarity checked her hair in a pocket mirror, bobbing it with her other hand. "Well, I'm sure someone could ease the pain of his wounded heart!" She stopped, looking at Sunset with contrition. "I mean, unless you'd rather...?"

Sunset shook her head before placatingly raising her hands and smiling. "No, no, please, be my guest!"

Rarity was hugging her in a blink. "Ohhh, thank you, Sunset Shimmer! I'll be sure to invite you to the wedding!"

Sunset blinked. "Weddi-" Before she could complete the one-word question, the fashionista was gone, off to find her Prince Charming. The air smelled faintly of disaster.

"Anyway," Applejack picked up, "what was that about 'cold bitterness'? Fella seemed pretty cheerful to me."

Pinkie shrugged. "Maybe he was just really happy to see her?"

Sunset repressed any kind of facial expression. There were disadvantages to having an adult mind in a teenager's body and teenage friends. Moments like these were one of them.

Fluttershy raised a hand. "Uhm, s-so, what should we do?"

"Let Rarity handle him, I guess," Rainbow offered, "and hope she scares him off." She scowled, averting her eyes. "If he makes fun of my hair again, I swear I'll..."

Applejack smiled, patting her head. "Aww, don't worry none about yer hair, Sugarcube, yer pretty just the way ya are!"

"Th-that's not what I-"

"It really does look nice," Fluttershy added with a smile.

"In-do-deedily!" agreed Pinkie.

Rainbow blushed, crossing her arms and pouting as the others giggled.

Interrupting Sunset's plans here would be bad, Blueblood thought to himself as he aimlessly wandered the halls of CHS, but surely exploring a little isn't interrupting anything.

Otherworldliness aside, it didn't really seem that remarkable a place. He'd never been to a learning facility of lesser stature than Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns, but he got the impression this was a place of no great prestige. No matter, if it was where his future princess chose to be for the time being, it might as well have been Castle Canterlot itself!

There was something screwy with that line of thinking, being that he'd willingly abandoned exactly that place in favor of the current venture, but before he could think too much about it, he caught sight of a girl in a dull-blue dress that ended just at the top of dull-grey boots. She was just standing in the hall, perfectly still and with no expression on her face whatsoever. As she didn't seem busy, he approached to ask a question. "Hello there. Might you know Sunset Shimmer?"

She didn't respond. Not even a blink.

"Hello?" He waved a hand in front of her face, but there was no reaction at all. "Hm," he thought aloud, "perhaps I'm talking to a mannequin? Very convincing, but who just leaves a-" As he reached out to get an idea of what the hair was made of, she sharply turned her head, looking him in the eye, which made him draw back with a start. "GAH!"

"Oh, hello," she said in complete monotone, "I didn't notice you there. I was playing camouflage with Boulder."

"Boulder?" he asked, still just the slightest bit unnerved.

She drew a very small rock from her pocket, holding it where he could see and standing silent for several seconds. "He found me." That stance was maintained for the better part of a minute.

"Right, well. Anyway, do you know anyone by the name of Sunset Shimmer?"

He was just about to ask if she'd heard him when she answered. "Yes."

Blueblood smiled a bit. Progress! "Excellent, what can you tell me about her? What has she been up to lately?"

He wasn't sure, but he could have sworn the corners of her mouth inclined upwards by about a millimeter. "I have to go now. Goodbye." Standing still for several more seconds, she slowly walked off.

Alone, he stood in silence. What just happened?

"There you are!" He turned to the sound of the voice, a pretty young woman with elegantly-styled purple curls and skin not unlike his own. She looked familiar. Approaching him with a light sway to her hips, she grinned. "You're the new student, yes? Someone else usually handles showing newcomers around, but as she's a tad busy at the moment, that position falls to yours truly." She curtsied, batting her eyelashes twice. "I'm Rarity."

Ohh, ponyfeathers.

What was the strangest thing Princess Twilight had mentioned about this world? That there seemed to be duplicates of the ponies she knew? No matter, he'd get rid of this girl soon enough, he'd just-wait, wasn't she standing near Sunset this morning? What if Sunset was the one who sent her to give him a tour, that he'd be able to assist easier given familiarity with the area? Ignoring the voice in his head that said this was a bad idea, he opted to stay on his best behavior. Underlings speaking out of turn was one thing, but Sunset almost certainly wouldn't appreciate him giving anyone acting under her orders a hard time. He forced a smile. Just like with the other Rarity. "I am Prince Blueblood."

Either Rarity had strange ideas of which parts of CHS were prominent, or Sunset's plan just happened to involve a lot of places where it was easy to be alone. Together. Alone together, Rarity kept pointing out.

"This is the music room, though almost everybody prefers to practice elsewhere..."

"With the juxtaposition of those two walls and that support column, that's the one table in the cafeteria one would be advised to sit at if they wished for... privacy..."

"Rather spacious for a storage closet, this room even has thin windows towards the top of the outer wall. Supposedly it's to save on electricity and not needing to install the proper fixtures, but the way the sunlight enters serves as the perfect mood lighting at the right time of day..."

"This corner of the library hardly sees much traffic. Can you believe nearly no-one is interested in tales of courtly romance?"

"So as you can see, one could sit at the bench on this side of the school for hours without seeing another person. Why, I'm sure even two could remain secluded, if they wished."

The whole time, Blueblood was desperately trying to figure out whether Rarity was referring to herself, or if this was Sunset's way of saying he'd later be able to find her at these locations. She always seemed to have difficulty being direct in some matters, which earned him a few slaps upside the head after making the wrong guess as to what she meant when they were younger.

Rarity turned to him, fluttering her eyelashes again. "That concludes the tour, do you have any questions?"

At last! "Yes, where might I find Sunset Shimmer?"

She averted her eyes, striking an innocuous pose. "Right now? I couldn't even guess."

He sighed. "I see. Well, thank you for your time, Miss Rarity, but I really should be off, ta-ta."

Watching him go, with a bit more attention than was strictly called for, Rarity wondered what she had done wrong for him not to be asking her hand right now! Well, perhaps that would have been a rather extreme reaction, but he should have at least shown some interest! She muttered something decidedly unladylike under her breath.

"Phooey!"