//------------------------------//
// Chapter Two 
// Story: Falling For Our Stars 
// by bobdat 
//------------------------------//

“Did you fillies know that Bubbles didn’t get all Cs?” Miri told us conspiratorially as we made our way to breakfast. Her hushed tones made it obvious that this was big news.
“Really? Oh my, poor Bubbles,” Fly replied, looking a little sad. “So she’s not here?”
“Yep, but she’s the only one. She didn’t pass English,” Miri continued, before rushing away to tell other ponies. I suspected that would mean the entire school.

It was the first day of the school term, and the school was finally alive with ponies. All of the younger years had arrived the night before. We’d passed the ten days since results doing induction work for our new subjects and enjoying our new privileges. School had arrived, but it had arrived with free periods which were the best thing ever. A whole hour lazing around doing nothing.
“Imagine, a whole lesson of doing nothing!” I said, fantasising happily about my new-found freedom.
“I think we’re supposed to work during our free periods. Catch up with the extra homework we’re getting now,” Fly said in her normal sensible tone.
“Whatever, I’m sleeping in the first one. I missed half an hour’s sleep because Miri took so long in the bathroom.”

There was no rain hitting the windows as we made our way downstairs to the dining hall. September had started cold but dry, which killed my slim hopes of Saddle Arabian summer. The only reason I had willingly dragged myself out of bed was to pick up our new timetables, details just how many free periods I would be enjoying this term.
“Looks like they’ve got fresh daisies today,” Fly informed me shortly before I started heaping them onto my plate. Breakfast was always subdued because all of the older ponies were still half-asleep.

Dinner was my favourite meal of the day. Lunches from the dining hall always tasted weird (we didn’t know why) so only the first and second years ate them. Everypony else got sandwiches and went back to their rooms, or in the case of the sixth and seventh years, to the common room. But dinner was the best time of day. Everything happened at dinner, from complaining and teasing right up to hoof-slap fights and massive tantrums. They were so unpredictable, and usually turned into the highlight of my day.

I ate my daisies slowly, hoping I’d wake up before I had to go to my first class, but it only took ten minutes for Fly to grow impatient.
“Come on Cat, or we’ll be late.”
Lateness was one of the worst sins at Buckingham, so I downed my orange juice in two big mouthfuls and followed Fly towards the main hall. It was time for morning assembly, after which we’d finally get our timetables for the year.

We got seats near the back, which meant we didn’t have to listen too closely. Sunlight was streaming annoyingly through the windows, shining into my eyes and really irritating me. Of course, when the sunlight blinded you during exams it was even worse.
“Welcome back to Buckingham, everypony. It’s so nice to see you all again, as well as our new arrivals, who I assume will be treated nicely by everypony.”
The Head was stood on the stage, reading from a sheet. She always shouted and never used a microphone.
“Some quick notices. Breakfast is at eight sharp, do not miss it. Lights out at ten with no noise; any noise will result in detention for the whole room. “ She smiled, showing us her missing teeth. “Now I hope you all have a lovely term.”

With that, the stampede for the doors began, everypony wanting to get their timetable and start complaining as soon as possible.
“How’s yours?” Fly asked, scanning the room for Rarity and Miri. “Mine looks okay.”
“Double French on Fridays but nothing worse. How many free periods do you have?” I had counted eight on my timetable.
“Eight,” she replied, and I was relieved.
“Oh, same here.”
“I’ve got double drama on Tuesdays and Thursdays though.” I d never understood why quiet Fly had been so interested in drama.

History was first on a Monday, so I set off back to the dorm room to pick up some paper, my timetable floating in front of me.
“I’ll see you at lunch?” Fly suggested as we pinned our timetables up beside our beds.
“Great! See you then.” I smiled at my best friend as she made her way out of the room and downstairs to her first class. Hanging around to wait for Rarity and Miri was attractive, but I was already a few minutes late for History. Anyway, I’d see Rarity in cass.

History looked bleak until Rarity sat down next me, sharing my desk. Now it looked like it would be just like old times.
That was, until we started the first exercise. My pen floated in front of me, spinning around aimlessly as I stared at the worksheet. We were supposed to be matching the portraits for famous ponies to things they had said, but I was clueless. I brushed my mane out of my eyes and shrugged.
“Stuck?” Rarity asked me in hushed tones.
“Yes,” I replied quietly. Advanced history was much harder than I had anticipated.

When we marked the sheet at the end of the lesson, I had only got two wrong thanks to Rarity’s help. Of course, Rarity had got hers all right, but she didn’t say anything and merely pushed the sheet into her file.
“I’ll see you in the common room later?” She said as we exited.
“Okay.”
She walked away, her perfectly styled tail bobbing along behind her. I was jealous that she always found time to look great.

Music was my favourite lesson. Mainly because I found it easy and always got good marks, which made a change to usual. It was all classical study, which was really boring, but meant that by the end of the lesson I’d done all of the work and the homework. It had always annoyed me that none of my friends took music so I never got to help them, and in every other subject I had to keep asking for their help.

Afterwards I made my first trip to the common room. Miri and Fly were already relaxing in the corner.
“Is this desk okay?” Fly asked timidly, looking at me.
Miri interjected. “The seventh years told us that the desk you pick at the start of the sixth year is the one you have for the next two years.”
“Well this is fine,” I said, sitting down. Fly was eating a sandwich and looking at her notes from that morning.

“Sorry, I got held up finishing a painting.. it was terribly mucky,” Rarity announced as she sat down opposite me with a sandwich. “Eating this will make me fat.”
“You’re totally thin Rarity. I’m the short and fat one,” Miri whined. “I’m skipping lunch today.”
“Same here. I need to diet down,” I said, feeling overweight just looking at a sandwich. I’d taken to stress-eating over the summer and gained half a stone, which manifested itself horribly around my waist. “I ate nothing but carbs yesterday.”

Rarity was much less keen on her sandwich after that. “Anypony else want half?”
“I wish,” Miri said sadly, before staring out of the window. “Before the Hearth’s Warming Eve dance, we have to do one of those diet pacts. It makes it much easier to stick to if your friends are doing it too.”
“I’d forgotten all about the dance!” Rarity exclaimed happily once she’d finished her mouthful. “We’re finally allowed to go, it’ll be so delightful.”
“Saving up for dresses will be hard though. I always spend all of my money,” Miri said, the excitability draining out of her. “Mainly on chocolate.”

I had a thought which cheered me up a little. “Hey, we get our maintenance this weekend. Anypony else want to go into Maneminster?”
“Teachers are usually pretty light with homework in the first week,” Fly said as she finished her lunch.
“And it’ll be the start of the autumn fashions!” Rarity added, her eyes going wide with happiness. “We just have to go.”

The Saturday train into Maneminster Central station left at nine o’clock, so I had to drag myself out of bed much earlier than I would have liked. I was still struggling to keep my eyes open as half past eight came and went, and Miri was still buried under her blanket.
“We’ll be late if you don’t get up,” Fly told her. “You’ve only got fifteen minutes before we have to go.” She tapped Miri’s shoulder, eliciting a groan.
“Just leave me here to sleep... I can’t face being awake.”

Whilst I was brushing my tangled mane, once again complaining about how it lacked... well, everything, Fly and Rarity teamed up to drag Miri out of bed.
“Really Miri, stop this nonsense. If you keep this up, you’ll be the only one looking totally unfashionable at the winter dance,” Rarity complained at her.
Miri just grumbled under her breath as she staggered into the bathroom and locked the door.
“Hurry, you’ve got ten minutes or we’re leaving you,” Fly said as she banged on the door with her hoof.

The bouncy pony took fifteen minutes as usual, and we had to run for the train. I hated getting my coat sweaty, but when we sat down in the carriage I could feel the familiar stickiness permeating under my raincoat.
It was raining when we exited the train in the capital, faced with the hustle and bustle of the big city. We rode the tube to the main shopping districts, making fun of the posters in the carriage.

“I wish I was rich and could buy everything from the expensive shops,” Miri dreamed as we walked past a boutique with fancy dresses in the window.
“When I have opened my boutique, you can have anything you like for free,” Rarity declared as we headed for a fashionable-but-cheap shop that specialised in reduced designer labels. The rain was making my mane worse than usual and I didn’t feel like trying anything on because I knew it would just look awful.

Rarity held up a blue bracelet. “This would suit you, Fly. Might complement your coat.”
“I don’t usually wear bracelets,” Fly replied cautiously, not wanting to insult Rarity’s taste.
“Well it’s up to you, sweetie,” Rarity continued, dropping the accessory as something else caught her eye.
“What do you think, girls?” Miri piped up, poking her head above the clothes racks. She was wearing a bright pink bow, attached to a mane band.
“Oh, no no no. Clashes with your mane,” Rarity informed her, gently removing it with her magic. “Look for something in black.”

Miri sighed. “Without you, I’d just walk around looking like a clown.”
“Which is different to what you normally look like?” I teased, before stepped away quickly before she hit me with a frosty stare.

Fly gasped as she found something. “Oh my, do you remember these?” She held up a gaudy yellow maneband with a false set of eats attached.
I laughed. They had been the height of fashion last year, and I was sure I still had a rogue one somewhere at home.
“Oh yes! They’re so terrible,” Rarity said, cringing. “Put them away.”

For once the shop let us down, none of us finding anything we liked enough to buy, except for Miri who bought the bow band in black.
As we left, we passed through the sock section.
“Socks anypony?” Rarity giggled. Fly blushed a deep crimson.
“No chance,” I said, giving them a wide berth. “Can you even imagine wearing them?”
“Maybe if I had a coltfriend,” Miri said, before breaking into uncontrollable giggles.

We stepped into the pouring rain and Fly spotted a forlorn-looking ice cream cart. “Shall we get one?”
“Fly darling, it’s tipping it down,” Rarity said. “Not ice cream weather.”
“But now I really want one.”
“Me too!” Miri said happily, eyeing up the giant ice cream on the top of the van.
I gave her a disapproving look. “What about that so-called diet?”
“Oh yeah...”

After some discussion, Fly decided to get one and Rarity and I bought one to share. Miri eventually stuck to her diet and went without. We sat in the doorway to a shop as we ate them, Rarity and I taking turns to lick the mint-flavoured ice cream and complain about how unhealthy it was whilst Fly scoffed hers down.
“We should look for make-up next,” Miri told us, trying to keep her mind off the ice cream. “There’s a good shop just round this next corner, I think.”

We only had to look at the price of one bottle of hoof-polish to know it was too expensive, so Rarity took us to somewhere a bit cheaper.
“Pink or red?” I asked Rarity, holding up both tubes of lipstick.
“Pink. Always go pale,” the fashion pony replied without looking up from a pile of hoof polish bottles.
I decided to buy the pink one but declined to try it first. I could still taste the mint from the ice cream, and as I passed her I caught a smell of Rarity’s equally minty breath as she tried out some peach lipsticks.

The sky had turned black and the rain was getting much harder when we boarded the train home. Of course, once we arrived back at Buckingham it was hammering down and not even my raincoat was enough to save me.
“Anypony have an umbrella?” Rarity asked sadly.
“I do,” Fly replied, helpfully pulling it out of her bag. It was tiny though, barely enough to cover one pony, let alone four.

Once we arrived at the school’s door we were soaking wet and laughing at each other’s manes.
“Fillies, whatever did you think you were doing going out in this weather?” the dorm matron asked as we dripped our way up the stairs.
“We were in Maneminster and didn’t realise the weather was going to get this bad.” Fly explained as the rest of us shuffled past, heading for the towels that were waiting for us in our dorm.
“Take umbrellas next time. And get dry before you catch cold,” the older pony told us sternly. “We don’t need an epidemic.”

We took it in turns to warm up in the shower before settling in for the evening. My bed looked so inviting and my legs ached from all of the walking we’d done.
“I’m so tired out. I could fall asleep right now,” Rarity said, putting her purchases away.
“I know what you mean. This whole week has been tiring,” Miri added, collapsing onto her bed with her eyes closed.
“Who knew school could be difficult?” I said as Fly came out of the shower, a slight smile on my face as I propped myself up with pillows.
“I’m regretting that ice cream,” Fly told us when she sat down on her bed, holding her tummy.

I picked up the book I was supposed to be reading for English and tried to focus on the next chapter as Miri chattered about calories.
“What do you think, Cat?” She asked me.
“Oh, I don’t know. You probably got plenty of exercise today.”
“Maybe you’re right. What do you think Rarity? Rarity?” Miri frowned at Rarity, who was lying motionless on her bed.

“She’s asleep, I think,” I said, trying to locate my bookmark.
“Then I’ll wake her,” Miri said, picking up a pillow.
“Touch me and I’ll destroy you,” Rarity said dramatically, not bothering to move.
I giggled then tried to focus again. But my tired eyes were telling me to give up.
Miri pretended to look shocked before launching the pillow and squealing as Rarity enacted her violent revenge.

The weather worsened as October wore on, and by the last week I’d turned the radiator up to its maximum setting permanently and spend my mornings scraping ice from the inside of the window panes. Once the clocks had gone back it was suddenly very dark in the evenings, which restricted our activities to studying and complaining about how good all of the models in the magazines looked. Fly just carried on reading her books as normal. November was my turn to buy the fashion magazines, so I made a very wet trip to the shop to pick them up.

“Hi Cat. Looking for something in particular?” the shopkeeper asked when I walked in, my mane dripping.
“Just the usual order of magazines please Mrs. Petal,” I said, glancing around the shop while she got them from behind the counter.
“You girls at the school certainly do like your fashion magazines,” she said kindly as I handed over some bits. “Can I interest you in some Nightmare Night sweets? They’re half price.”
“Oh, no thank you. I’m trying to save my bits,” I smiled. “Although they look tempting.”
“Well, you can take a few for free. Make sure you give some to Miri though, that’s my only condition,” the greying pony said, her eyes twinkling. “I know she’ll have one taste and then come running here.”

Mrs. Petal was exactly right, and we all had to listen to Miri complain about how little money she had left for the next few days. The only thing that made it bearable was the fact that Nightmare Night was coming up, which gave us a brief respite from all of the homework.
Traditionally all of the younger fillies and colts would go out and give sweets to Nightmare Moon, but it was seen as a bit childish and... Equestrian for we more sophisticated fillies. Instead, we held corridor parties with food and punch and dancing.

The only pony in our year who took it seriously was Rarity, for whom it was a more important tradition. She always went all-out and made an amazing costume, whereas the rest of us were unwilling to spend bits on costumes we’d only wear once. And this year was no exception. I dressed up in all-black clothes with a black hat so I’d look like a cat burglar - not that anypony except me got the joke. At least it was more creative than Fly, who just wore an old sheet and tried to look like a ghost. Sadly for her, the sheet was rather thin and her green coat showed through, making her look a bit... strange. Miri just wore many brightly coloured accessories and went as somepony from the 80s, messing up her mane and looking decidedly unfashionable. She’d even dug out a pair of pink false ears.

Rarity though, looked fabulous. She’d dressed as Nightmare Moon in a hoof-sewn costume, which looked as realistic as anything I’d seen in textbooks.
“You forgot the wings,” Miri said unhelpfully as she tried to squeeze another neon green wristband onto her hoof.
“Too difficult to make,” Rarity replied. The rest of her costume was made up of a long dress, dyed black with moons painted on it.
“You look great Rarity,” Fly said, muffled by her sheet.
“Thank you darling. I still don’t understand why you three won’t let me make you costumes. Oh well, shall we go?” She batted her eyelashes and smiled.

We’d been invited to go to the corridor below, which was a party being hosted by some seventh years. They’d only invited us to make up the numbers, but we were happy to go for the free snacks. Costumes at the party ranged from some ponies who had just smeared on face paint with barely a thought, to Rarity’s glamorous ensemble which drew gasps and admiring looks from everypony present. Nearly everypony stopped her to compliment her, which suited me because it meant I could get to the snack table more easily.

“Rarity’s costume is really pretty,” Fly said though a mouthful of hay fries. “I wish I was that talented.”
“It is nice..” I replied, looking over at my friend. “It even suits her.”
Fly quickly got annoyed at all of the ponies who kept standing on the bottom of her she, so we filled some plates with food and made our way to a quieter section of corridor, going back only to refill our cups with the strange purple punch.
“I like your costume too, Cat. It’s a really good idea,” my best friend said. She was always trying to be nice.
“Thanks Fly. I like yours too.”
“Oh, no. Mine wasn’t a very good idea. I look green,” she replied sadly, looking down at her hooves.
“Maybe a little bit,” I smiled, looking over at Rarity again. She had finally shaken off her admirers and was coming over to speak to us.

She sat down rather wearily next to me. “Oh my, those ponies do like to talk! I’ve left them with Miri, who should be more than a match for them.” As she spoke, she brushed the hem of her dress so it would lie flat.
Fly looked across at Miri, who was deep in conversation with some seventh years. “Yes, looks like it. She can talk forever.”
As the words left her mouth, Miri turned around. “Hey Fly, can you come over here a second?”

Fly snaked her way across the corridor, trying to stop anypony from stepping on her sheet, and left me with Rarity.
“I wonder what she wants,” I said, idly speculating in my head.
“Could be anything, knowing Miri. Anyway, I meant to say earlier, I just love your costume. Apart from, you know, the lack of colour,” Rarity said, clapping her hooves together. “A cat burglar, right?”

I blushed at the compliment, then smiled when she guessed right. “Finally, someone who guesses it without me needing to tell them!”
“Oh well I wouldn’t go that far. Miri told me earlier,” Rarity admitted, giggling a little. “Sorry.”
“I knew I should have gone for something more obvious,” I said, a little bit annoyed at myself for going for a clever idea over something easy to guess. “Do you want some punch? You haven’t had any since you got here.”
“If you don’t mind sharing,” Rarity said as she picked up my cup and drank a few mouthfuls. “To tell you the truth, this costume is a little warm.”

We sat and watched the party progress, Rarity flustered by the constant attention lavished on her and me feeling a little bit like a spare part. It was a seventh year party really, and only the glamorous sixth year fillies got to really take part.
“We’ll probably have to host this next year,” Rarity finally said. “And provide all of the food.”
“I think the school supplies some of it,” I replied, shrugging. “But we should definitely make the most of not having to clear up afterwards.” My eyes strayed to her face, noticing how expertly she’d managed to apply her mascara, framing her eyes perfectly without any unsightly deviations.

She looked back suddenly and our eyes met awkwardly. I looked down at my hooves.
“Shall we dance?” She asked, still looking at me.
“Oh, I don’t know...”
“Nonsense. Come with me.”
I found myself being pulled into the area of the corridor near the stereo, where music was playing rather loud. Once there it was actually quite easy to join in, especially since I wasn’t wearing a bulky costume that got in the way. Plus, dancing with Rarity was fun because she was enthusiastic, but I did catch her occasionally glancing the way of the popular seventh years with a worried look.
Miri and Fly joined us after a while, although Fly spent most of her time trying not to get trodden on.

Another bunch of seventh years burst in on our party, bringing leftover cake. We swapped it for punch, or rather, Rarity swapped it for punch without anypony’s permission. Not long afterwards the dorm matrons arrived and sent us all back to our dorms, severely warning us that any further music playing would result in detention. We lost Miri on our way back, she heard a tidbit of gossip and couldn’t drag herself away. By the time she’d been escorted back to our dorm by the matron, the rest of us were ready to sleep.

“What was so important that you had to disappear?” I asked, lounging lazily on my bed and wishing there had been more cake. I was still supposed to be dieting, but it wasn’t happening.
“Oh, nothing. Bit disappointing really,” Miri replied, shutting herself in the bathroom to de-accessorise.
“Don’t be too long in there. Cat and I have a history test tomorrow,” Rarity told her.
“Do you think we should do some studying tonight?” I asked the unicorn, feeling my stomach start to twist with anxiety.
“Forget it. We won’t remember anything we cram now,” Rarity said, with some authority as she applied face cream.

The test was a total disaster, I reflected as I left the classroom and headed for the common room the next morning.
“Don’t worry about it,” Rarity said kindly. “You might be allowed another go.”
“Thanks Rarity,” I said, smiling at her, but feeling inside like I might do even worse on my second go.
“We can study now? I don’t have any lessons until later,” she suggested to me.
I knew Fly and Miri would be in lessons until later, which gave us at least an hour of peace and quiet to work. “I think I need it,” I told her.

“So, when the question says ‘explain the impact of Starswirl the Bearded on pre-Equestrian society’, it’s really asking you to explain what his research led to,” Rarity said, pointing to the relevant paragraph in the textbook. “You just need to link it to his discoveries.”
“How do I know what to include?” I asked, confused that the question would ask something different to what you were supposed to put for an answer.
“Well, the gorgeous Princess Platinum was the centre of pre-Equestrian society, so when you see the word ‘society’, try and link it to her,” the unicorn explained patiently, her blue eyes flashing towards mine every so often. I focused on the book. “How did Starswirl’s discoveries change how Princess Platinum acted?”

I paused to think. “Did he stop her treating the earth ponies so badly?”
“Pretty much. His magical ineffectiveness theory meant that the unicorns had to rely on the earth ponies more,” Rarity told me, pointing to the line in the book.
“Oh yes, I see it. They needed the earth ponies to grow food, so she renegotiated those trade thingies.”
“Trade contracts, yes! You’re getting it.”
I smiled at her, then caught myself admiring her eyelashes. I tried to cover it up with a quick question. “Because of the closer co-operation, they ended up in conflict?”

“Now why couldn’t you have put all this on the test?” Rarity laughed. “Then you’d be fine.”
“Maybe if the questions asked what they wanted you to write...” I grumbled.
“Don’t worry, there’s a technique to it. Plus it’s ages until the real exam, plenty of time for practice. You can study in your free periods instead of gossiping with Miri.”
I blushed since I had just been looking at the clock and wondering how long it would be until Miri returned with some hot news. “I do study, but history just gets left behind.”
Rarity giggled. “I do the same thing too, don’t worry.”
“But you had time to make that amazing costume for last night! And everything else you do. You’re just too organised,” I said, resting my head on the textbook and trying not to look at the work.

“Practice makes perfect. Now, let’s get back to this Starswirl question.” Her Equestrian accent usually came to the fore when she tried to sound like she was in charge, despite her efforts to adopt a more sophisticated accent. “Move your head.”
I sat up. “What else do I need to do?” I stared blankly at the page.
“See this bit, about his students?” She jabbed her hoof. “Why is this important?”
“Because he trained them?” I tried.
“And...?”
“I... don’t know.”

Rarity shook her head. “We made notes on this in class.”
“Oh, are we meant to use those?” I started rifling through my folder.
“That’s the point of classwork.”
“Sorry.”
She just tapped the book and looked a bit distressed. “I’ll forgive you if you can answer the question.”
“Is it because... his students were important?”
“Yes! They went onto important roles in society and spread his personal influence.”

I sighed in relief. “Starswirl was really complicated.”
“His cloak would make a good costume though, don’t you think? Robes are quite like dresses, so with a hat and a beard it would look fantastic,” she mused, looking at the portrait. “Shame beards don’t suit me.”
“I can see that,” I said, giggling.
“Facial hair in general actually. Tiaras though, they suit me. I wonder if anyone in this book has a pretty tiara...”
I was happy to have a few moments away from the brain-melting boredom of the history textbook while Rarity flicked through, her eyes wide at the thought of wearing a tiara.