Falling For Our Stars

by bobdat

Chapter One

Rain was hitting the windows of my bedroom when I woke up with a consistent droning. Light was coming in from behind the curtains, which was a good sign; it was finally morning. I had slept badly that night and was relieved that it was time to get up.

The reason for my bad sleep was what was going to happen later that day. It was August the twenty-first, the day I was going to get my exam results, and I was very nervous. The redeeming side to it was that I was going to be able to see all of my friends again after seven weeks of holiday. But then school would restart and I didn't even know if I was going to be able to see them again. Plus it was raining, which was going to totally ruin my mane.

It was still raining when I ran out to the taxi carriage, parked just at the bottom of the garden path. The drops pelted my mane and tail despite my best efforts, and when I flung open the rear door and leapt inside, I could already feel how damp they were.
"Have you got everything, Toccata?" Mum asked. She'd made sure she was safe and dry inside the carriage as early as she could, leaving my dad and I to do everything inside.
"Yes Mum, Dad's just bringing the last things." I replied, flicking my mane out of my eyes. It was so frustrating that it had to be so wet, it made me want to cry. But I suspected that was because I was already stressed out from my nerves and lack of sleep.

"Sorry, sorry." Dad said as he loaded the last one of my bags and then climbed into the carriage.
"It's okay dear, we've got plenty of time." Mum patted his shoulder affectionately. Then she looked at me and her expression changed to a stern one. "Have you got everything? One hundred percent sure?"
"Yes Mum."
"Toothbrush?"
"Yes."
"Only you forgot your toothbrush that time-"
"That was four years ago. I have my toothbrush."
"Okay then. We can go."

The carriage pulled out onto the narrow country lane outside our house and I heard the taxi pony grumbling. He'd been waiting in the rain for half an hour already and he clearly wanted nothing more than to get inside and dry off. But he didn't have too long to wait. We were heading for the local train station, which was only a ten minute walk away. I had always disliked the fact that we lived in the middle of the countryside with nothing to do for miles. To buy clothes I had to walk to the train station and then ride the slow train for half an hour to the nearest town. My parents didn't care, of course. To them it was wonderful to live so far from civilisation.

Arriving at the train station was another huge fuss, mainly perpetrated by Mum. She had to double check that we had everything and double check that it was all stored correctly on the train and double check that we had the right seats even though there was barely anypony else on the train. It was so embarrassing.
But once we were settled and the train was moving it was okay. I had managed to get a pair of seats to myself whilst my parents caught up on a bit of sleep, so at least I had some peace and quiet. But I still couldn't sleep. My stomach was churning and I couldn't bring myself to do anything except stare out of the window.

I'd spent the entire of my fourth and fifth years doing nothing but studying for General Certificates of Equestrian Education, and today they were announcing the results. I was finding out the results of ten subjects, each of which would determine whether or not I was allowed to stay on at school for the next two years. And if I failed, then I'd be going home with my parents to spend a miserable year re-sitting at a local school with none of my friends.
In the end I passed most of the train journey staring at the countryside and wishing that there weren't so many stations to stop at. And that the rain would clear.

Only one of my wishes had been granted when we arrived at Westmanester Central Station. When we stepped off the train onto the wet platform, the rain had at least eased off. Westmanester is the capital city and where I went to school, so we only had another short taxi ride until we were there. Once we'd climbed into the next taxi carriage, I played with my mane and looked unhappily at it. It's an awful black colour that I hate and it just hangs straight all of the time, making me look constantly depressed. Thankfully, Dad noticed my unhappiness.
"You'll have done fine sweetheart." He said, trying to reassure me. It did help a little, so I smiled back, before returning to my mane. I tried to iron out some of the frizziness by using my unicorn magic, but it wasn't very effective.

Both of my parents were unicorns so it made sense that I was too. I'd always loved being able to use magic. The only problem was, when it came to my special talent... well, it had ended up being a talent at playing the piano. The piano was the worst thing ever. What kind of pony wanted to play the piano? Nopony interesting, that's who. It was the most uncool talent of everypony I'd ever met. The fillies at school all had talents like skiing or swimming or medicine. But I was stuck with piano-playing. It was sometimes pretty cool, when everypony applauded one of my performances, but it wasn't anything I wanted to do.

Before I knew it, the carriage was pulling into the school's long drive. I went to Buckingham High School for Fillies, an all-filly school just on the edge of Westmanester which was highly prestigious. The Headmare was always telling us about how many famous and rich mares had been to Buckingham. It must have been somepony rich that started the school though, because it was in a huge manor house with an even bigger garden. The drive was currently full of carriages carrying fifth year fillies and their parents, so ours parked behind the one in front and I jumped out. We didn't unpack everything just in case.

The instructions were that the results would be handed out in the main hall. The grey sky threatened to unleash another downpour, so we hurried up to the school's entrance so we were under shelter.
"Welcome, welcome back." The Headmare said in her manly voice. She was looking greyer than last year, I noticed.
"Ah Toccata, wonderful to see you." She enthusiastically shook my parents hooves, so I took the opportunity to get away and head for the hall. My nerves were getting worse and I felt sick, so I hoped that my friends were waiting for me. Parents weren't allowed inside the hall to stop it getting too crowded.

I actually knew the names and faces of most of the fifth year fillies, but I had three close friends. The dorm rooms at Buckingham each have four beds, so I'd become best friends with my room-mates. Three of us had been room-mates for the past five years, and we'd met the other two years ago. When I stepped into the hall, it was my two oldest friends who were waiting anxiously together, trying to smile whilst probably feeling every bit as nervous as I did.

The results were going to be given out at eleven o'clock, which left ten minutes. There were two long tables at the front of the hall, covered in white envelopes. Inside each envelope was a printed sheet which told each pony their results. I was too afraid to think about it though, and I just walked over to my friends, feeling a little better when I saw their happy smiles.
"Cat!" The red-maned pony exclaimed. She was Miri and she was in a permanent state of excitement. Well, except for when she was in trouble, which was frequently.
"Hi Cat." The quieter pony was Fly, my best-best friend. We'd been sleeping in adjacent beds since the first day and we told each other everything. Not that I didn't like Miri, but she could be a bit of a gossip. She had been the one who'd first given me my nickname, which had stuck ever since with everypony except my parents and the Headmare.

"Hi Fly, hello Miriam." I teased.
"Ugh, don't!" Miri complained, shaking her head so that her unruly mane became even more messy. "I hate that name."
I knew she did, but I just giggled a little and hugged them both. We all had full names that we didn't like: Toccata, Miriam, Fly Leaf (although I thought Fly Leaf was actually a pretty cool name.) The only one of the four of us who liked her full name hadn't arrived yet, but I spoke too soon.

"Oh, hi Rarity!" Miri yelled, dashing over to hug our other friend. Miri and Rarity were best-best friends too; they were both total socialites.
"Hello Miri, and hi Cat, Fly." Rarity said in her exotic Equestrian accent. "It's so great to see you again."
We exchanged hugs, all feeling excited to see each other. Rarity lived in Equestria, so she was always miles away in the holidays. She'd begged her parents to send her to Buckingham two years ago, and she'd been here for school since. She didn't think much of the schools, or ponies, from her home town of Ponyville.

The moment they'd got over seeing each other initially, the Headmare interrupted by stepping up onto the stage.
"Welcome everypony. We're all here, so as soon as the clock hits twelve, you may go up to the tables and pick up your envelope. Good luck!"
It was an unpleasant reminder. I already knew that Fly and Miri would be fine. Both of them might look worried, but they were good at school. Unlike Rarity and I, who were both far more interested in reading magazines than studying. We just lacked the natural gift for being academic. And after the maths exam in June, Rarity had been so upset at how badly she'd done, it had taken hours to calm her down.

To continue at Buckingham, everypony needed to get a C or better in every subject. Of course, I had no concerns about Music or English. But my weakness was Science - I was seriously concerned that I'd miss out on a C in at least one science-subject. Then I'd have to leave my friends and the school... already tears were forming in the corners of my eyes.

As twelve o'clock arrived, around the country fillies and colts began to find out their results. The envelopes were arranged alphabetically, so I found 'T' and picked up the envelope with 'Toccata' nearly printed on it. I stepped away from the table and started tearing it open, despite the fact that I could probably have used my magic. I was just too nervous for thinking straight. The sheet of paper slid out easily and I unfolded it, scanning the sheet for any terrible failures. At first the list of black letters were really difficult to understand, but I started to work through them.

An A in Music and English, as well as unexpectedly in French. Everything else was a B... except for science. With some trepidation I looked up Biology. I was relieved to see that it was a C. Chemistry was the same. But Physics, which was my worst subject... also a C.
I couldn't describe how relieved I was. On the sheet was a breakdown of the exact scores but I didn't care, I just turned and saw Fly looking equally happy, so I pulled her into a hug.

One thing I hadn't missed during the summer was how noisy the school got. Fillies schools were notoriously loud places and Buckingham was no different. With ponies shrieking all around, I had to raise my voice to speak to Fly. "How did you do?"
"Straight As." She replied with a hint of pride. But her expression turned into one of needless concern. "What about you?"
"Er... I passed everything?"
"That's wonderful!" She hugged me again and I laughed happily into her green coat.

After the hug, I turned to look for Miri and Rarity. They were also hugging, just a little distance away, but Rarity had black tears streaming down her face, ruining her mascara. I could feel the nerves returning at the thought of Rarity having to travel back to Ponyville and not see us again, and I almost felt worse than before. If it happened to me then I deserved it for not working harder, but Rarity didn't deserve it at all.

Fly led the way over to Miri and Rarity and I followed, feeling apprehensive and trying to keep myself from crying.
"What happened?" Fly asked, concerned. Rarity couldn't speak between sobs so Miri replied.
"She passed maths."
I pulled Rarity into a hug, her tear-stained cheek pressing against my shoulder. "I'm so happy for you!" I said, before bursting into tears myself.

Once we'd all cleaned up our appearances in the toilets, the four of us went to inform our parents. Rarity's parents were still in Ponyville, so she had to go and send a Pegasus Express letter. I went and found my parents waiting anxiously in the school's entrance.
"So how did you do, pet?" Dad asked, looking concerned. Mum looked like she was about to cry. So much for confidence in me.
"I passed everything." I replied, smiling happily.
"Oh, well done!" Dad said, sounding relieved as he pulled me into a hug. "I knew you'd do just fine in those science exams."
"We're so proud of you." Mum added, whilst dabbing her eyes with her folded hoofkerchief.

Dad typically wanted to know all of the details, so I handed him the sheet whilst Mum hugged me.
"So we can go and unpack your things?" She asked me.
"I need to go and register what I'm doing next." I replied. Sixth years at Buckingham took four subjects - I'd chosen music, English, French and history.
"Oh yes. Well you go and do that, we'll wait by the car."

The Head of Year was a bright yellow pony called Mrs. Lemon. We sometimes made fun of her zany mane behind her back, but she was a bit absent-minded and never found out.
"Ah, Toccata." She said as I approached the desk she was sitting at. "Congratulations on your results, dear."
"Thank you ma'am."
"Now, for you it's an easy confirmation, isn't it... English, French, history and music?" She ticked them off as she said them.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Perfect! Your new dorm is number seven twenty six, which is-"
"On the third floor, yes."

She handed me the key and I headed back to the carriage to collect my things. I was glowing from the happiness of all of my friends getting to stay at the school for the next year and he weight that was now off my shoulders.
"Third floor? Crikey..." Dad replied when I told him where we were going. There were no lifts, so we always had to use the stairs. And Dad had to carry the heavy suitcases, of course.
"We have to hurry." I said, smiling at him. "Think of it as good exercise." I grabbed the rest of my things, which were much lighter, and headed back inside to show them where to go.

The third floor was the best floor. It had the best views, being right at the top of the building, and it was reserved only for sixth and seventh years so you didn't get any of the noisy younger fillies. When I arrived in the right corridor, I was pleased because I discovered that seven twenty-six was right at one end, furthest from the stairs. This meant that we would get advance warning of surprise searches made by the dorm mothers, where they tried to confiscate contraband like letters from colts and chocolate.

I unlocked the door and stepped inside, with my Dad struggling under the weight of the bags behind me. I was the first pony in, so that meant I got to choose whichever bed I liked. I picked the one nearest the window and the radiator. That way I wouldn't get too hot or too cold.
Dad left my suitcases and bags on the bed and sighed. "Next time you aren't bringing quite so much stuff."
"Whatever." I was too pleased with the new dorm to care what he said.

"We'd better get back." Mum said, looking at the clock. "Congratulations again on the results."
"Thanks Mum. I'll see you at Hearth's Warming." I replied, as both Mum and Dad kissed me on the cheek before leaving the room and shutting the door behind them. Now I was alone with my thoughts, but not for long.
Moments later Fly and Miri appeared, both dragging their own suitcases. Apparently their parents weren't so happy to carry everything upstairs for them.
"Hi! How cool is this room?" I grinned as Fly took the bed next to mine. Fly and I had been sleeping in adjacent beds for years, so Miri didn't complain. She got the window bed on the other side, which was nearest the door to the en suite bathroom.

That's when I discovered my mistake. Miri was terrible for taking ages in the bathroom, and if she was nearest the door it meant she would be the first one in there every time, making everypony else late.

"Any sign of Rarity?" Miri asked, opening her suitcase.
"She's just confirming her subjects. I saw her when I came past." Fly replied, sitting on her bed and taking in the new room.
Miri's suitcase contained more chocolate than it did clothes, and she began unpacking all of it. At Buckingham, food was strictly forbidden in the dorms, but that meant that you didn't get any chocolate at all. So everypony always brought loads and hid it.
"Planning to eat all of that yourself, are you?" I asked, giggling a little at the huge supplies she'd brought.
"Yes, hopefully. But I'm going to leave one or two of them in obvious places so that they get found during a search. Then they'll be less strict." She said, putting one under her mattress and another in her bedside drawer.

Searches were a constant threat. The dorm mothers, who were supposed to make sure that everything was okay for us and help us if we had a problem, came into the room at a random time of day and searched everywhere. Until last year everypony had hidden chocolate in the bottom of the shared wardrobe, but one of the mid-term searches discovered the hiding place and everypony lost lots of chocolate. So everypony feared searches and tried to find hiding places that would never be uncovered.

Once Miri had mostly unpacked, Rarity appeared at the door with only slightly smudged cheeks.
"Hi Rarity, we left you the best bed." Miri smirked.
"Thanks Miri." Rarity replied sarcastically, before giggling a little. "Isn't this room amazing?"
Fly nodded. "It's the best."
"But I overheard the Headmare downstairs and she says that there's going to be an inspection in ten minutes." Rarity said, sounding a little worried. "So we'd better hide everything."

The only minor panic that occurred whilst they unpacked the chocolate and all of their clothes was that Miri had far too many chocolate bars to hide. She eventually managed to force them underneath her bed just before the dorm mother knocked on the door.
"Hi girls, welcome to your sixth year." She said. "Do any of you have anything you'd like to ask?" Nopony said anything so she continued. "Okay, well if you would step outside for a moment whilst I check to see that everything here is in order."

Outside we waited for a few minutes, hoping that nothing would be found. But all of the other rooms had been searched and nothing found, so there was no reason to panic.
"Miriam?" The dorm mother said as she came outside holding the easily-findable chocolate bars Miri had left. "I'm confiscating these, but well done to the rest of you for not giving in so easily."
Then we were allowed back inside and Miri smiled. "Told you that I wouldn't have a problem. She found nothing."

The four of us each ate one of our chocolate bars to celebrate, even though it was nearly lunch time.
"So, who wants to talk about their summer holiday?" Fly asked hopefully. We had plenty of time to kill for the rest of the day.
"No, we have to do that tonight. Then it's more fun." Miri insisted. "I say we shop."
"With what money?" It was my turn to moan. "I spent all of my maintenance money three weeks ago."
"Same here." Fly said, smiling at me.

"Going shopping in Maneminster is out then." Rarity said, lying back on her bed and sighing.
"If we're stuck here..." Miri started, stroking an imaginary beard. "Anypony want to go and buy some magazines?"
"Oh yes, the September issues should be out." Fly added, getting up suddenly.
"I'm okay." Rarity said. "I've brought loads with me."
"I thought you had no money, like me?" I said, looking at Fly.
"Oh... I have a little bit left."

Fly and Miri left to go to the local shop and pick up their magazines, leaving Rarity and I sat around in the room with nothing to do.
"So, which subjects are you taking?" She asked me, lazily adjusting her eyelashes with her magic.
"English, French, history and music. You?" I just flopped on my bed and propped my head up on a pillow to look at her.
"We'll be together in French and history, but I'm also doing art and textiles." She replied, now examining her manicure.
I smiled. "You'll have no problem passing textiles."
"And you'll find music easy." She said, smiling back. "Do you want some of the Equestrian chocolate I brought from Ponyville? If I show the others I'll barely get anything."

She broke the bar in half with her magic and floated one of them over to me. Equestrian chocolate had a strange taste; it wasn't really any nicer than the chocolate we had, but it was a nice change. Rarity loved it, though.
"Thanks." I said, biting off a corner.
"Now you have to help me in history for the rest of the term." Rarity said, neatly dividing her half into squares.
"No chance, you're on your own. Anyway, it'll probably be me that's asking you."
"We can fail together and just ignore those two geniuses." She waved her hooves in the general direction of Miri and Fly's beds.

"So how was Ponyville this summer?" I'd always envied her getting to spend her holidays somewhere warm and not rainy like I did.
"Oh you know, lovely and sunny, and I got to spend lots of time with my friends in Ponyville." She said, brushing a speck of dirt from her coat. "We even went to Canterlot one weekend! It was so glamorous. I wish I could live there someday. But apart from that, my parents were a bother, but so are everypony's."
"You're right." I agreed, continuing to eat the chocolate. "Do anything else fun?"
"I think Miri might kill me if I tell you." Rarity giggled, waving her hoof at me. "Don't be sneaky."

Fly and Miri returned a few minutes later, carrying a number of magazines with pink and white covers.
"The new issue of Photo Style must have come out today." Miri said excitedly. "I looked yesterday and I could only find August's."
"Oh, I haven't seen it yet." I said, jumping up to have a look. By each buying a quarter of them and then allowing the others to look at them, we managed to read practically every style magazine going.
"I don't want to spend all afternoon looking at them, they have to last a month." Rarity complained, poking at her mane with her hoof. "Let's go somewhere."
"Like where?" Fly asked, not moving her eyes from whichever magazine she'd bought.

Rarity just rolled her eyes. "My mane is so flat at the moment." She said, changing the subject tactfully.
"I've had that problem." I added, not feeling self-conscious about my awful mane. "I can't seem to get it to hold any volume."
As I spoke the words, large raindrops began to pelt the window panes.
"Ugh. This kind of thing just doesn't happen in Ponyville." Rarity said, looking out at the dark clouds before collapsing heavily back onto her bed.

The four fillies ended up whiling away the afternoon restyling each other's manes and tails. Rarity's were already elegantly styled, but she allowed Miri to try a new, messier style which didn't suit her. Then she expertly styled everypony else's manes, after brushing hers back to normal. She used a spray she'd brought with her to fix my hair and try to get it to bounce a bit more, but it was only partially successful.

Ten o'clock was the time that all the fillies at Buckingham had to be in their rooms and be quiet by. The staff and teachers went to bed then, so if you were noisy you often got an angry teacher banging on your door. We were all giggling about a immature joke Miri had told when the dorm mother knocked on the door.
"Okay, time to keep it down." She said through the door, muffled slightly.
"Okay ma'am." Rarity replied, before giggling quietly. "Miri, get the curtains."

Once the curtains were shut, Miri bounced excitedly on her bed, sending the glossy magazines sliding to the floor. "So, let's discuss our boring summers."
Before anypony replied we all got ready to go to bed. I brushed my mane and tail, sadly noting how awful they were, whilst Miri hogged the bathroom for twenty minutes.
"Come on Miri." Fly complained, holding her toothbrush and knocking on the door. Miri replied by singing an annoying song.

By quarter to eleven though, Miri had finished cleaning herself and all of the fillies were lying in bed giggling.
"Okay okay, let's start with you, Fly." Miri said, still over-excited.
"Oh, really?" Fly was always shy and didn't like talking about herself.
"Yes, how was your summer, Fly?" Rarity asked, filing her hooves carefully.
"Umm, well, I didn't really do much when school finished, but I went on holiday with my parents."
"Where did you go?" I asked, trying to make her feel more at ease.

"We went to Hoofington to visit my grandparents, and we stayed in a hotel. There was a kind of cute colt who was staying on the floor below..."
Everypony giggled.
"I only got to speak to him a few times though, because we spent most of the time with my grandparents." She added, shrugging. "I think he was busy too."
Fly always got nervous when talking to colts, so I guessed that she'd probably mumbled and waved at him once or twice in the morning. She'd had that problem since we met on the first day of school. She was also afraid of the dark, but I didn't tell anypony. It was her deepest secret.

"So then after the holiday, I mainly just worried about my results and read books. I finally got round to reading the last few Whickens novels." Fly said happily. Fly was a total bookworm and loved reading everything from magazines to huge novels with no pictures. She always read the style magazines from cover to cover, whilst I just looked at the models mainly.
"But they're so booooring." Miri laughed, getting a glare from Fly. "It's all about boring old stallions and their wives."
"No they're not. You just don't understand." Fly replied, putting on a sulky voice but smiling underneath.

"Anyway, that makes it your turn to talk about your summer." Rarity said to Miri.
"Well, I have loads to tell you. There was this youth club I started going to, which had loads of colts, and..." The red-maned filly started, launching into full-on gossip mode. Miri's special talent was for memory, which meant she was amazing at quizzes and even won some competitions when she was younger. But now she used it to absorb as much gossip about everypony as she could. She even knew all of the scandals going on with the first and second years.
"... but they were all so unsophisticated, even the good-looking one. You know how they are."

I nodded. Colts back at home always seemed to be so boring and immature.
"Colts are so stupid sometimes." Rarity agreed.
"But that was pretty much it. I wasted way too long trying to get them to notice me." Miri complained. "Of course, I missed you girls too."
"We didn't miss you." I giggled, and she threw her pillow at me. It missed and hit the wardrobe with a thud.
"Okay Cat, your turn." Miri said as I returned her pillow.
My summer was completely boring. I'd been to four piano recitals and practised every day for an hour. I'd gone with my parents for a weekend in Westmanester and we saw the visiting Equestrian Philharmonic. Then I'd just complained about the weather and worried about my results.

"Um, I didn't do much. Just played the piano and did what my parents wanted." I said. "Sorry to be so boring. I only met one colt and he played the saxophone at a recital. But he wasn't my type."
Miri just sighed at my boring story. I did feel bad for being such a boring pony, but I couldn't help it. My special talent was boring so I was probably boring too.
"That just leaves you, Rarity." Miri said, finally expecting something good.
"How is Sweetie Belle?" Fly asked with a smile. "Those pictures last year were so cute! She's like a little angel."

"Oh, Sweetie Belle's just fine." Rarity replied. "She's a bit bigger than in those pictures, though. She starts school in a year, can you believe it?"
"Bring her here!" Miri exclaimed, bouncing on her bed a little.
"Quiet, you'll wake everypony up." Rarity scolded, throwing her pillow at Miri. It hit her in the face. "Anyway, I spent most of my summer helping to look after her and trying some dress designs. No cute colts, there aren't that many in Ponyville." She sighed.

We ended up talking until the clock was showing two o'clock in the morning, but it was mainly Miri talking. Fly fell asleep at around one o'clock and didn't wake up even when Miri got carried away. Finally, when Rarity stopped replying, Miri announced that she was tired and wanted to sleep. I was just relieved that I could finally close my eyes; it had been an exciting yet tiring day.

Author's Note:

Please note that this chapter was in a large part co-authored by https://www.fimfiction.net/user/ToccataWrites

Comments

[kaidanXD]

Okay I liked this stories beginning! I can't wait to see how the story continues!

[Norm De Plume]

"Welcome, welcome back." The Headmare said in her manly voice. She was looking greyer than last year, I noticed.

"Ah Toccata, wonderful to see you." She enthusiastically shook my parents hands,

"What are hands?"