Falling For Our Stars

by bobdat

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Her question stunned me. I just stood there looking at her blankly, my brain trying to process what she’d just said, while her blush spread all the way to the tips of her hooves.

“Er...” I choked out. She just looked even more embarrassed, still waiting for a coherent reply.

“Um...” she said, but I finally regained control of my tongue.

“I’ll think about it,” I rasped, hating the noise my voice made. It was a reflex answer, and I forgot my manners and just dashed for the safety of the common room, trying to avoid the burning sensation that was spreading across my face. My three friends all had worried expressions as I returned to my seat, my hooves shaking imperceptibly.

“What happened?” Rarity asked, looking concerned. Miri was practically bouncing with excitement when she saw my blush; I think she’d guessed what I had been asked. Fly just put her book down and looked at me, throwing Miri a sharp look to make her calm down.

I rubbed my hooves together in thought. “Well, River Blossom... she asked me if I wanted to go out with her.”

“I knew it!” Miri exclaimed, bouncing up so quickly that she knocked her chair over backwards. “I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!”

Rarity laid a calm hoof on Miri’s shoulder to get the earth pony to stop shouting. “What did you say?”

There was silence as all three ponies (plus quite a few from around the common room, attracted by Miri’s falling chair) stared at me. I shrugged. “I said I would... think about it,” I finally said as quietly as I could, so that everypony else couldn’t hear.

“Does that mean you might say yes? Or were you just letting her down gently?” Rarity asked me, her wide eyes almost overflowing with either happiness or concern, I couldn’t tell.

“I might say yes.”

Everypony sat around the table gasped a little, their sandwiches forgotten.

“So you like fillies?” Rarity asked, covering her mouth with a hoof. I could tell that the same question was on Miri’s lips. Fly already knew, of course, so she said nothing.

My voice was barely a whisper. “Um... I think so?”

Rarity and Miri both broke into wide smiles and threw their hooves around me, forming an awkward group hug with a table between us.

“I’m so pleased you told us!” Rarity said, and I had a suspicion I could feel her tears on my coat.

“You’d make such a sweet couple!” Miri babbled, her mane hitting me in the face over and over.

After we’d broken up the hug, Fly asked the question I’d been asking myself since I’d left River Blossom.

“So do you think you’ll go out with her?” the pegasus asked me, and silence fell over the table again.

I didn’t know the answer. River Blossom was younger than me, I barely knew her and if I said yes, the gossiping around school would be endless. Finding out that somepony liked fillies was big enough, but a relationship between a fifth year and a sixth year would probably be the biggest news of the year. And of course, I had to worry about what my parents would say, on top of all of the usual relationship worries.

But then again, River Blossom was really cute and good-looking, and she seemed really nice. There was something about her that made me want to say yes, despite all of my advice to the contrary. It had been quite a long time since that ill-fated relationship with some buck I barely spoke to in the fourth year, and all of my friends seemed to be having fun with their romantic entanglements. It just felt nice to possibly have a special somepony, even if it was a terrible decision. I decided to sleep on it.

“I don’t know. I might decide tomorrow,” I told my friends, before returning to my sandwich.

As we left the common room, I gently tugged on Miri’s tail. “Please don’t tell anypony about this,” I said, doing my best begging expression.

“Of course I won’t,” Miri replied, but she looked put out, like she’d been denied dessert or something.

“Thank you Miri. This really means a lot. I promise that when I decide what to do, you’ll be the first to know.” After Fly, of course, but I added this mentally.

Miri went back to smiling. “Okay, thanks Cat.”

It’s a bit of a cliche but I really did find it difficult to sleep that night. Mainly because I’d said I was going to make a decision the next day and I didn’t want to go to sleep until I knew what I was going to do, but nothing concrete formed in my mind. Whenever I thought I was coming to a conclusion, which was that I was going to be sensible and tell River Blossom no, she kept appearing in my mind and something in my tummy would make me reconsider. When I woke up the next morning, Fly was looking at me.

“You’ve been tossing and turning all night. Are you okay?” Fly asked gently as I stretched my legs and rubbed my eyes.

“I think so. I just don’t know what to do,” I said.

“Miri’s found out which room River Blossom is in, if that’s helpful,” Fly told me, pointing to a scrap of paper on my bedside table. “She and Rarity have gone for breakfast, they got up early for some reason.” Her room wasn’t too far away, so I resolved to go and see her after lessons, and hopefully I would be able to give her my decision.

I kept getting meaningful looks from Rarity and Miri all morning, especially Miri. She was desperate to know what my decision was, even if she was too polite to keep badgering me about it. Fly, as always, was the perfect friend and simply left me to my thoughts, trying not to bother me. I wanted to talk to her about it, but I wasn’t sure she’d really understand. Lessons finished far too quickly and suddenly I was confronted with the reality of going to find her room. I knew where it was, but I deliberately walked slowly and tried not to think about it. I was rehearsing what to say in my head, but I still wasn’t convinced about what my answer actually was.

When I arrived, I double checked that I was at the right room, then took a deep breath and knocked. If one of her roommates answered, I’d have to ask for her.

River Blossom answered. “Oh, hi, um, Cat.”

“Hi River Blossom,” I said nervously, then paused. Surely as the older filly I wasn’t supposed to be doing the hard work. “I thought about what you said.”

She said nothing and just blushed again. She really did have an impressive blush, turning her coat into a shade that matched her mane.

“Well, er, I was thinking, and yes, I will go out with you,” I said, my voice disappearing to a whisper again. My answer actually surprised myself, but it surprised River Blossom even more.

“Oh... well okay then,” she said, pawing at the ground with her hoof. We stood there awkwardly for a few more seconds.

“Well, we can go somewhere... sometime,” I said, shrugging a little and then thinking I looked stupid. “If you want.”

“Yes... okay.” More awkward standing, so I took the initiative (and a deep breath) and leant forward, kissed her on the cheek, then turned and trotted away down the corridor, my tail swishing.

“Wait, Cat?” River Blossom said. I turned and waited. “You can call me River, if that’s okay.”

***

“I said yes, so I suppose River is my fillyfriend now,” I said, revelling in the word ‘fillyfriend’. It sounded so much nicer than ‘coltfriend’.

Miri and Rarity made excited noises and attacked for another group hug, this time accompanied by Cat.

“This is so exciting!” Miri said in my ear, before springing backwards, galloping on the spot.

I smiled. “You can go and tell ponies,” I said, shrugging. “Everyone will know eventually.” Miri disappeared with a speed that would probably have made her some kind of champion on the running track, and Rarity followed after her with a sheepish expression.

“I’m pleased you found somepony, Cat,” Fly said to me, pulling me into a less excited hug. “I felt really bad for you, you know, because of what happened.”

“That’s okay,” I said, hugging the pegasus back. “I’m totally over Rarity.”

Fly giggled happily. “You have a fillyfriend! This is so exciting.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at her expression. “We can go on double dates!” This really set her off, and I was definitely glad that I was going out with River.

Thanks to Miri’s efforts, by the next morning everypony knew about the new relationship between Toccata, the sixth year, and River Blossom, the fifth year. I was now subject to the whispering and occasional pointing, even from first and second years who should really have been afraid of me. But I didn’t mind. I spotted River at breakfast and caught her eye, and we both blushed a little. Her friends seemed to giggle a lot, like mine. It was weird to think that I had a special somepony, even if we hadn’t really spoken. I sent Fly across to see her with a message about meeting up at my room after lessons. I would normally have delivered it myself, but it would just fuel the gossip ponies. And I was a bit afraid to, in truth.

For the second day in a row, lessons flew past, and before I knew it I was looking shyly at River as we walked down the stairs and headed for the school grounds. She was wearing these cute little yellow boots that looked just amazing. After agonising for hours over what I was going to wear, I could appreciate her style. I’d eventually just gone with brushing my hair and attaching a bow. Actually Rarity had, but I’d agreed with her.

“So, um, how were your lessons?” I asked, trying to make conversation to kill the awkward silence.

We stepped out into the chilly air and headed for the path around the perimeter of the grounds. I wished I’d brought a jacket, but I hadn’t been able to decide on which one looked best.

“Lessons were fine, how were yours?” River replied with a smile that looked a bit forced.

I tried smiling more naturally but I didn’t think it looked any better. “Yeah, fine. Did you have music today?”

“Yes, did you?”

“No. How was it?”

“It was fine.”

We walked around in silence for a little longer whilst I desperately tried to think of something else to say that wasn’t about the weather. River got there first.

“Do you really want to go out with me?” she asked in a quiet voice, looking over at me.

“Why do you ask that?”

“Well, it feels a bit awkward. And we don’t know each other very well so I think I might have asked you too soon.”

I paused before replying. “I do definitely want to go out with you. We should get to know each other better. What’s your favourite kind of music?” I tried, hoping that pursuing our common interest as a topic of conversation would work out.

She smiled. “I really love classical music. I always drag my parents to concerts and stuff so I can hear it played in big concert halls. What about you?”

“I like contemporary things more than classical, but playing the piano means I have to listen to all the classical stuff anyway,” I replied, “So I suppose I like it a bit.”

“I would love to hear you play the piano,” River told me. I sighed.

“It’s not that much fun... I don’t usually play for other ponies very much.” Not even having a fillyfriend would be enough to make me play the piano in public.

“What else do you like?” River asked me as we turned a corner, moving further away from the school buildings.

I thought about it. “I like fashion, mainly. My friends and I try to read as many magazines as possible, so we’re always up-to-date.”

“I try, but magazines are quite expensive.”

“We share the cost out between the four of us.”

“Wow, that’s a good idea.”

“Doesn’t leave much for actually buying stuff, though.”

As we moved across the path to get around an overgrown shrub, my foreleg accidentally brushed against hers. She blushed and I giggled, and I swung my tail over so that she could entwine it with hers. We walked a bit further, enjoying the new sensation and not saying anything, the silence no longer awkward.

“So was it you that told everypony?” River asked me.

“No, it was my friend Miri. She loves to gossip.”

“I didn’t know you were friends with Miri! If my friends knew that, they’d be insanely jealous. Miri is pretty much a celebrity.”

It amused me to think that the silly earth pony was a celebrity with the younger ponies, but it was also a reminder than River was younger than me, and that felt a bit awkward. I mean, she hadn’t even done her fifth year exams yet, which seemed like ancient history to me. “Wow, really? I’ve been friends with her since our first year.”

“Pretty much everypony in the fifth year wants to be her. She knows everything and everypony.”

I smiled. “Miri was the one who found out that you had sent me that Hearts & Hooves card.” River did her huge blush again, so I nudged her and giggled. “Don’t worry, I liked it. I just really wanted to know who sent it.”

“One of my friends must have blabbed. Oh well, no harm done.”

“She also found out where your room was. She must have a network of ponies who know everything there is to know about everypony.”

“I’ll be more careful in future about what I say in public.”

Our conversation continued until we’d walked a complete lap of the school grounds and found ourselves at the front doors again. It has turned cold as the sun set and both of us wanted to get inside.

“Well, we can work out something else to do before the holidays,” I said. It was only two weeks until I’d be making the train journey back up to my parents’ house. I still hadn’t decided whether I was going to tell them about River.

“Well, it’s my roommate’s birthday coming up, so if you want to come to her party, then you’re invited. You can bring Miri too. If you do, she’ll be so happy,” River said, smiling.

“Sounds like fun. I’ll talk to Miri,” I promised.

We looked at each other for a moment, not wanting to untwine our tails, but eventually I pulled away at the same time as she leant forward to kiss me. We both looked at each other for a moment, then learnt forwards and kissed briefly before jumping back like we’d had an electric shock. Then we trotted back indoors, not saying anything else until we parted ways at the bottom of the staircase.

“How was your date?” Rarity asked as I went back into the room, shutting the door behind me.

“It was fun. We just walked around the grounds.”

“Did you kiss?” Miri asked, bouncing on the bed.

“Yes, we kissed.”

There were more excited noises from my roommates.

“Anyway, Miri, River has invited me to a birthday party for a fifth year this coming weekend. If you’re free, you’re invited.”

“Why me?” Miri asked, examining her hooves. “I mean, I want to go, but why did they invite me?”

“River says you’re a bit of a celebrity with the younger years.”

Miri’s eyes went wide with happiness. “A celebrity? Me? Oh my, this is too much! I am so excited! They’ll be including my fashions in their conversations! Rarity, this is your big chance!”

“I hardly think that a bunch of fillies here will lead to my big break in fashion,” Rarity drawled without moving.

Miri didn’t listen though and spent the whole evening giggling with delirium. If you didn’t know better, you might have thought that she was the one that had just been on a date instead of me, but she was actually the pony who still didn’t have a special somepony. Not that I was going to remind her of that fact.

“I need a party dress, Rarity, which one should I wear?” Miri enthused, throwing open the wardrobe.

“The red one, darling. No faux ears this time, and wear those black shoes. Then you’ll look older and more glamorous,” Rarity said without much emotion, still reading the magazine.

I didn’t see River again until the day of the party, despite hanging around outside the music classroom in the hope of seeing her. Eating in the common room instead of the canteen meant I didn’t get to have lunch with her, since a sixth year eating in the canteen was just not acceptable at lunchtime. Miri was always out talking to fifth years about the latest trends so she’d know what topics of conversation to use at the party, and I was starting to get the impression that was was taking it far more seriously than she should be. Especially since there was no evidence that there were more than ten ponies going to be attending.

We eventually made our way down to River’s room, ensuring we arrived fashionably late. Miri wanted us to be a little later, so that she could make her big entrance, but it occurred to me that her big entrance would be my big entrance, with all of the fifth years getting a good look at River’s fillyfriend for the first time. I’d chosen another black dress, since I only really looked good in black, and I hoped that I looked okay. Rarity had said I did, and I was willing to trust her expert judgement. Plus she’d done my mane again so that it looked nice and not like the limp mess it usually was.

The party was in full swing when we arrived in the corridor, and there was a mass of talking when everypony spotted that Miri had arrived. She was swallowed up by the talkative group of ponies nearest the door and I left her to it, putting our jointly-signed birthday card on top of the pile near the food. River had spotted me and trotted over, wearing a shimmering blue dress that I recognised from some magazines.

“Hi River. I love your dress.”

“Thanks Cat. I got it a while ago. I only still have it because it suits my coat so well.”

We smiled at each other for a few moments before she led me over to the birthday filly so I could wish her many happy returns. Miri was nowhere to be found, but I was sure that the earth pony could handle herself. Parties were pretty much what she lived for, and she would already be catching up on the day’s events.

“Do you want a drink?” River asked me, and I nodded. There was no music, I noted, but then that was probably because there was barely any room to fit a stereo into the hallway.

The punch was pink and tasted of strawberries, which actually made it taste a bit like cough medicine. I didn’t say anything though, and just chatted to River and watched the fifth years having a good time.

“Thanks for bringing Miri. Looks like she’s the life of the party,” River said, leaning over to point at where my friend was regaling a huge group of fifth years to a story about somepony, probably Minty. I suspected that it would be fabricated and probably mean, but Minty deserved it.

“Miri was really happy to have been asked, actually. I don’t think I could have kept her away,” I said in response, shrugging. “She loves any opportunity to hear about scandals not involving sixth years.”

By the end of the evening, River and I were sitting in her room, which was surprisingly empty considering the party going on outside. My tail was wrapped around hers and I admired her pretty blue eyes when we surfaced from kissing for a while.

“Do you think we should go back to the party?” she asked me, her hoof tracing shapes on my foreleg.

“I don’t think they’re really missing us,” I replied, catching sight of the clock out of the corner of my eye. “But I have to go back to my room before too long, otherwise it’ll be lights out.”

River sighed. “I suppose. We need to do this again soon.”

I nodded my agreement and kissed her on the nose with a giggle, but the door slammed open to reveal Miri looking even happier than usual.

“Come on Cat, we’ve got to go. I have to stop off on our way back,” Miri told me, grabbing me firmly by the hoof and starting to drag me away.

“Sorry River, I’ll see you soon,” I said to the blue filly who just waved in response. Miri’s grip was actually far too firm and my hoof was starting to hurt, but I was whisked away from the corridor and down the stairs, heading for a block that I had never visited before.

“I really really have to tell somepony something so can you just wait one minute for me to tell them?” Miri jabbered at me, locating the right door and knocking on it. I was relieved that she’d let go.

“Hi Miri, what brings you here this late?” the pony who answered the door asked. They looked a little young, but they were probably part of Miri’s network of informants so I said nothing. Miri really did have a promising career ahead of her in the secret service.

“Wave, you just have to hear this!” Miri began, so I tuned out. It was just about some fifth years and a teacher, so I tapped my hoof impatiently and wondered if we were going to get back before lights out. With Miri in full-blown talking mode, it seemed unlikely. I didn’t want a detention but it was proving difficult to drag her away.

“Come onnn Miri, it’s already time to go,” I complained, but my friend continued talking away without caring. I wanted to abandon her and get back myself, but I wasn’t entirely sure of the fastest way back and I didn’t think Miri would forgive me.

“Hi girls, having a nice chat?” the dorm matron said as she arrived, giving Miri and I an icy glare. “Better go back to your room before you get detention.” This had the desired effect, and Miri finally stopped gossiping and we headed desperately for the stairs, hoping that we wouldn’t bump into anypony on the way back.

“It’s faster to cut through the third year corridor,” Miri told me. “That way we’ll come out just two floors down and should be able to avoid actually going back to the ground floor.”

I trusted her. “Just keep going,” I panted, not used to having to run anywhere. We skidded around a corner and cut through the third year corridor as advertised, and I recognised where we were. Only thirty seconds until we were back at our room. The dashing had really been quite exciting.

“Ah, there you are girls. Been out for a late-night stroll?” The voice of our dorm matron killed any excitement I was feeling. “Rarity and Fly seemed to think you were in the bathroom when I checked your room. Sounds like you two will be in double detention, and your friends can join you.” She smiled an evil smile and pointed us towards our room. I felt like thumping Miri for making us late, but it was pointless.

“Did she catch you?” Fly asked anxiously when we entered the room, both looking ashen-faced. “You must have had really bad timing, I thought we’d fooled her.”

“She says we’re all in detention,” Miri announced sadly before throwing herself onto her bed. “You shouldn’t have covered for us.”

Rarity looked put out. “It’s okay, you would have done the same for us. Was it Cat and her fillyfriend who made you late?”

I was outraged, but Miri came clean before I could start yelling. “No, I got caught up talking to some fourth years on the way back and took way too long.”

Fly rolled her eyes and went back to her book, and I just headed for the bathroom to clean off my make-up.

“Oh, Cat? You should get that lipstick off your mouth and cheeks,” Rarity told me lazily just before I shut the door. I instinctively rubbed a hoof on my cheeks to see how much of River’s lipstick had come off, but Rarity just giggled. “Hah, got you! You have been kissing River! Knew it.”

I glowered at her and went into the bathroom, double-checking in the mirror just to make sure there were no kissing marks on my face. There weren’t, and I couldn’t believe I had fallen for it.

“I bet River’s roommates did the same to her,” Miri said through the door, and I saw the funny side.

Unfortunately I didn’t get to properly see River again before the holidays began. (The dorm matrons had decided to withhold our detentions until the start of the next term when we could be properly disciplined). We shared a quick kiss as I took my suitcase down to the carriages and bumped into her, but she was in a hurry to grab what remained of her things.

“I’ve got study leave next term so I won’t see you very much,” she reminded me, giving me a piece of paper with something written on. “I’ve given you my number and address though, so maybe you could come for a visit or something.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” I replied, watching her tail disappear up the stairs. I headed for a carriage, making a mental note to ask Dad where her address was in relation to our house, without giving anything away.

That plan was a total bust.

“You have a coltfriend?” he asked suspiciously, grabbing the attention of Mum, who then trotted over with a revolting expression on her face.

“Little Toccata has a coltfriend? But you’re far too young, dear,” she said, squeezing my cheeks happily. “Where does he live? Are you going to go and visit him? Ooh, I bet he’s really good-looking.”

I didn’t think that this was the best time to explain that he was actually a she, so I just snatched the piece of paper back from Dad and scowled at him, then trotted off to my room.

“Neighcastle is about two hours from here. You’d have to get two trains,” Dad informed me as I left.

So it seemed that living in the countryside was once again going to frustrate my ability to actually stay in contact with any of my friends during the holidays. Too far to visit River, too obvious if I phoned her, so I had to stick to writing her a letter which would take so long to get there that the holidays would be half-over by the time she read it. Oh well, better than nothing. I decided to send something to everypony except Rarity, since sending mail to Equestria would take way too long. I even put on some red lipstick so that I could leave a kiss mark on the letter to River, but I changed my mind and just put lots of ‘x’s instead.

None of my friends wrote back, not even River, although it occurred to me that she didn’t actually know my address. But I did get an unexpected letter covered in weird-looking stamps and strange postmarks, which Dad retrieved for me.

“Looks like it’s come from Equestria,” he said, shrugging.

It was from Rarity, but it was only a short note saying that she had some exciting news for when we got back to school. It probably concerned Sweetie Belle, but if it excited Rarity enough for her to bother sending the three of us letters about it, (I assumed she’d sent the same to Miri and Fly), then it must be important.

Now that there was something fun waiting for me at school, the holidays seemed even more interminable. Mum ended up forcing me to give a ‘family performance’ on the piano just to give me something to do and stop me from hanging around the house endlessly. I didn’t mind playing for my family, since if I made any mistakes they would probably not notice and still tell me it was perfect. But it meant I had to do more practice, so I sat in front of the keys for hours on end, trying to get the hang of a tricky concerto that I was supposed to be performing for my musical exams at the end of the year. That was the other worst thing about having a musical special talent. The fact that there were exams in it. Nopony else had to do exams in their special talent, everypony just accepted that if it was your cutie mark, you must be good at it.

I did the family performance on the day before the train home. Mum and Dad seemed to enjoy it, and Dad gave me a big chocolate egg to make up for having to perform for him. I saved it for consumption on the train.

“Are you sure you’ve done all of your homework?” Mum asked.

“Yes, I’ve done it all.”

“And you’ve done enough piano practice? While you’re away I don’t think you’re getting enough.”

“Yes Mum, I practice every time I have music lessons.”

“What about your other lessons?”

“Everything’s fine.”

“Yes dear, I’m sure Cat is doing perfectly well. Just leave her to it,” Dad said, sticking up for me. I gave him a hug in return. “Thanks Dad.”

He winked at me and replied in a whisper. “Just making sure you have enough time for that coltfriend of yours.”