Chapter 1

Starlight sat in her new office conflicted, Trixie had failed the second test and she was already allowed to still compete despite failing the first as well. Trixie was her friend and she would’ve loved to work with her as Co-Headmares; Trixe was the one who gave her the idea of co-running the school after Twilight left after all. “I mean, if you think about about it Interacting with the student’s Guardians isn’t a daily occurrence. I’m sure she could easily learn how to do it properly by next time, right Phyllis?”

The potted plant wilted a bit and one of its many leaves fell off. Seeming to indicate a negative response to Starlight’s question.

“Who am I kidding,” Starlight sighed as she turned to her board of applicants and levitated Trixie’s photo off. “I would love to have Trixie’s help, but if she can’t actually help the students and parents then . . .” Starlight’s words trailed off as she levitated her friend’s photo towards the trash. But before she could finish a few weak knocks rapped on her door. Shifting her attention to her visitor Starlight moved the photo away from the trash and placed it on the corner of her desk instead before welcoming her guest in, “Y-yes, please come in.”

The doors to the Headmare’s office creaked open and Gallus, the GriffinStone representative student, walked in rubbing his forearms. “Ms. Starlight, can I talk to you about something?” he asked while taking a seat in front of Starlight’s desk.

“Of course Gallus, you’re always welcome to come to come to me if you need help,” she said. It wasn’t very often that Gallus felt the need to seek out her help, griffins aren’t exactly known being empathetic, so Starlight always jumped at the chance to help him on the rare occasion he stopped by for a visit. “There’s nothing you can say that I wouldn’t love to hear from you,” Starlight’s face beamed at the idea of breaking through her student’s layers.

“Well . . . it’s about your friend, Trixie,” the young griffin said awkwardly shifting in his seat. With that Starlight’s smile dropped into an exhausted expression. Of course Trixie’s outburst from earlier wasn’t done torturing her just yet. “Could you please tell her something important I wanted to say earlier?”

Now Starlight was face became guilt riddled; not only had she strung Trixie along for a job she wasn’t likely to receive, but she also let Trixie cause Gallus some kind of discomfort because of it. A stern expression dawned on Starlight’s face as she closed her eyes and thought to herself. ‘Okay this has gone long enough Starlight. As great as it would be to have Trixie around she isn’t worth the happiness and well-being of the students. Listen to Gallus, listen to Phyllis!’ Starlight’s eyes shot open and focused on Gallus as she began to speak, “I know Gallus, Trixie’s behavior was unexpected and I’ll be sure to tell her -”

“Could you tell her thank you . . . for me?” Gallus quickly, and reluctantly, blurted out.

“- juuuust how much you appreciated her meeting with Grandpa Gruff earlier!” Starlight proceeded to release a weak and awkward chuckle at her attempt to rephrase her answer. “We’re currently discussing Trixie’s behavior from the meeting right now actually,” Starlight’s answer elicited a questioning look from Gallus as he let his eyes wander around the office in search of a third party to their conversation. An embarrassed Starlight quickly corrected herself, “Oh sorry, I meant were you planning on discussing Trixie’s behavior with me? I know you normally don’t enjoy opening up to anypony with your problems,” as she finished, Phyllis was discreetly levitated underneath Starlight’s desk.

“Yeah I wanted to let her know that I really appreciate her talking to Grandpa Gruff,” as Gallus began rubbing his claws against his arm it became clearer to Starlight how much he was avoiding eye contact. And that this was something especially difficult for the young hippogriff to openly talk about. “She said a lot of things I wish I could’ve said myself and I just don’t want her to think I was embarrassed or upset with her.”

Hearing that Trixie’s public outburst was actually helpful to a student was cause for an internal sigh of release in Starlight’s mind contrasting to the calm demeanor she held on the outside. ‘I guess Phyllis doesn’t know as much as she thinks that she does,’ she smugly thought to herself. With reassurance on her friend’s possible qualification as a Co-Headmare she implurred for Gallus to go into further detail about his conflict with grampa gruff.

“Well you obviously know that Grampa Gruff isn’t the type of gryffin to share his feelings,” Gallus said while removing his front legs from in front of his chest. “Like he said at the meeting, he doesn’t feel like he has to openly say how he feels about me. He cares about me and I should just instinctively know that he does, simple as that. But-” Gallus made a short yet noticeable pause: his face took on a more solemn expression. “-seeing Yona and Silver Stream’s families so obviously happy - so obviously proud - to hear anything about the two of them made me . . .”

“Wonder why things between you and Grandpa Gruff can’t just be as simple?” Starlight finished the struggling gryffin's train of thought. The atmosphere was struggling to crush both parties as it seemed like the sound of their own breathing was amplified to an uncomfortable level. While Starlight had aided students with what they considered big issues before; they were usually things such as what career they should aspire towards or how apologize to a fellow student in a meaningful way. She wasn’t used to a student coming to her with a problem that was so serious. Nor one that was so personal. Thankfully she knew a Great and Powerful pony who had proven that they could. With a caring smile on her face Starlight told Gallus, “Well lucky for you I’m sure Trixie wouldn’t mind talking to you one on one about this. That is if you want to.”

“I’d like that a lot,” Gallus said with a weak yet Genuine smile. The young gryffin hopped out of his seat and walked towards the exit before stopping. He then turned around to leave his soon to be former guidance counselor with a final message. “You know, if you really are going to take over the school from Twilight, maybe you should consider finding a new student counselor. I don’t think you could handle co-running the school and listening to everyone's problems,” with that he walked out of the office.

With a feeling of reassurance of Trixie’s potential as Co-Headmare solidified in Starlight she smiled and turned her attention to the picture of her friend that remained on the corner of her desk. ‘Looks like somepony still has a few tricks up her sleeve that I was unaware of,” Starlight thought as she levitated her friend’s photo back onto the board. ‘Maybe you really could make a decent Co-Headmare, after all how hard is it to take the students on a simple field trip?’

1,005 views