Coping, or How to Move On When Given Up On

by Meteor_Mirage

Chapter 2

Gallus slowly trudged through the hallways of the School of Friendship, finding them mostly empty as he took his time in getting to Pinkie Pie’s classroom, something he was eternally grateful for. As much as he wanted to kill two hours quickly, he had no clue if or how he would be able to deal with Social Interaction with his peers.

Thankfully, his general aloofness and the cold, but not malicious stare that he’d perfected in Griffonstone, out of pure necessity, was useful for the few ponies he did pass.

Normally it took him a few minutes to make it to get across the campus to Pinkie’s classroom, but at the slow pace he was walking and the scenic route he was taking, it took him more like 20 minutes to just make it to the door. Once there, he rapped his claws loudly against the wooden door and waited patiently for Pinkie to let him in, or tell him to go away if she was busy. Hopefully not that second one, however.

He was as patient as any teenage griffon was, at least. Which meant that, in under a minute, he was back to knocking even louder on the door and continuing to knock loudly for much longer than he did before. If Pinkie didn’t want to answer her door in a timely fashion, Gallus was intent on making her suffer for it.

Gallus suffered moments later, his right claw aching from the hammering he was doing on the door. He shook it off with a grimace and a sigh, rolling his eyes as he looked to the door with a small amount of anger while wondering why he still was out here and Pinkie was in there.

He attempted to peer into the window on the door to see what he may have been interrupting, realizing this probably should have been his first plan of action as his vision was blocked by a paper:

Dear My Favorite Creatures and Students (you’re all my favorites don’t worry)

Hiya! Bet you’re all wondering why my classroom is all Dark and stuff today.

Gonna be at Sugarcube Corner ALL day today, so don’t bother knocking or you’ll probably just gonna hurt your little hoofsies. or clawsies.

You’re welcome to stop by and see me, but i’ll probably waaaaaay too busy to help with whatever you need help with.

Love, Pinkamena Diane Pie, PhD

Gallus rolled his eyes with a sigh. “Damn, it’s a shame that I can’t read.” He muttered under his breath as he read, reread, and read the note a third time for good measure. He felt, in that moment, that he was up some form of creek without a boat or paddle. One of the only creatures available to try and bring any form of levity to his situation was now just as unavailable as the rest of them.

“Well, that could certainly be a problem.” Came a haughty voice from behind Gallus, yet again scaring him out of his fur. As he turned around to see who had interrupted him this time, a blue mare smiled back at him. “Perhaps Trixie could speak to someone about scheduling you some tutoring.”

“Ms. Trixie!” Gallus squawked as he spun around to fully face the newest member of the school’s faculty. He chuckled nervously as he tried to just sidestep his previous comment, scratching be back of his neck with an awkward grin and blush crossing his face. “Haha, what brings you here ma’am? Doctor Professor Pinkie isn’t in her classroom today.”

“I’m well aware of that, but thankfully she’s not the one I’m looking for.” Trixie said as she rummaged through her cape for a moment. She spent the next few seconds slowly pulling out a cardboard mailing tube from seemingly nowhere, to which Gallus questioned if it was a pony thing or a magician thing that she was able to do it.

“This was left for you in the office today.” Trixie continued as she hoofed the tube over to the griffon, who took it almost immediately. “Gabby says hello, by the way. She couldn’t stay long.”

As Gallus began to inspect, he was surprised to learn that it was from Gilda instead of Gabby or Grampa Gruff like he’d expected. He reached to open the package, but was suddenly paralyzed with fear of what may lay inside the mysterious tube.

Were it Gabby, he knew he’d be getting postcards from places she visited on her job (which he was still meaning to stick to a corkboard he had yet to purchase). If it were Gruff, he’d have already thrown the tube away for fear of it being explosive.

Gilda, however, was a bit of a mystery when it came to gifts. It could range anywhere from a harmless prank, like his sixth birthday present of a box of itching powder (that was promptly “spilled” onto his own bed), or something more malicious like his seventh and last birthday.

Gallus shuddered as he tapped the cap of the tube, deciding to open it later lest he spend the rest of the night crying like both prior incidents. Instead, he just shot Trixie a grimace and slung the tube over his shoulder, hoping whatever was inside it would stay inside for now. “I’m, uh, I think I’m gonna open this later.” He said softly.

As she saw the look of dread cross his face, Trixie grimaced all the same. She gestured a hoof towards Gallus in a way that lacked her usual dramatic flair. “Well, Trixie supposes that she was looking for you for another reason as well. Would you be so kind as to join me in my office? This may not be the best place to talk.”

Looking around to the hallways that were slowly growing a little more busy as the day grew later, Gallus couldn’t help but agree with his counselor. Especially when he figured that it was a statement, not a question.

“Oh, uh, sure!” He chirped as Trixie stared at him expectantly. From the smile that crossed her face, he knew that he’d made the right choice this time. In her eyes, at least.

“Good! Now follow. Trixie’s office isn’t too far away.” With this, Trixie whipped around with an extravagant flourish of her cape, small sparks going off as she began her journey without waiting for her young ward.

Knowing that it was either Getting Real^TM with Trixie or dealing with whatever was going on with Sugarcube Corner, it wasn’t a very hard decision for Gallus to follow along behind his new counselor.

At least this way he could pass a few hours without getting frosting in his wings. Again.

---

Gallus wasn’t quite sure what he expected when it came to Trixie’s office, but was immediately taken aback by the chaotic array of furnishing that greeted him as Trixie invited him within.

The first thing that he saw was just the absolute clutter of the room, with boxes and chests strewn about that Gallus was sure were packed to the brim with props Trixie used in her shows. On top of many of these trunks were, Gallus assumed, whatever she couldn’t fit, or what she found the most use in.

As Gallus reached to grab a strange, larger looking deck of cards that balanced precariously on the top of a fairly sizable pile, he found his claw gently smacked away by Trixie.

“No touching.” She said sternly, grabbing the deck box in her magic and pulling it away. “Unless, perhaps, you’re interested in learning how to properly use them? Trixie is always open to apprentices, interns, or Magicians-In-Training.”

While Gallus was unsure of what she meant by proper use, he still found himself intrigued at the prospect of learning what it meant. Anything to get an edge on Silverstream’s card-shark attitude whenever a game of chance popped up.

But there was still another matter at hand to deal with, as much as he didn’t want to deal with it.

“Maybe sometime later, Ms. Trixie.” He told her, scratching the back of his neck as he did so. “I’m pretty sure you didn’t call me in here just for magic lessons.”

Trixie’s face fell slightly as she was reminded just of what they were there to do, and she sighed as she placed the deck right back where it belonged. “Right. Please have a seat.” She gestured towards her desk at the other side of the room, then moved to sit down behind it.

While she spent a few moments to rearrange the contents of her desk, shoving a few less-than-breakable objects off to make room for her needs, Gallus scoured the room for a chair to sit in.

While there were many things that seemed like they could act as chairs, including the trunks closest to her desk which seemed to have been cleared off, but he was suddenly severely unsure if he’d be allowed to rest atop one. He may have been a Cool Kid, but he still had respect for others’ property.

As he danced around the room a small bit, Trixie looked at him strangely before spying the large amount of handkerchiefs and chains sitting in a pile in front of her. “Oh, right.” She said softly before lighting her horn and, with a bit of a struggle, lifting the props to throw in one of the empty trunks beside her desk.

“Trixie was practicing a few tricks before leaving to find you, and simply forgot to clean up.” She explained as she used her magic to readjust and lightly dust the poor mismatched chairs that were trapped under stage-magic decor.

Gallus frowned as he was yet again gestured to sit, this time being forced to choose between the low-sitting beanbag chair on his left or the uncomfortable looking metal dining chair on his right. Ultimately he decided on the right, but only so he could maintain eye contact with his guidance counselor. He still managed to regret it an instant after sitting.

It hurt almost immediately, and no amount of shifting could make it any better.

Trixie hoofed through the surprisingly thin file she had on Gallus, making note of a few bits in the ‘Disciplinary Actions’ section before looking up at her student. “I suppose you are wondering why I, Trixie, brought you into my office so suddenly.” Gallus nodded along, which she took to be a gesture to continue.

“Well,” she flipped back to the first page of her file to check a few bits of information, “I could either begin this with good or bad news. Which would you prefer?”

It took a moment for the griffon to respond, scratching the back of his neck as he continued to shift slightly in his seat. “Uh, I guess the bad news first? Might as well end on a high note.”

Trixie nodded sagely, though she still hesitated before beginning. “Well, the school has been in contact with your guardian, Mr. Gruff, but he’s either burning our letters, as they arrive, or just ignoring them outright. He’s a hard griffon to contact.”

She took a moment to breathe a quick sigh, and crossed her hooves on the table as she stared across the table at Gallus. “I am truly sorry,” she started simply, “For saying what I did to your guardian. I don’t regret it one bit, but I shouldn’t have said it either way.”

While very unsure if that actually constituted an actual apology, Gallus still managed a slightly warm smile. “It’s cool. It was actually pretty awesome, honestly. You’re probably the first creature ever to stand up to that old buzzard like that.” His grin grew wider as, despite his setbacks over the past few days, he was reminded that at least someone had his back around here.

“Well, that still doesn’t change the fact that you don’t exactly have a representative to speak of.” Trixie said, being all it took to bring Gallus back to Equestria yet again. “The silver lining, however, is that this won’t be a problem so long as we can find a guardian to replace him. Perhaps Gilda could fill in?”

Gallus rolled his eyes. “Hah, probably not. If she ever went against Gruff like that, he’d probably disown her in an instant.” He chuckled, but there was a layer of darkness to it that made both creatures slightly uncomfortable. Clearing his throat, Gallus sighed. “I’ll go see him next weekend. He’ll definitely yell at me, but I doubt he’s gonna turn me down face to face.”

“He would be quite the awful grandfather were he to do so.” Trixie agreed. “However, he-”

“He’s not my grandfather.” Gallus interrupted.

“But you call him-” Trixie tried to continue.

Before Gallus interrupted yet again, with a small tilt of his head. “What everyone else calls him. As far as I know, he and I don’t have any family relation. Not that he’d tell me, of course.”

For what may have been the first time in her life, Trixie didn’t know what to say at all. Instead, she spent a few moments shuffling papers around before clearing her throat and moving to change the subject immediately. “Well as for the good news, if you’re sane enough to consider it good at least, Pinkie Pie will be entirely too busy to host a ‘birthday bash’ for you tonight. And, if you’re lucky enough, perhaps you can avoid that form of hell for another year.”

Gallus tilted his head slightly, cocking a strange smirk as he looked at Trixie. “Wait, what?” He asked simply. He knew he should have been more specific, but he was just too taken aback by Trixie.

Also taken aback was Trixie herself, who cleared her throat and readjusted her cape. “Well, perhaps I may be the only one to think Pinkie Pie Parties are a bit too high energy. If need be, I could ask her to reschedule a ‘surprise party’ for you.”

“It’s not my birthday.” Gallus finally managed to say, only after established a confession that both parties would now have to take to the grave.

Trixie blanched, briefly looking down to her papers before looking up again at Gallus. “Excuse me?”

“Not my birthday.” Gallus repeated, as confused as his guidance counselor. “It won’t be mine for another…” He hesitated, counting on his claws for a moment before shrugging, “Some couple months. Did you grab the wrong file, or something?”

Trixie further scrutinized the file for another minute before just sliding it over to Gallus for him to see. “This is most certainly your file, and the birthday listed,” she poked her hoof to the section in question, “Is certainly today’s date.”

For a brief moment Gallus was distracted by the picture on the file which was, yes, of him. It was also the picture on his Student ID, which was taken back when he thought styling his headfeathers back was in any way a good look for him. He couldn’t help but cringe as he looked over to where Trixie was pointing and agreed that she wasn’t lying about the date.

At first he was confused, but then the confusion bled into annoyance and anger. But he forced himself to take a deep breath and sigh, running a claw through his headfeathers to calm himself. “Well, at least that old buzzard got my age right,” he said softly, “but that’s definitely not the right day for me.”

Trixie was quick to retrieve a fountain pen from her desk, dipping it in ink before gesturing it to Gallus. “Just give me the true date and I can have it changed for you.”

For a moment, Gallus had no idea what to say. He wracked his brain for the date, but came up short with only the vague memory of it being somewhere in the latter half of the year. Maybe near the Blue Moon Festival? It would explain why everyone was meaner than usual.

He still managed to keep up a slight smirk as he responded with a small, sarcastic shrug. “Just leave it. It’s fine.” He said, both parties knowing full well that it absolutely was not fine. “If he wants to get it wrong, that’s fine by me.”

“Well I’ve already dipped my pen, so I’ll have to write something.” Trixie said as she gestured it more. “I would prefer if the school has accurate files on all of the students, and this will not do at all.”

Gallus stood up from his seat suddenly, wiping a bead of sweat from his brow as his uncomfortability was reaching new heights. “Sorry, I’ve gotta go.” He said and, before Trixie could even respond, he rushed the door.

He made it all the way to the door before he stopped and, with all the hesitation in the world, slowly spun around to face Trixie over a particularly large prop Ace of Diamonds. “I, uh, could we do this again?” He asked, scratching the back of his neck with an awkward half-smile. “With Gruff sorta abandoning me for now, I’ll definitely need some guidance, and uh…” He then wordlessly gestured to his one and only guidance counselor, Trixie.

Taking no longer than a moment to pull out the purple planner she’d been gifted by Starlight, Trixie looked closely over the meetings she had scheduled for the coming month. Even knowing that she’d find nothing, she still searched for a few seconds before her eyes landed on a date she felt worked. “How does next Saturday work for you? We could start our work in finding you a new caretaker, or just talk if you’d prefer.”

“That works!” Gallus chirped as his half-smile grew into a full one finally. Though he managed to pull himself back from full excitement a few minutes later, blushing softly. “Well, uh, it’s gonna have to be early, because I think Sandbar is gearing up to start a new O&O game that same day.”

“Well, just be at my office at 9 AM, and I’m sure it won’t take long enough for you to miss your game.” Trixie said as she finally used her inked pen to jot the appointment down, leaving no room for Gallus to reschedule any further.

Gallus sighed softly, but shrugged all the same. “I guess I’ll see you then, Ms. Trixie.” He hesitated again, waiting just in case there was anything left for either to say.

It was very awkward for the both of them.

Gallus cleared his throat, then very swiftly opened the door behind him and fled the scene before it could get any worse, shouting a quick “Have a good day,” as he did so.

As Gallus left Trixie’s office he finally felt himself relax for the first time in what felt like years, but was probably more like days or even hours. For once, he felt like people were taking care of him and having his best interests at heart. And all he needed to do was get rid of his Sole Caretaker for the past 16 years.

With the slightest bit of a jaunt in his step, Gallus smiled to himself as he made his way to the school’s main entrance. While he didn’t exactly interact with the ponies he passed on the way, Trixie having drained his Social Bar already, he didn’t scowl and glare at them either. He just nodded pleasantly and waved at what few ponies he knew the name of.

Once at the school’s main hall, he took a short glance at the School Crest that doubled as a clock and suddenly found that his conversation with Trixie had killed a considerable amount of time. He only had 30 minutes left until his appointment with Sandbar, which meant he had 35 minutes to kill so that he could be fashionably late like usual.

With a soft sigh that trailed itself into a loud yawn, the sky-blue griffon resigned himself to getting something to drink and seeing what else he could do to distract himself before his date with Sandbar.

While the thought of the date sent a pang of anxiety through his heart, he couldn’t even try to hide the smile on his face.

Comments

[Bicyclette]

Thankfully, his general aloofness and the cold, but not malicious stare that he’d perfected in Griffonstone, out of pure necessity, was useful for the few ponies he did pass.

ah so that explains Gallus’s default facial expression!

Love, Pinkamena Diane Pie, PhD

love that she inexplicably has a PhD, love this entire note, really just love it

Gallus rolled his eyes with a sigh. “Damn, it’s a shame that I can’t read.”

hey that’s just like the meme!

She spent the next few seconds slowly pulling out a cardboard mailing tube from seemingly nowhere, to which Gallus questioned if it was a pony thing or a magician thing that she was able to do it.

that is indeed an unsettled question

The first thing that he saw was just the absolute clutter of the room, with boxes and chests strewn about that Gallus was sure were packed to the brim with props Trixie used in her shows. On top of many of these trunks were, Gallus assumed, whatever she couldn’t fit, or what she found the most use in.

guessing Trixie just dumped her entire wagon’s contents into her office, love her

He may have been a Cool Kid, but he still had respect for others’ property.

that makes him even more Cool Kid! i say, as a responsible and boring adult

“I am truly sorry,” she started simply, “For saying what I did to your guardian. I don’t regret it one bit, but I shouldn’t have said it either way.”

most Trixie apology, i can just hear her nasal voice, love it

For a moment, Gallus had no idea what to say. He wracked his brain for the date, but came up short with only the vague memory of it being somewhere in the latter half of the year. Maybe near the Blue Moon Festival? It would explain why everyone was meaner than usual.

ooh, love this worldbuilding! that griffons are meaner to people with birthdays than usual

He only had 30 minutes left until his appointment with Sandbar, which meant he had 35 minutes to kill so that he could be fashionably late like usual.

definitely Gallus’s style!

While the thought of the date sent a pang of anxiety through his heart, he couldn’t even try to hide the smile on his face.

aww yay!