The School of Friendship takes all kinds of students and deals with all kinds of friendship problems on a daily basis. Some things are easily resolved: A fight between two students over lunch, troubles getting along with someone else during a friendship exercise, that sort of thing. Some times, it's more troubling behavior from more troubling sources; unhappy families, unresolved issues in the like.
And then you run into some students with too much talent, too little self-confidence and an unusual approach to solving problems. Like Dusty Gust.
Fortunately, The School of Friendship takes all kinds of faculty, too. Including guidance counselors whose knack for theatrics is surpassed only by their willingness to work with children, regardless of how atypical their problems might be.
My entry into the Kirin Fans of Cuteness story exchange, and a gift for VoxArachne. I sincerely hope that I got the character right - The wiki only listed her as "Kirin Friendship Student S09E26 Unnamed Kirin #3", so I gave it my own touch, embellished things a little and hoped for the best. In any case, hope you liked it. 
Hmmm.
Oh. Oh this hurt :(
Dusty is way too relatable and I wish only the best for her in the future. Wonderful story.
discrete: separate from other things
discreet: does not spread secrets or confidences
I never thought I’d say this but I wish I had a Trixie in my life.
Beautiful kirin world building here with the dilute stream of silence water. I always thought the water required oral ingestion to work.
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Darn it! I'll get that fixed right away. Good catch, thanks!
That was a good story.
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Well, they all apparently just walked in for the show, so touch is probably enough when it's straight at least.
Daily dose of warm fuzzy feelings.
Wonderful work in character-building and showcasing how much Trixie has grown over the years. The reveal of just how many years it's been worked especially well; it seems like Dusty's is showing a stereotypical "Everyone over 25 is ancient" mindset, which just makes Trixie dropping the illusion hit all the harder. Thank you for a great read.
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Though the only time Trixie wasn't discrete was that one Hearth's Warming party with the Smooze.
11390909 Well, that's about how many years it would require, isn't it?
11389212 Definitions are important.
The door to the School of Friendship's counselor office fairly exploded off the hinges as Princess Luna strode in, her lips drawn into thin lines and a certain dangerous fire flashing in her eyes. "CRIMINAL!" she bellowed, pointing at Trixie.
The Great and Powerful Trixie froze in place, eventually managing to say in her defense, "I'm sorry, you're going to have to be more specific."
"We have evidence of criminal activity taking place in this very room!" thundered Luna. Her magic flared to life and a bag of miniature marshmallows floated out from Trixie's desk drawer, bursting in to immediate flame and burning to ash in moments. "EVIDENCE!" she exclaimed.
"My marshmallows!" cried Trixie. "What am I supposed to put in my Empathy Cocoa now with--"
"Adulteress!" shouted Luna and picked up the guidance counselor in her magic. "You admit to corrupting the youth of this fine educational institution with your immoral actions! It's the dungeons for you, and not the one that Princess Cadence didst make with the padded hoofcuffs. The real dungeons with actual locking doors and gruel for meals! And no cocoa for you to corrupt!"
"But--" managed Trixie before Princess Luna swept her out of the room and into the sky on her way back to Canterlot.
A number of students watched them depart, although Gallus only managed to reach them when the target of their observation was two small dots in the sky, one complaining.
"What's going on?" asked Gallus. "I heard the commotion. Everybody in the school heard it."
"Oh, Trixie got arrested again," said Silverstream, sipping on her cup of cocoa like the rest of the group. "I don't think Princess Luna liked her putting marshmallows into her cocoa."
"Really?" Gallus perked up. "Cool. Now I gotta try it. I'll be right back with the marshmallows."
This was great on so many levels. Just the idea that a kirin would experiment with water from the stream of silence and the flowers to try and self medicate their mental health is brilliant and it leads very naturally into tackling some really heavy stuff.
This is where it really did the sucker punch well. Things seemed bad but easily manageable before, but this is just depressing. It also puts everything before in a fresh light. Before, the altercation between the two seems pretty simple- Ganymede goes snooping around and takes Dusty's stuff which makes her mad and lash out, especially because what Ganymede is doing is dangerous. But Ganymede was being an idiot and it could be argued that she deserved it.
But after this revelation, while the setup remains the same, it throws Dusty's reaction into a whole new light. Nobody knows what drinking the water could have done to a gryphon and the flower petals aren't guaranteed to reverse any effects. Ganymede was potentially very close to killing herself or causing permanent irreparable damage to her psyche. Something which Dusty probably couldn't conjure up in her worst nightmares. In that moment she was so angry precisely because what she loved the most was seriously threatened.
Of course, it isn't an excuse for lashing out and it's not unlikely that their relationship won't survive. There's a small measure of irony that in lashing out to save the "real" Ganymede from whatever she'd become had she ingested the water, Dusty is now herself forced to show Ganymede her actual true self. Naturally finding out that your partner has been hiding their true personality to such an extent is also not great.
But yeah, all in all a great story. Especially where Trixie is in on it weaving herself with Glamour as well to hide what she really is.
WAIT A SECOND-
IS STARLIGHT THIS 'EX-MAREFRIEND/ WIFE'???
because of the episode 'All Bottled Up"????
It's sad when familiar characters get old. But Trixie in this story looks so amazing in her position as a guidance counselor, that this age with the wisdom that has come is perceived with a smile. She's in her right position.
The Wise & Experienced Guidance Councelor Trixie is pretty awesome.
An excellent, thoughtful story!