> Ms. Glimmer, Guidance Counselor > by Silver Shadows > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Starlight was bored. She took the books off her shelf once more, sitting behind her desk with her hot cocoa. It's been a couple months since her last visit, in which she actually had to get out of the office to do things. Still, sitting in a office with a once in a while special occasion didn't serve any purpose for herself to belong in the school. A knock on the door startled her and she quickly used her horn to put the books in a random order. The door opened just as she teleported back to her chair behind the desk. A pony that she didn't know came in. She was an Earth pony with pink fur and blue pigtails. She didn't have her cutie mark yet. Starlight gave her a big smile, "Hi! Welcome to my office. How may I help you? Do you need a security blanket? Hot cocoa? A pillow?" As she said each of those items, she teleported the items onto her desk. The pony whispered, "Umm... No. I came because I want some advice." Starlight chuckled nervously, "I'm listening." "My name is Sand Wind. Most ponies call me Sandy. The thing is that I am failing a couple of the subjects." Starlight leaned closer, "Which subjects and why?" Sandy muttered, "I'm failing Loyalty and Kindness. I don't know why. I'm scared of all the creatures. They have fangs and I don't like being close to living things that I don't understand. Ms. Dash's class is a little brash for me. I don't like playing sports. I'm not good at kicking anything and I run out of the way instead of really playing." Starlight nodded, "I see..." She thought of the problem for some time, wondering if the student wasn't trying hard enough or if the teaching methods, which were abstract from normal teachers, weren't working for Sandy. After all, Starlight remembered reading how different Rainbow had to learn things in order to memorize it. Sandy's shy nature probably made it hard for her to succeed in Loyalty but Fluttershy taught much different than Rainbow did. Starlight couldn't imagine Fluttershy teaching harshly anymore than Rainbow teaching with a nice and soft voice. The guidance counselor said, "Sandy, after school today, can you come to my office? I will call Rain-Ms. Dash and Ms. Fluttershy over and see if they could provide any help. Which class should you be in right now?" Sandy answered, "Headmare Sparkle's class about the element of generosity." Starlight levitated a feather with ink and some paper over, scribbling a late pass for Sandy. Starlight gave the note to Sandy, "Here you go. Don't forget to stop by after school." Sandy brightened up immediately, taking the note and leaving the office, leaving Starlight in the office alone once more. Starlight paced around her office, hoping that her hoofsteps weren't pounding into the room below. She decided that she should speak with both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy about the situation prior to when the school ends. Besides, there was a class schedule and she was fairly certain that Rainbow was off. The unicorn trotted down the halls to Rainbow's classroom (it looked more like a gym though) and saw her putting the hoops and the baskets for buckball back into position. Starlight called out, "Rainbow? There's an issue concerning a student." Rainbow looked down and flew in front of Starlight, "What?" "Sand Wind says that she is currently failing your course because your course requires a lot of... movement." "Sand Wind... Sand Wind... Hmm... Doesn't ring a bell. Oh wait! I think I remember her. Pink fur? Always wears those pigtails?" Starlight nodded in reply, "Yes, that's her." Rainbow said, "Yeah, so? I'm gonna build her determination up." "Is there a better way to teach loyalty and for you to put separate activities for those who want it and for them to choose?" "I would but buckball becomes wild and I need to focus all of my awesomeness to that game." "Maybe put buckball once in a while and have the other students cheer their teammates on or something? Sand doesn't like to move and kick the ball." Rainbow sighed, "But the other ponies want to play buckball. Do you want me to remove that from them? I don't! I love teaching that way and it's my style, something we collaborated on for Twilight's egghead book of rules." "Is she the only student that is unable to reach your goals?" "Dunno. I don't think so. Around one or two per class?" "Rainbow, I want you to stay after school for a bit in my office. I want you to talk to Sandy about her grades. She can not flunk out and it is your responsibilty to make sure that she passes. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think that there's another's class coming and I'm hoping to talk to Fluttershy before everything is over." Starlight teleported out with a blue flash, into Fluttershy's class. Fluttershy was herding the animals away but once the animals saw Starlight coming out of nowhere, they scattered. Fluttershy scolded gently, “Starlight! You’re going to scare them.” Starlight chuckled nervously, “Sorry Fluttershy. I have something important to talk about though, if you have time that is. You must be busy preparing for all of your classes.” Fluttershy said gently to the animals, "It's okay. Line up in front of me now and enjoy yourselves in the garden." She opened the door to the garden with her hoof and the animals ran out the door quickly. Fluttershy turned to Starlight, "What do you want to talk about? If you don't mind me asking..." Starlight asked, "Sand Wind says that she is currently failing your class." "Oh my. Somepony's failing? I don't remember anypony failing my class. I know that Sand Wind isn't doing as well but I would never fail anycreature!" "She's afraid of your animals." "But they're so cute and adorables. They would never hurt anycreature!" "It's just a fear. I'm sure that you know," Starlight pointed out, "After all, you're afraid of a lot of things, no offense." "Umm... I don't know what to do about that..." Starlight thought for a moment, looking at the beautiful garden outside before looking back inside the classroom. She said, "I've got an idea. Fluttershy, I want you to meet me in my office after school." "Umm... Okay," Fluttershy replied. Starlight lit up her horn before remembering how frightened the animals were when she teleported. Instead, Starlight galloped through the door and slammed it shut. She needed to talk to Twilight. There was a large crowd of students outside as they went to their next classrooms. She heard Yona, one of the Yaks, saying, "Yak no like dress. Yona think that dress can be easily tripped." An orange dragon, Smolder if she remembered correctly, replied, "It's just a dress. It's not like you're going to wear it anyways. You asked to try it on. Not our problem." Starlight zigzagged through the crowd before finally reaching Twilight's classroom. She peeked in, seeing Twilight in the classroom, alone, dusting the board. Spike was flying around the classroom, obviously proud of his new wings. Starlight knocked on the door and Twilight opened the door using her magic. Starlight said, "Twilight, I'm thinking about a change for the school..." After school... Starlight waited in her office, sitting her hot cocoa. Her eyes glanced at the clock, obviously impatient for the other ponies to come. Sand Wind was the first to arrive, "Umm... Ms. Glimmer? You asked for me to come after?" "Yes. The others should be arriving soon." As if on cue, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and Twilight all trotted in. Twilight said, "I have spoke to all of the other teachers about an idea proposed from Star-Ms. Glimmer." Fluttershy smiled at Sand gently, "I'm sorry that my creatures scared you." "Ms. Glimmer thought that there should be separate classes based on a student's interest. For example, if you don't want to play buckball, you're schedule can change so you're in a different class with the same teacher. For example, instead of buckball with Ms. Dash, you can play a two-legged race with Ms. Dash." Sand smiled, "Really? I don't want to be a bother though." "I'm sure that other creatures would like this as well. I will plan a schedule with the teachers immediately. It should be done tomorrow. Can you stop by my office to pick up a new schedule? If you know any other creatures who could benefit from this too, please let me know." Twilight and the others trotted out of my office, closing the door behind me. Only Sand remained behind. Sand looked at Starlight and to her surprise, hugged her, "Thank you. Thank you so much." Starlight smiled, "It's my job. Remember, you can always come here for any troubles." "I will. You have no idea how much you are going to make my life so much easier around here." "As I said, I'm here to help." Sand backed away from the hug, waving a goodbye and she trotted out of the door. Starlight sat back and smiled. Maybe a guidance counselor could be helpful to the school after all. > Chapter 2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A voice shouted, "Starlight? Starlight!" The door burst open to show Twilight. Starlight looked up from her book and sighed. It had been a week since Sand Wind had came and she was actually enjoying the silence for once. A little excitement here and there was good but more visits to her office meant more problems. However, Twilight's visit wasn't a very unexpected one. Starlight sighed, "Okay Twilight. I know that you want teachers for Math and English because you think that it's important. How many creatures want to come in and teach?" "That's the problem," Twilight exclaimed, "A lot of applications were sent and I have no idea about who to choose!" "I'm sure that I could help you sort it out." "Really? Thanks Starlight! That would be great!" Starlight smiled before asking, "Who are the applicants?" Twilight levitated a few piles of papers over, giving Starlight half of it, "Here. Choose a creature for Math. I'm going to keep sorting out for English." Starlight gulped at the huge pile of paper, before nodding and trotting to her desk, ready to pull an all nighter. It had been a couple hours since she had started and all of the applications were quite good. However, she had managed to narrow it down to two creatures, one of them a changeling and the other one being a pony. She glanced at the clock, a little bit surprised that it was around one in the morning. She rubbed her eyes before yawning. Surely she could take a quick nap before returning to the pile of papers, right? "Starlight? Starlight!" Twilight shouted the next morning. Starlight groggily opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times. Starlight sat up quickly, "I'm really sorry Twilight. I didn't manage to finish. I'm stuck between two of these. One of them is a changeling named Ferry and another one is a pony named Glowheart." "It's all right Starlight. I didn't finish either. I'm still stuck between two creatures. One of them is a Yak and another one is a griffin. They both would be wonderful additions to the school. Still, I'm not sure who to choose." She flapped her wings a little bit. Twilight continued, "I'm sorry, I've got to go for now. There are a couple students that need detention because they started a food fight in the cafeteria yesterday." Starlight asked, "Are you sure that you don't want me to handle it?" "I'm sure Starlight. Besides, you're good at planning things, even if they have to hurt one creature." Twilight teleported out of the room and Starlight sighed, looking at both of the applications. Starlight's ears drooped a little when she was reminded, again, of her past. Starlight was walking triumphantly through the village that she had created. To think that it had only started with a tiny mishap with some paint that had splattered onto her cutie mark. She had never known who she was meant to be, even after gaining her cutie mark with a spell she had created herself. The ponies were trotting around, grinning at one another with those cheesy smiles that she wasn't sure whether to love or to hate. She wasn't stupid. She knew that she needed another pony to help keep everything in order, besides her. Somepony powerful but under her command for sure. Somepony who knew her better than the others. Who could she choose? Would she choose Double Diamond, the pony she had first manipulated into joining? Perhaps Sugar Belle, the one who gave up her cutie mark after a few mishaps in a baking contest? Whoever she was going to chose, Starlight knew that she had to make certain that the pony was devoted to her cause. Everypony was a viable option after all, save for the foals. She knew that they needed a co leader in case she was unable to make the decisions. There were... minor complications however. First off, nopony besides herself could even remove a curie mark. She knew that all of them believed in the staff and her silver tongue, but it would never last forever. Starlight always felt like ponies were going to oppose her someday so she needed a pony who could restore balance. A test. That's how she would choose the next pony. A simple test that could rule out all of the ponies, save for one. The next day, she had stepped on one end of the village, "Everypony! I will be making a small trip to get more supplies. While I'm gone, I'm certain that you can have peace amongst yourselves. I will be back in a week or so." She trotted off with her saddlebags, the ponies in her village waving at her. A week after, she managed to get back to the village. True to her word, her saddlebag was full of supplies that they would need. She's heard Double Diamond calling, "Ok everypony. I see our leader, Starlight Glimmer coming! Gather around." Starlight smirked, appointing Double Diamond the co leader a couple days after due to his ability to lead. Starlight glanced at her desk. Maybe she could do the same thing, but much less manipulative. The teachers must know that they were being evaluated on their ability to teach students under pressure. Who would be the students though? Twilight and herself were adults and they were smart enough. Perhaps random students who had different interests and personalities would work. Her mind jumped to Sandy, whom she had helped just a week beforehand. Sandy was definitely a special student. Perhaps they should evaluate on how they would react to different creatures as well. Starlight smiled slightly, thinking of how they would react to Yona's clumsiness and Smolder's stubbornness. They would be a good fit to evaluate teachers as well. First, she would have to talk to Twilight about her idea. Creating them without approval wasn't wise. It would waste her valuable time (oh, who was she kidding? She knew that she would mope in her office after) and Twilight wouldn't be happy if something was happening right under her nose. With some concentration, the unicorn teleported in front of the door to Twilight's office. She knocked on the door and the door opened. Starlight stepped in the office and Twilight smiled at her gently. Starlight said, "I have an idea." Twilight nodded, "What is your idea?" "I think that we should evaluate them on how they teach instead of their applications. We can use groups of students who could be there for the teacher to teach while we take notes in the back." "That's an idea but how would that even work? School is very important for young minds and I don't like thinking about taking away class time." Starlight thought for a moment before saying, "All of the students have a free period and a lunch period. They could go there and do it to skip a homework assignment or something." "Sounds fair. Who do you have in mind?" With that, the unicorn knew that she had convinced the headmare to follow through on her idea. The door opened and Sandy, Smolder, Yona, and Twilight all came out. Behind them, a few teachers came out, looking very nervous. Twilight whispered to me, "That was a great idea Starlight." Starlight smiled, "Thanks Twilight." The alicorn looked at the students, "Thank you for agreeing to do this. Please attend your next class immediately. I am certain that your teachers have been notified of your absence." The students left, the three of them chattering down the hall even though Starlight couldn't help but notice that Sandy wasn't really part of the group. Still, at least they were talking. In her old school, everypony would hang out in groups and ignore the other groups unless there was a fight going on. Twilight turned to the other creatures, "All right everycreature. I have decided that Ferry would be the Math teacher and Jazz would be the English teacher. Please come to my office tomorrow to discuss how you would start working here. I know that your presence would hopefully bring a wonderful teaching spirit to the students. For those of you who was not chosen, I apologize for it. Not everycreature could be chosen and I thank you for trying." The creatures left, some of them looking much happier than the others. Twilight hugged Starlight, "Thank Starlight. I would've never gotten this sorted out this quickly without you."