//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: Consequences 
// Story: The Night Janitor 
// by Knox Locke 
//------------------------------//

Knox woke up in a room he'd never seen before. He was laying on a long sofa against the wall of what seemed to be some kind of office. The last thing he remembered at first was... oh. Yeah, that emotional outburst was the last thing he could recall. 'Wait, did I?' No, he now distinctly remembered NOT evaporating the young griffon he'd been screaming at. He sighed in relief as he surveyed the room once more. It was set up similarly to the headmare's office. What was her name again? Not important.

Since he knew he wasn't in the headmare's office, there was only one other place he could be. It was the only room on campus (besides the dormitory, of course) that he didn't have access to: the guidance counselor's office. He nearly gagged at the thought. The last thing he wanted to do right now was talk about his feelings. He'd already revealed way more than he'd meant to when confronting Gallus.

"Well, it's about time," came an unfamiliar voice through the doorway.

Knox looked towards the door and saw a blue unicorn mare walking into the room.

"Oh, goody," he replied in a sardonic tone. "You must be the new guidance counselor."

The mare looked offended for a moment before she said "Don't tell me you've never heard of..."

She paused to lift herself dramatically onto her hind legs. "The great and powerful TRIXIE!"

'Well, that was something special' he thought to himself as a couple minor pyrotechnics went off behind this Trixie character. He rolled his eyes heavily at the showy display.

"Why am I here?" he asked when the so-called 'guidance counselor' was done showing off.

"Well," Trixie started, "Gallus came bursting into my office, told me what happened, and brought me to your tear-soaked, unconscious body. Not very often we have a faculty member cry himself to sleep in the middle of the hallway, I'll tell you that."

"After we realized that waking you up probably wasn't the best plan," she continued, "I used my magic to teleport you here! Honestly, I probably should've asked Starlight to do it, but you got here either way, right?"

'Starlight?' Knox thought to himself. Then he remembered, 'Oh, THAT's the new headmare's name!'

"Anyways," continued the not-so-great-and-powerful Trixie, "I just got back from discussing your little performance with Gallus and Starlight."

Knox visibly cringed at the thought of how that discussion probably went.

"So, am I fired?" he asked sheepishly. He was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

"No, of course not," answered the would-be guidance counselor.

"Really?"

At this point, Knox was already completely shocked.

"Trust me," said the wanna-be great and powerful counselor, "If anypony understands lashing out over the loss of a friend, it's Starlight."

He blinked in confusion. Trixie seemed to pick up on it and added, "Long story. Don't ask."

"But, if I'm not fired, there's still gotta be repercussions for ATTACKING a student, right?"

"Yeah, about that... Starlight said you're not to come to work for two months, and you need to come here every day and have therapy sessions with yours truly!" She emphasized these last two words as she bowed dramatically.

Knox sighed heavily. These were going to be a long two months.