//------------------------------//
// Chapter 27: Suspicions 
// Story: The Night Janitor 
// by Knox Locke 
//------------------------------//

Gallus followed Cozy Glow down to the ground floor of the Treehouse. Upon seeing Cozy, Edith the cockatrice came straight at her, only stopping once Gallus was in view. Gallus glared at the creature in a fashion which Edith recognized as the "try anything like that again, and I'll tell Silverstream" look. The fowl creature (See what I did there?) quickly retreated past a coffee table to its perch in the far corner of the room

"I'm sorry about Edith," Gallus apologized. "She's usually much more well-behaved."

Once Cozy was safely outside, flying through the Everfree Forest all by herself as the sun was setting, Gallus finally turned his attention away from his friend's unusual pet.

Upon turning around, he found himself face-to-face with a mysterious figure who'd become a staple in the lives of Gallus and his friends. It looked almost exactly like Twilight Sparkle. If Twilight Sparkle were made out of glitter, that is.

"Why was Cozy Glow here?" asked the spirit.

"Everypony deserves a second chance, Harmony," he replied.

At one point, Gallus and the others had grown tired of calling this being "the Tree of Harmony," especially since it was probably just a hallucinatory manifestation of the Treehouse's essence (Ocellus' words, not his.), so they'd all agreed to simply call it "Harmony."

"I'm just giving her one," continued the griffon.

"Are you sure that's wise. She tried to destroy you," said Harmony matter-of-factly.

"That's why it's called a second chance, Harmony. They wouldn't need it if they hadn't screwed up their first one."

"So you aim to befriend her?"

"Right now, I don't see any reason not to. This doesn't mean all is forgiven. I'm just giving her a chance to earn forgiveness."

"As you wish. I will not interfere," Harmony said as she slowly deteriorated back into the nothing she was made of.

Gallus went back up the staircase leading to the griffon's roost. It had been exhausting trying to stay calm when Cozy was here, so he was in desperate need of a nap.





As Gallus climbed the staircase, he failed to notice a small flash of magical energy behind him as a small rock under the coffee table turned back into his friend Ocellus.

Ocellus remained under the table, scratching her head with one of her forelegs. She was trying to process all of what she'd just witnessed: Cozy's visit, Edith's aggressive behavior, Harmony's conversation with Gallus, all of it. It was just so much to take in all at once. Gallus was trusting Cozy? It didn't make sense! Of all of her friends, except maybe Smolder, Gallus seemed to be the least likely to make friends with former enemies. Something about this didn't seem right.

She slowly slid herself out from under the table with a determined look in her bug-like eyes.

"Something's going on here," she said aloud to nocreature in particular, "and I'm going to get to the bottom of it."





When Cozy returned home from her trip to the Treehouse, she instantly noticed something strange.

"Ummm... What happened to the couch?" she asked, referring to the giant scorch mark in the middle of the rightmost cushion.

"Yeah, about that," said Pinkie, who was in the kitchen making cupcakes with Knox.

She giggled sheepishly.

"It's kind of a long story..." she continued.