//------------------------------// // Chapter 29: Guy's Night // Story: The Night Janitor // by Knox Locke //------------------------------// After placing an order with Davenport at Quills & Sofas, Knox went home for a while. Cozy had run off with Sweetie Belle, but he knew she knew her way home. He wasn't about to interrupt Cozy's attempt at renewing her friendship with Sweetie. Besides, he'd been invited to meet Spike, the princess' assistant, at the School of Friendship tonight for some fun activities. Spike hadn't let him know what their plans were, but Pinkie was out of town tonight, so he had nothing better to do. Upon reaching the school that night, Knox found three creatures waiting for him: Spike, the purple dragon, an earth pony stallion he'd never met, and one creature impatiently tapping one cloven hoof. The air caught in Knox's throat as he stood in the presence of Discord, one of the powerful entities who'd turned Cozy to stone. "So," Spike said as Knox came closer, "are you ready for guys night?" The campus had been closed for hours at this point, so the dormitory was the only inhabited building. The group walked into the main building and made their way towards the library. Knox gulped. This would be his first time stepping hoof in the library since Cozy's return. Prior to her release, entering the library brought with it a torrent of memories of his lost friend, which typically resulted in him wallowing in depression for the rest of his work shift. Imagine his relief when the heavy weight of depression didn't come as they all entered the library. Memories still came flooding into his mind, and they were the same memories, but they felt different now. Instead of being a reminder that he'd never share those moments with Cozy again, they were now a reminder that there were plenty more moments like that yet to come. He smiled slightly at the mere thought of it. "So, what are we doing exactly?" he asked his hosts. "We're going to play a game," Spike answered. "Since tonight's your first time joining us, we won't do Discord's version quite yet." "What kind of game is it?" Knox questioned as the group worked its way past bookshelves to a table near the back of the library. Knox's eyes lit up as he noticed the table was littered with graph paper, dice of assorted side numbers, and cardboard cutouts of fictional characters. "Ogres & Oubliettes!" Spike and Knox cried out in unison. "Eeyup," said the earth pony that accompanied them. Knox realized at this point that he still hadn't asked for his name. "You've played before?" Spike asked, interrupting his train of thought. "Yeah," explained Knox, picking up a d20 from the table with his magic and spinning it in the air. "I used to play O&O all the time when I was a colt." Based on his experience with this game from his childhood, Knox realized they'd probably be playing well into the next morning. Luckily, he'd prepared. He'd asked a friend to stay at his place tonight in case Cozy needed help with anything. Not that Cozy wasn't perfectly capable of handling things on her own, but it was always a smart idea to have somepony to watch over her. Just as a "just in case." "So, how'd you do with my little challenge?" asked the great & powerful Trixie, who was in Cozy's house for some reason. "What the... Trixie?" Cozy said, thoroughly confused. "Golly, what are you doing here?" "Well, Knox had some plans tonight, so he asked me to hang out here in case you needed anything." "So... He got me a foalsitter," she said with the smallest bit of spite dashed into her tone. "Absolutely not!" proclaimed the great & powerful foalsitter. "I'm not here to pamper you, or follow some weird list of instructions, or anything like that! I'm only here because he wanted somepony to help you if you need an extra hoof for something." "Whatever," Cozy sighed. "If it helps you sleep at night." "And," Trixie continued, "you didn't answer my question. How'd it go with your old friends?" "Well, I went to the CMCs first, but Scootaloo and Apple Bloom yelled at me and Sweetie Belle was afraid to disagree with them." "How do you know that?" "She told me as much when I befriended her earlier today," she replied with a slight grin. "So you did regain one of your old friends!" "Two, actually. After the crusaders chased me off, I ran into Gallus. I'm not completely sure if he considers me a friend again quite yet, but he's at least willing to give it a shot." "Ocellus, I know what you've been up to." "What?" asked the changeling as she turned around to face the Treehouse staircase. "Oh, Gallus. It's just you." "I know you've been spying on Cozy Glow," Gallus continued, ignoring Ocellus' iterruption. "What are you trying to do?" "Oh, come on, Gallus! You've gotta admit something fishy's going on. Some guy who works at the school randomly decides to talk to the princess about releasing Cozy Glow? I think there's something else going on here. Something nopony else seems to see!" "Ocellus, do you remember when I told you the school janitor attacked me?" "Of course I remember! What does that have to do with anything?" "Cozy's new guardian is that janitor! And do you wanna know why he attacked me?" Ocellus didn't respond right away, so Gallus continued, his anger rising more and more as he spoke. "He was Cozy Glow's friend! Like, a real friend. So much so that he still considered her a friend even after everything she did." "I..." Ocellus stammered. "I didn't know that." "His decision was anything but random, Ocellus, and I really think Cozy's trying to be better. I think he's a good influence on her." Gallus saw something he hadn't seen in his friend's eyes before. Was that... anger? Either way, he wasn't going to stop leaning into her. He couldn't let this stand. "Gallus, just because his intentions are pure, doesn't mean hers are. She's planning something. I just know it!" "Ocellus, you need to stop! She deserves a second chance!" "She stopped getting what she deserved when they released her from that statue!" she screamed, bursting into tears. Gallus stood there, utterly appalled by the usually-shy changeling's act of aggression. "Cozy is up to something, and I'm going to find out what it is!" With that, she stormed out of the Treehouse, leaving Gallus there in stunned silence.