//------------------------------//
// Chapter 47: Father Figure 
// Story: The Night Janitor 
// by Knox Locke 
//------------------------------//

Cozy had just left Zecora's hut after having the zebra enchant the crown she now wore upon her head. Reaching up to touch it, she could feel the soothing magical aura work its way through her body. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness," she said to the forest around her. "Now if I get anxious, this can help calm me down."

She smiled to herself as she made her way back into Ponyville. However, she flew right past Knox's house as she entered the town. She had one more stop to make before heading home.





[Knox's Perspective]

Today was Father's Day, but Knox hadn't had his father around to celebrate with for a long time now.

"Stupid holiday," he muttered to himself as he wrapped a mug of cider in his magic and made his way into the living room. His mind drifted to a tale he had once read, about a powerful unicorn who'd tried to erase Hearth's Warming forever with a magical spell.

'If only it were that easy,' he thought to himself. He was always miserable on these types of holidays. His family wasn't around to celebrate with him, so why should he be happy?

He'd asked Pinkie not to come over today. He knew she'd try to cheer him up. He also knew she'd fail, and that would break her heart.

There he sat, wallowing in self-pity on a sofa with a burned cushion for another solid hour before the front door swung open.

"Knox, I'm home!" called out a cheerful Cozy.

'Great,' Knox thought to himself, 'even the former statue is in a chipper mood today.'

He instantly felt bad for thinking such things about Cozy, but he still didn't get up to greet her.

"Hey, kid," he called from his spot on the couch, still cradling his now-empty cider mug. "How's it going?"

"Well," she said, fluttering over to him. "It's Father's Day, you know."

"So?" he said, letting a small hint of his annoyance show through his tone.

"So..." Cozy said, revealing something she'd had hidden behind her back, "I got you something."

Knox' eyes filled with tears as he looked at the rolled up scroll Cozy held in front of him. He gently unrolled it, taking a look at the spell within.

"I know how obsessed you are with all things security, so I got you a..."

"A lock-pick spell," Knox finished for her. He already knew the spell, of course, but Cozy didn't have to know that.

Knox gently rolled the scroll back up and placed it beside him gently. Tears were still trying to fight their way out of his eyes. Cozy had gotten him a present... for Father's Day.

"Thank you Cozy," he said, his throat scratchy as he began to cry with a wide smile on his face.

Cozy saw the tears rolling down his face and immediately catapulted herself into one of her signature cannonball-like hugs Knox liked so much.

"No, thank you," she said.

'I guess Father's Day isn't so bad after all,' Knox thought as he held Cozy in a tight embrace.

Knox didn't know it, but a few tears of joy trickled down Cozy's face as well. After all, her plan was working perfectly.