The Night Janitor

by Knox Locke

Chapter 4: Family Emergency

[Gallus' Perspective]

Knox had reared up onto his hind legs as if to cast the powerful spell he'd been charging up for the last few minutes. Gallus flinched as the unicorn's front hooves quickly returned to the ground. However, he'd been bracing himself for an extremely powerful spell that would never come.

As Gallus opened his eyes, he found that instead of blasting him out of existence, the grown unicorn was crumpled up in a heap on the floor sobbing uncontrollably. A pang of guilt traveled from Gallus' tail to his head and down through each of his claws as he realized what the stallion had been talking about. This was Cozy Glow's friend.

The thought hit him like a ton of bricks. How could somepony still consider Cozy Glow a friend? She was evil! Wasn't she?

He looked on and watched as the stallion wept on the floor. In between irrepressible sobs, the pony managed to say, "Cozy Glow..." (More Sobbing) "Why'd you have to leave me?"

The young griffon, finally free of the magical constraint on his tail, walked over to the weeping unicorn. He placed one of his claws on the janitor's shoulder, and he simply said "I'm sorry."

That was all he needed to say.

---

[1 Year Earlier]

Work had been hard the past few days, what with the magic of Equestria disappearing and all. Knox was surprised that Cozy Glow wasn't frightened by the prospect of magic being gone forever. He knew she wasn't. She hadn't come to talk to him about it. She always came to talk to him about her worries and concerns. Actually, he hadn't seen hide nor hair of Cozy for upwards of a week. It was somewhat upsetting, really. He didn't know why, but having somepony depend on him was... comforting. It made him feel complete. She'd become more than just a friend... She was the closest thing he had to family.

He pondered on this as he attempted to prepare a breakfast without using magic. It was harder that he first anticipated, so he ended up with just a bowl of oats on the table. He went to the front door and picked up his daily newspaper. When he went to go sit down, however, he accidentally knocked his bowl of oats off the table. Imagine his surprise when it floated back up to the table surrounded by a pale pink magical aura. 'Huh,' he thought to himself, 'they fixed the magic problem. What a pleasant surprise!'

He would soon receive a surprise of a much fouler nature, though. His unfolded his newspaper, and he felt as if his heart had split in two as he read the headline.

Pegasus Filly Sent to Tartarus for Crimes Against Equestria, the headline read. There was even a photograph. There was no denying it: the article was about Cozy Glow. His friend was gone.

He went to the desk in his bedroom, crying profusely, and used his newly returned magic to send a scroll to Headmare Twilight. That was the first night he had ever called off work since starting at the School of Friendship, and the only reason he'd given was 'family emergency.'