“I’m Clean, the only human janitor in Equestria, and I’m in the Canterlot dungeons.”

“I may have gotten in a bit of a scuffle. And by a bit, I mean I’m pretty fucked up. Got stitches, bandages, and wraps on my hands.”

“I’ve been down here a week I believe. There's a special cell specifically for me down here. There are no windows so you can never tell what time it is. Hence why I believe it's only been a week.”

“This cell was made after the war between Equestria and Griffonia. I made it myself actually. As penance, I carved away the stone walls with a pickaxe. Chipping away at the hard rock walls, I made a nice cell for me. The cell door is runic metal as well. It was charmed so that magic is nullified inside the cell.”

“I know it may seem a bit crazy, who would make a cell for themselves? Well I did, I made it incase I were to lose my mind one day. If something was to corrupt me like Nightmare Moon was corrupted. I know Celestia would never be able to do the right thing and put me down. That’s why I made this cell. So she wouldn’t have to choose.”

I hear the clopping of hooves coming from down the hall.

“There she is now, be quiet before she hears us.”

The sound of hooves continued to get louder until Celestia herself was in front of me.

I had both of my hands up, wrists bend and hands facing each other, moving my thumb and fingers to make it look like a mouth talking.

Righty turned to Celestia, “Hello Celestia, glad to see you dropping in! Tell me, did you bring any snacks? I’m starving.”

I smacked my right hand with my left, “No Righty, thats rude! Don’t you know you have to invite guests in before you ask for food?”

My hand hung limply, dead.

“I think I hit him too hard…”

“Enough Clean!” Celestia demanded, stomping her hooves into the stone floor.

“Alright, alright. What are you doing down here then?”

“You have visitors, Clean. Even if you don't want them.”

“...”

Celestia stood there awkwardly as I sat on my own cot. She sighed and motioned to the side with her wing. From around the corner came two mares. One, a yellow pegasus with a gray mane. The other, a light blue unicorn with purple hair. Both had bloodshot eyes and matted lines down their face.

They both stood on the other side of the bars. Trying to stay still, but their bodies would shiver every time they were racked with sobs they were trying to hold in.

“Dearie… Lovie…I’m-”

“No Clean, don’t you dare apologize!”

Dearie stopped her crying to scream at me. She was always the one hiding behind Lovie, but this was different.

“Because of you my daughter is hurt! The doctors say she’ll never see straight again! How could you let that happen to her?!”

Lovie tried to pull Dearie back, but she merely pushed her off with her wing.

Putting her face against the bars, she screamed in; “How dare you Clean?! You were supposed to protect her! It was for one week, how can you not take care of a filly for ONE BUCKING WEEK?!”

As she screamed at me, face pressed against the bars, trying to force herself through the metal beams, my vision darkened. I could feel tears starting to form in my eyes, threatening to fall. All I could see was my daughter pouring her soul out in front of me.

“I hope you ROT in this cell Clean, I hope to never see you again!”

Dearie spit at me through the bars. It hurt, not physically, but emotionally. I could feel every ounce of hate in her voice, every seething regret of having let her daughter stay with me.

Lovie looked between me, Celestia, and to where Dearie ran to. After a couple moments of silence she followed suit. Slowly trotting away.

After the sound of clopping hooves stopped, Celestia and I stood there in silence. After some deliberation, Celestia spoke up.

“Clean, do you know why you are in here?”

“I do, and I don’t regret it.”

“And are you ready to tell me what all happened?”

“Yes, I am…”

-=- -=- -=-

It was just after Spoiled Milk was escorted out. I gave Derpy and Trixie to Celestia to watch and watched over them.

“Clean, what are we going to do?”

I stood there, watching over the two fillies.

“I need some time to think, I need to step outside.”

I felt angry, angrier than I’ve ever been before. But, at the same time, I was completely calm. My thoughts were clear and precise.

‘You know what you have to do.’

I walked away from Celestia, leaving the throne room.

‘How dare she touch your family.’

I questly closed the door, noticing that the guards that were usually posted outside were both absent. Making a mental note to check into why the guards weren’t performing their duties, I briskly walked down the hall.

‘Useless dogs, they can’t even do their jobs right.’

I knew the castle’s interiors. Having spent decades in here, I could easily make my way around with my eyes closed.

‘That mare lacks control, she needs to be taught a lesson’

Finding the staircase, I stepped down into the darkness. Each step resounding in the dark halls.

‘Yes, a lesson is exactly what that wretched cretin needs. Show her why a pony is no match against a human.’

My steps slowed as I came closer and closer to the dungeons. I knew that Spoiled Milk had to be down here. The holding cells were just below the castle, just enough so that they could be guarded. They were rarely used, but I still kept them in clean shape.

‘You’ve done this before, haven’t you? This one most certainly deserves it.’

I got to the bottom of the stairs and stood in front of the door to the dungeon. It was tall and menacing, letting Celestia easily clear it by three feet, almost a meter taller.

‘Make her regret ever being born.’

I wrapped my fingers around the circular handle of the door. It was a simply ring that could be pulled or pushed. I stopped. Would this really change anything?

‘She needs to be punished, Clean. Whos to say she won’t hurt another pony?’

I was angry at Spoiled Milk. I wanted her to hurt for what she did, I wanted revenge. But I couldn’t bring myself to push the door open. It felt like something was holding me back, telling me that nothing good would come from it.

Then I thought back on what happened. Derpy taking the blast of magic for me, then seeing her eyes messed up.

‘That mare took something from Derpy that she’ll never get back. Now it is time to take something from her. Open the door.’

I didn’t feel right, something felt wrong.

-=- -=- -=-

“What do you mean something felt wrong?”

Celestia interrupted my telling of the story. Having chosen to sit down outside my cell midway through.

“My thoughts were clouded, I’ve been angry before as you know, but nothing like this. Even when I tried to rationalize my thoughts, I was still angry.”

“Clean, when we found you down here, I found traces of magic on you. Is there something you’re not telling me?”

I stood up from my cot in the corner of the room. I walked over to Celestia and sat on the floor in front of her.

“I have a bad feeling about this Celestia. It felt like someone else was talking though my conscious. Even when I would try to calm down and think rationally, I would just get more mad. I think I was being possessed.”

Celestia let out a sigh, shaking her head. “Clean, you know that nopony has the magical capabilities to control you. Your natural resistance to magic keeps you safe from that. Nopony could ever hope to be strong enough.”

I stood back up, walking back over to my cot and pulling out a small box under the cot. Walking back over to Celestia I opened it up and starting pulling things out.

“No PONY could control me, Celestia, but an Alicorn could.”

“Now you’re being ridiculous Clean. Surely you don’t think Cadence would do something like that?”

“I was thinking something different.” I said, pulling out a small carton of cigarettes, a book and some scraps of paper with photographs stuck to them.

I handed the book to Celestia. On it was a golden unicorn with diamond blue eyes. The binding had two strips of gold on it.

“Celestia, do you recognize this book?”

She pulled the book out of my grasp with her magic, then held it. “Yes, this is an old story book. It has multiple stories in it that parents read to their foals at night. What of it?”

“What is the first story then?”

She flipped the book open to the first page. After skimming the pages for a couple seconds, she closes the book with her magic and sets it down. She stares down at the book, face blank.

“Well?”

“Clean, do you really think that's the reason you did this?”

“Let me finish telling you what happened, just remember the story.”

-=- -=- -=-

I pushed the door open. Inside Morning Dew was silently watching over a cell.

She looked up to me and called me out. “Clean, what are you doing down here?”

I made my way over to her, focusing more on the cell than her.

Morning Dew stood up, coming between me and the cell. “I know what you’re down here for. I’m not letting you do this. Please, go back upstairs. She’ll get a fair trial and be sentenced.”

“No, she took something from me. I plan on taking something in return.”

The guardspony looked scared for a second, before brandishing her sword from under her wing. Holding it in her hoof, she readied the blade.

“Clean, stand down. Something is wrong and you need to see the Princess. Please listen to me.”

“It's too late for that Dew. I don’t plan on leaving until her debts paid in full.”

She leapt forward, attempting to strike me with the flat of her blade. In her haste, she messed up her swing and ended up slicing me across the chest.

Not expecting to actually cut me, and the sight of blood, she dropped her blade and started to back away.

“You shall not interrupt me, leave or be stricken down.” I said, approaching her. “Well? What will it be?”

“Y-you’re not Clean. Who are you?”

Raising my hand, I struck Morning Dew across the back of her neck, knocking her unconscious. Picking up her sword, I turned my attention to the cell.

-=- -=- -=-

“Clean, did that not tip you off that something was wrong?”

Cigarette in hand, I leaned back and looked up to the ceiling of my cell.

“No, it didn’t Celestia. I was too focused on my task. Now do you want me to finish telling you?”

“Just… go on Clean.” She said, looking down, dejected.

-=- -=- -=-

“Well… Look what we have here…”

Inside the cell, Spoiled Milk started to quiver. Her hair looked unkempt, and her face was stained like she had been crying. She had a black eye from where my boot connected to her face.

Raising the guard’s sword, I slashed the lock to her cell in half. Deliberately opening the door slowly.

“You’ve taken something that cannot be returned. Now it's time you pay with blood.”

I approached the mare, preparing to swing the sword, when a stone connected with the back of my head. I crumpled to the floor and dropped the sword.

In my blurred vision I saw the mare pick the sword up with her magic and attempt to slash me with it. I clumsily batted it away with my hand, earning me a nice slash across my palm. Shakily trying to stand, I got up to my hands and knees, leaving a nice, bloody handprint on the floor.

“I see they didn’t put a magic dampening ring on your horn.” I said, vision waving. “That just makes this all the more fun.”

The sword wavered in her untrained magic. She tried to slash again, catching me in the forearm this time. It wasn’t strong enough to cut through, but it did cut into my arm.

By the time I finally gathered the strength to get to my feet she had made numerous more attempts to butcher me. Each time she would cut deeper, but she lacked the strength and training to do any permanent damage besides a couple of deep on my arms.

On my feet, I moved forward and grabbed the handle of the blade. Her magic dissipated. She panicked and tried to blast me with magic, only to have it also dissipate.

“Stay back! You can’t kill me! You’ll be sentenced to the dungeons for life!”

“Silly little pony, I don’t want your life… I want something else entirely…” I said bringing my arm back and slicing horizontally. It was a clean cut, right at the base of her horn.

-=- -=- -=-

I finished my story and shuffled my hand around the box. I pulled out a small, pink horn. Placing it base down.

Celestia looked down at the horn and her eyes widened. She stuttered and stumbled on her words, trying to come up with something to say.

I picked the horn back up and put it in the box. Taking out another cigarette, I lit it and stuck it in my mouth.

“Well, that's the story. Take it as you will.”

Gathering her words, Celestia stood up and looked down at me. “Clean, your trial is to be set in another week. I expect you’ll be staying down here?”

“Yeah, I have a feeling I’ll be down here for a while.”

“Goodbye Clean.”

“Goodbye Tia.”

“Its Princess Celestia.”

I stood up and moved to my cot. For some reason the room felt colder than before.

Author's Note

Sorry for the very long wait. Got a lot more free time coming up so expect more shit.

This ends here. I will be making a sequel to this where its more organized. And the sequel should be out by the end of the week.

Thanks for sticking through this story. I actually started writing this story over a lost bet. Its initial writing was purely a oneshot and its slowly grown into a true story. After the overwhelming positivity, I was kinda forced to continue writing this piece.
Every time things seem dark, like things just can't seem to go well. I look on this story and see that people enjoy my work, that you all can come together and enjoy such a simple, silly story. At this point 1817 people have favorited this story. The fact that all of you can enjoy my story just makes me feel giddy.
I wrote many chapters that will never see the light of day, and many endings where Clean either meets a beautiful ending or he meets a terrible demise, but in the end I think this is a good ending to this arc. Its through all of your encouraging comments and ideas that this is growing to what is it. So thank you, all of you.