Chapter 2: Janitorial Mess

The story continues on in a village. Two ponies were walking their way to the Castle along with a Golden phoenix. The pink pony in Armor says, "Well this is the place we were sent to."

Golden Heart nods, saying, "Indeed, let's see what we can learn and see what we can do to help."

She nods as they head in. Buster, wearing a costume and holding a new guitar, arrives as he speaks, "You see, folks, before our heroes' dreams can come to realization, they must learn the true meaning of the musketeer creed itself; all for one and one for all; Hee hee. And it's just so happens that I got a song about this."

Buster begins to play his guitar. As he begins to sing, the Royal musketeers, made up of Caramel, Big Macintosh and Soarin', gallops along, taking Buster along as they sing along.

Musketeers: All for one, hey!

Caramel: All for one and one for all

Musketeers: Musketeers sing!

Buster: All for one and one for all!

Musketeers: If you dare to,
Cross our path prepare to fall
Cause we’ll fight you
All for one and one for all

The musketeers arrives in the castle courtyard, where the other musketeers were in training. They got to make sure that they themselves are prepared for any invasion or villains that could try to take the throne. As the stallions train, they, along with the ones who arrived, salute to their captain who is watching from a balcony nearby.

And all for one and one for all,
And all for one and all...

The captain salutes back, giving a smirk. He is a red-colored furred stallion with a black sharp like mane with a black tail, wears a necklace of gold and silver, wears a vest and has a shotgun cutie mark. The captain also got scars on his face. His name is Boris, and trust me folks, there's more to him than meets the eye.

So if you think you’d care
To kick some derriere,
You know that as a musketeer
You’d be so fearsome..

Boris glances at Pinkamena and Golden Heart arriving with Gold Wing, making him roll his eyes a bit. There are always those who wish to be musketeers.

If you believe you’re manly,
Come and join our family.
Soon we’ll make sure
You’re a musketeer!

Yes sure, the musketeers are indeed the greatest heroes in Equestria. As they practice, Spike smiles through a window of the basement. He and his pals are janitors in the palace and while they're not musketeers yet, they appear to be getting closer than ever.

"Whoa, look at that, guys and gal." Spike said eagerly. "Oh, that's going to be us out there someday, I just know it, I could feel it."

"Yep, can't wait either!" Pinkie giggles happily.

"Yeah, me too," Ben said with a sigh. He wants to be a musketeer...but how can those heroes will let anyone who is scared of mostly everything be one of them? It's impossible?

As the gang continues watching, the musketeers were finishing their song up.

All for one, hey!
Ponies of honor hear my call.
Musketeers sing…

Buster: All for one and one for all!

Musketeers: All for one, hey!
All for one and one for all!
All for one, hey!

The heroes finish up as they crowd up to form the symbol of the Royal Musketeer themselves.

And all for one and one for all!
And all for one and one for all!
And all for one and all...

Buster appears, finishing the song up eagerly.

Buster: All for one and...
One for all!

The song was over, Spike and his pals enjoy it. Of course, the trio got to get back to work in cleaning the room and fixing the water pumps. Boris will throw a fit again if they messed up. Spike, Ben and Pinkie always get into trouble whenever they do so.

Spike was shining boots while Pinkie mops the floor with Ben fixing the water pumps. The baby Dragon shines the boot enough to see his own reflection. He smiles, remarking, "Oh yes, janitors today...musketeers tomorrow. It will happen someday."

"Hey, don't forget this, Spike." Fluttershy is heard mumbling. The trio turns to see the yellow Pegasus mare coming up with a familiar hat in her mouth, Angel follows along his owner.

"Hey Fluttershy; Whatcha got there?"

"Your hat, remember?"

Spike spots a familiar hat which Spykoran gave to him years ago. The Dragon grins as he takes it, saying, "Hey, my lucky musketeer hat, thanks, Fluttershy."

"Oh, it was nothing." Fluttershy said with a shyful look. It's good to be some help to her friends.

"Hey, you remember when the musketeers gave me this hat? They even signed it too, see?" Spike asks eagerly as he shows some signatures inside his hat: 'Spykoran, Slugger and Surprise'. Those three musketeers were kind enough to sign it for him, saying to him to 'follow his dreams', no matter what. "Was that cool or what? I can't wait to be a great hero like the ones who were in this group before their retirement."

Of course, without warning, Spike yelps as Pinkie unknowingly hits him on the head with a mop, causing the Dragon to lose his shoe polish which fell right into a bucket of water that his pink pony friend was using.

"Hey, Pinkie, come on!" Spike exclaims to Pinkie in annoyance.

"Oopsie, sorry, Spike." Pinkie said with a giggle. She goes back to mopping the floor...but the mare unknowingly dunks her mop right into the water which is now mixed with the shoe polish. Pinkie soaks the stuff onto the floor, saying happily, "Oh boy, I can't wait to be a musketeer myself! I got a lots of good ideas! Some ponies say I'm clever!"

Well, the 'clever' part is overrated. Pinkie looks surprised as she saw polish stains on the floor that she was cleaning. How did that happen? The mare herself works her best to clean the mess up but it only ends up becoming worse.

"Awww, horse feathers," Pinkie groaned a bit.

"So how about you, Ben," Spike ask Ben with a smile.

"Well, to be honest, Spike, they need someone brave. Kinda like me." Ben remarks with a smile as he kept to work on his own task at hoof here.

"Right, they really need some bravery."

"Isn't that what I said?"

Suddenly the pipes gave out a low groan due to the pressure. This causes Ben to yelp in alarm and jumps into a toolbox to hide. The stallion peeks out with a wrench on his head, giving out a sheepish chuckle. Well, so much for bravery.

"And you, Spike? What about you?" Pinkie asks Spike while trying her best to clean up the mess that she made.

"Well, they will need some ponies whose looks like the way I do!" Spike exclaims proudly.

Just then the door opens up as Pinkamena, Golden Heart and Gold Wing came in. The Pinkie lookalike looks around, asking, "Hey, is this where we're supposed to be? That Boris guy gave us jobs to help you ponies out."

"And from the looks of things, you need a lot of it." Golden Heart commented, noticing Pinkie's job on the floor while Ben is trying to get out of the toolbox futilely.

"Sure, we will need a lot of help!" Spike exclaims to the two newcomers with a smile. After all, the more, the merrier, one would say.

Now, it's during this time that Boris came into the bathroom, preparing to take his bath. He smiles eagerly, the stallion has done a rough day of training those heroes of Equestria and now Boris gets a chance to clean himself off.

"Oh yes, I definitely need this." Boris said as he turns the water on, letting hot water pour from the shower. As he put a shower cap on, the villain groans, "I've been looking forward to this all day...of course, I would be looking to it more if Twilight would agree to be mine instead of refusing my advances!"

Now back downstairs, Pinkie took out stacks of papers, looking at the stains. She said thoughtfully, "Hmmm, perhaps I could sand it out. Yeah! That could help!"

Of course, as Pinkie got to work, she didn't notice that she herself dropped one near Pinkamena who is helping Spike out. She took the paper and gave it to Spike; neither of them realizes what it truly was. The baby Dragon hums as he begins scrubbing the boot really hard with the sand paper.

Spike and Pinkamena yelps in alarm: the work has causes the heel and bits of cloths to remain on the boot. The baby Dragon glances, seeing that the paper that he was using was the sand kind all along! Oops!

"Yikes. I hate to be Boris the Animal when he sees this." Pinkamena comments in concern, making Golden Heart chuckles a bit.

Spike looks around for some way to fix this miss then he spots another boot nearby. The Dragon rips the top of it, placing the heel part where he messes up. Of course, from the looks of things, the heel part itself won't stay on for much long.

Spike spots some glue on a high shelf nearby, mumbling, "Yeah, I could use that."

Spike run and jumps in hopes to get to the shelf...only for him to hit the wall, falling to the floor. As Golden Heart and Pinkamena watches, the latter ask her big brother, "Shouldn't we help him?"

"We would...but I rather Spike tries to get the glue on his own," Golden Heart explains to Pinkamena that he rather let Spike tries to get the glue on his own. Gold Wing screeches in agreement.

Spike got up, groaning a bit. He glances up, seeing the glue still on the shelf. How will the Dragon get it? He then hops onto the top of a water valve handle and begins to reach for the glue. Of course, Spike didn't realize that he is causing the handle to fall, increasing the water which heads to the shower pumps that Ben was fixing.

Ben heard some noises from the pumps, much to his concern as he asks, "Huh?"

Sure enough, water came out of the pump like mad, spraying Ben and causing him to scream. Golden Heart came over to help the stallion into holding the pump which begins to fly around as if a Demon were possessing it or something.

Boris of course was in his shower, humming a tune happily...but stops as he saw the water stopping, much to his surprise. He asks, "What in Equestria?"

Back in the basement, Ben and Golden Heart fights the water like mad, the Earth pony is using a wrench in hopes to keep the pipes at bay. Unfortunately, the pipes themselves took the tool from Ben and hit him, causing the pony to yelp in fright and run with the pipes in hot pursuit.

Ben, during the chase, slams right into a vacuum which Pinkie was using to clean up the mess that she made. The machine begins to go out of control, causing Pinkie to scream in alarm as she held onto the thing. Ben, Pinkamena, Fluttershy, Angel, Golden Heart and Gold Wing got yanks along for the ride as the vacuum runs amuck throughout the basement.

Spike was almost grabbing the glue, mumbling, "Almost...got it..."

Of course, his friends and the newcomers crash into the wooden shelf, causing the glue to fall right off. The Dragon jumps up and grabs the glue, standing on the pile with it on his head in triumph.

"See, nothing to it?" Spike asks with a chuckle.

"WATCH OUT!" Fluttershy screams in fright. Too late, his friends crash into Spike, causing the glue to get stuck in Pinkie's mane. The gang begins screams as they rode the vacuum around the room like mad, crashing and hitting the shower pumps.

"This is not good!" Golden Heart yells out in alarm. This madness is about to cause something to break!

Back in his bathroom, Boris was trying to figure out why his shower isn't working. Suddenly he hears a crumbling noise underneath the tub. That doesn't sound good.

"Aw horse flanks." Boris gulps a bit.

Sure enough, the floor broke, Boris screams as he fell in his bathroom all the way down through the floors. His 'ride' ended in the basement where all the madness started. Upon crashing, the shower's tap broke off, rolling right towards the heroes who are trapped in a mess after the ‘ride’ was over.

The group and their new friends look up to see Boris opening the shower curtains, dazed from the fall. Spike said, "Oops! Captain Boris!"

The janitors, including the newbies, salute Boris who groans and fainted right to the floor; Hoo boy.

--------------

Boris is very ticked off. In fact, after he recovered, the angry captain drags the janitors and the new employees right to the laundry room, tossing them right into a wall upon arrival.

"Ugh! You three has got to be the worst janitors in the history of this castle! I am up to here with your annoying screw-ups and you newbies aren't making things better! You are all hopeless!" Boris yells out furiously. He sighs while continuing, "I mean, really? I leave you all left for 5 minutes and I came back to a disaster?"

"Well, come on! It was an accident, you meanie!" Pinkamena protests to Boris with a frown.

"Everything's an accident with these bums!"

"Geez, Boris, give us a chance." Spike said to Boris with a sigh. "We were only practicing our teamwork. That way, the day can finally come when we can be good musketeers."

"Musketeers," Boris snorts as he gave out a cruel laugh. The others stare at him in confusion or anger. Once Boris wipes the tear off his face, he adds, "Oh yeah, very rich. Thanks for giving me a good laugh."

"Come on, they're serious, Boris." Fluttershy said to Boris meekly.

"Right, give them a chance. They could be musketeers if you just let them prove themselves." Golden Heart said seriously to Boris, making him snort a bit.

"I betcha if we work really hard, we could prove ourselves." Spike said with a hopeful look on his face. "If we do that, you would let us be musketeers then, right?"

"Right. Come on, and my sister and I could be too. I mean, give us reasons why not."

"Well, I can name a few. First off...BOOO!" Boris yells out to Ben. The stallion screams in fright as he rush to hide behind Fluttershy and Angel. "You're a coward and wimp, Benjamin Mare! And you got a last name of a female pony!"

"Gee, it isn't my fault." Ben said, shaking a bit. "I mean, I tried my best but couldn't get out of my shy shell."

"Who cares? Second..."

Boris turns to Pinkie to explain her flaw. But she is just spaced out with her jaw open. The captain put his ear next to her head as he hears a dial number, "Sorry, but the number you're trying to reach is no longer in serious."

"Ugh; Figures. You are a random dumb pony! Thirdly..." Boris said as he turns to Pinkamena, who gave a creepy smile to him, making him yelp.

"Yeeeeees." Pinkamena ask Boris with a creepy smile.

"You newbie are too creepy!"

"Hey, don't make me give you the brrs!"

Boris ignores Pinkamena's comment/taunt, turning to Fluttershy while remarking, "Fourthly, young filly, you are like Ben and too shy...and you owns a bunny with a bad attitude problem!"

"Hey, leave Angel alone!" Fluttershy demands to Boris, not happy with the comment towards Angel. He growls at her, making the pony yelps. "When you want to..."

"Fifth, to the new Alicorn...actually, I can't think of any flaws with you, pal, but I'm sure you're an idiot!"

"Hey, that is not a good idea to say when my sister is around." Golden Heart snaps to Boris. Sure enough, Pinkamena is growling towards the captain. How dare he insult her brother around her!

"Whatever. Alicorns like you are trouble!" Boris snaps to Golden Heart, dismissing his warning as well as Pinkamena growling at him.

"Whatever you say, Boris the Animal," Spike remarked in amusement. Of course, that may be a bad thing to say because the villain glares at him angrily.

"Excuse me? What did you just say...again?"

"I said...whatever you say, Boris the Animal."

The musketeers then begin laughing. It's funny because it's true. He is known as Boris the Animal. The villain in fury yells out, "Shut up! All of you, back to work!" Then he turns towards Spike and glared at him. "Listen here, Spike. It's...just...Boris! And finally, I've almost forgotten to speak about one major thing wrong with you..."

"What? I'm too good to be a musketeer?" Spike asks Boris in amusement.

"Well, that would be a good final reason but actually, I got a couple of more things..." Boris then uses his magic to force Spike into the air, making him yelp. "You're too short; you're a wimp and YOU ARE AN USELESS FIRE BREATHING FREAK!"

Spike's Friends gasps in shock while Spike was tossed down; Hearing those hurtful words from the capital has hurt the Dragon's feelings. How could Boris say that to him?

"Why, I wouldn't make you morons musketeers if you were the last recruits in all of France, got it?!" Boris snaps as he hits Spike on the head, making him yelp a bit. The villain then grabs Spike's hat and crumbles it, folding the hat into a wall. "So you won't need this anymore. Here, Spikey-Dorky! Have a ball!"

Boris laughs cruelly as he tosses the 'ball' to Spike as if to add more insult to hurting feelings. Spike looks at it in sadness while putting the 'hat' onto his head. The captain then leaves the room, slamming the door on his way out and causing unclean uniforms to fall onto the group.

As the gang got out of the uniforms, Pinkie got a shirt hanging on her head. The 'ball' pops open before landing back onto Spike's head. He, Ben and Pinkie sighs in sadness. Perhaps Boris was right. They would never be musketeers.

Author's note
Awww, our poor heroes; They got their dreams dashed by the cruel Boris; That creep. In the next chapter, we meet her princess Rarity who dreams of a true love though her lady in waiting Twilight Sparkle seems to have different ideas. While the white unicorn have a walk through the garden, Buster sings a song...though mysterious villains are out to crush Rarity. Read, review and suggest!