//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: "Let Me Dispose Of The Trash, Mistress" // Story: "You See My Lady, I Am One Hell Of A Butler" // by SIlverBullet //------------------------------// Charis clicked her tongue at the smirking, bowing unicorn across the hallway in front of a large crowd. She was shocked from the deflection of Volken's attack, with a tray no less. The orb Volken produced was engulfed in a black flame, disguising the superheated white flame underneath that should have melted away the tray. From just one attack, she could feel the difference in power between Volken and Ettore. Twilight stood behind the light purple stallion staring towards the disintegrated wall which revealed one of the guests rooms. She rotated her head around with her mouth faintly open in surprise. The crowd were grinning and smiling as they were mesmerised by the show in front of them; as if it was entertainment Twilight had planned. The only ones who weren't smiling were her friends that managed to get to the front of the crowd. They knew immediately it wasn't a part of a show since she wouldn't plan something like this. Ettore lifted his head level towards the two from him with the indented tray in hoof. After which, he used his magic to pick up the kitchen knife and small spears by his hoof and placed them on the tray in a neat manner. Charis grits her teeth in disgust towards Ettore, knowing that he was mocking her in his way since she used one of Volken's powerful moves. "I should have known you would have deflected Volken's spell," Charis chuckled in worry as her right hoof touched her chin "Still does not matter, I am sure you are holding back anyway." Ettore broke his posture with an off-putting groan as he rolled his eyes making everypony there blink twice at him "Do you know how long it will be to repair that wall for my Mistress, I can not fathom the time it would take to procure the crystal much less cut it to perfection." "You..." Charis grits her teeth upon hearing Ettore's words, irritated she took a couple of steps forwards past Volkan with an apparent intent to carry on her sentence "Are getting on my nerves always avoiding my attention!". Without warning she unfolded her left wing while slightly twisting her body to the right, throwing another kitchen knife from her wings. Everypony gasped towards the chucked knife as if they realised it's not entertainment. Ettore raised the metal tray in his hoof shielding it from the knife. But he never heard the sound of metal on metal contact. He lowered the tray to see a magical purple aura around the blade; he instinctively turned his head to see Twilight's horn glowing next to him. Twilight was now standing next to Ettore with a grave look on her face. "Mistress?" Ettore's voice got Twilight's attention as she only moved her eyes towards him "You must not interfere with this, it is a personal issue that I must conclude." "Some personal issues can't be solved with one pony alone sometimes, and I think it's time I pay them back for the wall." Twilight glared towards Volkan and Charis, who scoffed back towards her. Ettore huffed as he lowered his head with a smirk on his face "This is a battle you will not win Mistress, I assure you." "That's not the response I wanted, but I don't care," Twilight immediately got ready for a fight with her head lowered "These ponies shouldn't have messed with my home or my friends!" Twilight's growl gave Ettore a modest sense of relief as now he won't have to fight Charis and Volken alone. The massive crowd behind them started to disperse as Twilight's friends escorted them outside away from the suspected battle. Twilight and Ettore heard the castle door slam shut knowing everyone was outside. Twilight's friends all stood by the door inside the castle thinking the same thing; they can't leave their friend to fight alone. The group turned around to see an explosion where Ettore and Twilight are; they gasped towards the hallway as thick smoke blew out from it. They witnessed Twilight fly high up just out of reach from the smoke while another figure jumped out from the side of the smokey hallway. A deep exhale came over the group as they noticed it was Ettore. The smoke slowly started to dissipate only for a small flaming ball came from the smoke towards Twilight. She reacted on instinct, putting up a magical barrier only to blink as the metal tray Ettore was holding flew into the ball splitting it in half causing another explosion. Thanks to her barrier she stayed in place from the backfire of the black ball. Twilight didn't waste the opportunity. She abruptly blasted a magic spell down into the new puff of smoke from the black ball hoping it would have some effect on the camouflage the other two have. The light purple unicorn watched Twilight and the smoke cloud like a hawk, waiting for anything else that might come out. Twilight's friends stayed back knowing they would just get in the way if they intervened. The smoke started to clear completely, revealing Volken, who was standing there alone holding up a magical barrier. The duo gave an expression of confusion towards the black, expressionless unicorn. Ettore's eyes widened as he felt somepony crash into him from behind, knocking him forwards beneath Twilight only to hear a loud yell in his ear. He turned his head to see Rainbow Dash lying on top of him with tears in her eyes. He removed his right hoof from her back as he done it intensively only to see red liquid slide down his hoof. The group shouted out towards the downed rainbowed mare. Twilight gasped downwards as she witnessed the bleeding horse on top of Ettore only to grunt out in pain as Volken teleported beside her kicking her with his right hoof towards the ground next to Ettore and Rainbow. "hahaha, you still fall for that after all this time, Ettore." Charis chuckled out loud, watching as Ettore used his magic to lift Rainbow off from him and gently beside him "too bad that reckless commoner had to get in the way!" Ettore sighed as he wiped the blood off his hoof with his handkerchief in his pocket, calmly speaking "Charis, I thought I taught you better. You snuck into my new Mistress's house, crashed Mistress's party, attacked my Mistress with full force and injure one of her guests slash best friends," Ettore took a couple steps forwards towards the fire orange pegasus with a look of disgust "I hope you brought your medical kit, Charis, because you're going to have a bad time." Charis took a step back in worrisome for the unicorn in front of her only to feel a cold metal circle touching her plot. Charis turned her head to see Pinkie Pie with an angry face holding a piece of string attached to a cannon in one hoof. "How did you get behind me?" Charis finished her sentence just before Pinkie snarled with a yank of the string making the cannon erupt with confetti in her face. The force made Charis fly towards Ettore uncontrollably, letting out screams that bounced everywhere as she rolled in the air. Ettore moved to left out of the way making Charis hit the ground and roll into the wall opposite the large hallway. Volken teleported in front of Ettore only to break his emotionless expression as he saw Ettore with a malevolent grin towards him. Twilight was too focused on Rainbow Dash's injury to look towards Ettore, as were all her friends. But, as Ettore's horn glowed Twilight noticed the evil look in his eyes in the corner of her eye. It only showed for an instant before a blinding light came from Ettore's horn, making everypony in the room shield their eyes from the light. Everyone in the hallway soon got their holdings and could see once again, but as they did they saw Ettore clapping his hoofs with Charis and Volken on the floor groaning as if they are in pain. "What the hay happened?" Applejack spoke as she ran towards Rainbow while looking towards the two on the floor. "Just taking care of some pestering guests, Miss Jack" Ettore chuckled as he lifted the two on the floor towards the castle's front door with his magic. "Don't worry about that; Dashie needs to go to the hospital?!" Pinkie Pie interrupted by running over to the downed mare with a little-sized cut on her back. The downed pony was soon crowded by the whole group as they looked down towards her. "It's no big deal," Rainbow Dash groaned as she stood back up "Now get away from me, give a girl some space will ya!" "It's a severe injury Dash; You need to head to the hospital right away while we deal with these tw- where'd they go?" Twilight pointed out as she turned around to see the two suddenly disappeared. A moment later they heard the castle doors open, and they all turned round to see Charis's head poke around the castle door, sticking out her tongue before she closes it. "Come on Pinkie; we'll go after those varmints." Applejack tipped her hat as she and Pinkie stormed towards the castle door. "If I may point out, Miss Jack and Pie, you will never apprehend them as they probably had secured a safe route out of the town before they arrived... And with all those ponies outside as the perfect cover, it won't be the best solution." Ettore humbly stated as he used his magic to pick up pieces of rubble on the floor around them and place them to the right of the hallway. "All I need is a band-aid, and I'll be fine," Rainbow gave a joyous smile before doing a quick backflip and landing on all four hoofs "I still have my moves." "I don't think that's a good idea, Rainbow." Fluttershy broke her silence "I think that opens the wound even more?" "Fluttershy is correct Miss Dash, Jumping like that would only open the would even deeper." Ettore spoke up getting everyone's attention "if Charis wanted me gravely injured, it would have been a lot deeper." Rainbow looked around the group to notice everyone's concern look apart from Ettore, who was busy cleaning up the rubble around the hallway. Rainbow sighed out in acceptance, spouting out "fine." before she left the castle with Fluttershy and Applejack. As the door closed a strong gust of wind blew into the hallway, blowing around the confetti on the floor all over the hall making Ettore blink in place before using his magic to catch the confetti. The three there started to pick up rubble, the two unicorns using their magic and Pinkie her hoofs. They gasped as they felt like they were floating in mid-air. Ettore used his magic as he moved towards the castle entrance with the three levitating mares, opening the door and placing them down gently outside. "Ettore?!" the three said in unison. "The mere thought of my Mistress and her guests getting dirty over my mistakes will bring me heartache. So, if Mistress will be so kind as to stay over a friends house, I will get this place finished by morning. Also, will you tell the ponies out there with you to go home for this inconvenience" Ettore bowed before closing the door. Ettore turned around and continued to pick up the rubble and dirt only to hear a flush behind a door. Ettore stopped and starred towards the door only to see it swing open with a smart purple dragon shaking his hands with water spraying everywhere. Spike stopped and looked around to see the place was semi-destroyed with Ettore cleaning up the mess. "What did I miss?" Spike shrugged his shoulders as he looked towards the light purple unicorn. "A small scuffle with some uninvited guests..." Ettore started to speak before he freezes in place to realise "Where was Iron Will during that little mess?" Ettore tapped his chin before going back to cleaning up the rubble once more. Outside with the crowd, Iron Will stood up against a street lamp post flexing his right arm in front of two mares who giggled at him. Twilight noticed this in the corner of her eye, groaning towards him with anger. She flung a piece of rubble towards the minotaur hitting him on the side of the head. Iron Will snarled towards the direction of the wreckage only to retract his anger and chuckle lightly as if he did nothing wrong towards the Princess. "One job, Iron Will, one job!" Pinkie Pie shouted as she waved her two front hoofs around "and you're out here hitting on Lily and Daisy!" "You should feel ashamed of yourself, Iron Will." Rarity gasped "hitting on two mares while Ettore and Twilight were fighting for their lives, have you no pride?" "Iron Will can explain!" The navy blue minotaur started to shake his hands towards the trio in front of him "Ettore said not to get involved way before the party even started." "What?" Twilight paced forwards towards the minotaur. "He knew those two would appear at the party and asked us not to stop them." Iron Will starts to explain while Pinkie Pie disperses from the group with an amazed face "it was strange, he didn't look at all worried, but I could feel it, in my gut that is, he was troubled by something." "Ettore was worried about something?" Twilight said to herself as she brought her hoof up to her chin in deep thought "no, what's more disturbing is he ordered you to ignore their entry and let them cause the commotion. Why would he do such a thing?" "Rarity, you have to see this!!" Pinkie Pie shouted over all the background voices grabbing the attention of the white unicorn. Twilight, on the other hand, kept thinking to herself not noticing the others leaving. "He has incredible magical ability if he was able to blind everyone in the room. But, how does he know those two, did he work for them in his past? That must be it. How can he know them otherwise." Iron Will's eyes wandered past Twilight as she was talking to herself, looking at Pinkie and Rarity touching up something in the distance. He managed to slip away while Twilight was talking to herself with her eyes closed nodding in agreement " Plus those skills that Charis had are very assassin like while Volken's magic was somewhat dark in nature. I am shocked to witness somethin-!" "Twilight!!" Pinkie's voice broke her out of a daze, making her jump with her wings fly up "Come here, you need to see this!" Twilight groaned in response before making her way there with a brow raised. "Okay, Pinkie, what is it tha- Oh My Celestia! How long is that pony's mane?!" Ettore slowly paced himself through the map room's door, taking in the large dome shaped room through his eyes. The green tinted windows are giving off a lovely shade from the sunset in the distance. The map with its six seats placed in the middle giving it a nostalgic feeling from one of the old books he read years ago. The clean smell in the air could be from the freshener he used awhile ago before the party, but, to him, it felt like his nose is burning instead of making the room have a lovely fragrance. He could not grasp why his nose was burning or why he wondered into the room in the first place. He put his right hoof on the map, watching it fuzz and fade like a holographic magic spell. "Ponies are easily tempted. When they are poised on the edge of hellish despair, and a spider-thin thread of salvation presents itself, they will invariably grasp it. No matter the pony." Ettore said as he started to rub the table. At the door, Spike hid around the corner making sure he was in hearing distance. The dragon scratched his head as he wondered what he just said. "Really? You gave in for them when you could have just walked away and left them; they would have been more capable enough to handle themselves." Spike poked his head out so he could see the unicorn at the table rubbing his hoof. He was confused at how he answered his question. "You know that is not true." "Tell me why then?" Spike, getting more curious, slowly walked out from the side and in the middle of the door listening to the Butler "is it because you do not wish to fight anymore?" Sileince fell the room once again from the Butler being quiet, making it uneasy for Spike standing at the door watching him like a stalker. A minute had passed before Ettore spoke again in a more depressed tone that made Spike think "Ponies are easily tempted... She gave me three requests; that I would protect and never betray Twilight, that I would obey her orders unconditionally. And that I would never lie... to her. Why does she want me here?" Spike stood a couple of feet away from Ettore as his body just kept moving forwards towards him, realising this he took a step backwards with his weight behind it making a thud. "I'll wait till the next time," Ettore spoke as he turned around, revealing his straight emotionless face. Spike's eyes widened, thinking that he overheard it all he was going to be in huge trouble. What was Ettore going to do, is he mad or depressed by the sound of it as he spoke to himself. The dragon froze in place as Ettore walked passed without a care in the world. Spike turned around as Ettore stood by the map room's door, looking over his shoulder towards the dragon with a cold stare "It would be your best interest if you forgot what was heard..." Ettore forbiddingly said as he walked out of sight "That is if you do not want Twilight finding of your sleeping habits in the Gem room."