Etude for Two

Etude for Two
by: socksthewarrior

The sun hung low in the vast sky over a small two-story house on the outskirts of Ponyville. A small brown stallion with a straight, dirty orange mane was struggling down the stairs of his house with a mellophone case covered in a pale purple glow.

"Damn magic!" He exclaimed as he slowly placed the instrument on the floor upon reaching the bottom of the staircase.

"Mini! Can you put this by the door while I get my sheet music?"

A tiny, pink, earth filly with a fluffy, dirty blonde mane trotted frigidly into the hallway from the kitchen.

"Dad! You know I don't like to be called Mini." Whined the small filly as she pushed the instrument to the door.

The stallion chuckled slightly.

"Sorry Minuet." Said the stallion as he quickly headed back up the stairs.

"So, is the Magnificent Raunte gonna blow the audience away with his horn playing tonight?" Said Minuet as she headed back towards the hallway.

Raunte peaked his head out from around the corner at the top of the stairs.

"I only called myself that one time! And I was very drunk." Stated Raunte with a bright red face. "And just because I will be gone does not mean you can procrastinate more. Finish all your schoolwork."

"Yes Dad." Said Minuet very unenthusiastically.

Raunte then appeared at the top of the stairs with sheet music in his mouth. He joyfully trotted down them and headed for the front door.

"Dammit! I need to get going or I might be late." Said Raunte as he caught a view of the clock hanging on the wall, ending his joyous movements.

"Minuet … are you sure you will be ok at home by yourself? I can have Pinkie come over to keep you company." He said while stuffing the sheet music into his mellophone case.

Minuet let out a sigh. "Yes Dad I'll be fine. I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself."

Raunte looked at Minuet with a stern face."You are only 7." He looked away for a moment, shaking his head slightly in amusement. "… you remind me so much of your mother." He said with a small smile.

"D … dad!" Said Minuet whose face had turned bright red in embarrassment.

Raunte let out a joyful laugh.
"You should be happy. She was a wonderful mare." He said as he closed his instrument case.

"Yes Dad I know, but you should really get going." She said while pushing Raunte's hind leg with her head.

"Shit! You're right."

"Dad! Language …"

"Sorry … bad habit." Said Raunte as he grabbed his mellophone case with his magic.
"Now remember there's food in the kitchen. If you use the stove be careful. Don't answer the door for anyone." All while Minuet was still pushing him out the front door.

"Yes Dad I'll be careful. Now you go and have a great concert." Said Minuet as they reached the front porch.

"Thanks. I'll be back home as soon as I can."

The two exchanged hugs and a kiss on the front porch. Raunte grabbed his mellophone case with his mouth and began to trot briskly down the road towards Ponyville. As he reached the top of a small hill not far from his house he looked back to see Minuet closing the door to their home. A worried look crossed his face but he shrugged it off and continued down the old dirt road.

The sun continued to descend lower and lower into the sky as Minuet closed the door behind her and locked it. She jiggled the handle to make sure the lock had caught, and then headed for the stairs. Ascending them to her room. Once inside she quickly glanced over the space.

"Where did I put those pencils?" She asked herself while still looking over the room.
"Aha!" She exclaimed after noticing a pencil on the floor near her desk. She picked it up and placed it on the meager wooden desk.

She then grabbed a small stack of paper that had been on her big, blue bed with her mouth and sat down at her desk.

"Why do I always wait to do these worksheets till the last possible minute." She stated as she slumped her head down on her desk. "Well no time to worry about that now. Guess I'll get started."

She then as she grabbed her pencil with her mouth and set her focus on the paper.

The minutes passed quickly as she started to answer the questions on her worksheets. Soon an hour had passed.

"Finally! Done with the first one. Next is … ugh math. Why do I even have to know this? It's so boring."

Her stomach then let out a very loud growl.

"Well I've worked hard so far. Lets take a break and make some food." Said Minuet as she got up from her desk and walked out of her room towards the staircase.

Once at the top of the stairs she stopped. She looked to her left at the hoof-rail that followed the stairs down and proceeded to climb onto it.

"Weeeeeeeee!" She joyfully exclaimed as she slid down the railing, landing on her plot with a loud thud at the bottom of the stairs.

"Ouch … maybe that wasn't such a good idea."
She rubbed her backside for a few seconds before trotting off towards the kitchen.

"Let's see." She said pondering with her dainty left hoof rubbing her chin. "Mac n' cheese sounds good."

She then walked towards the sink, grabbed a small pot from under it and filled it halfway with water. She took the pot, slowly pushing it across the floor, from the sink to the stove which was on the opposite side of the kitchen, and placed the pot upon it.

"It'll probably take it a few minutes for the water to boil. Guess I'll go get back to work." She stated as she turned the stove on to the medium setting and traversed left to exit the kitchen.

She then headed back upstairs to her room and sat down at her desk once again.

She let out a sigh as she looked upon the unanswered math questions but she wasn't able to find any other excuses to procrastinate.

She began answering her math problems and after about 10 minutes her eyes began to get heavy and her head slowly gravitated toward the top of her desk.

"Tsssssssssssssss!!"

"Huh! What?" She exclaimed as she popped her head up from her desk. Leaving a drool stain on her papers.
"Oh no! The pot."

She quickly ran back downstairs to the kitchen where her pot of water was boiling over. She grabbed for the pot to calm the water but quickly jolted back upon touching the hot metal.

"Owe owe owe owe." She blurted while licking her burn.
"Where is that heat mitten thing" she said as she began to quickly rummage through the kitchen drawers.

"Aha gotcha."

"Why did mom have to be an earth pony?" She said as she put the mitten on.
"Things would be so much easier if I had magic like Dad does."

She then removed the pot from the heat of the stove and placed the boiling pot on the nearby table to calm down.

She grabbed a small cardboard box from the pantry and tore off the top with her mouth. She removed the cheese pouch placing it on the table and poured the noodle contents of the box into the now calmed pot.

Minuet then took the pot back to the stove. After stirring the pasta a bit she removed her hand guard, placing it on the stove next to the pot, and returned to her room upstairs to continue working.

She sat down at her desk once again and looked over the math questions she had already answered. A short amount of time passed and her eyes began to get heavy once again.

She let out a large yawn as she brought her hoof up to her mouth to cover it. She stared at her papers again. The words began to get fuzzy and unreadable.

Her head began to hang low right before she face planted her worksheets and nodded off to sleep.

A bright light was slowly being eclipsed by a dark curtain. The sound of hundreds of hooves hitting together could be heard beyond it.

"Wooo. I didn't think I was gonna make it all the way through that last piece." Stated Raunte in the breath of a sigh to a fellow mellophone player as they climbed down from the rafters. Many other instrument toting ponies followed suit.

"You should really work on your magic Raunte. Seems you struggle sometimes just to keep your instrument at your mouth."

Raunte's face fell for a second.

"I know …" He began. "I have tried various things but little has helped. I've always been a little bad with magic you know. But I can manage if I concentrate hard enough." Ending his statement with a weak laugh.

The two ponies had reached the back of the stage and began putting their instruments into their cases. The clapping heard beyond the curtain slowly faded away and all became quiet.

"Hey Raunte. Do you want to go out for drinks to celebrate another successful performance?"

"I would … but Minuet is home alone and I would hate to leave her waiting too long."

"Ahh the daughter huh. I understand. Maybe next time."

"Definitely." Stated Raunte as he grabbed his instrument case with his magic and headed for the stage door.

"I'll see you later in the week. I'm headed home." He said as he reached the back door.

"See ya man."

Raunte, mellophone case now secured in his mouth, pushed open the door and headed into the crisp night air.

The night grew darker and darker as Raunte trotted farther and farther from town. The only sounds that could be heard were crickets and the humming coming from behind Raunte's mellophone case. But he suddenly stopped his cheerful tune as his mind wondered off towards thoughts of his wife.

Oh Medley. If only you could see Minuet now. She's grown into such a fine young

mare. A pony I know you would be proud of. Too bad that you ...

His thoughts were cut short when his eyes caught a faint glow in the distance. He stopped for a second while what he was looking at was mentally being processed. He looked up to see some pegasi flying with dark clouds towards the glow. His heart dropped as he went from a dead stop into a full on gallop.

"No …" He said grimly, dropping his instrument in the process. "Please no!"

As he got closer and closer to the glow the smell of smoke became more and more apparent. He ascended the small hill in front of his house as the quiet and tranquil night became filled with hot, dancing flames.

He quickly looked up as he noticed a group of pegasi gathering clouds above his house. His head bolted around as he looked for signs of his daughter. Nothing. Fearing the worst he charged towards his house completely disregarding his own safety.

Inside his house all Raunte could hear were the sounds of cracking wood as the structure of the building began to fall apart.

"Minuet!!" yelled Raunte while coughing violently through a patch of thick, black smoke.
No reply.

He quickly ran through the first floor of his house while dodging flames and falling wood. No one to be found.

He then set his sights on the stairs leading to the second floor. Without any thought he rushed up them leaving a collapsed staircase behind him. As he rounded the corner at the top of the stairs he was met with a wall of fire but beyond it he could see into his daughters room and on the floor, twitching slightly, was a small pink pony.

"Minuet!!" He yelled once again.

The small ponies head lifted up slightly off the floor, looked Raunte in the eyes and forced a tiny smile.

Ignoring his own well being he charged through the flames, burning off small patches of hair and singeing parts of his skin. A large part of the ceiling caved in behind him as he ran through the door, blocking the way out, but he didn't seem to take notice of it.

As he approached his daughter tears began pouring from his eyes. He picked her up and held her close as he sat on the floor.

"Mini … please … please say something"

Minuet's eyes inched open but stopped halfway. Her breathing was very faint and movement
was extremely sluggish.

"D … dad … I'm …" her words interrupted by weak coughing. "Sorry"

"It's OK Mini … dads here" a miniscule smile came across his face but the tears wouldn't stop.

The two ponies locked eyes and then touched hooves but the smaller pink one fell limp soon after.

"Mini!! … No! Don't go! … I can't do this alone..." He yelled has he hugged his daughter as hard as he felt he could.

"Oh please Celestia … this can't be happening" he pleaded while coughing forcefully.

He began to feel slightly light headed and dizzy. He took a quick look around the room to notice he was completely surrounded by fire. There was no safe way out.

"The rain must not be enough." He thought to himself.

At that moment part of the roof collapsed and pinned Raunte's left hind leg to the floor. He felt a snap and a sharp pain in his leg.

Through pure desperation he tried to move the massive wooden structure with magic but to no avail.

Realizing that whatever he may do at this point would be futile he laid down on the floor of his daughters room with her now lifeless and still in his arms.

Raunte's vision got extremely blurry as the lose of blood and oxygen began to take effect on his body. After less then a minute of coughing he passed out as the rest of the building finally fell to the ground.

All was black. Raunte's mind floated in a dark abyss, unaware of the world around him.

"Raunte … Raunte … can you hear us?" A voice suddenly asked from somewhere, catching his attention.

Although the voice was spoken in a normal tone, the words came across unusually clear and crisp. Never before in his life had anything sounded quite so clear. It was somewhat … unsettling.

"Raunte … hello … wake up." Again the voice stabbed him in the ear, prodding him to consciousness.

Raunte gradually became aware that his body ached all over in the strangest way. His limbs also felt restrained by something, binding him to a cold, flat surface.

With some effort, he slowly opened his eye to the sight of a bright light and 2 earth ponies, an orange stallion and a pink mare, both adorned in white lab coats. They were gazing down at him with what looked like to be an expression of cautious curiosity.

Much like his hearing, his sight suddenly had seemed to have drastically improved for an unknown reason. The amount of detail he could now see was astonishing. With little effort, he could focus on the individual hairs on the two ponies' faces and the interwoven fibers composing their coats.

"Good, you're awake finally. Can you understand me? Are you able to talk?" asked the large orange stallion hovering over him like a cloud.

"Where's Minuet?" implored Raunte in a very low, somewhat monotonous voice.

"I'm... afraid that you were the only survivor of the fire." apologized the pink mare. "It was only through a miracle that we were able to save your life." she continued as she removed the table restraints from Raunte's limbs.

He slowly rose to a sitting position upon the table.

"Ow... my head...." groaned Raunte, closing his eyes in pain as he reached up with his hoof in an attempt to ease the pounding achiness that he now felt.

"CLANK!"
The loud echoing noise of metal striking metal reverberated throughout the room.

"Huh!? What is this?" Raunte exclaimed as he gazed horrified at his front limbs. His hooves and entire left arm were now composed of metal. He continued to stare in morbid fascination at the various rivets and seams that made up his reconstructed arm.
"What have you done to me?!" yelled Raunte in shocked disbelief at the two scientists.

"Well…" started the stallion as he began to pace around the table." We have been doing research secretly with the help of some private investors. The research was to develop mechanical prosthetics that would replace lost limbs and take the place of other vital organs in order to help save and preserve lives."

"We work with the local hospital as body collectors … that's how we were able to recover your body from the remains of your home." explained the pink mare. "We were able to preserve your brain fortunately. The rest of your body was pretty beat-up though, and we had to use all of the available technology we had developed in order to keep you alive."

Raunte then focused his newly obtained eye sight onto his mechanical limbs once again. This time he noticed a reflection. He slowly brought his hooves to eye level to get a good look at his face. The entire left half of his face plus his horn were now replaced with shiny chrome and a burning yellow optic had replaced his left eye. His left ear was gone and in its place was a small black dome housing an audio receiver. Near the edges of his new metal face he was able see the remnants of burn marks.

In addition to his front limbs being reconstructed, his left hind leg had been given the same treatment. All-in-all, he looked like some sort of abomination, a freak of nature that shouldn't have been given life in the first place. Raunte stared at the two scientists with an expression of shock and revulsion.

The stallion gave a small pitying smile at Raunte. "If it's any consolation, thanks to the data we got off of working on you, we have made much progress in our research. Plus, we have given you a second shot at life in the process. I suppose that is something to be thankful about, right?"

Raunte hung his head low. In truth, he didn't feel thankful at all. In fact, he was feeling quite depressed over the entire situation. What was the point of living? He had already lost his wife several years ago... and now his precious daughter was taken from him in a cruel twist of fate as well. There was literally nothing left for him in life, and now he had to spend the rest of his existence as a misshapen freak. Why couldn't they have just let him die? Then at least he'd be with his loved ones...

~They kept you from them~ a small venomous voice whispered in his ear.

"Huh? Who said that?!" Exclaimed Raunte, popping his head up and quickly looking around the concrete-covered room.

"Are you OK Raunte? I didn't hear anything." stated the stallion whose head had cocked to the side in concern.

~This isn't right … they have wronged you~ continued that same voice, although

it was now stronger than before.

"What's going on?!" Screamed Raunte as the voice continued to talk to him. He felt intense agony as an indescribable pressure built-up in his head.
"Shut up … just … shut the fuck up!" Yelled Raunte as he covered his one ear and newly installed audio receptor with his hooves and started to rock back and forth in an attempt to block those words.

~Kill them~ murmured the voice.

~Take your revenge on those who have ruined your life!~

Raunte felt something in his mind buckle under that indescribable pressure he had been feeling. He succumbed to the voice. Maybe it was right...

Raunte suddenly stopped shrieking in pain and slowly placed his hooves down upon the table. He stared downward and became unresponsive, a blank look coming across his face and remaining eye.

"Hello? … Raunte are you ok?" asked the now worried stallion, but received no answer.

He slowly walked up to Raunte and placed a hoof onto his shoulder.

"It's ok Raunte. We're here to hel-" the stallion's sentence was cut short by a swift side-hoof to his head. The stallion's body flew through the air and collided with the wall with enough force to crack the concrete that composed it. As the body flopped to the ground, there was little doubt that he had been killed instantly, as his neck was bent at an unnatural angle and blood dribbled out of his gaping mouth, his face forever frozen in a look of surprise.

Raunte stared at the now blood-stained wall with an empty expression as he seemed to casually regard the brutal death he had just inflicted. He then silently turned his attention to his arm which now had a nicely sized dent in it. He looked up towards the pink mare who had, at this point, fallen backwards to the ground in shock and begun trembling in fear. Her eyes were mere pinpricks and her face was drained of color as she struggled to comprehend what had just happened.

Still wearing that same vacant expression, Raunte attempted to get off the table and stand. As he placed his left hind leg down though, he felt a sharp pain and fell over towards the blood-stained wall, hitting his head and denting the tip of his new metal horn.

He once again looked up at the pink mare who had started to inch her way out of the room.

"Heh heh heh …" chuckled Raunte in a hollow monotone, seemingly amused at the helpless state the mare was in. He covered the table he had been on with a sickly pale purple glow and ripped it off of the floor. With a mighty heave, he chucked it towards the mare who was barely able to dodge it by leaping around the corner.

Looking around frantically, the pink mare noticed an emergency fire extinguisher and scrambled for the hammer to break the glass. Unfortunately in her nervousness, she fumbled with it a bit.

"Come on you damn hooves! Work!" said the mare in a panicked tone.

Just as she had regained control and was about the break the glass, a loud bang caught her attention. She whirled around to see Raunte pulling his left hind leg out of the concrete wall after having kicked it as hard as he could. A very proud grin now adorned his face in addition to a positively deranged look in his eye.

She was frozen in fear and had no idea what to do.

Raunte started walking towards her, deliberately taking slow steps and still letting out menacing chuckles every once in a while.

The mare had nowhere to run. Suddenly she noticed something glowing behind Raunte, but before she could identify the object as a surgical tray, it was swung with enough force to lop off the arm she was holding the hammer with.

"AHHHHHH!!" screamed the mare in pain, holding her stump close to the body as she reflexively tried to staunch the gush of blood with her other hoof.

"AHHHHmmmhhhppphhhh!"

Her screams became muffled by a purple glow around her head. Raunte lifted her off the ground and brought her close to him with her struggling the whole way. His eye and optic gazed into her frightened eyes as she flailed around in a frantic attempt to escape. With one swift hoof to the side of her head she stopped struggling, having been knocked unconscious. Blood dribbled out of the side of her head from her new head wound.

Raunte noticed that she was still breathing even if it was very faint.

~Yessss.... let's make her pay for what she has done...~ the voice seductively

whispered into his mind.

Taking the same surgical tray from before, he nonchalantly chopped off the head of the then motionless mare; tossing the body aside and letting the head fall to the ground.

Raunte walked past the body but stopped suddenly. He looked down at his flank to see an eighth-note of which he had been very proud of. But now looking at it, he no longer felt that it held any meaning to him. Taking one of the scalpels that were now littering the room, he very roughly carved the note off his flank and tossed it at the wall. He watched as it slowly slid down to the floor.

Raunte slowly started trotting towards the exit leaving bloody hoof prints in his wake, still with the same proud grin on his face. He felt good. He felt rejuvenated. He felt powerful...

~What now?~

"Minuet …"

The grin fell.

He stopped just shy of the exit. Standing there, he carefully opened the metal door with his magic. With the door now open he stood motionless staring off into the creepy night sky that always seemed to hover over the Everfree Forest.

The End