When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.” Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword.
-Revelation 6:3-4
It was a normal day out near Sweet Apple Acres, the sun was shining, the wind blowing in a gentle breeze, and the Apple family was out working the trees, harvesting apples. What was unusual about today however, was the earth pony walking down the street.
He was a rather well built stallion, with a fiery red coat, and charcoal black mane, and a necklace with a peculiar red jewel hanging around his neck. He stopped near the fence of the farm, and looked out to the two ponies tending it.
“Hm… seem to be brother and sister… or hired help.” He grinned.
With a powerful kick, the apple tree shook and its bounty fell into the baskets below. With his confirmationary eeyup, Big Macintosh heaved two of the fruit ladened baskets up on his back with ease and carried them over to the cart waiting nearby.
Smiling, the stallion lifted his right fore hoof up to his necklace, and applied a steady amount of pressure to the jewel, chuckling.
“Time for a little fun.”
Big Mac shook his head for a brief second as a sudden disorientating wave of dizziness swept over him. "What in..." his confused muttering was cut off as snarling broke the silence. He spun around to see a rather hungry looking timberwolf and no sign of his sister. The red farmpony growled, "what have you done with mah sister!"
Applejack raised an eyebrow.
“Uh… Mac? What are yoa talkin’ about? Ah’m right here!” She squinted her eyes at him.
“Ya haven’t been drinkin’, have ya?”
The red stallion grinned.
“And now, the fun really starts.”
The wolf looked at him for a few seconds before it began to cough like it had something lodged in its throat. A tattered stetson fell out of its jaws a few seconds later. Big Mac's eyes widened in shock and then narrowed in anger. Screaming in fury, the red stallion charged the wolf, turning about to buck it square in the chest with all his might. The wolf slammed hard into a nearby tree.
Applejack grunted in pain as she fell to the ground, her chest wracked with an intense pain unlike anything she’d ever felt before, struggling to take in even ragged breaths as she struggled to move, remaining still on the ground with an occasional twitch of movement.
W-what’s happening? W-why is he doin’ this ta me?
In the distance, the red stallion remained, beginning to laugh.
“Oh… it’s just too entertaining!”
A smile grew across Big Machintosh's face as the wolf laid on the ground, barely breathing. "You ate mah sister and now Ah'm gunna end you" he growled as he made his way to the prone wolf.
Once he reached it, he looked down at the beast. It looked down right pitiful; staring up at him with sad pleading eyes, but that didn't matter, it was going to die and there would be no other way. "Rot in Tartarus you wooden bastard" he spat in it's face and turned around, "this is for mah sister."
Applejack stared up at her brother, her face worn and weak, her ribs were broken, and her breathing was heavy, and labored,.
“M-Mac… please… s-snap out of it...” She quickly fell into a coughing fit, causing her no end of pain from her broken ribs.
His back hooves slammed down with all the might he could muster over and over again till the wolf's head was little more than splinters, "good riddance," he sighed, his shoulders slumped, "ah better go tell Granny the news...." And he left began to make his way back to the farmhouse.
The red stallion burst out laughing, nearly falling to the ground due to his fit of laughter.
“That was great! I haven’t been that entertained in decades!” He took a few more minutes to admire his work, before collecting himself, and continuing on his way to Ponyville.
“And now… time for the fun to really begin.”
Thunderlane let out a relieved sigh as he walked into the house, taking a quick look around.
“Yo Rumble! I’m home early! You here?”
"Yeah!" A few seconds later, a small pegasi colt came zooming down the sairs and hugged his brother as if he handn't seen in ages.
Thunderlane let out a small laugh as he was nearly knocked on the ground by the force of his brother’s hug,
“Whoa there Rumble! I’ve only been gone a few hours, you haven’t even had enough time to miss me yet!”
He just giggled as squeezed tighter, "you just seemed to have had a long day."
Nodding, he let out another sigh.
“Yeah, well… it was a rather long day, not exactly fun either.”
The stallion let out a small chuckle as he approached the house, and peered inside the window.
“Hm… brothers? I must admit… it almost pains me to do this, but then again… it’s sure to be a fun show.” He pressed his fore hoof against the jewel in his necklace, and grinned.
"But you're home and that's all that matters," Rumble smiled.
Thunderlane felt an odd pulsing sensation go through his head, and closed his eyes, trying to shake it off.
“D-dammit… where did that come from?” Shaking his head, he left Rumble where he was and headed into the bathroom, and splashed some water on his face.
“I guess I’m just working too hard, getting migraines out of nowhere…” He grabbed a towel and wiped his face off before heading back into the living room, and when he entered, he let out a shocked gasp and backed away.
A swarm of parasprites were hovering above right where Rumble had been sitting before he left.
“W-what the hell? Where did you things come from? What did you do to my brother?!”
"What are you talking about Thunder? I'm right here?" Rumbled asked, a confused look on his face.
The stallion let out a soft chuckle as he watched the scene unfold.
Thunderlane growled, and grabbed a large book off of a shelf, and rushed forward, beating the lead parasprite with it.
“Where’s my brother?!”
Rumble let out pained screams for help as the book slammed into his snout over and over again, breaking the young colt's noses. "S-stop... please..." He pleaded.
Thunderlane kept beating the parasprite, snarling.
“You filthy creature! What did you do to my brother?!” His mind was reeling at this point, deep in his heart he knew what had happened.
Those bastards… they ate him… it’s the only explanation! Upon this realization, his strength increased due to adrenaline, and he began beating the parasprite even harder.
“You bastards!”
Rumble let out a gargled croak as his mouth filled with blood and broken teeth. He weakly lifted a hoof up in an attempt to stop his brother.
With a grunt, he brought down the final blow, before tossing the book away, panting heavily, with tears in his eyes.
“I… I guess I should start making funeral arrangements… I can only hope that they’ll allow a memorial service without a body. And I need to tell the family about it as well…”
The red stallion remained outside, and burst into laughter.
“That was even better than the first! Oh… I swear, these ponies are too easy!” He let out a quick chuckle, before sighing.
“Well, onto the rest of the town!”
The carnage of a town ripping itself apart outside was meaningless to Rumble's ghost as he sat infront of his broken and managed body. "Why!?! Why would he do this?!?" He whimpered.
A gaunt white unicorn in a black suit, with a black mane approached the young colt.
“It wasn’t his fault child… he didn’t realize what he was doing. In fact, as we speak, he still has no idea of the atrocity he has committed.”
"But... But why???" The colt looked up at the strange stallion with bloodshot eyes.
The stallion placed a forehoof on his shoulder.
“He believed that you were dead, devoured by parasprites. He was trying to avenge you… and inadvertently brought forth your untimely death.” He looked at Rumble’s mangled corpse.
“Such a waste…” He looked back to Rumble’s spirit.
“Now please… come with me.”
"Where are you going to take me?"
The stallion looked down at the colt, and gave a small smile.
“My dear boy… you’re going home.” A bright, blinding light appeared outside of the doorway, and the stallion looked down at Rumble.
“No need to worry about your brother either… you’ll be seeing him again very soon."
Rumble nodded and hesitantly made his way to the door. He pulled it open and almost instantly a smile appeared on his face, "M-mom! Dad!"
The stallion nodded, “They’re waiting for you Rumble… they’ve been waiting a very long time.”
With happy tears in his eyes, He bolted into the light and the loving embrace of his parents.