The Four Horsemen

My Little Pony: The Four Horsemen

Chapter 1: Horsemen Assemble

The skies above Withersham were dark, blood red. The air was filled with the sounds of agonizing screams of mares and fillies and war cries from dying stallions. The kingdom was in a deep state of panic as some of the king's royal knights try to help and aide the frightened villagers and defend Withersham from an army of goblins and fend off incoming dragons from high above the helpless kingdom. The enemy forces continued to march forward with swords, shields, spears, crossbows, torches, and to make matters worse, catapults. The number of goblins went from 250 during the first wave of the battle to 500 as they slaughtered and tortured one defending pony knight to another. The catapults launched boulders onto Withersham, destroying homes and killing everypony that wasn't lucky to survive. In the skies, eight dragons from the Spitfire Tribe added more extra damage as they swooped into the battlefield outside the village, burning the helpless knights while the other half of the tribe scorched the villagers.

One royal knight, a beige unicorn, was lucky enough to escape the battlegrounds outside the village and gallop all the way to the castle of King Icarus. As he ran through the village of Withersham, he ignored the cries of help from frightened ponies and his fellow knights who are need of getting to safety. What's more important to him was going to the castle of his leader and getting the help that he needs.

As he approached the three floor, stone castle, he used his hind legs to buck the large wooden double-doors open with extreme force and enters the Great Hall of the castle. Unfortunately, the place was empty and the king and his guard weren't present. There was nothing in the Great Hall but shattered stained glass and little debris that fell from the ceiling due to the goblins' attack on the castle. The stallion noticed a door next to the king's throne and head towards it. He enters through the door which leads to a hallway of the castle. Inside the hallway were a few doors that lead to different rooms. The right side of the castle contained a Ballroom which used to be fun and entertaining for all the  to dance has turned into a shelter with a few guard ponies aiding injured survivors from the village. The left side of the hall has a kitchen, a closet, and a staircase leading up to the second floor. The royal knight headed towards the staircase and up he went to the second floor. He paused his running to catch his breath and looked down the hall of the second floor to see another flight of stairs to his right. The royal knight continued to climb up the steps to the third floor where he believes his king might be. As he reached the third floor, he looks for the one room that the king might be in this situation involving the oncoming attacks outside – the Wizard's room.

Inside the Wizard's room, a golden, furred alicorn with a crown watches as a blue unicorn, named Star Dust, use his magic on four colored gemstones as he began to chant some magical words.

“Are you sure these gemstones will be enough to defeat Black Mist, wizard?” the alicorn said with all concerned.

The wizards stops his chant for a minute and says, “I'm pretty sure, King Icarus. With your magic combined with mine, these stones shall do the trick.”

“Then we must not waste anytime. Let's finish this together.”

King Icarus took the wizard's advice and used his magic to combine with Star Dust's magic on the gemstones. Just then, the surviving Royal Knight bursts right through the door huffing and puffing.

“*huff* King Icarus...your majesty!” the Knight bowed.

The alicorn turned to the guard while still doing his magic, “What is it Lt. Spear Wind?”

“*gasping for air* Enemy reinforcements...have been doubled...” He spoke. “They brought...cat...catapults!...Spitfires...every...where...We need...backup...We need...The Four Horsemen...”

“I understand Lt. Spear Wind. Just one more minute. We're almost done.”

Within a few seconds, the magical powers between the wizard and king on the gemstones was completed.

“It's finished, sire.” Star Dust said. “It's time to summon the Horsemen in here.”

“Of course.” the King nodded. “HORSEMEN! ENTER!!!”

Adjacent to the left side of the Wizard's room was another door which opened once the King called the Four Horsemen. As it opened, four stallions shrouded in darkness due to low lighting approached the middle of the room where the king, wizard, and knight stood. The four stood side by side as the King approached.

“Listen here, Horsemen.” The King said. “We're sending you all to the battlefield outside of Withersham. I expect you to do what is necessary and protect my kingdom. Your objective is to infiltrate Black Mist's fortress near the Forbidden Mountains and stop him, dead or alive. Whatever you choose, it's fine with me though you won't stop Black Mist without these.”

King Icarus motions to Star Dust to bring forth the round gemstones as the wizards implants the stones on four golden necklaces and one at a time, the wizard wrapped the necklaces on each stallion.

“These stones,” The King continued. “that my wizard and I created, should give you an advantage on your fight. Each of these colored stones represent the right horseman by their color. The white stone, for you Ares Maverick, represents Leadership. The gray stone, for you Silver Iron, represents Bravery. The blue stone, for you Colt Daring, represents Confidence. Finally, the red stone, for you Piston Ace, represents Spirit. I dubbed these things the Gems of Peace and with it's power, it will end this fight and put an end to Black Mist's destruction. Now go my Horsemen and save my kingdom.”

The Four Horsemen bowed to their king and galloped their way out of Star Dust's room and to the Main Hall. Once the Horsemen were gone, King Icarus turned his attention to Lt. Spear Wind.

“Lt. Spear Wind.” King Icarus said.

“Yes sir?” The knight replied.

“You will accompany me and Star Dust to my treasure room. We  have something planned in case of things go wrong at a time like this.”

“Sire?”

“I'll explain on the way. Now come now, we're wasting time.”

All three of them exit the workshop and headed downstairs to lower parts of the castle that leads to the treasure room.

Meanwhile, outside of Withersham, the goblin army are advancing towards the village with five catapults aimed at the Royal Knights who are taking cover inside hoof made trenches in front of the village. Some of the knights aimed their bow and arrows and crossbows at the goblins while others were armed with swords and shields got out of the trench in an attempt to fight back against the goblins. However, no matter how many of the knights got out of the trench to attack and defend, none of them came back alive as the number of knights decreased within seconds due to arrows being launched by the opposing enemy or random Spitfires coming from the skies, spewing fireballs and at times, gobble their prey. In a nutshell, the Royal Knights are helpless and the Goblins are winning this battle.

A goblin general signals the five catapults, each controlled by a goblin guard, to launch their boulders at the knights.

“READY...FIRE!!!” The goblin general commanded.

The catapults fired and the boulders flew towards the knights, hiding in the trench. One knight notices the incoming fire from above.

“LOOK OUT!!!” He warned his fellow teammates.

BOOM! It was too late. With no time to react, the boulders struck the ditch, injuring some and killing some while others had a share of luck to escape injury. A green Earth Pony with a red mane, tail, and wearing a gray, metal suit approached one of his fellow teammates that survived the impact. The teammate, a white unicorn wearing black armor, surveys the damaged that the boulders had caused.

“Private Snow Hill!” The stallion asked. “What is the status?”

“Oh, it looks bad Captain Eclipse” Snow Hill responded. “Nineteen are dead, twenty-five injured, and only thirty of us are still standing. We got fifteen Unicorns including myself, four Earth Ponies from CorpseHorse Unit, and Eleven Pegasi from Royal Air Defense here in this trench. That's all we have left, captain.”

Eclipse sighed in frustration and shook his head in disgust, “Has Lt. Spear Wind returned with reinforcements yet?”

“I...I'm...I'm not sure if he did.” The unicorn worried. “I mean, I haven't seen him returned nor heard from anypony of him bringing some so I beli...what the?”

Snow Hill's speech was cut off by the sounds of heavy footsteps approaching as the ground beneath began to tremble. The surviving knights held their ground as the footsteps came closer. Some of the knights armed their weapons and prepared for what's approaching them. The source of the sounds appeared from up above the trench in the form of Black Mist's goblin army, with twenty-two of these creatures armed with crossbows and aiming at the helpless knights.

“Surrender ponies!” One goblin said. “You have nowhere to run and hide from us! Now lay on the ground or we'll fire!”

The remaining knights looked at Captain Eclipse for a response on what they should do next but Eclipse's response was rather unexpected. The green Earth Pony signals his men to lower their weapons and lay on the ground as the goblins looked on. Some of the knights were hesitant to not surrender but they had no choice but to do as their captain instructed.

The goblins laughed at the helpless ponies as they gave in but then WHOOSH! An arrow shot in front of the goblins zips right by above their heads. Then another came and hits a goblin in the chest, killing him instantly. Then ten more arrows were shot and ten more goblins suffered the same fate as the first. The rest of the goblins who were all shocked at this turn of events turned their attention towards the north where the arrows were being shot from. They see the shooter galloping towards them with a crossbow being held by his use of magic as his horn glow yellow. Besides his crossbow, both sides of his body had two arrow holsters with enough arrows to take down the creatures. It was a white unicorn with his mane, eyes, and tail all gold, wearing a gold necklace with a white gemstone, and has a cutie mark of a golden praetorian helmet on both sides of his flank.

One of the goblins gasped as he recognizes the unicorn, “HORSEMAN!” He shouted and pointed for his comrades.

The goblins aimed their crossbows but before any of them had a chance to fire, the brave unicorn reloaded his own crossbow and fired ten more arrows at the goblins, hitting his targets with ease. The stallion jumped over the three remaining goblins and took a fighting stance. The creatures hissed and dropped their crossbows in an exchange for fists. They attacked the white, brave unicorn but are over thrown by the stallions powerful bucking skills. The stallion used his legs and struck one goblin in the neck, snapping it in two places which caused instant death. The second goblin got struck in the sternum and one more hit to the head that sent him down. The final goblin swung a left but missed and got bucked from behind that sent him down. The unicorn took his crossbow, aims at the creatures head, and fires one more shot, killing the last goblin.

The ponies in the trench, whom are still laying on the ground, did not notice the fight above them but had heard the groans and moans from the enemy as if they were dying by something or somepony. Yet, they wonder if they are safe or not.

“You can get up now, knights! They're all dead!” A voice from a pony said above them.

The knights looked up and saw their savior from up above. Their fear quickly turned to joy as they sigh in relief to see one the Horsemen.

“Ares Maverick!” Captain Eclipse happily said. “You saved us!”

“Like I always say, Captain.” Ares replied. “I never leave anypony behind.”

The white unicorn jumped into the trench to meet the remaining surviving Royal Knights. “I came here as fast I can as soon as I saw the goblins. So what is the situation here, Captain?”

The captain hiccuped. “Thirty of us remaining, twenty-five hurt, and nineteen dead. There are Spitfires above us, goblins with catapults, and more goblins approaching the village.”

“What do you suggest we do, Ares?” Snow Hill added.

“I suggest we come up with a new strategy.” The horseman replied. “Now listen up, everypony: this new plan may be risky but it's the only way to protect Withersham and win this battle. CorpseHorse Unit, you aide the injured. Pegasi, take the skies and provide air cover for the ground team. Finally, Unicorns, seven of you focus your fire on the Spitfires while the rest of you defend the village as best you can.”

“But Ares!” Captain Eclipse interrupted “What about the catapults?”

The brave unicorn gave the green Earth Pony a smirk and said, “I'll take care of them, Captain.”

“Ar...err...are you sure?”

“Of course. With my magic, I can disable them without the use of my weapons. Now come on, everypony. We got a battle to win.”

Ares jumps out of the trench and turns to the remaining knights still in it. He lifts his right hoof up in the air and shouts, “FOR KING ICARUS!”

The knights stood up and raised their hooves up as they replied. “KING ICARUS!”

Ares galloped down the battlefield, passing over several dead bodies of fallen ponies and goblins as heads towards the defense line of the five catapults in the distance. The goblin general from earlier spotted Ares approaching and warned the rest of his men about it.

“Goblins!” The general warned. “Ares Maverick is heading this way. Destroy him immediately! FIRE ALL CATAPULTS!”

The goblins handling the catapults fired their boulders at Ares. The white horseman notices the boulders coming and ceases his running. His horn glowed sky blue and used his magic on the incoming boulders. He countered the attack by sending the boulders right back to the goblins and their catapults.

The hideous creatures witness their own fire power coming right back to them and panic. They were unable to take cover as the rocks of death destroyed the catapults and while two boulders flatten some of them that were arming the artillery, leaving only three goblins alive. Luckily, the general was able to survive but cares less about the fallen.

“FOOLS!” The general yelled. “GET YOUR BUTTS UP AND FINISH OFF THAT HORSEMAN!”

The remaining three goblins pull out their swords and attacked Ares. The general on the other hand, did not join the fray and ran all the way back to Black Mist's fortress for safety. He rather not care if his men die in the fight or survive. He rather save his own life than help out.

The white stallion remained at his spot with his crossbow armed and prepares for the incoming enemy.

“Swords against crossbows?” Ares puzzled. “Pfft, too easy.”

Before the unicorn can fire, three arrows zipped by Ares from behind him and killed the last three goblins before he did. Ares raised an eyebrow to know who had done that. He turns his head and sees the shooter behind him. It was none other than a gray unicorn that had a tail, eyes, and mane in black colors, wearing a golden necklace with a gray gemstone, and has a cutie mark of a dark gray anvil on both sides of his flank. Like Ares, he is also armed with a crossbow but it is modified to fire three arrows instead of one and is carrying two arrow holsters on both sides of his body.

“No one hurts the leader and gets away with it, mate.” the gray unicorn spoke with a British accent to the dying goblins.

Ares smiles as he's impressed on what just happened. “Glad you made it, Silver Iron. I was going to take care of them on my own but looks like you've done it for me.”

Silver Iron blew some dust off his crossbow. “Of course. Them bloody creatures are no match for a  blacksmith pony like myself. I could've jumped over you and bucked those gumps until their arses bled buttermilk for the hungry wolves.”

Ares laughed. “If you wanted to make a fountain for those pesky wolves, there's plenty of dead goblins here on this field for you to get started.”

“Ahh, I would save it for the next hols, mate. So what's next for us to do?”

“Well, the catapults are destroyed and the last thing we have to do is stop Black Mist. Come on, Silver Iron. Let's Ride!”

The two Horsemen galloped towards the north to the Forbidden Mountains where Black Mist's fortress is located.

The goblin general continued his retreat. He huffed, puffed, and panted as he ran towards stone fortress consisting of eight floors with four towers at each side and a guard tower at the entrance; a stone wall surrounding the fortress, a bridge, and a moat going around the whole entire place. This stone fortress next to the Forbidden Mountains is the home of the sorcerer Black Mist and where the goblin army are stationed in. The general approached the fortress and shouted at the gatekeeper at the guard tower.

“GATEKEEPER! GATEKEEPER!”

“Who goes there?!?” Came a response.

“It's General Lurker! LOWER THE BRIDGE RIGHT NOW!”

The gatekeeper inside the guard tower lowers the bridge via pushing a lever in front of him and the bridge in front of the fortress is lowered. General Lurker hurries across the bridge and notices Ares Maverick and Silver Iron approaching fast. The General panics and takes out his own crossbow. He arms it, aims directly towards Silver Iron, and fires. The arrow flew towards the gray unicorn and not a moment too soon, the arrow struck him in the left radius.

“AHHH!” Silver Iron screamed in pain. “BLIMEY, I'M HIT!!!”

Ares aides his fallen teammate. “Hang on, Silver Iron. I got you covered.”

Ares Maverick uses his magic to use his crossbow again and fires but it was too late. The general ran across the bridge to safety, avoiding the incoming arrow from the white stallion.

“Blast!” Ares said in frustration. “I missed him.”

“Forget that bloody creature and help me!” Silver Iron painfully said.

“Just hold on! I'm sure we can get some form of help here somewhere.”

“DOES SOMEONE NEED HELP?!?” Shouted a voice coming in from the East from where Ares and Silver Iron. The two unicorns looked and realized its another teammate of theirs. This third horsemen was a blue furred Earth Pony with a mane, eyes, and tail light, cyan colored and has a cutie mark of a green herb plant with a stem and five petals on both sides of his flank. He is also wearing a golden necklace of a blue gemstone that was given to him by King Icarus and carrying a medical bag on his left side of his body while the right side is occupied with a sword.

The blue Earth Pony galloped towards his fellow teammates. “Sorry I'm late, guys. I had to offer first aid to some ponies back at Withersham. Did I miss anything?”

“Not really, Colt Daring.” Ares responded. “You just made it in time to help Silver Iron with his wound.”

Colt inspects his fellow pony's injury and whistles in amazement. “Wow! That arrow got you real good, Silver.”

“Well don't stand there, mate!” Said the annoyed gray unicorn. “Remove the arrow and treat me!”

“Hang on, hang on!” the young blue Earth Pony replied. “Let me get some poultice from my bag. Ares, would you do the honor of removing the arrow for me with your magic?”

“Sure!” The white unicorn replied.

Ares' horn glows and uses his magic to remove the arrow out of Silver Iron. The blacksmith unicorn began to howl in pain as the arrow was carefully taken out from his radius. Although not bleeding profusely, Silver Iron's leg started to gush out blood and stain the grass beneath him. Colt takes out a roll of bandage and a bag of poultice with his teeth for Silver Iron. Using both of his hooves, he smears the poultice on Silver's leg and instructs Ares to wrap the bandage tight around it.

“That should do it.” Colt Daring said to Silver Iron. “Your wound should heal in no time. Can you try to get up?”

With all his might, Silver Iron slowly gets up and tries to ignore the pain in his leg as the poultice takes its effect. He feels a bit wobbly but was able to grab his crossbow and took his stand like a true soldier.

“*huff* I feel better now!” Silver Iron said all relief. “Thanks, Colt!”

“Anytime, partner.”

“Alright, you two.” Ares interrupted. “We will be more relieved once we stop Black Mist. Now gather what you got and lets move to the fortress.”

The three stallions got together and galloped towards the fortress. General Lurker, who happened to be other side, calls out the gatekeeper once more.

“GATEKEEPER! RAISE THE BRIDGE!!!”

The gatekeeper does as he is told and raises the bridge to prevent the Horsemen from coming. The three stallions noticed the bridge going up and cease their running but Colt loses his footing and tumbles near the edge of the moat. Luckily, Silver Iron was able to grab him by the tail by the use of his teeth and pulls him to safety. However, a small little pebble fell from the edge and hits the water. The three stallions witness something moving in the water...and it was very deadly. Inside the moat, to the three heroes' surprise, were a school of piranhas as they jump and bite of the water to give the Horsemen a warning if they fell in.

“Puh...puh, puh...puh,puh,puh...*gulp*...PIRANHAS!” A terrified Colt Daring yelled.

“Oye, them some hungry little fishies aren't they?!?” Silver Iron commented.

The goblin general made his way to the guard tower via a ladder and meets with the gatekeeper of Black Mist's fortress. He sees the Horsemen stranded and confused on what to do since the bridge is up and the moat has biting, piranhas jumping out of the water. He couldn't help but laugh and chuckle on what he is witnessing.

“HAHAHAHAHA!” General Lurker laughed. “STUPID FOUR HORSEMEN! YOU'LL NEVER GET ACROSS NOW! YOU'RE ALL SITTING DUCKS! HAHAHAHAHA!”

As for the gatekeeper, he noticed something was not right about what Lurker just said.

“Uh, sir!” The gatekeeper goblin said.

“HAHAHA, not now!” Lurker replied. “Can't you see that I'm busy laughing at this scene of failure? THIS IS TOO RICH! BUWAHAHAHA!”

“But...sir...I...”

“SILENCE OR I'LL THROW YOU INTO THE MOAT!”

“BUT SIR! THERE ARE ONLY THREE HORSEMEN!”

“HAHAHA...what?”

“General, you said Four Horsemen but why do I see three down there?”

General Lurker looks back at Ares Maverick, Silver Iron, and Colt Daring still standing at the other side of the moat and realized that his gatekeeper was right. The fourth Horsemen is not present!

“Wait a second!” The general said dumbfounded. “Where's the other Horsemen? HEY YOU PONIES! WHERE'S THE FOURTH ONE?!?”

Ares responded with a cocky smile, “HAVE YOU EVEN LOOKED UP ABOVE YOU, GOBLIN?!?”

The general and the gatekeeper looked at each other with confused faces and looked up into the skies. To their surprise, they see the fourth and final horsemen approaching: a Pegasus. However, he was no ordinary Pegasus but he was basically a very rare kind of pegasus that shoots fire. His fur was all black and his eyes, mane, wings, and tail were all red. He had a cutie mark of an Ace of Spades engulfed in flames on both sides of his flank and he wore a golden necklace with a red gemstone. The pegasus flew towards the guard tower, took a deep breath, and spew a trail of fire to the two goblins. The general took action by grabbing the gatekeeper as a shield and protect him from incoming flames. The poor helpless creature was burned alive and was thrown to the side by the evil general as soon as he was scorched. The fire Pegasus, however, was not even done yet. He puffed up a fireball onto his right hoof and aimed it at the general but not before flying up towards the skies and flying right back down at break neck speed for another shot. Before he shoots the fireball, he turns his attention to the camera that is following him.

“Hey, check it out readers!” the fire pegasus said by breaking the 4th wall. “I'm a dive bomber! WooHoo!”

He releases the fireball and, in a humor attempt, imitates the sound of a falling bomb by whistling. He lands right next to the rest of the horsemen while still whistling until finishing his comedic routine by saying BOOM as the fireball struck the general. The general screams in agony as he is engulfed in flames and does the unimaginative. He jumps into the moat where the piranhas were waiting to feast on flesh. He was unable to swim to safety nor survive as the pesky, hungry predators devour him as the Horsemen watched from above.

“OH! That is nasty!” Silver said disgusted as he watched the piranhas ate the general.

“Dear lord,” Colt said covering his eyes. “Please tell when it's over!”

The fire pegasus chuckled at Colt's plea. “It's over...oh wait...they're still chewing on his head! Okay, it's...oh no...there goes the spleen...and there goes the liver...and...Whoa! Those piranhas sure were starving. Good thing I gave them Roast Goblin, fresh one off the silver platter. Mmmmm, bon-appetite!”

Ares raised an eyebrow upon what he heard from his teammate. “Uh...yeah. Nice going there, Piston Ace! Besides burning a deadly creature with your crazy antics and having us front row seats of a feeding frenzy, why don't you do us a favor and lower the bridge? Go up there at that guard tower and release the lever or whatever is holding this bridge.”

“One lowered bridge,” Piston said as he flapped his red wings. “Coming right up!”

The black pegasus flew up to the guard tower and releases the mechanism to lower the bridge. After he was done, he heads back to the rest of the team.

“There you go, Horsemen! One lowered bridge by yours truly the fastest, quickest Pegasus in the whole universe: Piston Ace! I gotta tell you that when I was just a little fire pegasi I can...”Piston's show off speech was cut off as he noticed something approaching from the south. The rest of the horsemen turned to what Piston was looking at and were surprised to see nine more goblins with swords running towards them.

“Incoming goblins behind our flanks!” Colt warned.

“Then we have to stop them.” Ares said. “Silver Iron, do you have enough arrows for that crossbow of yours?”

“Way ahead of you, leader!” The gray unicorn replied as he used his magic to reload three arrows in his crossbow.

“Good! Give us some cover fire while Piston, Colt, and I head towards the fortress!”

“You got it, mate!”

“Colt and Piston, on me! Let's Go!”

The three stallions cross the bridge to the fortress as Silver Iron took aim at the running goblins. He takes aim and fires three shots while entertaining himself by counting and singing the number of goblins he kills by leaving tally marks on the dirt.

“One little two little three little goblins!” He sang as he fired three more arrows. “Four little five little six little gobl...Uh oh!”

Silver Iron paused his singing and noticed a mistake he made on the sixth shot. He erases the sixth tally mark and replaces it with an X. “Blimey, that there was a troll.”

He continues to shoot three more arrows and starts singing again. “Seven little eight little nine little goblins!”

Suddenly, General Lurker, who somehow survived the feeding frenzy from the piranhas but is left a bloody mess, climbs out of the moat and shouts a war cry at Silver Iron. The gray unicorn turns around and fires his last three arrows to the general, sending him back to the moat for the piranhas to finish him off.

“Ten Goblin buggers!” Silver Iron laughed as he galloped across the bridge to meet up with the Horsemen and joins them as they head towards the hideout.

“What's the report, Silver?” Ares asked.

“All clear from the backside, mate!” The blacksmith unicorn replied.

The sound of good news gave Ares a wide smile. “That's great to hear. Horsemen, we're approaching the main door of the fortress! Prepare yourself and don't hold back!”

“Count on it!” Colt Daring said.

“Flying right behind ya!” Replied Piston Ace.

“Right-o!” Added Silver Iron.

A/N: In the next chapter, the Horsemen confront the sorcerer Black Mist and we meet the Mane Six. I was going to end this chapter with the Horsemen confronting Black Mist and having the next chapter fast forward to present day Equestria. I'm kind of tired right now so I will write the next one when I'm not tired.