The Four Horsemen

My Little Pony: The Four Horsemen

Chapter 7: Discovery

Twilight Sparkle uses her magic to open her saddle bag and takes out a map that shows the region of Diamond Valley. The map read that the area is 200Kx800K square feet of rocks, gravel, and dirt. Some areas are marked off on the map as hazardous zones that include sink holes that will lead to the lair Diamond Dogs or to pits that seem impossible to escape unless somepony had been exploring the place quite often. Not only sinkholes are a problem but there's also the possibility of rock slides and mudslides around the valley that nopony will ever survive if they weren't careful.

The purple unicorn puts her map away and instructs Spike to follow her further into the valley.

“Come on, my #1 assistant.” Twilight Sparkle said. “We should get to the middle of Diamond Valley in another forty minutes.”

Spike, still carrying the wagon and feeling the exhausting heat from the sun, panted and continued to walk.

“Twi...Tw...Twilight!” Panted the tired baby dragon. “You mind...mind telling....me where we going and why we're here?”

“I'm afraid I can't tell you that once we get to our destination. Let's just keep going forward.”

The baby dragon let out a tired sighed and continues to pull the wagon as he kept following the purple magical unicorn.

Meanwhile, back at the guard house in front of Diamond Valley, Rocky Canyon was inside his post reading the latest edition of the Ponyville Confidential along with a cup of coffee at his table. He stood there trying to read anything interesting that has happened around Equestria as he let time fly. As he flipped a page with his right hoof to read the next current events, he heard a knock at the door.

“Hmm...I wonder who that could be.” The guard thought. “Must be Twilight and Spike coming to tell me that they're done.”

The grey unicorn guard steps away from his table and trotted to the door. His horn began to glow as hue used his magic to turn the handle and opened it to find an unexpected visitor – Twilight Sparkle...injured! Rocky Canyon gasped to see Twilight covered in bruises from head to hooves, her mane badly ripped like it savagely pulled, tail cut off, and panting very heavily like something bad just happened and is in desperate plea for help.

“TWILIGHT!” The guard said in a state of shock. “WHAT HAPPENED?!?”

Twilight Sparkle, still breathing in air and out as she tries to catch her back, spoke. “Rocky...yo...you got...got to...help me! It's Spike...an...and he's...in danger! Please...help...me!”

“O...okay, Twilight.” Rocky said in shock. “Show me where Spike is and I'll help you out!”

“Fo...follow me. I...I'll show you.”

Twilight Sparkle began to limp her way back into Diamond Valley with Rocky Canyon following behind her, leaving the front gate unsecured.

Back in the middle area of Diamond Valley, Spike stops pulling his wagon and sits down on the gravel caressing his aching left foot from all the walking while letting out small painful groans. As he was aiding his foot, the purple unicorn takes out her map again to check on their location.

“Hey Twilight!” Spike said. “We've been walking for forty minutes and you STILL have not tell me why we're here! Care to spill the beans now?”

The baby dragon's question was ignored as Twilight Sparkle took out her map of the valley once again from her saddle bag and inspects it to see if the two of them made it. She puts a hoof to her chin and ponders for a minute until Spike calls her again.

“TWILIGHT!” Spike hollered. “I SAID WHY ARE WE HERE?!?”

The purple unicorn didn't answer. She was too busy in her world of thought while ignoring her assistant's question. The baby dragon had enough of Twilight ignoring him and decides to get her attention. Realizing the gravel that he and Twilight had been walking on have tiny rocks, he picks one up with his left hand and aims at Twilight's head. With one quick swoop, the pebble struck the unicorn's head which did granted the attention that Spike wanted and an angry look on her face.

“AH, SPIKE?!?” Twilight Sparkle angrily said as she rubbed her head with a right forehoof. “WHY DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!?”

“Because you've been standing there looking at that dumb map and for the past hour or so I'm pulling my red wagon having no clue on what the heck we're doing here and you're ignoring the fact I keep asking you WHY we're here in the first place! You told me earlier we're not here digging for gems nor diamonds! I know we are not here for some royal assignment from Princess Celestia because she never lets in here for safety reasons and since this is Diamond Dog territory, WE COULD'VE BEEN KILLED WITHIN MINUTES! SO TELL ME NOW: WHY ARE WE HERE?!?”

The magical unicorn stops rubbing her head after the pain went away. “Well, Spike, if you wanted to know why we're here you then you would've just asked politely than hitting me in the head.”

“Oh...don't start with me, Twilight. I DID asked nicely earlier!”

“Okay but...I was just distracted on getting here to the middle of Diamond Valley before nightfall. Anyway, the reason why we're here is because...I want to check something out.”

“And what is that something?”

Twilight darted her eyes away from her assistant to the gray gravel beneath her. She gulped but only softly as to let Spike not hear her. She is worried that if she tells Spike the truth, then her #1 assistant will lose his temper and maybe abandon her in this dangerous valley. The unicorn can't even come up with a good lie nor an excuse to cover up the real fact on why she brought him here with a saddle bag filled with food and digging tools.

“WELL?!?” Spike yelled at the top of his lungs at Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight sighed. “First of all, Spike: I did not appreciate the fact you just hit my head with that pebble you threw. Second, you need to cut your attitude and calm down already. Finally, the reason why we're here is because...uuhhh...ummmm...oh boy.”

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Oh boy what?”

“Eerr...Spike...don't you think it will be better if I...not tell you.”

“Why not?”

Twilight began to hesitate and sweat. She decided that she has no choice to but to come up with an excuse.“Because...uh....it...iiittt is PASSED LUNCH TIME! Yeah, let's eat some food and we can talk about it later.”

In a quick flash, Twilight opens her saddle bag up and took the food she packed earlier and surprisingly has a picnic blanket tucked inside of it. She hopes that this will change Spike's mind about finding out the truth and later she'll expose everything. However, even with the amount of delicious food she packed and even trying to change the subject, the baby dragon was still not convinced on what Twilight is hiding.

“Well Spike?” Twilight said holding a big smile on her face. “Aren't you going to eat?”

Spike groaned in anger. “THAT DOES IT! SHOW ME THE MAP, TWILIGHT SPARKLE!”

“Map? What map? I have no map!”

“Give me the map! RIGHT NOW!”

Spike began to march forward with his hands clutched and his teeth gritting but Twilight Sparkle began to back away from the angry dragon all frightened. She has never seen Spike act this way but she can tell that her assistant was not in the mood for games. The purple unicorn continues to back up and turns around in attempt to run but the baby dragon leaps into air and tackles her to the ground. They began rolling around the dirt and gravel as the two began fighting over the saddle bag. They struggle and struggle as Spike had a tight grasp on the bag while Twilight held on with her teeth as the both them pulled on the bag.

“LET...GO...SPIKE!” Twilight Sparkle commanded through her teeth.

“NNNNN...NEVER!” Spike yelled as pulled harder.

The two pulled and pulled until...RRRRIIIIPPP! The saddle bag tore into two pieces and out popped three items that Twilight Sparkle hid from Spike along with the two small shovels she packed earlier: the map of Equestria, a map of 100 years before Equestria,...and The Legacy of the Four Horsemen book. Twilight Sparkle was now feeling more worried than before as she witnessed Spike pick up the book and the maps with a face of pure hatred.

“Twilight...”Spike growled while holding the book in his hand. “What...is...this?”

Twilight gulped in fear. “Uhh...that is my...Four Horsemen book.”

“And...why are there doodles all over these two maps with your notes and comments about 'Maybe statues are here' or...'LOCATED NEAR RIDGE?!?”

“Err...”

“AND WHY...DID YOU BRING THESE SHOVELS?!?”

Twilight couldn't handle it anymore and just let it out. “OKAY! OKAY, SPIKE! YOU GOT ME! I'll explain, I'll explain. Last night, right after we had that get together, you and I had been arguing over the fact about the Horsemen's existence You kept saying the story was fiction but I continued to disagree with your opinion and claim that the story is real. So last night, when you went to bed, I read the book again, took both maps of Equestria from the past and Equestria of today; and wrote down notes on how can I prove to you and everypony that the Four Horsemen do in fact exist! The only way to prove my case was to come here to Diamond Valley and search for the missing stone statues that could be buried here somewhere!”

After the truth was let out, the purple dragon couldn't help but facepalm and shook his head in disgust. First, he was sleeping peacefully about Rarity this morning before sun rise. Next, Twilight Sparkle comes in with a saddle bag filled with food, shovels, and maps. Then, the two of them spent hours in a deserted, area filled with gravel and diamonds buried underneath. Finally, the word is now out that this whole trip was nothing more than Twilight's beliefs in a fictional story that the two had been arguing for a long period of time that nopony has ever prove that the story is real. This was all a waste of time!

“That's it, Twilight!” Spike angrily said clutching the book. “I'm smashing this thing into a million pieces!”

Spike slams the book on the ground and grabs one of the shovels that were laying a few feet away from him. Twilight Sparkle lets out a shocking gasp and panics on what Spike is going to do.

“SPIKE, NO!” Twilight pleaded. “THAT BOOK MEANS A LOT TO ME! PRINCESS CELESTIA GAVE ME THAT!”

Spike didn't respond and more so likely didn't care. He raises the shovel high above his head with a grimacing face and his teeth sharpened. He was ready to destroy the book!

“SAY GOODBYE!” Spike screamed his lungs out.

“NNNNOOOO!!!” Twilight panicked

Realizing that she had no other choice, Twilight quickly uses her magic via her horn and tries to prevent Spike from destroying. She casts a magical, glowing aurora right underneath Spike's feet that caught the purple dragon off guard. Suddenly, a rumbling is felt and lines began to form right underneath the two travelers. The sound of cracking can be heard underground as the two brace themselves for inevitable. Then it happened! The ground collapse from underneath, sending both the baby dragon, magical unicorn, the shovel, and the book to the lower depths of the valley. The two screamed in horror as they fell and fell to a possible death awaiting them down below.

Surprisingly, their deaths were sparred as the two landed on pile of dirt and debris created by the falling debris. A bit dazed, the two got up and noticed that their decent has sent them to an underground cavern that was 30ft below the surface of Diamond Valley. Though the two only received a few bruises and cuts, Twilight Sparkle and Spike were not seriously hurt and can somehow still walk on their own. The only source of light they have is the sunlight shone down above them through the hole from which they came. The two eventually got up from the ground and dust themselves off from the fall.

“Spike!” Twilight said all worried. “Are you okay?!?”

Spike, with his back turned away from Twilight, was a little shaken from the fall. “Ye...yeah! I'm fine.”

“I'm so sorry! I...I...I...I...didn't mean to do that! I was, I was trying to prevent you from destroying my book and...and...I had no choice! I didn't mean to hurt you!...Spike?...Spike?!?”

The baby dragon did not respond nor listened to Twilight. He stood there frozen in his tracks without moving a muscle. Now Twilight was even more worried.

“SPIKE!” Twilight feared. “WHAT'S WRONG?!? WHY ARE YO...”

“SHHH!” Spike said to Twilight by putting a finger to his mouth. “Don't yell so loud, Twilight. I heard what you said. However...TAKE A LOOK AT THIS!!!”

The baby dragon pointed straight ahead to something peering out of the darkness and into the light. Twilight slowly walked to Spike's left side to get a better view of what he's looking at. She squinted her eyes to see something gray and...unicorn-horn like peeking out of the light but is unable to figure out what it is. Trying to find out, she concentrated all of her magic and created a beam of light from the tip of her horn like a flashlight and used it to see the mysterious object. She began by slowly casting the light from the right to get a better view of what it is. The unicorn and the dragon held their breath as the light unveiled their surprised discovery. When it came to view, they felt their eyes pop out of their sockets and their jaws drop to the floor as they see...a forehead...with a horn of a unicorn! Then, the rest of the light reveals more details: ears, eyes, a muzzle, a nostril, chin, a throat,...and a book in it's mouth. To their surprise, it was a statue...of a stallion...with a cutie mark of a Praetorian helmet. Twilight Sparkle's expression changed from totally surprised to happily excited. Spike's expression, on the other hand, did not change.

“Twi...Twilight!” Spike said. “Is...that...?”

“IT'S ARES MAVERICK!” Twilight Sparkle happily squealed. “I TOLD YOU, SPIKE! I TOLD YOU! HE DOES EXIST! HE DOES EXIST! HE DOES EXIST!”

The purple unicorn began jumping around for joy  while cheering upon her discovery while her assistant just scratched his head. At first, Spike thought the Four Horsemen story was fictional but after a long period of arguing and debating, looks like he was wrong all this time. However, the question is: how is he and Twilight Sparkle going to get out of this cavern...and take the statue with them?

“HHEEELLLOOO!!!” A voice from above echoed throughout the cavern.

Twilight ceases her celebration as she and Spike glanced up towards the hole above. To their relief, it was Celestia's guard Rocky Canyon standing over the hole.

“ARE YOU TWO OKAY DOWN THERE?!?” Rocky shouted.

“YES, WE'RE OKAY, ROCKY!” Twilight responded.

“DO YA'LL NEED HELP?!?”

“NO, NO, NO! WE GOT IT FROM HERE, ROCKY! WE'LL BE RIGHT UP!”

Spike looks at Twilight all confused. “We are? How?”

Twilight smiled and responds to Spike's question. “I'll teleport the three of us out of the is cavern and head back to surface.”

“Three?”

“Yes, three. You, me, and Ares Maverick's statue. Grab the shovel and my book and stand right next to me at the statue.”

Spike nods and went to grab the shovel and The Legacy of the Four Horsemen book near the dirt mound. Though covered in a dust from the dirt and sand, the book is still in good condition and nothing was damaged. He takes the two items and goes to Twilight Sparkle next to Ares' statue. Once he approached and stood next to her, the purple magical unicorn uses her magic and all three magically teleported out of the cavern to the surface of Diamond Valley where Rocky Canyon is waiting. The guard sighed in relief of seeing both travelers not injured but noticed the strange looking statue that the two had found.

“Um...Ms. Twilight Sparkle!” Rocky said pointing his hoof at the statue. “What or who is that?”

“Oh this?” Twilight said looking at the statue. “This is our discovery: Ares Maverick, the leader of the Four Horsemen from Withersham.”

“F...Four Horsemen? You mean...THE Four Horsemen? THE Ares Maverick?”

“Yes! Now I can prove everypony that the legend is real and that would lead me to find the rest of the Horsemen buried somewhere around here.”

“Wait! Wait! The other Horsemen are buried here in this valley?”

“I suspect they are, Rocky. After reading the book countless time and doing a lot of research, I came to a possible theory that the Horsemen could be buried somewhere around this valley. Even though nopony has not found any of the other statues yet, I became the first to prove that all my hard work has been paid off when I found Ares Maverick. Now, if I can only spent the rest of the day searching for the others.”

“I...er...I am afraid that's not going to happen, Twilight Sparkle.”

“Huh? Why not?”

Rocky cleared his throat. “You should head home...cause uh...I just received report from another guard that the Diamond Dogs are somewhere in this area. Right after I heard the sudden collapse, it somehow alerted the Diamond Dogs underground and you know how vicious they are when it comes to ponies invading their territory.”

“Oh, dear Celestia. You're right. Are you sure you can handle it?”

“Believe me, Twilight. I've been patrolling this place for years and I can handle these dogs on my own. So why don't you just grab your belongings...and that statue...out of here.”

“Okay, Rocky. Be careful, alright.”

Rocky agrees by nodding as Twilight Sparkle gathers the now spoiled food, her broken saddlebag, book, shovels, and places them next to Ares Maverick's statue. Spike jumps onto Twilight's back as the magical unicorn uses her teleportation magic once more and all three occupants vanished out of the valley, leaving Rocky Canyon behind. When the area was clear, Rocky stood near the hole where Twilight Sparkle and Spike came from. Suddenly, there was another presence behind Rocky Canyon as it approached from behind and stood right next to him. It was...Twilight Sparkle...or...is it?

“Did you get rid of the body?” Rocky Canyon asked Twilight Sparkle, covered from unknown injuries.

“Buried and forgotten.” Twilight Sparkle answered with an evil smirk. “So, that unicorn and the dragon found one of the statues, right?”

Rocky looks at Twilight Sparkle with eyes glowing blue. “Yes, they did!”

In an instant, Rocky and Twilight Sparkle showed their true form as their bodies surround themselves in green, fiery aurora. When the aurora cleared, what stood near the hole were not Twilight Sparkle and Rocky Canyon. Instead, they were pony-like, dark skinned creatures with blue wings, horns, and sharp teeth. They were Changelings!

The Changeling that was onced Rocky Canyon spoke to his partner. “Let's informed our queen before that pony gets back.”