“You go there, morirás pronto!” the ancient man declared firmly in a broken mix of Spanish and English.

Cyrus and Blaise Peregrine looked at each other and smirked. This was the first time the husband-and-wife archaeologist team had something more than the rumor that had drawn them to this area of the forest in Belize. They were both lean and well-muscled from weeks of tramping through the forest, and were well suntanned. That was where their resemblance ended though. The man stood 6’ 3” (190cm) and had short black hair and a permanent five o’clock shadow. The woman was barely over 5’ 4” (163cm) and had long, light brunette hair.

Cyrus turned back to the native inhabitant of the remote village. “That implies that you know where it is,” he replied in fluent Spanish. “Please tell us where to find it. We are not afraid to take the risk.”

“El Templo del Caballo is best left lost!”

“My wife and I think otherwise. Studies are made of unique Mayan sites all the time. Why should this one be particularly dangerous?”

“People who go there no come back. Nunca!”

“Neither will we once we get directions there. We will be too busy uncovering history.”

Blaise looked around at the few curious villagers who were listening to the exchange. “Perhaps someone else can help us?”

The old man threw up his hands in defeat. “Go then! I do not care about your fate.” He then instructed the pair on how to find the temple.

“Gracias. We will be on our way. You have been most helpful.” The two climbed back into their jeep and set out, vitalized by the knowledge that months of hard work would soon pay off.

The old man watched them leave, shaking his head at their foolishness as a much younger man came up to him.

“Grandfather, why did you tell them the way to the temple?” he asked in Mopan, a local Mayan dialect.

“They would have harassed everyone in the village for the knowledge. It was the quickest way to be rid of them.”

“But did you not send them to their doom?”

The old man smiled grimly. “Perhaps another fate may befall them.”

Trails through the forest were few and far between, so it was not long before the Peregrines had to leave the relative ease of the narrow dirt road. They parked their vehicle, concealed it as best they could, and headed into the dense jungle. However, they had modern maps and GPS to aid them, and getting lost was not one of their fears. Unless a site was located by a navigable river, hiking was the only practical way to get there. Even if it was possible to locate an overgrown structure from the air, there was nowhere to land an aircraft. Nevertheless, the couple began their trek with vigor and excitement.

El Templo del Caballo was Spanish for Temple of the Horse which by itself was an anomaly. Horses were unknown to the Mayans until Europeans brought them over. Mayan languages had no word for ‘horse’. Because this temple only had a Spanish name, it suggested that the invaders had named it. Why would the natives call it by a Spanish name after an animal that did not exist there before the Spaniards arrived? The Peregrines hoped to find out and make their names famous in the archaeological community. Months of research had finally brought them here and soon their hard work would pay off.

Although there would have once been roads to the temple, the forest had long since reclaimed them. While the journey then would have taken a few hours, it took the Peregrines two days and some traveling back and forth over the area before they found the first indication that they had not been led astray.

“Cy, look!” Blaise pointed out a suspiciously regular rock ledge.

The man came over and the two removed some of the undergrowth before smiling in triumph.

“This is the ruins of a dwelling alright. And if it follows the typical layout of these sites with the doorway facing the community center, my educated guess tells me that the temple lies that away.” He pointed in an easterly direction.

“I agree. Let’s go!”

They made their way through the dense forest, spotting more evidence of human habitation long ago. Even so, they almost missed the temple as they moved almost parallel to one of its sides, only spotting a corner at the last moment. Finding a place where the stone structure was not quite so badly overgrown, they could make out the typical stepped pyramid shape.

“It’s unusually small, isn’t it?” Blaise commented.

“That would have helped hide it from the air all this time,” her husband replied.

“True. Let’s find the side with the steps. Hopefully, we can find something of interest in the chapel at the top that can give us a hint as to why it’s named after a horse.”

They struggled around the base of the pyramid in the direction they guessed the steps could be found. Instead, they were surprised to find something else.

“Is that an entranceway?” Cyrus asked.

“It sure looks like it. Help me clear these bushes.”

The two toiled to clear years of debris and plant growth. Eventually, they opened up a small gap in the vegetation into what was clearly a tunnel. Then there was another surprise.

“I can see light inside!” Blaise exclaimed.

“A skylight perhaps? That doesn’t make sense. The Mayans didn’t build temples that way.”

The woman squeezed her petite form through the gap in the vegetation, earning herself a few deep scratches. However, she ignored them after standing up and noticing something. “Actually, I’m pretty sure this tunnel goes right through to the other side.”

“The Mayans definitely didn’t do that either!” Cyrus declared.

“I know! You don’t have to tell me that. Break out the lantern. I think we’re going to make history!”

The man took out the LED lamp from his backpack and passed it to Blaise. He then set about widening the hole with his machete. His wife wasted no time turning on the light to explore, but almost immediately halted when her interest was caught by carvings in the wall.

“Cy! You have to see this!”

“Give me a minute, woman! I’m a lot bigger than you. Shit! These thorns are really out to get me!”

Blaise sighed and went back to help Cyrus. Eventually, the two managed to widen the offending vegetation sufficiently to allow the man to join his wife inside, albeit with a nasty scratch down his right arm. His cursing quickly stopped when he spied what had drawn Blaise’s interest. Carvings typically adorned Mayan temples and this one was no exception. What were different were the depictions. Humans were always the most prominent, but animals were occasionally found too, especially the sacred jaguar. Blaise pointed to one neither had ever seen previously.

“Does that look like it could be a horse?”

“Its proportions look wrong for any local animal,” he replied noncommittally. “But look at this – a human and that quadruped side-by-side. The relative sizes are way off.”

“A pony, then!”

Cyrus gave his spouse a flat look. “You really want these to be horses, don’t you? Despite that not being possible.”

“You tell me what else it could be,” she replied defiantly.

He rolled his eyes. “There are other Mayan mythological creatures, although I admit there’s no record of one that looked like this. We’ve hardly seen anything yet though. We may get our answers further in.”

She nodded. “And there’s that light to check out too.”

The two made their way further into the tunnel, stepping over an empty plinth with a broken column beside it, but soon found their route partially obstructed by a short pillar with a bowl-like indentation sitting on a second plinth. A close look with the lamp revealed a reddish-brown stain inside the bowl. The two looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

“Blood sacrifice?” Cyrus suggested what they both were thinking.

“Not untypical for Mayans,” Blaise agreed and she grinned. “Looks like you’re keeping up the tradition. That gash on your arm is still dripping. You got some on the bowl.”

“Shit!” he cursed as he grasped the cut to staunch the bleeding.

“Here – use my handkerchief. It’s already messed up from wiping the blood off my scratches.” She placed it deliberately in the bowl and smirked.

“Very funny, Blaise,” Cyrus said as he picked up the handkerchief. “I hope the Mayan gods are satisfied with your token sacrifice.” A minute later, he had tied a knot in the handkerchief and slid it up his arm to provide pressure on the wound.

The woman turned back toward the tunnel. “Come on. We need to check more carvings.”

She was immediately followed by her husband. Together, they confirmed that the carvings were a mirror image of those on the other side of the pillar. They soon found that it was indeed another opening, although not as badly covered by vegetation as the first entrance.

“Damn. Wish we had found this way in first,” Cyrus commented. “It would have been a lot easier to enter the temple.”

“Yeah. I think we should try to get out here. But why did they make the passageway?”

“I think… I… I feel weird,” the man said before collapsing to the floor.

“Cy! What’s wrong?!”

“Whole body… feels… wrong,” he gasped.

“Wrong? How? Do you need medicine?”

He just groaned and, not knowing what else to do, Blaise started digging out some painkillers from her pack. Then she gasped and collapsed next to her husband.

The two were facing each other as they lay there helplessly. They felt as if every part of their bodies was changing, shifting around, shortening, or lengthening. To their shock, they saw the other’s face pushing out into a muzzle while their eyes grew huge. Ears shifted up and grew larger as their hair lengthened and started changing color. Their clothes drew tighter in some places but much looser in others. Cyrus reached out to his wife, only to watch in horror as his fingers merged into a lump that firmed into a hoof. His arm started sprouting a layer of bright red fur.

“What’s happening to us?” wailed Blaise.

Cyrus tore his eyes from his changed appendage to see that much the same was happening to his wife. She was growing blue fur though.

“Oh, God! I think we’re turning into horses!” The man nearly choked on his words. “And why has my voice gotten higher?”

“Fuck! I hope we’re not losing the ability to speak… wait! Mine’s gotten deeper.”

Cyrus didn’t respond because a growing pressure on his back was becoming more painful by the moment. With a scream, he arched his back and, with a tearing sound, something broke free of his shirt. The pain faded to a dull ache and he panted from the effort.

“Good lord! You just sprouted wings! Is that going to happen to me toooOOW!” A horn burst from her forehead, leaving her with a migraine that quickly faded.

Cyrus stared at her before saying, “You’re a bloody unicorn! That’s impossible!”

“Says the winged horse. Should I call you Pegasus now?”

“Touché. I think the changes have stopped. Can you get up?”

Blaise started to shake her head only to stop. “I’m still a bit dizzy. I’m also extremely uncomfortable. My pants are too tight.”

“Oh? Mine aren’t, but I suppose that I started off with a much larger pair of trousers. My legs seem to have gotten a lot shorter though and I might get tangled in the pant legs.” He tried to get up, only to tumble to one side. “My balance is shot.”

Blaise tried and failed also. “Mine too. What are we going to do? Do you think we’ll be stuck here like this?”

Before Cyrus could answer, bright light burst into the passageway as the vegetation was abruptly removed from the opening.

“What’s this?” a female voice said. “Someponies have beaten me to the find? Aw, crap. Ah well… you two look like you could use a hoof right now.”

The two former humans looked up to see a mustard-yellow pony with wings and a monochrome mane smirking down at them. Strangely, she was wearing a safari outfit that suited her equine body.

“The name’s Daring Do. Always happy to meet fellow adventurers.”

# # # # # # #

Author's Note

And so begins a new tale. This one is completely unrelated to any of my others, so hopefully, I will bring some entertaining surprises.