The Different Prince

Twisted Bridge was a canyon down south of Appleoosa. Very down south. The terrain was fagged and cracked. More rocks than sand. The name came from an ancient stone column that have fallen unknown eons ago, creating a natural bridge. It was cracked and broken in such a way that it had the appearance of being twisted. We landed beneath the bridge on the floor of the canyon itself.

Thankfully, our kidnapper wasn't totally insane, she had stopped over in the town to procured us extra supplies. Poor Nectarine had to be bundled up to keep the sun from burning her. She practically sat under the canopy with the coolers and food.

Surprisingly, she was rather okay about the whole situation.We gave her some ice cream and promoted her to the guardian of the camp. That kept her occupied. Meanwhile, Twilight, Pound, and myself went to work.

Work being me and pound moving rocks so that Twilight could search for chemical traces in the soils underneath. Well, maybe mother would postpone this weeks training in leu of my this great workout I was getting. But, as time moved on, and the sun began to set, we still hadn't found a thing.

"Nothing but trace amount of gold and diamonds," Twilight huffed in frustration. Money wasn't that big a deal for her.

I sat down and sighed. "Then why don't we take a break. Come. The suns going down, and we haven't eaten in a while."

She nodded reluctantly and we all got back under the canopy. Little Nectarine had dosed off at some point, we found her using a potato sack for a blanket. Twilight managed a smile at the small filly and quickly moved her to a cot and threw blanket over her.

"That was no place for a princess to sleep," she laughed quietly.

We had already set up the kitchen when we arrived. Yes, I mean kitchen. Sinks, pots and pans, silverware, cutlery, spices. Even a week's supply of firewood. Were it not for the lack of walls, we may have been in someone's house. Poor Pound, I had to hitch myself to the carriage to help him.

Lot's of calories, included the aforementioned potatoes, as well as butter and bread to name a few things. It was in the midst of this meal that a letter from mother arrived in a puff of smoke.

Twilight read it and blushed. "Well... your mother's not upset. But she says she really wishes I had asked permission to steal you. As well as the foreign princess. She says she'll be sending some aid to help along the way."

"She also says you shouldn't steal me like in the in the future, right?" I asked.

Twilight slumped at the shoulder and set the letter to the side. "Yes. Okay. I get excited about stuff. Wonder when this help of hers will arrive."

As if in answer, a flood of lights suddenly appeared outside the canopy and carriages started to land all around the kitchen. Nectarine got woken up, but she wasn't grumpy for long when a new bowl of ice cream appeared in her lap. She was gonna be a beach ball when her mother came back for her.

Guards, of course, were the first thing to really come into view. Mares and stallions in armor, ready to defend royalty and lend a hand. There were, of course, a couple upset faces. A mint unicorn and a candy-collared earth pony came stomping up into the canopy. Thankfully, all ire was directed at the adult princess who had kidnapped us.

"What are you thinking dragging children into the middle of nowhere without supervision?" Lyra demanded. "Your mother was filling in for us today, you could have grabbed her at least."

Twilight was backed into a corner. "I-I just didn't think he needed a wetnurse that badly anymore. He's been on solid foods for nine years now."

Lyra and Bonbon looked offended.

"It's not just about milk," Lyra scolded her. "It's about being an attentive maternal figure who will look after their health and safety."

"Hey, I've been taking care of them just fine," Twilight defended herself.

Bonbon laughed. She pointed at the table. "Foods barely been touched, and it's almost midnight. You have foals of your own, your majesty. You know this is not healthy."

"Alright, break it up," I said, getting between them all. "Look, Twilight got a little excited. She does that." Lyra looked about to argue, but I raise d hoof for silence. "We all were excited. We all lost track of time. We've made an important discovery this morning."

Lyra and Bonbon took moment before conceding to my point. "Fine. But from here on out, my herdsister and I will be watching over the foals. All of them. We didn't have time to find a nanny, so we had to bring our own foals with us to the middle of a desert."

"Sorry," Twilight said in a small voice.

"We forgive you," Lyra sighed. "But, we're still gonna tell your mother."

"What?" Twilight cried out in alarm. Horror was written across her face. "No, please. Don't do that, please."

"Actually, I'm already here," a matured voice said. Riding atop a blue stallion was a middle-aged gray mare with a purple mane in a safari outfit. She eyed the kidnapper in a mixture of amusement and annoyance. "Twilight. Can you explain why I had to bring your father out here to this giant litterbox?"

The poor alicorn practically sobbed into her hands. "Why does the universe hate me so?"

* * *

A base of operations had been swiftly set up. The kitchen was expanded to accommodate two hundred workers at a time. Tents had been erected within the hour. They had even erected water tower. It looked like a town had appeared in the canyon overnight.

I was excited to get back to work now. Who knew what we could find. But, of course, even if it was technically my expedition, now that my wet-nurses were back in charge, I had to go to bed. Somethings just weren't fair.