The Different Prince

Dulcimer, Toffee, Lollipop, Viola and Sonnet were Lyra and Bonbon's fillies given them by their good stud Sunburst. In that order, from ages 9 to 2. I'm sure you can guess whose is whose. Number 4 for Lyra and 3 for Bonbon were on the way, as mentioned before. Lyra was hoping for a colt this time, while Bonbon was more a we'll-see sort of mare.

Now, the reason I bring these little ones up is because they all managed to fit atop my back with princess Nectarine. What could I do? I was practically their big brother. Them being raised around me their whole lives. Anyway, I wandered about the archaeological expedition with them, hoping to be close when they found something.

Mrs. Velvet was at my side, riding atop her stallion, just in case she needed to comfort one of the little ones.

"So, how's Twilight?" I asked, looking up at her.

She smiles back. "Oh, she'll get over it. It's almost nine. She can get out of the corner then."

Yipes. She could make standing in a corner sound terrifying. Imagine being an alicorn of immense magical power over the very fabric of nature itself. Now imagine a mare, who by all rights has no such power herself, yet when she speaks, you snap to attention. Magic it seemed, was only so useful.

"So, all this stemmed from a skeleton you found in a museum?" she asked. I nodded.

"Well, I kind of took it form a museum."

She stopped her stud and looked at me with a very critical eye.

"They gave it to me," I quickly explained. "They thought it was a fraud. They were planning on throwing it in the garbage."

She nodded and cleared her throat. "I see. Forgive me. After my daughter kidnapped not one, but two royals, I'm a little... what's a filly-friendly word I could use?"

"Aggravated?" I suggested.

"I like that, aggravated." She patted her husband's neck. "Guess it worked out for the best. Been wanting to take a vacation for a while now. Not quite the luxury resort I wanted, but, at least its away from the city."

Sonnet began fussing, she was soon joined by Viola. Velvet leaned over me and took them in her arms. "Well, guess I can't escape everything. They look so sweet. Takes me back, you know. Twilight was such a quiet foal. Shiny was energetic and always running into stuff. Half my neighbors and friends suggested I get him fixed before my house fell down atop of me. The other half suggested just selling him off. Lost a lot of good friends that way. Good thing I didn't listen. He's now prince of the Crystal Empire. Though, shouldn't that be Emperor?"

I stopped a moment. "You think so too? I thought I was the only one who noticed that. Even my mother, she's the adult female leader of a country..."

"She should be a queen," Velvet laughed as she opened her tan safari shirt and set they foals to her bosom. "Yes... just throw out all the rules of the Equestrian language. Maybe it helps Celestia feel young. You know, we mares are quite sensitive about our age."

I managed a chuckle.

"Hey, look at that," the swamp princess suddenly said. Looking back, I saw she was pointing upwards.I followed her finger to a spot further up the canyon wall. It was something shiny.

""Hmm," I thought. "Alright, Mrs. Velvet, would you care to watch these little ones for a bit? I'll go check it out."

They were all levitated off my back and onto the blue stallions. She nodded. "Get going. Think I might take these ones back to their tent. Might be time for a nap."

With the despairing cries of the foals in my ears I flapped upwards along the rock face until I was level with the shiny thing. What was I looking at? I dug my hoof around it to see if I could uncover more. The shiny thing just got bigger and bigger. And then even bigger. It was a black rock. Obsidian? But so much of it too.

I needed someone else to look at it with me. A few pleads and promises to Mrs. Velvet and Twilight was freed from her prison. What were my promises? To not be late for lunch, and to take a bath once we were done. Mothers' gonna mother.

"It's obsidian alright." Twilight used her magic and some steel tools to aid in uncovering the big object. But, like before, it just kept getting bigger. Soon we had called over more ponies and soon we were finding something very interesting. It was a solid wall of the volcanic rock. Not just that, but it curved. I was so excited that I almost missed my deadline.

I quickly ate lunch at the proper time just like Mrs. Velvet told me to, then went back tot eh site. Now it seemed like everypony was there, and they had done so much while I had been away. The great obsidian wall curved back into the canyon wall, where it would take many months with ponies working carefully with bigger tools to uncover.

But, that didn't matter. For when I returned (okay, I promised to a full meal), everypony was standing back, staring at a single section in the obsidian wall. A section of sedimentary rock in the shape of a door. A door bigger than the main gates of Canterlot. I pushed my way through the crowd for a closer look. Twilight was examining it.

"Is that a door?" I asked quite dumbly I must confess.

She shook her head. "No, it's just countless ages of sediment build up and hardening. A good few blows with a hammer should get us through. Care to do the honors?"

A hammer handed to me.

"You found the fossil, you should get to be the first one to see what's inside," she told me.

I shook my head. "Get Princess Nectarine. If not for her, we wouldn't have found this so soon."

She was quickly brought to me and set on my back.

"You ready for this, princess?" I asked as a levitated the hammer. "We're about to make history."

She adjusted her safety goggles. "Yes."

Everyone stood back as I swung my hammer once, twice, three times. Okay, it took eleven hits. But we got through. The rock cracked and turned to gravel on the last hit, leaving behind a perfect entrance. We stood back and waited for the dust to settle, wondering what lay beyond the burned wall.