The princess and the explorer

by SimasWat

When the pig princess, gets herself into trouble, someone, who she would never expect to, will help her. This event not only gives her a hero to look up to but also a friend who might teach her a lot about the world she lives in. A story of how princess Wilba met the gentleman explorer Warbucks.

Wilba was not exactly like her mother. She came from a royal family, her mother being the queen of their kingdom and her father being a king of a distant kingdom far away. Being in care of only her mother, she did not spend too much time with her. It was usually the job of royal guards of nannies to give her the attention. Being homeschooled was a curse as well, Wilba hated it. Why learn about stories of now dead citizens, when she could make her own? Already from a young age, she could never control her adventurer of a spirit and would crawl on all fours from her cradle into the Royal garden in a blink of an eye. She wasn't let to do such as almost never. After many incidents of running off outside the castle, the Queen gave the guards the most impossible and complicated task. Keeping an eye on her. That didn't stop her though. Wilba enjoyed borrowing the Queen's jewelry and go outside to try to lure some of the outside beasts. She liked the feeling of risky danger. But this nasty habit of sneaking out at night without anyone knowing and without the guards, led to a big problem. One night young princess Wilba borrowed the royal crown and wandered off outside into the jungle. She knew a few parts well due to sneaking out there more than one time. She walked further and further until she ran into the Mantis nest. Mant monsters were nasty ones. They were bugs who would speak with a clicky voice, always attacking anyone too close. She wondered if they ate other bugs as well. The princess took out a big stick she found on the ground and held it out, stepping in at them.

"T IS WILBA, THE PRINCESS OF THE PIG KINGDOM! AS A HEST-" but before she could finish her sentence, she was pushed to the ground be the bug monsters. "KLICK VRR'TIK!" "VVR'T C'CHAK". In a question of moment, the Mant monsters were gone, along with the royal crown. Still astonished Wilba after this experience, hid in the Royal gallery ashamed of her actions. She couldn't tell anyone, she couldn't do anything. If the Queen was to know about the loss of her most important jewelry, she would never even let Wilba to the windows. Wilba stayed hidden in the gallery for a whole night and half of a day. She would even try to stay hidden there for the rest of her life if someone wouldn't pay a visit to the Palace. Someone entered the Royal gallery. Wilba expected the worst, the guards or worse, her mother, hooves crossed and with that angry look on her face. Something else surprised her. It was no pig, it was the unpig! Wilba has heard the stories of an unpig arriving in the kingdom, she heard they had big ears and weird nose on their face, sticks on hands and no hooves. The unpig confronted her.

"I say, this is a very young looking gal here." With a sympathetic smile on their face, the unpig walked closer to Wilba, kneeling down to her level. "Why would a lovely girl as you sit on a cold floor of this room with teary eyes, eh?" Wilba inspected the unpig from knees to head and back, wiping clumsily her eyes with her hooves. "WILBA LOST'DED YON CROWN..." The unpig let out a single "ah" before rubbing their chin. "I see." The unpig stood up again with a bright grin. "Well, the crown is not going to grow a pair of legs and get here back itself." Wilba confused sobbed a bit and kept watching the unpig with dry tears under eyes. "I say, let's make a deal! I, Warbucks Higgsbury will go and find the crown, under one condition," Wilba gasped and jumped up, standing up. "WHAT IS'T?" "You will stop the tears and smile a little bit, it is a shame for a little gal as you to cry for such." Wilba quickly nodded and smiled. The unpig turned on their heels to walk away, but before leaving the room, they pulled out a pith hat that yelled 'adventure!' loud as possible. "We'll meet again." They gave the princess a little wink and with a smile and left the Palace.

Wilba decided to wait in the gallery room. She counted all tiles and even all black tiles and then all white ones until she stopped because it did not lead anywhere, she never got further past 10. Finally. After another night passed with Wilba trying her best to stay awake, she knew the unpig retrieved when she heard the sound of their footsteps on the marble tiles. Wilba looked over. And even after all, she was surprised. The unpig slightly bowed to her with a smile, holding up the crown to her. "GIVE'ST THOU TO ME?" Wilba reached her hooves for the crown and took it, it was in perfect condition, not a scratch. The princess brightly smiled, "MANY THANKS, UNPIG". She was simply just amazed. Wilba invited the unpig for a royal breakfast and made them to tell her the whole story. They told her how they had to first get an appropriate weapon and tools, then they sneaked dressed up as one of the Mants into the nest, found the queen and after she refused to give it back, they fought her. Wilba carefully listened to every word amazed. She particularly liked the part where the unpig's spear broke, so they had to punch a Mant with bare hands, but before they could lend the hit, the monster fell to the ground already shaking and protecting its face, the unpig shrugged it off and moved to other Mants. The monsters didn't seem so dangerous after all. If Wilba will keep a distance between them, they will not attack her and if they would, they seemed wimpy anyway. The unpig said their goodbyes with a bow after the royal breakfast. Wilba wanted to hear more stories though. She begged for them to stay and even promised to invite them to lunch as well. The unpig chuckled and thanked for the invite, but declined because they had other responsibilities as well. They told her about their garden, the supply gathering, battling a Snaptooth Seedlings for vines and trying to keep Pogs away from their fridge, due to eating all food. Wilba sadly frowned, it seemed like a really fun and she wished to see the garden and watch the battle too! But her mother would never let her.

After the unpig left, the princess laid in her royal bed that night, covered in warm silky covers and with an oil lamp next to her bed, she did not sleep, she was thinking. She couldn't get the person out off her head. And why would she, they had an amazing life, full of adventures and mysteries. She always dreamed of such. She wished to be just like them. She wanted to help them with dangerous missions. She wanted to battle the ugly monsters and, well, she always wanted to sleep under the night sky. She couldn't stand it anymore, she covered her eyes with her hooves, "WILBA WISHETH SHE WAST LIKETH THE UNPIG!" she yelled through the room and pressed her face into her pillow. As if something heard her, her oil lamp suddenly went out, only the smoke being left there. The room was covered in darkness. Wilba hugged the pillow and looked around for any intruders. She sat up and with fear on her face and nervously swallowed. "You don't have to fear me" a melodic and gentle voice of a lady made her yelp in surprise. A figure came out of the darkness, another unpig! This one looked different though, black hair with a red feather, elegant nice dress what must have belonged to a queen as well. "My name is Charlie, I couldn't help and heard the wish of yours." The lady sat on her bed and looked over at Wilba, she seemed like a nice person. "ANOTH'R UNPIG?" the pig princess calmed down, the other unpig was nice to her, all unpigs must be nice then! She told herself and curiously examined the unpig. The lady let out a chuckle, somehow it sounded so relaxing, as the singing of birds that had a nest under Wilba's window. "Yes, yes another unpig." The lady smiled and nodded. "ART THEE A QUEEN?" "Yes, I am" Charlie let the pig child to move closer to her and curiously touch the fabric of her black dress. It felt soft as a rose, but solid as gold at the same time, it was like touching a cloud or a dream. "And I see you are a princess, aren't you?" Wilba nodded. "BUT WILBA DOEST NOT WANTETH TO BEEST" the child with sigh looked down at her violet purple nightgown. Wilba felt a soft hand on her shoulder. The lady gave her a smile to brighten up her mood again. "We cannot run away from our responsibilities," the unpig herself looked forward as if there was a distant thing or place, "but that doesn't mean we can't have fun as well." Wilba listened closely. "I can grand your wish to become like the other human you met, to be able to become anything you want..." Without letting her finish her sentence, Wilba quickly nodded. "WILBA AGRE-" "...BUT, as soon as you take the deal, with getting the human soul, you will be also more vulnerable, you'll have to be very careful not to trust everything that may seem good, not even all unpigs." Wilba thought, but end up with the same answer, this time she just simply nodded. Charlie sigh and put both of her hands at her shoulders. "Last thing, as soon as I give you the soul, the darkness will become your enemy, you must always protect yourself with light." Wilba nodded again, making sure to remember this advice. "Very well then." The unpig got up and fixed her dress, slowly walking away to again disappear in the darkness covers, but the princess stopped her. "Art thee a hath lost queen?" Wilba asked almost whispering, not taking her eyes off the beautiful lady. Without any answer, the unpig like dissolved in the darkness.

Wilba suddenly woke up. Quickly jumping off her bed, she noticed it was morning already. As soon as she finished her breakfast, she wanted to try out if her wish really came true. But how would she know? Ah, the unpig will know! The princess sneaked out of the palace through a window and ran over into the town to find them. Not able to see them anywhere, she walked out of the town and stepped into the grass field next to her kingdom. "UNPIG? T IS I, WILBA!" Without making too sure where she was even walking, she barely noticed she walked into the lush jungle. Wilba walked further and stopped as soon as she heard something rustle in bushes. "UNPIG?" A giant Snaptooth Flytrap jumped at her. Wilba gasped and dodged its attack but in hope of running away, but tripped over some roots and end up on the ground. Before the giant plant could bite her head off, a big and loud "BOOM" almost deafened her, the monster plant let out a long hissing scream and fell on the ground next to her, defeated by an unknown foe. Wilba got up from the jungle ground and noticed her savior. "UNPIG!" with a smile, the princess quickly ran over to the unpig who she met before, who was now still standing still, letting out a big long sigh, putting down their big strange weapon, which looked almost like a trumpet of some sort of. Before Wilba could greet the friend and told them the big news, her smile was immediately cut off. "Care to explain the meaning of your unsafe actions?!" The unpig did not seem as nice as before. They had an angry look on their face and crossed arms like her mother would have before sending her into her room for something wrong she did. "If I would get to you just a few seconds late-" they stopped and turned away so she could not see their expression, but the pause didn't last for too long, the unpig waved their arms and hands up in the air, "you could have gotten eaten by it!" Wilba looked down at her hooves, sadly. She did not understand what wrong she did, but she did not like when anyone would yell at her. She scratched her elbow which made her hiss in a little pain a bit. The unpig calmed down and walked over to her, gently taking her arm and checking her elbow. "It must have gotten injured when you fell down." The unpig took Wilba to the little camp they had close to the kingdom town to get a better look at it. Wilba sat on a piece of big log what was placed close to the campfire the unpig had, she never seen any campfire as that, there was still smoke coming out of it, which meant the unpig wasn't in the jungle for too long. Wilba let the unpig to clean her wound a bit with some sort of pink salve. "Here," they handed her a handful of cooked berries, Wilba accepted them and began to eat, "it should heal quickly, it was not anything serious". Wilba finished eating the berries and looked at her elbow, it did not heal though. "Hmm?" It was obvious the unpig did not expect this. "It should have healed itself by now, how is that possible? Pigs usually heal very fast." Then it hit Wilba. She brightly smiled and gasped. "T'S W'RKING! WILBA IS LIKETH THE UNPIG ANON!" The unpig looked at her confused. "Like the unpig?" They repeated after her, "What do you mean 'like the unpig'?" Wilba giggled a bit. "WILBA MADETH A DEALETH WITH NIGHT MISTRESS, THE MISTRESS GAVETH WILBA AN UNPIG SOUL!" The unpig stared at her still confused at first, until they realize what she just said and placed their hand on their forehead. "Did you...make a deal with the shadows?" Wilba happily nodded. The unpig sat on the log next to her, staring shocked into the campfire. "You...voluntarily exposed yourself into such a danger? Why?" They glanced at her once again. Without hesitating, Wilba confessed to the unpig. "BECAUSE WILBA WANTETH TO BEEST JUST LIKETH THEE! SHE WANTETH TO WEND ON ADVENTURES AND CATCH BUT A WINK OUTSIDE AND SQUARE AND, AND..."

That was when Warbucks realized why the young pig princess did it. She looked up to him. His look softened. The little gal reminded him of his nephew who would always jump at him whenever he would pay a visit to his brother. The lad would always jump around with a stick and act like he is an explorer as well, fighting with bandits or pirates, not caring that he would explain to him many times that that's not what he does. He couldn't send her back to the palace now. There were many dangers that could hurt her if she wasn't prepared and who else was to teach her how to protect herself then him? He was the only human around."Say gal, do you have a teacher?"

After the events, Warbucks took the young princess back to her home, with hand on her shoulder he confronted the Pig Queen herself. "Highness," he gave a little bow, Wilba nervously standing there, with no idea what the unpig had on mind. "It has come to my notice, that the princess lacks basic knowledge of the world around her." The Queen's look became more serious, as much as the unpig's expression was. "Continueth thy speaketh, unpig." The queen ordered and Warbucks nodded. "Where am I going with this is," He looked over at the princess who looked back at him, "I would like to become her new teacher, your highness." Wilba's face changed into flaming happiness, she looked at her mother full of hope. The queen thought about it, rubbing her chin. "We art in seak of new tech'r..." Wilba tried her best to stay calm, just a simple mistake could change her mother's mind immediately. Warbucks, on the other hand, was completely still, almost as if he already knew how to Queen will decide. Queen Malfalfa clapped her hooves, "T is hath decided, thee, unpig, shall taketh the princess und'r thy careth of being h'r teachest'r." Wilba couldn't help but smile from ear to ear, she was so happy. "But, the princess will pay a visit every first day of the new season." Warbucks nodded and gave another bow. "I will make sure the princess will, your highness." With these words, both the unpig and Wilba walked out of the Palace. As soon as they were out, Warbucks was surprised by a big hug that the pig princess gave him. "THANNK THEE!" Warbucks chuckled and ruffled her ginger hair. "What kind of teacher would I be if I wouldn't take you under my wings?" Wilba confuse let him go and examined him once again."THEE HAS'T NAY WINGS." Warbucks laught, "Of course not, that was just a metaphor"."METAPHHH'RE?" The unpig smiled, leading the youngling into the town.

"I see, there is a lot I will have to teach you, princess."