Derring-Do and the Lost Kingdom

by Eh

Chapter Four

"Archaeology and grave robbery go hand in hand."
- Unknown

---

Location: Three Miles off the coast of Gallia, KGN Heavy Freighter Atlas
Time: 7:30 PM, March 7th

Derring sat down, resting her back against the cold railing of the freighter's deck. Penworthy, meanwhile was busy vomiting her meal over the side.

"You sure you're okay Penworthy?" Derring asked.

"I'm fine..." Penworthy managed to catch her breath, wiping her mouth, "It's just... you know how much I hate ships."

The trip to Gallia was relatively uneventful, save for Penworthy's seasickness. To their surprise, they were already registered members of G.A.R.D., likely Fancypants' doing. They received their identification and other papers, including name tags. To Derring's annoyance, they had misspelled her name to "Daring Do". Once at Gallia, they rested for a couple of hours at a Gryphonian colony, then boarded the Atlas at port. Only about two hours went by and already Penworthy's seasickness was taking its toll.

"Since we're here Penworthy, mind if I check the Journal?" Derring asked. Penworthy politely took Clover the Clever's journal out of her saddlebag and gave it to her quickly before vomiting over the side again.

"Carrots... I didn't even eat carrots..." Penworthy muttered. Derring shifted through the journal, noting that the pages were now filled to the brim with sticky notes containing translations of the text. Derring would have appreciated Penworthy just rewriting the entire journal, but Penworthy insisted on the sticky notes. Regardless of methods, Derring could, to some extent, read the journal. She quickly flipped to one page, the most relevant one considering their location. She read out Penworthy's translation:

The Sentinel is the great masterpiece guardian of Sentinel's Run, the entrance to Thule. His eye glows red like the sun on the horizon and his scales gleaming white in the water. From his face great beams of fire spark and his size makes any ships look like flies.

"You're reading aloud Derring." Penworthy said. Derring quickly looked up, Penworthy had managed to recover from her seasick condition, but was still swaying unstably and her cheeks were green with nausea.

"Of course. I appreciate you translating the Journal on such short notice."

"It was no trouble, I have more worries writing for pulp magazines than translations." Penworthy sat down next to Derring, quickly steadying herself by leaning against her, "Sometimes though, I just wish you'd get a calmer profession I can follow."

"Well Penworthy, it's better than painting the frost on the windows that's for sure." Derring leaned against Penworthy as well, forming a smile on her face, "We're really doing it though, Thule."

"Yep." Penworthy started smiling too, "Never really thought about Thule like you did Derring until now, no offense."

"None taken." Derring closed the journal and put it back in her saddlebag, "Oh yeah, Penworthy, I got something that might surprise you!"

"You know how much I don't like surprises." Penworthy looked over at Derring. Derring was quickly searching through her saddlebag, then she pulled out the last thing she thought she'd bring on this trip, "Is that...?"

"Yep." Her father's safari helmet. She quickly put it on her head. To her delight, it did not slide down her head, but fit perfectly on her. Penworthy took the time to examine Derring, her khaki dress shirt, the hat, everything.

"You look exactly like-!"

"Don't start." Derring deadpanned.

"Well besides that, you look just like your father." Derring nodded, emulating her father wasn't exactly her purpose. She brought the hat mostly because she wanted some part of her father to reach Thule, and what else than his beloved hat? "I'm sure wherever he is, he's proud of you Derring."

"Hope so." Derring adjusted the hat slightly, she had always wanted to wear the hat on one of her jobs, but it had been drilled into her head that "Daddy doesn't want me wearing his hat" so she never got around to it. She sighed, "Penworthy, I don't mean to offend, but why did you come with me?"

"Why not?" Penworthy answered.

"You already translated the Journal, there's not much left you can really do."

"I'm your friend Derring, friends stick with each other through thick and thin. Remember the Great Dragon Migration?" As if Derring could ever forget. The Migration was what really cemented the two's friendship, but that's a story for another time.

"Fair enough." Derring replied. There wasn't much point in trying to convince Penworthy otherwise.

"Attention: All hands report to the launch bay." The feminine voice over the PA system said.

"We should get going." Derring quickly stood up, Penworthy as well before taking a quick stumble.

***

"To whoever took the L from the motorpool sign..." There was the faintly audible sound of laughter on the other end of the PA system. Derring and Penworthy walked through the immense rows of carriages with no place to put a pony to drive it, the griffins called them "trucks". Despite their ubiquity in griffin lands, the idea of something driving itself under its own power was foreign to the two ponies. Over the sounds of horns and beeps, they could distinctly make out the sound of a conversation.

"...with ample time, I could modify the engine to give the sub a little more speed and what not." One voice said, masculine and rather high-pitched in tone.

"We don't have ample time Archimedes, we're launching the sub in little under a half hour, and you decide now is the time to modify it?" Another said, deeper and huskier than Archimedes'.

"The sub is my pride and joy, there's always time to-"

"No, we've already got it in the launch bay, we'll do fine with the default speed."

"Alright, fine, but you'll regret this Lieutenant Commander, I speak to these machines as a father does to children." The two ponies came up to the source of the conversation, a griffin quickly brushed past the two, leaving the other griffin behind. Derring and Penworthy assumed these two were the ones conversing. The griffin that remained behind they assumed wasn't Archimedes. He was facing away from the two, so Penworthy decided to get his attention.

"Excuse me, we were told to... report in?" Penworthy said. The griffin turned to the two of them, and they instantly recoiled in shock. The griffin's left part of his face was scarred horribly with minor scratches and immense cuts running along it, his left eye (which was probably absent) was covered by an eyepatch and his beak had a noticeable crack in it. Beyond the scars was blue facial markings (indicating tribal descent) and brown eyes.

"Well, that's the first time I've gotten that reaction." He bluntly stated.

"Sorry, it's just-" Derring attempted to apologize but decided to double back, "Uh... my name is Derring-Do... with a D-E-R-R-I-N-G."

"I see," The griffin offered his hand, "I'm Lieutenant Commander Sidonus Sharptail."

Derring took his hand and shook it. To her assumption, Sidonus was at least polite. Penworthy however:

"How'd you get those scars?"

"Ha. Funny story." Sidonus started. There was a pause, Derring and Penworthy waiting for him to actually tell the story.

"...Yeah?" Derring said.

"I said it was a funny story, not that I was gonna tell you it." Sidonus bluntly stated, "Do you two need something?"

"We were told to report to the launch bay." Derring stated.

"Yeah, I was about to head there myself, just follow me and-" Sidonus was suddenly interrupted by (in his opinion) the world's most annoying pony.

"Lieutenant Commander! The Great and Powerful Trixie has something to say to you!" The two suddenly noticed a truck being lowered behind Sidonus (who was now mentally bracing himself.) In the truck bed was a blue unicorn wearing a wizard hat with a matching cape. The truck hit the floor and Sidonus reluctantly moved to address her.

"What do you want now?" Sidonus said, Derring could easily make out the suppressed anger in his voice.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie would like to know why exactly you have filled her storage with completely unnecessary and unworthy items!" The Great and Powerful Trixie quickly started throwing out various ingredients, "Look, lettuce, carrots, eggs, all the most disgusting and horrid of foods!"

"We pay you to cook these things, not eat them." Sidonus quickly added, The Great and Powerful Trixie however was not listening, she pulled out a potato with her unicorn magic and floated it in front of Sidonus.

"Pray tell, what in Celestia's name is this?" Sidonus quickly grabbed the potato.

"THIS IS A POTATO!" Sidonus shook it in front of The Great and Powerful Trixie, who barely acknowledged it, "You boil it! Mash it! Stick it in a stew!"

"Stew? Pah!" The Great and Powerful Trixie said, "With my magic, you don't even need ingredients, let alone these 'potatoes'. The most lavish and delectable of foods is just waiting to be cast from my horn."

"Listen your most magnificentness, my patience with you runs only so thin." Sidonus pecked at the crack in his beak with his talon, "The only reason we actually have you as a cook is because the men would like something other than apples!"

"Well tell Braeburn to-" The Great and Powerful Trixie started to suggest something before being rudely cut off by Sidonus.

"Do not tell me what to do. Braeburn just cannot believe that there's food in this world other than apples."

"Well what can you expect from apple farmers?"

"The same thing I'd expect from you, actual food."

"Tch, The Great and Powerful Trixie simply needs the right amount of ingredients and time and then-" The klaxon blared, interrupting The Great and Powerful Trixie. Sidonus quickly shoved the potato into her hooves, knocking her back.

"Alright, pack it you dolt!" He turned to Derring and Penworthy, "Just follow me to the launch bay."

Sidonus quickly walked away from the truck, Derring and Penworthy following.

"Attention, all hands to the launch bay. Final loading in progress." The PA blared over the marching of minotaurs, griffins and unicorns. Along with trucks driving alongside them, them carrying packs and crates and even rifles, it was easy to assume they were just about to invade a country. Everyone stopped, much to Derring and Penworthy's surprise.

"Why are we stopped?" Penworthy asked. Suddenly, the floor started descending, "This ship has an elevator? How big is this ship!?"

The floor of the elevator descended into darkness, with brief spasms of light through the steel girders. Then through the holes of the girders, it became clear where the elevator was going.

"Is that...?" Derring started. The girders opened way for the sight of immense Nautilus-Class Submersible sitting in a large rectangular pool of water before them. Large ramps on the side were giving way for trucks and troops to be loaded on board. The elevator stopped at the bottom, however the two ponies simply stood there.

"It's a lot bigger in person." Penworthy croaked. Sidonus stepped in front of them.

"The Pytheas. It's been specially modified by Archimedes himself, now I've got something to do, I'll try to be optomistic that you two can at least find your way on board." With that, Sidonus extended his wings, took to the air and quickly headed out of their view.

"Well he seemed nice Derring." Penworthy said. Derring was about to retort with something clever when something hit her on the rump. Derring turned around angrily to face whoever just careless hit her.

"Ah! Hey watch where you're-" She stopped immediately when she noticed that the thing that hit her was a dolly with crates filled with explosives and that its driver was a giant panda giving her the deadliest glare she had ever seen. That, and she was also holding up a sizable line of trucks. Derring smiled nervously, quickly taking to the air and getting of his way, Penworthy stepped to the side doing the same, "Aha... go right ahead."

The panda noticeably rolled his eyes, moving his dolly of explosives through. Penworthy however, noticed that he had dropped something and quickly telekinetically picked it up.

"Wait! You dropped your..." When she picked it up, she immediately realized what it was, "...dynamite."

The panda stepped back and quickly took his stick of dynamite into his paw.

"So... what else you got in there?" Penworthy asked. The panda looked at his dolly with a rather flat look.

"Well, it is things a demolitions expert uses." The panda spoke with a clear pandarin accent. He wore a simple red vest and his round cheeky face bore circular rimmed glasses, "Nitroglycerin, trinitrotoluene, blackpowder, sulfur, wires, wicks, glue, notepads. That is about it."

"Oh I see." Penworthy chuckled, "So what's your name?"

"Mu." Mu put the stick of dynamite back into the top open case and then walked off.

"Must you try and make friends with everyone?" Derring asked.

"Oh it never hurts to be friendly, besides I've never seen a panda before! He's huge!" Penworthy reared up on her hind legs to prove her point. Derring simply smirked.

"Derring! Penworthy!" A familiar voice called out to them, they turned to the source. Fancypants. They quickly galloped over to him.

"Fancypants!" They both shouted. Fancypants had replaced his usual suit with an overcoat and a sailor's cap. His signature monocle however remained where it was. With Fancypants was a large set griffin, the same one from the photo Derring saw quite a while ago.

"Derring, Penworthy, I'd like you two to meet Captain Lysander Cloudbreaker," The griffin's face bore as much as a smile as it could. It was clean white unlike Sidonus' scarred tribal face paint, "He was the leader of the expedition that brought the journal back."

"You must be Derring-Do." Lysander said, his voice was just as rough as Sidonus', "'Tis a Pleasure to meet the daughter of ol' Will."

"The pleasure is all mine Captain." Derring said, "I mean, you helped find the journal!"

"Oh, that dusty thing," Lysander nodded, "Well, if I must admit it wasn't as exciting as the war but I go where I'm needed."

Derring frowned, but was immediately nudged by Fancypants.

"Impressive isn't it?" Fancypants said.

"Indeed!" Penworthy perked up, "When you settle a bet, you settle a bet!"

"You cannot put a price on the pursuit of knowledge my dear Penworthy." Fancypants. Penworthy giggled at the prospect of being called "dear" by Fancypants of all people.

"Well believe me, this will be small change compared to the value of what we're going to find." Derring said, her excitement coming back to her quickly.

"Yep, this should be enrichin' for all of us." Lysander added.

"Attention: Launch will commence in fifteen minutes." The PA sounded. Lysander gave a lazy salute to Fancypants.

"Fancypants." He said before walking up the ramp inside the ramp, "Derring, Penworthy, it's time."

Derring and Penworthy quickly trotted after Lysander, they turned their heads to Fancypants and gave a wave of the hoof to him.

"Bye Fancypants!" They shouted over the closing of the doors.

"Make us proud girls!" Fancypants shouted back.

***

The bridge was a multi-decked observatory, filled to the brim with all kinds of electronics, mechanics, and equipment that Derring and Penworthy couldn't understand. All crewed by all manners of unicorns, minotaurs and griffins. Lysander and Sidonus stood on the center platform, shouting orders.

"Rig ship for dive!" Lysander commanded, which was met with "aye aye!" from several crewmembers. Derring and Penworthy quickly took the time to run up to the window, "Lieutenant Commander, take her down."

"Horner! Submerge ship to depth 1-5-0-3." Sidonus shouted.

"Make depth 1-5-0-3!" A minotaur shouted, presumably Horner. He cranked a valve above, then pulled a lever, "Dive, dive! Five degrees down level!"

"Roger! Five degrees down level!" A crewmember shouted. The ship suddenly shook. Derring and Penworthy could feel the ship splashing about in the water, then slowly sink into the water.

"Theshipissupposedtosinktheshipissupposedtosink..." Penworthy quickly muttered to herself while nervously kicking at the floor. Derring reared up and pressed her hooves against the glass, she could definitely see Fancypants waving at her, a genuine smile on his face. She gave a full grin back.

"We're doing it Penny! We're really doing it!" Derring shouted. The water flowed over the glass, and by then the ship was fully underwater. The ship descended into the deep ocean slowly and steadily. Derring leaned forward, nearly pressing her face into the glass, the sheer blue immensity of it being taken in. Penworthy trotted up next to Derring, her jaw dropping at the sight of it all. The sub continued descending even further, the rays of light from the surface becoming dimmer and dimmer, until the only points of light in the ocean were the Submarine's.

Comments

[Thespurgin]

So lysander the traitorous griffin... Mu the demolitionist... bet the diamond dog is Mole... where'd Fleur go?
...
oh wait having her go would be a killer to fancy pants in the end... unless the plot varied.

I call for a fanmovie!