• Published 27th Mar 2013
  • 1,990 Views, 201 Comments

The Death of Daring Do: The Engine of Eternity - DuncanR



Rainbow Dash takes the real-life archeologist Derring-Do on an adventure to heal her broken wing and mend her bitter spirit... but a deadly, unbreakable curse of death pushes them both to the limit.

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Part 4: "I am forced to admit... this is somewhat exciting."

Six hours later, Derring-Do closed a thick book and set it on a stack with all the others. She scribbled a few notes onto a scroll that was already covered with script: mostly page-references and one-sentence reminders that were connected by a complex network of winding arrows. She frowned, and traced one of the arrows down through a hierarchy of mental notes... all of them leading to the crude drawing in the center of the page: a small, simple sketch of a triangular prism.

"Aduu..." she took a book from a nearby stack and flipped to one of several dozen bookmarks: she stared at the full-page illustration for several seconds, and scanned the densely-packed notes on the facing page. "It has to be Aduu. I'd bet my life on it. Rainbow Dash? Can you fetch the green and white binder from my saddlebag?"

She stroked the tip of her hoof down along the page.

"Dash? The binder."

She looked up from her book and only then noticed the loud, abrasive snoring that echoed throughout the room. Rainbow Dash was lying on the floor with her head on a stack of books, with a single droplet of drool sliding down her cheek.

Derring-Do stood up and walked quietly to her side. "Dash. I've got a hint as to the prism's most likely point of origin: I found tiny inscriptions along the prism's edges, and I think I recognize the language."

Dash yawned once, then went back to snoring.

"It's a root-dialect of Aduu, the language used by a race known as the Dzunturan."

Dash turned over on her side and pulled her wing over herself like a blanket. "Thazz... jez... great..."

Derring-Do walked to her saddlebags and took out a white binder with two green stripes. She held it open in front of Dash. "The Dzunturan were an ancient race of ponies that lived in a lost temple-city full of wondrous magical artifacts. The whole civilization was wiped off the face of the world by a terrible curse, and nopony knows it's location."

Dash opened one eye and peered at the book Derring-Do's was holding up: there was a full color, double-page illustration of an ancient city nestled in a jungle valley between two mountain ranges. The buildings in the city were all ziggurats and towers, and all were decorated with an elaborate system of fountains, canals and waterways.

"Whaa!" Dash's eyes shot open, and she flailed her legs and wings in a panic. "Temple city! Evil curse! I wasn't sleeping, I swear!"

Derring smirked at her. "Of course you weren't."

Dash grabbed the book and stared at the lush, colorful illustration. "No way... it's like something out of a storybook!"

"That's probably because it is just a story." Derring-Do closed the book and made her way back to the table. "The Dzunturan were discovered back when popular culture was starting to obsess over lost civilizations. We knew almost nothing about them for sure, and ponies started making up all sorts of outrageous legends."

"But some of it has to be real!" Rainbow Dash struggled to climb out of her nest of books and rushed to Derring's side. "I mean, why would they make up all those legends if there wasn't a tiny seed of truth to it?"

Derring shook her head. "It doesn't matter. There's absolutely no evidence to suggest they their island continent really vanished under the ocean, or that they were really visited by extraterrestrials, or that they were really as old as the dinosaurs."

"No evidence? At all? Not even a little?"

"None."

Dash slumped over the table with a sniffle, and her lower lip started quivering.

Derring turned her scroll of personal notes around and tapped the diagram of the prism. "...Until now."

Dash broke out in a grin, her eyes shining.

"The prism has writing along the very edges... it's practically microscopic, and it would have taken very advanced magic to create such an inscription."

"And if the writing is in their language...?"

Design frowned at her. "Then it's possible they created it. But it could also be nothing but a forgery, made long after the Dzunturans vanished."

"But there's still a chance it's real, right? Even just a little one?"

"A pretty good one, actually." Derring nudged her cap up and gave her a knowing smirk. "This could change everything we know about that period of history... and I know exactly how to discover the truth. Are you with me?"

"You better believe it!"

"Then you'd better pack your bags quick, Dash. We're going to the postal office!"

"Woo!!" Rainbow Dash leapt into the air and did a somersault. She suddenly froze in midair and gave her a quizzical look. "Wait... the post office?"



Derring-Do and Rainbow Dash waited in line at the Crystal Empire's postal delivery office. There were only two clerks behind the counter, and a long line of crystal ponies that wound back and forth between the red-felt ribbon dividers.

"The post office?" said Rainbow Dash. "Why are we here?"

"To send a package, of course." Derring-Do took a single step forward as the line slowly advanced. "I happen to know about the world's foremost expert on Dzunturan history... she's actually conducting an expedition right now. All I have to do is send her my notes and findings on the prism."

"You're just going to dump all this on someponyelse, and forget about it!?"

"She's been an expert on the topic for longer than I've worked at the university. And besides, it might be useful to her." Derring smiled back at her. "Don't worry. I'm sure she'll send us a letter in a month or two."

Rainbow Dash clenched her jaw and stared at her. Her left eyelid twitched.

Derring-Do fussed with the straps on her saddlebag for a moment. "Anyways, I want to thank you for everything you've done. It was kind of fun to have one last adventure."

Dash stamped her hoof. "This wasn't an adventure! This was riding on a train and reading books and waiting in line!"

Derring rolled her eyes. "If you don't like any of those things, you probably don't want to be an archeologist at all. I'm sorry it didn't live up to your childishly unreasonable expectations."

Derring looked towards the front of the line, patiently. Dash ground her teeth back and forth, her whole body trembling. She opened her mouth to shout something but managed to forcibly swallow her words at the last moment. She took a long, deep breath, and exhaled calmly.

"Soooo... Derring. Do you really think this expert will know what to do?"

"Yes, of course. Professor Walski has been studying this topic throughout her entire career."

"How much do you know about her?"

"Well, she's been an archeologist all her life... she's led quite a few expeditions, some of them in very hazardous locations. She's made quite a few discoveries for the university, as well. She's quite famous."

"Is she any good? As an archeologist, I mean?"

"I suppose she must be. She's rather famous, after all. And she gets the lion's share of the university's grant money."

Dash stepped up beside her. "But how well do you know her? Like, personally?"

Derring frowned. "I don't, really. She's just a co-worker. But I have read her books, and she is very well qualified."

Dash lifted one wing and gave Derring-Do a chummy hug. "You know, I bet if you—"

Derring pushed her back. "Don't touch me."

"Right. Sorry. You know, this could be a great opportunity to help your own career."

"What do you mean?"

"If you just send it through the mail, she won't care who it came from... but if you visit her in person, face to face, she'll remember you!"

"She's on an expedition in the middle of nowhere. Wherever it is, it's probably dangerous and most certainly far away."

"That'll just make it even more memorable!" Rainbow Dash held a hoof up to her own chest and spoke in a different voice. "Why, Derring-Do! You came all this way just to deliver an important clue that could help my expedition? Why, that's very impressive! I'll have to tell everyone I know about how serious you are about archeology and stuff, and maybe you'll get more grant money, and a bigger office with a soda machine and everything!"

Derring scowled at her. "That's a long way to travel, just to butter somepony up."

"Think of it as getting your money's worth," said Dash. "And besides: you promised I could watch some real archeology, and we still haven't visited a real-life excavation site! You can't just leave me hanging like this!"

Derring's scowl slowly shifted to a suspicious glance. "All right. We can go visit the expedition in person, and you'll get to see a real-life dig site... but on one condition."

"Anything! Just name it!"

"Hire me."

"...Wha?"

Derring-Do turned to give Dash her full and undivided attention. "If you really want this, you can hire me as a private contractor. I'll take care of transportation, provisions, navigation, and join you a professional consultant. But you'll have to pay for all expenses, as well as my wages—including overtime and hazard pay—in advance."

Dash tilted her head stroked her chin. "I do have a couple bits saved up... how much would it cost, do you think? Just a rough ballpark."

"For a short trip? About a hundred and fifty thousand bits."

Rainbow Dash gawked at her, slack-jawed.

"No refunds." Derring-Do turned to wait in line again. "Let me know if you change your mind."



Rainbow Dash streaked out of the postal office and sped over the streets of the city, leaving a colorful contrail in her wake. She tilted up over the rooftops, made a beeline for the massive central palace, and turned herself sideways to slip through one of the narrow, slit-shaped windows to the upper chambers. She came to a halt in the palace's private library and waved at the Prince.

"Hey, Gallium! Wassup?"

The Prince looked up from his writing desk and waved up at her. "Good evening, Dash! Any progress on the prism?"

"Big time! Derring found a wicked-cool clue, but we need to go somewhere far away to learn more." She glanced around the library. "I don't suppose you have a hundred and fifty thousand bits lying around?"

The Prince opened his coat, rummaged in an inside pocket, and held up a pair of bright-white ingots stamped with the seal of the Crystal Empire. "Take two hundred thousand. I like even numbers."

"Thanks!" Dash ducked down and snatched the bars. "When do we gotta pay you back?"

"Just keep it," he said. "Consider it my contribution to the arts and sciences. Just promise to tell me all about it when you get back."

"Thanks! You're a pal!" She spun in mid air and slipped out through the window.



Derring-Do took another small step forward as the line advanced. There were now only a few ponies waiting ahead of her. She opened her saddlebag and took out a manilla envelope, then looked up to check the prices on display for various postage stamps.

A gust of air buffeted her from behind and a set of hooves clicked on the tile floor behind her. She frowned and looked back over her shoulder: Rainbow Dash was standing behind her, grinning like an idiot with a pair of gleaming white bars clamped in her teeth. Her tail wagged back and forth briskly.

Derring-Do turned around and pointed at the bars. "Are those...?"

"Pfhure pfluhthunum!" Dash said, with a faint spray of spittle.

Derring unfurled her good wing and took the bars, gripping them between two of her primary feathers. "Pure platinum... where did you get these?"

"The Prince," said Dash. "He's made of money. And he was the one who asked us to investigate the prism, so it's only fair he should pay for it... right?"

Derring-Do stared at the bars. "I can't believe I didn't think of that," she whispered.

"Miss? Excuse me, miss?" The clerk at the counter waved at them. "Can I help you?"

Derring looked down at the manilla envelope, packed with all her notes and references.

The clerk cleared her throat. "Can I help you, miss?"


Two days later, Derring-Do marched down one of the many sturdy wooden piers that reached into Horseshoe bay: a vast body of water next to the port city of Baltimare. Rainbow Dash walked after her, turning in circles and gawking at the incredible variety of yachts and sailboats currently on display.

"We're taking a sailboat?" Rainbow Dash shouted over the noise of the waves. "How far away are we going, anyways?"

"It's a great deal of distance," Derring-Do said as she scanning the moored vessels, "but not a great deal of time. It'll be a six hour journey, one way. It's only the last half hour that could be hazardous."

"A real sailboat trip, to a real ancient ruin! I can't wait to get started!"

"I want you to keep one thing in mind, Miss Dash... you're here as a tourist and nothing more. I don't want you doing anything to damage the site or inconvenience the team. We're going to visit them, speak with the professor, and take a very brief tour of the grounds. And then we'll be on our way."

"Yeah yeah, sure sure."

Derring turned back and gave her a firm poke. "I'm serious, Dash. You can joke around with me now and then, but Professor Walski is a veteran of thirty years. If you get on her bad side for any reason at all, there's nothing I can do to protect you."

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath, then nodded once. "I promise. I'll do my very best."

"Thank you. I know you're excited, and that's all right. All I ask is that you not let it go to your head."

Derring continued down the pier and Rainbow Dash followed after her.

"So, are you excited about this? How long has it been since you've been on a dig site?"

"A few years," she said. She looked up at a triple masted schooner, and her voice trailed off. "You know, I can't even remember the last time I left Canterlot."

"Do you remember why you left? Was it an expedition, or a fancy dinner or something?"

"An expedition," she said. "I'm pretty sure it was my trip to the Angono Petroglyphs, in the Fillyppine Isles."

Dash tilted her head. "You're pretty sure?"

"I was only nineteen at the time. It would have been... seven years ago, I guess. Seven? Is that right? " She came to a halt and stared across the water, gazing at the distant shores across the bay. "I'm... twenty six?"

"That's not so old," said Dash. "I mean... it's not really old. I guess."

Derring stared down at the wooden pier under her hooves.

Dash coughed, politely, and looked around. "So. Where's our ride?"

"Right here." Derring tromped forward and stopped by a medium-sized tilt-rotor seaplane painted with bold, black and yellow stripes. "The Goldfinch is the best general-purpose two-seater courier on the market. It's got an extraordinarily light frame, but you wouldn't believe how stable it is. Perfect for stormy weather."

"A plane!?"

"Of course," Derring said with a smirk. "Professor Walski's expedition is deep in the Kathiawari mountain range. It's countless rows of very steep peaks, with plunging glacial valleys in between them. You don't expect me to sail up a glacier, do you? We're in a bit of a hurry, after all..."

A scruffy-looking stallion leaned out of the plane's window and waved at them. "Are either of you Daring Do, by any chance?"

"It's Derring-Do," she said, "with a hyphen. But yes. Did you get my requisition list sorted out?"

"Yes ma'am! Everything you asked for is stowed and ready for transport."

Dash looked up at the two giant propellers on each wing. "Does this thing even work?"

Derring nodded to the stallion. "Can you fire it up for just a moment?"

The stallion ducked back inside. The engine roared to life with the strength and volume of a lion, and the massive propellers spun up to a blur within seconds. A massive gust of salt-sprayed wind buffeted against them, and Rainbow Dash tumbled back along the pier with a surprised yelp. Derring merely leaned into the wind with a smile, scrunching her eyes tight. Her cap flew off her head and vanished somewhere behind her.

"Good enough for me."

Derring-Do walked up the gangplank and entered the plane's modest cargo hold, packed near to overflowing with provisions and equipment. She inspected each item carefully and by the time she was done Rainbow Dash had entered behind her. They met the stallion at the cramped living cabin just behind the cockpit. There were a pair of cots and a tiny kitchen table there, both of which folded up against the wall.

"Here's your charter registration," the stallion said as he set a thick envelope on the table, "and here's your insurance papers and passport. I also took the liberty of getting you a copy of the local air-traffic schedule for the next few days."

Derring-Do opened the envelope and took out a paper booklet. "Everything seems in order. Thank you for everything... especially on such short notice."

"Not a problem, ma'am. Just be sure to treat her well, and she'll bring you back in one piece. I guarantee."

Dash walked past them and peered at the cockpit. "Just look at all those buttons... hey, there's a second seat! Do you think the pilot might let me sit up front for awhile?"

"Well that's up to her," the stallion said as he walked towards the exit. "See you in a few weeks, ladies!"

"Hey, wait!" Dash ran after him and waved out the window. "When's the pilot gonna show up?"

The stallion waved at her, and continued on down the pier. Dash yelped as the engine roared and the propellers to her right whirled to life.

"What the heck's going on? Who's running this thing!?" she slammed the window shut and darted back to the cockpit, where Derring-Do was sitting in the pilot's seat and strapping her harness into place. "You're a pilot!?"

"Since I was six!" Derring shouted over the roar of the aircraft. She glanced back at her with a mischevious smirk. "It's been awhile, though... you might want to hang on to something!"

"You can fly!?" Rainbow Dash let out a joyful laugh. "You can fly! That's—whoooaaa!"

Derring pulled the throttle and the plane surged forward with alarming strength and speed. Rainbow Dash scrambled to hang on to the door frame, but ended up tumbling to the back of the vessel.

Derring took hold of the steering wheel and carefully pulled it close. Gravity pressed down against her as the nose tilted up, and her tummy filled up with butterflies... but despite the intense vertigo, she kept her eyes fixed on the horizon. The rolling ocean waves glittered below them, growing more and more distant with every passing second.

After a few minutes the plane's speed and altitude leveled out. Derring clicked the autopilot switch and leaned back in her seat with a sigh. Rainbow Dash finally staggered to the cockpit and leaned against the entryway. All our of her legs wobbled as the floor rocked and shook.

"Glad you could join me," Derring said. "You're not afraid of heights, are you?"

Dash reached under her wing and took out the cap Derring-Do had lost to the initial propeller test.

"Thanks, but this is an aircraft." Derring-Do reached into a nearby bin and took out a pith helmet, setting it on her head and knocking a hoof against it's top. "Better safe than sorry, right?"

Dash looked at the pith helmet for a moment. She then fixed Derring with a determined, scrutinizing look.

Derring-Do rolled her eyes. "I am forced to admit... that this is somewhat exciting."

Rainbow Dash pumped her hoof in the air and silently mouthed the word 'yes'.