Chapter 2: "Iceland Cometh."
Professor Atlas's room was stuffy and very hot. Mostly because her room, was actually just the maintenance closet where they had the furnace. Daring was comfortably back in her green adventurer's shirt and pith helmet as she sat on an all too tiny fold out chair, talking to Atlas, who's seat was tucked in the corner across from her.
"So, its true then? You and my dad really were looking for Atlantis?" Daring asked her.
Atlas smiled as she adjusted her glasses. "Yes, it's true. Daren and I knew each other from our younger days. He was always so smart, so confident. He knew exactly what to say to ponies to get them to really listen."
She looked down at her feet. "Meanwhile, I well...not so much."
"I always admired your father. Even back then, I wanted nothing more than to work with him on one of his adventures. When he came and asked me to help him find Atlantis, it was the happiest I'd been in a long time."
She paused for a moment, before continuing. "This wasn't the first time I'd been laughed at on a stage, or accused of being a hack or a phony. I mean who wouldn't make fun of a professor who spent her whole career chasing after a myth? A Legend?"
"But..Daren, your dad. He took every word I said seriously. He not only believed me, but he wanted my help to find Atlantis! My help!"
Daring smiled. "What did you guys find? Surely you found some evidence or a lead to finding it."
She thought for a moment. "Well, we didn't find Atlantis, obviously. But Daren did have something on Plato's Lost dialogue!"
She got up from her chair and went over to a filing cabinet. Leafing through it, she came across a large photograph. She trotted over and showed it to Daring.
Daring gasped. "I-Is that?"
Atlas chuckled. "That's us."
The photograph showed Professor Atlas in a fluffy parka standing in the snow, amongst an frozen backdrop, beside a tall blue earth pony in a parka and googles, and at the end of them, smiling with a hoof on the blue pony's shoulder, was Daring's father. A rugged and burly looking bronze Pegasus, with a combed grey and black mane, steely eyes and a thick stubble. He wore a white adventurer's shirt under his thick brown leather jacket, and had a worn looking brown fedora tucked under his wing. A cutie mark of a golden idol adorned his flank as he stood in the snow smiling confidently.
Daring felt a a twinge in her chest as she looked at it. She hadn't seen her father's face since she was a filly. Seeing him now, after so many years, even as a photograph, stirred up her emotions.
Atlas looked at the picture with her and smiled. "That pony in the middle of us, his name is Dr. Quill-Pen. He was the one your father had tasked with finding Plato's Lost Dialogue. He went out to Iceland in search of it, but he never got back to us. A week after, was when your dad went missing."
Atlas removed her glasses and brushed back a lose lock of her mane, only for it to fall back in its place.
"I didn't hear from any of them for months." She said sadly.
Then she looked up at Daring with a smile.
"But Atlantis was something more to both of us. So I never gave up. I kept doing research on Atlantis, traveling all over the world,going on week long treks with ponies who couldn't even understand what I was saying, all so I could at least tell Daren, if I ever saw him again, that I hadn't given up."
Daring smiled at Professor Atlas who returned the gesture. She kept looking down at the picture.
"What was he like?" She asked Atlas suddenly.
Atlas seemed to lose herself in thought as she answered.
"He was brave, confident, a scholar, adventurous and a master treasure hunter."
She looked warmly at Daring. "There isn't a doubt in my mind that if anyone could ever find Atlantis, it was your father."
Daring stood up. "Then lets go!"
"Pardon?"
"Lets go to Iceland, Find this Dr. Quill-Pen, and find Atlantis!"
"What??"
"What do you mean, What?"
"I-I can't do anything like that!"
"Sure you can! You went with dad, didn't you?"
"B-But I have a job! I'm a professor of archaeology, not an adventurer!"
Daring smiled at that. "Well, I'm both of those things, and if I can go, you can too!"
"For the last time, I'm not going to Iceland!"
Daring looked at her "Why not? This is your dream isn't it? To find Atlantis!"
"I'm a teacher, not a treasure hunter! I've only ever studied Atlantis. I could never actually go looking for it!"
"Yes you can! You helped my dad on his expedition, he wrote about it in his journal!" Daring exclaimed.
"I'm sorry, but...wait. How did you know what he wrote in his journal?" Professor Atlas suddenly asked, wide eyed.
Daring smiled as she pulled out her father's journal, and handed it to Atlas.
"I-I...This is-
"Yep."
"Where-
"Kamara Mista."
"KAMARA MISTA!?"
Atlas's hooves were shaking and she now seemed so anxious she reminded Daring of Herpy back at the university.
Her glasses tilted down to her muzzle as she looked at the worn leather journal like it was going to explode.
"You mean, he found....and you-
"Yeah. I sort of saved all of Equestria from being enslaved and stuff." Daring said casually.
Atlas seemed to slide back into her chair as she looked up at the ceiling with wide eyes.
"Dear Celestia." She sighed.
Daring gave her a moment for it all to sink in, before she asked "So...can we go to Iceland now?"
Professor Atlas didn't answer as she took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes, a million thoughts flooding her mind at once.
"Professor Atlas?..."
"I-I, I'm just a teacher, Daring."
"So? I'm a teacher too!"
"But, I'm not like you and Daren. I'm...a loser."
Daring looked shocked. "What!? You are not a loser, professor! Your so smart! All the stuff you know about Atlantis-
"It doesn't matter! I'm a laughing stock! No pony has ever given me the time of day for anything I've presented! Atlantis? It's a fairy Tale, Daring! A myth, it's not real!"
Tears welled up in the mare's eyes as Daring looked at her straight on.
"You don't believe that. I know you don't.
Atlas wiped away her tears as she looked down at the ground. "It doesn't matter what I believe. They all think its just a fairy tale."
Daring got up out of her seat, trotted over and narrowed her eyes as she looked at Atlas.
"Then, prove them wrong." She said seriously.
Atlas looked up at Daring's confident face.
Daring smiled at her. "You know its out there, professor! I can see it in your eyes. So lets go find it!"
"I'm not like Daren-
"This isn't about my father!"
Atlas looked at Daring with surprise.
"You deserve to find Atlantis, with everything you've gone through! It's more than just a treasure hunt. It's you're destiny!"
Atlas's eyes welled up as she looked at Daring, awestruck.
"You're the one, Atlantis has been waiting for! Not me, not my father, or any pony else. It's you!"
Professor Atlas was actually crying now.
Tears rolled down her face as she asked "You really think so?"
Daring smiled broadly at her. "It's time to stop studying, professor. Lets go find the real thing." She said softly.
Professor Atlas stopped crying as she removed her glasses and wiped away her tears.
When she put them back on, she sniffled as she smiled brightly at Daring.
"Your right!"
She stood up from her chair. "I'm done being the scientific world's punching bag! Let's do it!"
"Let's find Atlantis!" She exclaimed.
Daring stood up from her chair and smiled confidently. "Yeah! That's the spirit!"
Daring put a hoof on the door out to the hallway, and turned to Atlas.
"I'm heading back to the university to get ready. You get your stuff together, then meet me at my office, tomorrow morning. I'll have us a way to Iceland by then."
Atlas looked surprised. "You have a plane?"
Daring walked out the door, looking back from the hallway. "Well, no."
"But I have a friend who does." she said with a sly smile.