Daring Do Adventures: Daring Do And The Raiders Of Atlantis

by XombieSlayr

Chapter 18: "The Temple Of Oceana."

Chapter 18: "The Temple Of Oceana."

As the submarine burst up through the water, it quickly fell down and rested on the calm waves. Daring opened the hatch while everyone else struggled to get up on their feet (Herpy especially, who was clutching the railing inside so hard, he found was unable to let go, and Atlas and Swift had to work to yank him from it). She looked around in total amazement at the gorgeous scene that presented itself to her. "Whoa...."

The Temple Of Oceana

She stood agape, as they now found themselves in a magnificent cave temple, that seemed to be carved completely from the purest sea stone and marble. Huge pillars towered above them from the sides, blending in perfectly with the masonry of the temple itself. The sub rested calmly on a pool that sat in the middle of the marble floor of the temple, and the centerpiece of it all, was the colossal statue of a mysterious but breathtakingly beautiful pony with a flowing mane, a unicorns horn and carried a massive orange orb in each of her....fins?

"Fins?" Daring thought. She went to get a closer look, and now saw that the statue had no hooves, but fins, along with other marine features, that made Daring think she was some kind of...Seapony.

As Daring examined the strange runes etched into the bottom of the statue, she heard her friends all audibly gasp in wonder as they looked around the splendor of the temple.

"Wow!" exclaimed Swift Wing.

"Unbelievable..." whispered Herpy.

"Breathtaking." said Atlas, nearly on the verge of fainting again.

"And soon....it'll be my statue up there." A voice said behind them.

They all turned around to see Moonbeam standing at the side of the pool as a large group of henchponies disembarked from their submersibles and gathered around you from all corners of the temple, their horns glowing menacingly as Moonbeam smugly trotted up to Daring. "Daring? What a surprise to run into you here!" she exclaimed with biting sarcasm.

Daring glared at her menacingly. "What do you want, Moonbeam?"

"Ohoho...you know exactly what I want."

"Yeah. I do. And you're not getting it."

"Always have to do things the hard way don't we, Daring?" Moonbeam mocked, as her horn crackled with dark energy.

Daring only smiled. "It's more fun that way."

Moonbeam's horn sparked as she let out a sigh. "Listen, Daring. I grow tired of all this. I'm done chasing after you, and I'm done with you being a thorn in my side! What say you help me obtain The Black Magic Of Atlantis, and I'll....spare you're friends."

She suddenly raised a hoof, and like a flash, Henchponies swarmed Herpy, Swift Wing and Atlas, picking them up off the ground, and trapping the struggling ponies in their arms. As Daring moved to save them, she was stopped when Moonbeam brought her horn dangerously close to Daring's face. It sparked and glowed with black energy.

Moonbeam smiled wickedly. "Get me into Atlantis....and I'll give you your friends back. Refuse, and well....I don't think I need to tell you what happens if you did that." she chuckled.

Daring glared at Moonbeam, but looked back at her struggling friends with sad eyes. Taking a deep breath, she saw she had no choice. "Fine." She said begrudgingly. "But when this is over-"She then got very close to Moonbeam's face, and gave her such a look of loathing that Moonbeam actually backed off a bit. "I'm breaking that horn off your pretty little head and shoving it, right up your-!

Daring was interrupted by Moonbeam shushing her as she put a hoof to her mouth. "Less talking, more gate opening."

Daring smacked Moonbeam's hoof away and went to the statue of the large Seapony and tried to decipher the runes, once more. Reading through what she could, she saw images telling a story, a story of a great and powerful civilization, their queen that protected and watched over them and a magical pearl. But, as Daring read more, she saw images of some kind of horrible catastrophe, that doomed this civilization, and an evil unlike any other, living deep within its ruins, while the queen and her subjects fled into the oceans, and...Daring stopped as she saw an image of the sun and moon, light shining down from the heavens onto what resembled the statue she now stood before. A clever smile spread across Daring's face.

Moonbeam raised an eyebrow. "What are you smiling about?" she asked suspiciously.

Daring didn't answer but instead unfurled her wings and flew up to the ceiling of the temple, where two skylights were seen at opposite sides. Going up to one, Daring saw a circular shaped slot etched into the strange crystal glass. she took out the sun stone, and placed it into the slot, it flashed and glowed brightly as it fit into place with a click.

She then flew over and did the same with the other one, the same thing happening as two beams of light; one gold and one blue, shot down from the stones, into the orbs that the statue held aloft.

A great rumbling was heard as the temple walls shook. Great ancient machinery was heard springing to life in the walls, as an electronic hum reverberated throughout the temple. Looking back, as she landed back on the ground, Daring saw the eyes on the statue flash and glow bright blue, before the floor of the temple suddenly parted.

"What the?" Moonbeam glared at Daring. "What did you do!?" she demanded. Hench ponies fled to the walls, letting go of Daring's friends in the process. Everyone was afraid to move as the temple shifted and moved around.

The water in the pool emptied as the submarine now rested on a stone floor. The floor slid into the walls, revealing a set of ancient stairs that descended further into the temple. Moonbeam looked down over the stairs, and smiled. "At last..." she whispered.

She looked up at the light from the sky, happiness in her eyes. "After all this....it'll finally be mine." she said to herself. "The Black Magic Of-HRRK!"

As she was about to finish her sentence, Daring lunged forward and connected a hard punch to Moonbeam's jaw, sending her to the floor. She laid there in a daze for a brief moment, while Daring cupped her hooves around her mouth. "GUYS, MOVE YOUR FLANKS!" She yelled to her friends, as she dove down to the stairs.

Herpy, Atlas and Swift Wing wasted no time in heeding Daring's call, and charged down the steps, following Daring down a long corridor.

They ran as fast as they could, but as they approached the end of the corridor they all stopped dead in their tracks. A large orange energy field shimmered and shifted in front of them. Behind it they saw the entrance to some sort of library, but it was unclear exactly what it was as the strange force field shimmered like water.

No, wait. As Daring looked closer, she saw that there was water, behind the force field. In fact everything on the other side of it, was completely submerged, like it existed underwater. (Which made perfect sense given where they were)

Atlas looked at the shimmering orange energy in wonder. "Amazing. It looks like behind this is some sort of...underwater library!"

Daring scratched her head. "So....Atlantis is a library?"

"Of course not, but it may have something to do with it. Perhaps they're connected somehow...."

Swift Wing put a hoof to her chin as she looked up at it, then to her friends. "So...should we go through it?"

Before anypony could answer, an enraged scream was heard behind them. "DARING DO!!"

As everyone looked back, Moonbeam stood at the base of the stairs, Massive black bolts of black energy crackled and arched around her as her eyes and horn glowed blood red. Her face contorted in blind rage, her mane flaring up wildly, as the ground beneath her split apart and she launched a massive bolt of crackling red energy that shredded the floor apart as it sailed down the corridor towards Daring and her friends.

"Yep! We go through it!" Daring exclaimed as she roughly pushed all of them through the orange force field and into the library, her going in with them.

Mysterious Underwater Library

As soon as she had gone through the force field, Daring was overwhelmed by the sudden rush of water all around her as she took in a mouthful of seawater. She held her breath as she turned to see a massive stone door come down and seal the way they had just come in. The entire room shook with the force of the blast of Moonbeam's spell hitting the door. And yet the door didn't budge an inch.

"Whoa. Sturdy." Daring thought as she looked around. Herpy and Atlas swam around in bewilderment, while Swift Wing, tried to find some way out of the room. And she was right. They couldn't hold their breath forever! They had to get out of here!

As Daring's lungs began to burn for oxygen, a strange blue light suddenly shot up from the ground beneath her, and an air bubble appeared on her head. Daring took in a great breath as she coughed and sputtered for a minute.

She looked to see that the same thing had happened to everyone else, and they now all had strange air bubbles over their heads like helmets.

"Everyone alright?" Swift Wing called out.

"Yeah. I'm good." Daring confirmed.

"Yes, I'm fine." Atlas said, sounding immensely relieved.

When Herpy didn't respond, Daring instinctively looked around for him. "Herpy?" She saw him over in the far corner of the massive library.

"Just...just look at this place!" he exclaimed like a foal in a candy store.

Finally taking a look around, Daring was amazed at the splendor of this place. The library was as big as a city, with shelves towering like skyscrapers at all spots around the room. The entire place was lit up brightly by strange glowing orbs that hung from the ceiling, each one as big as twenty houses.

The gleaming marble floor sparkled even underwater, and gold outlined the many tables and ornate chairs that dotted the place. A magnificent domed roof, painted in breathtaking murals adorned the whole ceiling. And finally at the far end of the room, was a gigantic gleaming golden gate, that stretched all the way to the ceiling. Ornate designs and symbols were carved into its surface, along with images of Seaponies and tall spires.

Daring smiled cheerfully, as her excitement reached it's limit. "Over here guys! This is it!" she exclaimed.

They all swam to the gate, and looked up at it in awe. Atlas was nearly in tears. "Behind this gate....is Atlantis....I...I" she fell silent as tears ran down her face. She reached out with her hoof to touch the gate. To feel her dream about to be realized.

When Daring saw a flash from above them. Her instincts going off like lighting, Daring grabbed Atlas and pulled her back from the door, just as the end of the huge golden trident impacted into the floor, shattering that area of the floor apart into a thousand marble pieces, spraying broken marble everywhere, and rippling a massive wave through the water.

As everyone reeled back in terror. Daring got a look at the large female Seapony wielding the trident. She was dark blue and massive, standing even taller then Celestia did, and her beautiful golden eyes were flaring with anger. She glared over at Daring and her friends.

Daring smiled nervously. "Um....Hi?" she said as she waved a hoof weakly.

The Seapony's angry shout and charging at them with her trident was apparently her response to Daring's greeting.