The Quest for Atlantis written by Tabby

Thanks to Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis from LucasArts for the inspiration of this story.

Tabby merrily skipped down the path leading to Clever Clover's house. She had walked over to Friendship Gardens from Dream Valley that afternoon. She and Clever Clover were going on an adventure.

Trotting up to Clever Clover's front door, she knocked on it loudly. The door opened soon afterwards.

"Hi, Tabby," Clever Clover greeted her. He was decked out in his archeology gear-- his battered fedora hat on his head and a whip in his front right hoof.

"You're not going dressed up like that, are you?" Tabby wrinkled her nose.

"It's what I always wear when I do archaeology work," Clever Clover defended himself.

"You need a whip for digging around in the ground?... well, at least you remembered we were going off to find Atlantis today."

Clever Clover looked around uneasily. "Um... I've come across a slight problem with that."

Tabby sighed. "Cleve Clove! What kind of a problem?"

"I... uh... well... I can't find the disks."

"You lost the disks!" Tabby exclaimed. Recently, Clever Clover, along with Tabby and Sugarberry, had cleaned out his house. Among the ancient artifacts they had found while cleaning was Plato's Lost Dialogue and three stone disks which they believed to be the key to Atlantis. "What in the world did you do with them?"

"Well... I think... they were stolen."

"Stolen!" Tabby's eyes opened wide. "We told you that you outta lock your house up!"

"See, I never got around to finding the house key," Clever Clover explained.

"So do you know who stole them?" Tabby questioned.

"Maybe... just yesterday when I came home I noticed a mysterious human figure sneaking into the forest behind my house."

"Weren't you even suspicious at that point?" Tabby was nearly screeching.

"No, not really. But I checked through everything in the house and then I realized that the stone disks were gone."

"What about Plato's Lost Dialogue? Is that still here?"

Clever Clover scratched his head. "It might be. I'll have to look."

"Well, come on! Let's go see now!" Tabby exclaimed.

Clever Clover led the way into one of the back rooms, and stooped down to look in a crate where several ancient artifacts were stored. Meanwhile, Tabby idly rummaged through another box in the room.

Clever Clover stood up and shook his head. "They took off with the translated copy Windwhistler figured out for us, but left the Greek original. That one won't get us anywhere."

Tabby listened and nodded her head, but her mind was on something else. She picked up an object from the box she was looking through-- it was an ancient-looking necklace; the medallion was of a strange face with fins on the side. "Hey, Cleve Clove. Can I have this?"

Clever Clover looked at it. "Sure, I guess, if you want. Just be careful with it."

Tabby strung the necklace around her neck and smiled smugly. This was strange behavior for Tabby, as she usually detested jewelry of all kinds.

"Well, now we're without the key and the Dialogue," Clever Clover said.

"I guess we'd better find them then," Tabby suggested. "We're not getting to Atlantis unless we do."

"Let's go looking around in the forest out back. That is where I saw the robber go; maybe he dropped something that would identify him," Clever Clover said, heading out the back door. Tabby followed behind.

"Now, look carefully," Clever Clover instructed Tabby once they were out in the forest.

"Yeah, yeah," Tabby said under her breath. However, she obeyed the orders she was given and walked around, looking closely at the forest floor.

"I think I found something!" she called out a little while later. "Look at this!" She waved a piece of paper in the air.

Clever Clover trotted over and took the paper from Tabby. "It's a receipt from a hotel. There's the hotel's address on here, and a person's name is written on it."

"Great!" Tabby exclaimed. "We can track him down."

"It's over beyond the rainbow," Clever Clover said thoughtfully. "It says it's in a city in Illionois."

"Well, what are we waiting for!" Tabby said. "Let's get going!"

* * *

Tabby and Clever Clover got over the rainbow all right, and Tabby winked them right to the city they needed. It was a city called Chicago in the state of Illinois in the United States.

"So, here we are in Chicago," Clever Clover commented.

"This world really doesn't feel any different than Ponyland," Tabby said.

Clever Clover studied the paper they had found. "Let's go find this hotel."

Tabby shrugged. "You can find it; I can't figure out anything from the address."

Clever Clover started walking and mumbling to himself. Tabby obediently trotted behind. "Getting anywhere?" she questioned.

"Yes, I think we're almost there," Clever Clover said. "We're on the right street."

Tabby sighed impatiently, and then realized something. "Don't you think two brightly-colored ponies walking around a human-occupied city is going to attract some attention?"

Clever Clover suddenly stopped. "You know, that's true."

"This could cause serious problems," Tabby commented. "We'll never be able to get into the hotel without someone noticing us." She stopped and ducked into a nearby alley, and Clever Clover followed.

Clever Clover sighed. "We'd better stop and rethink this."

"It's amazing no one's noticed us already!" Tabby hissed.

"We were lucky, then," Clever Clover said.

Tabby's face suddenly brightened. "Hey! I have my magical power!"

Clever Clover thought. "What is your power, again?"

"I can change into any living thing I want to," Tabby said promptly. "And I think that even includes changing into humans."

"All right!" Clever Clover exclaimed. "Can you change anyone besides yourself?"

"Hmm," Tabby thought. "I've never tried before. I might be able to."

"Try it!" Clever Clover urged. "Especially before anyone comes by and notices us!"

Tabby concentrated hard on her magical ability. Amazingly, she was able to turn both Clever Clover and herself into humans, and clothes were even included in the package.

"It's weird being a human," Tabby said, shaking her head. "Having to walk on just two legs!"

"Yeah," Clever Clover agreed.

"Anyway, onto the hotel," Tabby prompted.

When the two humans walked into the hotel, no one noticed anything out of the ordinary. Tabby boldly strode up to the front counter. "I'd like to know which room this guy is staying in," she said to the receptionist and showed her the receipt.

The receptionist typed something in on her computer. "Okay, he's staying in room number two-thirteen," she said, looking at Tabby. "You can go right up."

"Thanks," Tabby said; and then she and Clever Clover headed up the stairs.

* * *

"Here we are at room two-thirteen," Clever Clover said as the two (still in human form) stared at the door.

"Yep," Tabby agreed. "What do we do now?"

"That's right; we really didn't come up with a plan," Clever Clover realized.

"I say we wait until he leaves his room sometime, then break the door down and get our things back," Tabby suggested.

"I guess that's our only option," Clever Clover said. "It's still fairly early in the evening; maybe he'll still go somewhere tonight.

"He might even be gone at this very minute," Tabby pointed out.

"True. Let's knock on the door and find out," Clever Clover said. He started to knock on the door, and Tabby ducked down behind a large potted plant in the hallway.

Tabby watched as Clever Clover knocked. The doorknob started to turn, and a man opened the door. "What do you want?" he asked Clever Clover impatiently.

Clever Clover was struck with a sudden inspiration. "The receptionist sent me up; she wants to see you down there on something to do with your payment," he told the man.

"I guess I'll have to go see what it's about," the man said, annoyed. He brushed past Clever Clover and started down the stairs, without even bothering to close his own door.

"Yes!" Tabby stood up from her hiding place and thrust one arm up into the air. "Couldn't have worked out better!"

"Now, we've got to work fast," Clever Clover said seriously. "You just stay out here; and if he comes back up before I'm done, try to distract him."

"Like that's going to be easy," Tabby grumbled, but stood outside the door while Clever Clover went in the room to look around.

A few minutes passed. "Haven't you found the stuff yet?" she asked impatiently. "We're running out of time."

"I haven't found them yet," Clever Clover said from inside the room. "But I'm sure we have the right guy. He's got a ton of books on Atlantis and whales and stuff like that."

"Just keep looking!" Tabby hissed. "We're not letting him get away with our stuff!"

"I think they might be in this suitcase... it feels awfully heavy..." Clever Clover said, struggling to open the lock on it.

At that moment, Tabby heard footsteps coming up the stairs-- the guy was coming back! Quickly, she started down the stairs and tried to block his way up. She desperately attempted to come up with a conversation topic.

"Uh-- er-- say, aren't you Megan's father!" Tabby exclaimed brightly to the man.

He looked at her strangely. "I think you've got the wrong person."

"No, I'm sure you're her father! You must be on a business trip, huh?" Tabby persisted.

"Just get out of my way," the man snarled.

"What work are you doing these days? Megan has told me so much about you!" Tabby went on.

"Look, would you leave me alone!" the man exclaimed. "I've got work to do!"

"Just tell Megan ‘Hi' for me, would you?" Tabby said in desperation.

"I don't even know who Megan is!" the man nearly shouted.

"Oh... but... maybe you aren't the right person, after all!" Tabby said. "Oh, I am so sorry. I was just so sure--"

The man shoved Tabby out of the way and continued up the stairs. "Just forget about it!"

"Oh, Cleve Clove!" Tabby whispered. "You'd better be done in there, ‘cause--"

At the very moment the man reached the top of the stairs, Tabby saw Clever Clover sneak back out of the room. Yes! Tabby thought to herself.

Clever Clover ducked down behind the same plant Tabby had hid behind. The man stomped into his room and slammed the door shut. Clever Clover came dashing down the stairs. "Run for it!"

Tabby nodded her head in agreement and ran as fast as she could down the stairs and out the hotel doors. She was not far behind Clever Clover.

"So you got everything back?" Tabby questioned him once they were safely outside.

"Yes, all three disks and the Lost Dialogue," Clever Clover said. "Plus something extra, some sort of a diary or something. I thought I'd take it so we could find out what this guy wants."

"Good!" Tabby exclaimed. "Now we're gonna have to go see those Sea Ponies if we want to get any further."

"Right," Clever Clover confirmed. "Change us back to ponies; then wink us to a place on the ocean shore."

"Do Sea Ponies operate over the rainbow?" Tabby wondered as she changed them back to ponies.

"They'd better," Clever Clover said.

Tabby shrugged and winked them instantaneously to a sandy shore. "Well, here we are... somewhere."

Clever Clover paused in thought. "We don't have anything to summon the Sea Ponies up with."

"Aw, shoot!" Tabby exclaimed. "There's got to be something around we can use... all Megan needed was a teeny little shell."

Clever Clover spotted a small shell in the sand and stooped down to pick it up. "Can't hurt to try," he said as he tossed the tiny object into the ocean.

"Nothing's happening," Tabby commented a few minutes later.

"It might take them a while to respond," Clever Clover said.

"We've been waiting for hours, though," Tabby complained.

"It's only been a few minutes," Clever Clover explained.

"It's got to have been longer than that." Tabby tapped her right front hoof impatiently in the sand. "I say we try something else."

"Find another shell?"

"No-o, I have a better idea." Tabby stooped down low to the waves and screeched in her most high-pitched voice, "O-oh Se-eea Po-onies! If you're down there, you'd better come up, ‘cause we need help!" She stood back up and smiled smugly at her work, then tugged at her necklace. "If that won't get ‘em, nothing will."

"Yeah, it was pretty loud," Clever Clover commented.

Tabby gasped slightly. "Oh! Listen to that!"

Clever Clover leaned out over the water and cupped his hoof to his ear... yes, there was a sound...

"Shoop bee doo shoop shoop bee doo!" Sea Mist sang as she popped her head out of the water. "You two call for me?"

"Just what we wanted!" Tabby exclaimed.

"Need to get somewhere?" Sea Mist questioned. "What're you doing over the rainbow?"

"We're on a quest," Clever Clover explained.

"Sounds like fun!" Sea Mist said brightly. "So where do you have to go?"

"Ooh, you know, that's a good question." Tabby turned to Clever Clover. "Where do we have to go?"

Clever Clove paused and scratched his head. "Umm..."

"Give us a second," Tabby instructed Sea Mist.

"Crete!" Clever Clover finally decided.

"Crete? What's Crete got to do with Atlantis?" Tabby questioned. "Oh, alright, just take us there, Sea Mist!"

"All right!" Sea Mist exclaimed. "Be right back."

Tabby and Clever Clover waited in breathless anticipation. A few minutes later, Sea Mist appeared with two companions, Sand Dollar and High Tide; the three were tugging a large flat white shell.

"Hop on!" Sea Mist exclaimed.

Clever Clover and Tabby scrambled onto the shell and sat down; there were two chairs provided on the shell.

"To Crete!" Clever Clover instructed the Sea Ponies.

* * *

While on the journey, Clever Clover busied himself reading the robber's journal. Tabby amused herself by changing into all sorts of different creatures. "Wheeee! I'm a cat... and a duck... and a rabbit... and a mouse!" As she changed into a mouse, her necklace nearly broke her neck, so at that point she satisfied herself as being her own unicorn self.

"So what's in that journal?" Tabby questioned Clever Clover.

"It's a very interesting plot..." Clever Clover mumbled.

"Like what?" Tabby pressed on.

"He's some maniac who thinks he can harness the power of the ocean by finding Atlantis," Clever Clover explained.

Tabby looked puzzled. "How do you harness the power of the ocean by getting to Atlantis?"

"Well, he writes that from what he's found out, there's a machine inside Atlantis that has the power to turn living creatures into whales."

Tabby snorted. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! But it might be true. I've been doing some reading, too, and I did read that a group of these Atlantean kings got together to turn themselves into whales."

"Why would they want to do that?" Clever Clover asked.

"I'm not sure exactly... it was like they thought they could live and rule the city forever if they were whales."

"Interesting," Clever Clover pondered.

"And there was this one king in particular, Nur-Ab-Fin or something like that. Some sources say that his spirit possessed some necklace."

"You actually believe that?" Clever Clover exclaimed.

Tabby shrugged. "It might be true..."

Clever Clover just went back to reading the journal. Tabby settled back into her chair and stared out across the ocean.

Trying to strike up a conversation, Sea Mist asked, "Think there's been enough rain in Ponyland lately?"

"More than enough," Clever Clover said cheerfully, looking up from the journal.

"Not nearly enough," Tabby contradicted.

"Uh huh," Sea Mist sighed and concentrated on her swimming.

A few more hours passed like this. Finally, much to Tabby's relief, Sea Mist called, "There's Crete right up ahead!"

"All right!" Clever Clover exclaimed.

"Yes!" Tabby echoed.

Sea Mist, Sand Dollar, and High Tide pulled the giant shell up to the shore. "There you are," Sea Mist said.

Tabby and Clever Clover hopped off. "When we need you again, what should we do?" Clever Clover was sure to ask.

Sea Mist pulled off a small white shell from a string around her neck. "Here. Just throw this in, and we'll be right with you!"

Clever Clover gratefully took the shell. "Thanks. We'll be seeing you."

With that, the three Sea Ponies ducked down underwater.

"You've got everything in that backpack of yours, haven't you, Cleve Clove?" Tabby questioned.

Clever Clover rummaged through the contents of the pack. "The stone disks... the Lost Dialogue... a few other items I found that might come in handy... and the shell."

"Yep, that sounds like everything." Tabby stood back and surveyed Crete. "So why'd we come here?"

"In my reading, some say that there was a colony of Atlantis on Crete. If we can find that, it might lead us to Atlantis."

Tabby pointed to some ancient ruins up on top of a slope. "Why not look up there?"

The two ponies walked up the slope. The top was tiled with stones. There was another hill on top of this, and in the side of this hill was a heavy-looking stone door blocked off with a stone slab.

"Think we'll have to get through that?" Tabby questioned. "It looks like it'd be awful hard to get through."

"I'll bet you that's what we'll need the key for!" Clever Clover exclaimed. "Look at that pedestal over there with the peg in the middle."

"Are you supposed to put the disks on that?" Tabby asked doubtfully.

"The Sunstone and the Moonstone, at least," Clever Clover explained. "This is the greater colony; only the first two are needed, according to the Lost Dialogue."

"It's a good thing we got Windwhistler to convert that Dialogue over to English," Tabby commented. "So put the disks on it already!"

Clever Clover placed the Sunstone and Moonstone on the pedestal. "We have to push these around to the right combination, then push down on the peg, and it'll open the door," he said cheerfully.

"Nothing to it," Tabby grumbled. "How're you supposed to know the correct combination?"

"The Lost Dialogue should give a clue," Clever Clover said, and pulled the book out of his backpack. He flipped through the pages until he found the page he was looking for, then stopped and read for a little while.

"Well?" Tabby pressed.

Clever Clover scratched his head. "It says to align them so that the ‘sun is dying as a new moon is born.'"

"What in the world does that mean?" Tabby asked, peering at the stone disks.

Clever Clover fiddled around with the disks. "From what I can tell, the position they're in now matches what the Dialogue said." He pushed down on the peg.

They both waited. "Nothing happened," Clever Clover noted.

"You can say that again," Tabby said.

Clever Clover tried several more combinations, but none of them worked to open the door.

"Here, let me try!" Tabby exclaimed and pushed Clever Clover aside. She started randomly pushing the stones around and pushing the peg.

Finally, as she made another random combination, the door actually opened! The stone slab that was blocking it pushed away to reveal an open doorway.

"Look at that!" Clever Clover said in awe.

"And if it weren't for me, you'd still be trying those dumb combinations," Tabby said. "So what's in here?" She peeked around the corner of the door.

"It seems to be a labyrinth," Clever Clover explained, quickly picking up the disks and looking behind the door also.

"I still don't see how we'll get any closer to finding Atlantis by going through this thing," Tabby sighed.

"We'll find something; I know we will!" Clever Clover said optimistically.

"Yeah right," Tabby grumbled.

Clever Clover advanced into the labyrinth. Stone walls surrounded them on every side. Tabby followed Clever Clover in, and the two cautiously and silently walked across the floor of the first room.

There was another door on the other side of the room. And after the two walked through that one, there were two more doors in the next room.

"We'll never find our way out!" Tabby exclaimed.

"Aw, of course we will," Clever Clover said. He picked one of the next two doors and boldly walked through. Tabby shook her head, but followed him.

"There's a funny looking statue in here," Tabby noted.

Clever Clover nodded. "It looks like a bull."

In the center of the room was a rectangular stone slab that was cut away from the rest of the floor. Tabby tentatively placed a hoof on it. "What could this be?"

"Possibly an elevator," Clever Clover decided. "There must be a lower level."

"Interesting." Tabby walked to the middle of the slab, and it wobbled slightly. "How would you go about getting it to go down?"

"It must need more weight," Clever Clover said. He also walked over onto it, but it still didn't go down. "We must not be heavy enough."

"Hmm," Tabby thought. She was oh-so-anxious to get down there; she was sure there was something terribly exciting to be found. "There's got to be a way!"

Clever Clover also paused in thought. He looked up at the statue. "I wonder..."

"What?" Tabby asked.

"The head of that statue looks loose. If we could get it off, it might provide the extra weight we need."

Tabby shrugged. "Go ahead and try."

Clever Clover tried to reach the statue head with his hooves, but he couldn't quite make it. He suddenly came up with an idea. "Get off to the side," he instructed Tabby.

"Fine," Tabby said. She walked to the edge of the room.

Clever Clover pulled his whip out of his backpack. He thrashed it through the air and aimed at the statue head. He was very skilled with his whip, and the statue head fell down, right onto the elevator platform.

"You sure handle that whip well," Tabby said in awe.

"Well, let's see if it works now," Clever Clover said. He stepped onto the elevator, and Tabby followed.

"Yes! It's moving down!" Tabby exclaimed.

"So it is," Clever Clover said.

They slowly descended to the lower floor. Tabby stepped off first. "Just more stone walls," she sighed.

Clever Clover stepped off the elevator also, and without their weight the elevator sprang back up to the top level. "There's another door, though," he pointed out.

Tabby trotted over to it excitedly. "Oh, here's something!" she exclaimed.

Clever Clover followed Tabby. In the next room was a stone stand, and on it sat a small gold box. "Cool!" he commented.

"Put it in your backpack," Tabby instructed. Clever Clover did as he was told.

"Oh, there's some beads under it," Tabby exclaimed. "What are they?" There were three small, round gold beads that glittered. "They're pretty, aren't they?"

Clever Clover scooped the beads up, too, and stuck them in the gold box he had just put in his backpack. "They must be oricalcum. I've read about that in the Lost Dialogue."

"What were they used for?" Tabby asked curiously.

"The Atlanteans used them as money... many times they could be used in a statue mouth to make it do something," Clever Clover explained.

"Oh... now, how are we going to get through this door?" Tabby pointed at the next door; a heavy bronze gate stopped them from going any further.

"I don't think even my whip can get through that," Clever Clover said.

"A dead end!" Tabby sighed.

"We can always go and finish exploring the upper level," Clever Clover suggested.

"You can go back up; I'll stay here. Just be sure to come back," Tabby said.

"Okay," Clever Clover said and walked back out to the elevator. He suddenly realized that he couldn't get back up to the first level. "Uh oh."

He started exploring the area more throughly, hoping to find a way back up. There was a waterfall to the right of the elevator; otherwise there was nothing that would be of help in getting back up.

Clever Clover inspected the waterfall closely. "Hey, there's a chain in here!" he exclaimed. "I wonder..."

Taking hold of the strong chain, he started to pull himself up the waterfall. It was very dark in the stone tunnel the waterfall ran down, but he eventually reached the top of the chain. "Now, how do I get out of here..."

He noticed a crack of light coming through the stone wall on one side. Yes, there seemed to be a door there...

Clever Clover pushed hard on the cut-out door. Luckily, it popped open for him and he came out in the room where the elevator was. "Wow!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Tabby was still in the lower level, bored out of her mind. Maybe I should have gone back up with Cleve Clove, she thought. I wonder how he got back up, anyway.

She tried to amuse herself again by changing into different creatures. This didn't hold her attention for long, though. In the end, she just sat down and aimlessly hummed to herself.

"That Cleve Clove had better come back soon," she said aloud. "Oh, there's got to be a way of opening that door!"

Tabby sat there for a while more. Finally, much to her relief, the elevator started to come down again. "Cleve Clove! Is that you?"

"Yep!" Clever Clover called down. "And I found something really neat."

The elevator came back to rest on the ground, and Clever Clover stepped off. Once again, it sprang back up.

Tabby jumped up from her seat on the ground. "So what is it you found?" she questioned.

Clever Clover held up a carved fish on a string. "It's a fish carved of amber. I found it in one of the rooms above."

"What's so special about an amber fish?"

"In the Lost Dialogue, it says that amber is used as a detector of oricalcum. It might prove useful," Clever Clover explained.

"That Plato just knew everything, didn't he?... well, anyway, we've still got to get through that blocked-off door!" Tabby exclaimed.

Clever Clover walked back to the blocked-off door. "It just doesn't seem like there's any way past it."

Tabby suddenly had an idea. "Oh, it just hit me! I can just wink us through it!"

"I thought unicorns couldn't wink through walls," Clever Clover said.

"Yeah, but we learned how to cheat..." With that, Tabby winked them both to the other side of the door.

"Well, that worked," Clever Clover noted.

"Oh, it's just another dead end," Tabby sighed. This was true; there were no more doors to go through.

"Hmm," Clever Clover thought. He pulled out the amber fish and dangled it in the air. "It's pointing at your necklace!" he exclaimed.

"That's strange... it's not made of oricalcum, is it?"

Clever Clover stooped over to inspect Tabby's necklace.

"Look, but don't touch!" Tabby warned.

"I wonder..." Clever Clover reached into his backpack and got one bead out of the gold box. He then placed the bead into the hole in the mouth of the medallion.

"What'd you do that for?" Tabby questioned. Suddenly, a ghost-like apparition appeared from out of the necklace, taking the shape of a whale. It only lasted a few seconds, and then disappeared.

Tabby gasped. "What in the world was that?"

"Very strange. Well, now we know why the fish pointed at the necklace. There must have been oricalcum residue in it from past uses," Clever Clover explained.

"I'll bet you it was Nur-Ab-Fin!" Tabby said suddenly, referring to the whale apparition.

"Back to that guy again? Come on, Tabby!"

"Well, anyway. What are we going to do know? We're at a dead end, remember."

"There's got to be something else to this room." Clever Clover paced the floor. "Otherwise they wouldn't have gone through the trouble of putting up a door."

"That's true," Tabby said.

Clever Clover's face suddenly lit up. "I've got an idea!" He made a grab for Tabby's necklace.

Tabby reeled back. "Don't you dare take my necklace!" she cried out in sudden alarm.

"I'd give it back to you after I'm done," Clever Clover said.

"Well, what do you want to do with it?" Tabby questioned.

"I want to put it in this box here." Clever Clover pulled the gold box out of his backpack.

"Wanna put it in a box, huh?" Tabby lifted her eyes. "For how long?"

"Just long enough for me to try something."

Tabby sighed. "Oh, fine. Put it in your stupid box." She unlatched the necklace and handed it over to Clever Clover.

Clever Clover placed it in the box and snapped the lid shut. "Now all the oricalcum is locked up in the box, and won't mess up the oricalcum detector," he explained.

"So that's it." Tabby still looked like she didn't really understand.

Clever Clover dangled the amber fish from his hoof again. "Look! It's pointing at the wall there!" he exclaimed. "There must be something behind it!"

Tabby yawned. "And how do you suggest getting behind the wall? It looks pretty solid."

Clever Clover walked over to the wall that the fish had pointed towards. "Well, the rocks here look loose. I might be able to dig it out." He rummaged through the contents of his backpack. "Ah ha! It's a good thing I brought this stick with me." He extracted a short, thick wooden stick.

"Well, get to work," Tabby directed. "We haven't got all day."

Clever Clover sighed and started working with the rocks using his stick. Tabby stood around and didn't do anything to help.

* * *

About an hour had passed when finally Clever Clover dug out enough rocks to reveal another doorway. "I told you there had to be another room!" he said triumphantly.

Tabby walked through the newly-exposed doorway. "And look, here's another bead." She picked up the oricalcum bead and looked at it in amazement.

"That's what the fish detected," Clever Clover said.

There was nothing else in that room, but there was another doorway. The two explorers cautiously advanced through it; they came out into a new, larger room.

"Look at that!" Clever Clover exclaimed.

"Wow!" Tabby added. What looked like a miniature diorama of Atlantis was laid out in the room.

"It's laid out in three concentric circles, just like Plato described it!" Clever Clover said.

"So is this Atlantis?" Tabby said, moving closer to the small diorama.

Clever Clover rolled his eyes. "No, it must just be a map of it. But we must be getting closer to the real thing!"

"And what are we supposed to do now?" Tabby questioned. There was another door, but the entrance was blocked off with a thick slab of stone. They wouldn't be able to get through that on their own.

Clever Clover walked through the diorama. "Look, there's a pedestal in the middle, and it looks like it's for the stone disks again!"

Tabby groaned. "We don't have to use those dreaded things again, do we?"

Clever Clover shrugged. "There really isn't any choice at this point." He placed the three disks on the pedestal, and pulled out the Lost Dialogue.

Tabby anxiously peered at the disks as Clever Clover kept trying combinations. "Have you got it yet? Have you got it yet?"

Clever Clover frowned. "No. I'm trying to do what the Lost Dialogue says, but it doesn't seem to work. It says to set them up with ‘darkest night soon to rule the western sea.' What was the combination you used to get into the labyrinth?"

Tabby paused in thought. "Well, I really don't know. At that point, I was just randomly flipping the stones around."

Clever Clover sighed. "We might be here for awhile yet."

Tabby had to sigh, too. "I'm bored out of my mind."

Clever Clover kept trying combinations in silence. Tabby tried to waste time changing into different creatures again, but that didn't hold her attention for long.

Finally, much to Tabby's relief, the last door opened as Clever Clover pushed down the peg in the middle of one combination.

"Yes!" Clever Clover exclaimed. "After all that time." He quickly started towards the open door. "Come on!" he directed to Tabby, then ran into the next room.

Nothing else in here, he thought to himself, a bit disappointed. It was just another small room, with a large amount of sloping loose rocks piled up in the back. Hmm... where's Tabby?

At that point, an ear-splitting shriek reached Clever Clover's ears; it sounded very much like Tabby. Oh, what's she up to?

He didn't think much of it, though, when Tabby didn't follow him into the room. He finished looking around it. There wasn't much to see; it was just another small room like many they had been in previously. "Well, this is a let-down," he mumbled to himself.

Clever Clover walked back in the main diorama room. "Tabby?" he said tentatively when he didn't see her. "You there?"

He looked around carefully. There wasn't a sign of her. But was that a hole in the wall over on the other side of the room? Yes, and there was sunlight streaming through it! Clever Clover trotted over to the hole; Tabby must have wandered off through that, as it lead back outside from what he could see.

He looked out the large hole in the wall, and there was grassy ground right outside. Remembering the stone disks, he quickly went back to the pedestal-- but they weren't there!

Tabby wouldn't have remembered to take them with her, Clever Clover mused. Something's not right here!

He scrambled out the hole back into the outside world and looked out over the view; he was on top of a small rise. There down at the dock built in modern times sat a small submarine! And there was that guy who'd stolen the disks and the Lost Dialogue pushing a pink unicorn down inside the sub!

"Something is definitely not right," Clever Clover mumbled and paused in thought to decide what to do.

"All right, so the guy obviously took the disks along with Tabby. With that submarine, I'll bet you he's figured out where Atlantis is and that's where he's headed. Assuming he's not planning on hurting Tabby, my best bet would be to go to the Sea Ponies."

By the time Clever Clover had thought this through, the submarine had pulled away and was now under the water. Clever Clover ran down to the shore.

Though he could not screech as well as Tabby, he called out loudly over the ocean, "Umm, Sea Ponies! You down there?" He had forgotten to use the shell Sea Mist had supplied him with.

The response was almost immediate. "Hey, Clever Clover!" Sea Mist exclaimed. "Need our services again?"

"Yep," Clever Clover said. "But... I'm not sure exactly where I'm going."

"Oh, come on! You've got to know where you're going! Where's Tabby, anyway?"

"She was just kidnaped," Clever Clover explained.

"Ooh, the plot thickens!" Sea Mist said with relish. "But that's not the point. Where do you need to get to now?"

"Well, where I really need to be is Atlantis, but--"

"Atlantis!" Sea Mist interrupted. "Why didn't you just say so?"

"But... you don't know where it is, do you?"

"Of course we Sea Ponies know where it is!" Sea Mist exclaimed. "We've known it's precise location on the ocean floor for centuries now!"

"That's good," Clever Clover said with relief. "But how can you get me there? I can't exactly swim that far down."

Sea Mist paused in thought. "We have just the thing you need!" she said after thinking a second. "Be right back!"

Sea Mist jumped down beneath the water and again returned with two other companions lugging a large shell-- but this time, the shell looked to have a large bubble covering it.

"For an extra ten jangles, you get to use this special model," Sea Mist said. "Air tight, so you don't have to worry about breathing under water."

"That sounds good, as long as I can pay you when we get back to Ponyland," Clever Clover said.

"Your credit's good with us!" Sea Mist said. "Hop on in! There's a little door on the side; be sure to close it tight once you're in!"

Clever Clover obeyed his orders and sat down inside the air-tight shell. "And now to Atlantis," he instructed the Sea Ponies.

Sea Mist nodded and the shell got under way.

* * *

Meanwhile, Tabby was stuck on the submarine. After that guy had kidnaped her in the diorama room, he'd taken her down to his submarine. And now she was stuck in a room on the lower floor of the sub-- or so the guy thought.

Tabby stared up through the grating of the floor above her. "Man, a small bird could fit through those holes easy enough!" she exclaimed. Quickly using her magic ability, she transformed into a hummingbird and hastily flew up into the upper level.

Tabby as a hummingbird aimlessly flew around for awhile; then she realized she had to do something.

After that she realized she didn't know what she had to do. As far as she knew, they were headed to Atlantis. The guy must have stuck the stone disks somewhere, but if she got them back, what would she do?

Yep, it'd probably be just as easy to stay stuck here a prisoner, Tabby decided. I can try to escape once we're at Atlantis.

She flew down into the lower room and changed back into her normal unicorn form. "I wonder how Cleve Clove's doing," she said aloud.

* * *

Clever Clover stared out into the surrounding ocean. The Sea Ponies were now taking him under water. He hoped they got to Atlantis quickly; this was rather a nerve-wracking way of getting there.

After what seemed like hours, the Sea Ponies approached a stone-walled chamber on the ocean floor and swam inside. Clever Clover noted that the submarine was already parked there.

Sea Mist was able to talk to him through the bubble. "Well, here's Atlantis for you. It's an air-tight chamber inside... so you'll have to swim; we can't take you any farther."

Clever Clover nervously opened the door on the side of the bubble and prepared for the swim. It didn't take long to get inside the air-tight chamber of Atlantis.

Clever Clover waved an okay to the Sea Ponies and they swam away. The he began exploring the place.

It was a large stone room, and very dark. Clever Clover stumbled around. How was he going to find anything in this darkness? Tabby and that guy were probably already inside, beyond this room.

He crawled up a short, sloping incline. His eyes were finally adjusting to the darkness, and he made out another pedestal where the three stone disks sat. Right next to the pedestal was a door-- an open door.

"That guy must really be an idiot," Clever Clover mumbled. "You'd think he'd have the sense to take the disks with him." He picked up the disks and put them in his backpack once again.

He could make out much more in the room now. Across from the door was a stone box. Clever Clover struggled to lift the lid off, and inside sat a gold staff with a carved animal head on the end, which looked like it could be a whale. However, there was an opening in the mouth.

"I wonder what would happen if I put a bead in the mouth..." Clever Clover extracted one of the oricalcum beads from his backpack and stuck it in the carving's mouth. Immediately, it started glowing with light and the whole room was illuminated.

"Cool!" Clever Clover exclaimed, and then proceeded through the door with his lighted stick.

* * *

Well, Tabby was locked up in another jail cell-- this time in Atlantis. The idiot who'd kidnaped her hadn't left the cell guarded, however.

Tabby hastily turned into a hummingbird again and flew out of the heavy bronze door of the cell. She flew out the door that led out of the prison chamber.

That got her out in a hallway, with several small rooms off of it. She found nothing of interest in any of these.

But let's see-- there was a big double-door that looked like it had to be opened from the other side. Oh yes, she'd remembered being taken through that. The guy had closed it again afterwards. Well, that wouldn't help her any.

The only other place left to explore was through another door; Tabby changed back into a unicorn and trotted through the doorway.

This brought her next to a large canal with water flowing through it. Two large carved fish heads with water flowing out of the mouths were on the opposite wall, and an open gate was on either side. A wide stone walkway was on either side of the canal. There were several piles of strange looking bones as well; they had odd fins growing off of them.

Tabby suddenly realized she didn't know where in the world Clever Clover was-- for all she knew, he hadn't even gotten to Atlantis. She groaned. If he didn't get here, what was she going to do?

* * *

Meanwhile, Clever Clover was making his way through the many rooms in Atlantis. Many of the rooms didn't contain anything of importance, but some were very interesting indeed. One room contained a carved pool with lava inside and several smaller streams of lava coming off of it through statue heads. Another interested thing was a very large machine. There were carved statues on either side and a funnel on the top. A long flight of steps on each side led up to the funnel, and there was a statue at the bottom holding a shallow bowl. As far as Clever Clover could tell, this was a device for making oricalcum beads.

He'd picked up several items in the other rooms-- a carved eel figurine, a stone cup, and a stone statue head.

Clever Clover had now been in all the rooms he was able to get in-- what he needed to get past was a large set of double-doors.

Before figuring out how to get past the doors, though, he wanted to try his hand at making some oricalcum with the machine. According to what he'd heard, oricalcum was made from lava-- that must be what the Atlanteans had the lava pool for. But how could he get some of the lava from the pool over to the machine?

Clever Clover rummaged through the articles in his backpack-- it was getting quite full and bulky. His hand rested on the heavy stone cup he had found earlier. "Yes, this might work!" he exclaimed, and ran back over to the lava pool room.

When he got back to the room, he realized he couldn't just dunk the cup into the pool; he'd get his hoof singed off. Could he use one of the smaller streams pouring into it? No, he'd get singed that way, too.

Clever Clover noted that there was what looked like a space for another carved head, like the ones where smaller streams of lava poured out. A small pedestal sat under the slot. He started thinking, and came up with a plan.

He placed the stone cup on the pedestal under the space for the statue head; then he got the statue head he had picked up earlier as well and placed it into the slot provided. Lava started pouring out of the head's mouth, and the cup was soon full.

"It works!" Clever Clover exclaimed. He picked the head back up, and the lava flow stopped. Then he picked up the cup of lava and carefully carried it over to the oricalcum machine. He walked up the many steps to the top of the machine and poured the lava into the funnel on top.

The large, impressive machine went through a variety of performances as the lava seemed to make its way down the machine. Finally, Clever Clover heard a tinkling in the dish at the bottom; beads fell from the statue's mouth and made quite a large pile in the dish.

Clever Clover dashed back down the stairs. "All right! Oricalcum!" He scooped up all the beads and placed them in the gold box.

"Now for the door problem." He trotted back to the large set of double doors. "Hmm..." There was a fish statue several feet away from the door, with an opening for the mouth!

"I hope this works," Clever Clover mumbled as he took an oricalcum bead out of his backpack and placed it in the fish statue's mouth. Sure enough, the set of double-doors creaked open!

Clever Clover ran through them, and was slightly disappointed when he found what was on the other side. There were just a few more rooms, like so many he'd seen before.

He peeked into one of the rooms. There were several jail cells inside. This suddenly made him remember Tabby. I wonder where she is...

Clever Clover trotted through the last doorway... there was a large canal with water running through it, and... "Tabby?" he cried out.

Tabby whirled around. "Hey, Cleve Clove! So you made it to Atlantis; that's good!"

"Where have you been?" Clever Clover questioned.

"That moron locked me up in one of those jail cells." Tabby stopped and laughed. "But I changed into a bird and flew out."

"Where'd that guy head to, anyway?" Clever Clover prodded further.

"Well, after he got through those big doors, he closed them up again. Then he threw me in jail, and left. I can only guess that he went over here after that," Tabby said, gesturing towards the canal.

Clever Clover looked over the canal carefully. "Is that a raft over there?" he exclaimed with excitement, and pointed to the opposite side of the canal.

Tabby squinted. "That crab thing?"

"Yeah, it looks like a raft." It was indeed a raft, a crab-shaped one.

"It's on the opposite side of this canal; we can't get at it," Tabby pointed out.

"Then we'll have to swim across," Clever Clover said promptly.

"You're not getting me into that water!" Tabby said. "You swim across, then get on the raft and pick me up."

Clever Clover shrugged. "Fine with me." He jumped into the canal, and swam across to the other side. He jumped up on the stone walkway, and then onto the raft. "How do you get it going?" he asked, mystified.

"Try putting a bead in it's mouth," Tabby suggested.

"Oh, yeah!" Clever Clover exclaimed. "There is a hole there." He rummaged around and got another oricalcum bead out of his backpack, and placed it in the crab's mouth. Strangely, its legs started moving up and down, propelling the raft.

As the raft neared the other side, Tabby prepared to jump on. She made the jump okay. "So now what?"

"Well, it's moving up to the other side of that gate," Clever Clover pointed out.

"So we'll keep going like this?"

"That's what it looks like."

They did go on like that, through several more gates. Once through one of the gates, a large doorway was on one side of the walkway.

"All right! Let's get off!" Tabby said excitedly, and leapt onto the stone walkway. Clever Clover followed after.

"Now through this door," Tabby said, slightly nervous. She tentatively walked through the door.

"More of the same," Clever Clover commented. It was just another circular stone hallway.

"Maybe there's another room to go into," Tabby said, prodding them on.

They had walked a little ways through the hallway when they found a doorway. "There's got to be something exciting behind that!" Tabby exclaimed.

"You'd think, after all this time," Clever Clover said. "Well, let's go."

They entered, and what they saw nearly took their breath away. It was a gigantic, circular ancient machine: huge carvings of whales and other aquatic life sat on top.

"What can it possibly be?" Clever Clover wondered.

Tabby's manner suddenly changed, and her voice didn't sound like Tabby's at all. "Silence, fool!" she cried out.

Clever Clover bristled. Sure, Tabby usually wasn't very polite in what she said, but this went much beyond what she usually did. "What do you mean by that?"

"It's obvious to anyone that this is the whale machine!" Tabby continued in her un-Tabby-like voice.

"The... whale machine?" Clever Clover stuttered.

Tabby was silent as she walked inside the machine. Inside was a platform surrounded by water; two narrow walkways led onto it. Off to the side sat another fish statue with a hole in its mouth. "And I, Nur-Ab-Fin, am the maker of it!"

Clever Clover was really confused now. "Nur-Ab-Fin? You're not Nur-Ab-Fin! You're Tabby! Aren't you?"

"Tabby is no more!" the pink unicorn roared.

"Umm... where'd she go?"

Nur-Ab-Fin, or Tabby, or whoever, was silent for a moment. "Now! I must be turned into a whale!"

Something suddenly dawned on Clever Clover. "It's that necklace!" he cried out. "That's what's doing this to you! Let me have it!"

"You'll not get my necklace!" the unicorn exclaimed. "Leave me be to my machine."

Clever Clover knew he had to act quickly if he ever wanted to see Tabby again. He took a flying leap at the unicorn and got her down on the ground. This confused her long enough for Clever Clover to snatch the necklace from around her neck.

"No-o-o!" the unicorn cried.

Clever Clover acted quickly and tossed the necklace into the pool of water. "There, it's gone now!" he said with satisfaction.

"Aw, man, Cleve Clove!" Tabby's voice sounded like Tabby once again. "It's a good thing you got that thing away from me!"

"Nur-Ab-Fin must have possessed you through it," Clever Clover explained.

"Yeah, well, whatever. I've always said not to trust jewelry," Tabby said, shaking her head.

Clever Clover shrugged. "Now what're we gonna do?"

"Umm..." Tabby was watching something behind Clever Clover. "Cleve Clove..."

"Ha!" a voice came. Clever Clover whirled around. It was that guy again! "You're not going to get the pleasure of being a whale; that's reserved for me!"

"Hey, we don't wanna be whales!" Tabby interjected.

The man faced her. "You don't, do you? Well, then you're missing out on a lot."

"Who is this lunatic," Tabby whispered under her breath.

"I'm going to harness the power of the ocean once I'm a whale!" The man laughed evilly. "And you'll be the first two I destroy!"

"Don't be so sure of that!" Clever Clover exclaimed.

The man walked out onto the platform in the middle of the water. "Now, I'll need your help. You'll have to put the oricalcum in that statue's mouth to make the machine work."

"You think we're actually going to help you?" Clever Clover demanded.

"Aww, come on, Cleve Clove." Tabby waved her hoof in the air. "It's not like it'll actually do anything."

"You doubt the power of this machine, do you?" the man said.

"Well, yeah." Tabby shrugged.

"Just put ten beads in the statue mouth, would you?" the man said impatiently.

"Go all out! Use a hundred," Tabby suggested.

The man considered this. "All right, a hundred," he agreed.

"Do you have that many?" Tabby questioned Clever Clover.

Clever Clover sighed and dug out the gold box that he used to store the oricalcum beads. He'd gotten an awful lot of beads out of the oricalcum machine. "Yep, I think there's at least a hundred in here."

Tabby took the box and walked over to the fish head. "All right, I'll count out a hundred." She was silent for a few minutes, counting. Finally, she announced, "Ninety-eight... ninety-nine... one hundred beads!" Tabby tossed them in the fish statue's mouth.

"I hope we know what we're doing," Clever Clover said.

The man on the platform braced himself. The platform he was standing on mysteriously started to rise up, and a whale-head carving suddenly started to move down from the ceiling. Several bolts of green light shot out at him, making crackling noises.

The transformation was finally complete. The result made Tabby shriek with laughter. "Aw, man! You cannot believe how funny you look! You look so--"

He did look pretty funny. He looked like a very miniature-sized whale, but still had the head of a human!

"Gonna harness the power of the ocean like that, huh?" Clever Clover said, amused.

"You-- you-- you must have counted the beads wrong!" the man stuttered as he angrily flopped around on the platform; unfortunately, he could still use his voice.

"I think this machine was just cheaply made to begin with." Tabby gave a kick at the fish statue.

"Yeah, I think so," Clever Clover agreed.

"I say we make a run for it and get away from this moron as quickly as possible!" Tabby said between fits of laughter.

"Sounds like a good idea," Clever Clover said. The two ponies ran.

"Don't leave me here! Don't leave me like this!" the whale-man cried, but Tabby and Clever Clover didn't listen.

They ran through all of Atlantis and got back to the air-lock. "I guess we'll have to call for the Sea Ponies again," Tabby sighed.

However, she saw with relief that the three Sea Ponies were already there waiting for them! "We thought we'd stick around and wait for you to get done," Sea Mist explained.

Tabby and Clever Clover swam out to the bubble-protected shell, opened the door, and climbed in.

"Back to Ponyland?" Sea Mist questioned through the bubble.

Clever Clover and Tabby nodded. They'd be glad to get back after this adventure!

Go Back to Library Index Go Back to Tabby's Dream Valley