Daring do finally was in the town at griffon stone after a week. She was supposed to meet her fellow spies in city hall.
She only saw Griffons walking past and sneering at each other.
She was getting bored when she saw it.
Or should she say, she saw THEM.
It was a pack of creatures in black just like the gang from her nightmare!
She quickly hid behind a tree and looked over at the mystery group. They went to a small alleyway and nodded to each other. The leader of the group felt around the bricks then pushed in one of them. All of the sudden the floor below them opened and revealed stairs.
The group looked around one last time then they all went down the steps and the door closed and the brick went back to what it was before the group pushed it in.
Daring do trotted across the street and looked for the brick they pushed. She knew she should wait for her other spies but she couldn't wait any longer and besides they're spies right? They can find the brick That is their specialty.
She pressed the brick and the doorway opened. The steps down were damp and moldy. It got darker as she went farther down and she had to feel with her hoof before she put all her weight into a step that might not even be there.
Walking blindly in an unknown area was always a bad idea.
She got down all the steps and wished she had brought a flashlight. She saw light farther down so she trotted towards it, it was a torch! how helpful.
She held the torch with her wing and walked down the corridor.
She got to a room shaped like a circle. She saw torches on her right and on her left so she lighted them all up to find that the middle of the circle lead down about 18 hooves. She didn't know what it was for but it looked like a well.
She was righting something in her hoof notes when she heard flapping.
Was it her fellow spy? Raven hoof didn't mention if it was a pegasus........
She got into a fighting pose getting ready for whatever came down the corridor when suddenly the flapping stopped......
Daring do heard breathing. and she felt it. down. her. neck.
She slowly turned around to see.....
The black griffon from her nightmare!
She quickly ran to get farther away from the red-eyed creature.
She grabbed a torch from one of the holders with her wing.
"Who are you?" she said slowly trotting forward.
"Who you think i am......." the griffon said not intimidated by the flame. Daring slowly back trotted.
"Tell me or else" she said putting the flame closer to him
"I thought you read the books...... i could tell by your wagon" the griffon said stepping closer
"TELL ME WHO YOU ARE!" Daring do yelled
"THE DREAMS THE BOOKS have you not seen the signs?!" The black griffon stepped into the light.
Daring do could see that the black griffon had a scar on his right eye and part of his beak was chipped off.
Daring do racked her brain but this griffon didn't seemed familiar. "Tell me who you are and no-one gets hurt"
"Well then i guess its time for a little history lesson." the griffon said plopping down on the cold floor. "Long ago my father was a very important part of griffon stone and everyone knows him by old stories and they all think how wonderful he is but they always thought lowly of his son...."
"Why?" Daring do asked.
"BECAUSE MY FATHER NEVER NOTICED ME!" the griffon said obviously very salty about the whole matter. "I was too weak in his eyes and he didn't admit that because it was wrong for him to see someone without getting to really know them! So instead........ he made up stories that i was the worst griffon with a horrible personality."
"That doesn't answer my question. Who are you?" Daring do said still very confused
"You don't know that side of the story so i can't blame you for not recognizing me you only know my fathers part of the story. The father with the un-noble son who wasn't fit to do anything."
Then soething clicked in daring do's mind "You're tight quill?!" she said shocked "But no one knew where you went after the whole goblet thing and every creature just said you disappeared!"
"NO-ONE KNEW?! NO. ONE. KNEW?" Tight quill said getting angrier by the second "MY FATHER KNEW BUT HE NEVER TOLD ANYONE. IS THAT WHAT HAPPENED????"
"Um............ yes?" daring do said ducking down so that Tight quill wouldn't knock her over into 'the well'
Tight quill calmed down and went back to sitting on the floor and continued with his story. "My father hated me, all he saw was a weak griffon and he hated to call me his son. I assured him i would gain more muscle and once i did i would be an amazing ruler of Griffon stone! But he didn't listen...... and instead........ he betrayed me."
"What do you mean?" Daring asked.
"He said that if i get more muscle he would give me the crown but if i didn't gain enough in three weeks he would give it to some other griffon. So i trained night and day in the gym i was almost never home! Which... i greatly regretted. one day i think it was the second week? I was getting there. I was this close to becoming king...." Tight quill said putting his talons really close together ".....So i decided to get some biscuits for my dad to celebrate that in a week i would become king since i almost had enough muscles. But. He wasn't home. BECAUSE HE WAS MAKING THE RULE OF THE GOBLET A WEEK BEFORE MY TIME WAS UP!"
Daring do put her hoof over her mouth "So what did you do?"
"After he was done making that stupid rule i met him backstage. I told him my time wasn't up and i should get the crown in a week but he said very bluntly that he didn't believe i could do it and knew i was TOO WEAK. i was upset with him and some people in the crowd heard some of what we were saying so my dad took me into the alley way you were in just before. Things got out of hand and my dad ended up pushing me into the wall and i hit my head on the brick which opened up the door and of course i was unconscious and the trapdoor was right under my feet so i fell right down."
Daring do couldn't believe it "What happened then?" She was more wrapped up in this story than the one that Tharous made up.
"I woke up maybe three hours later in here. I was gonna go out the way i came in but before i made a lever for the inside to open up the trapdoor you couldn't open it from the inside. So i was trapped here for a loooong time. Until one day those creatures dressed in black found it by mistake. I went up to them and they immediately recognized me. I told them what happened so we made some tweaks and this is our hideout now. They told me that Tharous flew away to 'hide the goblet' but really he was trying to hide from what he did to his son." Tight quill stretched as he finished the story "And now this is basically my home."
"But....... don't you want to know what happened to your dad? don't you want to see him?" Daring do said.
"Are you crazy? i never wan't to see that backstabbing old man EVER AGAIN!" Tight quill said horrified by the proposal.
"Now story time is over and you can leave. there's a lever near the door goodbye" He said walking away
⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳
Daring do knocked on the door at Tharous' house. She had tracked down where he went. luckily Griffon's usually live longer lives than ponies. Daring do knocked again.
"hold on!" a voice said from the other side of the door.
The door opened to reveal a golden and grey griffon. He was very old and he had more wrinkles under his eyes than daring could count.
"What can i do for you?" he asked coughing.
"Are you Tharous?" she asked.
"I am miss but i don't take photo's and i don't give autographs!" he was about to slam the door but daring stopped him.
"I'm actually here on the case of your missing son" Daring do lied.
"I already told every creature he was jealous! he wanted to be king but he didn't become it so he flew away and i've never seen him since!"
Daring do didn't feel that bad lying to him since he just lied to her.
"I know what really happened with the brick and the trap door so i suggest you let. me. in." Daring do said staring at him straight in the eye
Tharous' expression changed.
He took her into the kitchen and sat down on a chair. "How do you know?!" he asked on edge.
"Your SON told me." She said.
"My son is dead" Tharous said. "He died when his head hit the brick. and it was all my fault"
"No! that's not what happened! he is alive!" daring said. it was all just a misunderstanding! she was relieved to find that out.
"I suggest you should leave." He said obviously sad about the whole thing.
⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳
Daring do was back in the secret passage with Tight quill trying to explain what happened.
"YOU WENT TO MY FATHERS HOUSE?" he said furious "HOW COULD YOU TALK TO......HIM!"
"No! Tight quill its all a misunderstanding! he thinks your dead!" She said.
"So he just wipes me out of his life and tells himself i'm dead? real nice." Tight quill said sarcastically
"No not like that i mean he thinks he killed you and you died when you hit the brick!" Daring do said. She never thought she would ever say those words.
"I don't care! he made everyone think i'm the worst griffon in all of Equestria!"
He did make a good point but she knew that his father was sad and probably wasn't getting enough sleep because of what he did and that explained all the wrinkles under his eyes
"Just go see him!" Daring pleaded
"Are you crazy?! no way! he's a traiter, a liar, he's mean, he's greedy and there's no way im talking to him" Tight quill yelled
Daring do trotted back up the damp stairs and pulled the lever to leave when she saw two ponies!
"Who are you?" daring do asked. there was a red unicorn wearing black and a cream colored pony with a pink and blue mane.
"Daring do?" the cream pony asked.
"Yes?........" She asked
"We've been smushed together to find a legendary relic and you're our partner who wasn't at city hall like we arranged." the red unicorn said.
"Oh you're Raven hoof's other spies?" Daring asked.
"Yup i'm special agent sweetie drops!" the cream colored pony said
"And you must be scarlet?" Daring do asked the unicorn
"No my name is aqua even though my coat is red." scarlet said sarcastically.
"Nice to finally meet you but i work alone so..... bye" Daring do said.
"Good i was thinking the same thing!" Scarlet said.
"Guy's! did you not hear the part in the letter were Raven hoof asked us to work TOGETHER." Sweetie drops said.
"What part? he didn't say that at all." Daring do pointed out.
"Well he said if the goblet isn't in Griffon stone than we have to go to the dragons lair and we better figure out how to work together here than in the dragons lair because there's no room for mistakes there!" Sweetie drops said
She did make a good point.
"Ok then well i just figured out Tight quill isn't the evil guy and really its Tharous who is devestated because he thinks he killed his son which he didn't so now...."
"Hold up!" Scarlet said interrupting daring. "Tight quill is evil! he was a bad ruler and was so hot headed he left without a trace!"
"Not true" Daring do said confidently "His father made up that story." Then daring do proceeded to tell them all that she had heard
"So thats what we're up against." daring do said yawning. it had been a VERY long story.
"We're here to find a goblet not bring together a son and father." Scarlet said.
"But his father thinks he's dead! he even got a tombstone and every......." Suddenly it hit her "I KNOW WHERE THE GOBLET IS!"