//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3 
// Story: Daring Do and the Griffin's Goblet 
// by Dancing Lights 
//------------------------------//

	Ahead, the trees began to thin, allowing the sun to shine through. The sole cloud in the sky was growing somewhat dark. It was not, despite appearances, depressed to not be invited to join the mist covering the bottom of the chasm next to the castle. It was just thicker than it was before, having picked up moisture.

Daring looked down into the mist, then back up to the rickety bridge that appeared to be held up by a knot tied with somepony's mouth. This might have caused some ponies dismay, even one so daring as Daring. Fortunately for her, though, Daring was a pegasus, with two freshly mended wings. She paused a moment, feeling gratitude that her wings had healed since being broken in her last adventure. (Buy Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue to read more!) She hopped into the air, flapped her wings twice, and paused a moment, feeling shocked by the sudden attack as a mighty paw connected with her face.

HROOOOAAAAR! The manticore sounded less like a lion, and more like a dragon.

As Daring was flung back toward the treeline, she regained her senses. She flipped in midair, and bucked the tree she was about to collide with, allowing her to spring back above the manticore. Facing the creature, she could see that his face was puffy, badly matted with something sticky, and covered in dirt and leaves. He looked as though the beast had lost a fight, badly, and the rage in his eyes did not speak well for his sanity. This cat wasn't even hungry at this point. He wanted blood.

The manticore's momentum carried it towards the tree Daring had bounced off of. He failed to bounce off the tree. He was just too mad. Rather, the manticore reached forward, and dug his massive claws into the tree, swung his body around, and pointed himself at Daring Do. The force with which he threw himself towards her shredded the tree's bark, and the manticore flew towards Daring at a ludicrous speed.

Knowing she could not hope to outrun the manticore, Daring Do's wings snapped shut, allowing her to plummet to safety.

The manticore sailed past Daring Do, swinging its powerful claws just over her head in a manner that would be comical if not for the look on his face. He'd been utterly silent, since announcing his presence, concentrating solely on catching his victim. With a flare of his wings, the manticore stopped, and stooped into a steep swoop.

Unfortunately for the massive cat, Daring's fall had turned her altitude into a speed most pegasi would find frightening, especially while headed straight for a dark and crowded forest. 

She tried slaloming between the trees again, but this time, despite their velocity, the manticore was having none of it. As he flew, the manticore left a swathe of destruction, using his claws to rip into nearby trees for more speed, hardly slowing down as he crashed through brambles, branches, and low flying squirrels. Daring began to grow tired, as the speed from her descent tapered off, and with one last hope, she bucked the ground as hard as she could, sending herself into the air just as the manticore ripped past her and buried his face in a tree.

With an effort of will, Daring Do made for the sky. The manticore pulled its head from the tree. His face was bloody, battered, puffy, and, despite the clear insanity, now looked substantially concussed. He shook the cobwebs from his brain, and looked upwards, where he'd last seen her tail disappearing from his field of vision.

As he looked, Daring Do was flying, exhausted though she was, against gravity, towards the one cloud floating in the sky. The cloud was ominously dark. Fitting, the manticore thought. It's going to hide behind that cloud, he thought to himself. I'll burst through the cloud dramatically, right in front of it. Me, popping out of the darkness, claws spread, mouth open, eyes triumphant. The look on its face will be priceless. I wonder how many times I can cut it open as it falls? On second thought, maybe I should preserve its hide, wear it as a mask to cover my face. Maybe then my food will still fear me.

If a cloud were able to talk, it would, no doubt, express its shock at the sudden attack when a manticore suddenly flies into it.

Daring Do bucked the cloud.

The cloud expressed its shock at the sudden attack.

The smoking manticore hurtled down towards the castle courtyard.

Daring flew for the back of the castle. Steve the giant sea serpent told her there were ponies here. Until she knew more about them, Daring Do decided it would be better if she remained unseen, and that there could be nothing better than a two ton cat crashing into the castle to distract these ponies from her entry.

As she flew, Daring's eyes followed the manticore down. An instant before the cat struck, however, he halted in midair, spun around, landed on his feet, and promptly collapsed in a heap.

All Daring Do could think to say was "what."

Setting her confusion aside, Daring looked down at the castle beneath her. Reading the lines of architecture of the ruined castle, she could catch a glimpse of Equestria's past. It seems that, even so long ago, this castle was built in a time of peace. While the castle was defended, its defenses were passive. Roofs too steep for a pegasus to land on, a gorge too long for an earth pony to jump. While the castle did have crenelated battlements, and archer slots, they were placed in a manner that, while aesthetically pleasing, was not practical for fighting.

Daring Could see a throne glittering in gold through a gaping hole in the roof of the hall. Turning to her left, she saw, through a hole in the keep, the throne of the two sister's court. Since Luna held night court, and Celestia took the days, they only had need of one throne. It was here that Nightmare moon was defeated, and Luna redeemed, here in the halls of judgement.

Through yet another hole, Daring Do saw shelves of books. The library, she thought. The books were magically intact, for being 1000 years old. Starswirl, she thought, was a blessing to archaeologists everywhere. So much history, preserved from fire, insects, and moisture. Little wonder that so much seemed to happen 1,000 years ago, and so little before that. With the lack of "Starswirl's book preservation" enchantment, undoubtedly the knowledge of what had come before was lost to the ravages of time.

What little found its way into history books spoke of a "time of discord, ended by the two princesses." It was widely believed that pony society was similar to what it is today, save with many smaller kingdoms, which were later united. The "discord" suggests that there was a lot of fighting.

While exploring the history section of Canterlot's Starswirl the Bearded wing, Daring Do found, in a journal of Clover the Clever, references to artifacts from this time, that were being studied by Starswirl, her mentor. Neither his notes, nor any other reference to these objects, were to be found in Canterlot's library, which suggested that they were never transferred. This was Daring Do's mission: to find these artifacts, and Starswirl's notes, and bring them to Canterlot museum of Archaeology, where they could be studied by professors as dusty as the antiques, and gawked at by bored young fillies and colts.

She drifted quietly down to the library. As she'd thought, there were ponies here; she heard two voices bickering, through the hole in the ceiling, and Daring Do listened in.