It was a hot day, and Fern was tired and thirsty, especially after flying so much. She flew down into the jungle to get some shade from the sun, and she made her way to a bank of the Akion River. She came to a tree line, and through it she could see a riverbank of the Akion. Fern took a step out of the trees, but then stopped when she heard a sound coming from nearby; somewhere above the trees. Fern looked up at the opening in the trees to see what was making the sound. Soon, the sound got louder, and a figure appeared near the opening, to which a look of horror appeared on Fern's face. Flying right above the opening was none other than Griison. Fern quickly backed away into the trees so Griison would not see her. Not having noticed Fern, Griison flew down and landed on the ground, then walked over to the riverbank and began to drink from the river. Fern watched, not wanting to move because she didn't want to accidentally make any noise that Griison would hear. Griison then finished drinking, and lifted up his wings to prepare to fly away. Right before he was about to take off, Griison looked down at the river, and saw his reflection. He stood motionless as he stared at his reflection, seeming to be deep in thought. Griison then folded his wings back up and sat down, without breaking his eye contact with his reflection. Fern looked quite perplexed at Griison's actions. She moved a bit closer to the tree line to get a better view of Griison.
Griison kept looking at his reflection, and then he let out a deep sigh. "Look at me. What am I doing? What am I doing here?" Fern looked quite perplexed at hearing this. Griison shut his eyes hard and made a grimace with his face. "I wish I didn't have to live here—in this jungle, in this land," he looked up at the mountain, which could be seen through the opening in the trees. "Or even on that mountain..."
"Oh, my," Fern thought, looking very surprised. "I've never known Griison to have this side to him before..." Fern decided to stay where she was so she could continue to listen to Griison.
Griison clenched his fists tightly, making the same face as he did before. Then, Griison, slowly stopped looking angry and unclenched his fists, and made another deep sigh. "...but I can't let down my grandfather...I could never diminish his memory by not guarding his goblet. No matter what..." Griison sighed one more time, and then he spread his wings open to get ready to fly away. "Sometimes I wish that the goblet would disappear; then I could finally leave this dreaded place...but I know that could never happen..." he sighed one last time, and then he flew up through the opening in the trees and back to the mountain.
Fern was taken aback by what she had just heard. Thoughts raced through her head, wondering what she should do. Suddenly, Fern's eyes sparked with an idea, and she flew out of the trees, up through the opening in the trees, and back to her home with the other ponies.
"...and that's when I came back here," Fern said, having nearly finished her story. "I had decided to come back here to tell everypony what I had heard to see if we could come up with a plan."
"Well?" Daring asked, with her eyebrow raised inquisitively. "What was the plan you came up with?"
Fern looked silent, as she didn't want to answer Daring's question. "...well, we didn't actually come up with a plan."
"What??" Daring exclaimed, surprised. "You didn't come up with a plan??"
Fern looked embarrassed. "Well, you see, we really couldn't think of a plan at all. We're all afraid of Griison," she gestured to the other ponies. "So we were too afraid to try and take the goblet from his mountain, even after knowing he doesn't like it here."
"He's way too tough and scary!"
"None of us could possibly stand a chance against him!"
"We don't want anypony here to get hurt!"
Daring thought for a moment. "Wait! Aren't there any unicorns here that can help?"
"Actually, no unicorns live around here," Fern responded. "Only Earth ponies and pegasi. That's why we know we aren't strong enough to stand up against Griison. We all know that somepony will get hurt, and we aren't willing to risk that, even though it means being tormented by Griison forever..." Fern sighed sadly as she hung her head down.
Daring looked around at all the other ponies, seeing their sad faces. Daring felt very sorry for these ponies, having to see them suffer through the hands of Griison. It was then that Daring knew that taking the goblet was now important than it was before. Giving these ponies back their freedom was more than worth stealing the goblet, even if she still felt bad about it. But still Daring knew what she had to do, and a look of determination appeared on her face. "Everypony! Listen up!" she shouted, which grabbed the attention of everypony there. "I can now see how important getting rid of Griison is to you!" she exclaimed as she flew up into the air. "So that is why I am making it my sole duty to go to Griifious Mountain and get that goblet, so that you all may be able to finally live in peace!"
Everypony stared at Daring-Do in awe, rendered speechless by her agreement to help them. After a short period of silence, Fern decided to be the first one to speak. "Do you hear that, everypony??" she exclaimed as she flew up next to Daring. "Daring-Do has agreed to help rid us of Griison once and for all! Let us all cheer for her noble deed!" Everypony then started cheering and stamping their hooves in applause for Daring.
Daring looked quite happy and proud of herself to see everypony glad for what she was doing. This made her feel even more like she was doing the right thing by taking Griison’s goblet, so she didn’t feel like she was stealing anymore. “Thank you, everypony!” she exclaimed as she raised her front legs up above her head. "I am grateful for your words, and I want to let you know that I will not fail you! I will retrieve the goblet, and Griison will bother you no longer!" Everypony cheered even more for Daring. She smiled, and then she partially turned her body towards the mountain. "Well, I'm off!" and with that, she flew off towards Griifious Mountain.
Everypony kept cheering after she had gone, with the mares and stallions feeling very excited for Daring's mission and the fillies and colts all thinking Daring-Do was great for doing this. Fern smiled as she watched Daring fly away. Blue Skies then walked up next to Fern. "Do you really think she'll be able to get Griison's goblet?" she asked Fern.
Fern turned her head towards Blue Skies, and she smiled. "I am quite confident that Daring-Do will succeed and give us back our freedom, Blue Skies. That's something that you can count on," she patted Blue Skies on the head, who smiled back her, and they both turned their heads towards Griifious Mountain, both smiling and feeling very proud of Daring-Do.