Daring-Do and the Griffon's Goblet

by Creative Charmer

Chapter 9

Through the twists and turns of the endless jungle, Daring-Do tried every trick and maneuver she could muster up as a way of getting Griison off her tail, but he wasn't falling for any one of her stunts. Daring had never seen someone so Tartarus-bent on getting back what was taken from them. Anyone else would have given up long ago, but this guy was more serious than she had given him credit for, and now she was the one paying the price.

"You can fly wherever you want!" Griison shouted. "But nothing you do will make me relent my everlasting pursuit of my grandfather's goblet!!"

"This guy's crazy!" Daring exclaimed. She then looked back at Griison's enraged, snarling face. "But he's still a pretty big threat! I can't outfly him forever; but I don't know what else I can do to lose him!"

Just when things looked hopeless for Daring-Do, she suddenly and unexpectedly flew into an open area of the jungle. "Oh, great..without any trees, I don't even have a way of slowing him down!" And she was quite correct, as when Griison flew into the open area, his speed picked up, and he was gaining on Daring once more. "Now what do I do?" Daring thought frantically. Just then, she noticed that a short distance ahead of her, was a large pile of rocks and boulders lying on the ground. At the sight of this rock heap, Daring-Do was struck with inspiration. "Griison won't be able to chase me if he can't get where I'm going!" she said smugly, and she took off for the rock pile, with Griison still in pursuit and gaining.

When Daring made it to the rock pile, she turned her head around towards Griison, "Try and follow this, Griison!" she then made a dive towards an opening between two large boulders. When Griison tried to go after her, he smashed his body right into the rock, with his head being the only part that fit through the space. Griison pushed against the rock with his arms and feet, and pulled his head out of the hole. Griison looked at the large boulders, and could see that his strength wasn't good enough to get past these immense rocks, so he knew he had no choice but to go around them. He quickly flew up to the top of the rock, and looked around to see where Daring-Do had fled. "That pony has to be around here somewhere," As Griison scanned the area, Daring was hiding behind a smaller rock, completely absent from Griison's view.

"I can't stay here forever," Daring thought to herself. "I'll have to make a break for it," she peeked her head out a tiny bit from behind the rock to see where Griison was looking. When he turned his head away from Daring's location, she took off as fast as she could. As Griison turned his head in Daring's direction, he saw her speeding away, and sped after her himself. Daring saw Griison catching up to her again, so she had to go through another small space to lose him; although this time, she would do things a bit differently. As she zoomed through the space, Griison slowed himself down enough to keep from colliding with the rock. He quickly flew over the rock to the other side, where he located the opposite end of the space and waited for Daring to come out so he could capture her. Griison remained where he was for a short time, getting more and more impatient, perplexed as to why she had not emerged from the stone. Griison then glanced through the space, and saw straight through to the other side, but Daring-Do was entirely absent from his view. This was when Griison realized Daring's trick; she had flown back out the way she had came in, causing Griison to linger for that which would not happen. Griison's anger grew to even greater levels, and he flew off over the rock to search for Daring-Do.

Daring had been ducking behind rock after rock after she fooled Griison. Every time she hid behind a rock, she checked to see if she was being followed, then went to the next rock to hide. "Not much farther. I only have to hide behind a few more rocks, and then I'll make a break for the tree line!" But, before she could enact this plan any further, she was halted by the sight of a shadow moving along the ground. She fearfully lifted her head up, and her thoughts were confirmed when she saw Griison was the only flying overhead. Luckily, he did not see Daring-Do, but then he landed on the ground, only a short distance away from Daring's hiding spot. He still did not notice Daring, as his back was facing her, but Daring knew it was only a matter of time until he turned around. She stood as still as she could, not wanting to make any type of noise that would alert Griison to her presence. Daring's thoughts raced through her head: What should she do in this situation? Should she stay where she was and wait to see if Griison would leave? Or should she just make a break for it and attempt to outfly Griison? Making such a decision was quite strenuous for Daring-Do, and the nervousness that was encompassing her caused her body to begin shaking.

As her body shook, the loose rocks beneath her hooves were being shaken even more loose, and one rock slid out of the pile and started falling down the slanted hill of loose rocks she was currently standing on. Daring's fear became amplified when she saw this stone come loose, as it was heading straight for Griison! She watched in dismay as the rock rolled to a stop behind Griison. The clacking sound formed from the stone colliding with the others stones behind Griison was loud enough for Griison to become aware of its presence. He turned around, first looking down at the rock, and then he moved his head upwards to locate the source of what shifted the rock to roll downhill, and saw that it was none other than Daring-Do! Fear shot up Daring's spine at the time Griison saw her, and feared as to what would happen next.

Griison was surprised to see Daring, but this feeling did not last long as after seeing Daring, Griison promptly flew towards her at top speed. With the same promptness as Griison, Daring flew straight upwards, with Griison nearly missing her and crashing into the boulder she had been leaning up against. Without hesitation, Griison shook off the pain and looked up at Daring-Do. After which, he started to crawl up the rock with great haste, much to Daring's surprise. After dodging Griison's swipe at her, she flew away fast, with Griison following close behind.

Griison was almost instantly upon Daring-Do, and it looked like Daring wouldn't get away this time, but all of a sudden, Daring flew right through another space between several boulders without noticing, and Griison, with all his attention on Daring, crashed into yet another the rock wall. Unfortunately, things did not go so smoothly for Daring, either, as she did not notice the space in the rocks before going through, so she did not see that the space was so small, and her open wings collided with the sides of the rock wall, causing her to fall and crash inside the space between the boulders.

Daring-Do moaned from the soreness and aching her body was feeling right now. She struggled as she pulled herself up off the ground, trying to get perfectly balanced on her hooves. "Oh, that hurt...I really should have watched where I was going," When Daring was finally upright, she moved her wings, but immediately cringed with pain at the slightest movement. "Oh, my wings...I can hardly move them," She examined her wings closely, seeing that they were covered with scratches and cuts, her pinions were rather bruised, and it felt like several of her bones were broken in different places on both wings. "Doesn't look like I'm going to be able to fly anytime soon. I guess I'm gonna have to—" Daring's words were cut short by the sound of rock being struck behind her. She turned around sharply to see one of Griison's arms poking through the entrance hole, with him flailing his arm around and scratching against the rock wall as he grasped at whatever he could feel. Daring was anxious at first, but then she realized that if Griison could only fit his arm through the hole, then he was unable to get to her. This insight gave Daring a great deal of relief, for she knew she was finally safe from the clutching talons of that insidious griffon. Now feeling quite overconfident, Daring decided it was time for her to taunt Griison."Ha! You think you're such a strong griffon?" Griison stopped flailing his arm around once Daring began speaking. "Well, it looks like there's one thing that you won't be able to brute force your way through this time! Just try and get through that wall now, Griison!"

Griison was motionless for a few moments. He then pulled his arm back out of the hole, and for several seconds, there was silence. Daring stared intently at the hole, waiting for some variety of event to occur. Suddenly, the silence was shattered when a large smashing sound was heard against the entrance wall. Daring-Do was frightened when this happened, not knowing what was going on. After more smashing was done, Daring quickly realized what was happening. "Oh, right," she said in a monotonous tone. "Inquirer said that Griison's were much stronger than ponies."

As the barrage continued, Daring-Do became increasingly panicked. It was only a matter of time before Griison broke down that wall, and then there would be no longer any obstruction between him and her! "I've gotta get out of here!" Daring sharply turned around to get out of the room another way. After looking around the room for another exit, she suddenly realized that which she had not noticed before: there were no other ways in or out of the room. The only opening was the way she had came in, and there was no way she could get past Griison while he continued his battering down of the rock wall. Daring was now at her highest level of panic, as each sound of the wall receiving its blows from Griison was sounding like the countdown to Daring's doom.

During this time of uncertainty, Daring thought back to the valley ponies again, and how let down they would be because of her failure. This is when she realized that giving up was not an option, and letting down others was especially not an option. She knew that even though she was trapped within this stone prison, she could not give up on those ponies, as she was their only chance for absolute freedom. With these new thoughts in her head, Daring-Do hurriedly began searching the other walls of the room for even the slimmest sense of a loosened rock or boulder. After sliding her hooves along the wall for a short time, she suddenly felt a cool sensation on her right hoof, causing her to immediately cease her movement. She lifted her hoof from the wall and shifted her face towards a slit in the wall. She was now feeling the coolness with a greater sense than before, and could now determine that the cool sensation was indeed a breeze of cool air from the outside. She peered through the opening, and could see a sliver of light emanating through. Daring knew this was her one and only shot at escape, because by the sight and sound of the entrance wall, Griison was almost through. Daring them mustered up every ounce of strength in her body, and rammed herself against the loose boulder, pushing with all her might and not letting up for even the slightest moment, and soon she could feel a small amount of movement from the boulder, causing her confidence to rise higher in knowing that her plan was working effectively. She continued to shove the boulder as hard as was within her strength, and could sense the increased movement of the boulder the longer she pushed against it. The boulder budged more and more, until finally, with one last big push, Daring dislodged the boulder from the wall, freeing herself at last.

Even though Daring-Do was feeling very delighted with her newfound freedom, she knew there was no time to waste: she fleetly ran out of the room just before she heard the sound of the entrance wall come crashing down, thus showing she made it out just in time.

Another problem for Daring was still floating about her mind; even though she was free to run away, she still could not use her wings, but Griison still could use his, and would catch up t her in no time, so she had to be even faster to find a hiding place to duck out for some time until she could make her final escape.

After running downwards amongst the rocks and boulders, Daring-Do stopped on a ledge, looking down at an opening directly below her, with this opening being much larger than any of the others she had gone through previously. But this was not a time to be picky, as Griison was sure to fly by at any moment, so Daring jumped down from the ledge and hastily ran into the stone cave; but not long after she entered the cave did she come to a halt, seeing that she had come into yet another dead end, albeit smaller than the last one, and more in the shape of a tunnel.

"I don't know if I want to risk being trapped again," she elucidated to herself. "Especially since there'll be nothing holding Griison back this time; I'd better try for another place."

"I think it's a bit too late for that."

Daring-Do froze with apprehension. At first she felt that she could not move one muscle in her body, but then, very slowly, turned her head around to see the terrifying sight that was Griison, standing right in the entrance to the cave, with a spread of resentment across his face as he glared at the thieving pony, ready to finally carry out his retribution.