Daring Do and the Gryphon's Goblet

by Sir Squidfish

Chapter 4

The mare turned to walk away, biting her lip hard. Where else can I possibly- The barkeeper spoke up again, causing her to stop abruptly.
“ ‘Course, I wasn’t on duty that day. You’ll probably want to talk to Glassy. He’d be the one to notice something like that, AND he was working the bar yesterday. Heh heh, always does Fridays ya know, ever since the time he MMF!”
She shoved her hoof in his mouth, speaking quickly.
“I’m sure it’s a great story and I’d love to hear it.” The stallion brightened up, and seemed about to speak. “But right now I don’t have time.” Daring continued, and his ears drooped. “So can you just please tell me where he is so I can talk to him?” She finished, looking up at him and removing her hoof.
He nodded slowly. “In the back. I’ll get him. Wait here.” He ambled off, muttering something like “Rush, rush, why they always gotta be somewhere I’ll never know…”

Daring Do rapped on the counter. No harm in incurring a little extra luck, she reasoned, even though she was not superstitious as a rule. She looked down and smiled slightly as she realized she had subconsciously crossed her hooves.
The bartender was back in a few minutes, accompanied by an older gray stallion with a slight beard and quick brown eyes.
“Miss Do?”
“That’s me. I need to ask you a few questions about a Neighbian that I might be interested in locating.”
The stallion, Glassy, cocked an eyebrow.
“That how they teach you to do it at detective school? Look, I’ve seen the colt, or I guess I should say, ‘Yeah, maybe I know who you’re talking about, and maybe I don’t. So let us converse.’” He nodded to a table in the far corner. “Over there. I’ll see what I can do”

Once they reached the table and sat down, Daring immediately began pressing him for information.
“You saw him?”
Glassy nodded. “Yeah, yesterday. I noticed him in particular because he ordered a straw for his milk. Milk-- now that was odd in itself.”
The mare blinked, uncomprehending.
Glassy sighed. “Never mind. Suffice to say it stood out to me. It was unusual, especially around here. Oh, and he paid with this-- very unusual.” The stallion rummaged around in his apron pocket and came up with a small gold coin, dimly stamped in some strange language. “Real gold. And it’s solid.”
Daring whistled softly. Gold was hard to come by these days. Its value had shot through the roof and you didn’t just go around chucking it away like that. Although, if the mysterious stranger really was from a long way off, he might not be aware of the current value of gold around here…
“Can I see it?” she asked Glassy, holding out a hoof.
The bar pony cocked an eyebrow, but handed it over. “Any particular reason you needed to examine it, or you just enjoying the once-in-a-lifetime novelty of handling real gold?” he joshed her.

She ignored him, pulling a magnifying glass from somewhere behind her in order to study the markings on the coin more closely. This is not written in the Princesses’ Equestrian… In fact, the more she studied it, the more she realized that it was written in… Neighbian! This would seem to confirm the conclusion she had reached with the DNA samples in the lab last night. Which meant…
“Something finally adds up!” She shouted, startling Glassy. “Oh… sorry. Late night. Lots of frustrating ponies today. Just happy, I guess.”
“Glad to hear it. Thought maybe you’d ruptured something.”
“Although,” Daring continued more soberly, “This coin doesn’t really help me beyond supporting my theory that the stranger is a Neighbian. Actually, it’s a lot like one of those secret decoder rings I used to always send in my box tops for: Awesome-- but pretty much useless.”

Glassy smiled slightly, but his tone was dismal. “Guess that means you’re stuck again, doesn’t it? Ah well, these things happen…” His eyes twinkled, and Daring looked at him sharply.
“There’s something else, isn’t there? What else did you find? Tell me!”
The stallion folded his hooves on the table and leaned back. “I saw him out when he left. He… dropped something. Accidentally. I found it later, but I had no way of finding him.”
Daring wasn’t buying a word of Glassy’s story, but she grinned and motioned for him to continue.
“Aaaaaand… it happens to be a calendar.”
“A calendar?” The mare raised her eyebrows. “Like a wall almanac? Use Shindig’s Toothpaste and all that?”
Glassy shook his head impatiently. “A pocket calendar. An appointment book. And--” He held up a hoof, forestalling Daring’s outburst. He gave her the calendar. “It’s written in Equestrian.”
“In Equestrian? That doesn’t make sense… is there a name?”
Glassy shook his head again. “Sorry. Still, it’ll probably be of some use, I would imagine. And now-- I’ve been away from work long enough. Ponies are starting to wonder what I’m up to.” He stood up and shook the mare’s hoof. “Good luck and Good-Bye, Daring Do.” >Squiddy: May the odds be ever in your favor…<

***

On the walk home, Daring Do digested her latest piece of information. Firstly, she had confirmed that the stranger she was looking for was probably a Neighbian. Second, she had talked to a barkeeper about her personal problems.
Wait, that didn’t sound right.
OK: Second, she had gained information from a sensible pony who was likely future source material. There, much better. Lastly, and best of all, she had the Neighbian’s appointment book, and, while she hardly expected there to be a heading which simply read “Blow up Daring Do” with a map of where he was going from there, she certainly expected to find a clue as to his whereabouts. All in all, it had been a productive day, despite the morning which had almost caused her to completely abandon hope of ever solving the mystery at hoof. Never give up goes a long way in this line of work Daring reflected, pacing deliberately and feeling more of a spring in her step than she had in a while.

When she got home, she immediately pulled out the calendar and began hoofing through it, searching for anything that would give her a clue about… anything. She turned to the current week and scanned the entries for the next few days. Most of it she couldn’t make sense of, but then something caught her eye.
“Ah Hah! Monday, May 22: Meditation. There is a park in Indianapples which will be perfect for my reflections. A tree-- I must have a tree. The shade will be--” The writing stopped there. Odd. And creepy. She shrugged. Odd and creepy and not really important. Time enough to worry about details on Monday.
She headed over to the kitchen and began working on a sandwich.

---

Hey ponies, me again. OK, about the fruitcake in chapter three: Um, actually, I got nothing. Like, it’s freakin’ Equestria. ‘Nuff said.
Oh, wait, yeah, about the frog though. You Aussie types probably already know that Litoria Platycephela is just the scientific way of saying “Water-Holding Frog”. Obviously, Daring Do was able to survive by squeezing the frog gently and catching the water from it in her hat. Yes, it probably tasted like government-funded cafeteria asparagus. (I’m not fond of asparagus. Apologies to those who are.) There aren’t any Water-Holding Frogs in the middle of the ruddy Sahara (or wherever DD is.) I know. Shut up. Just trying to keep the heroine alive another chapter, so (--time for my favorite quote, like, ever, at least right now--) I don’t have to explain shanything.
Anyway, that’s pretty much it. I have no elucidation on the DNA thing. I’m still kinda confused about that.
So, yeah. That’s pretty much it.
Peace.

--Loligus Flammus Ex Mortis

Comments

[Random as pinkie]

So much win very well written
I can't get over these pony emoticons!