Quest For Harmony

by destinedjagold

Chapter 63 - Dragon Study

I've lost track of time... And our torch is already small. Spike was already having difficulty holding it. It'll be soon before he'll be forced to throw it away. I'm not sure about dragon scales, but from his reaction, I think his hand will be burned if this keeps up.

Fortunately for us, after walking up on a new floor, we saw an opening not too far away. Strangely though, ever since we started walking to this floor, the air became...chillier than earlier. We must be pretty high up. Also, sounds of rain echoed around the dark area. It's still raining? Sheesh.

As we came closer, Spike threw the small torch aside. The light from the opening up ahead is already providing enough faint light for the both of us to see our surroundings around.

It's...kinda strange though, now that I think about it, why is there still light outside? I mean, isn't the whole sky covered by the dark clouds? I'm pretty sure, from the looks of it, that the clouds are too thick for sunlight to penetrate...if the sun is still around that is. Celestia controls the sun here, right? Hm... Actually, no, I don— "Hey Spike?"

"Yeah?"

"Celestia controls the sun, right?"

"Before she was trapped inside that deliciously huge crystal, yeah. And the moon as well. Why?"

I shrugged. I guess the series was correct about her. I just wished the series had told me about this war. It would have been a big heads up for the unfortunate ones like myself to accidentally get here. Wait, Spike said before Celestia was trapped. "What about now?"

Spike shook his head slightly. "Last time I saw the sun, it was stuck in the sky when it was about to set."

I see. I guess the battle of Celestia and Nightmare Moon took place at almost sundown. Kinda the opposite in the series, though. Aw well.

As I walked out from the dark mountain, Spike and I were immediately greeted by the strong wind and rain. I quickly ran back inside.

Spike jumped off of my back and tried his best to dry himself off.

"We should probably wait for the rain to stop," I suggested after shaking myself off of the water that I caught from the rain. I turned and saw Spike dripping wet, and was giving me a very nasty glare. Er... I must have given him the Gold Blitz rain. I smiled apologetically. "S-sorry..."

---

We went out after the rain became a light drizzle, that took for about...ten or more minutes though. And oh, my wound is all dried up and it's no longer painful when Spike's tail taps on it. It was a big relief. The path we're walking on, from my analysis, is circling around the mountain, and...damn...the mountains of this place is pretty close to each other. The earthy paths are wide enough to walk freely though, but I still need to be careful. It's still raining, and I don't want to slip and fall to my death. I don't think Discord, or whoever this spirit or voice within me, would appreciate a broken-boned pony.

After walking on a curving path, I saw another path from another mountain within reach. Before walking on it though, Spike and I stared at the tallest mountain, which is still...uh...two... three... four... seven... twelve mountains away from us.

The tallest mountain of the Smokey Mountains. From our vantage point, we could already see black smoke coming out from a pretty large cave near the peak of that mountain. I gulped as I continued our journey.

Okay, so how the heck are we suppose to deal with a giant dragon, anyway?

"So," Spike spoke quietly, "what's the plan on dealing with the big dragon?"

One... Two... Three... "I have no idea..." I responded with a sigh. "I don't really know much about dragons, though..." And an idea sprang inside my head, and it gave me something to smile about. And hoped for. Hope is important, right? "Spike, you're a studious dragon, right?"

Spike arched me an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"Well, as I've said, I don't know much about dragons, so uh...could you tell me more about the—er..." I forgot, Spike is a dragon as well, "...about your kind?"

"Hm..." Spike put a claw on his chin as he was deep in thought.

I stopped for the path we were taking is no longer offering any more earth for me to walk on. At least there was a cave on my left. I went inside, and saw another opening on the other end. I walked towards it, and carefully watching the path ahead of me with the aid of the very faint light from both openings.

"Well," Spike's voice echoed slightly around the place, "there's a lot of things to talk about dragons though... What do you want to learn about?"

I shrugged as I rolled my eyes. "About how to defeat a giant dragon would be pretty nice to know about..." I said with a lame tone.

"Oh, yeah." He scratched his head. "That would be useful, huh?"

I rolled my eyes again and exhaled through my nostrils as I exited the mouth of the cave and started following the path towards our destination. "Gee, yah think?"

He chuckled awkwardly. "Well, there aren't really any large collection of books about dragons though." He shrugged as I carefully jumped to another path of another mountain. I thought you said that there are lots of things to talk about dragons... Sigh... "All of the books I've read are written by ponies, an—"

"And lemme guess, the ponies were too afraid to study dragons, yes?"

"Are you sure you're really not from here?" He shook his head slightly. "Anyway, yeah. The only known weak points of dragons I've read are their eyes..."

"Eyes?" I blinked. "Dragons have sharp eyes, right?"

"Yeah, but it's also their most vulnerable and exposed part."

Still kinda useless if I manage to blind it while sleeping, for it'd still be able to sniff me out...

"Second is their wings." Spike continued. "As the book says, a flightless dragon is a dead dragon."

I arched my eyebrow of how familiar that phrase is. How To Train Your Dragon perhaps? I'm not sure, but whatever. Even a wingless dragon can still be pretty darn scary to deal with. Eyes, nope. Wings, nu-uh... Next...

"Third is their limbs. If they can't move, then they're sitting ducks."

"I'm beginning to think that the title of the book you've read is 'How To Slay A Dragon For Dummies'..." I sighed frustratingly...

"Hey," Spike spoke like he was surprised, "how'd you know!?"

I forced myself not to slam my face directly on the wall of this mountain. I groaned instead.