Reaching the Cloud Temple
There is a legend older than Equestria itself. A legend of a dragon. A dragon with immense powers, for his every breath creates the clouds that populate Equestria and the world. Now with the invention of the cloud producing machines, the Cloudbreather all but disappeared into legend......until now. Twilight, Princess of Friendship, and ex prodigy of Princess Celestia, has now heard of the legend, and has decided to look into this legend, and see just how true it is.
Twilight shivered with excitement as she followed the guide up the mountain. She had recently found a legend book in Celestia's library, and being interested, she started to read it. She had skimmed through most of it, until one in particular had caught her attention. The Legend of the Cloudbreather.
It was said to have lived near the tallest mountain, and to reach the cloud temple it lived in, you had to climb the tallest mountain. Twilight had thought that was the mountain that Canterlot was built into was the tallest, but no. It was the 5th tallest. Which was why she was here now. She and the shirpa she had hired where climbing the mountain, with wind blowing snow everywhere. It was rather hard to see, and that was with the light spell she had conjured. Of course, she was wearing snow goggles, and other precise of clothing that would protect her from the snow.
"HOW CLOSE ARE WE?" Twilight yelled. The shirpa turned and looked at her.
"WE'RE ALMOST THERE!" he yelled back. "WHY ARE WE GOING TO THE TOP?"
"SOMETING BIG IS UP THERE!" Twilight yelled. She and the shirpa started climbing again. "SOMETING THAT'S SUPOSED TO BE REALLY POWERFUL!"
"HOW?" the shirpa asked. "THIS MOUNTAIN IS 35,000 FEET TALL!"
"I KNOW! UP HERE IS SUPPOSED TO BE A REALLY POWERFUL DRAGON!" Twilight yelled.
"A DRAGON?" the shirpa asked. "MUST BE REALLY POWERFUL, ESPECIALLY IF IT LIVES UP IN THIS ELEVATION!"
"OH, YEAH!" yelled Twilight. She squinted upwards and pointed. "IS THAT THE PEAK?"
"YEAH!" the shirpa yelled. "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?" Twilight thought back to the legend.
"I'M NOT SURE!" Twilight yelled. "BUT IT'S A FLOATING TEMPLE!" The shirpa pointed out into the cloudy distance.
"YOU MEAN LIKE THAT ONE?" he asked. "I THINK I JUST SAW IT!" Twilight stared into the distance where he had pointed. She was about to yell back that she didn't see it when the clouds broke, and there it was, shining in the sunlight. It was beautiful. The legend had said it was a temple, but it looked more like a castle. It had arches, flying duchesses, spires, and it was all made out of a beautiful marble and gold looking stuff. Then the clouds closed again
"I SAW IT!" Twilight yelled. "HOW DO WE GET THERE?" The shirpa shrugged.
"THE AIR IS REALLY THIN UP HERE!" he yelled. "CAN'T YOU TELEPORT US?" Twilight shrugged.
"MAYBE!" she yelled. "I PREFERE SEEING IT, BUT I DON'T SEE WHY NOT!" Twilight grabbed hold of the shirpa, charged up the teleporting spell, and cast it, hoping that they would be near where they last saw it. Fortunately, luck was on there side. When Twilight cast the spell, and they teleported, they teleported right over an area of clouds part of the outside of the temple clouds. As they landed on the clouds, Twilight relished something. One, there were barley any clouds above them, and they could see the sun. Second, it was calm. There was a light breeze, but no serious wind. Third, it wasn't as cold as it just was. Sure, it was still cold enough to see your breath in the air, but still not as cold. And fourth, it was kind of misty. Twilight took of her goggles, realizing that the shirpa had as well. He had a light blue mane and grey fur.
"This is what you were looking for?" he asked in amazement.
"Yep," Twilight said. "I've never seen anything like this!"
"How?" the shirpa said. "I've been up here before, and I've never seen this!"
"You probably didn't know to look for this," Twilight said. "Besides, it's extremely windy and cloudy there." Twilight turned around and saw the peek of the mountain for a brief second before it was covered by clouds again.
"So, a dragon lives here?" the shirpa asked. Twilight nodded. "I knew dragons were powerful, but not this powerful. What kind of dragon lives here?"
"Before I go any further," Twilight said. "I need to have your word that you won't tell anypony about this place, or of what I'm about to tell you."
"Sure," the shirpa said. "I won't tell anypony." Twilight nodded.
"Good," she said. "What I am looking for is the Cloudbreather Dragon." The shirpa frowned.
"The Cloud...breather?" he asked.
"Yes, the Cloudbreather," Twilight said. "As the legend goes, he was the original cloud maker, and near the end of his disappearance, he was able to make his breath into clouds. But then ponies made the machines that make clouds and he disappeared, along with his temple, this place."
"Every breath?" the shirpa asked skeptically. "Does that mean he farts clouds too?" Twilight facehoofed, but then relized something.
"That's....actually a good question," she said. "Let's find him and ask him. By the way, I don't think you ever told me your name."
"I'm Pick," Pick said. "Where do we start looking?" Twilight shrugged.
"We should probably start with that central tower thing," she said. "It looks kind of like a castle, or at least more important than the others." As Pick and Twilight started walking towards the castle, Twilight shivered. Something didn't feel quite right. Then they turned a corner and Twilight screamed.
"I-is that a skeleton?!" she asked. Pick slowly walked towards it. When he was a few meters from it, he turned his head and nodded.
"It's a pony skeleton," he said. "Something obviously happened here." As they wandered towards the castle, they saw more and more skeletons, and when they reached the castle itself, they were everywhere.
"An absolute massacre," Twilight said. As they entered the building, they saw...nothing. Not one skeleton, pony or dragon.
"It's not here?" Twilight said in disbelief. "Seriously?"
"No, it's here alright," Pick said. Twilight frowned.
"Seriously? How can you say that?" she said. Pick pointed to the center of the circular building. In the middle was a cracked decorative circle. There was a slight fog around it.
"It's under that," he said. He started walking toward it. "I'll figure out how to open it, and we can continue." As he stepped onto the circle, it's cracks started spreading, and it broke. Fortunately, he was able to get off before he fell, but Twilight had screamed as if he had fallen.
"Are you alright?" she asked, hurrying over to his side. Pick nodded.
"I'm good," he said, then grinned stupidly. "Looks like I opened it." Twilight groaned.
"Let's just go in," she said. She encased herself and Pick in an aura of magic and started lowering them down into the pit. It wasn't very deep, for it only took about five seconds to get to the bottom. And when they did, they were greater with surprise.
"Where is it?" Twilight asked. She was looking all around the dark room and the only thing she could see was a wall with what seemed to be a picture story on it. She looked at it, and decided she might as well see what it was about. The first image showed a snake like dragon on it, and a cloud in its hand. Said dragon was golden, and had jade spikes and hair. The second image was the same dragon surrounded by ponies as it appeared to produce the clouds with a snap of its fingers. The third image was Celestia and the dragon shaking hoof and claw. The fourth and final image was Celestia standing above the now defeated dragon, while holding onto a cloud.
"Hey, Twilight?" she heard Pick yell from across the light area.
"Yeah?" she yelled back. She couldn't stop looking at the last two images.
"Is the dragon hostile?" Pick asked nervously.
"I don't think it's alive anymore," she said.
"Does the dragon have light blue eyes? And gold scales with jade spikes?" Pick asked. Twilight frowned, but still couldn't stop looking at the images.
"Yes, actually," she said. "How did you know?"
"Because I'm looking at him," Pick said. "And he looks angry." Twilight slowly turned around and saw that he was right. An absolutely massive golden dragon head was staring at them.