Spikes Quest - Chapter 6: [135]  
Barius stirred from his slumber. Whys the sun so bright? he muttered to himself as he shielded his eyes from the light coming into the room.  
It wasnt like him to oversleep so late, he glanced around the room and saw two other dragons, a blue and a green one, sleeping on the floor. Ah! he jumped awake, startled by the two intruders in his room. Wait, Barius stopped to think to himself, I know these guys, Sharp and Snort, they were Spikes friends. We stayed up late last night having wrestling matches, after the pile, Snort wanted a rematch so they each took turns facing off against each other. I stayed out though, I knew Id be no match, but they let me be the ref, so that was cool. Barius breathing had calmed after recollecting the events of last night, and that strange dragons hadnt just decided to sleep in his cave.  
Sharp, was stirred awake from Barius small outburst, and gave a small yawn sitting upright. Mornin Barry, Sharp said already shortening his name, Man, last night was probably the best night Ive had in a long time.  
Really? Barius asked, Sleeping on a dirty floor with a pile of other dragons was the best youve had so far? Barius was skeptical, these dragons mustve just been being nice. Barius knew he gets enough of that around here.  
Yeah, Sharp said, sitting up and stretching out his arms and wings, It beats sleeping in a wet dark cave, a cold metal cage, and in constant fear of being abducted by crazy magic diamond dogs.  
Wait, what? Barius asked, surprised, You where what now? Dark caves, cold cages, magic diamond dogs? He narrowed his eyes at them. I feel you guys arent telling me something.  
You mean Spike didnt tell you about why were here? Sharp said, Its a long story but I can try and give you the short version. I found this lone dragon wandering out in the open down in the southern part of dragon ridge, you know the valley near the lava pools, well thats Spike. I didnt think it was smart for him to be on his own, so I called out to him, so we could get out of dragon ridge, cause theres safety in numbers.  
“Okay.” Barius nodded. Though that would mean that Sharp was alone too before finding Spike.  
So he tells me hes on a quest to find some other dragons, well he found me, mission accomplished, I tell him we need to get out here cause dragons are disappearing and the green glow on Spiral Mountain is probably a bad sign. That night we get attacked by this glowing green demon diamond dog thing, but Spike manages to weaken him with his flame breath and destroy it.  
Mustve been a magic shade of some sort, if it was weak to magic fire. That mustve been why Spike was interested in magic dragons.  
Next day, Spikes all like, we gotta go find other dragons and warn them. First dragon we come across is Magma. And wouldnt you know it, we get attacked again, but by this short diamond dog in a robe, who was summoning more of those demon dogs. Well, we put up a fight, but the floor crumbled beneath us and we fell into an underground river and ended up in this cave.  
Barius raised his eyebrow. A diamond dog summoner? How is that possible?  
Thats where we picked up Snort, that guy over there, Sharp pointed to the still knocked out green dragon, and we explored the caverns to find a way out. But instead we found a diamond dog mining site, but it wasnt diamond dogs digging, it was dragons, and they were in chains.  
Dragons? In chains? Barius asked, concerned?  
Yeah. Sharp nodded gravely. They mustve been strong chains, cause even the larger dragons couldnt break out. Oh, and we were captured, snuck up right behind us and grabbed us. Sharp gave a shudder. I woke up in a cage, and Snort and Magma were chained up. I was worried we were going to be there forever, which is why I wanted to leave Dragon Ridge, I knew it was something, just didnt know it was diamond dogs, I knew we shouldve just left, and wed be safe, but-  
Sharp. Barius interrupted the blue dragons rambling.  
“Oh, right. Anyway, Spike comes to the rescue, with Mangle this time, and busts us out. We were going to rescue the rest of Mangles crew, but Magma, being the hot tempered dragon he is, went full rampage mode knocking out diamond dogs left and right. In the chaos, Spike released the dragons, but thats when this big mean looking diamond dog shows up with this glowing chain.  
Glowing?  
Yeah, it had this green sheen to it. Anyway, I thought we were winning, but he took out so many dragons so easily, even knocked the wind out of Magma. We made a desperation move, Mangles bro stood the line so we could escape, and he collapsed the cave as we ran out the exit.  
Wow, glowing chains and a diamond dog who could subdue dragons? Barius wondered to himself  
Well, we got outside, thats when we came here, to get help, and we met you, and you know the rest. Sharp concluded, Dang, how did I get pulled into this mess he looked up at Barius, I owe my continued survival to Spike, hes saved me at least twice, so hes definitely a good dragon.  
Yeah, he seems like an upstanding dude, you dont see many dragons like that around here. Barius said. You said something about enchanted chains and diamond dogs using magic?  
Um, yeah? Major problems, and we dont even know if theres more swarming under the ridge. Sharp was perpexled. Out of the whole story he just told, the magic was what the white dragon was interested in?  
You know what this means? Barius asked, exited, bouncing a little.  
What?