The second Spike-centric episode of Season 2, "Dragon Quest" is a pretty normal, run-of-the-mill episode by the season's standards. Besides trying to tackle a fairly serious topic, that being Spike's journey of self-identity (arguably the most serious topic of any Spike-centric episode to date, even if I think this particular episode is inferior to "Secret of My Excess"), along with having some cool additions to the MLP canon, there's nothing particularly groundbreaking about this episode. So let's get started, shall we?

So good ol' Spike suffers a bit of an identity crisis after witnessing the Great Dragon Migration pass by Ponyville and realizing that he's about as far from being a fierce, ferocious, fire-breathing dragon as possible. While he certainly doesn't want to be a terrifying monster or anything, he realizes he doesn't really know anymore about dragons, or what it means to be a dragon, as ponies themselves do, and this understandably deeply disturbs him as, well, he is a dragon. I mean, this is a very understandable quandary and mature theme for this show, and one that plenty of ethnic groups that have immigrated to the U.S. or other nations themselves can sympathize with; throughout the U.S.'s history, for example, plenty of the members of immigrant communities have worried that they or their descendants are removed from or forget too much of their own or their ancestors cultural and ethnic heritage, have lost their very own identity even, or at least a significant part of it. But anyways, back to Spike; in order to rectify this, the little guy decides to join the Great Dragon Migration in the hopes that spending some time with other dragons will help him learn what it means to be a dragon and, by extension, himself. In order to make sure he doesn't get in over his head too much, Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash understandably follow Spike in a dragon disguise put together by Rarity herself.

So as soon as Spike gets there he realizes that adult dragons are a little too far out of his league, and so attempts to join a group of adolescent dragons instead. That's right, Spike doesn't meet just any dragons, he meets... TEENAGERS!!!

Oh don't be such a drama queen Lily!

Yes, teenage dragons, and boy oh boy there are lots of them! Now, to be honest, my feelings are a little split on these guys: on the one hand, there's certainly nothing wrong or inaccurate about their characterization. I mean, yeah, not all teenagers are that mean-spirited or obnoxious, but it does make sense that teenagers in dragon society would be, seeing as the species as depicted in MLP seems to be so aggressive and brutish. But at the same time they're just, for lack of a better way of putting it, kind of annoying. I mean, yeah, past secondary antagonists like Trixie or the Flim Flam Brothers were unlikable, but at the same time, most had had some sort of endearing quality about them, like a fun, over-the-top personality, etc. Heck, even an antagonist like Gilda was likable if only in that she used to be Rainbow Dash's friend! These douche-nozzle teenage dragons, however, are, I want to say, the most unlikable secondary protagonists since Dumb-Bell, Hoops, and Score in "Sonic Rainboom" in Season 1, and at least those pegasus jerks were not in that episode nearly as much as the dragons are in this one. The only good thing I can say about the teenage dragons is that at the very least they have some pretty humorous moments, but really, that's about it. They're jerks, but worst of all, they're very straight forward jerks, transparent, without much of a personality to speak of, and that makes them quite unlikable and not a very interesting element of this episode, which is a shame seeing as I kinda would've liked to learn some more interesting things about dragon society besides the fact that apparently their teenagers are douchebags who throw raves when they get together.

Crackle is best dragon!!!

Now Spike, on the other hand, is pretty cool throughout this episode. His Season 2 starring appearances are probably his most flattering to date seeing as they treat him and his problems so seriously, and that's very apparent here. He's relentless in his quest to discover what it means to be a dragon, no matter what tortures that group of jerky dragons puts him through, but in the end he makes the obviously difficult decision that he'd rather be a good person than a good dragon with great resolve and courage. Basically, this little guy, still a baby dragon, makes the conscientious decision to turn his back on his entire species because he'd rather do what he knows to be right than do that which'll allow him to fit into his own species! That is simply commendable, and Spike's refusal to smash a phoenix egg is most definitely one of his great shining moments in the entire series! The lesson he learns, that who he is is not the same as what he is, and that he doesn't have to look for a home among dragons when he already has one, and a family to boot, among Twilight and her friends in Ponyville, is really very touching and most definitely one of the best he's learned.

Besides Spike's shining moments, Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash prove themselves to be great friends in the lengths they go to in order to make sure Spike's alright and stays safe during his quest. In addition, the humor of this episode, while certainly not the show's A-material, is pretty solid, and there are some comedic moments that definitely stand out. The various settings and locales that we see throughout the episode are a nice and unique change of pace from the usual Ponyville setting and look quite cool if I do say so myself. Other than that, there's not much else to say about this episode, good or bad; it's overall a pretty solid but still average episode by Season 2 standards, but I commend it for its serious treatment of Spike and especially exceptional lesson. If you're looking for a solid Spike episode, in my opinion, it's his second-best starring role to date in the show (not counting his shining moments in "The Crystal Empire"), so most definitely a must-watch for fans of Spike.