Skye was sitting in the garden with her friends. The sun was warm and nice. She was drawing a big flower with her yellow crayon.

"Look at my flower!" said Skye, holding up her paper.

"Pretty!" said Lily, who was drawing a cat.

Ziggy was jumping around them. "Jump! Jump! Jump!" he shouted.

Dash was running in circles. "I'm fast like wind! Whoooosh!"

Then they heard it. CIUFFFF CIUFFFF!

The magic train came rolling into the garden. It was red and blue and sparkled in the sun.

"Hello friends, both big and small! Today we'll go where mountains call! Where smoke goes up and heat is high, an adventure waits beneath the sky!" said Toby the Magic Train.

"Yay! Train ride!" shouted all four friends.

They climbed aboard. Skye sat by the window. She liked to watch everything go by. Lily sat next to her. Ziggy and Dash sat behind them, bouncing on their seats.

WHOOOOSH! The train started moving. It went faster and faster. The garden disappeared. Trees flew by. Then rocks. Big, black rocks.

"Where are we going?" asked Skye, looking out.

The air got warmer. Then hot. Really hot!

"It's hot!" said Lily, fanning her face with her hand.

Through the window, Skye saw something amazing. A huge mountain with smoke coming out the top!

"A volcano!" shouted Dash.

The train stopped near the bottom of the volcano. PSSSHHH went the brakes.

"Be brave, be kind, and you will see, that friends can make great company!" said Toby the Magic Train.

The children got off the train. The ground was black and crunchy under their feet. CRUNCH CRUNCH went their shoes.

"Wow!" said Skye, looking up at the smoking mountain.

Suddenly, they heard crying. "Waaaahhh! Waaahhh!"

"Someone's sad!" said Skye. She was always good at noticing when someone needed help.

They followed the sound. Behind a big black rock, they found... a dragon! But not a scary dragon. This dragon was purple with orange spots. He had big green eyes full of tears.

"Why are you crying?" asked Skye gently.

The dragon sniffled. "I'm Spark. I live in the volcano. But now I can't get home!"

"Why not?" asked Lily, stepping closer.

"There was a big BOOM this morning," said Spark. "Rocks fell down. Now the path is blocked. And I'm too little to fly that high yet."

Skye looked at the blocked path. Big rocks were piled up high. Too high for a little dragon to climb.

"We'll help you!" said Skye.

"But how?" asked Ziggy, looking at the huge rocks.

Skye thought hard. Then she noticed something. Steam was coming out from cracks in the ground. SSSSSSS went the steam.

"I have an idea!" said Skye. "But we need to work together."

She pointed to a flat rock nearby. "If we push that rock over the steam, maybe it will float up!"

"Like a boat in the air?" asked Dash.

"Yes!" said Skye.

But the rock was heavy. Really heavy.

"It won't move," said Ziggy, pushing hard.

"Wait," said Spark. "I can help too!"

The little dragon breathed out. Not fire, but warm air. The warm air made the steam stronger. WHOOOOSH!

"Now let's all push together!" said Skye. "One, two, three... PUSH!"

They all pushed. Even little Spark pushed with his tail. The rock moved! Slowly, slowly, it slid over the steam.

POP! The steam lifted the rock up! It floated in the air like magic!

"It works!" shouted Lily.

But then the rock started to wobble. "Oh no!" cried Dash.

"Quick! We need more rocks!" said Skye.

They found more flat rocks. One by one, they pushed them over the steam vents. Soon they had floating stepping stones going up, up, up toward the volcano opening.

"But they're moving!" said Ziggy, watching the rocks bob up and down.

Spark looked scared. "What if I fall?"

Skye took Spark's claw in her hand. "We'll go together. Hold on tight!"

She stepped on the first floating rock. It dipped down a bit. WOBBLY WOBBLY. But it held!

"Come on, Spark," said Skye softly. "You're brave."

The little dragon stepped on too. The rock wobbled more. Skye's tummy felt funny.

"I'm scared!" said Spark.

"Me too," said Skye. "But scared is okay. We can be scared and brave at the same time."

Behind them, Lily, Ziggy, and Dash cheered. "You can do it!"

Step by step, Skye and Spark went up. The rocks swayed and bobbed. The steam made everything foggy and hard to see.

Halfway up, one rock started to sink!

"Jump!" shouted Skye.

They jumped to the next rock just in time! The other rock fell down with a CRASH!

Skye's heart was beating fast. THUMP THUMP THUMP. But she kept going.

Finally, they reached a ledge near the top of the volcano. Safe ground!

"We made it!" said Spark, doing a happy dance.

From up high, Skye could see inside the volcano. It wasn't scary at all! Inside was like a cozy cave with crystals that glowed orange and red.

"That's my home!" said Spark happily.

But Skye had to get back down to her friends. The floating rocks were gone now.

"How will you get down?" asked Spark.

Skye looked worried. It was very high. Too high to climb.

Then Spark smiled. "Wait here!"

The dragon ran into his cave home. He came back with something shiny in his mouth. It was a golden feather!

"This is a magic feather from a firebird," said Spark. "Hold it tight and think of where you want to go!"

Skye took the feather. It felt warm and tingly.

"Thank you for helping me," said Spark. "You were so brave! And kind!"

Skye hugged the little dragon. "You were brave too!"

She held the feather tight and thought of her friends waiting below.

WHOOOOSH! The feather glowed bright! Skye felt herself floating down, gentle like a bubble. Down, down, down, until her feet touched the ground.

"Skye!" Her friends ran to hug her.

"That was amazing!" said Ziggy.

"You were so brave!" said Lily.

"Super cool!" said Dash.

They all looked up. Spark was waving from his cave, looking happy.

"Thank you, friends!" Spark called down. "Visit me again!"

Just then, they heard the familiar sound. CIUFFFF CIUFFFF!

Toby the Magic Train had returned.

"You helped a friend in need today, with courage shown in every way! Now climb aboard, it's time to go, you've been the best friends one could know!"

The children climbed back on the train. Skye still held the golden feather. It would remind her of this adventure.

As the train chugged away, they waved goodbye to Spark. The little dragon breathed out pretty orange sparkles that looked like fireworks in the sky. POP! POP! POP!

"That was the best adventure!" said Skye, feeling sleepy now after all that excitement.

The train went faster. The volcano got smaller and smaller. Soon they saw trees again. Then houses. Then... their garden!

The train stopped right where it had picked them up.

"Goodbye, dear friends, brave and true! More adventures wait for you!" said Toby the Magic Train.

CIUFFFF CIUFFFF! And away went the magic train.

Skye showed her friends the golden feather. It still felt warm.

"We really helped Spark," said Lily.

"Because we worked together!" said Ziggy.

"And Skye was super brave!" said Dash.

Skye smiled. She had been scared on those wobbly rocks. Very scared. But she did it anyway because Spark needed help.

Just then, Skye's daddy Jack came outside. "Having fun, sweetie?"

Skye ran to him and hugged his long legs. "Daddy! We went on adventure!"

Jack picked her up. "Wow! Tell me all about it!"

As Skye told her daddy about the volcano and the dragon and the floating rocks, she felt proud. She had been brave today. Even when she was scared.

**The End**

**What We Learned:** Sometimes we feel scared when we try new things or help others. But being brave doesn't mean not feeling scared. Being brave means doing the right thing even when we are scared. When we help others and work together with our friends, we can do amazing things! Skye showed us that even quiet, gentle people can be very brave when someone needs help. And remember - it's okay to feel scared. We can be scared and brave at the same time!