Dreams seldom make a lot of sense. Details will be missing, and weird contrasts exist. And yet, they can feel so startlingly real. For Skyblazer Haycart, a young adult pegasus with golden fur and a platinum-gray mane and tail, this dream felt entirely too vivid.

He woke up with a yell that reverberated off of the lake nearby. Disoriented, he stumbled over to the water's edge and splashed his face with frigid water. The dream was fading fast now, but the vision of a fierce and bloody hydra closing in on him, its many heads all spiraling in for the kill, refused to leave so easily.

Sky walked back to his campsite. His ground pad and blankets lie in a disheveled heap on soil which was wet with dew. As he pawed at his bedding with a hoof to straighten it, he noticed something which he didn't have words for.

He walked carefully across the small island, taking about five minutes to cross its length. On the opposite shore from his camp, the world seemed to simply stop working. He noticed nearby rocks and twigs suspended in midair as he approached the edge of the bluffs. He walked a few paces to each side to get a better idea of just what the hell he was looking at.

On either side of this, thing, nature continued as it properly should and a steep, grassy cliff dropped to a rocky beach. But a few paces back in the middle, it was like there was a hole in the sky itself, sharply outlined by the gray and cloudy sky beyond.

Sky looked through this hole. It had to be magic. After some thought back to his reading on magic, the word came to him. This was called a portal.

Sky realized he was still dreaming. It was very real for a dream, he even felt the morning chill and could smell the fresh breeze. There was birdsong now. Something seemed to click in his mind as he realized it was a lone lark on a branch nearby.

He cautiously tossed a branch into the void. It landed on the other side, where the ground was... a tiled floor? With a black and white checkerboard pattern.

Turning back and flying from here like a bat out of Tartarus was still an option.

No, thought Skyblazer, no, this is what I wanted, right? Adventure. Exploring the world.

It was just magic. He had seen plenty of unicorns and plenty of magic use in his life. Twilight had shown him incredible things. This was no different. He gulped, and very nervously stepped through the hole in the sky.

Clink, clink, clink. His hooves echoed on the polished floor, and the temperature went from freezing to warm. The sudden shift felt like walking into a house from the cold.

All around him was a muffled gray, where occasional starlight could be seen. The tiled pathway had a wooden railing. Beyond the rail was a sheer drop into an abyss where Sky couldn't even see the bottom. Was there a bottom?

His heart beating rapidly, Sky approached a set of stairs where an unassuming stone pedestal sat. It had runes on it in an unknown language. On top of this roughly carved pillar, or rather above it, floated a faceted and polished crystal.

Certain it was a trap and this would be a mistake, Skyblazer took the crystal anyways. It was gray, the same color as the skies around. Beneath the runes on the pedestal a word appeared in his own tongue, glowing green: Dream.

As Sky retreated through the portal and found himself back on the island, the space slammed shut behind him. Birdsong and wind rustling through grass could be heard again. And then, everything around him went foggy.

Skyblazer woke up. It was still dark out. He went for his pack to see if his mother's journal had any notes to make sense of the weird dream.

He dug into his pack. He jumped, spread his wings, and shot straight up into the sky above, while dropping an item onto the grass below. He landed on a branch, in shock. After a moment, he settled back down.

Here on the grass, really there in front of him, was a foggy gray crystal.

It was a beveled rectangle, fastened to a thin silver chain. Skyblazer put on this necklace, which felt like the right thing to do with it. He stared into the crystal, where thick fog appeared to ripple within it. Mesmerizing, and surreal.

Sky packed up camp, slung his saddlebags over his back, and adjusted the straps so his wings wouldn't chafe before taking off at a gallop down the beach. He ascended, leaving the sandy island shore behind him. A beautiful sunrise enveloped the water in a soft glow as the village drew nearer. In this light Sky could see that he was not over a lake, but rather a wide river.

A few town ponies looked up at his approach, but most ignored him. As he clattered to a stop on the cobblestone, he decided against asking the folks here about the crystal. Not much use starting his adventures looking like a loony, what with potion prophecies leading to some bizarre artifact which had to be imaginary. Even if it was tangible as the silver necklace it was socketed to.

There wasn't a bar in this village, but it did have a tiny market. Sky walked past the various stalls of sundry goods and adequate produce. This wasn't a colorful, energetic place. It was more somber than that, and quiet as a cemetery. Trade was conducted in a whisper. The atmosphere was gloomy and subdued.

Skyblazer waited patiently behind a half dozen ponies at a produce stand. They all seemed to be wearing any armor they could afford or scavenge, and seemed more interested in watching the sky above than conversing with each other. Curiously, they bartered for food with both coins and with bricks, which were stacked in an ever-growing pile in the middle of the market.

When this line had cleared, Skyblazer asked quietly if any prepared food was available. He exchanged a few bits for fruit and a bowl of hot grits with goat cheese. Bland, but edible and filling. He withdrew one of his healing potions from a saddle bag, and the merchant unicorn told him to quickly put it away before anyone noticed.

Sky asked, piqued, "What town is this, and what's going on with the bricks?"

"Not now," said the merchant in a brash but hushed tone, "Busy, go ask a guard."

"A guard? In a village this small?"

"You ain't from around here. You got your food, now get going."

Sky neatly balanced the bowl on his back, an earth-pony skill he had picked up from years of practice. He retreated from the market a ways, and sat under the shade of a tree to 'enjoy' his meal.

After bringing the empty bowl back, he followed the lone, damaged cobblestone road out of the market as it led to the meandering dirt paths that lined the rest of the town. Couldn't be more than thirty or forty ponies living here. Almost as small a place as Dodge Junction, but better maintained.

At one street corner, where a group of bedraggled and miserable looking colts took shelter under an equally worn-out tent, a bulky pegasus stood guard with a stern expression.

Sky noticed the guard's armor first of all, and lost track of his other questions. He asked bluntly,

"Monster hide?"

"You have a problem with it, stranger? Protects a pony as well as anything else."

"No, no. I understand if you have an emergency here, it's just,"

"Violent? Bloody? Not peaceful like we ponies are supposed to be? Tell that to the damn monsters."

Sky nodded grimly, and jogged his memory for the questions he had dropped. He asked,

"I was just passing through. What town is this, and may I ask what happened?"

"Riverbend. Ain't much more than a stopping-by point anyhow. Used to be a busier place, when folks had reason to travel on to Dodge Junction. Was how you'd bypass Everfree back in the day."

"Dodge Junction is my hometown."

"My condolences."

Sky put his ears down and glared at him, but shrugged it off and said, "Saw ponies trading bricks at the market."

The guard nodded, and said, "Good as gold about now. Need to rebuild the place. Guard tower brought down, Luna rest the scout's soul."

"May I ask what did it?"

"Dragon attack. The dragon lands are due east from here, cross the sea. They've always liked to settle near here, never bothered the town before though."

"I reckon that armor is dragon scale then."

"Yep. I helped bring down the leader of the pack, rest of em lost nerve and scattered back to their dens. Even had one of em apologize, say he didn't really want to be a part of attacking our kind."

"They usually keep to themselves unless you trespass on their territory."

"Equestria ain't their land! They can't just come over here and settle down right on top of mines rich with ore and expect us to leave em be."

Sky raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so you started it?"

"You looking for trouble, son? Those varmints don't have any right to be here."

"Okay, fine. By the by... do you have any more armor like that? Bet it's mighty tough."

"We may happen to have a bunch of material leftover, or we might have used more than we realized. Depends on what your offering."

Sky showed him the hefty bottle of healing potion. The pegasus snatched it up with a wing and looked at the color and consistency. He whistled.

"Stick around, young pegasus. I'll see what I can do for ya."

A thought struck Skyblazer. He said, "Um, can you tell them to craft it inside-out?"

"What? Do you know how abrasive dragon scales are?"

"Less abrasive than confronting a dragon while wearing armor crafted from its kin?"

"Fair point. I'll let them know. Not very effective though."

"I'm not out here just looking for trouble."

"Same here! I figure the opposite. Any other dragon gets the idea to invade Riverbend, they see this," he gestured at his armor, "and they realize we ain't ones to mess with."

"Okay, I can see that. And I guess the scales would be great against fire and fangs."

"And arrows, blades, claws, what have you. Tough stuff."

Sky squinted, more than a little revolted at himself with the thought of wearing armor made from the hide another critter. It wasn't like all dragons were inherently cruel and evil, even if they did often eat ponies that crossed into their territory. Thinking back on that awful animate thorn-vine convinced him to deal with it.

"It's a trade," he said, and the two pegasi shook wings on the deal.

His armor vest was ready the next afternoon. While waiting on it, Sky made productive use of his idle time. He read through his mother's notes from her monster hunting days, which he hadn't even known about until the train ride. He also paged through a copy of the friendship journal Twilight had gifted him, and some notes from Zecora which were written on loose parchment and tucked into the journal.

In an empty field behind the town that evening, he practiced using a magic bracelet the zebra had given him. When he concentrated on light magic, on the idea of a bright, sunny day, the runes on the bracelet would glow and illuminate the area with a flickering circle of light. This wouldn't last long before fizzling out. Magic didn't seem to be a natural strength of his, which he further confirmed by trying and failing to control the weather. After nearly getting zapped by an unintended storm cloud, Sky decided to give it a rest for the night.

The next day was a miserable, cold one. Light rain was soaking the ground and Skyblazer's fur and feathers. He decided to press on in spite of it, and use the time to practice his weather control magic.

Even with the armor of outstanding quality yet barbaric material, it was a very bleak day of adventuring. The cold weather made the deeper cut on his leg hurt. It hadn't completely healed even with potion, but had scabbed over and was healing naturally. Soaked to the skin with rain water, combined with the ice cold wind rippling by, Sky found himself shivering and miserable. Even the warmth from all the energy of flying didn't help offset it--a lot of his momentum was from a tailwind anyways.

He did manage to control the clouds above well enough to create his own personal clear space. All that did was convince a swarm of gigantic mosquitoes to come out of the rain and visit. Along with birds which hunted the bugs by spewing acid.

Sky was able to restore the rain clouds overhead, and he kept it that way. Night fell and the already obscured world became even darker as the storm kept on. He got his magic bracelet to work, and braced for more bugs, but none bothered him.

With the dim light he cautiously approached ground level, trying to feel out the air currents against his wings in a futile attempt to determine height. Maybe a steep hill nearby? He focused harder on magic and not enough on flight against gusts of wind. He had to focus on the wind to keep control, and the light went out.

A deep breath, trying to concentrate on both, and Sky had just enough light to see the muddy ground some fifty feet below. He slowed hard, which was painful on his wings after a long day's flight. It wasn't the best landing, but it wasn't the worst and he didn't trip into the mud. The landscape, or what he could see of it, was mostly rocky and barren. There were canyons, which didn't offer any safe shelter with all this water.

Sky had an idea. He concentrated on shelter, a roof over his head, a fluffy one, on mist rising from the chilly ground and condensing into a cloud. Slowly, one formed above his head. A thin fog at first, growing into a thicker cloud and then into something solid that shouldn't float if not for magic. Most of the rain water ran off the sides, with only a bit dripping down through this personal cloud.

Panting and content with his success, Sky found a soggy stick and set up his canvas ground pad as a makeshift tent. This kept the remainder of the water off. He shook out the storm water from his fur as best he could, and curled up to try and shelter himself from the winds with his wings. Sleep didn't come easily.

The next morning. It had stopped raining, but the ground and sky were both saturated with cold moisture. Sky wanted a hot beverage more than anything, but all the potential kindling was soaked.

It was time to try out the second of the three magic items Zecora had given him. She had called this a hot stone, which usually required a unicorn to use. Sky had objected of course, being a pegasus, and the crazy zebra's words echoed in his mind: 'I see within you a spark that binds together all of pony-kind, like few before within our time.'

Sky nonchalantly tossed the hot stone into the dripping tall grass. He stomped about a bit to flatten this tall grass, and then sat down on the awfully cold ground.

Right then, he thought to himself, to use this you channel fire magic into it. I'm not a unicorn, and I can't just call forth fire. If I could, I'd have a campfire instead of just hot tea.

"Um. Fire!" he yelled, prompting nothing at all to happen. He nuzzled the rock. Yep, still ice cold.

Over the next half hour, he went through a dozen more attempts to get this large, flat rock to glow hot. For all his effort, he was left with a nice skipping stone.

Growing angry with Zecora for her empty words, he lie down on his belly and stared at the stupid rock. His crystal swung down as he knelt, and sparked as it made contact with the stone.

He sat up in surprise, and held the crystal up with a hoof to look at it. The rippling fog within had changed to a spiraling pattern. Sky tried touching it to the rock again, and it did not respond.

Copying his other magical success, he thought about warm, cozy fire. Hearth and home. Heat. Something hot to drink on a cold day. The stone was still cold, but he was growing hot with anger.

The glowing word came to his memory. Dream. Was this one? What was even real anymore? But no, if Twilight's entire castle and cavalcade of friends were united by strange magic crystals, then perhaps other ones existed too.

Sky sat up. What exactly did he dream of? Adventure, treasure, friends? Certainly not fighting monsters in Everfree, and seeing trauma already in Zecora's hardship and the grim atmosphere of the village behind him. Not struggling with the concept of the six "Heroes of Equestria" being simply incapable of being everywhere and defending everypony from danger. Adventure was, in reality, a cold and hard thing. So what motivated him?

He closed his eyes and tried to drift into a daydream. Somewhere out there, by the sea, a griffon. Cobalt. A completely different creature than himself, a predatory one, and one with a distaste towards and, perhaps, a taste for ponies. Going through storms and monsters along the flight to meet her, maybe for nothing. But maybe... just maybe...

Unseen by Skyblazer, the crystal exuded a subtle light.

Friendship. It fuels the most powerful magic in all Equestria. What I wouldn't give for one, single friend, who might understand me...

Uninvited by him, thoughts and pictures of fire in various states flashed through his mind. A campfire. The vague and shadowy image of Riverbend on fire as a grimacing dragon flew past. A lightning strike.

Sky opened his eyes and cried out in pain. The hot rock was hot. Very, very hot. Quickly, he dug a tin mug out of his saddlebag, spilling a half dozen items in the process. The cup was filled with pooled-up rainwater. Set on the stone, the water soon boiled. Sky added tea leaves to the top, and pondered how exactly to handle the red-hot mug.

He stared at the metal handle, and willed it to cool down. The crystal glowed with a dull, grayish light, as though through fog. The handle and the stone cooled, while the mug and the tea stayed hot.

Sky carefully poured out the tea leaves best he could, added a couple sugar lumps, and drank the hot tea in a stupor. First the light magic bracelet, now the fire magic crystal. This was to be kept strictly to himself. No one--whether pony or griffon--would believe that a pegasus had just used magic reserved for unicorns.

The next few days were spent flying over Southeast Equestria. The stone wasn't a one-off event. He now had access to a very puny pyro spell, while he wore the crystal. When he took off the necklace, nothing happened. It didn't conjure up any other mystical arts for him though, which was probably a good thing. He had almost caused a brush fire with the minimal fire he could already control.

After crossing a mountain ridge through thin air that was hard to breathe and fly in, the landscape became mostly arid and cracked badlands. The sheer heat was suffocating, and Sky would almost rather spend time in the freezing air of high altitudes.

At the very least, he was able to draw up just enough moisture from the sky far above the desert to form a dubious cloud that still held his weight through innate magic. He couldn't form a storm cloud, which he realized was more due to the conditions than his own ability. Skyblazer took some pride in his improvement in weather control.

Despite his swiftness by wing, this desert took two days to cross. He had exhausted his water supplies by the end of it, and kept a keen eye out for more.

He could smell salt in the air. The ocean was near. Gradually, the sand gave way to more fertile soil and hardy palms. A coastal oasis shimmered in the heat. It wasn't a mirage, and while the water was muddy and unpleasant, it was at least drinkable. Sky filled his canteens, and set off for the beach which loomed in the distance. Perhaps another day's flight to the water's edge.

The first sign of the ocean was the shift in air currents. Sky found himself battling a strong headwind now, and the air was cooler. Abruptly, the desert changed from scrub brush hills to a level plain full of flowers. Sky flew a bit higher and observed the neat line that was formed between desert sands and pasture soil. This simply had to be magic.

There was a spring-fed lake in the distance. Sky happily deviated from his course in order to reach it. He emptied his canteens, rinsed them both out, and refilled them. He also took a swim to cool off and clean the mud off his vest.

Equipping his saddlebags and flying above the lake, Sky focused his weather control magic to generate a stronger breeze and dry off. He proceeded towards the coast. It wasn't far at all now, but it wouldn't do to attempt flying blind in the dark.

This night was a much better rest than the others before on his trip. It was set to be an ideal evening of camping, without so much as a needing a tent.

As Sky sat on a stump next to his arcane campfire, and roasted cattails and carrots over the fire to munch on, he heard a scuffling noise in the bushes. Just in time, he flew up into the air a ways.

A manticore lept from its ambush, rising a surprising ways into the air. Caught off guard, Sky heard the scritch of claws against his scale armor as he flew a ways higher.

The feline monster circled and growled at him as Sky considered his mother's notes. Manticores hated water. He gathered moisture into a neat little storm cloud, stomped on this cloud a few times, and unleashed a deluge onto the monster. It hissed, and ran back off towards the swamp.

After Skyblazer got the fire blazing again, he nuzzled into his pack for the third item from Zecora. This was a bundle of wooden stakes, each with an inset onyx with runes inscribed. These stakes were untied and placed in a circle around camp.

This time Sky was ready and motivated to get the magic working. He thought of the armor he was wearing. He thought of sturdy defenses such as citadels and city walls. He thought of an overwhelming desire to be more than a treasure-hunting scamp. A lofty goal of being some kind of hero, like Twilight and her friends. A Defender.

At this last thought, powerful magic sparked in each stake and a beam of white light shot up from each rune. These lights fanned out, and connected, forming a solid wall. Sky knocked on it. It made a ghostly plip noise, and held firm.

Now, he slept soundly.

Sky reached the ocean by the next afternoon. The weather was beautiful and the sound of crashing waves just reached his fine hearing. This perfect day of travel was only marred by Sky's first bloodshed. The manticore from earlier had gathered its pack and waited in ambush for Sky to take down the wall.

It wasn't possible for Sky to escape this time without a fight. A strong pyro spell badly singed one of the creatures. Another one lunged at him, but not before he knelt to draw a dagger from a sheath on his front leg. He held it in his mouth and lunged in a slashing arc; the manticore was badly cut, and retreated, along with the others.

A glint of distant light caught his eyes and brought his thoughts back into the moment. The plains below him became sandy beach dunes. Ahead was a broad, flat expanse that stretched to the horizon. Skyblazer couldn't imagine flying that sheer distance even with cloud magic. The griffon had somehow crossed the ocean without it.

He landed in order to unpack his map. He carefully considered the scale on it. Luna bay should be to his south, not far at all now.

Now he flew far up into the blue. From this vantage he surveyed the south against the glare of sunlight on water. Sandy brown became the dark gray of coastal bluffs.

After feeling out the winds and angling his wings against the incoming ocean breeze, he swooped at great speed towards the cliffs. Here, if Zecora was trustworthy, would be the object of both Sky's and his mother's long search.

Sky observed the seaside cliffs below, while also looking ahead to watch out for seagulls. The cliff face reached an indent. This had to be Luna Bay.

His landing on top of the bluffs was graceful and soft. With his vision, as strong as a hawk's, he observed the shoals below for signs of a dwelling. Nothing. He scanned the cliff top. There, towards the middle, was an artificial shape.

He flew closer, revealing the shape to be a house. A shanty, to be specific. It was built out of driftwood and stones, with a roof of palm leaves. There was a dark blue feather caught in a scrub bush nearby. Skyblazer walked up to the door, and knocked.