Chapter 1: Just Another Day

One bright and sunny day in Ponyville, the light blue pegasus pony named Rainbow Dash was hanging out with her best friend, the brown and white griffon named Gilda. The two were spending their day flying and performing stunts like they usually did. After a couple flying races they flew down from the sky and landed smoothly in the streets. They took a stroll through town and met up with their other friends. Their close friends included the ponies Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. Along with those five ponies was a purple dragon named Spike. Spike seemed to have something on his mind. He was talking with Twilight Sparkle in an urgent whisper. The dragon had a look of embarrassment on his face while the purple alicorn had a look of amusement on hers. Twilight Sparkle didn't say what it was that she and Spike were talking about which caused the young dragon to look extremely relieved.

The group of eight friends walked along the streets and talking to each other. They were all extremely close friends. They chatted about their interests and shared a couple jokes. Their peaceful conversation was interrupted when all of a sudden a loud noise got their attention.

"YEAH!" a voice yelled.

The eight friends looked around wildly for the source of the noise.

"Look out everypony!" the voice yelled excitedly.

Gilda looked to the skies and she saw who was speaking. She closed her golden yellow eyes and shook her white feathered head with a sigh. Rainbow Dash looked at her and she seemed to see something in the griffon's facial expression that the others could not.

"Lightning Dust?" Rainbow Dash asked in a tone that suggested that she was expecting the worst.

"Lightning Dust." Gilda answered in the same tone.

Rainbow Dash's purple and pink eyes rolled as she spoke again.

"How many times is she gonna try this?" Rainbow Dash asked with a groan.

"Until she gets it right." Gilda answered. "You know Lightning Dust. When she has a stunt in her mind she doesn't stop performing it until she can do it perfectly."

"Yeah you're right about that." Rainbow Dash agreed with a small sigh.

Gilda then turned to the pink pony beside her and spoke.

"Hey Pinks." Gilda said to Pinkie Pie. "Can you get the mattress for us again please?"

Pinkie Pie nodded and she quickly ran off. Within seconds she came back with a giant mattress. Gilda and Rainbow Dash held it above their heads and watched the speck in the sky that was Lightning Dust get closer and closer. The duo moved towards where she would land and waited. Everypony in the area backed away as was common accord. Soon enough Lightning Dust landed right on the mattress. She had a look of disappointment on her face. She jumped off of the mattress and spoke with a sigh.

"Too short." she said. "I'm gonna need more power next time. Thanks for the soft landing guys."

"No problem Lightning." Rainbow Dash said in a cheerful and relieved tone.

"When are you gonna stop with this stunt?" Gilda asked her daredevil friend.

"You kidding me G?" Lightning Dust asked incredulously. "This stunt is awesome and I'm gonna get it right one of these days. Just you wait."

"Yeah well today's not that day." Rainbow Dash said.

"Neither was yesterday." Gilda added.

"Or the day before that." Rainbow Dash continued with a grin.

"Or the day before that." Gilda echoed with her own grin.

"All right I get it." Lightning Dust said in an irritated tone. "Once I get this stunt right I'll wipe those grins right off your faces. See ya!" With that she zoomed off to the skies while Gilda and Rainbow Dash shook their heads at the reckless daredevil's stubbornness.

For an entire week Lightning Dust had been dead set on performing a specific stunt flawlessly. She had been hanging out with Pinkie Pie for a day and she took an interest in the pink pony's party cannon. The energetic pink pony allowed Lightning Dust to borrow it for a while and Lightning Dust used its design to build her own cannon. This one was much larger and much more powerful than Pinkie Pie's party cannon was. It needed to be bigger and better since instead of launching confetti, Lightning Dust was launching herself.

After Lightning Dust's departure into the skies, the rest of the group walked on. They really liked Lightning Dust but sometimes the daredevil scared them with just how much she would push herself. They knew that the daredevil didn't mean them any harm but still her reckless behavior concerned them. Thankfully both Rainbow Dash and Gilda knew Lightning Dust very well and they were able to keep her from doing anything that was unnecessarily dangerous for her own sake or the sake of others. Lightning Dust loved going to the extremes with all of her stunts but she was able to recognize when a stunt had more risk than reward. While the cannon stunt was risky it wasn't too dangerous for the daredevil and everypony knew that she wouldn't give up on a stunt once she had her heart set on it. The eight friends walked and talked with each other cheerfully.

"So anypony have any super duper fun plans today?" Pinkie Pie asked energetically.

The rest of her friends all shook their heads. None of them had anything to do that day. All of them had finished up at their respective jobs and they didn't have any activities planned. Twilight Sparkle didn't have anything that she wanted to study at the moment. Rarity had a recent surge in creativity with her fashion so she rewarded herself with a small break. Fluttershy had already tended to her animals so a picnic with them wasn't going to be necessary. Applejack had done her work around the farm and she tended to relax rather than be part of the fun. The cowgirl enjoyed herself like most other ponies but usually she'd either help her other friends or just relax at her home. Rainbow Dash and Gilda had already done a good amount of flying for the day so they decided to take a short break for a bit. Pinkie Pie looked deep in thought. She had no plans so she was going to hang out with whichever friend wasn't busy. Unfortunately for her all of her friends had free schedules. What could she do?

"Why not a party?" she asked.

"Pinkie." Twilight Sparkle began. "Don't you think it's kind of short notice?"

"I agree with Twilight." Rarity said. "Besides many ponies are busy right now."

"Ah don't think we could have a big party like you would want sugar cube." Applejack said.

"At most it could be the eight of us." Fluttershy said.

"And Lightning Dust." Gilda added.

"Unless she cannon launches herself across Equestria." Rainbow Dash said with a laugh.

"A party with just the eight of us?" Pinkie Pie asked. Then her face split into a wide smile. "That's a great idea!"

The eight friends made their plans and Rainbow Dash asked Lightning Dust if she wanted to show up. The daredevil agreed and she flew off to find a spot to have their little party. The nine friends sat down on a blanket in the middle of a field underneath the shade of a large tree. They talked with each other cheerfully. Jokes were shared and appreciated between the group. They all really got along and enjoyed each other's company. They hung around their spot until the sun set. Then all of them said their goodbyes to each other and headed off towards their respective houses. They all fell asleep and anticipated the next day. Ponyville might be a quiet town, but there was always fun whenever these nine friends got together. Little did they know that they'd soon meet another group that had a very different idea of fun.