Chapter 1: Announcement

The sun shined brightly over the town of Ponyville. Pegasi, unicorns, and earth ponies were all roaming the streets and going about their business. It was another picture perfect day in the town of ponies. Everypony was in high spirits as the day went on. A group of three fliers were in particularly good moods.

"Come on guys!" the light blue pegasus Rainbow Dash shouted to her friends. "Try and keep up." She then sped off through the skies with her two friends following behind her. These two were known as Gilda and Lightning Dust. Gilda was a griffon while Lightning Dust was a pegasus like Rainbow Dash. The three fliers were pushing themselves to their absolute limits. They were trying to perfect a stunt that they had just thought of ten seconds ago.

Gilda soared above the two pegasi and tried to increase her speed. While she was just as fast as Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust, her acceleration wasn't as good. It took longer for Gilda to reach her top speeds than it did for the two pegasi. As such the trio had to carefully time their stunt otherwise everything would go wrong. A mach cone formed around Gilda's body and a trail of fire followed her as she flew. Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust quickly increased their speeds until they both had mach cones surrounding their bodies as well. Rainbow Dash had a rainbow colored trail following behind her while Lightning Dust had a lightning bolt trail mimicking her every move. Gilda flew in small circles above them while the two pegasi flew in diagonal directions. This was a new move that the trio was trying to perfect. Everything was going well but then Gilda's wing accidentally brushed against Lightning Dust's flank. This sent the teal mare off course and then she collided with Rainbow Dash. The two pegasi spiraled downwards before they managed to slow themselves down. As their speed decreased they were able to right themselves. Gilda approached the two ponies with a sheepish look on her white feathered face.

"Sorry about that." she said as she rubbed the back of her head with her paw. "You guys okay?"

"I'm good G." Rainbow Dash replied. "How 'bout you Lightning?"

"I'm all right Dash." Lightning Dust replied. "You guys wanna give it another go?"

"You know it!" Rainbow Dash and Gilda replied in unison.

The three fliers were just about to start their second attempt at their new stunt when a voice called out to them.

"Rainbow Dash!" a high pitched voice shouted excitedly. "Gilda! Lightning Dust!"

The trio turned and saw the pink earth pony Pinkie Pie who was riding on a strange flying vehicle. She was flying her contraption towards them. The party pony was breathing rather heavily. Gilda quickly flew towards her and grabbed a portion of the flying machine. The griffon kept Pinkie Pie airborne which allowed her to catch her breath. Gilda felt a small smile grow on her face. This was rather ironic when she thought about it. The last time she did this was when she had sent Pinkie Pie to the ground but now she was holding the vehicle so that the pink pony could stay in the air. It was quite funny how life worked out sometimes.

"The mayor wants to see everypony in ten minutes." Pinkie Pie said after she took a couple deep breaths. "She has something important to say."

"We'll be there Pinkie." Rainbow Dash assured her.

"Ya better get back down Pinks." Gilda said.

Lightning Dust nodded in agreement. "This thin air isn't good for ya."

Pinkie Pie nodded and then she flew down to the ground. The trio watched her descend and then they looked at each other and smiled slightly.

"So ten minutes?" Gilda asked.

"You guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Lightning Dust asked in a tone of playful mischief.

"I think we got time for one more go." Rainbow Dash said.

The three fliers put on a burst of speed and started their second attempt at their new stunt.

Meanwhile Pinkie Pie had landed on the roof of SugarCube Corner. The Cakes had allowed her to park her vehicle on the roof of the bakery since Pinkie Pie would use it for their new delivery service. While they could have easily hired a pegasus or two to do the job, Pinkie Pie was extremely eager to take on this task and the Cakes just couldn't refuse. Pinkie Pie hopped off of her flying machine and jumped off the roof. She stopped herself just before she hit the ground and then she just lightly touched down on the streets. A few ponies gave her a surprised glance but they said nothing. Pinkie Pie was just being Pinkie Pie and they had pretty much accepted that she could do some very weird things.

Pinkie Pie ran off to find her other friends. The party pony noticed that three of her friends were standing in a group. She quickly explained the situation to Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy. She still needed to find Twilight Sparkle and Spike. It was then that she noticed a small display of lights in the distance. Pinkie Pie quickly ran towards the source and saw Twilight Sparkle. The purple alicorn was practicing a spell while Spike watched. Twilight Sparkle was wearing the cape and hat that she had received from Trixie a while back. Trixie had told Twilight Sparkle to keep her new skills sharp and the alicorn was doing just that. Pinkie Pie applauded her friend's performance which caused the alicorn to blush just a tiny bit.

"Hey Pinkie." Twilight Sparkle greeted. "What's up?"

"The mayor wants everypony to meet in the town square in five minutes." Pinkie Pie told her. "She says she has something important to say. I hope it's a party."

With that, Pinkie Pie zoomed off to wherever. Twilight Sparkle decided that she could squeeze in an extra minute of training. Adjusting her purple hat properly, she continued her work.

Within the next five minutes, the town square was packed with ponies. Every resident in Ponyville had showed up to see what the big announcement was. The mayor stepped up to the podium and spoke.

"Greetings everypony." she said cheerfully. "I am sure that you're all wondering why I have asked you to come here. I am pleased to announce that Ponyville shall be competing in the first ever Equestria-wide Talent Show!"

This announcement led to some enthusiastic cheers from the crowd. They hadn't expected this but they were very excited to hear more about it. Sensing their enthusiasm, the mayor spoke up again.

"I am sure that you all have many questions about the show." she said. "The rules of the contest as well as all other important information are on the poster behind me." She gestured towards a large piece of parchment that had been nailed to the wall of the building behind her. "Everything you need to know is on that paper. Good luck to everypony wishing to compete."

With that, the mayor stepped down from her podium and walked away. Instantly the crowd of ponies swarmed to see the rules of the talent show. Pinkie Pie found her eight friends and they all gathered together. Gilda stood on her hind legs and sat Pinkie Pie on her shoulders as the pink pony pulled out a pair of binoculars. Using them she was easily able to read the rules of the contest to her friends.

The contest would feature four categories in which they could enter. The categories were flying, magic, acting, and music. Each category must be performed by a group. The group may have anywhere from two to five members in it. All members of the group must be residents of the town that they are representing. The prizes for the contest were ten thousand bits donated to the town for every first place position that was earned. Each member of the group would also receive a golden trophy and five thousand bits for themselves. The poster stated that all props, scenery, lighting, and special effects would be taken care of by the contest staff. Costumes and musical equipment however needed to be provided by the competitors. Everypony wishing to compete would be taken by train to Canterlot two weeks before the contest began. The teams would use that time to discuss the important scenery and such that they needed for their performances. Lodging would also be taken care of by the contest staff.

"That sounds awesome!" Rainbow Dash yelled.

"I can hardly wait for this contest." Rarity said. "Perhaps I could start a hobby as an actress."

"Well I think we all know who the flying group's gonna be." Gilda said with a grin. She glanced toward Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust who eagerly nodded. The trio was definitely excited at the prospect of showing off their skills to ponies from all around Equestria.

"Maybe I should try my hoof at magic." Twilight Sparkle said.

"Yeah you'd be a great performer." Spike said. "After all you were Trixie's apprentice."

The group of nine then walked off and happily discussed their plans. Meanwhile a group of three fillies were also very excited about the contest.

"Do you think we can win?" Scootaloo asked the others.

"Ah think we have a fair shot." Apple Bloom said.

"But it has to be acting or music." Sweetie Belle said. "Not all of us can fly or do magic."

"Yeah that's true." Scootaloo replied. Then her eyes widened. "Maybe we could give being a rock band another shot."

"Ah think we should do that." Apple Bloom agreed.

"Yeah since we don't have to worry about special effects or anything we'll be a lot better this time around than we were before." Sweetie Belle said in an excited tone.

The three fillies jumped up into the air and spoke at once.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS ROCK BAND!" they all shouted in unison as they slapped their hooves together.

With that, they quickly ran off to practice. They arrived at their clubhouse and quickly searched for what they would need. They dug out their old rock band costumes as well as the lyrics for their theme song. The three fillies quickly dressed themselves and began practicing. Hopefully they would win and maybe they would get their cutie marks.