It was a cool summer day. A gentle breeze blew through the air. Fluffy white clouds were scattered across the sky, breaking up the endless blue expanse.

A sky blue pegasus flew high above Equestria. She closed her eyes for a moment, enjoy the feel of it all: the power of her wings as they held her aloft, the wind blowing through her rainbow colored mane, the warmth of the morning sun on her back. It all felt so wonderful, so freeing.

With a quick twist of her body, she turned upward and started climbing. She flapped her wings as hard as she could, working to fly higher and higher. Despite the bright sun, the air grew cooler and cooler, becoming darker and darker. She could feel her heart rate speeding up to compensate for the thinner air.

Reaching the highest limits of the atmosphere that she could survive, the pegasus stopped. She kept herself there, floating. Opening her mouth wide, she let out a breath and watched as it turned to eyes before disappearing.

With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and pulled her wings closed. There was a moment of absolute weightlessness before gravity took a hold.

Her body kept limp as she fell head first back toward the ground. She kept her eyes closed as she plummeted.

"Rainbow."

Everything was wind and weightlessness. It was just her and the air rushing past.

"Rainbow."

She felt the gentle, feathery touch of the clouds across her coat as she passed through them. It was like the sky itself was caressing her.

A grin formed on her lips. She had reached terminal velocity, falling as fast as was possible. She could probably fly faster if she wanted. But that was not the point right now. No. Right now, it was more about the freedom of the fall back to the ground.

"Rainbow."

Unfortunately, the moment was rapidly coming to an end. As much as she enjoyed the fall, she did not want to end up slamming into the ground.

"RAINBOW!"

"Aah!" Rainbow Burst yelped out as she jerked awake. She gave a shake of her head and turned to look at Spike.

"What?!" she snapped. "You woke me up before the best part."

"Sor-ry," Spike said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. After being around Rainbow for years as her assistant, accomplice, and sidekick, he knew her pretty well. One of the first things he learned was she had a tendency to be grumpy whenever she was woken up.

"Anyway," he continued as he stood up, "we're here." Moving over to Rainbow, he stuck the book he had been reading into her saddle bag.

"We are?" Rainbow Burst rubbed her eyes one last time and moved to sit up, looking over the edge of the chariot.

Not far below them was a small town. As they made their way closer, more details of Ponyville could be made out. Most of the buildings looked to be one or two stories tall with straw covered roofs. There were exceptions of course. The most noticeable of which was a building that must have been four or five stories tall set in the very center of town.

Rainbow was uncertain how to describe the town. Maybe she should have paid more attention to her vocabulary studies. Still, it looked like a nice quiet place.

"This will be easy," Rainbow stated with a smirk.

"You really think so?" Spike asked as he grabbed the checklist.

"Sh...yeah. I meant it's like, what, four things?"

"Let's see...." Spike checked it. "Catering, weather, decoration, and music."

"See? She could have put it on a three by five notecard and still have room left." She smiled as she looked out at the town again. "We'll have this all done before dinner time, and have the rest of the day all to ourselves to do whatever we want."

"Uh..." Spike raised an eyebrow as he glanced over at her. "Didn't Princess Celestia tell you to make some friends while you were here?"

"Yeah-yeah-yeah," Rainbow said with a dismissive wave of her hoof. "There'll be plenty of time for that at the party."

Spike looked at the list, then back at Rainbow Burst again.

"Do you really think it'll be that easy?"

"Absolutely. I mean look at this place." She waved a hoof at the town as they came in. The pegasus guards pulling the chariot landed it smoothly on one of the wide streets. Several ponies stopped to look curiously at the new arrivals, but most just kept going about their business.

"Thanks, guys," Rainbow called out as she hopped out of the chariot and turned back to Spike who climbed onto her back.

"This place is so small and peaceful, I bet nothing ever happens around here."

The pair caught sight of a pink unicorn with puffy pink mane walking down the street toward them.

"Watch this," Rainbow whispered to Spike before turning and walking up to the unicorn.

"Hey. I'm Rainb-"

Before she could get any further, the unicorn let out a gasp as her eyes went wide. Her horn lit up with an aura of pale blue magic before she vanished in a poof of air and rain of confetti and streamers.

The two stared a moment, jaws hanging open. Rainbow Burst blinked as several of the bits of paper landed on her nose.

"Huh." She brushed the debris from her face. "That was weird." She turned to Spike. "Is it my breath?"

Spike leaned forward as Rainbow opened her mouth and exhaled. His nose twitched as he sniffed, checking on it.

"Nope," he said with a shake of his head. "Still minty fresh."

"Huh..." Rainbow turned to look at the spot that the pony had vanished from a moment before giving a shrug.

"Oh well." She started walking along the street. "Come on."

Spike gave a nod as he rode along. His eyes moved back toward the spot that the pink unicorn had been standing before disappearing. Was it normal for ponies to gasp? What about disappearing? Was it normal for them to vanish in a burst of confetti like that?

"Do you still think that nothing ever happens around here?" he asked.

"Bet you an emerald that will be the only strange thing we see the entire time we're here."