High Above The World Below...
Disclaimer: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is owned by Hasbro
A young pegasus filly sniffled a bit from where she laid in a cloud as some of the others above her laughed. "Look at the klutz! Dragon Lady? More like 'Lizard Lady' with how well she flies!"
With a teary glare, Dragon Lady looked up at the filly above her as her camera bounced around her neck. "You're just jealous that I got bigger wings then you do! That's all you butthead!"
The bully was taken aback and unsure for a moment as she glanced at Dragon Lady's wings before she went back to sneering. "Who would want such big wings if all they do is make you unable to maneuver like other pegasi! Heck, dragons are more graceful then you, Lizard Lady!"
Not wanting for the laughing bullies to know how their insults affected her, Dragon Lady opened her wings to their impressive wingspan and flew off the cloud she was on. 'Those... those...' A sniffle escaped her as she glared at her wings. 'Why do you need to be so big!? All you ever do is get in the way...' Dragon Lady closed her eyes and flapped her wings as she hit a thermal. 'Oh, who am I kidding... they're right. I don't even have a Cutie Mark yet...'
Unnoticed by her, the thermal she was using was carrying her higher and higher. So deep in thought, Dragon Lady had not noticed the various pegasi who were trying to reach her as she was going far higher then a pegasus could safely fly. Below her, one of her few friends was pushing himself to his limits as he tried to reach her, his rainbow colored mane streaming behind him as he watched her become a speck. "DAMNIT DRAGON LADY! STOP!" However, before he could get much higher, he was grabbed by a flight instructor. "LET ME GO! LET ME GO! DRAGON LADY!"
As he grimaced, the instructor kept his grip on the struggling colt. "Calm yourself!" The Instructor then turned to another one. "Get the high altitude rescue group on the horn now! Tell them we have a filly getting too high!"
Having waited until the Instructor handed over the colt, Rainbow Blitz, to another adult pegasus, the second Instructor leaned in. "They're already on their way, but she's already too damn high for them to reach her in time... there's no way that they'll be able to save her most likely."
Several moments passed before the first Instructor growled in his throat and turned a glare on a group of fillies a distance below who flinched. "When I am through with that bunch... and if we don't get her down, I am tossing them from the program!"
Far above, the high altitude rescue team continued to push themselves as they attempted to reach her. They were used to rescuing young pegasi and griffins who got caught in powerful updrafts with the odd adult. But even they found that they were having some issues as the Captain of the team shook her head. "Damn that filly is flying high..."
Beside her, her second nodded his head. "Yeah, Thunderhead. Celestia-damn is that girl flying high... if she survives this, then I vote that we keep an eye on her to join us once she's older and got some training under her hooves."
There was nods as they noticed how high they were going and they began to have issues breathing even with their training as Dragon Lady continued to get smaller and smaller. With a scowl, though there was more then a little horror in her expression, Thunderhead shook her head. "We're going to need to call it off soon, we're nearly at our limits..."
Up above, Dragon Lady sighed, still not having opened her eyes as even though she knew the air was thinner, she was having slight issues with breathing. "If only I could soar far above Equis and leave all my worries away..."
As the updraft she was using died having reached it's maximum height, she grabbed another that pushed her even higher as she rapidly rose above 25,000 feet to the dismay of the following high altitude team. With a sigh and her wings burning, Thunderhead shook her head. "Well... that's that..." She then turned a sad expression to her Second and the rest of the team. "Hawkeyes, continue to follow her so that we might be able to retrieve her body... Hawkeyes? Something wrong?"
Slowly with a disbelief on his face, the griffin pulled the binoculars away from his eyes. "She's... she's still moving and flapping those wings of hers! WHAT IN THE TARTARUS!?"
The others were also stunned as they stared at him. "How... how could a pegasus still be conscious at those heights..."
Before anyone else could say anything, there was a flash of gold and suddenly Princess Celestia was beside them. "Hello, my little ponies and griffins, I heard that there's an issue?"
While surprised, Thunderhead swiftly covered it and pointed upwards as she spoke out of breath in the thin air. "We have a filly flying extremely high and far above safe limits... but she's still conscious and..."
Having trailed off, Celestia finished her sentence as her eyes picked out the small filly among the blue of the sky. "And you have reached your limits..." A smile then spread along her muzzle as she spread her wings wide. "However, I have not... Captain, please return to Cloudsdale and I shall retrieve our wayward filly..." With that, her wings gave a mighty flap as she began to fly upwards. The whole time she kept her eyes on the filly. 'My word, this is rather impressive...'
Still, Dragon Lady continued to fly as the only sound was the wind under her wings. 'So lonely up here... I can finally think...'
After a few minutes, a soft, motherly voice spoke up. "Hello, my young filly. May I ask why you are flying so high?"
Not having opened her eyes, though somehow she felt she could trust the voice, Dragon Lady sighed. "Because when I'm high up I can just get away from the bullies back at Flight Camp."
There was a pause for a few moments before the voice replied. "Bullies? Well, it's such a shame that you always have some who pick on others... may I ask why you were being picked on badly enough to fly so high?"
With a shrug, Dragon Lady sighed. "It's my wings... they're so big that they make it hard to fly at normal heights so I'm really clumsy. But the higher I go, the easier it is to fly like a normal pegasus! It's really easy to fly this high! And I love taking pictures." She finally opened her eyes and turned her head only to do an aerial version of a stumble as she spotted an amused Princess Celestia beside her. "Y-y-you... PRINCESS!"
Now thoroughly amused, Celestia looked her over and softly chuckled. "Well, my little pony, I must say that you have absolutely nothing to worry about. I must say that you are rather talented..." She then tilted her head some to the side as she continued to watch the stunned filly below she looked down. "I will say that the view must be rather spectacular from this height..."
Confused, Dragon Lady looked down and felt her eyes widen as she gasped. "Wow... I've never been this high before..."
Surprised, Celestia felt her eyebrows raise as she noted they were continuing to rise. Though she had to smile at how the young filly was taking pictures of the ground far below. "Mmm... it is rather wonderful at this height, I must say." As Dragon Lady nodded, Celestia glanced at the camera. "Perhaps you can tell me about your camera? I've not seen a model like it before..."
Dragon Lady lit up and looked at her camera. "Oh! A friend of mine made it, he's really good with making cameras for aerial photography and created a custom job for me, your highness! It has all sorts of enhancements to make it better at taking pictures and..."
While the filly continued, Celestia nodded and interjected as she slowly began to descend, Dragon Lady following her as they began to approach the ground below...
Partway through having been yelled at by the instructors at flight school as well as her own parents, Dragon Lady was rescued by none other then Princess Celestia who wished to see the pictures that she had taken from her heights. Looking over the photos, Celestia smiled before she nodded. "These are some truly great pieces of work."
Even though she was still a bit depressed, the filly's eyes lit up as she vibrated some in excitement. "R-really!? You think so, Princess!?"
Smiling, Celestia nodded as she leaned down so that she was at eye level with Dragon Lady her parents watched on. Parents who warred between pride and happiness at their daughter being complimented by the Princess herself and anger as well as lingering fear from what had happened. Celestia then chuckled some as she spotted a picture of Canterlot taken from a great height. "I really do, young one. These are rather impressive and I think that I might ask for a copy of the picture of Canterlot?" At the excited nod, Celestia glanced at the pictures again. "I dare say that you have a talent for taking pictures from a great height."
With a stunned expression on her face, Dragon Lady blinked. "You... wow..." Suddenly there was a flash of light from her flanks and she looked back. "Wait, I got my Cutie Marks?!"
Celestia and her parents both leaned over some to examine them. The Cutie Mark appeared to be Dragon Lady's silhouette taken from above as it flew over a globe and had a serpentine dragon wrapped around her which caused Celestia to smile warmly. "A most impressive and unique one as a matter of fact."
Now brimming with excitement, Dragon Lady flapped her wings some. "I GOT MY CUTIE MARK! YES!"
As she watched the excited filly, Celestia smiled. 'She will be one to watch I have no doubts...' Then she turned toward Dragon Lady's parents. "While I know that you may be concerned that your daughter was flying so high, I would ask that you allow for her to develop her talents. Such things should be nurtured and developed." When the parents nodded, Celestia softly chuckled. "I know of a few pegasi who are in the aerial survey groups. They undergo training similar to the high altitude rescue squads in pegasus and griffin cloud cities, so with your permission, I might contact them? They would be best at teaching your daughter." Shocked, the proud parents nodded. "Very well, I will have them contact you at the earliest opportunity..."
Working a kink out of her wing muscles, the now teenaged Dragon Lady walked beside her best friend, Rainbow Blitz as they walked down the streets of Canterlot. "Ugh... my wings are killing me..."
However, she got no sympathy from Blitz who just snorted. "I wonder why? The training that you are doing is bucking harsh! High altitude training combined with endurance? Buck that right in the flank!"
Softly snorting right back, Dragon Lady rolled her eyes at him. "You're just lazy is all..."
As if hurt, Rainbow Blitz held his hoof to his chest. "That hurts, Dragon, that really hurts right here! I just do less work because I am that awesome when doing weather patrol." He then waved a hoof around. "No matter what, whoosh! I can clear the sky in twenty seconds flat!"
With a smile, Dragon Lady was once more reminded of how they became friends. "And then spend the rest of the day laying about and napping."
Blitz just shrugged some. "What can I say, I'm just that bucking awesome."
Once more rolling her eyes, the female pegasus just shook her head. "How the hay Firefly puts up with your antics as your marefriend, I will never know, Blitzy." A snicker escaped as the stallion grumbled at the nickname. "Must see something worth it, I suppose..."
Suddenly, Blitz's face softened into a smile. "Yeah... Firefly is one hell of a mare..."
That just caused Dragon Lady's eyebrow to raise some. "And what about me?"
His answer just annoyed her and caused her to scowl. "You? You're not some mare, you're Dragon Lady." As his friend stalked off, he blinked and then rushed to catch up. "Hey! What's the matter, Dragon?"
Puffing herself up to yell at him, Dragon Lady turned to see his confusion which caused her to deflate and sigh. "It's... nothing... do you really think that I'm not an awesome mare?"
Confused, Blitz rubbed the back of his head. "Er... you're Dragon Lady, my best bud so you're more awesome then any mare... well, except Firefly."
Once more giving a eyeroll at the denseness of her closest friend, Dragon Lady continued to walk down the road until she reached their destination. "Anyways, we're here."
Looking up, Blitz chuckled some. "So we're going to see Clear Rain?" He then frowned some. "Wonder what he's got cooking up in those skunky works of his now..."
With a sigh, Dragon Lady turned to him. "I wish that you wouldn't call his place that name..."
As he snorted, Blitz shrugged. "What? The place sometimes smells due to him working on various things, what with the chemicals and welding that goes on. Not to mention he sometimes gets so into a project that he forgets to get a bath... hence... calling it the Skunk Works."
However, Dragon Lady ignored him as she came up to a older unicorn. "Clear Rain! I heard that you got something for me?"
There was a grin on the unicorn's face as he trotted up and hugged her before he threw one foreleg across both Dragon Lady's and Blitz's shoulders. "Do I ever! Remember that challenge you gave me a few years back? The one about helping you fly even higher then before?"
Stunned, Rainbow Blitz turned toward Dragon Lady. "The hay, Dragon?! You're already pretty much the highest flying pegasus in the world! Why the hay would you need to fly even higher!?"
Dragon Lady just leaned toward his face. "Because of the challenge... Besides, the higher I go, the more I can see and..." She considered her next words for a moment before she shrugged. "I got some reasons for that."
Suspicious, Blitz just nodded as he narrowed his eyes. "I see..."
Coughing, Clear Rain distracted them and gestured for them to follow him to the back of the building. There, the two pegasi looked at a ponyquin in a pegasus style which had a skin-tight suit along with what looked like a backpack. The backpack had two tubes that extended along the sides of the ponyquin's sides and connected at a helmet. Clear Rain then walked up to it and patted it. "As you can see, I made some major modifications to the suits that the high altitude groups used. Among other, it's enchanted to be heated compared to the surrounding area while the backpack has oxygen tanks... There's just one issue."
Having been closely examining it, Dragon Lady's ears perked up some. "Oh? What issue?"
As he rubbed his neck, Clear Rain just looked slightly away. "Well... the pressure in both the suit and helmet would mean that at heights greater then you are, they would be a lot less. Let's say that you're at... double at what normal high altitude flights happen at. Well, these would only give the pressure available at normal heights in Cloudsdale... Not exactly the best, but better then what would be normal."
The only pegasus stallion walked over to where he could look at a chart for the suit's and helmet's pressure and brought his hoof up to where a human might recognized as being 70,000 feet up. "According to this, at this point you would have a pressure equal to where Dragon normally flies, right?"
Clear Rain walked up and nodded. "Pretty much, near fatal for any other pegasus except for Dragon Lady to fly at."
While she ran her eyes across the chart, Dragon Lady just smiled. "Well... I always love breaking records..."
Doing some checks on her black bodysuit, Dragon Lady (now in her twenties) nodded as she was given her helmet by Firefly who had joined the Day Guard. "Thanks."
The normally pink pegasus nodded with a slight smile on her currently white furred face. "You're welcome." As the two walked, Firefly turned toward her husband's and her own longtime friend with a smile. "By the way, are you coming over for dinner this Sunday? Blitz has the day off and we were hoping for you to come over for some... special catchup time. I even got some Stalliongrad Vodka we can make some drinks with..."
Remembering the last time the three had gotten drunk together, Dragon Lady felt her face heat up before she shrugged it off. "I'll think about it."
Her attempt to stop blushing failed as Firefly waggled her eyebrows some with a saucy grin. "Hey, at least Blitz knows that you're a mare now. Of that, he has no doubt whatsoever." Chuckling, she turned as she heard a throat cleared before she stiffened and saluted the higher ranked Guard officer. "Sir!"
With a raised eyebrow, the stallion nodded and returned both Firefly's and Dragon Lady's salutes. "At ease." The two mares relaxed before he gestured into a room. "If you would, Lieutenant?"
Giving once last smile to Firefly, Dragon Lady stepped into the room where Princess Celestia and one of her intelligence officers were waiting and bowed. "Your highness."
As she chuckled, Celestia waved off her bow. "Please, Dragon Lady, no need for this." She turned at the cough and just smiled. "Now then, we have need of your services."
Dragon Lady just nodded as she stood in place and glanced at the map behind the wall. "And, as always, those services are yours if you ask for them."
While he gave her a slight nod, the Equestrian Intelligence Agency's Day Guard Liaison officer frowned. "There's currently an army of diamond dog raiders at our northern border. We have managed to slow their march toward Equestria proper." He ignored the slight frown on Celestia's face at how he referred to the border region as if it was not part of Equestria. "Now, they have camped out in this region, here."
The intelligence officer tapped one portion of the map as Celestia took over. "We know that they have magic sensing equipment as well as anti-pegasus cannons. We've tried to do overflight, but some of the griffin mercenaries they have are trained for high altitudes which means that they have driven off those flights. As you are the highest flier, we need you to do an overflight of the camp and take some reconnaissance pictures of the surrounding area. We have some... assets in place with which to take advantage of anything you might find."
Slowly giving a nod as she thought it over, Dragon Lady walked up and examined the map. "It's not likely that they'll be able to spot me as I fly overhead. And even if they somehow do, I'll be too high for them to catch." A grin familiar to her friends stretched across her muzzle. "I've always liked a challenge."
Celestia just chuckled. "I don't doubt that. though this should be a larger challenge then some of the missions that we have sent you out on."
As she remembered the overflights of various hostile nations on missions for the Day Guard and the EIA, Dragon Lady gave a nod. "That's true... No mountain ranges with rockets stationed there... this time..."
Both Celestia and the EIA officer remembered that mission which lead to Dragon Lady nearly getting killed by rockets that flung out clouds of shrapnel before the alicorn shook it off. "No, there won't be any of that on this mission."
After some more time spent on her briefing, Dragon Lady left the room as both Celestia and the EIA officer went through a backdoor, taking the items for the briefing with them. Outside the room, Firefly waited for her friend and fell in beside her. "So, time to finish suiting up?"
Having glanced at the clock which showed how early it was in the morning, Dragon Lady nodded. "Yeah, need to head out ASAP and it'll take several hours to get there... Mind helping?"
With a laugh, Firefly shook her head as she smiled softly. "I've never minded at all." Several minutes later they reached a room full of various harnesses with cameras on them. "Which ones?"
For a moment, Dragon Lady tapped her chin before she pointed at one. "Give me harness A-19. I'm going to need a magic sensitive lens on the second camera as well."
Firefly gave a nod as she went to work securing the harness onto the other pegasus. One who over the years had become famous for high altitude, long distance flights. Which she had used for survey work and in the Guard for a similar reason...
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Dragon lady. That reminds me of something, but I can't remember what it is.
6267735
*Cough.*
I'm fairly certain that's not it, but something of an unfortunate name all the same.
Nifty side-chapter and character, though.
And now I'm going to think really hard for, like, five minutes, then forget all about it. XD
Drunken threesomes. The gift that keeps on giving.
Not sure what purpose does this serve in relation to the main stories, but still interesting...
Are Rainbow Blitz and Firefly (or DL) Rainbow Dash's parents?
Ah, reminds me of The Powers of Harmony's big-wings-high-altitude concept. But that might be just due to recent announcements.
Small things, you have written "pegasus" instead of "pegasi" twice:
And you have one Pegasus with capital P here:
So, there's RD's parents... or at least, one of them. Now, Dragon Lady... who is she? Numerous other fics make me guess Shy's mom, but that seems too easy/obvious. Featherweight is a photographer so maybe that.
6267753 Nothing like that but I still cant put my finger on it. Urgh this is really going to bug me for the rest of the day.
Nice chapter! Very interesting look at who I presume to be the parents or grandparents of Raindbow Dash.
6267837
I'm thinking Rainbow Blitz and Dragon Lady, though it's just a hunch. Who is to say Firefly wouldn't be considered a parent herself though, given they are almost acting like a herd in their sexy times.
Happy Birthday Harry Potter
As soon as I read the name Dragon Lady, and saw the mention of her larger wings, I found myself wondering if she's related to another large-winged pegasus. One with extensive allergies.
6267735
6267753
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_U-2
6267888 It's a high-altitude recon jet. She's just been ponified here.
6268137 Thus why we also ran into "Skunk Works"
Hopefully we won't have Dragon Lady flying over Equestria's Soviet Union or Cuba...
6268222
http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/aeronautics/skunkworks.html
Both Celestia and the EIA officer remembered that mission which lead to Dragon Lady nearly getting killed by rockets that flung out clouds of shrapnel before the alicorn shook it off.
I don't know if it was Stalliongrad, or other location. If she was hit in Stalliongrad area she could get acquainted with their namesakes from the previous chapter (U-2 Lockheed and U-2 Polikarpov)
SR-71
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/3782/higher-flier
SR-71 + MiG-25
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/5385/higher-flier-mach-two
What other stories with ponified jets you know?
6267735 6267753
As others have said, Dragon Lady is a ponified U-2. Her cutie mark is even a version of the USAF unit patch for U-2 pilots.
6267822
Indeed.
6267837
Rainbow Blitz and Firefly are Rainbow Dash's parents.
6267864
Dragon Lady is actually Rainbow's "Aunt". Not that Rainbow actually knows what Dragon Lady and her parents get up to at times (usually schemed up by Firefly).
6267891
Rainbow Blitz and Firefly are Dash's parents, with Dragon Lady being a close family friend who Rainbow knows of as her "Aunt". But yes, unknown to Rainbow there is sexy times between them at times (poor Rainbow if she ever walks in on that would be traumatized).
6268115
Not really related, though if Dainty appears in this she would be in the same "Unit" as Dragon Lady.
6268222
Who says that she hasn't?
6268320
As mentioned, she's at least familiar with Stalliongrad vodka...
6269064 Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey stuff is at play.
Either Rainbow Dash is a drunken-threesome baby between Blitz and Dragon, or Dragon is the parent of Fluttershy.
Interesting indeed, but as mentioned - where's the tie-in?
Ah, well. Presumably there will be more parts, this doesn't like like an ending. I wonder if Dragon Lady ends up pulling an Apollo mission out of her saddlebags before it's over? And then everyone panics - where's Nimmy?
Just love the background stories.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. These stories just hype me up for more and the eventual return of NMM.
Nice chapter. Especially once I read some comments and realized that was not some one-off side thing. I would recommend adding something into the chapter to help indicate the relation of these characters to cannon characters. I almost passed on this chapter thinking this story would be becoming a dumping ground for one-shot stories.
Dragonlady was the one who provided the intel for the thestral raid in the previous chapter. I'm hoping that she gets asked to take high altitude pics of the moon.
Blitz is lightning in German.
War-based chapter
lightning war
Blitzkrieg
Edit: Less offensive version!
6268137
Welp
ak-hdl.buzzfed.com/static/2015-02/1/20/enhanced/webdr08/enhanced-32005-1422840611-40.jpg
6270374
Blitz means Lightning in German.
I'm hoping for more updates soon. At one chapter a month (or so) these fics aren't gonna finish for years o.o
It's sometimes canon for Equestria to have air all the way to the moon. Wonder if she's hoping to fly there someday?
6269064
Since this is set a generation before the series, I have to ask... Any relation between Dragon Lady (U-2) and Dainty Dish (SR-71)?
I missed this story so much I decided to read the entire Potter series!