Fly me to the Moon

by englishwitch

Rating: everyone
Tags: Rainbow Dash, Gilda, Adventure, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Main 6
Length: 7705

Rainbow Dash risks all to break a world record and achieve her deepest dream

To be a Wonderbolt is Dash's biggest dream, but it's not her only one.
With the help of her friends Rainbow will risk everything, even her life, to break a world record and become the highest flyer in Equestria.

Published 2013-03-22 13:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2013-03-26 15:19:49 UTC

Chapter 1

Fly me to the moon.
Fanfic by Englishwitch

Chapter 1

CRASH

Twilight jumped back from her desk in shock. “Rainbow!” She yelled at the cyan pegasus who’d crash landed onto her balcony, again. “How many times do I have to tell you to use the door?”

Rainbow Dash picked herself up, stretching her body and wings. “Sorry Twi.” She pushed open the window and stepped into the library’s apartment. “Sun got in my eyes and I misjudged the distance.”

Twilight sighed. “Anyway, is there anything I can do for you, or is this just a flying visit?” She giggled at her own pun.

Rainbow Dash remained stone-faced. “Better leave the gags to Pinkie.” she muttered under her breath. “Look Twilight, I need your special egghead powers. I’m trying to find out something important.”

Twilight stopped laughing immediately, the prospect of research and information was better than any joke. “Okay, let’s go down into the library.” She trotted for the stairs, Rainbow following. “What kind of information do you need?”

Rainbow sat by the table in the middle of the library floor. “I need to know what’s the highest anypony has ever flown.”

Twilight was surprised. “That’s quite, random, Rainbow.” She looked around the shelves of the library. “Hmm, Spike!”

The little green dragon came out of the kitchen, he had a small pink apron tied around his waist and a dusting of flour on his face. “What can I do for you Twilight? Oh hey Rainbow Dash.” He waved a greeting.

Twilight spoke before Rainbow could. “Where’s the copy of Greyclaw Griffin’s Book of World Records?”

Spike walked over to a shelf on the opposite side of the library to where Twilight was standing. “Reference section, under G.” He pulled the tome off the shelf and held it up. Twilight grabbed the book in her magic and levitated it over to the table.

“Thanks Spike.” She said absently. She’d already started flicking through the pages.

Rainbow smiled and nodded to him. “Yeah, thanks Spike, you’re a real pal.”

Spike grinned. “Aww, it was nothing.”

A loud DING sounded from the kitchen.

“My cookies are done.” the baby dragon rushed off before his baked goods burned.

Twilight tapped a hoof against a page. “Here we are. The world altitude record was set by Cloudsdale pegasus named Buzz Wingstrong, almost a hundred years ago. He flew to an altitude of 123,000 feet. Which is 37.4 Kilometres in pegasus standard measurements.”

Rainbow paled. “37! holy hay. that’s....” she was speechless. “so...high...”

She’d never been higher than 12. It had been a few years ago during one of her many failed attempts to recreate the Sonic Rainboom. She’d figured diving from a higher altitude would probably help her reach the speeds she’d need. It had failed, obviously since she hadn’t been able to recreate the Sonic Rainboom until the Best Young Fliers Competition two years ago. The reason that attempt had stayed in her memory more than any other was because of the temperature. It had been freezing at those heights, far below the minuses, a deep and true cold that cut though the flesh and fat and went right into your bones. Pegasi were naturally able to resist the chill of high altitudes but she’d felt the cold that day. The sweat she’d built up on her ascension had frozen into a thin layer of ice on her body. She probably had been lucky not to get hypothermia. After her crash landing and recovery the first place she’d taken her shivering body was a steaming hot bath. It had taken hours for her to feel normal again. Cold was surprisingly insidious and once it got deep in you it didn’t leave easily.

Twilight looked up from the book and saw the disturbed expression on her friends face. “Are you okay Rainbow Dash? What’s this about?”

Rainbow flopped forward, resting her chin on the table. “Nothing,” she sighed heavily, “just a chance of awesomeness and glory slipping through my hooves.”

Twilight cocked her head and raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Rainbow moved away from the table and walked, slowly, toward the door, her head downcast.

Twilight jumped into her path. “”Rainbow, I’m your friend, if some thing’s bothering you I’d like to know, I’d like to help.”

Rainbow sat on the floor and sighed heavily. Should she tell Twilight? What could Twilight do to help? What the heck, it couldn’t change anything either way. “It was my dream,”

Twilight looked more confused, “To be a Wonderbolt?”

Rainbow shook her head. “Not that one. I mean, yeah, that’s my biggest dream but it’s not my only one.” she managed a weak smirk, “You know how I keep bragging, Fastest Flier in Equestria, stuff like that?” Twilight nodded her head as Dash continued. “Well, I never wanted that to be just bragging. Sure, I can say Fastest Flier in Equestria and I can back it up with a race, or by doing the Sonic Rainboom or something, but there’s always gonna be somepony who just thinks that it’s just bragging, just me being arrogant. If there’s one thing being friends with you girls has taught me it’s bragging and arrogance is bad.”

Twilight remembered how the group had taught Rainbow that particular lesson. She still had the Mysterious Mare Do-Well costume in the back of her closet as a souvenir.

Rainbow shrugged her shoulders. “So, ever since then I, kinda, wanted to have something official. Something to back up some of the stories. So when ponies accuse me of bragging I can show them and they can see I’m just stating a fact.”

Twilight nodded as understanding dawned on her. “You wanted to set an official record. Something to go in the books and go down in history.”

Dash nodded. “and, I guess, I kinda thought the Wonderbolts would be really eager to put me on the squad if I was Rainbow Dash; world record holder.”

Twilight smirked. Even Dash’s smaller dreams were all for achieving the greater one.

Rainbow finally managed to raise her head to look Twilight in the eyes. “Don’t tell anypony else, but I might not be the fastest in Equestria. All the Wonderbolts could probably match me for speed and stamina. I could say I’m the fastest civilian flier in all Equestria, but that doesn’t sound as awesome. So I wanted to do something to stand out. Do something no pony has ever done.”

Twilight nodded. “So that’s why you wanted an altitude record?”

Rainbow nodded her own head. “But it doesn’t matter now. The record’s 37 kilometres. That’s so high. It’s upper stratosphere, almost four Mount Pegasus on top of each other.” she sighed and her head hung low again. “I....I can’t fly that high.” She started to move to the door again. “Just forget it Twilight, I’ll just have to think of something else.”

Before Twilight could say anything else Rainbow dashed out of the door and shot up into the air, leaving nothing but a cloud of dust an a multi-coloured contrail behind her.

...***...

Twilight barely heard the knock at the door, as usual she was too absorbed in her reading.

Luckily her friends knew the routine by now; if Twilight was home and there was no answer, just come in anyway.

Applejack opened the door, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie were right behind her. “Twi, we’re here.”

“Hmmmm.” Twilight’s eyes never left the page.

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Pinkie, if you would.”

Pinkie held up a balloon and pulled a small sewing needle out of the recesses of her mane. “Okie Dokie.”

BANG

Twilight yelped and fell back, crashing to the floor. She was trembling when she picked herself up. “Hi girls,” she tried to sound casual but her voice still shook. “Thanks for coming over so quickly.”

The four mares sat around the table.

Applejack waved a hoof dismissively. “No problem sugar cube. What’s this about? Spike said you wanted to help Rainbow Dash.”

Twilight nodded and recounted the events of the morning. Beginning with Dash’s crash landing, to the fact finding, Rainbow’s confession of her dream to break a world record and her sadness over what she viewed as an impossible feet.

“I’ve been thinking about it and I think that if Rainbow wants to break this altitude record, we should do our best to help her.”

The four friends nodded encouragingly. Rarity was the first to speak. “Exactly how Darling? With the exception of Fluttershy none of us know all that much about flying. Certainly my own brief foray into the activity did not end well.” She visibly shuddered as she recalled her magical gossamer wings evaporating and falling toward the ground. She had never noticed, until that moment, just how solid the ground was. Even the softest earth would have been like rock her her body to be dashed against. If Rainbow hadn’t saved her...well, it didn’t bare thinking about.

Fluttershy pushed a little of her mane out of her face. “And, um, I don’t really know all that much about altitude flying.” she said in her gentle whisper. “I like to stay as close to the ground as possible and really don’t like going much higher than Cloudsdale, which is only about seven or eight kilometres off the ground. Maybe nine on a really warm day when the thermals make it rise.” She noticed Applejack had furrowed her brow in deep concentration. “Um... are you okay Applejack?”

AJ nodded her head. “Don’t mind me sugar-cube I’m just trying to run the math. I learned pegasus measurements in school, but I admit its been a while since I had to use ‘em. Why pegasi never changed to miles like the rest of us I’ll never know.”

Twilight spouted out the fact almost without thinking. “It’s a tradition, left over before the pony tribes were united. Pegasi used kilometres to measure speed and distance. They are educated in feet and miles nowadays but I read somewhere that it’s part of traditional pegasi education to also learn the old system of kilometres. As a result of the mixed measurement education most pegasi use miles and feet for distance; such as it’s ten miles to Canterlot but still use kilometres for altitude; such as Canterlot sits at an altitude of two kilometres.”

Applejack’s brow furrowed deeper. “Thanks Twi, big help.” She dead-panned.

Twilight sighed, her friends were very smart but they hadn’t obsessively absorbed all information they could get their hooves on like she had. She sometimes forgot they didn’t find cold facts and history lectures as interesting as she did. “Basically the record is 123,000 feet, or 23.2 miles. To break the record Dash will have to fly higher than that.” She glanced down at the book she’d been reading when her friends had arrived. “23 miles up. I don’t know of any pegasi who can fly for twenty three miles straight at a normal altitude. According to my research she’ll encounter a whole host of problems the higher she goes. The air will become thin, so she’ll have trouble breathing, the thinner atmosphere means she’ll have to flap her wings harder to get the same amount of lift. Harder flapping means more breathing, which added to the thinner atmosphere means Rainbow will be exhausted really quickly. She could suffer from altitude sickness, meaning dizzy spells, disorientation, stupors, and maybe even blacking out. The winds at those heights can be pretty violent, maybe too much for even a pegasi to handle. Not to mention once she passes ten kilometres and enters the stratosphere the temperature is going to plummet. The freezing temperatures could give her frostbite, even hypothermia.”

“Well that doesn’t sound like fun at all.” Pinkie interrupted.

Applejack nodded. “Sugar-cube, are y’all tryin’ to convince us to help Dash, or tryin’ to convince us to talk her out of it? This sounds like it’ll be real dangerous.”

Twilight nodded in agreement. “I know, but this seems like something Rainbow really wants to do. You didn’t see her when she learned how high she’d have to go, she was crushed. I think the only thing that’d hurt her more is if she learned she could never be a Wonderbolt.”

Rarity too it on herself to try and keep things on a more positive note. “So, do you have any ideas how we can help darling?”

Twilight gave a small shake of the head. “Mostly it’ll be moral support. I’ve been looking into the rules of how to set the record, as well an official judge from Griffins world records, there need to be a couple of witnesses. Other than that there isn’t much we can do to help Rainbow. She has to fly to the altitude herself, so we can’t just carry her up halfway in a balloon or airship. In a record like this magic isn’t allowed either, so I can’t cast a spell on her to help her breath or stop her feeling the cold. She can take with her whatever she can carry, my first thought would have been an oxygen tank, but even the smallest ones would be too heavy. At least it means clothing will be allowed, Rarity, do you think you’ll be able to make something for Rainbow to wear to help her cope with the cold but not be heavy or movement restricting?”

Rarity tapped a hoof against her chin. “I think I might be able to make something, but I’ll need Rainbow to help test the outfits, we want to work out any flaws before the big day.”

Twilight nodded, a smile rising on her face. “Okay. Fluttershy, Applejack, do you think you’ll be able to work with Rainbow to help with her distance flying. Twenty miles is a long way for any pegasus, she’ll need to work on her stamina.”

Fluttershy nodded meekly.

“You got it sugar-cube” Applejack grinned broadly.

Twilight nodded. “Okay, I’ll write to the judges of Griffins World Records and tell them Rainbow is going to make an attempt. I’ll also look into some things that might be able to help which the rules will allow, maybe a magical means of communication or measuring the altitude. Since we won’t be able to follow her all the way up we’ll need to know exactly when she breaks the record.”

Pinkie raised a hoof. “What about me?”

Twilight realised she hadn’t given Pinkie a job to do. This serious business and while Pinkie was a great friend and excellent at planning parties, she didn’t seem like she could take anything seriously. While most of the time that was a great thing; breaking the stress and tension of dire situations with laughter always helped. But how could that be an asset in this situation?

Then Twilight smiled. “Pinkie, Rainbow might get very nervous or stressed the closer to record day we get, you’ll have the most important jobs of all; keeping her spirits up and planning the celebration party for when she succeeds.”

It was all that could be done in any situation; let Pinkie Pie just be Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie threw a serious salute. “I won’t let you down. Nopony gets sad and grumpy on my watch.” Out of nowhere she pulled out a bowl shaped helmet and squeezed her overly poofy mane into its tiny interior as she strapped it to her head.

Twilight’s grin widened slightly. She’d made the right choice. “Okay, let’s find Rainbow Dash and tell her the plan.”

***Epic 80’s movie training montage***

Twilight writing out a long letter.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack doing push-up in the park. Rainbow is pushing herself up with her wings.

Rarity sits at her desk, a pencil held in her magic, sketching away a design for a flight outfit.

Rainbow stands stationary with her wings stretched out flat, two small rabbits sit on her wings. Fluttershy walks around her slowly. Rainbow starts to sweat with the effort of holding the weight on her wings.

Pinkie places horn-rimmed glasses on her nose and looks over samples of differed coloured streamers, a thoughtful expression on her face.

Derpy Hooves delivers Twilight’s letter to a tall building in Manehatten, a secretary pony with a nonplussed expression takes it from her.

Rainbow stands on Rarity’s work table, dressed in an outfit similar to a Wonderbolt’s flight suit, she flaps her wings several times and moves her moves experimentally. She shakes her head at Rarity, who’s face falls. Rainbow’s mouth moves as she tells Rarity where she went wrong. Unheard over the music.

Rainbow Dash lands on a cloud, looking dishevelled and tired. She lies down to take a nap but her ears immediately perk up. From below Pinkie Pie floats into view, madly peddling her crazy flying contraption. In her hooves she hold out to Dash a large cupcake, a balloon and a milkshake. Rainbow smiles and takes them gratefully.

Two griffins and three ponies sit around a long table looking through a huge pile of letters. One griffin picks up Twilight’s letter and opens the envelope.

Applejack is standing next to an oversized electric fan, blowing at high speed. Her eyes fixed on a stopwatch.
A little further away Fluttershy is standing close to Rainbow Dash, yelling encouragement as Dash flies her wings against the force of the gale the fan is blowing at her. Rainbow grinds her teeth and screws up her eyes, sweat dripping off her forehead as she fights hard against the wind. With a loud yell is suddenly sent shooting backwards, crashing into the ground and rolling in the dirt.
Applejack stops the stopwatch and shakes her head in disappointment.

Twilight is reading through a large and dusty book, several gems are scattered around her which Spike eyes hungrily.

A sore and bruised Rainbow Dash enters Sugar Cube Corner. She’s immediately showered with confetti and Pinkie Pie appears with a plateful of cupcakes, each iced with a letter, which reads; YOU CAN DO IT!
It makes Dash smile.

Fluttershy places five bunnies on Rainbow Dash’s outstretched wings, she holds them steady with no strain on her face.

Rainbow steps out of the changing area of Carousel Boutique wearing an outfit similar in colour and design to the uniform of the Shadow Bolts. Rarity looks at her with fearful anticipation, her eyes wet with tears ready to fall. Dash stretches her body into a variety of positions, flaps her wings several times before looking at Rarity and nodding her head. Rarity squeals in delight and hugs rainbow tightly.

A young griffin leaves the offices of the Griffins World Records and hails a taxi. She climbs aboard and gives an order. The driver nods and trots off.

Rainbow stands still in Fluttershy’s yard as the yellow pegasus flies up, carrying Angel bunny in her arms. She places Angel on the top of a pyramid of critters, which starts with raccoons on the bottom, then rabbits, then squirrels and chipmunks, then finally Angel. They are balanced on her wings and Dash looks pleased and amazed with the feet.

Pinkie Pie, dressed in a beret and artists smock, puts the finishing touches to her party banner. In rainbow coloured letters she’s written CONGRATULATIONS RAINBOW DASH

Fighting against the power of the wind fan Rainbow Dash shows a relaxed and casual attitude. She flies against the rushing air, holding herself in place. Applejack keeps her eyes on the stopwatch as the ticking hand passes a mark she grabs her hat and tosses it into the air, cheering loudly.
The Stetson lands on the control lever of the fan, pulling it down from MED to HIGH!
In the hurricane strength wind Rainbow Dash is thrown back and crashes into the same tree again. She glares at Applejack, who blushes and smiles sheepishly.

Author's Note

The plot for this story came —very loosely— from an old Pokemon episode. It's English title became the title of this story.
In future chapters you'll be hard pressed to find any similarities between this story and the episode. So many changes had to be made to ponify it that, really, just the concept; character risking life to fly the highest in history, is all that remains.

Chapter 2

Fly me to the moon.
Fanfic by Englishwitch

Chapter 2

The train came to a steaming halt in Ponyville station. Among the usual departing pony passengers came a single griffin. She had golden coloured eyes, white eagle feathers on her head, golden brown lions fur and brown eagle wings. She carried a single saddlebag on her back and kept shuffling in discomfort; saddlebags weren’t really made to be strapped to a griffin. She looked up and down the platform and sighed. “Never thought I’d come back to this town.”

Suddenly there was an explosion of confetti and music. A pink blur started hopping around the platform.
“Welcome welcome welcome
A fine welcome to you
Welcome welcome welcome
I say – oh, it’s you”

Pinkie stopped moving long enough to recognise Gilda. With a kick of her back leg Pinkie silenced the manic musical machine before the confetti cannons went off.

She rushed up to Gilda, taking her talons in her hoof. “Hey Gilda, welcome back to Ponyville. It’s nice to see you again. Even if the last time you were here you were a big grumpy, meany, McMean pants. Have you come to see Rainbow Dash? Have you come to make friends with her again? Because that would just be super duper awesome. OOOOHHHH I should put on a We’re Friends Again Party! Oh, but I can’t because Dash has gone some big super important things going on today and we’re having a party to celebrate that but if you don’t mind we could have a We’re friends again party tomorrow. Or if you can’t wait we can merge the two parties together and make one awesome huge mega party, like the time I had my birthday and Gummy’s after-birthday party. Oh, but you don’t know Gummy, how could you, silly me, you never met. He’s-”

“PINKIE PIE!!!” Gilda reared back and roared in the pink ponies face. Pinkie fell silent but her smile was ever present. Gilda had to take several deep breaths and resist the urge to claw at the ponies face. This was the pony who had humiliated her the first —and last— time she’d been in Ponyville. She’d ruined her friendship with Rainbow Dash. The pink pest was still here and still friends with Rainbow it seemed.
“I guess you’re my welcome wagon.” She grumbled under her breath. “I know what Dash is doing, trying for the altitude record, that’s the cool Rainbow Dash I know.” She held up an ID card for Pinkie to read.

Greyclaw Griffin’s Book of World Records
Official Judge
Grizelda Redtail

Pinkie’s eyes, somehow, grew to twice their normal size. Her mouth widened in a matching smile. “Oh WOW! So you’re the judge who’s going to see Dashie break the world record? That’s awesome.”

Gilda’s face remained as serious and unamused as ever. “I’m here to see Dash try for the record. Whether she breaks it or not depends how good she is.”

Pinkie started vibrating with excitement. “Oh she’s just awesome! She’s been training hard. I mean really, really, REALLY hard. She--” Gilda put a claw over Pinkie Pie’s mouth.

“Okay!” She snapped. “Let’s just go and get this over with.”

...***...

In the outskirts of town, a huge hot air balloon was inflating. It’s owner was Cherry Berry, an earth pony mare with a light pink coat and a bright, golden yellow mane. She was currently wearing a pair of pilot’s goggles and was watching her balloon intently, making sure the flame didn’t burn too high and the guy ropes were tied properly.

The group, minus Pinkie, were assembled around the balloon. Twilight was working some last minute magical tweaks to a set of gems, two; a blue and a red, were the size of a bit coin, a purple one was the size of a hoof, while a second purple one was the size of a pony’s head.

Rainbow Dash paced in a large circle around the balloon, moving was the only thing stopping her nerves completely consuming her. She looked odd, dressed in her black and purple flight suit, which looked like the uniform of the Shadow Bolts; an illusionary racing team created by Nightmare Moon as a temptation for Rainbow’s loyalty. This suit had been made by Rarity, tailored to Dash’s exact measurements with comfort and warmth in mind.

Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy had long given up trying to talk to Rainbow or Twilight, they were both too absorbed in their own activities to notice the outside world.

“I wonder who the judge will be.” Rarity said, trying hard to not sound as nervous as she felt.

Applejack was about to speak when she caught sight of a bright pink pony, “Well, I gotta say I wasn’t expectin that.” She pointed to Gilda.

Fluttershy squeaked and hid behind Applejack.

Rainbow Dash stopped her pacing to stare. “Gilda? What are you doing here.”

“Hey Dash.” Gilda waved a claw casually.

Pinkie bounced up to Rainbow. “Isn’t it great Dashie? Gilda is gonna be your judge for your record breaking.”

Gilda held up her ID for the ponies to inspect.

Dash even lifted the goggles over her eyes to see it better. “Whoa, I didn’t know you worked for griffin’s world records, G.”

Gilda shrugged like it was no big deal. “Yeah, I saw an ad in the paper and I thought, why not? I get to travel around the world, all expenses paid and see folks try and do awesome tricks to get in a crummy book.”

“Crummy book?” Twilight stepped forward but Dash stopped her by holding out her foreleg.

“Easy Twi, Gilda isn’t one for reading, right G?”

Gilda just shrugged. “Well I gotta read some stuff for work, all boring, but other than that, naw; books are for eggheads.”

Twilight and Rainbow shared a knowing look and a snigger, which annoyed Gilda.

“What?” she growled at them.

“Nothing G, nothing.” Rainbow dismissed her with a wave of her hoof. “remind me to introduce you to Daring Do when all this is done?”

Gilda cocked her head, an eyebrow raised. “Daring who? Is she cool?”

Dash nodded. “Oh, she’s awesome.”

Gilda looked surprised, as though the thought of anyone cool being in Ponyville was hard to believe. “Later then. I got stuff to check before you get flying. First, who made the suit.”

Rarity gave the griffon a dark look. “I did, darling.”

Gilda looked nonplussed “Are there any magical enchantments of any kind on the suit?”

Rarity shook her head. “Of course not.” She snapped.

Gilda, if anything, looked bored. “Nothing personal, just a job to do. The purpose of the suit?”

Rainbow took that one. “Cuts down wind resistance and help keep me warm at high altitudes.”

Rarity smiled proudly “The dark colours help absorb heat from the sun but the breathable material-”

“Okay.” Gilda spoke over Rarity, much to the unicorns annoyance. “And what equipment, if any, will you be carrying up with you?”

Twilight stepped forward, levitating two the the gems in front of her. “Just these two enchanted gems, I guess you’ll want to inspect them.” she gave the blue gem to Gilda, “the blue gem has been enchanted to be altitude sensitive, when Rainbow flies above 123,000 feet it’ll start to vibrate to let her know she’s gone above the old record. It’s also magically linked to Rainbow’s goggles and these sunglasses,” she levitated the purple lensed sunglasses onto her face. “they give both of us a heads-up-display, telling us what the altitude is at all times.”

Gilda took a moment to inspect the gem, Dash’s goggles and Twilight’s sunglasses, checking for anything that would give Dash unfair help in her attempt.

“What’s the other gem?” the griffon pointed to the red jewel Twilight was still holding onto.

Twilight levitated it over to her. “It’s enchanted to be a communication gem. When the gem is placed on Rainbow’s suit, over her throat, it’ll pick up the vibrations of her larynx and magically transmit them as signals to two other jewels; one will be in the balloon and the other here on the ground. They’ll enable us to hear what Dash says perfectly, even if she talks in just a whisper.”

Gilda took a lot longer to inspect this gem, even going so far to use a jewellers eyepiece to see it closely.

“Okay.” she said finally. “It all checks out.” she handed the gems to Twilight who then magically attached them to Rainbow’s flight suit.

Gilda worked at the strap of her saddlebag, pulling it open. She sighed loudly with relief as she pulled the thing off her body. “Guess I won’t be needed these.” When she dropped the bag its catch opened, spilling several pieces of equipment to the ground. Twilight and Rainbow couldn’t help themselves and examined the objects. There was a small oxygen tank and mask customised to fit over a griffin’s beak. The other object was a large round metal device that looked a little like a clock.

“An altimeter?” Twilight gasped. “You brought your own altimeter?” She looked at the device, to Gilda and back again. “I spent days researching and enchanting these gems and you brought your own?”

Gilda rolled her eyes. “I had to bring one, how else would we know if Dash reached the right altitude.” She managed a weak smile. “But your gems are pretty cool, smaller and lighter, we won’t have to worry about equipment weighing Dash down.”

Cherry Berry interrupted things by shouting, “the balloon’s ready.”

Gilda gave Cherry a long, hard, look, which made the pony want to join Fluttershy; who still hadn’t come out of her hiding place from behind Applejack. For the pony it felt like an eternity before the griffin looked back to Twilight.
“You know Dash can’t ride up in a balloon right? She has to fly the whole way.”

Twilight smiled and nodded. “We know, but we wanted to follow her up as far as we could. For support, you know?”

Gilda cocked her head and raised an eyebrow. “Well, I guess that would be okay.” She glanced at the basket attached the balloon. “I’ll go too.”

The whole group of ponies looked surprised. Gilda hadn’t looked like she cared whether anypony was by Dash’s side or not but she’d been very eager to follow her up in the balloon.

Cherry Berry broke the surprise by clearing her throat. “With me and a griffin in the basket we’ll only have room for two more ponies.”

“I’ll go!” Twilight and Applejack spoke at the same time, before anypony else in the group even managed to open their mouths.

...***...

Slowly the purple balloon rose above the cloud line. Seconds later a basket containing three ponies and one griffin came into view. A cyan pegasus in a purple and black flight suit was gently hovering next to them.

“Okay,” Cherry Berry called from a cramped corner of the basket. “We’re about three kilometres up, that’s twice as high as I’ve taken the balloon before. I don’t feel comfortable taking us much higher.”

Applejack gave her a sideways glance. “We’ve taken’ the balloon higher than this. Could you try sugar-cube? Please?”

Cherry bit her lip as she mentally debated the risks. “Okay, but not too much higher.” She pulled on a bit of rope to open the burners. The balloon started to rise again.

Gilda and Twilight were distracted with Rainbow.

“Okay Rainbow,” Twilight said in a reassuring voice. “I’m going to send a little magical spark to activate the altimeter and communication gem. If they work your goggles should display your altitude and we should be able to hear your voice through this gem,” she indicated the purple jewel she held in her hoof, “and the one on the ground. But we won’t be able to talk back. Okay?”

Rainbow nodded her head and slipped the goggles over her eyes. “No problem Twi.”

Twilight’s horn glowed brightly for a second before she let loose a tiny and weak spark of magical energy. The gems attached to Rainbow’s flight suit glowed with a magenta light for a second.

“Whoa.” Rainbow raised her hooves in front of her eyes. Looking through her goggles she could see the numbers displaying her altitude with a strong amber light. They were always in the foreground of her vision. She raised her hooves and they were in front of her hooves. She looked at Twilight and Gilda and the numbers were in front of Gilda. “That is way cool.”

“And you’re coming through loud and clear.” Twilight said, indicating the gem at her side. “I guess, you can start when ready. Good luck Rainbow.”

Applejack smiled. “Good luck Sugar-cube”

Gilda nodded. “Good luck Dash.”

Rainbow grinned. “Thanks, all of you. Hey G, could we?”

Gilda raised an eyebrow. “What?” then realisation dawned. “Oh c’mon.”

Rainbow put her hooves together. “Please? For luck.”

Gilda sighed. “Only for you Dash.”

Together they started to chant;
“Junior Speedsters are our lives,
Sky-bound soars and daring dives
Junior Speedsters, it's our quest,
To some day be the very best!”

Gilda rubbed at the back of her neck in her embarrassment but Dash’s grin had widened. “Thanks G.” With a mighty flap of her wings she shot off into the sky, leaving a rainbow trail behind her.

Twilight shook her head. “We told her to pace herself.”

“Five kilometres.” Cherry Berry claimed. Her voice sounded weak, her breath thin, “I’m not going any higher.” She cut out the burners and left the balloon to drift.

Applejack had to sit down. “I feel dizzy.”

The three ponies followed suit. “The air is pretty thin up here.” Twilight explained. “We should sit as still as possible and,” she paused to take a deep breath. “breath slow but deep.”

Gilda was the only one who didn’t seem to be suffering from the altitude. Although she had to admit that she was having a little trouble catching her breath she wasn’t dizzy like the ponies.

“Reaching 10 kilometres now.” Rainbow Dash’s voice came through the gem. Gilda was surprised, Dash wasn’t moving more than 30kph if she’s only covered 5km in 2 minutes. “I’m gonna start picking up my pace.”

Gilda took the sunglasses off Twilight’s face and placed them over her eyes. The glowing amber numbers of Rainbow’s altitude started to climb, very rapidly.
“That’s more like the Dash I know.”

“Air’s getting thin.” Dash coughed, her voice a hoarse whisper. She flapped her wings harder. With the thin air she had to work harder to achieve the same results. “Tell Rarity her suit’s great at keeping out the cold.”

Frost was building up on her goggles. She had to wipe them with her hoof to keep her vision clear. The sky was darkening, the rich blue giving way to the dark blackness of space. “Passing....” she coughed. The air was thin and cold, she couldn’t get enough to fill her lungs and each breath she took made her chest hurt, like ice was forming in her throat. “Pas...” she coughed again. “28 kilometres.” Her breaths were hoarse rasps, her heart was pounding in her ears. Despite all her training, her wings were starting to hurt. Condensation had frosted up, building up a fine layer of ice on her wings.

Twilight kept her eyes on the sky but Rainbow was too high to be seen. Until everything had been books and spells, facts and figures. She knew what Rainbow Dash would be facing as her gained altitude, but like many things in life the experience was proving different and more terrifying. She was worried for her friend. Dash had sounded like she was really struggling to keep going during that last message. “Stay safe Rainbow.” She whispered.

“35.” Dash gasped. She felt the cold now, ironically it felt like it was burning her skin. Ice had formed on her mane and tail. They hung limp and heavy. She could feel the frost around her exposed mouth.

Despite her wings flapping harder than ever she was barely moving. “37.” She managed a weak laugh. The gem attached to her uniform started to vibrate. “Guess I equalled the old record guys.” She kept moving her wings but the numbers displayed on her goggles were barely moving any more.

“I’m....doing....okay.” Rainbow gasped out. “I....don’t feel....cold any....more.” Rainbow Dash flopped her head. Her limbs felt so heavy. She stared at her surroundings. The blue of the sky was below her, around was the dark black of space. The sun shone down but she didn’t feel its warmth. All of Equestria, all of the world, was displayed. She could see the curve of the earth and beyond the horizon. She was looking down on the whole of creation. She had never felt so awed, so moved, so small.

Tears rose inside her goggles. “It’s beautiful.” she gasped, barely hearing her own voice. “I’ve flown...so far...I can almost....touch the stars.” she coughed weakly. “I see Celestia’s sun....and Luna’s....moon...together...in the sky....they ne....never looked....so...bright....oh you can’t....imagine....its so....beautiful....guys....I’ve never....been happier....except....when we be....became...friends....it’s just how....I dreamed...it...would....be...”

Applejack looked at Twilight, who shared her scared expression. Despite the enchantment on the gem, which amplified even a whisper from Rainbow into normal volume, they had barely heard that last part.
“C’mon sugar-cube” She urged. “C’mon home to us now.”

Gilda continued to stare at the clouds through the sunglasses. “38.7 kilometres,” she read the display in a dry voice. “and still climbing.”

Rainbow’s thin voice came through the communication gem. “I...feel...so...calm....so....” she said some things that none of them heard for a few seconds. “peaceful.” was the last word.

Gilda finally moved her head from the sky. “39 kilometres.” she said in a dry voice. “dammit Dash, come on back. I didn’t come all this way to lose you.” out of the corner of her eye she noticed the three ponies glance at her. “So I chose this assignment so I’d have an excuse to come to this town and apologise to her, what of it?” she sounded more worried than angry. Her gaze still didn’t leave the clouds. “Dash was my best friend for a long time, of course I wanna be her pal again.”

Rainbow Dash felt her body go limp. Her vision was greying. Some instinct made her tilt her wings to move her back toward the ground. Her body knew which way to go. “take me home.”

She passed out as she started to fall.

Author's Note

37 kilometres might not sound like a huge distance but it is. I looked into it for some level of accuracy, but still took some creative license for the story. So if you spot any inaccuracies, they are there on purpose.
Commercial airlines fly between ten and twenty kilometres, hot air balloons usually don't go higher than 1 kilometre, and the world record for a parachute freefall; set by Felix Baumgartner in 2012, was from a height of 39 kilometres. Most weather balloons don't go much higher than that.
Traces of earth's atmosphere stretch out 800km, the international space station orbits at a height of 400km and, according to NASA, space officially begins at 80km.
Here ends the lesson.

Putting in Gilda was a last minute decision, originally I was going to go with an OC griffon, but figured that since I was going with a griffon I might as well go with the one griffon everyone knows. Once she was chosen all her interactions with the others just fell into place.

Chapter 3

Fly me to the moon.
Fanfic by Englishwitch

Chapter 3

The group of ponies and one griffin scanned the sky desperately.

“There!” Gilda pointed a claw at a white contrail racing downwards like a daytime shooting star.

Twilight gasped, “She’s coming in too fast.”

Applejack leaned over the edge of the basket. “RAINBOW!”

Gilda stared at the numbers on display in the magically enchanted sunglasses, they were diving so fast the numbers were just a blur. Gilda recognised a free-fall when she saw it. Rainbow wasn’t in control of that dive. “She’s gonna slam into the ground.”

The griffon leapt out of the basket, spread her wings and dove down at a sharp angle.

Rainbow continued to fall, getting faster with every passing second. She fell past Gilda. The griffon roared with shock and frustration.

Gilda tucked in her wings, legs and even her tail, stream-lining her body as much as possible. She dove in Dash’s wake, riding the clear air make in the ponies slipstream. Dash was falling so fast an air-cone was forming around her. Gilda stretched out her talons and ground her teeth. She could feel the air fighting, pushing, trying to force her back. She’d never flown so fast before but it wasn’t fast enough. She roared and pushed back against the air and the laws of physics. She flapped her wings. Dash’s tail came in range. She snapped her talons to a close. She had her.

BOOM

Gilda’s foreleg was nearly wrenched out of its socket from a sudden burst of acceleration from Rainbow Dash. She was blinded by an explosion of rainbow coloured light. Rainbow Dash had fallen so fast she’d achieved an unconscious Sonic Rainboom and Gilda was being pulled along for the ride.

Their course was straight down and the ground was getting closer, now faster than ever.

Keeping her grip on Rainbow’s tail with one claw Gilda pushed her other foreleg through the violent churning slipstream, forcing it forward with brute strength to Rainbow’s flank. She grabbed it tightly, her claws dug into the soft flesh. Droplets of blood flew into her face, Gilda ignored them and pulled Dash closer to her body. The move was slow; gravity wasn’t surrendering its hold on the pony’s dead weight. She had to do it, had to pull her closer.

She hugged Dash’s back legs to her chest. The ground was upon them. It would have to do.

Gilda opened her wings as wide as she could. The wind was like a battering ram against her. She roared in agony. It felt like her wings were going to be torn off. “COME ON!!!” She tried, forcing her wings to tilt, to change the angle of the fall.

...***...

Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie were thrown off their hooves from a massively powerful shock-wave as a screaming rainbow flew over their heads, barely twenty feet off the ground. The rainbow shot across the countryside, losing height at a frightening rate until it crashed into the trees of the Everfree forest.

There was a flash of light next to the three ponies; Twilight had teleported herself and Applejack to the ground.

“C’mon.” AJ broke into a gallop, racing toward the trees, the others fell in line behind her.

...***...

Less than half a mile into the woods they found Rainbow Dash and Gilda.

The griffin was holding the pony tightly in her forelegs. Gilda was sporting a nasty looking cut on her forehead and her left wing was bent at a painful angle but she didn’t seem to notice. All her attention was on Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow’s hair was singed at the tips, sweat was dripping off her body and her suit had been torn around Rainbow’s haunches and where Gilda’s claws had grabbed her flank.

Despite it all, Rainbow was beginning to stir. She groaned and her legs started to move.

...***...

Rainbow’s eyes opened slowly.

The world was too bright, voices too loud. Brightly coloured shapes danced around her. Her head started to hurt.

Then suddenly the pain was gone and reality crept back into place.

She was in a hospital bed at Ponyville General. Surrounded by her five best friends.

Fluttershy started to tear up.

Twilight smiled in relief. “Thank Celestia you’re okay.”

“We’re so glad to have you back sugar-cube”

“Darling, we were so worried.”

“We should have a party to celebrate. But later, because the doctors took all my party supplies. They said it wouldn’t help you get better, which is just silly, because a party always makes everything better.”

Rainbow looked to each of them in turn. “Umm....hi....so.....who are you?”

Their eyes widened in fear.

Rainbow grinned. “Gotcha.” she laughed,, then had to stop, it hurt to laugh.

The five mares sighed with relief, almost all of them were even able to smile.

“Not funny Dashie.” Pinkie said, although her giggles took away any seriousness her sentence would have had.

Dash nodded her head, but she kept smiling. She looked down at herself, her wings and haunches were bandaged, so was her flank and was it her imagination or were her mane and tail a little shorter than they had been before?

She looked back up at her friends. “So, what happened?” she looked at each of them in turn. “Last thing I remember is equalling the old record, did I do it?”

None of them spoke but a voice came all the same, “You did it Dash.”

The curtain next to Rainbow’s bed was pulled aside, revealing the other bed in the hospital room and Dash’s room-mate.

Gilda was in a sorrier state than Rainbow was, her left wing was bandaged to a metal frame, keeping it straight and still to aid its healing, she had more bandages wrapped around her head and shoulder. Yet, despite all her injuries, Gilda was smiling.

“Last reading before you started coming down was 39.2 Kilometres.” Gilda said to her old friend. “You smashed the record. Higher than anyone has ever flown before.”

“YES! ow.” Dash winced and rubbed her shoulder with her hoof gently. It didn’t matter, she could tolerate the pain. She had done it, broken a world record, gone down into the history books.

She looked around the room with a prideful smile. She couldn’t have done it, never would have had the courage to even try, without her friends.

They weren’t tears, they were liquid pride. “Thanks you guys. Thanks, so much.”