//------------------------------// // Equestrian Flyer Issue 47 // Story: The Drift Never Ends // by KenDoStudios //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash entered her cloud house and set her bag aside, stretching her wings this way and that, recovering from her mornings adrenaline pumping stunt show. Of course, her morning and evening stunts for Cloudsdale was just the beginning for her adrenaline pumping action day. She had another show that afternoon. After Rainbow Dash finished stretching, she couldn't help but feel a sense of pride and accomplishment wash over her. She had just finished performing an incredible stunt show for the residents of Cloudsdale, and she knew that she was the best pegasus in all of Equestria when it came to performing death-defying feats in the air. As she made her way into her kitchen to fix herself a quick breakfast, she couldn't stop replaying the cheers and applause of the audience in her head. She had truly outdone herself this time, and she couldn't wait to see the look of awe on everyone's faces when she performed her evening show. Rainbow Dash munched on a bowl of oats as her thoughts turned to the rest of her day. She figured she had a few more hours to rest and practice before her evening show, and she knew that she had to make the most of it. She was determined to make each and every performance better than the last, and she was willing to put in the hard work and dedication to make it happen. But instead, Rainbow Dash decided to take advantage of the extra time she had before her evening show and headed to her bedroom to relax for a bit. So after her meal was done and the dishes properly washed and in the sink, she headed to her bed and flopped down onto her soft, fluffy bed, letting out a contented sigh. It had been a long and exhausting morning, and she deserved a little break to recharge her batteries. As she lay there, she couldn't help but smile to herself. She was living her dream, performing daring stunts for adoring fans and being recognized as the best pegasus in Equestria. It wasn't an easy path, and she had worked hard to get where she was, but it was all worth it in the end. Rainbow Dash knew that she was exactly where she was meant to be. She was living her best life, and she wouldn't have it any other way.  Well... maybe not her best life, there was one other pony that Rainbow Dash had looked up to since childhood who was the epitome of death defying stunts… Rainbow Dash reached under the bed she laid upon and pulled out a collection of Equestrian Flyer magazines, filled with pictures and articles about the latest and greatest high-flying stunts and tricks.  Dash sometimes was caught with these magazines and kept going on seeing how awesome she looked in the magazine. but secretly she had been looking at the unique stunts that one stallion she had held the most interest for her adrenaline pumping needs!  The stallion she thought might be even cooler than herself.  Denny Walls.  She opened the pages of issue forty-seven of the magazine and automatically turned to page fourteen, right where she had memorized it was. Upon reaching the page, she started reading it again just like she used to. Looking at the words and converting them into vivid images in her head, she smiled like it was happening in front of her. She lifted her wings instinctively as if she was trying to fly alongside him, kicking her legs from side to side. She was literally lost in the text of Denny Walls. The story started with the pegasus stallion in a sealed metal box. His hooves were trotting in place, kicking up metal shavings from beneath his heavy hooves. The air was tense as four other pegasi carried the box with him in it. It was a display of knowing who Denny Walls was and how his team respected him as they tenderly laid the side of the metallic box on a ragged wooden pier. The four pegasi detached the metallic box, which had been tied to their bodies with sturdy ropes, as soon as it landed, freeing themselves from the weight of the heavy mass that was contained inside. The four stallions just hovered as Denny kicked the box, making a sizable dent in the front of it. He neighed aggressively and trotted over more of the shavings beneath his hooves, sometimes making sparks from underneath him. He kicked it again, making another dent on the one he already made. A creaking sound from beneath the metal object was coming from under the ragged bridge. With enough force it would collapse, submerging the metal box with the pony inside. Denny ventured a few more kicks, each successive pounding weakening the bridge till it did just that. It failed and collapsed under the weight of the metal box. Staggering at first, Denny backed up and flew at the already dented door and finally broke through, flying with the remaining metal in his hooves while the wooden dock with the metal box crumbled beneath him. Denny Walls emerged from the wreckage in a different flight suit, which was normal for him. He liked to have different colors whenever he was putting on a show. Today he was wearing a black winged suit that had his name etched in old ponish but with a bit more aggressive font style as well as his sponsors’ names in a perfectly matching color scheme perfectly of greens, blacks, and yellows. Plastered all over were logos like "Marechelin Wheels", "Marebil1", "Ponisonic", "Colttrol", and "Spyke". The last three companies sponsored many Equestrians, including himself, throughout Ponyville and beyond. They even tried to sponsor Dash at one point.  As Denny flew up, he dropped the metal door he held onto a target and hit the bullseye, revealing his golden painted hooves hovering over the ground, sparkling in the sunshine and brightening up the volume of light around him until the audience almost felt blinded by its brilliance. The four pegasi that carried him earlier followed him while he began making a fast, low fly across the sandy beach that stretched before him.   His second stunt was a sharp turn making a dust storm from his change of direction, causing sand to go everywhere except where he intended to go; however, the glow of his hooves enlightened the sand so it looked like glittering glowing rain was falling. He hung out his abrupt turn so he could go sideways while flying towards the dust storm; it was his unique style of flying he called "drifting." This maneuver was very dangerous as the stallion had no sight while doing this, but he had practiced this maneuver many times before, and the best way to describe how he did it was that Denny felt it. He could feel the air pressure on his wings changing slightly allowing him to know exactly where he needed to adjust his course to maintain balance between the forward momentum and his turning, making him appear as if he was turning sideways. This trick took years for him to perfect. But once mastered, there wasn't anything else quite like it in Equestria or anywhere.  The other four pegasi went through the sand, making the sand tsunami more spectacular as a brief star pattern led the already drifting clouds away leaving only Sandia Beach alone not covered with any kind of white powder. They left the stunt show to prepare for a later stunt. Denny then went back to basics, down wind sprinting toward an open field full of tall grasses waving wildly and blowing in the breeze as he beat his wings forward. He got himself out of his drift and now headed west. His third act consisted of wind jumping but he did it differently than most flyers did. He sped to a nearby wall going full speed, and when it looked like he would crash into it, he stretched his wings out, stopping him right in front of it. He did a moving backflip and continued the speed upside down. While flipped, he shifted his body weight back down to do a two and a half barrel roll, completing his spin as he landed safely on top of the building next to the wall without breaking anything. At least nothing too important anyway...he laughed softly after his pyrotechnics team shot out fireworks behind the wall when he finished. The fourth major display came during his cartwheel routine. This one was really based on balance. He put his wings upward, flying slowly back to the beach. Then, putting himself in a tuck and roll, he landed on the beach, purposely making his suit sandy and dirty, but he retained speed as he put his hooves to leap at just the right moment to balance sand on his back. He then zoomed back to an enclosed area filled with loading crates stacked high. Again performing a barrel roll, he began to drift around the containers, making sand smoke behind him. He turned a quick one-eighty while doing this balancing against the centrifugal force of spinning, thus gaining height while drifting. This was something no pony was expecting. It was an old trick, but done upwards it looked new. He finished strong by flipping backwards midair sending even more sand dust behind him making a circle. This next bit was tricky because the circle he made was falling and he had to go through it before it hit the ground. He backflipped off of a nearby container, getting some serious height and distance while heading straight towards the center of the circle, then he shifted his wings upside down as he went through it just before it landed. It would have injured him if he had made a mistake here. His flight suit was still a bit dusty, so he finished that stunt with an unplanned sharp barrel roll that made his clothes somewhat clean again though the dirt remained. However, he wasn't done yet; he was just getting started. His fifth display required him to be near the loading area of a freight yard, which is why he sped towards the only passenger train in Equestria that was actively unloading and loading passengers inside its cabins. The stationmaster saw him and just closed his eyes as the stallion did a quick stop and drift around the train. He went sideways, barely brushing snouts with the train’s light at unbelievable speeds, and zoomed past between the coal tender and the locomotive, making a large area kick up with coal ash from the change of wind pressure.  After another series of flips and somersaults over the rail cars of screaming ponies, Denny halted his speed directly under a bridge nearby about ten feet below it, holding onto a side of a support beam to keep him suspended perfectly level facing the track below. It appeared that he might fall head first due to gravity pulling him downward until suddenly, instead of dropping, he floated horizontally along the rails using his tail to create drag, slowing the rotation rate enough to cause his neck to remain horizontal long enough for him to grab hold of said bar. Then, quickly rotating backward, he pushed all of his mass vertically creating thrust, forcing him forwards and accelerating faster than ever possible!  A few seconds later, Denny dropped far slower than expected, coming to rest almost touching the roof of the train car. When everyone realized what happened Dash could imagine the screams of terror mixed with amazement as Denny returned back to the viewing area, back to where the shipping crates were. He flipped back, drifting another 180 around a stack of boxes and catching air once again, but this time there was a makeshift tunnel made with these containers that he went through while drifting, emerging on the other side as he grinded his hooves on a container and created sparks that shot across the sky, illuminating everything within sight, including those who weren't paying attention. He was well on his way for his sixth stunt. He turned to the rows and rows of shipping crates lining both sides of the dock. Most ponies wouldn't try ducking their heads low passing through such tight spaces, especially since they are usually full of very heavy objects, but he made a bowing stomp and did a sharp drift for two hundred and seventy degrees, fitting inside a very tight space. Taking advantage of momentum, he passed through several layers of cardboard boxes not missing any as well as trying to avoid hitting anyone or being crushed by cargo shifting forward. He reversed direction multiple times, landing safely beside his box truck, doing a short drift in a complete circle he called a "pinot", which consists mostly of circles when performed correctly because... well.... They look cool. But seeing how awesome our hero has become, we will allow him to call whatever stunts he wants a pinot regardless of whether they actually fit the definition or not.  After the spin, he sped to an already slowly opening door and squeezed into the door to the bottom of the floor at fast speed, then stopped dead as he was speeding toward the exit. He whistled loudly, drawing everyone out of hiding and giving himself plenty of room to get away without having to worry too much about running aground. The display made it look like he barely fit through the doorway. However, after exiting, he showed that he obviously didn't need much clearance, that he always knows exactly where he needs to put each part of his body, and he truly is incredibly flexible; he was able to do amazing tricks, but as he was on the move, no matter how small or big something seemed, it somehow worked out better than planned, even during high stress situations.  His seventh stunt started with him trotting on land galloping a ground drift, which was a homage to earth pony tricks from back in the old days. He used his front legs to make holes, digging deeper and grabbing for grip as he drifted around the entire view area in around ten seconds flat before flipping backwards, spinning above an obstacle which made him look like a ninja upside down, and resuming his flight as he righted himself, not even putting his hooves on the ground. He headed straight upwind right for a massive pipe that was carried by the four pegasi who had grabbed it and doused it in oil while they were gone. "NOW," was all Denny said to his group and the four pegasi dropped the pipe while it was aflame. Denny squinted eyes shut blasting towards the brightly burning flames and flying close enough to feel the heat. Through the pipe he went, extinguishing the fire instantly and leaving nothing more than ashes floating lazily in midair. The pipe landed on the floor, shaking the grandstand and the audience, and it fell over to the side. He did eight spins going from slowest to fastest, ending with three consecutive 360 rotations followed by five rolls starting at ninety-five degrees then rolling twice finishing at forty-five degrees. He went downward again between two very sharp spikes sticking through the ground narrowing his wingspan so that he had to put in his wings between the spikes or be impaled. After that, he had about 16 feet to extend his wings and land safely on the ground . He did it flawlessly, immediately extending his wings out after the spikes and landing on the street, making sparks from his hooves and a change in wind. The audience felt the breeze of his landing, blowing some papers around and scattering them everywhere as people screamed wildly, yelling his name "DENNY! DENNY! DENNY!" He waved back at the crowd to signify he did it for the fans. The crowd continued to cheer until the announcer said, "That concludes another great show tonight. Please come see Mr. Walls perform next week." After the applause died down, Denny walked backstage where his team was ready to escort him home. "That’s so awesome, it's more awesome than me!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, holding the magazine in her hooves tightly. It took nearly twenty seconds for her to get out of the zone and realized her wings were still outstretched and slightly tilting backward. Before long, she snapped upright and put the magazine back inside the case, quickly returned everything else to their places, and immediately trotted to go outside. However, it wasn’t because it was time for her second show, but because she wanted to practice that move that she herself couldn't do, drifting.