Back to Equestria

by Dauntless

Driving School.

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“Twiiiilightttt, what does DMC mean ? Cause whatever it is, this pony must really like it since it is written on this thing like a million billion times,” Pinkie exclaimed while she bent over slightly to look at the badge on the front of the machine.

Rainbow Dash chuckled a bit while she continued to tap her fingers on the wheel-shaped-thing that was suspended over her legs in the seat she was sitting in. Sitting next to her, in the seat without the wheel-shaped-thing was Twilight, who was opening a door on some compartment that was directly in front of her seat. Meanwhile, Applejack was leaning on the back of the machine,and Rarity and Fluttershy sat some distance away on the grass near the edge of the road.

“Well, it looks like it stands for Delorean Motor Company,” Twilight said as she lifted a leather bound book out from the compartment and set it on her lap. The book was about and inch or two thick, and had the words ‘Delorean Motor Company - Owner’s Manual’ embossed into the leather cover.

“Hmm, well what does Prnd mean ?” Rainbow Dash said as she pointed at some letters that were printed near a stick that stuck out between her and Twilight’s seats.

“I’m sure we’ll get to that eventually,” Twilight replied as she opened up to the first page and began to read aloud, “We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for selecting a Delorean motor car and to wish you many years of trouble free motoring.” Rainbow Dash sighed and set her head down onto the wheel-shaped-thing while Twilight commented, “So I guess this thing is called a car.” Before she continued to read aloud the next paragraph, “This handbook should be considered a permanent part of the vehicle, please read it carefully as it contains important operating, maintenance, and safety informa-”

“Boring, lets just skip to the part about what it actually does,” Rainbow Dash said as she interrupted the once-unicorn  while she was in mid sentence.

“Well, it just said to read the whole thing because it contains important information, and when we’re dealing with something we don’t have any clue about, it is probably a good idea to do whatever the book says,” Twilight lashed back, causing Rainbow Dash to scoff slightly before lifting up her feet from beneath the wheel-shaped-thing and set them on top of it in a relaxed fashion. But, just as she set down her feet onto the middle of the wheel, a loud honk erupted from the front of the car, causing the rainbow-haired girl to jump up and fall down out of the open door onto the ground.

“What the hay was that ?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she picked herself up from the ground and sat back down into the seat, accompanied by the laughter of the rest of the girls.

“That,” Twilight commented as she stopped her laughing and flipped a couple pages forward in the book, “is called a ‘horn’ and next time I’d recommend you’d keep your hooves off of it and on the floor of the car.”

“Keep your hooves on the floor of the car,” Rainbow Dash said in a bad imitation of Twilight’s voice, “You sound just like my mom.”

Twilight let out another casual chuckle as she flipped past another page in the manual. After reading it for a moment she lifted up her finger and pointed to a bolded title on the page, and turned it around slightly to face Rainbow Dash.

“Alright, here is how to start it, although I still think I should go back and read the safety section,” Twilight said. Rainbow Dash squinted her eyes slightly and looked down towards the section that Twilight was pointing at. The rainbow-haired girl mouthed out some of the words to herself as she obviously struggled to comprehend the paragraph, until Twilight rolled her eyes and flipped it back around to face herself.

“I’ll just tell you what to do, genius,” Twilight scoffed as she lowered her finger down and traced it underneath the words on the page as she said, “it looks like you’re supposed to take that key that is stuck onto the side of thing you put your hooves on,” Twilight lowered her finger back to the edge of the manual and flipped a couple pages back and added, “Its called a ‘steering wheel’ and the thingy that the key is in is called a ‘ignition switch’ and you turn the key like you would to unlock a door.” Rainbow Dash reluctantly nodded, who still somewhat resentful from falling out of the car, and did exactly as Twilight instructed. As she turned the key into the first position, a whole barrage of lights lit up in front of the pair, and as she moved onto the second position even more flicked to life. And then finally, as she pushed the key into the third position a loud rumble resonated from the front of the car. Which caused Pinkie Pie, who was sitting on the front at the time, to jump off the car with a yelp.

“Is it … mad ?” Fluttershy commented as she and Rarity continued to act as audience to the comical scene that unfolded in front of them.

Applejack, who had stopped leaning on the car and stepped back cautiously once it had starting running said, “I reckon they just got it to do … whatever it is supposed to do.” Directly after saying so she began to cough slightly from some kind of gas that was coming out of a pipe in the back, prompting her to take a few steps even further back.

“Okay, now that its doing … something, lets just move onto that Prnd thing you were talking about,” Twilight said, receiving a nod from Rainbow Dash in return as she flipped though several pages until she got to one with a  picture of the stick-thingy between their seats.

“It says that it stand for Park, Reverse, Neutral, and Drive. And whatever the stick is next to is what it does, that seems easy enough,” Twilight said as she looked up from the manual and down towards the stick.

“But I already tried it and it doesn’t move,” Rainbow Dash replied as she reached down and attempted pull on it as if to prove her statement to Twilight.

“It says that you have to push down on the brake to make it move, that’s one of those things on the floor that you have to press with you hooves,” Twilight replied as she glanced down at the manual yet again. The rainbow-haired girl nodded, and moved right foot to press down onto the far right pedal while pulling on the stick.

The car’s noises got louder, but the stick still couldn’t move no matter how hard Rainbow Dash pulled, and after tugging on it for a full minute she sighed and let her foot off of the pedal.

“Maybe push the other one ?” Twilight suggested as she watched the former pegasus with a confused expression.

Rainbow Dash pushed down on the other pedal with her feet, but instead of the car getting louder, it just continued to make the same mechanical purr. Rainbow Dash reached down and easily slid the stick so that it no longer sat next to the ‘P’ but instead next to the ‘D’ and released her foot from the pedal.

As soon as she released her foot from the pedal, the car started to slowly roll forward on its own, causing Pinkie Pie, who had clambered back up onto the car again, to jump off yet again in surprise.

“That’s awesome ! But next time could you tell me when you’re gonna move that thing again,” Pinkie stated as she smiled towards the pair in the car.

Twilight smirked a bit from the success of getting this foreign machine to function and nodded to Pinkie, while Rainbow Dash let a small cocky smile flood her face as well.

“Alright Dashie, stop the car,” Twilight said calmly as she looked back down towards the manual yet again. Rainbow Dash frowned a bit from the use of her least favorite pet name for herself, and pushed down her foot all the way down onto the pedal again.

Except, as she pressed the pedal down, instead of the car coming to a gentle stop, it leapt forward and started speeding down the dirt road with a large cloud of dust following behind. Wind rushed into the interior of the car through the wide-open doors, causing the pages of the manual to flutter around frantically as Twilight screamed out in terror.

Pinkie, who had just barley escaped getting hit by the car as it shot off, started to run after the speeding vehicle with little success.  Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy jumped up and followed Pinkie’s lead, but with just about the same amount of success.

Meanwhile, inside the runaway car, Dash recovered from her intial shock and let her foot off of the pedal and grabbed onto the steering wheel with her hands. As she moved over her foot to slam down onto the brake, she frantically turned the wheel to the left, sending the car into a slide along the loose dirt. The car spun all the way around and came to a stop facing the exact opposite direction it had previously been in, with a dramatic cloud of dust rising around it as well.

“That - was - AWESOME !” Rainbow dash exclaimed as the dust began to settle around the car. Twilight, who’s hair was now windblown out in every direction possible, sat hyperventilating while clutching the manual close to her chest, as if it were her own child.

“I believe …. That was the wrong pedal,” Twilight managed to say between breaths, before leaning out of the car and regurgitating her lunch onto the dirt road. Once Twilight had finished and lifted her head back into the car, Rainbow Dash chuckled and let her foot off the brake, letting the car slowly roll back towards the other girls, who were still frantically running towards the car.

“Are you okay ?”  Fluttershy said as Rainbow Dash pulled the Delorean up to a jerky stop next to the girls.

“Yeah, but it seems like Twi couldn’t handle it,” Rainbow Dash replied as she stuck out her thumb towards the still flustered Twilight Sparkle.

“Deary, how about you let Rainbow practice a bit and sit down with us,” Rarity said as she bent over and helped the unsteady Twilight out of the car and towards the edge of the road, with some assistance from Pinkie and Applejack. Rainbow Dash nodded and reached her hand across the center of the car to shut Twilight’s door as she stepped out, and then did the same to her own door.

“So, Twilight do you think that thingy can get us home ?” Pinkie asked as Rainbow Dash pulled off down the road, leaving another small cloud of dust behind.

“No, I don’t think it can. From what I’ve read in this book it seems that all this machine does is move with some sort of magic called ‘Unleaded Gasoline’ although I have no idea how to turn the magic that runs the car into magic that can be used for spells,” Twilight said as she lifted up her hand to her head and rubbed her temple for a moment. A few hundred feet down the dirt road Rainbow Dash was turning around the Delorean and heading back towards the girls.

“Well, I reckon the best thing we can do is find somepony who can tell us where we are, and maybe they can use their magic to send us back home,” Applejack replied with a smile directed towards the somber Twilight, just as Rainbow Dash roared past the group in the car.

“I do believe she has the right idea,” Rarity commented, while Rainbow Dash slowed turned around on the single lane road to head back towards the girls again.

“Yeah, lets go see if we can find that pony who’s name was on that sign Pinkie saw,” Twilight replied as she stood up and waved her arms back and forth to signal Rainbow Dash to stop.

Rainbow Dash brought the Delorean to a gentle stop next to the girls, showing some obvious improvement with her braking skills. Applejack opened up the passenger door and slid into the car, with the rest of the girls following suit. It was convenient that none of them were very large, but they still were stacked together like sardines when they finally managed to all get inside the car and shut the door again. Pinkie Pie actually had to sit on top of the stick thing that sat between the two seats, forcing her to move whenever Rainbow Dash needed to change gear.

They pulled off and started to head in the direction that the green sign had been pointing, but after only after a couple minutes of driving along the path Pinkie pointed out of the window and exclaimed, “LOOK, there is somepony we can talk to !”

If you are interested, here is the manual that Twilight was reading.

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