Twilight Sparkle has faced many challenges and tests. Ursa Majors, Chaos Gods, Demons, Sirens, the works. But now, she faces her greatest challenge yet.
She's going to learn how to drive a manual transmission.
Surely Twilight Sparkle, prized student of Celestia, Princess of Friendship, bookworm extraordinaire, and multiple-time saviour of Equestria, can learn how to drive a car, right?
...right?
(Just a silly little idea I had one day. This is my first story on here, so please excuse any grammatical errors. This story takes place after Rainbow Rocks, and contains some mild spoilers in regards)
Chapters (1)
OMG! Now THAT is a great story, I thought I was bad when I was first taught how to drive a stick shift. Keep up the good work.
Remind me never to let her near my car. I value my transmission.
Heh. In my country you have to take your driver's licence test on manual.
See, I have to favorite this one because Twilight made every single mistake that I did when learning to drive standard twenty years ago, in the exact same order. It's like you knew.
5182575 Well, I did base some parts of the story off my own embarrassing experience of learning to drive stick
5182329
And what country is that?
A riot, this story.
I learned to drive stick in the second car I had ever driven, about two or so years ago on an old rustbucket 1980 Jeep on some friends' property, a 4-speed with an I6. The floor pans were mostly gone, anything that was not metal was completely baked by Texas sun, we had to rebuild the engine because it was so fouled with sludge and carbon that it missed constantly, and best of all, the gearbox falls out of alignment if you don't push the spring all the way before putting it in reverse (Being stuck in 4th is about the opposite of reverse.
), and we still haven't fixed that. I love the thing, and the old AMC workhorse starts up with a snap of the fingers and runs like a song now that we've brought her back to health.
I may not have had quite as much trouble as our unicorn friend here, despite all our similarities in personality, but she didn't grow up with a passion for cars and doesn't play simulation racing games with every assist except ABS turned off, then plays with gear ratios, tire pressure, diff locks, camber and toe, brake pressure, and suspension damping to help negate oversteer on high-powered rear wheel drive cars.
The order of mistakes and the reaction of both driver and mentor are so hilarious because they're so accurate and remind us all of when we first learned. Also, poor girl has to learn on her boyfriend's well-cared for Camaro with its short throws, multitude of gears, and vast stores of torque and horsies under the hood. I must think of the consequences before feeling driven to do the same with any of my girlfriends in the future. 
Anyway, great story and amusing style. The only thing I could see that might want a little improvement is the description of objects, though I myself need greater practice with that very thing myself.
5183816 Poland
The cars for driving lessons have a second break and clutch pedal on the teacher's side, specifically to prevent scenes like above ;p
I just want to see pony RD learn to drive
Funny story! I don't know how to drive (yet), but I hope I do better than Twilight did. I don't have the luxury of taking the bus.
At least Principal Celestia was nice enough to provide an alternative mode of transportation!
This is why I am never going to drive stick in my entire life!
WHAT EVER YOU DO DONT LET PINKIE BEHIND THE WHEEL
Talkin' 'bout a bunch'a shiiiift work... a big ol' pile of shiiiift work...
I like that you didn't go for a completely random story, instead playing it genuinely and letting the inherent comedy of the situation shine through. Everything felt in-character, and you did a good job of making Flash pretty likable.
Also, that bus pass.
well, there Goes $400 up in Smoke, thanks to Twilight Turning Flash's Pirelli PZero Tires into Pirelli Zero (tread) Tires.
and there goes about $3,100 Right Down The Crapper for the Tremec TR6060 Transmission Twilight just Destroyed, and throw in another $336 for the Clutch Flash is about to need...
I've learned to drive a stick and I've done so on the road. I did okay but I just hate it.
I drive an automatic. If any vehicle I'd drive for shifting it'd be a paddleshift.
Fluttershy takes care of lions to? Must make things pretty awkward at lunch time.
5356669 Don't forget the couple hundred for the body work.
7338635
more like several Thousand. but I bet Flash's insurance paid for the damage to Celestia's car.
7340084 It was actually Luna's car. OH! and dont forget the bodywork on Flash's car! Resprays can cost.
7340264
well, that is another $420 for a new front bumper, $100 for a new air deflector, and depending if Flash's Camaro is an SS or not, $831 for a new Front Spoiler and if his car had Fog Lamps add another $266 for replacing both Fog Lamps and their bezels (depending if they got damaged when Twilight hit the Trash Cans); so, far not including painting, and labor costs, the bill to fix Flash's Camaro is a Whopping $5,453! and more than likely, the insurance company will INSIST on using a GM Dealership for repairs, so that is $113 an Hour Labor, and Thankfully his camaro is painted basic black, so he won't get charged out the ass for paint.
7412886 I'm starting to see why driving schools use crappy cars and not $50000 sports cars. Poor Flash. That reminds me. How much does trauma therapy cost?
7414427
hell back in the 70s, the Driver's Ed car my mom used was a Plum Crazy Purple Dodge Challenger Convertible with a white interior, do you know how much THAT is worth Nowadays in good Condition!?
EDIT: of course, even with crappy econobox cars, if you don't know what you are doing, you end up with THIS: i112.photobucket.com/albums/n180/digidude07/asploded%20aveo%20clutch_zpsbj256grn.jpg
this is WHAT'S LEFT of a friction disc and pressure plate of a 2009 Chevrolet Aveo Sedan with only 77,000 miles on it; the previous owner was a LOT like Twilight, and did not know how to drive stick whatsoever. I believe the current owner of the car said she was stuck on a hill attempting a hill start, and likely over revved the engine and dumped the clutch, when then proceeded to explode, which ripped the starter out of the bellhousing, as well as put 3 large holes in the transmission.
7418373
Life can be very wierd at times.
Twilight, I suggest you stay away from the number 34. Just saiyan...