The Transporter: Second Gear

by Unit_ZER0

Part 03: Clutch

As the door to the classroom swung open, and Cole followed Trixie inside, the human couldn’t help but wonder who exactly he would be teaching…

The fact that the unicorn mare in front of him didn’t seem inclined to leave meant that she was probably going to be one of his students. That left the others. How big would the class be? Who would they be? He got his answers in a few seconds, as Trixie stood off to one side, and introduced him.

“Ok everypony, here’s our instructor. As you can see, he’s a human. He’ll be helping us learn to drive human vehicles, and use them to transport things for the princess.”

After that somewhat awkward introduction, she turned to Cole, and tossed her head slightly. Taking the gesture as his cue, Cole regarded the room’s occupants for a fraction of a second, and then began to speak. As he did so, Trixie excused herself, and went to report to the Princess that the contracted instructor had arrived safely.

“Good evening, my name is Morris Cole, and I’ll be your practical driving and mechanics instructor,” as his eyes swept across the four other occupants of the room, sitting behind wooden desks, Cole recognized one of the room’s occupants immediately, and a second a moment later. “It seems I’ve met some of you before,” he continued, as he felt himself begin to relax. “why don’t you all introduce yourselves, and we can get acquainted.”

After a beat, the thestral in the back row raised a foreleg, and spoke. “Sergeant Stormcloud, Night Guard, on detached duty to this provisional Courier Division.”

As the sergeant lowered his foreleg, the grey Pegasus in the seat in front of him repeated the gesture, and introduced herself. “Ditzy Doo, mailmare, I want to do a better job with special packages.”

After her, the yellowish-orange unicorn seated to her left disappeared in a burst of golden fire, revealing herself to be a changeling. She raised one holey foreleg. “Ambassador Earth Mover, Amber hive, here as part of my cross-cultural training.”

Cole had to smile, albeit slightly at that.

Next, the brown earth pony seated in front of her raised his hoof. “Balance Wheel, Royal Clockmakers, I’m hoping to gain the knowledge needed to maintain these human machines.”

Here Cole appreciated the princess’ obvious forethought. Training a mechanic along with the drivers made good sense. Then and there, Cole decided to adjust his still nebulous lesson plan.

Then, Trixie, who had silently returned from her errand, introduced herself as she sat in the last front seat. “Trixie Lulamoon, former travelling magician. I’m still not sure how I got in here, but I’ll do my best.”

And last, Cole himself addressed his fledgling class. “Morris Cole, electronic and mechanical systems engineer, professional Transporter. I look forward to sharing my knowledge with you.”

---

The “class” that day was a brief one, with Cole mostly asking questions of his “students” regarding the condition of the local roads, and outdoor terrain.

After some time, the human determined that the land of Equestria, while crisscrossed by many roads, both large and small, had almost none of the innovations humans had made to their road networks. First, there didn’t seem to be much in the way of drainage. According to Ms. Doo, the local roads outside most towns tended to flood after heavy downpour, and since almost all packages, save the heaviest ones, were transported by air, there hadn’t been a need to maintain the local roads beyond ensuring they didn’t become overgrown.

It was here that Cole got his first chance to do some teaching. Trixie Lulamoon was the one who provided the opportunity. “So, Mr. Cole,” She began. “Tell us, what are human roads like? You seem to be asking quite a few questions about ours.”

After taking a moment to get his words straight, Cole replied. “Well, Ms. Lulamoon, for humans, roads represent one of the roots of our civilization. Since ancient times, humans have fought one another, primarily over resources. We don’t do so as often as we used to, but fighting your neighbors tends to mean moving an army and their supplies from place to place as quickly as possible. We didn’t always have self-propelled vehicles like the one you saw me arrive in, but they and modern roads influenced each other as the two technologies developed and matured. And so, in order to move armies, and in peacetime, merchandise quickly and safely across long distances, humans created what would become the modern road.”

“We started with simply following the paths animals would make in their migrations, but soon, we started clearing brush, and making paths of our own. Later on, early forms of paving came into being. Paving is the process of placing gravel, stones and mortar, or special substances on top of a path, to create a smooth surface to travel on, and to prevent vegetation from overgrowing the cleared space. One of the oldest roads in my world is over four thousand years old.”

“A modern road typically has a cleared and leveled path, upon which sand is layered. On top of this are a layer of crushed gravel, and then a layer of aggregate. The final layer is a substance called “asphalt”, which provides the smooth, easy to grip surface modern vehicles operate best on. Modern roads also are slightly raised, or cambered in the middle, which makes water run off them, and there are special drainage structures buried under and around the road to carry water away.”

“Construction of a modern road is a very labor intensive process, and takes a lot of time and resources to complete. Because of that basic fact, I will not be training you to operate vehicles like mine, since it is mainly intended to be used on human roads. Instead, I’ve requested that you be given vehicles which can handle multiple surfaces, and will work well on the roads you do have.”

After that somewhat long lecture, Balance Wheel raised a hoof. “Mr. Cole, may we see your vehicle?”

“Certainly” the human replied.

---

After leaving the classroom, and making their way back to the Elantra and its trailer, Balnce Wheel, Ditzy Doo, and Trixie took some time to trot around the vehicle, inspecting it from every angle. Earth Mover, Sergeant Stormcloud, and Cole stood back, and let the three who were unfamiliar with the machine get used to it. Earth Mover did take a closer look, since the last time she had been near the Elantra, it had been a dark night. After letting the ponies look at the machine from every angle, Cole approached, and cleared his throat.

“Much of the time, you may hear me refer to this machine as a “Car” The term is actually a shortened form of this type of vehicle’s original name: a “Horseless Carriage”. Since there are so many of these machines manufactured every year, and by so many companies, cars typically have three names. The first is their year of production. The second is the manufactures of the car, and the last is the model of car. There may also be other letters or a name that provides information on how powerful the vehicle is, or whether or not it has been equipped with special parts.”

“For example, this car is a 2008 Hyundai Elantra GLS. Most cars also come in various sizes. Subcompact, Compact, Midsize, and Full Size. All that means is basically how much interior space each size class has. This one is a mid-size. “

“What does the ‘Gee Ell Ess’ stand for?” Ditzy Doo asked.

“Nobody knows,” was the human’s reply.

At the quizzical look he received, the human elaborated. “Actually, it probably means “Grand Luxury Sport” or something like that. Those last few letters usually indicate the type of extras a car may have. For example, an “SE” may mean “Special Edition” or “Sport Edition” which actually are two different things. But since each manufacturer makes up their own letters, and what those letters may mean the best thing to do is ignore it, and look at a list of the vehicle in question’s features, and let those tell you about the car.”

After this explanation, the wall-eyed mare looked even more confused, and then a look of understanding crossed her face. “So we just need to look at what the car can do, instead of making an assumption based on its name?”

Cole was impressed with her reasoning. “Pretty much,” was his short reply.

Here Trixie asked another question: “Mr. Cole, how fast can this ‘car’ go?”

Cole answered the obviously eager mare cautiously. “This one will go almost 220 KPH” At the somewhat nonplussed look he got after that response, the human continued. “It’s pretty fast”

“Oh”.

Balance Wheel posed the next question: “Mr. Cole, may we see the engine of this vehicle?”

“Just a moment.”

Walking over to the driver’s side, Cole opened the door, and pulled the hood release. After closing the door again, he made his way to the front of the Elantra, and opened the hood. The earth pony reared up, and took a look inside.

“I… have no idea where to begin with this…” He admitted.

“Don’t worry about it, the human replied, clapping him on the shoulder, “We’ll go over what everything you’re looking at is, and how it works, I promise.”

“Thanks.. Looks like this is going to be a lot more complicated than I thought, though.”

“Not really,” Cole countered, removing the remote to the car from his pocket. “Want to see it start?”

“I’d like that.” Balance Wheel replied, staring intently at the Elantra’s engine.

With a brief signal, there was a click, and the Elantra started with a whirring rumble. The Apprentice clockmaker almost let go of his spot looking into the engine compartment, but after a beat, began to look eagerly around at the spinning parts of the now awake engine.

“I hear a rapid ticking, is there a clock in here?” he asked.

“No, what you’re hearing is the spark plugs firing.” Cole replied. “Good ear, though. Most persons don’t even notice.”

As the others also took their places around Cole, and gazed at the running engine, Ditzy Doo began pointing to various parts of the engine, and asking the human what they were.”

“What’s that?”

“Intake Manifold.”

“And That?”

“Exhaust Manifold.”

And on it went.

“Intake.”

“Filter Box.”

“Battery.”

“Coil Pack.”

“Radiator.”

“Throttle Body.”

“Serpentine Belt.”

“Alternator.”

“A/C Compressor.”

“Water Pump.”

“Coolant Reservoir.”

After almost three minutes of this, Cole felt the need to stop before the other’s got any more confused.

“All right, why don’t we break here for the day. Ms. Doo, thank you for your curiosity, but we’ll get into exactly what all these parts are, and what they do starting tomorrow. If you all don’t mind, I still need to unpack, and get an idea of how I’m going to actually teach you all.”

“Oh,” the Pegasus said, looking crestfallen. “Am I being annoying again?”

“Nothing like that. I appreciate your enthusiasm, really I do, but we need to go at a pace everyone else can keep up with, all right?”

“Ok. Will I get to drive this tomorrow?”

“Maybe not tomorrow, but soon.”

“All right!” Here the gray mare gave the human an enthusiastic hug. “I’ll bring muffins for everyone!”

“…Sounds good.” Cole finished, a bit nonplussed by the pegasus’ rapidly shifting moods.

Here Earth Mover came to the human’s rescue. “Come on, everypony, let’s help Mr. Cole get his stuff, and get settled in.” With Balance Wheel, and Ditzy Doo in tow, and Trixie reluctantly following along, the changeling led the way to the Elantra’s trailer, and expertly opened its access with a brief burst of magic. Under her direction, she and the others began removing packages and bundles, and carrying them off to the room Cole had noticed when Trixie had walked him in.

While all this was going on, Cole shut the Elantra down, and closed the hood. Sergeant Stormcloud stood at his side, and spoke for the first time.

“So, still glad you took the job?”

The human and the thestral shared a look, and Cole looked off into the distance for a long second.

“You know, I think I am.”

Comments

[Lord Legion]

Ah I didn't realize this updated. Now that I've read it, I see that Cole has a bit of knowledge that he will have to bestow upon these ponies. Honestly, I can't wait for the introduction of the new vehicles.

[Unit_ZER0]

6284599 I'll do my best not to disappoint. Next chapter, Cole gives the new recruits a basic rundown of an ICE. It'll be a bit boring, but informative, I promise. Why? Because reasons. (To be explained in said chapter)

[Snow ghost pony]

I recently found a car online that I think might be a good addition. It's the BMW i8 hybrid, at least, I think that's the name. Not sure if it's what your looking for, but seems like an idea at least

[Unit_ZER0]

6437930 I actually like that car very much. Slight issue though, it's an electric hybrid, and meant for a modern road. So far as we know, Equestria is at a rudimentary stage of road development, with packed dirt tracks as the most advanced driving surface they have. In light of that, a vehicle with primarily offroad capabilities makes more sense. Something like a Local Motors Rally Fighter. Thanks for the input though, please keep sending in suggestions!