Equestria Girls Adaptation
Driving Miss Shimmer
Based on the Original CYOE Shorts/Adapted by: ThomasZoey3000
Sunset Shimmer sighed as she walked up to her locker of the Canterlot High School. She opened it and reached in to get her bag, but she didn't grab it, she just stood there and sighed heavily again. Nearby stood three of her best friends; Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy. They could see Sunset looking miserable, and walked over to find out what was going on.
"Is everything alright Sunset?" Fluttershy asked her. "There's no bad news from Equestria is there?"
"Other than repairing damage from the recent invasion, no everything's fine over there," she answered sadly. "I even checked with my family this morning."
"Then, why do you look so sad?"
Sunset gave in, there was no point in trying to hide this from her best friends. She pulled out a piece of paper and gave it to Fluttershy to look at. Applejack and Rarity looked at it too, and suddenly found their answer.
"You failed your Driving test?" Fluttershy asked in surprise.
Sunset nodded as she leaned back into her locker and slid down to the floor, "yes I failed. I took a turn too wide and almost had a head-on collision, and I was driving too fast."
"Yikes, that is bad," said Applejack.
"Mr Cranky Doodle said it was the worst piece of driving he had ever seen, and said that I need more practice driving before I can even think of getting my license."
"So it'll be a while yet before you can take your next test?" Rarity asked.
Sunset shook her head, "not really. Mr Cranky Doodle said that he can test me again on Monday, which does leave me tonight, Saturday and Sunday, but I can't rent a car cause they're too expansive, and after that drive, I'm not really that confident in driving alone right now."
The three girls looked to each other, and as if they were talking to each other using their minds, they nodded and looked back to Sunset.
"Don't worry about vehicles or asking others for lessons, cause we can help you Darling. After all, all three of us have our licenses and each have a car, or truck of their own."
"Indeed," nodded Applejack, "and we'd be more than happy to teach you what we know."
"You guys would really do that for me?"
"Of course we would," smiled Fluttershy. "We'd do it for any of our friends, you know that."
Sunset had to admit that she did know that, cause it was who her friends were. Though it did bring to mind of her other friends, "what about Pinkie, Twilight and Rainbow?"
"They don't have licenses at all," answered Rarity. "Rainbow tried to get hers, but didn't pass the written test, plus she did get the instructor sick by doing a quick spin in the parking lot." Rarity shuddered, remembering that she saw the whole thing before her eyes. "Pinkie has yet to try, and as for Twilight, I think she's happy taking the bus for now."
"But don't y'all worry yourself Sunset, we can help you in two shakes of a tail," Applejack smiled. "Come by Sweet Apple Acres tonight, and Granny and I can show you how to do turns, following the speed limit and how to get turned around using the 3 point turn and the rest."
"We can try highway driving on Saturday," suggested Fluttershy.
"And Sunday, I'll teach you about parking," finished Rarity.
"That all sounds great, thank you girls," smiled Sunset. "Honestly, I don't know what I would ever do without you in my life."
When the end of the school day arrived, Sunset made her way to Sweet Apple Acres where she found the garage door open. There wasn't a single person nearby.
"Hey, is there anypony...er, anybody here?" she called out, quickly correcting her lingo.
"Well I don't know about ponies, but I'm here," chuckled a nearby voice from the back of the garage. Moments later, Applejack came walking over.
"Sorry, I sometimes get my lingos mixed up," said Sunset. "That happens when you spend a large portion of your life in a pony world."
"It's understandable Sunset."
"Anyways, I can't thank you enough for agreeing to help me tonight."
"Think nothing of it, besides I've been meaning to get the old girl running again. Hope she still runs like a new truck after all this time."
"Well we'll find out," said a voice from behind Sunset, which made her jump. She hadn't heard Granny Smith coming in, "stand aside girls." She walked up to the sheet covering up the truck and pulled it away. It sent a huge dust cloud everywhere. When it finally cleared away, Sunset could see a moderate sized truck with a wood box on the back, "still just as beautiful as ever."
"She's definitely...something special..." coughed Sunset.
Before they could leave though, Applejack opened up the hood and showed Sunset of how the engine worked, and where to put oil, windshield washer fluid and anything else a vehicle needed. Much like Twilight Sparkle would, Sunset wrote down everything as she would read it over and study later on after her lessons.
When they were done, Granny Smith gave Sunset the keys and the three of them climbed into the cab. Sunset turned the key and the engine roared into life.
"Sounding really good here," smiled Applejack. "A little tip Sunset is every few seconds, look down to your speed, but once you get a quick glimpse of it, get your eye sight back up to the road."
"I'll remember that, thanks AJ."
She put the truck into gear and with a small push on the pedal, the truck rolled forward out of the garage. But it hadn't gone far before there was a pop and the front left side leaned down. Sunset put the truck into park, and all three climbed out.
"Oh no, not a flat tire!" groaned Sunset.
"Not to worry Dearie," smiled Granny Smith, "consider this a part of your lessons." She lead Sunset to the back of the truck where they found a tool box. She opened the box, pulled out a wrench and gave it to Sunset. "Now first things first, you'll need to remove the hood-cap, undo the bolts, then you can remove the tire and replace it."
Sunset understood and after Applejack lifted the truck up, using the magic from her geode, the red head went to work. She even managed to remove the nail that burst the tire. In no time at all, she had a new wheel on the truck.
"Not bad Sunset," smiled Applejack. "You could really become a great mechanic one day. Now, let's get these nails picked up before we have to do this lesson again."
Sunset nodded and worked with Applejack to get the nails.
"But what if I don't have you nearby to help? What should I do then?"
"Pretty much every vehicle has a jack in the back as well as the spare wheel, just read the instructions and you'll be fine."
It took well over twenty minutes to get the nails off the driveway, and they discovered the reason they were there was because Apple Bloom needed to do some much needed repairs on the treehouse, and had accidently dropped some. She apologized to them, promised to be more careful in future and wished Sunset luck on her training runs.
As for the runs themselves, there were some mistakes made and only twice did Granny have to grab the wheel, but as the evening wore on, Sunset's driving got better and better. Soon it was decided to let her try driving solo. She was nervous of course, but she swallowed up her nervousness and did what she needed to do. By the end of her solo drives, she felt better and now no longer had the habit of taking wide turns.
"That was fun," she smiled as she gave Granny Smith the keys back.
"Well that's good to hear," smiled Applejack, "but you just wait till tomorrow when Fluttershy takes you on the highway."
Sunset gulped. During her evening runs, she had been going at no more than thirty miles per hour. Now tomorrow, she would be going faster and with lots of other vehicles next to her. Applejack saw how nervous she was, and gave her some encouragement, "after everything we've all been through, this will be the easiest thing in your life. You'll be fine Sunset."
At ten A.M. the next morning, Sunset walked away from her apartment and over to the street corner where she found Fluttershy. She was holding onto a kitty cat, and was standing next to a car that was smaller than a mini. Judging from the look of it, Sunset had to take a guess that Fluttershy had it customized to her and her animal's style.
"Sweet ride here Fluttershy, when did you get it?"
"Right after I got my license, but when I got it, it was bold red and the leather inside was black. It was a little too bold, so with Applejack and Rainbow Dash's help, I got it made into what you see here."
Sunset's guess was spot on.
"Anyways, we're doing some highway driving, so take the keys and let's go." She turned to place the cat in the back seat, "here you go Miss Kitty, enjoy the ride."
Sunset was still nervous over the idea of driving on the highway, but knew she needed to know this for her test. She got into the driver's seat, turned the key and let the engine come to life. It wasn't as loud as Applejack's family truck, but it still sounded good.
"Okay, before we take to the highway, we must go over our check-lists," said Fluttershy.
Sunset raised an eyebrow, "our check-lists?"
"Oh yes. When I drive, I always make a mental check-list to make sure I am prepared for the drive ahead. After all," she paused and stared firmly at Sunset, "you don't want to leave something out and get pulled over by the police, do you?"
"Uh, no, no I wouldn't."
Fluttershy smiled, "good, then let's begin our check-list. First, make sure your side mirrors are showing the side of the car and the area behind you, and your rearview mirror should show you the view from your back window." Sunset checked the mirrors, and they were set in the way Fluttershy had asked. "Next, make sure you have your seat-belt on."
"Well that's an obvious item," commented Sunset.
"Perhaps, but you be surprised by some of the stories I've heard about people who don't put on their seat-belts and drive off."
Fluttershy went on to discuss more safety checks until finally, they were ready. Sunset put the car into drive and drove away from the parking spot, already showing a great improvement from her previous test. They drove smoothly through the city streets, but just before the highway, Fluttershy suggested to Sunset that they pull over.
"Are you feeling alright Fluttershy?" Sunset asked curiously.
"I'm fine, but it's you I'm more concerned about. I know you're nervous, so while you calm yourself down, let's go over the steps for merging onto the highway."
"Okay," said Sunset and pulled off the road.
"Right well, as we're going onto the ramp leading onto the highway, you have to keep your speed at the correct limit, not too fast and too slow. Next, you'll need to go with this system; mirror, mirror, blinker, shoulder check and then change lanes. Let's try that." So Sunset did try it, more than a few times until Fluttershy was confident in what she saw. "Now vehicles won't slow down for you, so don't take up too much time, and most of all, don't stop in the merge lane, unless it's all bumper to bumper and no one's moving, otherwise, you merge right into it."
After a few more minutes of calming herself down, as well as getting pointers for getting off the highway, Sunset and Fluttershy made their way to the fast moving lanes of the highway.
"Remember this Sunset; breathe. Just breathe," Fluttershy said calmly.
Sunset did and performed everything Fluttershy instructed her to do. It resulted in a shaky merge, but they got on safely. As she drove at the speed of the highway, Sunset didn't say anything, but merely breathed in and out.
On the next highway merge, Sunset performed better. Fluttershy watched her like a true examiner, and so far it was good.
They kept merging on and off the highway until late afternoon when they returned to where they started.
"I'd say you're ready for the highway portion of the test Sunset," Fluttershy smiled. "Now you just need to do parking practise and you'll be ready." She didn't even mention that Sunset had parked on the line. She didn't want to destroy her confidence. "Don't worry, Rarity's all set for that part, and when she's done, you'll be 120% ready for your test."
"I hope you're right," Sunset muttered.
"Hey, don't get down on yourself, put a smile on your face and remember; you can do it. Geez, I'm starting to sound like Pinkie Pie."
At ten the next morning, Sunset once again left her apartment to meet up with Rarity. This time though, Rarity was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is Rarity? I hope she gets here soon, I really want to practice parking," Sunset thought to herself.
She looked to her phone for less than a minute. She decided she would call her and see if she was just leaving her house, but before she could do that, Rarity's Shelby Mustang pulled up.
"Sorry for being a little late Darling, had to help Sweetie Belle with a rip to her jacket." She looked down to Sunset's hand and her phone; "rule number one for today, keep your phone off at all times when driving."
Sunset wasted no time in turning her phone off and after climbing into the passenger seat, she put it into the glove box.
"Now we'll go over to the mall, and from there, we'll practice parking."
Rarity drove the powerful Mustang car over to the lot, and from there, the two girls switched places.
"Okay Sunset, to park perfectly, let's imagine two vehicles on either side of the spot you want to park at, that way it'll remind you to be careful when parking."
"This sounds like it's going to be hard."
"Perhaps right now, but soon it'll become easy. Now for pulling into the spot, you'll need to line yourself up so you'll be able to pull into the spot perfectly."
Sunset tried that and did get into the spot, but Rarity didn't look happy.
"What?" Sunset asked.
"That pretend car was a Bandit Trans Am, and you just wrecked it."
Sunset groaned, "too wide again?"
"Indeed, but don't worry Darling, that's why we're here. To practice until you get it, then we'll keep going until you're ready."
So from the morning going into the afternoon, they practiced pulling into the parking spot, backing into the parking spot and even parallel parking, which wasn't easy to do at times. By sundown though, Rarity was confident in what she saw.
"You're ready now Sunset."
She was about to say she hoped so, but then remembered what Fluttershy said, "I'll do my best tomorrow."
The next morning, Sunset waited outside the school for Mr Cranky Doodle to return from the test drive before hers. As she waited, she went over in her mind of all the tips and lessons she had over the weekend. "Look down for a second at my speed, look back up to the road ahead. Mirror, mirror, blinker, shoulder check, change lanes. Line myself up beside the vehicle, put myself at a 45 degree angle, back up, turn to line myself up, pull ahead and park. Okay, I know I got it."
The test car came back, and much to Sunset's surprise, the front left tire was flat.
"Lightning strikes twice," she thought to herself.
Mr Cranky Doodle stepped out of the car angrily, "Miss Heartstrings, your driving got us a flat tire, you went too fast and you had the music up too loud. You failed."
Lyra Heartstrings groaned and walked off unhappily. Mr Cranky Doodle walked up to Sunset, "I'll be with you in a minute Miss Shimmer."
As he walked away, Sunset decided to put her lessons to good use, and happily, there was a jack in the trunk of the car. She changed the tire, just as Mr Cranky Doodle arrived.
"Not bad Miss Shimmer, I was going to ask you if you can change a tire, but you beat me to it."
Sunset lowered the car down, put the jack and ruined tire in the trunk, then got into the driver's seat. Before beginning, they went through all the signals, including the four ways. When she turned on the car though, Sunset discovered that Lyra had the radio blasting too loudly, so she turned it all the way down till no sound came out.
"Ahh that's better, I thought I would go deaf from all that. Now before we begin our drive, what do you do?"
Sunset checked her mirrors. They weren't in position, so she adjusted them, then she put on her seat-belt and did everything Fluttershy had said to do on the mental check-list.
"Okay, a better improvement from the last drive, now put the car into drive and turn right."
Sunset did as she was asked, and this time turned perfectly. As she pulled out though, she didn't see her three 'teachers' arriving to give her support.
"She'll do just fine," smiled Applejack. "She's a smart gal, and with our lessons, she'll perform better than most beginners."
"I hope so," said Rarity as she looked over to a downcast Lyra, "not too many students can impress Mr Cranky Doodle."
Sunset took Mr Cranky Doodle through the town, and onto the highway. Fluttershy's lessons worked wonders, "She sure does know what she's talking about," Sunset thought to herself.
After the highway run, they drove along some side-streets where Sunset performed three point turns, U-Turns and even did some parking. Finally, they returned to the parking lot.
"Not bad Sunset, you completed the U Turn, three point turn and backed into a good parking spot. But now for the most difficult one, the parallel parking."
Remembering Rarity's lesson, Sunset did her parallel park in no time at all and finished with a smile on her face, "done."
Mr Cranky Doodle was surprised, "well I'll be darned, it's been a long time since I've seen anyone do that. I don't know what you did during the weekend, but it certainly helped you quite a bit."
Rarity, Applejack and Fluttershy waited anxiously for their friend to come over and say either bad or good news. They hoped with all their hearts that she would pass.
"I PASSED!" cried a happy voice. They looked to the side of the school and saw Sunset running over happily, "I passed my test!"
"Awesome!" cheered Applejack, "Well done Sunset."
"We're all proud of you Darling," smiled Rarity, and Fluttershy nodded in agreement. "Was it easy this time around?"
"Oh it was, and I have you three to thank. If you hadn't taunt me all you know, I would've failed again. One of these days, I promise to repay you for everything you've done."
"No need to do that," smiled Fluttershy. "Just being our friend is enough reward for us."
Applejack and Rarity nodded to that, "now let's go find the other gals and tell them the good news," said Applejack. "They're going to need to hear the good news, and to give Pinkie time to get ready for a 'Congratulations' party'."
On that happy note, they began to make their way to the school. As they did, Sunset looked back to the parking lot and saw the car pulling out. Mr Cranky Doodle was once again in the passenger seat, and in the driver's seat was a green haired girl.
"I'm sure she'll pass too," she thought happily to herself, and hurried to catch up with her friends.