Mane Six vs. Technology

by StevieBond

At The Beach

"Girls, I think we should be on the safe side." Fluttershy suggested. "Let's get a coach to Brighton beach."

"That's gon' be a bit of a problem." Applejack replied, "Cause for one, how far is it exactly?"

Twilight looks at the sign. "About fifty-three point six miles from here."

"What?!" Pinkie exclaimed as she grabbed a glass of apple cider, drunk it and then spat it out in another direction.

Applejack didn't seem too pleased by that.

"That's gonna take so long for us to get there!" Rainbow said.

"Well done for letting your irony out." Rarity muttered.

"Which is why I said we should use the coach." Fluttershy whispered.

"Which does leave another question." Twilight said. "Can anypony drive a coach?"

The others blinked as their pupils shrank instantly, proving that a simple no would've made it too obvious.

"What? Are you saying that I should drive?" Twilight asked she put a hoof on her chest in slight surprise.

"Well, you're the one who's fascinated by the human world the most." Rainbow replied.

"I know that, but I've never really used a steering wheel."

"But what about the taxis back in Equestria?" Pinkie asked.

"That's different, Pinkie." Applejack replied. "They're run by earth ponies, unless the Princesses are travellin' around our world with them pegasi guards."

"Um, I hate to make anypony scared, but should we find a coach now?" Fluttershy asked as she began to shiver. "Cause what if those mean soldiers come back?"

"Oh, don't remind me of thier ugly green coloured designs." Rarity replied.

"Uh beg ya pardon, but we really should get goin'." Applejack intervened.

"Yeah, let's go!" Pinkie responded happily.

The ponies walked along and followed the signs that directed them to the coach department. When they arrived, Twilight looked at the row of coaches by the parking lot, the gate was unlocked and opened wide. This wasn't exactly helpful to the ponies seeing that none of them knew how to drive a coach and that the scary news about them was being spread very quickly. The six of them walked into the parking lot and stopped to see one coach which somewhat towered above them. Twilight went over the door on the side of the coach and used her magic to open it.

"Phew." she said as she wiped a bit of sweat from her horn. "Okay, let's get on girls and see how this works."

"Oooh, this is gonna be so exciting!" Pinkie said happily as they all got on the bus and looked to see the row of empty seats.

Twilight got into the divers seat and closed the coach door on the outside with her magic.

"So what are those things?" Rainbow asked.

"They're pedals, one which makes the coach move forward and one to make it go in reverse. That little one sticking out is the brake pedal."

"WHEEEEE!" Pinkie yelled as she bounced across the seats, overjoyed.

"Uhhh, please don't scare me like that." Fluttershy responded quietly.

"Those pedals seem to be too far away from your hooves, Twilight." Rarity pointed out. "Would you need help?"

"Well, I guess you could help move the pedals while I use this steering wheel to drive." she replied.

"For helping me with learning the hand magic, I will do you this favour in return."

Rarity then climbed up to the seat next to Twilight and put a hoof around her which made Twilight smile.

"Uhh, can we save that for later?" Rainbow asked. "We need to get out of here!"

Rarity got off the seat and sat by the pedals whilst Twilight noticed a key inside the ignition hole, somebody must've left it meaning that if turned to the right will start the engine. Twilight used her magic to turn the key to it's side and after a second of shuttering noises, the engine began to make quiet noises as it warmed up slowly.

"Okay everypony, we might as well put our flanks on these seats, so we don' fall off." Applejack advised. "That means you too, Pinkie."

"Awwww!" Pinkie pouted as she stopped jumping and sat down, close to the others.

"Here goes nothing." Twilight sighed with hope, "You ready, Rarity?"

"Ready when you are, Twilight." she replied.

"Okay, push the left pedal to move the coach forward, but slowly."

The coach began to move as Twilight grabbed hold of the wheel and steered the coach from out of the parking lot and to the right onto the main road.

"So just to be sure, we do know which way to go to Brighton, right?" Rainbow asked.

"Well pointed out, Rainbow." Twilight replied. "Which is why this coach route map I just found shows directions to Brighton."

"And since you asked so nicely, why don't you be our pony map reader." Rarity added.

"But reading maps is soooo boring." Rainbow moaned.

"Was that meant to be a sarcasm, dear?"

"Uhhh yeah, but all the same, I don't want us to crash so I'll help too."

"Thank you, Rainbow," Twilight replied.

Rainbow picked up the map and looked for Brighton and the route to get there.

"Okay, we go straight onwards it says." Rainbow said.

They got the bus to move straight and after a while of navigating and driving across countless streets, they finally found an exit and leave the city of London. The journey was taking longer than expected and it was already the late afternoon, most of them were getting bored but they were relived that Pinkie didn't start jumping about repeatedly asking if they were there yet.

"Are we there yet?" Pinkie asked.

Too late...

"Not quite, sugarcube." Applejack replied.

"Are we there yet now?"

"No, Pinkie." Rainbow answered who was still reading the map.

There was silence for a while until they saw a welcome sign in the distance.

"Are we there yet, are we there yet, are we-"

Pinkie got cut off as Rainbow stuffed the now scrunched map in her mouth.

"Um Pinkie, you should take that as a yes." Fluttershy said.

"And about time, too." Rainbow added with her hooves in the air.

"Well, we have to drive at a reasonable speed." Twilight responded. "We don't want the police after us."

Shortly, they arrive inside Brighton to find the whole city not exactly full of people. Knowing not to take any chances, they kept on driving until they found the beach with a huge pier alongside it and four abandoned coastal guns that looked very familiar from another universe. Arriving at the beach, Rarity lets go of the accelerator pedal and pushes down the brake pedal and when it stopped, Twilight turned the key to switch the engine off and opened the bus doors with her magic.

"Oh my gosh! We're here, we're here, we're here!" Pinkie exclaimed as she bounced off the bus.

"And it looks to be a sunny afternoon." Fluttershy added as the rest got off.

"What should we do about this 'ere coach?" Applejack asked.

"We'll just have to leave it here for now, we should enjoy our time at the beach." Twilight replied.

"That I can agree with." Rarity added. "I have no desire to use those pedals anytime soon."

Rainbow flew up and looked around the beach to see that there were no people around.

"All clear, girls." she said.

They trotted to the beach and getting a feel of the sand, they began to enjoy themselves.

"Anypony got any games we can play?" Rarity asked. "And before you ask, I will let slide of my appearance for some beach fun."

"I have this!" Pinkie replied as grabbed a beach ball from somewhere.

"How did ya get that beach ball?" Applejack asked. "Ah thought ya only stashed balls in Equestria."

"Here we go..." Rainbow muttered.

"Not really, I just found it on the other side of that wall." Pinkie replied, pointing to a beach wall.

The story writer breathed a sigh of relief, knowing the fourth wall was spared for now.

Pinkie threw the beach ball for Fluttershy to catch but she ducked and whimpered, causing Rainbow to groan quietly. Twilight picked it up and threw it over to Rarity who caught it with her hooves.

"You have to throw the ball back to either one of us, but it can't be the same pony per throw." Twilight said.

Fluttershy got the confidence to stand up right and joined in along with the others who all took turns at playing catch with the beach ball and with the sun still in the sky, they were enjoying the day at Brighton beach, completely forgetting all about the issues back in London. Until that came to a stop when the ball landed on Twilight's horn by mistake, the beach ball made a pop noise and slowly deflated. The other ponies laughed, leaving Twilight not feeling amused by thier sense of humour. She shook it off with her head and the deflated ball landed on the sand, no longer of any use.

Suddenly, in the distance, there was an approaching sound of a whirling noise coming from above and away from Brighton. The ponies looked up to see where the noise was from, when the noise grew louder, the ponies gasped in surprise. It was a helicopter and it stopped moving, but was hovering in mid-air, Twilight squinted her eyes slightly to see two pilots inside, one of which turned on the bird's eye view camera and could see the ponies.

"Oh dear..." Fluttershy whispered nervously.

"What?!" Rainbow exclaimed. "They have helicopters too?"

"Woah nelly!" Applejack added.

"Wow! Are they here for a party?!" Pinkie asked.

"This is the multi-verse security team!" one of the pilots said through the built-in megaphone. "You are hear by ordered to return to London and go back to the portal, to your own universe."

"This...is...bad..." Twilight said worryingly.

"If you refuse, we will be forced to take legal action!"

"Oh yeah? Just try!" Rainbow yelled back.

"No, Rainbow!" Rarity said. "Taking them on would be very unwise and reckless."

"No offence Rarity, but you're beginning to sound like Twilight."

Twilight glared back, not pleased with Rainbow's remark again.

"Well ah have one suggestion." Applejack said. "Let's get the dodge outta 'ere!!!"

They suddenly galloped away from the beach and onto the main pavement.

"Stop!" the pilot ordered which they ignored unsurprisingly.

They looked around for any possible exits and maybe a chance to hide from the helicopter so they could buy themselves some time. On their left was the coach they drove to the beach, in the centre was a road that led to a closed factory and on their right was a seaside arcade store that was still open.

"Where d-do we go n-now?" Fluttershy asked whilst shivering.

Author's Note:

I wanted to finish this chapter yesterday but got delayed due to busy commitments. I'll try to get the next one up a little quicker, later this week.

Comments

[Mindcrime beats]

The people in this are jerks to the ponies. Good story btw.

[GameShowBrony]

All of a sudden the Fast and Furious team who was doing a job in England rescue the ponies and help them escape :3 #RIPPaulWalker :(

[SuperPinkBrony12]

The arcade is likely the safest bet. The coach would take too long to get moving, and the factory is sure to be full of dangerous machinery that has likely not been maintained.

If at all possible, Twilight should try to cast some sort of illusion spell, or do something to create a diversion to keep the military busy.