The first thing Sawdust did when we got outside was run to the front of the Jeep and look it over.
"So there are places to attach harnesses," he was looking at my tow hooks, "they lied to me,"
I laughed my ass off at his presumption. "They saw cars," I corrected him, "this is a jeep, its a different class of vehicle and this one was made to go in any terrain. Those are only for if it happens to get stuck or have to pull another vehicle out of a sticky spot. Cars aren't made to go off-road, so they tend to just have a small hidden hook. If they have one at all. There's your first lesson. If you want to know about human vehicles, I better put things in perspective or you're going to get it all wrong."
His eyes were wide, I could tell I had his full attention. An awkward moment passed before he shook his head, seeming to come out of deep thought, "R-really?" He asked, "You would do that? I knew it, I'm dreaming, this is too good to be true."
"I have the feeling I'm the one dreaming," I sighed, then got an idea, a feeling of sorts, "let me see your hoof." I reached a hand out as if to shake.
"Ok," he nervously raised a hoof to my hand, I took the chance to look it over.
Just as I expected, a brown pony hoof. Nothing too crazy, aside from the way it blended into his fur. Even this close I could hardly tell where the hoof started and the thick, short, soft hair ended.
"I don't know about ponies," I began to explain my behavior, "but from what I know about humans, our sense of feel is the weakest in a dream. Some people check if they're dreaming by pinching themselves. Trying to process pain wakes us up. I already tried that a few times. I gotta say, your hoof feels pretty real too." That's when I noticed he had a shoe like earth horses, but it wasn't nailed on. "How doe's that shoe stay on?" I had to ask.
He seemed to be paying attention to my hand on his hoof. He took a moment to process the question. "I just hold it." He said as if the answer were obvious.
"But you don't have fingers," I said wiggling my own as I let his hoof go.
"Never stopped a pony before." Sawdust made a show of throwing the shoe into the air and catching it in the other hoof. I noticed he didn't have to shift the other shoe to accomplish it. After seeing Twilight's magic, I decided this was little more than a notable curiosity.
"We've wasted enough time," I said, "let's go." I opened the passenger door and shoved the seat back for him. I didn't know how well he was going to fit. He only came up to my chest, but that's on all fours. If he were to stand up, he would be at least 6 inches taller. Starlight had kind of laid down in the back and Apple Bloom was much smaller.
Much to my relief, he fit in the seat just fine, albeit with little headroom. He looked a little awkward sitting up without a table in front of him.
Once he had settled in the seat I took off and he directed me to an alleyway behind a large outbuilding.
"Stand outside your door so we can see you from that window." Sawdust instructed. "I'll only be a moment."
"Ok." It went without saying that seeing me would be more convincing than anything else.
It really did only take a moment before a gray unicorn with a mane that shifted from red to yellow to white going from the scalp out and flowing down the side of his face came running from the building followed by a hysterically laughing Sawdust. The new arrival ran around the jeep a couple laps looking the whole thing over before coming to a stop in front of me.
"You're really real. My brother isn't blowing smoke up my ass, you're really a real human, and you're really here." He clearly couldn't contain himself, "Ever since Twilight told us about the vehicles they use at Canterlot high, we have dreamed of the day we could either see one or find a way to build one. A vehicle that moves under its own power, with no magic involved. It's amazing."
"That's the wonders of an internal combustion engine." I laughed.
"A what now?" he looked confused.
"You must be Mr. Metalcrafter." I deflected the topic. "We can go over it another time. I already promised to tell your brother all about it once the job was done and we all get some sleep."
"Sleep? Sleep!?!" Slag was aghast, "I can't sleep now. There's too much to do."
"Well, you ain't doin' jack shit on MY jeep till I get some sleep." I said, "If that doesn't work I remind you I have no obligation to help." I lowered my clenched fist upon realizing I had been shaking it at him.
"Ok, ok," he backed off.
"Yeah, I tried to warn you inside," Sawdust chuckled, "He's more than willing to help, but its a touchy issue with him. We need to give him time and do it his way."
"Noted," Slag nodded, "not too many ponies scare me, but I can already tell I don't want this guy mad at me. Let's head in. I'll set out a few hitch designs and we can get this show on the road."