As CHS let out for the last time until August, Seth was talking to Vice-Principal Luna, Autumn was in a closet having an extra-long goodbye, and Sunset, Sci-Twi, and the Rainbooms were next to the portal.
"Last chance, Lu," Seth said as Autumn came down the hall from her hour-long goodbye.
"Will you hurry up!?" she said to him.
"You know my number, Discord, and player handles," Seth said, running to meet Autumn in the front hall.
Autumn was rather perturbed.
"You're wound awfully tight for a girl who just had sexual intercourse," she snapped her head to him, "You... don't want to talk about it?"
"He pulled this new move and I had trouble standing up for at least ten minutes. Maybe I'll call him tomorrow."
"Ah," he said as they went out, Autumn heading angrily toward her 1999 Honda Civic DX, not to far from the statue, with Seth heading toward Sunset and her other friends, who each had their bags.
"Hey," Sunset said, "So-"
Autumn slammed her car door with enough force to startle everyone around her.
"Uh, is she okay?" Rainbow Dash asked as Seth stared at the car.
They heard it not start a few times, then start hard before going back to their conversation. Seth, however, kept an eye on it.
"So, what time ar-"
BOOM!!!
Something sounded like a bomb was dropped, then several shotgun blasts accompanying it.
"Jesus Harold Fucking Christ!" Seth said, hearing her rev the car as it backfired even more, fire shooting out of the exhaust, "Sunset, help me!" he said, running over to the troublesome Civic.
"Open up!" Seth said, pounding on the glass as the Rainbooms came over
Eventually, she took her foot off of the throttle, shut off the car, and rolled down the window, "What."
"Pop the hood."
Opening the hood of the car they were all greeted with a mushroom cloud of steam, which had to settle first.
"Start it up," Seth said as Sunset propped the hood.
After several failed attempts, all of which were accompanied by smoke, it finally started, loudly backfiring again.
"No throttle input," he said over the popping noises, "Let it idle."
"Came up with anything? I need to get hammered."
"Rev it a little."
The popping turned into blasting.
"So?" she yelled, prompting him to hold up his fist, telling her to kill the engine.
"This is a 1999 automatic Honda Civic DX with a 4S/I4 that outputs 106 horsepower at 3976 RPMs," he said, stepping back, "My guess is that it's running on two, maybe three cylinders, combustion is happening in a place that it shouldn't be happening, your idling speed is hovering in the 4500 range, and 65%, at least, of the 106 horsepower is actively being converted into smoke."
"So?"
"It's essentially a twin-engine that idles way too fucking high by at least four times, combustion is happening in your exhaust, your power out is under 37 hp, and you probably won't be able to do faster than 50, if that. Also, your starter is bad," Sunset put the hood down.
"I'll be home -GRUNT- later tonight," she said, trying to start the thing back up.
"I don't think it's gonna-" Sci-Twi said.
POW!!!
"Or maybe it will," she muttered when the backfiring was out of earshot a few minutes later.
"Well," Seth said, "Guess we're going to the house in my station wagon," he said, going to the dark midnight vehicle, Rainbooms following.
As soon as everyone was in (and Rainbow was beginning to drift off to sleep on the bed), Seth started the Soviet car.
"Holy fuck!" Rainbow said, jolting up.
The rest of the Rainbooms sans Sunset, were startled at the engines roar as it was revved a few times.
"You should have this looked at, too, Darling!"
"Nope!" Seth said, "It's a 1983 Soviet 2S/I3 engine with 50 horses. They just run louder because of no dedicated exhaust cycle and being air-cooled versus water-cooled," Sci-Twi and Rarity looked at him with confusion at his, even if they did know what he was talking about, logic.
Assuming there was any.
"It's a 3-2-1 engine," he said, pulling out on the road.
"What?" Sci-Twi said, now completely lost.
"Three cylinders, two strokes, one helluva time mixing oil and gas at the fuel station."
She slapped her face at the incredible amount of stupidity thrown at her.
Why?
Some time later, they all arrived at his house, glad to get away from that roaring thing.
"Isn't Alex, the one from East-Berlin a mechanic?"
"Yeah," Seth replied, unlocking the door, "They should be here later tonight," he threw the door open, "Make yourselves at home."
"Ah gotta bad feelin' 'bout all this," Applejack said.
"It's okay," Seth said, digging around in the oven for a toolbox, "I'll just have Alex work on her Civic when he gets here."
"Hey, you got cable?" Rainbow said, plopping on the couch, putting her feet on the coffee table, grabbing the remote, and switching on the TV.
"Rainbow Dash! That's no way for a lady to act!" Rarity scolded.
"He said 'make yourself at home', right?"
"Yeah," he said, putting the junk back so he could close the oven, "Get comfy. Just don't strip. Please, for the love of Christ, don't."
"Autumn and Speedy are shameless sometimes, so I've started getting a lot of bleach. He hasn't been over in a month and everything's clean. Sunset and I did it last night," he closed the oven, grabbed a couple of glass bottles from the refrigerator with the word ВОДКА over a Kremlin Star, "Drink, anyone?"
"What is it?" Applejack said.
"What are the Soviets famous for?"
"Communism," Sci-Twi replied.
"Bears?" Fluttershy guessed.
"Ballet?" Rarity tried.
"HARD VODKA!" Pinkie said over everyone.
"Score, Pinkie Pie," Seth replied, getting a few glasses from the cabinet.
"Yeah, I could go for some," Rainbow Dash said, going through the Crunchyroll app, "Don't hold back."
"You got it," he said, pouring three glasses and carrying two to the couch and sitting next to Rainbow, "Sunset, you have one, too."
"Thanks."
"Dashie this stuff is hard as shit," he said as she picked out something.
"Good practice for Equestrian Apple Cider," Sunset said, downing her glass in a matter of seconds before finishing off the bottle and setting it in the sink, "This stuff is water compared to home."
"I'll keep that in mind," the prismatic girl said, drinking a little herself as the phone rang.
"I got it," Sunset said, answering the phone, "Hey."
"Sunset!" Liz said, "Is Autumn there?"
"She's out drinking right now. I'd leave her alone for a while if I were you."
"I 'ope it wasn't too Sorry and Sad this nickle and dime. Anyway, we're gonna board the plane from London in an 'our or so. Everyone's 'ere at the airport na."
"See you in a while, Liz!"
"Ya too, Sunset!" Elizabeth said as Sunset hung up the phone.
This would be a summer to remember.