It was a sunny, slightly cloudy day in Equestria. Birds were flying about and singing, rabbits had emerged from their burrows to forage for good, and ponies were going about their business or enjoying the sunny weather, often both. Well, except one.
An irate Rumble grumbled as he stepped through some rough brush. "How did I get talked into this?" He thought to himself as he continued to the path in the middle of the clearing. He was in the Whitetail Woods, having just left a meeting with his fellow Cutie Mark Crusaders, they had decided to try and earn some bits by making a nature-themed calendar.
Rumble wondered if the others were having any luck with their expeditions. They had either gone around town, near the outskirts, to Fluttershy's Cottage, or, like him, the Whitetail Woods. Rumble, being more adventerous, had chosen the Woods, in hopes of seeing some more of the exotic wildlife, such as deer. Disappointingly, it wasn't paying off; any wildlife he had seen he had only managed to catch glimpses of.
"Even Pinkie Pie would be having more luck than this, and she almost always just scares animals off!" He muttered, disgruntled. In his frustration, he kicked a nearby rock, ignoring it sail through the air and out of sight. He decided he should now head back, after all, there were many things he could be doing right now...
THUNK!
Rumble stopped when he heard the rock strike something wooden. Maybe he could spot some good animals! He eagerly bounded through the bushes to where the rock had landed... only to be met with even more dissapointment as he came upon a raggedy old shed.
"That's it?" He thought to himself. "A shed? I got my hopes up only to discover an old shed?!" That was the final straw. He began to leave, only for the light to reflect off something inside. Curious, Rumble cupped both of his hooves against the dirty window and peered inside. He could see something inside; something big.
Wandering over to the front of the shed, Rumble opened the doors... and bolted for cover behind a tree.
...
...
...Nothing.
Wearily, the young colt peered around the tree back towards the shed. The strange thing that was in there hadn't moved at all, not even a slight shift. Okay, so it wasn't dangerous; that much was a huge load off of his back. Slowly, he crept back towards the aging shed to get a better look at what he had found.
It was indeed big, at least from his perspective. It was green, though the sheen had been dulled by the dirt and dust it had accumulated over its life. It was also strangely shaped, with large, black wheels with grayish centers and white writing on the sides. It read GOODYEAR POLYGLAS - E70-14. Maybe that was the name of these strange wheels.
A small latch underneath the thing's front (hood latch) caught his attention. Pulling it with one wing caused the large metal sheet above it (hood) to raise slightly. And pulling on that, caused it to raise up, and reveal an equally peculiar mass of orange metal (engine). The green metal sheet stayed up by itself, allowing the gray pegasus to better look at the mysterious orange object. It was large, but not nearly as large as the rest of the thing, which he had by now deduced was likely some kind of carriage, judging by the fact it had four wheels. The metal chunk had belts, pulleys, hoses, a fan, and two hoses leading to a large, black, metal rectangle (radiator) the close end, and a black cone (brake booster) at the far end. In addition, there were numerous wires leading to and from the big metal object, some going through the other metal sheet at the far end (firewall). Also in the large compartment were a small, black box with two wires leading from it (battery), and a large, black and orange disk on the top with writing on it that read "340 FOUR BARREL" (air cleaner).
Going around to the back showed more lights, albeit colored differently, a small black bar bent at both ends (spoiler), two pipes with a dulled reflection (exhaust tips), and two small badges: one read "DODGE", the other read "340 DEMON". So that's what this was? A Dodge 340 Demon? That was an odd name, he had never heard of it before. It sounded exotic; maybe it was something from another country? It made sense, since many things from other countries were almost unheard of, as well as unseen, in Equestria.
Closing it with a loud kachunk, Rumble wandered back to the side, and opened a large metal piece attached to the rest of the carriage (door). Inside were old, torn seats; two in the front, one large seat in the back. In front of the seat closer to him was a large wheel attached to a column (steering wheel), and a number of gauges. In between the two seats was a piece with multiple knobs and dials, and a stalk with a horizontal cylinder on the top of it (shifter) with a strange pattern printed on it:
1 3
|___|___
| | |
2 4 R
... What did it mean? Rumble then noticed a small, flat piece of metal in a slot on the column the wheel was connected to (key in ignition). Curious, Rumble turned it forward once. Nothing happened. He turned it forward again. This time, the gauges in front of him lit up, but that was it. Bravely, the gray pegasus colt turned it forward yet again. This time, an odd and startling sound reverberated throughout the carriage, originating in front of him. He let go of the flat metal piece, and the sound changed; it was almost like... like it was alive!
Rumble began to panic, but stopped when he realized that the carriage still hadn't moved. He pushed down on the rightmost pedal, and the sound from in front of him grew louder. He let off, and it quieted down again. He tried the middle pedal. Nothing. Left pedal. Still nothing. He tried to move the stalk towards the "R" position, but it resisted. He tried holding down the left pedal, and it slid into place. He began to press down on the right pedal... only to go backwards into the back wall of the shed. Whoops. After recovering, he instead moved it to the "1" position, and tried pressing the right pedal again. This time, the carriage moved forward, out of the shed. He tried pressing the middle pedal, and it stopped.
Okay, so the right pedal (throttle) moved it forward, the middle pedal (brake) stopped it, and the left pedal (clutch) needed to be pressed to move the stalk, which in turn was neccesary to move the carriage. Why, was beyond him. He let go of the middle pedal while turning the large wheel towards the edit of the woods, and the carriage rolled in that direction. So to turn it, you simply turned the wheel in the direction you wanted to go. Made sense.
Slowly, he began to ease the Dodge onto the path; something told him that it wasn't designed for this kind of terrain. Yet, it rolled along with ease. When one of the gauges began to reach red, Rumble depressed the left pedal and moved the stalk to its "2" position. The gauge needle dropped, and the motor grew quieter, but he was able to go faster. Interesting; apparently, the stalk had to be moved to a higher number for the carriage to go faster.
He slowed down for a turn, only to find the carriage moving with noticeably less grunt upon exit. So he changed back to 1, and it regained any lost thrust. According to the gauge that he deduced indicated the carriage's speed, he was moving at ten miles an hour. But he had a feeling that it could go faster. So he practiced changing gears for awhile, before rolling up at an imaginary start line. He revved the engine once, twice, three times... then shifted into first, engaged the clutch, and floored the gas!
Rumble was surprised by how fiercely it accelerated, and he recovered just in time to change into second. The noise from under the hood continued to grow as he rapidly gained speed, soon hitting sixty before having to shift into third. The road was wide and open, but soon narrowed into a twisty, winding stretch; perfect for putting this car through its paces.
Rumble downshifted twice back into first for the first corner, a low speed right hander. The Demon followed his commands without hesitation, zipping through the corner with ease, aided by the low weight of the small block up front, with the limited-slip out back helping to put all the power down upon exit. It was followed by a low speed left hander, with the small Dodge again obeying without hesitation. Next up was a series of sweepers, each the opposite direction of the last. It was a good test of how a vehicle reacted to quick changes in load direction.
The Demon cruised through the sweepers with ease, with the tires' grip tapering off gradually, alerting the driver when they were at the absolute edge of their gripping capabilities. The sweepers preceded a long straight, where Rumble was able to touch 90 miles an hour, before braking hard for a series of rapid ninety degree corners that tested a car's responses. The Dodge was a hair slow to change direction and exhibited a touch of understeer, but otherwise navigated the tight area without incident. After a 270 degree circle corner, Rumble charged down an extremely long straight on which he was able to hit 110 before braking full on for a sharp, 180 degree double-apex corner. Pulling out of the corner, a single thought ran through Rumble's mind:
"Thunderlane is going to be so psyched when he sees this!"