"We trusted a criminal?" Twilight asks, raising her voice.
"Now, look, let's not jump to any conclusions," you say, trying to keep the girls from overreacting.
Unfortunately, it seems like they want to do exactly that. "Jump to conclusions?" Applejack asks, standing up and pointing a finger at you. "How do we know you weren't plannin' t' kill us all or somethin'?!"
"Don't you think that-"
Rarity cuts you off. "Of all the rotten things you could've done, you lied to us?"
"Hey, I didn't lie," you retort. "I said I raced for a living. You didn't ask if it was legal or not."
"Oh, and that makes it all better?!" Twilight yells. "We trusted you! You took us into your home, and you didn't even bother to mention that you were wanted!"
"Because that totally would've gone well!" you shout back. "I'll tell you just like I told Dash; if I just told you that I was a wanted criminal moments after meeting me, do you really think you would still trust me?!"
The girls' attention is now deflected to the rainbow-haired girl behind you, who was standing in silence the whole time. "You knew?" Pinkie asks.
"An' just when were ya gonna tell us, Dash?" Applejack adds.
"I..." She clears her throat. "Look, he said he'd tell all of you tomorrow, and if he didn't, I would've."
"That still doesn't excuse his actions," Twilight says, standing up. "Come on, girls. We're leaving."
"And where, I ask, where you go, huh?" you comment, stopping her in her tracks.
"We'll go to the police. I'm sure they'll-"
"What? Give you a nice little house to live in until you get this whole situation figured out?" you ask mockingly. "You have no background here. If they were to look at any prior history for any of you, they'd find nothing; because you literally did not exist in this world until earlier today." You cross your arms. "And what do you think they'll do then?"
Twilight stammers. "W-Well, I suppose they could-"
"I'll tell you what they'll do: Worst case scenario, they'd deport you to another country, one that is far less friendly than this one. Or, maybe they'd lock you up in a prison somewhere until they found something on you, which probably wouldn't happen any time soon. And if you try and tell them all about Equestria, they'll lock you up in the nuthouse, instead."
"In that case, I could-"
"You could what? Do some little magic trick to convince them that you're actually from another world? Do that, and you'll most likely be shipped off to the national capital, where I can't guarantee that several secret service agents wouldn't, say, dissect you or anything like that."
Truth be told, you had no clue what the government would do with them, whether or not they proved their story of being from another dimension. Still, the point got across, as all of them just looked at the ground silently. "Face it," you say, "whether we like it or not, I'm pretty much your only choice for staying under the radar until you figure this whole mess out."
You lean back on the wall, remaining silent with the rest of the room. It wasn't often you were forced to shout, and honestly, you didn't like it. It wrecked your voice like nothing else if you weren't careful.
After several painfully quiet minutes, you cough. "Well, I think we should all get some sleep, then."
"That reminds me, where exactly are we gonna sleep?" Applejack asks, her earlier hostility gone.
"The couch could probably fit two of you, and I have a couple of mattresses lying around somewhere, I think..." As you look in the room where you tossed everything you didn't need at that exact moment, you overhear the girls talking to each other. From the sound of it, they still don't entirely trust you, but they all agree that they have no other choice. You sigh. You didn't like being their only choice, but there was really no way around it. If you hadn't found them in that forest, someone else would've, and things could've gone much, much worse for them.
Finding what you're looking for, you start sliding the two mattresses into the living room, and position them decently close together on the floor. "Alright, there are blankets and pillows and such in the hallway closet," you say, pointing to said closet. "I'll let you girls decide who sleeps where. Also, you'll have to sleep in your clothes for now, because that's all I have as far as women's clothes. If you need me, wait until morning, because I'm going to be out like a light." Leaving them to themselves, you go to your room, where you don't even bother changing out of your clothes, and instead just plop down on the bed. You simply lie there for a while, listening to the girls talk some more, but now they're on the subject of their friends and family back home. Honestly, it's rather depressing to you, so you're glad when they finally turn out the light and go to sleep. You follow soon after.
You can't get to sleep.
No matter how hard you try, tossing and turning in bed, you just won't leave the land of the awake.
Groaning, you look at your alarm clock: five minutes past midnight. Too long to simply wait until morning.
Rolling over to face the ceiling, you start thinking about what the reason for your sleeplessness could be. It's not hard to figure that one out; it's the stress that those girls are putting on you.
And you knew a perfect way to relieve stress.
Getting out of bed and slipping your shoes back on, you creep through the living room, past the sleeping forms of the girls. You slip into the garage undetected, and start looking for the proper vehicle for this. Sure, you could use the Ford Raptor, but it's rather slow, compared to what you're used to, and you feel like you need something fast this time. Still, not something so fast that you lose the cops with little effort...
Eventually, you decide on an old favorite of yours: the BMW M3. For you, it had the perfect balance of speed, strength, and looks when it came to high-speed chases. Starting it up, you pull onto the platform alongside the Aston Martin, before getting out and moving the latter. However, just before you re-enter the BMW, you hear your name softly called out behind you. Turning, you see Fluttershy sticking her head out the door. "What are you doing?" she asks.
Still mindful of the earlier argument you all had, you quickly say, "Going out for a drive."
"Oh." She looks at the ground, but stays put. Going back to your car, you open the door just as she faintly says something that you didn't catch.
"What was that?" you ask her.
"C- Can I... come with you?"
You pause. The obvious thing would be to say no, but thinking back, you realize that she was more or less the only one of the girls that didn't overreact. In fact, she just stayed silent the whole time, now that you think about it. "Why do you want to go with me?" you ask back.
"W- Well, I can't get to sleep, and I would like to see the city..."
"As would I." Both of you are surprised by Rarity's sudden appearance.
"Rarity?" Fluttershy asks. "What are you doing up?"
"As you know, I am a light sleeper, and his moving his cars around woke me up," she says, pointing at you. "But regardless, a quick look at the city doesn't sound too bad."
"I don't think that's a good idea," you start. "After all, I was going out so I could blow off some steam..."
"Then I'm sure you can do it while me and Fluttershy are with you."
Your mildly-sleep-deprived brain goes to naughty places, and you shake your head. "Trust me, it's better if you're not with me."
"But I insist! Besides, somepony-"
"Somebody," you correct.
"-somebody has to make sure you don't get into any trouble, right?"
...You have a feeling that she meant to do this to you. You throw up your arms in defeat. "Alright, fine, you can come with me." So much for having a late night chase.
Fluttershy smiles while Rarity claps her hands excitedly, and they both get into the car, Rarity taking the front seat. You get in as well and start up the engine, causing both girls, Fluttershy especially, to jump. You chuckle as the platform reaches above ground, your headlights illuminating the pavement in front of you. Shifting into gear, you drive onto the interstate, already with a location in mind. At first, you go as fast as the car can go, but at the urging of the girls, you traveled along at a slightly more sane hundred miles an hour.
Once you start driving across the bridge over the river, Rarity speaks up. "This city looks almost bigger than Manehattan!"
You almost gag at the horrible pun. "It's pretty big, but not uncomfortably so."
In the back seat, Fluttershy fidgets slightly. "I think I liked the countryside better..."
"There's plenty of that, too, but mainly on the highway here," you say.
You head into a tunnel, slowing down when you see a cop patrolling up ahead. Once you're past him, you speed back up, taking the nearest exit to the road up above.
"So, where are we going?" Rarity asks.
"There's a parking garage near here, and it has a pretty decent view from the roof." Finding the road to turn on, you execute a small drift, then another as you enter the building in question. You drive up the circular ramp until it lets you out on the roof. With almost all of the parking spots empty, you simply pull into the middle, facing a ramp that someone had put up a while ago, and park the car. There was also a pretty nice view of downtown Fairhaven on the other side of it, which both of the girls seemed to enjoy.
As you roll down your window to let in the night air, Fluttershy asks, "Did you really mean what you said? About us having no other choice?"
You lean back in your seat and sigh. "Yeah... Looks like it."
"Well, just because we have to stay with you doesn't mean we can't enjoy our time here, right?" Rarity says. "After all, I'm sure I could learn a few things about this world's fashion!"
You let out a short laugh. "Well, don't look for any help with that from me. All I know is cars."
"Ah, yes, these cars... I must say, I like them far more than the carriages back home."
"I do too, cause I don't have to worry about feeding any smelly horses." You realize what you just said. "Err, no offense."
"Assuming the ponies in this world are much different than in ours, none taken," Rarity replies.
The three of you share a laugh before simply falling into silence, listening to the sounds of the city. Among those noises, you think you can hear police sirens, but that's probably for someone else...
Though that doesn't explain why they're getting closer.
Suddenly alert, you turn the police scanner on and begin tuning it in. "What's wrong?" Fluttershy asks.
"Shh." You dial in the police radio, and listen.
"-advised, sightings have been reported of a suspect vehicle, on top of the downtown parking garage."
"Dispatch, can I get a make and model of the Code 3 suspect?"
"Vehicle is a white BMW M3."
You take in a sharp intake of breath while rolling up the window. "Crap..."
"What's going on?" Rarity asks.
"Well, it occurs to me that the last time I took this car out for a drive, it resulted in dozens of cops getting wrecked," you confess. While the girls gasp, you shift into reverse and turn back towards the ramp-
Only to see SUVs already blocking it off. As you stop, you hear more cops heading into the garage and making their way up. You look around for an exit.
"All units, we have him cornered; move in and detain."
"Welp, looks like we're gonna go for a ride," you say, shifting into drive. "Hang on, girls."
You begin spinning your tires, causing the cops to stop advancing towards you. You use the time to turn on the radio and start playing the CD you left in there. After all, if you're going to have a late night, all out police pursuit, you might as well do it to fitting music.
After one more second of your tires squealing, you let off the brake and turn the wheel around, doing a quick one-eighty back towards the makeshift ramp. You hit the nitrous and dart forward as the girls scream. You take off and sail through the air before landing roughly on the ground, not too far from the street. A quick check confirms that the girls are alright, though Fluttershy seems to have fainted, and Rarity doesn't look like she'll last much longer.
"All units, he just grabbed air, repeat, suspect has grabbed air, get back on him."
As you speed off, interceptor units are already on your tail, one of them getting in position to spike your tires. You respond by boosting forward and slamming his rear bumper, causing him to spin out into a parked car.
"We got a unit down, repeat, unit down, we need to escalate this."
"Copy that, tactical units have been deployed."
You veer left at a tunnel and drive down a bigger road; the same one above the interstate tunnel. Behind you, a SWAT van lumbers into view, its yellow headlights blaring in your mirror. You curse to yourself as you shift into the next gear, putting more distance between you and the black behemoth.
Rarity's sudden frantic screaming and pointing gets your attention, letting you look back in front of you just in time to see an SUV barreling towards you. You yell out more expletives as you slam the wheel to the side, just scraping the cop. Once you steady your car again, you look back in the mirror just in time to see the SUV barrel right into the van, causing a fairly large wreck and slowing the van down considerably.
The heat was still pretty strong on you, however. Highway units were catching up to you, and you could see a spike strip roadblock up ahead. Wanting to preserve your tires, you instead go for the other option.
"What are you doing?!" Rarity yells.
"Making a path!" you yell back. You gun the engine as she screams some more, before you barrel right through the parked Corvettes, sending one spinning down the road. You're shaken by the impact, and Rarity faints.
"Dispatch, he got past the spikes, requesting more roadblocks."
"Copy that, roadblocks are in place."
Now without anyone to yell at you, you focus on trying to lose your pursuers. And what better way to do that then by simple elimination?
You let of the gas slightly, letting the highway units catch up to you. Once they get around you, trying to box you in, you slam back on the gas while turning, slamming both the front car and one of the side ones. Both of them careen into the guardrail, totaling each other. You laugh as the remaining two cops try to retaliate, only to hit nothing as you slam on the brakes again.
Before you can take them out too, however, an interceptor unit slams into your rear bumper, causing you to lose control for a second. When you regain traction, you're now on the dirt in the construction site just outside of the city. With more cops heading your way on the pavement, you drive onto the railroad tracks, the car shaking on the dirt and rails.
"Be advised, suspect has gone off-road."
As you bypass a SWAT roadblock, you look back to see one of the SWAT vans catching up to you, being better suited for this sort of terrain. You try to put as much distance between it and yourself as possible, but it keeps edging towards you.
Suddenly, you feel the car start to dip to the right. You look back forward, and see that the right wheels had slipped off the tracks in an area above the road that had no guardrails; and the rest of the car was quickly following the wheels.
"No no no no no SHIT!" you yell, just as the BMW falls the rest of the way off. You land on the roof, but thankfully roll back over on your wheels due to your momentum. You check yourself, as well as your two unconscious passengers, and after you're sure there are no serious injuries between the three of you, you start moving again.
"Suspect has crashed, move in and- no, wait, he's still going."
Despite the amount of damage done to the car now, including both bumpers nearly falling off and cracked windows, you're still able to squeeze a good amount of speed out of it, letting you put some distance between you and the cops.
Up ahead, you see the sign for the airfield come into view. This isn't good; you can't go back in your home while the cops are on you, and if you get too far away you probably won't be able to get back without the cops picking back up on your trail. Still, the airfield had ample room to maneuver in, so you drive into it, cutting across oncoming traffic. The cops lose more ground, either from overshooting the entrance or from colliding with traffic.
With no one currently on you, but with cops still everywhere, you drive into the frame of a scrapped plane and turn off the engine, making it so you could see out through holes in the frame, but they wouldn't see you unless they drove in themselves.
You hear Fluttershy moan in the backseat. "What... happened?"
"Cops," you say simply. When you see her look at Rarity worriedly, you reassure her. "Rarity fainted, same as you. We all got knocked around a bit, though, so you both might have a bruise or two now."
"Dispatch, I've lost the Code 3 suspect, but he couldn't have gotten far; we have all entrances to the airfield blocked, we'll find him soon."
"Copy that."
This isn't good. They'll more than likely find you, and you'll have to extend the chase even more...
Seeing a couple of police cars approaching the plane, you prepare to turn your engine back on and drive off quickly-
Just as, behind them, a Porsche blasts through a billboard and lands roughly. It immediately heads for the two cops, and slams one in the side before doing a donut right in front of the other.
"All units, we got a second suspect here, taking out units."
The Porsche takes out the other cop by slamming it into a nearby hanger. As more come in to take care of this new racer, you notice a few things about the car.
Namely, the red paint flakes on the front bumper.
A cop's headlights shine into the car's open driver window, and that confirms that this is the same guy from Seacrest that you wrecked earlier that day. While you're wondering what he's doing there, and if he knew you needed some help, he starts driving towards one of the entrance ramps, where one of the SWAT vans broke formation to try and take him out. It doesn't work, and the Porsche drives back onto the freeway, the rest of the cops in pursuit.
"All units, focus on the new suspect for now. We'll send in units to go Code 2 for the BMW soon."
Sighing, you start up your car again, but leave the lights off, so you don't give yourself away to the wrecked cops. Driving slowly, you make your way to the platform where you press the button to lower it as soon as possible. Once back down, you turn off the engine, and let out a big sigh of relief. Beside you, Rarity begins to stir.
"Mmm... what happened?"
"I just evaded arrest for the third time today," you answer. "And I don't know about you two, but I am beat." You let out a yawn as you leave the car, the girls behind you. You reenter the house, seeing that the rest of the girls were still asleep. That is, except for Applejack, who was sitting up on her mattress and looking sternly at you.
"And just where were you three?" she whispers.
Being very tired at this point, you say, "Went for a drive, they wanted to go, we went, cops, chase, crash, eh." You start to go back to bed, but Applejack grabs your arm.
"What?!" she yells quietly. "You took Fluttershy and Rarity out on a dangerous chase like that?!"
"In my defense, I didn't want them to come, and I didn't go looking for cops."
"That's no excuse! What if they had gotten hurt, or worse?"
"Acutally," Rarity whispers, "it was rather nice... At least, until the police part." She takes this opportunity to smack you in the head. "What were you thinking?!"
"I was thinking about how not to get caught," you reply, rubbing your head. "We can talk about this in the morning, I'm going to sleep now." Before any more complaints can be voiced, you go into your room, where you immediately fall into bed and go to sleep.