//------------------------------//
// The Afternoon After 
// Story: Fast Friends and Faster Cars 
// by The card holder 
//------------------------------//

You don't feel yourself waking up until you start hearing the TV in the other room. Looks like the girls are up already. You glance at the clock, and see that it's already half past noon. Jeez, you really slept in.

After a quick trip to the bathroom, you enter the living room to find the girls scattered around the TV. As expected, Dash, Applejack, Twilight, and Rarity were nursing hangovers. Dash and AJ also kept glancing at each other, then looking away quickly. Looks like one of them told them what they had done last night.

"Mornin'," you greet them, receiving similarly short responses. "How you girls feeling?"

"Like crap," Dash groans.

"Last night was fun!" Pinkie says. You notice that she's quite a bit more quiet, to avoid causing her friends more pain. "What're we doing today?"

"Absolutely nothing. No races, no meetups- just us sitting around, being lazy."

"That's good," Applejack says. "Ah don't think Ah can handle another night like that."

With that settled, you plop down on an empty spot on the couch. Right now, the news was reporting something about politics, which none of the girls, even Twilight, was interested in.

While tuning out the droning newscaster, you spot your laptop just beside the TV. This gives you an idea. "Hey, you girls want to watch something else?"

A chorus of yes's meets your ears. Hearing this, you grab the remote and change the input, bringing it to a blank blue screen. You then get up and grab your laptop, making sure it's plugged in properly.

"Uh, pardon me for not knowin' much about this technology," Applejack starts, "but how is this better?"

"Just give me a sec." You open the laptop and fiddle around with it, the girls trying to watch over your shoulder. Soon, you get the TV to display the computer screen, which seems to amaze the girls. A couple of clicks later, and you had Netflix opened up.

As you start scrolling through movies and TV shows to watch, you feel your phone vibrate in your pocket. Setting the laptop aside and excusing yourself, you get up and look at the caller ID. It's your friend.

You answer with a simple "'Sup?"

"Hey, man, that was some party last night, huh?"

"Yeah, it was pretty crazy, I suppose."

"Listen, man, you know who I noticed wasn't at that party?"

"Who?"

"Only Mister Seacrest himself. I looked, and he wasn't there. But when we were all bugging out, I could've sworn I saw that Porsche of his."

"You sure you weren't drunk?"

"Positive. And, I found him out driving just now, so I'll be following him, keeping tabs on him."

You look back at the girls, who were reading the descriptions for various different shows. "You do that, then, I guess. I can't stop you."

"Alright, man, peace."

You hang up and return to the couch just in time for Twilight to point at the currently selected show. "How about this one? It says it's one of the highest rated."

You look, and see that she was asking about none other than Breaking Bad. Probably a bit too dark and violent for them. "You sure? That show's kinda... well, mature, I guess is the best way to put it."

"So?" Despite her headache, Dash puffs out her chest. "We can take it! We're grown mares!"

"The correct term here is 'women'," you say. "And, you all really want to see it?"

You get five nods in confirmation, followed by Fluttershy's much slower nod. "Alright, then."

With that, you select season 1, episode 1, and watch as the girls react to the first thing onscreen being a flying pair of pants in the desert.

This could be entertaining.



You put the phone back into your pocket, and look across the street.

That blue Porsche still hadn't moved from its spot, and its driver hadn't got out, either. You saw your friend shove him off the road a couple days ago, but apart from a few dents, his car still looked to be in pretty good shape.

The fact that you spotted him when the cops showed up last night gave rise to a host of suspicions. You didn't have any proof yet, but that's what you're hoping that tailing him will give you.

Eventually, he does move, and you follow him, doing your best to be discreet. Too bad you didn't pick a more subtle car, though. Your Corvette sticks out as much as his Porsche, so you'll have to hang back quite a bit.

He pulls onto the main interstate, and after he's a good distance away, you follow, doing your best to stay behind traffic when possible.

You follow him out of Ripley's Point, and even past Callahan Industrial. Eventually, he gets back off the highway at downtown Fairhaven. Odd, how he took the long way around.

You almost lose him while hiding behind traffic, but it's nothing that cutting a few people off didn't solve. You quickly get him back in your sight, though you make sure that he can't easily look back and spot you.

He keeps going for a couple more blocks, then he suddenly stops again. You drive a bit past him, trying to make it look like you were just passing by, then stop around the next corner, his car still visible through the windows of a restaurant.

He still wasn't getting out of the car, and you had no idea what he could be doing here. In fact, now that you think about it, wasn't the police station on the other side of that building...?

Suddenly, cops swarm into the intersections in front of and behind you, lights blaring and sirens wailing. Shocked, you start backing up and spinning around while turning on your police scanner.

"We got eyes on the suspects, driving a yellow Corvette and a blue Porsche, beginning pursuit."

Cursing, you manage to push through the cops before they can box you in, though that still left a not insignificant number tailing you. 

As you turn onto another street, you spot the guy from Seacrest driving the other way. The two of you look at each other as you pass, cops following both of you. Once you pass each other, and get past the pursuing cops, you watch as the police cars crash into each other, trying to get both of you.

A chorus of reports from out of commission cops comes through the scanner, and you smirk while drifting back onto the highway. There, you start picking up speed, and it isn't long before you have the cops left in the dust.

Once you're sure you're clear of them, you park on a dirt road underneath a bridge in the highway, and hit your steering wheel in frustration. You were sure you nearly had something on that guy, but then the cops showed up out of nowhere. It's like they knew you were going to be there...

This situation seems more than a bit fishy to you, but you still don't have any solid proof. Sighing, you take out your phone. Might as well fill your buddy in on the lack of good news.



Unsurprisingly, the girls were pretty shocked by the nature of the show once it went into full swing. At first, you had to pause every few minutes to answer one of Twilight's questions, but once you got to the more gritty subject matter, she stopped asking them. The others were watching with rapt attention, though poor Fluttershy looked like she was about to faint just from the first two deaths in the show. You doubt she'll be able to stand what happens later on. Especially when that body disposal gets botched.

Suddenly, you feel your phone vibrate, and you excuse yourself again. You had already seen the show, so you didn't mind missing it at all.

You look, and it's your friend again. "Find anything?"

"Nah, man, sorry, cops showed up before I could get any evidence of anything. I'm telling you, something doesn't seem right about that Seacrest guy. Something's up."

"Well, just take 'er easy, alright? Whatever it is, I'm sure we'll figure it out. Just, be careful out there, okay?"

"Shit, man, you too."

You hang up, and get back just in time to catch the end of the first episode. You look over all the girls, and they all seem like they want to watch more. Even Fluttershy, as hard as it was to believe.

"Well, episode 2," you say, starting it up. Looks like tonight was going to be a long night.