//------------------------------//
// Rain, Sleet, Snow Or Hail 
// Story: Detour: The Road to Uprise 
// by Jetset0099 
//------------------------------//

       "This is quite unusual."
Luna, the princess of the moon, sat in her study examining some photos that had been magically taken through a telescope. It showed a large orange pegasus holding his hoof over the mouth of a black earth pony, obviously in a way to make him stop talking. 
Her sister, Celestia, walked into the dark blue room with purple curtains on one end, and a large window on the other. Luna sat in the middle at her large oak wood desk, head down in concentration. 
"What is it, sister?" Celestia said as she approached the table with curiosity. 
There was a brief pause as Luna shifted from a photo of the two at the gate to one of two hooded figures standing on a mountain cliff at night. She contorted her face in thought before speaking. 
"These photos here."
She laid out both of them side by side for the Sun Goddess to see. 
"They are quite peculiar. Last night these two hooded figures were spotted by the Night Guard outside of the city on Stoneclaw trail. Normally we don't look twice at these sorts of things, but at that time of night, and on one of the most dangerous trails in the region, it certainly arouses suspicion. Another photo was taken just a few minutes later, this time one of them, identified now as an orange stallion, without his hood on."
She pulled out a third photo for Celestia to observe as she continued on with her theory. 
"He obviously seems distressed, and from what the Night Guard said, they appeared to be looking for something, or possibly somepony."
Her sister interrupted. 
"This IS slightly unusual, yes. But there's no evidence they've done anything wrong. For all we know, they might just be two travelers making their way down through the mountains who became confused as to where they were."
Luna shook her head and pointed to the picture of the duo by the main gates. 
"That's what I thought at first, but look here. The orange one is silencing his partner, and if I'm any good at reading facial expressions, I'd say he wasn't too happy. I received word just fifteen minutes ago that they left town and were heading south. Inevitably towards Ponyville."
She took a deep breath and looked at her sister. 
"As a leader of this nation it is my duty to protect my subjects, and I feel that it is necessary to appoint a guard to be stationed in Ponyville to watch out for when they arrive and keep tabs on them."
Celestia though about this for a moment as Luna resumed her examination. 
"I don't feel right about spying on somepony on the basis of a hunch that they might be up to no good. However, if you feel like that's the right decision, then I guess I support it. Appoint a guard of your choice and they'll be there within a couple hours. I have to attend a meeting now with some of the council. I'm trusting that you'll take full responsibility for this operation?"
Without even looking up from the photos, she nodded. Celestia smiled and turned towards the door. 
"Very good. I'll see you at dinner then."
With that she walked out of the study and down the stairs to make the meeting on time. 
Luna stared at the face of the orange stallion, examining his expression and reading his eyes, something she's always been highly skilled at doing. 
"You're up to no good. I'm going to find out what it is."
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Jake sat in the cargo bay with his crew as the sheriff and his deputy examined the blood stain. The sheriff, a well-built brown earth pony, swabbed some of the dry blood in an attempt to get a sample. His deputy, much younger than he was but still of same stature, wrote down anything he found that was worth knowing, and occasionally snapped a photo of the scene from various angles. 
Outside, the wind picked up and rattled the fuselage of the plane. Jake got a little impatient, knowing it'd just make his job harder, and he wouldn't be getting back until well after dark. 
"What's your conclusion, sheriff?" the pilot asked with a hint of impatience.
The officer nodded to his deputy, who closed up his notebook and hung his camera around his side. Then he turned to Jake. 
"At this time, I have no idea who made this. All we know is that it happened late last night, and that they were probably taking shelter in here. We found a bandage wrapper underneath one of the jump seats, and part of your first aid kit was missing. Whoever it was came in, bandaged themselves, possibly stayed overnight, and left early this morning. Did anything unusual happen last night? You do live quite close to this field."
Jake suddenly widened his eyes in surprise. 
"Of course. I can't believe I didn't remember it."
He lifted his hoof up to his head where a small bump was formed from his encounter last night. Luckily there was no black eye, which he was thankful for under the account that his a job was a somewhat public one. 
"These two ponies came out of nowhere last night running in this direction." He motioned with his hoof the way they were heading. "One of them knocked me over and gave me a bump on my head. I looked up to see where they were going, and I assumed they turned the corner before they got to the field. It was too dark for me to see that far. I bet that they were the ponies who were in here last night. I don't really keep the access hatch locked, mostly because anypony who wants to get in here won't have anything to take, nor can they get into the cockpit and touch anything because that's usually locked. I never really worried about it. I guess this is what I get for it. I don't remember anything about their description, nor wether they were male or female. So I'm not much help after that."
The sheriff nodded. 
"Well thank you for your help. You guys can clear the scene here. We're all done. I'll call you if anything comes up from this."

"Thank you, officer."
They shook hooves, and the two ponies of the law turned and walked down the ramp. The deputy looked back at Jake. 
"Oh, and be careful out there. Our weather forecast said it's crazy up north where you're heading."
Sleethoof nodded. 
"Jake's a great pilot. We'll be fine with him at the helm."
The deputy chuckled. 
"Good to hear. Have a nice flight."
The two rounded around the plane and were out of sight just as a steady rain began to fall.
Klauss, realizing the crate was still outside, lit up his horn and ran to the precious cargo. 
"Let's get this loaded up and ready to go! We're late enough as is."
As Kline magically dissolved the blood spot on the floor, Sleethoof ran up to the front of the cargo bay where a winch mechanism sat, and released the brake and picked up the tow hook in his mouth. He ran it down the length of the plane and right up to the front of the crate, where a metal bar had been screwed in to assist with the loading. He hooked it on and ran back to the controls. 
As the winch began to pull the massive piece of cargo up the ramp, it strained with the weight it had to hold. Kline, now finished with the cleaning, and Klauss kept the box in line, to make sure the wheels lined up with the centering rails on the floor of the bay. 
Ten minutes later found the cargo successfully strapped into place, as well as the four pony crew in the cockpit. Sleethoof sat in the co-pilot seat going over weather forecasts and maps. For a young stallion, he was very smart for his age and was capable of reading forecasts and planning routes on maps accordingly. 
The twins sat in two jump seats against the back wall of the cockpit, Klauss with a manifest of the cargo and all the legal paperwork saying they had full responsibility for the cargo, and Kline reading off pre flight checks. 
"All doors, shut. Avionics switch, on. Ignition switches, on. De-icer, active. We'll need it for sure. Uhhh," he turned the page and ran his hoof down to the next relevant item to check, but couldn't find anything. "It looks like we're ready. Let's shove off."
Jake brought the C-130 to life with a loud roar as all four props began whirling in the wind. 
He lined the plane up with the long runway and put all four throttles to the floor, hurling the massive aircraft down the strip, rainwater swirling behind the props in horizontal typhoons. Once they were up to speed and the nose began lifting off, he could instantly feel the pull and push of the wind beating down on the plane. 
"This is some rough turbulence."
They gradually climbed up to thirty-thousand feet in silence, letting the captain concentrate on keeping the plane on course due north. Finally, after minutes of being on edge, the plane stopped bouncing around as they passed above the cloud line. 
Sleethoof looked out the side window to find nothing but a vast sea of rolling white clouds, and above that, a pure blue sky revealing the sun in all it's light. He breathed a sigh of relief and sat back in his chair. 
"Should be smooth sailing from here, right Jake?"

"Yes sir. Until we have to descend, we should be fine."
He pulled down his headset and flipped on the communications feed. Jake was surprised that in a nation that was much farther behind in technology than the one he left behind on Earth, they still had long distance radio communications. He pressed the button on the yoke that enabled the mouthpiece and spoke. 
"Crystal Empire, come in. This is Metal Eagle."
Over the year and a half since Jake had been in Equestria, his C-130, especially after the air show with the Wonderbolts, had grown in popularity throughout the nation. It wasn't until Equestrian Today, a famous newspaper, did a story on it and referred to it as the "Metal Eagle", did the name stick. Now, whenever Jake was on the radio with various cities, he'd simply refer to it by that name, and they immediately knew who and what was approaching. 
The pilot waited a few seconds before a female voice came over the headset. 
"Metal Eagle this is Crystal Empire, what is your status?"

"We're about four hours out. We ran behind due to some complications that I'll elaborate on upon our arrival. What's the weather like up there?"

"Not good. Low visibility, high wind, and it's snowing harder than I've seen it do all year. We'll do our best to talk you down and ensure a safe landing. Until then, have a safe flight. Over and out."

"Thank you. Over and out."
He hung the headset around his neck and relaxed a little in his chair. Jake didn't let the calm weather they were in now deceive him. He knew that the second they dropped below those clouds again it'd be a nightmare. Weather up where they were heading wasn't controlled by pegasi like in Ponyville. If it ever got to the point where he couldn't leave town they'd come by and clear a path in the clouds for him. Up here, he was on his own with his wits, and the three stallions on his crew whom he trusted with certainty. He set the plane to autopilot and prepared for a long, quiet flight.