Jake and Mac had made their way back to the farm and were unloading the wood to start on the barn when Applejack came out from the orchard to meet them.
"Startin' the repairs ah see. Ah know y'all are goin ta the welcome party tonight, as am ah. So at least try an' get the roof patched up. We'll worry 'bout rebuildin' the steeple tomorrow. It's gonna take some good craftsmanship to make it again, but ah think you two are up fer it."
Both stallions nodded. Jake finished loading the planks onto a pulley device to get them up to the roof.
"Alright Jake, climb up the ladder an' wait fer the wood. I'll send it up ta ya."
Jake did as he was told and climbed up the ladder to the roof, awaiting the lumber. After a couple minutes of Mac pulling back on the pulley, the pallet of wood reached the pilot. He pulled off each piece plank by plank, stacking it on a rather flat portion of the roof before it angled down too much, until he had a nice stack next to the hole he had created. He figured that when the C-130 ripped the steeple off, it took part of the roof with it. He just didn't think it was that big of a hole until he saw it. The hole itself was at least five feet by five feet, and was dead center where the steeple used to sit.
Mac came up the ladder and looked at the captain's handiwork. He chuckled.
"Eeyup, looks like we got our work cut out fer us. Lets get a move on partner."
For five hours, Jake and Mac worked to rip out the broken wood, and replace it with new wood. Once they had finished doing that, they had a nice straight edged opening to fill instead of a ripped up hole. They started patching that up, and after another three hours, they had the roof filled in completely. Jake wiped the sweat off his forehead and turned to Mac.
"Well, that looks ok in my book. How about you?"
"Eeyup."
"Glad to hear. Lets go get cleaned up for that party. It must be getting close to seven thirty by now."
They made their way down the ladder and started for the house. When they walked in Jake looked at the clock. Sure enough, it was five till seven already.
"Holy crap, we're gonna be late if we don't get ready now. Is there a shower I can use."
Mac showed him to the shower and left the pilot to his business. He walked back down the hall to his own room and sat down on the bed, staring out the window into the ocean of apple trees below. After a couple minutes, Applejack came in and went up to him.
"Yer nervous ain't ya."
"Eeyup. You know ah ain't a social kind of pony. I've never been. An' ah think Jake expects me ta go along ta this shindig as well. Ahm not too sure ah can."
His sister sighed.
"Mac, it's time you went out an' made some more friends. Sure Jake is a great pony, an' ah would consider him her friend as well. But jes try ta have fun tonight an' make some more of 'em. Ahm sure yer gonna like it."
They sat looking at the orchard for a couple minutes, Applejack making a mental list of all the chores that needed to be done the next day, until a now clean Jake passed the doorway to Macintosh's room and made his way down the hall to his own. The farmer took this as a signal the shower was open and made his way to the door. He stopped in the doorway, and turned back to Applejack, who was still sitting on his bed.
"I'll go...but jes this once."
He walked out and down the hall to the bathroom. Applejack smiled and turned back to the window.
'Maybe Jake will be a good influence on him.'
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Sugarcube corner started getting busy by seven twenty. Everyone knew how good a welcome party by Pinkie Pie was, and didn't want to miss out. About a half mile away, Jake and the two farm ponies were walking towards the bakery. Applejack turned to Jake.
"Y'know, we shoulda taken yer truck. Ah kinda like ridin' in that thing."
"Well I didn't want the attention. Even if the party is for me."
Applejack looked him over.
"Well yer still gonna get a lot of it from wearin' that fancy get-up o' yers."
She had a point. Jake was wearing his full uniform he had on during his arrival. It consisted of a white button-down collared shirt with two blue shoulder boards on the side. Each one had four golden stripes running down it, signifying his position as a captain. There were also two gold collar pins that were diamond shaped. He had a black tie with a silver clip, and on the left of his shirt was his gold pilot wings, in the center of them were the letters A.F. for American Flightline, printed in black. The name, Cpt. Jake Weston, read across the right side, just above the company logo, which was a waving American flag in the background with the company's name in gold written across it. He had his mane combed up so it was spiked in the front. It was relatively short compared to most other male manes in Ponyville, but he looked the part, and Applejack noticed it.
"That uniform is quite the piece Jake. Y'all have ta wear that everyday?"
Jake nodded.
"Yup, whenever we're flying, or on the job period. It makes us look presentable to the companies who hire us. All pilots wear these uniforms though, my company isn't the only one who does it."
Applejack snorted.
"Ah could never wear somethin' that fancy ta work everyday. No offense, but it's jes not who ah am."
"None taken. But I don't think anypony who works on a farm would want to wear something like I do."
"Ah guess ahm jes tryin ta say that ah don't particularly like fancy clothin' an' all."
"Ah, I see. Well everypony has different tastes."
She nodded and looked over to Mac.
"Ahm surprised yer all fancied up for t'night."
He had his signature yolk removed, and had combed his mane.
"Ain't that big of o' deal sis. If ahm gonna be goin to an event like this, ahm gonna look nicer than usual."
The three walked in silence until they rounded the corner at the bakery. The place was packed already, and as Jake walked through the front door, many party goers waved to him, already having a good time. Pinkie Pie ran up to him, put a hoof around his shoulder, and yelled to the crowd.
"Ok everypony! Jakes here and ready to part-tay!"
Many cheers were heard throughout the crowd.
Jake walked up to the rest of Pinkie and Applejack's friends. Twilight was the first to speak up.
"Hello Jake, I was wondering when you'd be able to get me that sample of fuel so I can start to duplicate it for you. It will take time you know."
"I know, sorry I haven't been able to. I've just been so busy today helping at the farm that I haven't had the time to go back and get some. I will tomorrow morning. Is that ok?"
Twilight nodded. Rainbow Dash butted into the conversation at that time.
"Jeez Twilight, let Jake have some fun for a minute before you bombard him with questions."
She turned to Vinyl Scratch, who was set up and ready to go.
"Hey DJ! Crank up the volume on that thing and lets get this party goin' ok?!"
Vinyl put a hoof in the air and spoke into the microphone.
"Alright all you ponies! You ready to do some serious partying?!"
Shouts rang out through the room.
"Well then lets get this thing rollin' shall we?!"
The DJ pressed a couple buttons and got the records spinning. In an instant, the room was filled with a sound that Jake recognized as dubstep. He hated it. The sounds were just loud screeching over a droning bass track. Over the noise of it all, he still tried to converse with the now dancing ponies, who weren't focused in on anything but the music.
"So what is it like to live...how about the...can you even hear me?!...ugh, I'm sorry but I have to step outside for a moment."
He raced out of Sugarcube Corner and onto the street. Even with the door shut behind him the muffled bass of the "music" could still be heard. Then the noise got louder again as the door swung open and Mac came out, looking just as annoyed as Jake.
"Boy ah tell you what that noise is intolerable. Ah can't figure out why the hay anypony even likes that stuff."
Jake agreed.
"Yeah I can't take it either. Back where I'm from, I listen to classic rock and jazz. Sure rock is loud, but it has real instruments, and it makes sense."
Mac looked puzzled.
"A'hve heard o' jazz before. Ahm actually quite fond of it. But what's rock?"
The pilots jaw dropped to the floor in silence.
"You mean to tell me that they don't have rock here?"
The farmer thought for a moment.
"Nnope."
Jake immediately had an idea.
"Ok, come with me. I know your going to like rock when you hear it."
Back inside, Applejack looked out the window to see Jake and Mac walking away towards the field where the plane was at. She turned to her friends who were on the dance floor, except for Twilight and Fluttershy, who hated this kind of music too and were off to the side.
"C'mon girls, ah gotta see what they're up too. Why would Jake leave his own welcome party?"
All six of them left the party unattended and followed the two.
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Ten minutes later brought the pilot and the farmer to the plane, still being watched by three guards sitting in a temporary tent, playing cards. They rose and came out after seeing the two approaching. The leader of the three spoke to them.
"Hello Mr. Weston. Your aircraft has been untouched since you left it. Although I think it might've sunk a little further into the mud."
He was right. The plane was about another foot down in the ground. Jake suddenly remembered something.
"Aw crap, I forgot I locked myself out."
The second guard in command spoke up.
"I believe I can fix that sir. I know a lock picking spell that should open up that door in an instant."
"Well that's a relief. C'mon, I'll show you to it."
They walked over to the left side of the C-130 towards the front where the main door was located.
"Ok here it is. If you would kindly do your spell that would be great."
The guards stepped back and pointed his horn at the door. The frame of it glowed in a magical blue aurora. After a couple seconds, it popped open and swung down slowly, revealing a small staircase leading up to the cargo hold.
Jake walked up followed by Mac and the two guards. Their leader snapped at them.
"Hey! He didn't give you permission to enter the aircraft! Now get back to your posts!"
The pilot turned around to the captain.
"Hey it's cool. I don't care if they come up here."
The two guards followed them into the plane. The captain staying back at the tent. They all stood in the dark cargo hold. Only a few dim rays of light came through some small windows on the right side. The Ferrari was somewhat visible, as well as the remaining ammo crates, reminding Jake that he still needed to pick up the ones on the farm. He turned around to the rest of them.
"Ok wait here, I'll be right back. In the mean time, one of you guys go to the back and pull down on that red lever to open the cargo door. We'll get some light in here. The artificial ones are too dim."
He walked away up to the cockpit. The third guard went to the back, watching his step as to not trip over anything. He made it to the lever and pulled down. The hydraulic hiss of the door commenced, and the cargo bay started to fill with the evening sunlight.
Jake came back to a now visible area, and went over to a small console at the front right corner of the hold. Mac walked over to him.
"What are you up to partner?"
Jake was pressing buttons, as lights came on on the control panel. Then, a disk tray popped out.
"We'll Mac, this plane was originally used by The United States Forest Service. They controlled wildfires by dumping chemicals on it to put out the flames. They also had an incredibly loud public announcement system on here. What they would do is fly over mountain towns blaring the sirens off of here to warn people to evacuate immediately. But here's the cool part. We never took it off when we bought it from them. So if you can put any type of disc in this tray, I'm sure you can blast music. So I'm gonna give it a shot."
He pulled out an album that had a black cover with a prism in the center. To the left if it was a solid white line running up to the middle, it flared out and became a rainbow, heading down the opposite direction from the prism.
"This is my favorite rock album of all time. It's called The Dark Side Of The Moon by a band called Pink Floyd. They were and still are a music icon. You guys gotta hear this."
He put in the disc and shut the tray. After some more button pushing, the loud speakers built into the bottom, wings, and cargo hold of the plane came on. The disc started to play. All that was heard was the start of the first track, which was a constant heartbeat produced by a bass drum. Jake smiled and turned around to Mac and the two guards.
"Get ready for the coolest forty two-minutes and fifty-nine seconds of music you'll ever hear."