Night fell over Equestria, and the Royal Sisters were sitting on the tallest balcony in the castle just after Luna finished raising the moon. Apart from breakfast, the Changing of Shifts was the only time the two got to spend together on a normal week.
They sat quietly and watched the stars flicker in the sky, until Luna looked out to the north and saw a dim light on the cloud runway just two miles away.
"Sister, what do you think is going on over there?"
She pointed out to the light, and Celestia pondered it for a moment.
"Well surely their practice would've ended by now. Unless there was a problem, I'm not too sure what could be going on."
"Should we go investigate?"
The Sun Goddess smiled.
"No. Lets leave them to their business. I'm sure that with the show coming up they're too tied up to bother with us."
Luna raised an eyebrow.
"But we're the Princesses. The rulers of Equestria. I don't think they'd ignore us."
Celestia rolled her eyes playfully and sat down by the edge of the railing. If she squinted, she could see the plane's silhouette through the darkness.
"That aircraft amazes me, Luna."
"How so?"
"Well, it's a huge flying machine. It can carry more weight than any pegasus I've ever seen. I'm sure that whatever Jake is planning with that thing on Saturday is going to be spectacular."
"I can agree with that, Tia."
The balcony fell silent for minute before Celestia sighed and continued. Her happy mood seemed dampened a little.
"However, I feel sorry for him."
Luna looked confused.
"Who?"
"Jake."
"Really? Why?"
Celestia took a moment to word out her answer before speaking.
"Imagine a puppy that's just been born. It lives its entire adolescent life on a wide open farm where it can run and play. Then, one day, somepony adopts the puppy and brings it home to a small apartment lets say. The owner is happy they have the puppy, but is the puppy happy that it has the owner? It was taken away from its home to be in a new strange one. Over time, the puppy will grow into a dog and adapt, but deep down it will always want to run through those fields on that farm one more time."
Luna walked over to her sister and followed her gaze out to the plane.
"I'm assuming the puppy is Jake?"
She nodded.
"Even though Equestria is a great place to live, he grew up in his own world. His family, friends, and everything he knew all went away in the blink of an eye. Well, almost everything. That plane and those two automobiles are the only things he had. That's why I went through all the trouble to get him the Ferrari back."
There was a pause, and Luna snickered.
"When will you tell him that there isn't an engine anymore, and its really a magically charged powerhouse."
She smiled.
"I'll let him figure that one out eventually. We simply couldn't rebuild that after the amount of burn damage done to it. Anyways, I'm sure one day he'll truly recognize this place as his new home. But right now, I think he's still subconsciously harboring his memories of his world."
Celestia fell silent, and looked back up to the stars her sister had placed so carefully and delicately.
"This is quite a display tonight, Luna. Is there a special occasion?"
The Moon Raiser shook her head.
"No, not really. I was just in a really good mood tonight, so my night sky reflected that."
"Very nice, Luna. Very nice."
They sat quietly for another fifteen minutes, enjoying each others company. Finally, Celestia yawned and stood up. She said goodnight, hugged her sister, and walked into the tower and down the long spiral staircase to retire for the night.
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"Will you two hurry it up!"
Sleek Jennings scolded Speed Demon and Jake as they worked into the night. She had gotten angry when Jake told a joke, causing them to stop working and laugh. To her, this meant she had to wait around longer.
The Wonderbolts had long since said their goodbyes and went back to headquarters for the night. Soarin was adamant that they stay together as a team until he finished the repairs, but Jake insisted they get some rest.
Rainbow Dash was passed out on the floor of the cargo bay, fashioning a bed out of jump-seat cushions. To her, it was actually quite comfortable.
The six pegasi that were pulling the chariot had unharnessed themselves and formed a poker game on the tarmac. If they were going to be here a while, might as well have some fun. The biggest one out of all of them turned around and waved to Sleek Jennings.
"Hey, Jennings! How about you come over here and join us!"
With out hesitation, she whipped her pen at him without looking, causing the chariot pullers to laugh. She pulled out another pen and continued with her paperwork.
"Damn idiots."
Jake, who had heard the whole conversation, whispered over to Speed Demon as they unbolted one of the last bent pieces.
"What's with your manager? She's really on edge."
The racer rolled his eyes and sighed.
"She's always like that. In public, she's really nice. But when you go behind the scenes, she can be really bossy. But let me tell you, she does a good job. She's tough, and ponies respect her for it."
The agent looked up from her paperwork to see their progress.
"Hey, are you guys about finished taking that stuff off? It's eleven o'clock at night, and I have work to do in the morning!"
"We understand, Ms. Jennings. Jake and I are almost finished taking the last one off. After that, you can get some rest in the carriage while we re-attach the struts and axels."
"Whatever. Just hurry."
Jake smirked and whispered over to Speed Demon again.
"I think she likes me."
The racer stifled a laugh, making it sound like a sneeze and cough combined. The agent stopped writing to try and listen in, but continued on after she heard nothing.
Speed Demon regained his composure and whispered back.
"In your dreams. Not saying you're not capable of getting somepony like her, it's just that she doesn't date ANYPONY. The only relationship I remember her having was with a higher-up business stallion that owned a metal manufacturing company. He cheated on her, and after that, she stopped dating. So she doesn't like you."
"If you say so. But I think she does. She hasn't looked at me more than twice."
"And that tells you?"
"It tells me that she's interested."
"What have you been learning where you come from?"
"That when a girl acts distant, she's interested."
"That logic confuses me. Anyways, lets focus on getting the last piece off. This bolt is a pain."
Speed Demon used all his weight to unscrew the remaining bolt from the strut end. Finally, they got it off and threw the heavy piece down.
Sleek Jennings rolled her eyes and stood up.
"Finally! Took you two long enough."
With a burst from her horn, she un-bent the strut and walked off to the carriage. She got in and shut the door without a single word. Jake smiled and turned to Speed Demon.
"I think she just needs to loosen up a little bit. Have a night out on the town or something."
One of the stallions playing poker spoke up.
"Yup. Maybe she'll stop being such a bitch."
"What did you say?!"
Her muffled voice from inside the carriage startled all of them, and the stallion who had to get his two cents in sprang up and flew off in fright.
Unfortunately for him, Sleek Jennings was out on the tarmac before he even got a hundred feet away, and pulled him back with her magic. His five friends were on the ground laughing at the scene.
She held the frightened stallion by the neck and yelled in his face.
"What did you call me?!"
The chariot-puller was scared beyond speech. All that came out was "uh".
"That's what I thought you said!"
She dropped him and looked around at her little audience.
"Now what were we all talking about?! Come on, spit it out!"
For some reason, Jake thought it was a good idea to speak.
"Well..."
Speed Demon shook his head. 'He's dead.'
"We were talking about how maybe it'd be a good idea if you relaxed a little bit and tried to have some fun. I mean, I've known you for three hours now and I can already tell you're very stressed. Why he called you that, I have no clue. That was uncalled for. However, maybe you should just take a little time off and enjoy things. Which leads me to my next point."
Jake took a deep breath.
"Would you like to accompany me to the Pre-Show Party Friday night at Canterlot Castle? I'm sure you're already going, but why not go with me? I know some stallions might say 'oh, it's not a date, it's just two friends at a party.' But I'm just going to flat out say it, I want it to be a date. So how about it?"
Everyone's mouths except for Jake and Sleek's hung open in disbelief. Did he really just ask out one of the most hard-headed mares in Canterlot? Even a small part of the pilot regretted asking that. However, all of his doubt was shattered when she answered.
"...ok."
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Mac and Applejack walked down Mane Street as the night sky covered the village. Applejack yawned and looked over to her brother.
"How long you reckon the crates will take to get done?"
Mac shrugged.
"Not to sure. All we can do is wait. Shouldn't be too long though. That Mr. Mach is quite the carpenter."
Applejack nodded.
"Ah can agree with that. Ah just wish he woulda given us a date when it'd be close to ready."
Her brother stopped in his tracks, and his face contorted into one that read, "I'm dead". Applejack looked confused.
"Um, you alright there, Big Mac?"
"Date."
"Yeah, what about i-...uh-oh."
Applejack immediately knew what had slipped her brother's mind.
Like a flash of light, the farmer ran off down the street, leaving a trail of dust in his wake.
Applejack smirked and let out a chuckle.
"He's toast."
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Noteworthy's music store went dark as the lights went off after a long day of business. The clock struck eleven as Jade locked up the door behind her and stepped off into the street. They only stayed open this late on Wednesdays so they could stock the albums and re-tune all of the instruments. It took quite awhile.
Noteworthy came around from the back after emptying the trash, and saw the glum look on his employee's face.
"I'm sorry he never came to pick you up."
She simply shook her head.
"It's fine. I guess he had more important things to do."
Noteworthy tried to comfort his friend, however, he thought that maybe his other friend, Macintosh, needed some defense as well.
"Listen, Jade. Macintosh isn't like that. I'm sure whatever came up that made him forget about tonight was a good one. In all my years of knowing him, I've never seen him turn somepony down that he made a promise to."
Jade paused to think about what he had just said. Maybe there was a good reason. It was the busiest time of year on the farm from what he said. Surely he wasn't ignoring her, was he?
All of these thoughts were interrupted by the sound of heavy, fast moving hooves around the corner. Seconds later, Macintosh rounded a building and slid to a halt right in front of the two musicians. He took a moment to catch his breath, then explained himself in front of Jade.
"Before ya go an' get mad, ah jes have ta say I'm sorry. Ah got caught up in mah work an' completely forgot. Ah ain't sayin' that ah don't wanna be with ya or nothin', it's jes that us Apples are so devoted to our work, that we...ok me...sometimes forget about the other things in life that make it worth livin'. So if y'all wanna be mad at me, go ahead. Ah deserve it."
A smile slowly crept up on Jade's face.
"It's ok, Mac. I understand."
The farmer raised an eyebrow.
"Ya do?"
"Of course. I get that you're extremely busy with your farm right now, and that a relationship is probably at the bottom of your to-do list. So how about we just stay friends for awhile? When the work slows down, and we both have a little free time, then we'll see what happens. How does that sound?"
Macintosh mulled this over for a second. He had heard of something known as the friend zone once when he was with his friends. Was this what it was?
"...am ah gettin' friend-zoned?"
All Jade and Noteworthy could do was laugh.
"No Mac, you're not getting friend-zoned."
The red stallion looked relieved.
"Alrighty then, Jade. Ahm fine with that."
"Good. I'm glad you see it my way."
"There is jes one more thing. How would you like to come with me to see the Wonderbolts air show that Jake is in? It ain't a date, jes two friends at a party."
The drummer nodded.
"I would love that. Ill see you Saturday morning then."
They said their goodbyes and parted ways to head home for the night. .
A half hour later, Mac crawled into bed and shut the light off on his nightstand. He rolled over and tried to fall asleep. After five minutes of silence, he shot up in realization.
"Ah jes got friend-zoned!"
Granny Smith snapped at him from the next room.
"Will y'all shut the heck up in there! Ah don't care what zone you're in right now! Go to bed!"
Mac's ears tucked behind his head.
"Sorry, Granny."
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Three AM rolled around, and Jake and Speed Demon tightened down the last strut on the landing gear, completely fixing the plane and making it airworthy once more.
A now happier Sleek Jennings sat her paperwork down and admired the aircraft for the first time.
"You know, I have to say this is one amazing machine. I could see potential in this. I'm talking shows, parties, photo shoots. You name it!"
Jake chuckled and set his wrench down.
"Please, Sleek. Lets just focus on the party on Friday, and the show on Saturday for now, ok?"
"It's Seline."
"What?"
"Seline. My real first name is Sleine. The corporation I work for just thought that Sleek would be a better business name than Sleine. They said it had more, 'pizzazz.'"
"Well then, Seline. I want to thank you for putting up with me and Speed Demon's antics for the past five hours, and thank you for accepting my offer to the party."
Seline smiled.
"You're welcome. You made a valid point earlier. I'm a stick in the mud sometimes. I get too focused on work and forget about other things that are important too. You seem like a really nice stallion, and I want to get to know you better. So when will you pick me up?"
"How about seven o'clock in the evening at the castle gates. That should give us plenty of time to get in before the crowd gets huge."
"Sounds like a plan. Until then, Jake."
With that, she turned around and entered the carriage. The six stallions had ended their card game awhile ago, and the last one awake was kicking the other five back to life so they could hook up to the harness and go.
Jake stuck out a hoof for Speed Demon to shake.
"Thank you for all of your help. I can't imagine what would've happened if you hadn't shown up."
The racer smiled.
"It was no problem, Mr. Jake. I had fun. And I will see this thing in action at the show on Saturday. Knowing that I had a hoof in making it able to perform will make it that much more exciting. I'll see you then."
He walked past the pilot and got in the carriage. He waved once more before shutting the door, and within seconds, the luxury ride was off the ground and out of sight.
A content smile donned his face. He had solved his problem, and scored a date while doing it. How he ever managed to pull that off, he would never know. But it was best not to question things.
His smile was gone when he turned around and saw that the C-130 was still jacked up on the rocket cart, and still had the two Sabres mounted on it's sides.
"Well this sucks."
While he thought of an idea on how to take off, he walked down to where the Ferrari was sitting and got in it. He was very grateful that Celestia had managed to restore it and give it back to him. He started the engine, but didn't want to rev it considering that Rainbow Dash was trying to sleep.
However, he thought it wouldn't hurt to give it just a little power down the runway. He tapped the accelerator, and was thrown back as the car shot off much quicker than anticipated, engine roaring. He glanced at the speedometer and saw that it read one hundred and eighty five miles an hour. He slammed on the brakes, and came to a stop right at the bottom of the cargo ramp.
He got out and popped the trunk, which is where the engine was. Everything looked normal as he stared it down with a bewildered expression. How in the hell did it go that fast so quickly?
He thought it'd be best to wait until morning when he had daylight to work with, and slowly drove the supercar up the ramp and strapped it down in the cargo bay. He walked back outside and examined his predicament with the cart still holding up the right wheel.
He finally came up with a plan, but wondered if it was smart or not. He opted to do it anyways, and walked back up the ramp and shut it behind him. Rainbow Dash was right in front of the cockpit door, causing him to tiptoe over her. He sat down and started the four engines. Surprisingly, the rainbow pegasus didn't even stir at the sound of the car or the plane. Jake sighed and set the throttles to full power.
"Sorry about your cart, Starfyre."
The plane sped up, but because it was already halfway down the runway when he started, he had to use full flaps and all the power he could suck up from the whining engines. The cart on the right landing gear made the plane want to pull to the left, and he had to compensate with a lot of rudder.
Finally, the plane leaped off the end of the runway and up into the night sky. The rocket cart, however, didn't follow suit as it came out from underneath the C-130 and plummeted down to the valley below.
Jake pulled the throttles back to cruising speed and set his altitude. He whizzed by Canterlot, which was still shining bright with lights and activity considering the time of night. It reminded Jake of New York: The City That Never Sleeps.
He sat back in his chair and relaxed as he flew home, one hoof on the yoke, eager to get some rest after a long, strenuous day.