//------------------------------//
// A Little Patience 
// Story: Detour 
// by Jetset0099 
//------------------------------//

       Thursday morning rolled around in Canterlot, and the castle was alive with servants and guards preparing for the Pre-Show party the following night. Apart from the Grand Galloping Gala, it was turning out to be the biggest event of the year. 
The halls of the Royal Castle rang out with a high brassy note as Sticcato wailed the last chord of the song. With a crash of the cymbals, it ended, causing Luna to jump up in applause. 
"Bravo! That was incredible!"
She turned to her sister and gestured towards the band who was set up in the large ballroom. 
"They're perfect for the party tomorrow, don't you think?"
Celestia nodded in agreement. 
The conductor, Clef, walked over to the Rulers and bowed. 
"Your Majesties, I am honored you simply gave my band a chance to audition for you. If we're not whom who choose, we are still thankful."
He raised his head and backed off, allowing Celestia to ponder the decision. 
"Now don't get me wrong, Clef. I think the band is simply marvelous, just like my sister says. However, the vast majority of the crowd attending the party are going to be younger ponies in their twenties and thirties who don't appreciate the music you play because they haven't grown up around it like Luna or I have."
Clef smirked. 
"I figured you might say that. No problem. We have loads of modern music that's been adapted into a big-band style. I guarantee you, your Highness, that we will not disappoint anypony tomorrow night."
Celestia, ignoring Luna's persistent begging, thought to herself in silence. After a brief moment of suspense, the entire band fell into relief as the Sun Goddess nodded her head. 
"Alright. I'm officially pronouncing the Equestrian Music Repe-..."
Celestia bit her bottom lip in embarrassment. 
"I apologize. I forgot the band's name. What was it again?"
Clef chuckled. 
"The Equestrian Music Repertory Ensemble. It can be a mouth-full."
Luna smiled and gestured towards the band. 
"Well now that we have that situation settled, play us another one!"
The conductor bowed.
"As you wish, your Highness."
He stood up and whipped around, raising his right hoof to ready the downbeat. 
"One, a-two, a-one two three four!"
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Rainbow Dash rolled over in her sleep, and smashed her face right up against the wall dividing the cockpit and the cargo hold of the C-130. This caused her to slowly resurrect herself from a deep slumber. She pulled her face away from the wall and wiped the sleep out of her eyes. Once her vision was clear, she looked around at her surroundings in confusion. It took her a minute to finally realize where she was. She stood up and turned to face the cockpit door, where a small crack of sunlight was coming through where it was ajar. She pushed it open just enough to poke her head through, and saw Jake, who was slumped over to the right of his chair and snoring heavily. 
Rainbow Dash chuckled and opened the door the remainder of the way. She crept up to him, and without hesitation, punched him in his right shoulder and yelled in his face. 
"Jake wake up! We're gonna crash!"
He snapped awake and sat upright in his chair. The first thing he saw out of the windshield was the ground in front of the parked plane, causing him to grasp the yoke and pull back. 
"Brace! Brace for impact! We're going down!"
He caught his breath and took a minute to observe the ground, which was not moving. Then he remembered last night, and slumped back in his chair and sighed. 
Once Rainbow Dash got up off the floor from her laughing fit, she wiped the tears out of her eyes and sat down in the co-pilots chair. 
"Oh you should've seen the look on your face! It was priceless!"
Jake turned and stared at her with one of those "are you serious?" looks. 
"That wasn't funny."
The rainbow pegasus finally calmed down, getting up from the chair and darting out of the cockpit. 
"Open the ramp and let me out, buddy! I got things to do today."
Jake, the sleepiness coming back to him after a short burst of adrenaline, forced himself to get up and slink back to the cargo hold. He pulled the lever and let the ramp slowly drop, shielding his eyes from the sun as it invaded the plane's dingy interior. 
Before the ramp hit the ground, Rainbow Dash flew out and hovered out at the end of it. 
"Well, last night sure didn't go as planned."
Jake raised his eyebrows and nodded sarcastically. 
"You don't say."

"Anyways, I have to get to work. Weather duty calls. Ill see you tomorrow afternoon before we leave for Canterlot."

"Alright then. See you around, Dash."
With that, she flew away towards the town and out of sight. Leaving a tired Jake to figure out what to do with himself. After standing around like an idiot for a couple minutes trying to gather himself, he decided to head back to Sweet Apple Acres. He shut the ramp again, making sure the newly restored Ferrari was locked up very securely, and walked off towards Ponyville. 
The walk through town was quick. Everyone was busy, giving the quaint village lots of life. The pilot was amazed at how such a small town could be host to so many turning points in history. He had read up on the Elements of Harmony one night before bed, and how they defeated Nightmare Moon after being imprisoned for one thousand years on the lunar rock. That shocked him to say the least. Nothing like that had ever happened in American history. There was no magic, and there weren't any people that when six of them came together it formed the most powerful weapon on the planet. 
Upon entering the front gate of the orchard, Jake saw a large wagon pulled by Macintosh and Applejack stopped in front of the house. In the back were stacks upon stacks of wooden crates that had their red apple logo on it. Jake ran around to face them, and upon seeing the pilot, Applejack smiled and unhitched herself. 
"Glad ta see you back, Jake! We were startin' ta worry when ah woke up at five this mornin' to start work and y'all still weren't here. Ah take it ya got the plane fixed up?"
The pilot nodded. 
"We did. And I managed to get a date for the party on Friday."
This caused Macintosh to burst into laughter. His sister punched him in the shoulder, making him to come to an abrupt stop. She continued with a smile. 
"Really? Now who might that be?"

"Seline Jennings. She's Speed Demon's manager. Remember him? The pony I raced awhile ago? When the plane got damaged, he came over and helped me fix it. Seline was there too, and although at first she wasn't too happy about having to help us by using her magic, she eventually came around to the idea. So I asked her out after we were done."
Mac chuckled again. 
"Well good fer you, Jake. Can't wait ta meet her someday. In the meantime, let's get some work done. Mr. Mach worked double-time an' got our entire order done already. How, ah'll never know. But he did it. So now, all we have ta do is box up the apples and get them down to the train station ta be distributed."
Jake took a look at the truck and wash bin that were filled to their brims with the red fruit. 
"It's about time we get them out of there. That Dodge is going to smell like apple juice for days."
He started to laugh at his own joke. Mac shook his head. 
"Y'all confuse me, Jake."
The captain shrugged.
"What can I say? I crack myself up sometimes for the dumbest reasons."
He trotted over to the truck bed and observed the mountain of fruit up close. The rear suspension was showing signs of strain from the weight. The pile was so big, it looked impossible how it could stay in place. It was taller than it was wide. Jake's confusion was put to rest from an explanation by Applejack. 
"It looks crazy, don't it? Ah had ta get Twilight over here and cast a spell that would keep the apples in place because the pile was getting so high. We didn't have anywhere else ta put 'em. Otherwise they would get dirty again after all that cleaning."
The three of them pulled the wagon up and parked it next to the apples. Mac dropped the tailgate on it, and with some effort, climbed up on top of the crates. 
"Alright, ahm gonna throw these down to y'all one at a time, and Applejack is gonna put the apples in. Remember, sis,  that there are thirty apples per crate. Trust me, it took a long time ta git all the math done in findin' out how many apples we got, and how many crates ta get. Ya put any more or any less in one, we're gonna come up short or over. Jake, you take the hammer and nail on the lids once she loads them up. Lets get this done by dinner. Ahm already hungry."
Mac tossed a crate down to Applejack, who immediately began putting apples in. Once thirty was counted, Jake took the lid and set it in place. He then used a hammer she gave him to pound in the eight pre-set nails. Two on each side. He set it aside, and already had another one at his side waiting to be shut. This wasn't going to take long at the rate the two siblings could work. 
An hour went by, and the pile was halfway gone on the truck, letting the suspension ease up a bit. Jake had started arranging a neat stack of filled crates. Four wide, four long, and six high. Once one stack was done, he made another right up against the first. So far, he had six of them already done, and was finishing up the seventh when Rarity walked through the front gate and waved to him. 
"Good day, Jake!"
The white unicorn cantered over to the three, causing them to stop production. She looked up at Mac, who was on top of the pile of crates, and gestured for him to come down. Applejack smiled and greeted her high-class friend. 
"What brings ya here, Rarity?"
The fashionista smiled and set a blue bag down she had been carrying in her saddlebag. 
"Well, I know that we're all attending a big party tomorrow night, so I took the liberty of making Jake and Macintosh suits to wear. After all, you simply can't go to a party at the Royal Castle and not look the part."
Jake took out the suit and examined it. It consisted of a sleek black jacket, and a grey collared shirt. A black necktie finished off the ensemble, along with a golden tie clip.
"I love it, Rarity."
The designer batted her eyelashes and shrugged. 
"I took the colors from your airplane, and used them to make a suit. Also, look on the shoulders."
Jake held up the jacket, and for the first time noticed that right on the shoulder blade area, were four golden stripes sewn into the fabric, resembling the shoulder boards from his uniform. A huge grin donned his face at the sight. 
"I still wanted everypony to know who you were, darling. Your a captain! And ponies need to know that. So I incorporated your uniform into the suit as well."
Jake simply shook his head in amazement. 
"I can't express how thankful I am right now. This is perfect."

"And Seline will love it too."
She winked at him, causing Jake to go from happy to confused in an instant. 
"How do you know about that already? It's only been a day. Not even."
She giggled and put the suit back in the bag. 
"This isn't a large down, dearie. Gossip travels quickly."

"O...ok then."
He turned his focus to the bag she brought. 
"Let's see Mac's suit."
Rarity gasped. 
"But of course! How could I forget you, Macintosh? Here it is!"
She pulled out another suit. It consisted of a dark green jacket with a white shirt. A necktie matching the green jacket hung on the collar of the shirt, and it had a golden tie clip as well. 
"I thought it'd be perfect for you because of who you are. The green and white are some of the colors of nature. I would've given you a red shirt to symbolize the apple, however it would've looked like you had no shirt on at all considering your fur."
The farmer chuckled. 
"Ah love it, Rarity. Thanks a lot."
She smiled in appreciation. 
"You're very welcome."
She put the suit back and shut the bag. 
"Well, I'll leave you three to your work. I have plenty to do myself. I'll see you all tomorrow before we leave. What time, Jake?"

"I would assume around four o'clock out at the plane."

"Very well. Four o'clock then. I'll let the others know too. Ta-ta!"
With that, Rarity turned and trotted out of the farm, heading down the road into town. 
Jake took the bag into the house, then came back out to finish the job. For the two and a half hours, they worked non-stop to get the apples boxed up and and full crates back onto the cart. Once they were finally done, they had the wagon filled with boxes, along with the bed of the Dodge. Since the crates were now filled, the load was much too heavy to put all on to one cart, so the truck helped out yet again. 
As the sun set, Jake dropped the hitch pin in to place, securing the cart to the back of the pick-up. Tomorrow morning they would get all the fruit delivered to the train station in one go. 
That night, Jake came out of the bathroom and was walking down the hall to his room, when Mac opened his door and stopped him. 
"Ah wanna thank ya fer all yer help this harvest. Ah know ah've thanked ya already, but I'm gonna a second time. We couldn't have done it without y'all."
He held out his right hoof for the pilot to shake. Jake did so and smiled.
"It wasn't a problem, Mac. Hell, half of it was my fault anyways."
They both broke out into laughter. 
"Ahm sorry about yer Ferrari though."
Jake lit up like a Christmas tree. 
"I forgot to tell you! Celestia salvaged it, and with magic, restored it to mint condition."
The farmer looked surprised. 
"Well there ya go! It seems as if the universe always works itself out in some way. Ya just gotta have a little patience."

"I couldn't have worded it any better, Mac. Well, goodnight. We have a busy day ahead."

"Eeyup. G'night, Jake."
The pilot walked down to his room and went in, immediately falling limp onto the bed and getting under the covers. All the hammering from earlier was starting to catch up to him as he slowly drifted off into a deep sleep. Outside, the timberwolves could be heard, and their howls echoed through the hundreds of harvested apple trees.