The Stranded Pilot

Howards – or Maverick as he was going to call himself for the time he spent here – was standing at the top of the staircase leading into the libraries sizeable basement. He turned to Twilight who was standing behind.

"Thanks Twilight. I appreciate this." he said.

"Please, it's no problem, Maverick?" she asked.

"Yeah, while I'm here I may as well use a new name." he walked down the stairs and took his bad arm out of its sling and flexed it, Twilight staring at him while he was doing it. He noticed her.

"What?"

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Flexing my arm. I need to see if it's alright. My race is civilised you know, we have medicine and people like me are trained to heal ourselves if we're injured. Not that I didn't appreciate Fluttershy bandaging it. That would have difficult with one arm…"

"Of course," Twilight blushed "I'll leave you to have a nap."

He nodded "Thanks."

Maverick laid down on the bed, his legs over the end, and took off his flight jacket to sleep in the green shirt he wore underneath. In all his 6 years as an RAF pilot, he had never done something like this. He had bombed a Libyan convoy 8 months ago with joint strike missiles. He had dropped supplies to starving refugees from a cargo plane over the Amazon. But never had something like this happened.

And if he ever told anyone, they wouldn't believe him.

10 minutes later, Twilight opened the door.

"Maverick, Applejack brought you some- oh." she giggled at the way Maverick was sprawled across the bed, asleep, his legs dangling over the end. She walked downstairs and with Applejack and dropped off a bushel of apples as Maverick snored gently.

"Come on, let's let him have his rest." She and Applejack turned and walked back out.

-4 Hours Later-

The beeping digital watch woke Maverick up. He sat up and looked around the room. His digital watch said it was now 1:06pm. He shook himself awake and stood up, stretching, and looked at his arm. It had stopped bleeding and looked ok, but he didn't want to take any risks. He would ask Twilight if they had antibiotics here. The last thing he wanted was a deadly infection in a different plane of reality. He looked around the basement properly for the first time. There was a single picture on the wall, the bed he had slept in, a bedside table, a wardrobe and a wooden bucket of apples that must have been dropped off while he was asleep.

He left the flight jacket off and put his arm back in the sling. He pulled the M9 out of its holster. He put it under the wardrobe where, hopefully, none of the ponies would find it. He would explain what it was and why he had it later.

He made his way up the stairs and knocked on the door, in case there were any ponies other than Twilight.

"You can come out dude." he heard Spike reply.

He opened the door sand stepped out into the library, ducking the doorway and nodding at Spike.

"Where's Twilight?" he asked him.

"She left to meet Pinkie Pie. I think." Spike replied.

"They're not still planning a party for me are they?"

"Oh, I've had an idea. How many rolling pins do you have? Actually, I'll write a list of stuff I need."

"Uh, ok, I guess. Here," he handed Maverick a scroll and quill "you can use these."

"Thanks." Maverick sat down and thought it over. He started writing.

After 5 minutes, Spike came back and looked over the list.

"Magnet? Rolling pins? Metal Bars?" he asked incredulously.

"You'll see when I make it." he just said mysteriously.

-An Hour Later-

Twilight walked through the library door with Pinkie Pie and Rarity in tow to see Maverick sitting on a stool reading a book.

"Hi Maverick." she said.

"Maverick?" Rarity and Pinkie asked at the same time.

"Yeah," he said "I've decided to give myself a new name while I'm here."

Pinkie started bouncing (unsurprisingly) "That's a super DOOPER cool name!"

"Thanks Pinkie. Oh, and Twilight, I have a list of stuff I need to make something that can power my plane again."

She picked it up with her magic and looked over it, then lowered it and looked back at him. "Rolling pins?" she asked.

"Spike said the same thing. You'll see when I make it." he said back.

"Ok… Come on, we can stop at Applejacks farm and get a cart, then get all this stuff."

"Sure." Maverick said, smiling. "Let's go."

Rarity held out her hoof as Maverick stepped forward. "I can't let you go out in those clothes. I simply INSIST you come to my boutique first."

Maverick looked over at Twilight. She nodded. "Me and Pinkie can get the stuff and meet you back here later."

"Ok then. Shall we depart Rarity?" he asked putting on a mock posh voice and holding open the door for her.

"Why thank you. What a fine gentle- er…" she had almost said gentlecolt, but he wasn't a pony. He realised what she meant and filled in.

"Man." he said.

"What a fine gentleman." she smiled, walking out the door, followed by Maverick. They made their way down the street, Maverick getting odd looks as usual. He asked her a question.

"So, what do you use as currency here?"

She handed him a small golden coin. "These," she said "They're called Bits."

He took it and looked it over, a picture of Celestia's head on one side, and what he presumed to be her sister Luna's on the over. He handed it back.

"So…" he said, stuck for more questions.

"What do you use for currency, in your world?" she asked him.

He sighed. His world was more complicated than theirs. "Well, there are lots of different lands called countries, each with a different ruler. Usually each country has a different currency. Where I'm from, England, they're called Pounds. In a place called America, it's called Dollars."

Rarity thought this over. "That's a bit like here. The Griffons use a different currency, and they have a different ruler."

This was news to Maverick. Before he could say anything Rarity continued.

"Here we are, the Carousel Boutique."

He opened the door for her again, and followed her in. He ducked through the doorway and as he stood up, Rarity started shouting.

"Sweetie Belle! What did I tell you about using my fabric?"

"Sorry sis," said a small voice from the other side of a door. It opened and 3 small ponies walked out, a unicorn, a pegasus and a normal pony. They stopped and gaped at Maverick when they saw him.

"What is that?" asked the pegasus one.

"Scootaloo!" said Rarity. "HE is Maverick. I shall explain it to you all in a minute."

"But sis, what is he?" asked the small unicorn, whom he guessed was Sweetie Belle.

"I'm a human." he said, which made the 3 small ponies look at him and gasp.

"You can talk?" asked the normal pony with a familiar accent.

"Of course." he said.

"Maverick, I have to get more fabric now that Sweetie Belle has used it all." Rarity said.

"It's not my fault sis, we were trying to get Fashion Designer Cutie Marks."

Rarity sighed. "Maverick, can you stay here while I go and get more fabric?"

"Sure. But what about, uh…" he trailed off, gesturing at the 3 small ponies that were still standing in the doorway.

"They shouldn't be any trouble. Should you." she said glaring at them.

"No Rarity." they said in union.

"Good. I'll be back in fifteen minutes." she turned and walked out the door.

Maverick turned and smiled sheepishly at the 3 child ponies. "So, what are your names?" he asked the normal pony and the pegasus.

"Well ma names Apple Bloom. Ma family owns Sweet Apple Acres." So that's where he recognized her accent.

"And my names Scootaloo!" said the pegasus one.

"Ok, my names Maverick." he said back.

"So, how did you get here mister?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"Well, Twilight Sparkle used her magic on some clouds, and made a magical storm. In my world, my plane got hit by a bolt of lightning, and transported me here. My plane crashed, and Rainbow Dash and her friends, Applejack, Fluttershy and Twilight, found and helped me."

"You see, that's why Rainbow Dash is the coolest pony in Ponyville." said Scootaloo looking at Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. Then she thought about what he had said. "What's a 'plane'?"

"It's a super-fast metal airship." he said.

"AWESOME!" they all said. "But why are you wearing those funny clothes?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"I'm a pilot. Pilots that fly the fastest planes have to wear clothes like these. I have a jacket as well." he walked over and leant against a counter.

"Can your plane do a Sonic Rainboom?" asked Scootaloo as the trio walked over and sat on the floor in front of him.

"Sort of. It just does something called a Sonic Boom. It's nowhere near as cool as a Rainboom."

For the next 10 minutes Maverick told the trio about planes and how they flew. Eventually Apple Bloom jumped in the air.

"I have an idea! We could be pilots! Cutie Mark Crusader Pilots!"

"Yeah!" shouted the other two as they jumped up and high-hoofed.

"Whoa whoa whoa," said Maverick putting his good arm out. "It takes years to learn to fly one, and the only one in this dimension is mine, which is wrecked and too secretive for you to fly."

"Ohhhhhhhh." they said sadly, still in union. They were scarily good at speaking in union.

"But, I guess it won't hurt to show you it sometime…" he said.

"Yeah!" they all shouted. "Can we see it now?"

"No, not yet. Rarity should be here in a minute with the fabric. Maybe some other time."

At that moment Rarity walked through the door.

"I'm back! They didn't misbehave did they Maverick?" she asked, setting down several different coloured rolls of fabric.

"No, I've been telling them about planes from my world." he replied.

"Yeah, and he said we can see his plane sometime!" Sweetie Belle said loudly.

"Did he? Well, off you go. I'm going to make Maverick some clothes now."

The trio ran through the door they had entered some 15 minutes ago. "They seem… hyperactive." said Maverick as the door slammed behind them.

"Yes, they can be sometimes. So, first, I need to take some measurements. It will be a fun challenge making clothes for someone like you. I have to ask you take your shirt off though."

Maverick nodded, and, making sure not to knock his bad arm, took the shirt off and placed it on a stool. Rarity looked over his fit body and at the bruises he had received earlier that day in the crash. They both heard a giggling in the doorway behind them, and when they looked they saw the heads of 3 giggling ponies.

"Rarity likes Maverick!" Sweetie Belle giggled.

"Sweetie Belle…." Rarity growled, blushing. It was enough to send the trio running off giggling. She turned to Maverick, blushing. He had raised an eyebrow.

"You have to forgive me for her rude behaviour." She said, levitating a measuring tape up to Mavericks torso.

"Of course." he said smiling.

-An Hour Later-

Maverick looked over himself in the mirror. He had a plain white shirt, like polo shirts from his world, and trousers similar to jeans, both freshly made. Rarity had even made a proper sling for him, coloured sky blue.

"I can't thank you enough Rarity. There must be some way I can repay you for this."

"No, I won't hear of it. It's my duty to help and make ponies, and you, look fashionable. But I really think this scarf would go well with it."

Maverick shook his head. "No thank you Rarity. This is all fine." He picked up his folded pilot fatigues, and made his way to the door. He turned around. "If you ever need a favour Rarity, just ask." he said and ducked through the door, closing it behind him. He started making his way to the library, and walked past a moving van- cart, he corrected himself. They were lifting a painting up to the second floor of a building. He could see where this was going, and suddenly the pony in the window lost grip, but another swooped in and grabbed it before it hit the ground.

Chuckling to himself at what he had expected to happen, Maverick made his way back to the library. When he got there, he saw the door was open and a cart was sitting outside, mostly empty. As he got closer, Twilight walked out again and levitated one of the last sacks off the cart.

"Hey Twilight." Maverick said from some 10 meters away.

She turned to see who had called her, and smiled. "Hi Maverick. Me and Pinkie got the stuff you asked for. I'm almost done taking it in."

"Let me help." He walked over to the cart.

"I don't know, it's really heavy…" she trailed off as Maverick effortlessly lifted it off the cart with his good arm.

"Good job I'm strong then." he walked inside with the sack, and placed it in the basement with the others. His stomach growled, and he looked up at the top of the stairs where Twilight was standing.

"You do have bread here, right?"

"Of course we do. Our species is civilised you know." she said, mimicking Mavericks earlier comment.

He laughed "Ok, ok. Can I make some toast?"

She nodded "Sure. In fact, I'll make it so you can start your, whatever it is." she looked at the sacks and the metal bars. "I don't know how this is going to help."

"You'll see." he said mysteriously.