The Stranded Pilot

After a balanced breakfast of bread and butter, with a side of 2 apples, Maverick had followed Rainbow Dash to the forest she had mentioned. She was hovering roughly 10 feet of the ground, telling him the story of the Running of the Leaves.

"…so a load of ponies get together, and race through this forest to shake the leaves from the trees?" Maverick asked, looking up at the pegasus hovering upside down above him.

"Mm-hm." she nodded.

"Wow. So, this is the path you all run?" he gestured to a large clearing that harboured to posts that must hold the finish line.

"Yup. Pretty cool, huh?" she lowered herself down to the ground, and stopped. "Here we are."

"Thanks Dash. Hey, you want to run with me? It's cool having someone- er, somepony to talk to."

"Why not? I'll be sure to let you keep up!" Dash ran off down the path.

"Hey!" Maverick ran after the sound of her laughing.

After a few minutes, he caught up with her. "That all you got?" he shouted, before running past her at full sprint. Dash ran faster, keeping level with him. For the next 3 minutes they ran, exchanging playful mocking banter and turning it into an unofficial race, despite what Maverick had said.

As the approached a corner, Maverick decided to get the inside line. Keeping close to the line, he tilted himself to corner the turn easily. Rainbow Dash ran past him, having gotten a burst of speed. She looked back at him and stuck her tongue out, before turning her head back to the path ahead. Maverick put a determined look on his face, and sped up, his arms pumping. Unfortunately, he was still tilted to corner the turn, and lost his balance.

"Damnit!" he shouted as he fell on his side and tumbled through a bush. His misfortune held, because on the other side of the bush was a downhill slope. As he tumbled and rolled down the hill between the trees, his head hit a large rock and knocked him unconscious.

Today wasn't his day.

He woke up when Rainbow Dash nudged him with her hoof.

"Oh boy, are you alright?"

"Ow." he rolled onto his back and sat up, rubbing his head. When he took his hand away, it was covered in blood.

Rainbow Dash looked worried. "You've got a huge cut on your head, we should get you to a doctor."

Maverick nodded, but when he stood up he felt faint. Can I stop feeling faint for just 1 damn day? he thought to himself. He realised his arm was bleeding again, because the bandage had been torn off by a tree branch, and his shirt was ripped across the front.

"That's just perfect. My heads bleeding, my arms bleeding, and where am I?" he looked around and realised he was at the bottom of an incline, in a sort if miniature valley. He would have to climb up the slope he had rolled down to get out. He made his way over and tried to walk up, but slipped and barely saved himself by putting out his right hand.

Rainbow Dash took off, grabbed his shoulders with her forelegs and lifted him up. "Come on, I'll help you up there."

Maverick nodded and grunted, trying to climb up the slope. This time, with Dash's help, he made it up.

"Come on, let's go find Fluttershy…" Rainbow Dash said, still holding him up.

For the second time in as many days, Maverick was sitting on Fluttershy's couch, in a slightly worse state than before. Fluttershy had re-bandaged his arm before moving on to his head, and had then cleaned the other small cuts he had got in the fall. The pegasus in question entered the room with a bowl of soup.

"Now you should be careful from now on. I'm starting to run out of bandages." she said jokingly, putting the soup on the couch next to him. She then packed up the medical kit she had gotten the bandages from. "You lost a lot of blood, so you're going to feel weak for a few days, but you should be okay."

"Thanks Fluttershy. There must be something I can do as thanks." he ate a spoonful of soup.

"Oh, it's ok, really, I'm just trying to help."

Maverick swallowed the soup and shook his head. "I figure I owe you a favour for your kindness. If you ever need any help, let me know." he ate another spoonful of soup.

"Well, ok then." she left Maverick to eat the soup. A second later Rainbow Dash came in.

"You ok now?" she asked him.

Maverick nodded as he ate the soup. "I didn't know you stayed."

"Yeah, I wanted to see if you were alright."

Maverick smiled and looked at his watch, it was 2:12. "I'm going to go back to the library. Every time I step outside I seem to get a new injury, so I'll try staying indoors." He finished the soup, and carried the bowl and spoon through to Fluttershy in the kitchen.

"Thanks again Fluttershy." he put the bowl in the sink as she smiled at him. He turned and walked out with Rainbow behind him. The bottom of his shirt was sagging from being cut more or less in half by a sharp rock in the tumble. He made small chat to Rainbow on the way to the library, asking her what life was like being able to fly freely. When they arrived he stopped at the library door.

"I'm going to make another machine and it will probably bore you. I'm giving you a chance to leave." he smiled jokingly.

Dash laughed "I'd like to see it."

Maverick looked somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected such an athlete like pegasus to be interested in one of his machines. He shrugged, opened the library door and ducked through, leaving the door open behind him for Rainbow Dash. He sheepishly raised a hand when he saw Twilight staring at his bandaged head and torn shirt in shock. He let Rainbow Dash into the basement before giving her an explanation.

"I was running with Rainbow Dash and had a tumble. Down a slope. Into a rock." he gestured at his head.

Twilight shook her head. "Aren't you in pain?"

Maverick nodded "Yeah, a little. But its ok, I can deal with injuries." he turned and was about to enter the basement.

"Like the scar on your back?" she asked him, but regretted it when she saw his reaction. He stopped and half looked at her, staring at the door frame.

"You saw that?" he asked quietly.

"Um, yes, why?" she asked meekly.

"Nothing, I just don't like talking about it." he brightened up. "I was just going to make the generator. I don't suppose you could help?

Twilight smiled at Mavericks change of tone. "Sure." she followed him into the basement, where Rainbow Dash was trotting on the treadmill again. "She turned and look at Maverick and Twilight as they came down the stairs. "What took you? Now what's that thing you were gonna make?"

"A generator." Maverick grabbed an apple from the half depleted apple bucket, biting into it. "It makes electricity." he gathered the junk into a pile and sat down next to it.

For the next hour, he fitted the pieces of junk together, slowly forming the generator, while Twilight helped by levitating the pieces with her magic and Rainbow Dash trotted on the treadmill.

"…and then whatever turns the magnet, here," he gestured to the magnet. "makes it spin around this steel bar, here," he gestured again "it makes an electrical charge, that's collected by these wires, here." he pointed at the copper coil around the contraption.

"Then what?" asked Rainbow Dash.

Maverick picked up the wire that led off the coil. "Normally this would go to the power grid and then people would use it to power whatever, including charging batteries, but as we don't have a power grid, we're gonna directly charge the battery. Can you step off the treadmill for a second, Rainbow Dash?" he gently pulled the contraption over to the treadmill, making sure not to knock anything loose, as Dash stepped off and the treadmill stopped. He grabbed hold of the metal bar he had attached the magnet to, and positioned it next to the last rolling pin on the treadmill.

"Twilight, pass me the duct tape." he grabbed it out of the air when Twilight levitated it over, and began wrapping it around the ends of the two rods.

He stood up proudly. "There, that should do it. Now, to test it." he walked over to the bedside table and picked up his IPhone. He carefully knelt down and pushed the small copper wire from the end of the generators coil into the recharging port.

"So Dash, want to do the honours?" he asked proudly.

"Uh, how?" she tilted her head, trying to work it out.

"Just use the treadmill. Start off by walking, though."

Dash nodded, then stepped onto the treadmill. They watched as the generator began spinning. A few seconds later, the generator was spinning faster, and was making a whirring and sparking noise.

"It seems to be holding together, try going a bit faster Dash." he urged her on.

She sped up to a gentle trot, and soon enough the coil started sparking and lit up very lightly. Maverick knelt down and swiped his finger across the screen. Nothing happened. He sighed.

"It will probably take a few minutes of running before it's got enough charge. Try going a bit faster, Dash."

"Sure thing." Dash increased her pace once again to a light run. The generator started spinning faster, and the light given off by the copper coils increased. Ten seconds later, the IPhone made a ping noise as it came back to life. Maverick put it down, making sure to keep the wire in, then pumped the air in triumph. "It works!" he shouted.

Twilight curiously but gently prodded the screen with her hoof, and jumped back when it lit up. "What works?"

"All of it!" Maverick exclaimed. "The treadmill, the generator, even my IPhone! This is great!" he hugged Twilight, making her blush and Rainbow giggle. "Er, oops. Sorry about that Twilight, bit excited."

"Oh, uh, it's ok. What's an 'IPhone'?" she asked.

"A little electronic device that holds music, miniature games, stuff like that."

"You can hold whole songs on that tiny device?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"Yep. Hundreds. I wasn't kidding when I said our race is more advanced than yours." he said, turning to Twilight.

The two ponies looked at each other, then looked at him, each with a raised eyebrow. "Modest?" asked Twilight.

Maverick merely held up his hands, then went back to the IPhone. It had gained enough power to play some songs now, so he switched to his Gym Class Heroes album and selected 'Stereo Hearts'. A second later, it started.

"My hearts a stereo, it beats for you so listen close, hear my thoughts in every no-o-ote,"

"You three can show yourselves." Maverick said loudly to apparently no-one in particular as he went through the options on his IPhone.

Dash and Twilight looked at each other, then heard a small voice at the top of the stairs.

"Sorry mister, but we wanted to see what you were doing."

"It's alright Applebloom. Just announce your arrival next time." he said in reply, not looking round.

"How did you know they were there?" asked Twilight.

"I have a very high perception." he said dismissively.

"How are you playing that song mister?" asked an excited Scootaloo.

"A beautiful mix of science and technology." he said, smiling now he had his usual dose of music. He turned to Rainbow Dash, who was still running on the treadmill, charging the phone, as she had been for the last 5 minutes.

The CMC made their way down the basement stairs to get a better look as Dash kept up her pace on the treadmill.

"…furthermore I apologize for any skipping tracks, it's just the last girl that played me left a couple cracks…"

"Wow, mister, that's so cool! Do you have lots of stuff like this?" Sweetie Belle shouted.

Maverick only nodded. "Our technology is always advancing, getting faster, more useful, smaller, cheaper." he looked at Rainbow Dash who was still running on the treadmill. There was sweat breaking out on her forehead, and she looked tired.

"Hey, Dash, let me have a go." he said.

She nodded, and flew off. Maverick stood up and took her place. Even though he could only manage a gentle jog because of his injuries, it was still enough to make the generator coils produce a light glow.

"Make sure you don't touch the wires, everypony. Normally they'd be insulated in rubber, but I didn't have time. They're pretty dangerous." Maverick warned.

Upon hearing this, the CMC backed away. Twilight spoke up:

"So this is going to charge your plane?"

"Yep." Maverick replied. A second later he stepped off the treadmill and checked the battery. After roughly 5 minutes, it had charged to 3%. It would take months to charge the planes battery at this rate, but he guessed if he ran normally for 4 hours a day, he could charge it in 2 weeks. He heard the library's main door open and the congregation looked up at a voice from upstairs.

"Sweetie Belle? Are you here? I saw your friend's scooter outside." Rarity appeared in the basement doorway. "Oh there you are Sweetie. Hello Twilight, Rainbow Dash and Mave- oh my, what happened to you and your clothes?" she raised a hoof to her mouth.

"I had a small tumble." he said, smiling.

"Down a hill, into a rock." Dash pointed out.

"Meh." he said.

"Well, I hope you're ok, but I insist on repairing your clothes. That shirt looks dreadful cut in half."

A second later yet another, hyperactive, voice appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Hey, hey, Rarity, you there? Of course you are silly, I saw you come in here!"

Maverick turned to Twilight. "Is it always this busy?"

"Nope." she said simply, before turning to the stairs "Hi Pinkie Pie." she shouted.

"Hey girls, hey Maverick." she said, her head in the doorway. "Oh, boy, what's that doo-hickey-mabob? No, wait let me guess-"

Maverick held up a hand and she stopped. "It's a generator Pinkie." he cut her off.

"What does that do?" she asked, her head turning upside down.

"Makes electricity. And powers this." he held up the IPhone, which had finished the song.

"Neato!" Pinkie shouted making Rarity, who was still standing right next to her, put a hoof over her ear.

Twilight thought of something. "While we're all here, why don't we go on a picnic? Do you want to come my little ponies?" she asked the CMC, who had been whispering to themselves since Rarity had appeared.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nudged Applebloom. "Uh, no thanks Twi, we're going ta Sweet Apple Acres to see if we can get our cutie marks."

Twilight looked over at Maverick, Dash, Rarity and Pinkie. "What about you guys?" Everypony nodded except Maverick, who shook his head.

"I'm going to stay here and do some running. Have fun." a thought struck him as he saw Applebloom making her way up the stairs. "Hey, Applebloom? Can you ask your sister if I can borrow a cart again tomorrow?"

"Sure mister, but, uh, why?" she replied, stopping halfway up the stairs as Twilight passed her and the other CMC's.

"I need to get something from my plane. Thanks." he smiled at her, then went back to his IPhone. The CMC looked at each other, shrugged, and continued on their way out, leaving Maverick on his own for the first time that day.