Royals. Problem?

by Split Scimitar

Nobody is a Better Confidante

“Hello?” I answer completely overlooking the shock of having cell phone reception at this altitude.

“Hey, Max? Sunset Shimmer here. I just received an urgent message from Princess Twilight. She would like to have Princesses Celestia and Luna return to Equestria immediately.”

“I know it’s not my business, but what for?”

“I’m not sure yet, though it sounds urgent, even for Princess Twilight’s standards. I’m communicating with her as we speak.”

“I can get them home as quick as I can, but it won’t be fast. I’m in Hawaii right now, and getting them home means I have to long haul all the way back to DC. Please tell Twilight she’ll have to wait at least a whole ‘nother day. I’ll get us going as fast as we can, so you can catch me up gradually. Text me with updates.”

“Will do. Thanks Max. Sorry it’s such short notice.”

“No worries. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Okay, bye.”

“I hate to spoil this picture perfect moment, but Princess Twilight by way of Sunset Shimmer requests your return to Equestria immediately.” I say to the Princesses.

“What for?” Luna asks equal parts disappointed and quizzical.

“Search me, but we’d better get going quickly.”

“I can take some time off too.” Rosalina says. “I haven’t been to DC in a long time.”

“You can stay with us!” Selena proclaims as we all scramble off the summit and into the cars.

When I fire up the Range Rover, a low temperature and “possible ice” notification pops up. Dismissing it though laughing at a “low temp/possible ice” in Hawaii of all places, we both race back to the observatories to get back to the access road. All tours have concluded for the day, so aside from those working at the telescopes, we’re the only ones on the road, which is handy, because as soon as we whiz by the visitors center, we’re panting down the road with every ounce of steam we have.

At long last, we catch the main highway. Even though I do want to get in the air ASAP, I can’t just keep my foot down. ‘T’wouldn’t be professional, see. So, contrary to most of my fantasies of gauntlet running against the clock à la Need For Speed, I keep in time with a Hawaiian style of driving with a little bit of above normal speed limit observances. I might call it tithing the speed limit, which reduces the 90-minute drive to 55. While we all pack our things, Rosalina then tells me to file and get the weather briefing while she packs her bag as well as mine.

PHKO PUMIC FAPIS R578 FICKY MZB J18 PXR J65 TCS J166 SPS ADM LIT Q66 ALEAN Q40 MOL DOCCS.DOCCS3 KIAD

Pretty much the reverse of the flight out here, this one should be much shorter with the aid of the jet stream. Our expected departure time is 21:45, so we have an hour and a half to get to the airport and get going.

I call the FBO and request the GPU, so once we’re all ready to go, we decide to grab some dinner to-go before we make for Onizuka.

When Rosalina parks, we load the boot then get the Land Rover across while the others use the bathroom and such. Without a cinch, I load the car and secure it.

In no time at all, the others are heading out to the air stairs, undoubtedly feeling like VIPs walking out to their private jet, and they are.

I then head inside, take care of all the last minute fees, then after I conduct a preflight, I get the APU started. With such a light payload, I ordered tanks to absolutely full to the brim. Running the APU should help trim off the topmost layer so we can be relatively lighter for takeoff.

Anyway, once I’m all situated in the cockpit, Rosalina is ready to go with a clipboard and pen ready so she can take care of the clearance. Since Kona doesn’t have CPDLC, our clearance has to be read back on frequency.

“Kona clearance, Moonlight 1000, IFR to Dulles.” She calls.

“Moonlight 1000, cleared to Dulles airport via Upolu Point - Uniform-Papa-Papa, then as filed. Climb and maintain 7,000. HCF departure frequency 126.0, squawk 0344.”

“Cleared to Dulles via Upolu Point, then as filed. Climb and maintain 7,000, departure 126.0, squawk 0344, Moonlight 1000.”

“Moonlight 1000, readback correct. Ground .9, the ATIS is Lima.”

“Moonlight 1000.”

I then check to make sure everything’s disconnected before closing and arming the boarding door, playing the safety video, and setting the cabin lights.

After the video concludes, I rebrief the whole return to Equestria situation, promising periodic updates as Sunset Shimmer makes them available.

Sol and Celestia already are reclined, so I ask them to upright themselves and wait until I give the okay, much to their disappointment, the latter actually giving me pouty eyes, to which I say, “sorry, ma’am, but that’s the legal requirement, and it’s for your own safety.”

When I return to the cockpit, Rosalina and I 2-crew.

The 2 engines alight and stable, she calls up ATC.

“Kona ground, Moonlight 1000, November, taxi.”

“Moonlight 1000, Kona ground. With the wind 260 at 5, would you like runway 35 or runway 17?”

Nodding as I hover my thumb over the push to talk, I respond, “we can take runway 35, Moonlight 1000.”

“Roger, runway 35, taxi via A.”

“A to runway 35, Moonlight 1000.”

Flaps, 15.
Trim, takeoff.
APU, off.
Controls, check.
Taxi, nav, beacon lights, on.
Autopilot, armed.
FMS, programmed.

“Moonlight 1000, contact Kona tower 120.3.”

“Over to tower, Moonlight 1000.” Rosalina responds. “Kona tower, Moonlight 1000 on A for runway 35.”

“Moonlight 1000, Kona tower, runway 35, line up and wait, pending IFR release.”

“Line up and wait 35, Moonlight 1000.”

Landing, pulse, strobes on.
Autothrottle, armed.

Line up and wait on 35, awaiting takeoff clearance.

As I look to the left of the airplane, the last rays of twilight disappear under the horizon, marking the end of the trip and the start of a long night to come.

“Moonlight 1000, runway 35, cleared for takeoff. Fly runway heading.”

“Runway heading, 35, cleared for takeoff, Moonlight 1000.”

Hands together, set takeoff thrust.

80 knots.

V₁

Rotate.

V₂

Positive rate, gear up.

Flaps up.

“Moonlight 1000, contact HCF departure, Aloha ‘ahiahi.”

“Over to Honolulu, good night, Moonlight 1000.” Rosalina responds. “Honolulu departure, Moonlight 1000 off Kona, 2,700 climbing 7,000.”

“Moonlight 1000, Honolulu departure, good evening. Turn right direct Upolu Point, then resume own navigation. Climb and maintain 17,000.”

“Direct Upolu, own nav, 17,000, Moonlight 1000.”

*ping*

“Ladies and gentlemen, once again, welcome aboard our flight this evening. We’d like to extend a special welcome to our silver, gold and platinum status members and to those joining us from partner airlines. We’re expecting a smooth flight through the night, so please sit back, relax, and enjoy this evening’s flight. In just a few minutes, we will open up the forward galley to self-service beverages and light snacks. If you absolutely need to use the lavatory, please exercise caution until the seatbelt sign has been turned off. Thank you.”

“I’m gonna sleep once we reach cruise.”

“No problem.”

---

“Good night dear.” Rosalina says as the throttles come back.

“Night, sleep well. Thanks for the help.”

As I monitor the airplane and keep the fuel totals page in plain view, we should land in Washington with enough fuel to get to Peotone, or if we wanted to run ourselves into our legal reserve requirements, Vegas or Phoenix, but not quite enough for a return journey to VCV. No matter, I can handle it just fine.

“Moonlight 1000, contact Pacific Center on 131.95 for your SELCAL.”

“31.95, Moonlight 1000, good night.” “Pacific Center, Moonlight 1000, level at FL370.”

“Moonlight 1000, Center, Roger, welcome. You’re one of four aircraft in the sector today. You mind running without HF radio?”

“No problem, Moonlight 1000.”

“Moonlight 1000, roger. Appreciate it.”

“Moonlight 1000, next reporting point is… FIZEL, estimated crossing 0826Z. No pertinent remarks at this time, it rides pretty smooth.”

“Moonlight 1000, roger.”

After I breathe a sigh of relief, I’m joined by Luna, evidenced by a slight articulation in her voice compared to Selena.

“May we join thee?”

“Please. Make yourself at home. Though please don’t touch anything.”

“Of course not. This is a intricately complex and extremely expensive machine.”

“Indeed it is.”

“Since it is just you and me, can we talk about your… nightmares?”

“Oh! Um, I mean, sure, but they were completely normal. I got disowned by my family. My own flesh and blood. There’s no underlying issue or issues.”

“No, no. I understand that completely, as do you apparently. Obviously your family had their reasons to do it, well-intentioned as they were, and admittedly I fell into a similar trap. But where yours came out of a mismatch between your career choice and family expectations, mine came because I was afraid of confronting my sister about the issue. Looking back, one of the biggest mistakes of my life was not tackling the issue of what eventually boiled down to a failure to communicate. My point is, I understand you and almost exactly where you come from.”

“Thank you Princess. I appreciate your understanding.”

“What kinds of nightmares did you experience?”

“Mostly the normal stuff of watching those around me alienate me, then over time, as I tried to maintain my status as a member of the family, the looks they gave me made it clearer by the day that I was no longer loved, then no longer liked, then no longer welcome. Eventually, they gave me a proper disownment without so much as a goodbye.”

“I’m sorry your family treated you like that.”

“It’s alright. I always kind of knew I would be treated differently by not going into the medical field, but I would’ve never expected them to actually go through with it, though I guess if I were them, I wouldn’t necessarily blame them for doing it.”

“What??!”

“At the risk of scaring you in the context of where we are, I… I… attempted suicide because I was sick of the differential treatment. For obvious reasons, I was on the short end of a double standard. Whenever I tried to confront my family on the issue, I was met with a “why are you complaining? You have no right to complain. You’re not going to be making any money. Money is the only thing that’ll make you happy.

She listens intently as I try to divide my attention between her and monitoring the airplane. “I’m sorry if I seem inattentive. It’s just second nature for me to keep my eyes peeled for even the slightest anomaly.”

“Max, far be it from me to judge based on an outsider’s perspective, but you did say that you would do the same thing if the roles were reversed. I’m not sure how that ties in.”

“I was getting there. I get it, to a fault. I didn’t necessarily expect them to react positively, as I said. If I were a parent and my child said they wanted to be a pilot, I would be equal parts shocked and surprised. I don’t get disappointed easily. My point overall is, in a roundabout way, I’m not surprised they reacted as such, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt. I had family laugh in my face when I told them I wanted to be a pilot. “That’s so preposterous!” “Why would you want to settle for a second choice?” “You’ll always be on strike.” “You’ll always be looking for work.” The insult to injury though is how fake they were when they decided to be somewhat supportive. Do you have any idea how much it peeves me to see those same people who spat on my career choice to suddenly 180 and brag to all their friends and family that “[I’m] going to be a pilot” as if they had supported me from day one!“

“Believe me Max,” Luna responds a little too calmly. “I know exactly how that feels. My sister is admittedly a poor reader of body language. I expected her to pick up on me showing that something was wrong, but she never took any initiative herself. And I expected her to. In hindsight, that may have been my fault. My sister is not a mind-reader. Even so, I know exactly how those feelings of betrayal are. It is quite infuriating to see people you know who spat on you previously claim to have supported you from the beginning, especially when you know they didn’t at all.”

“Aye.” I respond with a tip of the hat that isn’t on my head.

Luna chuckles at the gesture, since the hat is sitting on the shelf where all the old maps used to be kept.

“Do you mind if I stay here awhile? I’m very much a night owl.”

“Not at all. Thank you for listening. If it were anyone else, I would’ve just been called weak, since my trials were nothing compared to theirs.”

“It’s unfair to compare one’s trials and tribulations to another, even yours to mine. You have a right to complain as much as anybody else.“

“True as that may be, it seems like nobody understood me. Hell, of my suicide attempts, all but one of them were just from that feeling of being alone, and not for a lack of trying either.”

“I’ve been there as well.” She responds. “And I have to be honest, sometimes it was preferable to being with people.”

“I’m the same way. I will take every opportunity I can to be alone. As we so obviously can agree, that has a nasty tendency to backfire.”

“Indeed.”

With only the moon - a full moon - In The Air Tonight, I smile as I notice it for the first time, not diverging from the conversation between Luna and I. Our conversation goes on until we reach the mainland. When we return to the radar environment, Luna leaves to use the bathroom, then returns to her passenger seat, leaving me alone for the last cross-country portion.

---

“Dulles Tower, Moonlight 1000, visual 19R.”

“Moonlight 1000, Dulles Tower. No one behind you, runway 19R, cleared to land.”

“Cleared to land 19R, Moonlight 1000.”

50.

40.

30.

20.

10.

Touchdown. Spoilers up, brakes on, 2 in reverse.

35 knots, disengage reverse thrust.

“Moonlight 1000, left U4, cross runway 19C, then Y6 Y to Jet Aviation.”

“U4, cross 19C, Y6 Y to Jet Aviation, Moonlight 1000.”

“On behalf of your Southern California based captain and Hawaii-based first officer, we’d like to welcome you to Washington Dulles. Local time is 10:10 am, weather 48° with calm winds. Please wait until the aircraft has come to a complete stop and the seatbelt sign has been turned off. At that time, please use caution when opening overhead bins. Items may have shifted and may fall injuring you or someone else around you. As this is the termination of our flight, please do ensure you have all your personal belongings with you. It’s been a pleasure serving you, and we hope to see you again on a future flight. Once again, welcome to Dulles.”

Once parked and unloaded, I give everyone a hug, but then Luna specifically keeps in my embrace for longer as she whispers,

“Please come and visit us in Equestria. My sister and I would love to see you.”

“I hope I can someday.” I respond as we let go. “I’d be honored to visit you.”