Chapter 3: Checking In

The loud roar of aircraft engines, both jet and propeller, filled the air at Starswirl International Airport in Manehattan, the busiest air terminal on the Eastern Seaboard of Equestria, and the main hub for air travel across the vast Titanic Ocean. As other planes plied their way across the vast network of runways and taxiways, some lining up for take-off while others that had just arrived were picking their way towards the paved area outside the gates – the so-called “airport apron” – passengers were checking in at the main terminal building for their flights.

As he waited patiently in the queue for the Royal Equestrian Airways check-in desk, Flash happened to gaze out of the window at the vast aerodrome beyond. Any minute now, he thought as he eagerly watched the many airliners shuttle back and forth between the runways and the terminals, he would be joining one of them for his flight to Abu Dhonki – but which one? Braewing 747 “Jumbo”, maybe, or a McPommel PC10? Perhaps the check-in clerk would be able to tell him.

Immediately behind the Pegasus guardspony, Yehuda was cheerfully reflecting on the benefits that the oil agreement would bring, both to Equestria, and to his home country of Saddle Arabia.

“Just think, Sandhi,” he mused, “soon enough, Equestria will be able to generate more kerosene for these planes, and with the money we gain from the oil, we can improve the lives of our people still further. New schools for our young, new hospitals to take care of the old and the ill, new rail links, irrigation schemes...”

“Indeed, Excellency,” agreed Sandhi with a small smile. “I probably speak for the whole nation when I say how lucky we are to have a stallion of the people like you as our ambassador. All the same,” he went on, shifting uncomfortably, “I'll be very glad when we return home; this Western climate just isn't right for a camel.”

Yehuda chuckled heartily. “Worry not, my friend,” he soothed, “you'll be back in Abu Dhonki with your wife and calves before the day is out.” A hearty sigh followed as he took a quick peek into his saddlebag; “And not a moment too soon either. I'd hate to miss dear Soraya's birthday, especially with the present I've picked out for her. I just hope she likes it.”

“What, a golden silk sari? As if there was any doubt!” scoffed Sandhi, a hint of mirth in his expression. “Young Coco Pommel may only be a beginner with foreign clothing, but she seems to have done a wonderful job of it at any rate. Your wife will be thrilled.”

Flash could only smile as he listened to their conversation. He wasn't all that familiar with this Coco Pommel, but he knew from Twilight's friend Rarity that the young fashion designer had made quite a name for herself in Manehattan, rivalling her former employee Suri Polomare, so whatever Yehuda had bought was almost certain to impress his wife. Clearly he cared very deeply for her – but then, just as Sandhi had said, he was very much a stallion of the people, so it was only natural that he should put the opinions and feelings of others before his own...

“Next please.”

Quickly snapping out of his reverie, Flash stepped forward. “Good morning,” he greeted the clerk politely. “Name's Lieutenant Flash Sentry, and I'm here for REA Flight 759 for Abu Dhonki.”

“Right,” said the clerk, “can I see your papers please, Mr Sentry?”

“Sure.” Flash promptly withdrew his passport, airline ticket and visa from his saddlebag and rested them on the desk. “Any chance you can tell me what plane I'm going to be taking?”

The clerk looked up with a smile. “Well, consider yourself lucky, Mr Sentry, because you're booked to fly on one of our new Constellations,” she replied.

“Constellation? As in...one of those new superliners? Wow!” remarked Flash, mesmerised. “Talk about the trip of a lifetime!”

“A lot of other passengers are saying the same thing,” agreed the clerk as she returned her attention to Flash's documentation.

“And well they might!” chuckled Flash. “That plane's a real technological statement, and no mistake.”

The clerk nodded and continued reading. After a while, she looked up again and said, “Well, Mr Sentry, seems everything is in order. All I need now is to take your baggage and print you out a boarding pass.”

“Thanks, miss,” said Flash, hoisting his panniers onto the desk. “What time does my flight leave?”

“You'll be boarding at 1000 hours for a 1030 departure,” the clerk specified as she passed the bags over to the baggage handler, “so if you would like to make your way to the Fairy Flight Lounge...”

---

While all this was going on, the Constellation airliner on which Flash, Yehuda and Sandhi were to travel was undergoing preflight checks in readiness for its flight to Saddle Arabia. So far, the ground engineer in charge of the operation, a brown Earth pony named Great Snipe, could find nothing in particular about this aircraft to suggest that it was unfit for flying that day; indeed, it felt like one of those days where you could forget to check a certain part of the plane and it would still make it to its destination in one piece. Nevertheless, his experience as an engineer had taught him that it was better to be safe than sorry, especially when it came to aircraft.

“Morning, Snipe,” said a well-spoken Trottingham voice from behind him. “How's it coming?”

Great Snipe looked over his shoulder with a smile as the flight crew approached. The captain of this particular flight was Mark Skywalker, a sunshine yellow Pegasus stallion with orange mane, tail and sideburns, a pair of dark blue shades and the typical blue cap and jacket with which Royal Equestrian Airways pilots were issued. He was younger than most other airline pilots at the age of thirty-one, but he was nevertheless a calm and confident pony with great faith in his own ability.

“Looking good so far, Mark,” replied Great Snipe. “No tyre damage, no fuel leaks, airframe seems to be in good nick...it's all good.”

“Excellent. Keep it up, Snipe.”

“How have you been keeping then? Everything okay with you?”

“Yeah, they've been good,” answered Mark casually. “Seems my little colt's become one heck of a hoofball fan since he started school last year; the amount of Manehattan Jaspers stuff he's got in his room, you wouldn't believe! He's even thinking of starting his own team one day.”

Great Snipe laughed heartily. “Might want to take care then, or else you'll find him in the Equestrian Hoofball League before you know it,” he quipped.

“Well...maybe. How far along are you anyway?”

“About half-done, I think. We should be finished by about ten minutes to take-off.”

“Ah, good. Thanks a lot, Snipe,” and with that, Mark followed the rest of his crew into the plane, leaving Great Snipe and the rest of the engineers to continue checking for any faults.

---

The minutes ticked slowly by as more and more passengers checked in for Flight 759. Flash, Yehuda and Sandhi sat patiently in the Fairy Flight Lounge, the ambassador cheerfully listing all the major points of interest in Abu Dhonki to the orange-coated Pegasus while the dromedary attaché leafed through a travel magazine he had bought from the souvenir shop. At last, just as the clock was showing ten, they heard the announcement over the public address system;

“Fillies and gentlecolts, Royal Equestrian Airways Flight 759 for Abu Dhonki is now boarding. Will all passengers for Royal Equestrian Airways Flight 759 please make their way to Gate No. 7.”

“That's us,” said Flash, standing up and making for the door. Sandhi and Yehuda nodded their acknowledgement and started to follow; but just as they left the lounge, the Pegasus guardspony noticed a flustered rose-coloured Earth mare with brown mane and tail just outside the gate. She seemed to be having trouble with her luggage. “Ah...excuse me, Your Excellency, I, er...”

“That's quite alright, my friend,” replied Yehuda patiently. “'For the benefit of others', my Sultan and I always say. Besides, we've all the time in the world before our plane leaves.”

With an appreciative smile, Flash turned and trotted towards the frustrated brunette. “Pardon me, miss,” he asked politely, “is everything okay?”

The mare looked up with a weary frown. “Not exactly. I probably shouldn't have kept so much luggage with me at check-in.”

“Do you want some help?”

“Hmm...could do with it, actually,” replied the mare.

“Okay then.” Flash turned back to Yehuda; “Won't be a minute, sir.”

“Of course, young Flash.”

Yehuda and his attaché waited while Flash helped the mare untangle her panniers and pick up some documentation she had dropped. Luckily for all four of them, her bags weren't in too much of a tangle and neither had she dropped too many papers, so it didn't take very long to sort out.

“There you go, miss,” said Flash at last. “You be okay now?”

“Yes, I think so. Thank you so much, kind sir.” The mare paused, curiously looking the orange-furred stallion over. “Don't I recognise you from somewhere, by the way?”

“Um...that depends on where you think you might recognise me from,” answered Flash, taken a little aback.

“My nephew Locomotion described you in a letter he wrote to me a few months ago,” explained the mare. “He said your name was Flash Sentry, and you've been resident at Ponyville Castle since last year. Is that right?”

Flash's eyes lit up. “Why, so it is!” he remarked. “Well – fancy bumping into one of his relatives here at Starswirl Airport! You headed for Abu Dhonki too, huh?”

“Yes, I'm a missionary for the Celestial Faith. My name's Carnation Petal.”

“Pleasure,” replied Flash, shaking her hoof. “Ah well, I guess we'd better get moving. Time – and planes – wait for nopony. I hope we meet again, Miss Petal.”

Carnation Petal nodded gratefully in reply as she made her way through the gate and along the walkway towards their flight. Flash briskly followed suit, accompanied by the two Arabian diplomats.

---

More than a quarter of an hour had gone by, and all preflight checks had been completed. Their gargantuan charge deemed fit to fly, Mark Skywalker and his crew waited eagerly for the passengers to finish boarding the aircraft, indulging in some cheery gossip to pass the time.

“So,” mused Storm Chaser, the co-pilot, “our first flight to Saddle Arabia on a de Hoofilland Constellation. This ought to be an interesting experience.”

Mark chuckled heartily in agreement. He had flown the route to Abu Dhonki since before the first Constellation had been built, but to fly it one of these magnificent behemoths, which he had already handled on other routes previously, would be the chance of a lifetime. “Yeah, and with the ambassador of that very same country flying with us too!”

“What, as in that...El Equine fella?” This came from Radar, the plane's flight engineer.

“Yehuda El Equuis?”

“Yes, him.”

“Ah, yes, I know the guy,” remarked Storm Chaser. “He was here for that oil deal between our kingdom and his, wasn't he?”

“Yeah, that's the one,” affirmed Radar.

“So we're finally getting that extra supply of kerosene for our planes, eh Radar?” asked Mark hopefully.

“So it would seem, Mark.”

“And about time too,” chuckled Mark. “For a while, I thought we'd never get these monsters off the ground.”

“So how much did they say we'd be getting?” inquired Storm Chaser. “10 percent, wasn't it?”

“Something like that, yeah.”

“Well, that depends, really,” said Radar, “but from what I'd read, they definitely had 10 percent as a sort of ballpark figure. We'll just have to see how we do on that, I guess.”

“Yeah, I suppose so,” conceded Storm Chaser, watching nonchalantly as an Airwain A340 airliner, much smaller than the Constellation, and headed for Le Mars in northern Prance, began its take-off run. “Still, at least we've got a share of Arabia's oil, that's the important bit. Say, Mark,” he went on, “any plans for when we get to Abu Dhonki?”

Mark took a second to consider this. “Um...well since we're not due to leave until tomorrow morning, I might as well see if I can visit the Ali Khamel Memorial Centre,” he decided. “How about you, Storm?”

“Dunno, personally,” admitted Storm Chaser. “It's the first time I've ever been to Saddle Arabia, let alone Abu Dhonki.”

“Seriously?” asked Mark, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah.”

Radar gave a mirthful smirk. Just like his co-pilot to miss out on somewhere like Abu Dhonki, he thought to himself. “Then you've never lived. I've been there twice myself, and let me tell you, Storm, if you're the sort of pony who loves foreign culture like I do, that country's an absolute must!” he proclaimed enthusiastically.

“I'll take your word for it, Radar,” chuckled Storm Chaser heartily.

“Tell you what, Storm,” offered Radar, “if you want, I could take you on a tour of that place.”

Storm Chaser nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, I think I'll take you up on that.”

---

At long last, all the passengers and cargo were aboard, and the Constellation could now begin its long journey across the Titanic Ocean. With all doors locked shut and the walkway retracted, an aircraft tug gently eased the plane away from the terminal building before detaching and heading back to the hangar to await its next turn. The huge airliner then started up its powerful jet engines and cruised gracefully off the apron towards the runway.

From the control tower in the midst of the airport, Air Traffic Controller Speedbird watched closely through his binoculars as the gigantic engineering marvel ponderously picked its way along the taxiways. “That's certainly some airliner,” he thought aloud.

“She sure is,” agreed one of the other controllers. “That de Hoofilland's sure outdone himself with that baby.”

By now, the airliner had reached the runway and was waiting eagerly behind the threshold for its take-off run. Over the radio, they could just make out the slightest hint of anticipation in Mark's voice as he updated them on their position;

“Control from Equestria Seven Five Niner, we're now lined up and ready on Runway One Four.”

Speedbird turned to his fellow controller. “Are we all clear for Seven Five Niner to depart?”

“Yep – all clear,” replied his colleague after a quick check on the radar screen in front of him.

“Right, then I might as well let them go,” said Speedbird, turning on his radio headset. “Equestria Seven Five Niner, you are cleared for take-off.”

“Roger, sir.”

With a loud roar from its engines, the Constellation began to move forward onto the runway proper, slowly at first, but rapidly gathering speed until it was travelling faster than an eagle. As soon as it reached the middle of the runway, the landing wheels left the ground and the gigantic airliner boldly took to the sky. Speedbird gazed admiringly upon the flying behemoth as it soared across the opposite end of the runway, mentally praising its creator on a job well done – it was moments like these, he told himself, that made him feel proud to be Equestrian.

From the observation deck in the terminal building, a mysterious all-over grey unicorn stallion was also gazing upon the Constellation as it climbed higher and higher into the air – but national pride and praise for the plane's inventor were the last things on his mind. What he was thinking, nopony could tell, but if anypony were to take notice of the shifty, sinister expression he was directing towards the enormous flying machine, or the sly, fiendish tone with which he spoke, it would have been palpably clear to them that he could well be up to something. Indeed, if Flash, Yehuda, Sandhi or Carnation Petal had been around to see or hear him, they might have thought twice about going anywhere near the aircraft...