The immense heat of reentry engulfed the Yamatos’ keel as it descended through the thick atmosphere. Had it been a lesser ship it may not have withstood the battering but if history proves anything it was that the Yamato was no pushover.
Eventually with the aid of forward thrusters and air brakes the behemoth craft met with the ocean just off the coast of Manehatten, the still red-hot hull making huge plumes of steam shoot into the air when it made contact with the cool sea water.
Eventually the Yamato settled, surprisingly stable in its old environment despite all its modifications. After checking for damages the mighty ship began its short swim to the shore intent of making a grand entrance.
The calm didn’t last long however, As the Yamato came within a mile of the metropolitan city it was immediately set upon and flanked on either side by two fellow warships. While both were dwarfed by the Yamato’s impossibly massive bulk, their cannons still turned to face the intruding craft.
“You are entering a patrolled area, state your name, rank and intention or will we open fire. You have sixty seconds to respond,” a voice called over the radio.
Panicked murmurs sounded around the bridge, most of which were questioning why they were being threatened by allies. Not wanting for the situation to escalate any further than it was currently, the princess quickly replied.
“This is Admiral Celestia of the Royal Equestrian Navy Yamato. Our intentions are to dock in Axial naval port.”
There was a momentary silence from the other side of the comms before a response crackled through.
“There is no ship in the R.E.N that goes by that name and the princess hasn’t used her title of Admiral for over sixteen years. Explain yourself or we will be forced to open fire.”
The murmurs increased around the bridge, none of the ponies being overly keen on being shot at. Celestia wasn’t fazed however. Calmy she leaned down to the intercom and whispered.
“Six-six-nine, Little Rock contingency,” Celestia replied swiftly, the small and seemingly random string of numbers and words causing another, much longer moment of silence.
Eventually the voice on the other end came back, this time more far more respectful and slightly more timid than before.
“Greetings Admiral, you are cleared for entry. Proceed to bay eight, The Loyalty and the Laughter will escort you.”
The cannons on the two smaller craft swung back into their forward positions, before all three ships began making a long lazy arch to starboard. Unfortunately due to the Yamato’s immense length and space faring adaptations it was less than agile in the water. This was no more evident than when the Loyalty turned slightly too tightly and came within meters of swapping paint with the Yamato, giving the crew of both ships a good look at the hardware of the other. Eventually after a near constant wrestle with the controls the Yamato finally made it to its designated dock without incident.
Axial Naval base was one of the largest military installations in Equestria and most definitely the largest on the east coast. Named after Admiral Axial Fire for his service in the Minotaur wars where he became one of the Military’s most respected figures. Everypony that served in the forces looked up to him even if they weren’t part of the navy. His selfless acts of valour are what many claimed to be the winning factor in the war.
The port itself had the dual function of being an airfield for bomber pegasi in war times. Fortunately in Equestria’s current times of peace it was used as a training field for air force recruits and as the staging for the Wonderbolts whenever they held a show in Manehatten.
Bay eight was one of the largest docks in the port, A long concrete pier ran down the left side out into the ocean, yet the right was left open, this was particularly useful for the Yamato as it so vastly dwarfed all other ships and most likely wouldn’t fit in most other ports.
Even so as the Yamato crept into its pier, a huge shudder ran through the ship, throwing the ponies aboard forward at the sudden lurch.
“Did you forget about us down here?” A pony called up through the intercom from the now submerged third bridge that had collided with the soft mud causing Twilight to blush at her misjudgment of the bays’ size.
Ignoring the complaints of the pony below them, Celestia switched the channel back to the Laughter.
“This is Admiral Celestia, I request that Axial Naval base be opened to the public.”
“...Affirmative,” came the reply.
Twilight turned to face Celestia, her face showing not one of concern but of curiosity. “What are you doing, princess?”
“Applejack’s right. I’ve been keeping far too many secrets from not just you, but everypony. I think its about time the truth came out.”
* * *
As night fell the huge field spotlights overlooking the area in front of the Yamato suddenly came to life, shining down upon the growing number of ponies gathering before the raised platform whom the princess was stood upon.
Upon hearing that Axial had opened to the public on request of the princess, curious ponies flocked to the military site. Every single one of them wishing to figure out what had prompted Celestia to make an appearance on such short notice.
Among the several hundred or so civilians were at least six dozen reporters. Even if they weren’t wearing the telltale garb that reporters normally wore and lugging around huge cameras they still would have been easy to spot, normal ponies simply weren’t that loud.
Even from Rainbow’s perch atop one of the huge field lights she still managed to pick the bloodsuckers out over the din.
“Princess can you explain why you opened Axial to the public?” one reporter questioned.
“Do you have anything to say about the strange object that flew past Cloudsdale?”
“Care to comment about the landslide at Canterlot? And your unexplained absence during it?”
Through the barrage of questions Celestia remained silent and stoic, simply waiting until the last of the ponies had filed through the gates before speaking.
Once the last bulk group of ponies were herding into position at the rear of the ever growing crowd, Celestia cleared her throat before employing the Royal Canterlot voice upon them.
It wasn’t as invasive of obnoxious as Luna’s had been, it somehow retained its warm tone yet was simply louder so that everypony could hear.
“My dearest citizens of Manehatten,” she began. “I know you must have many questions about the events that have transpired across Equestria in the past few hours.”
Rainbow paused as she said this. It hardly seemed like yesterday morning she had been napping on a tree in Ponyville.
“Firstly, I would like to address why I have opened Axial Naval Base to the public. Rest assured it is only to hold this conference and will be reinstated as a military facility once we have adjourned,” she stated.
“The reason for this is, simply this vessel here,” she said, gesturing to the Yamato behind her with a wing.
“Some keen eyed individuals may have noted that it does not fit the profile of any ship in the royal navy, not even that of the recently constructed Harmony class.”
“This is because it is not a Royal Navy ship. Nor is it even an Equestrian vessel.”
The crowd began to murmur among themselves, trying to decode the strange statement made by their ruler.
“This ship, is the Yamato. and it does not hail from Equus,” she finished slowly.
“Are you saying that this ship is alien princess?” a reporter in the front row spoke out.
“...Yes.”
A collective gasp went up from the huge crowd, reporters quickly scribing the juicy info onto their notepads. A few more melodramatics in the crowd even went as far as to faint into the arms of sompony nearby.
Celestia braced for the coming accusations, confusing and panic that would arise from this newly revealed event. yet strangely, none came. In fact almost the exact opposite occurred. Ponies stood riveted in place waiting for her next comment, occasionally one would glance upwards to the huge towering bow of the Yamato, with a strange look of respect, curiosity and apprehension.
“The Yamato has been in Equestria for longer than I have, we discovered it two centuries ago in the chambers beneath Canterlot. It was not until yesterday afternoon that we finally launched it.”
“I’m sorry I lied to you all, not just about the Yamato but about something else, something that i’m sure you all remember. The Little Rock disaster.”
Another gasp sounded with more than a few ponies taking on very somber expressions after hearing the name.
Even Rainbow put a hoof over her mouth to stifle the gasp that would have sounded if she hadn’t. She remembered it well, everypony did. In a land with as little crime as Equestria the Little Rock disaster had come as a shock to them all and was still very fresh in all of their hearts.
Several years ago, a research facility had been set up just to the west of the Crystal kingdom was now. Staffed by two families both with young fillies the site boasted some of the most advanced and up to date stargazing technology the world had ever seen. Of course no pony save for the exceptionally devoted had really cared. Nopony in Ponyville had even heard of it until Twilight had begun spouting nonsense about a new star system being discovered.
And it stayed this way until roughly two months ago, when the largest and most brutal act of terrorism Equestria had ever witnessed laid waste to the facility. Explosive charges had been set on the movement rail that helped the large radio dish rotate. They had gone unnoticed until the dish had rolled over them setting them off.
The whole telescope collapsed in on itself, there were no survivors. Not even the young fillies.
The news had rocked the entirety of the nation to its core. The papers had said it was some Celestia-purists who believed that looking at other stars was an affront to their princess.
Naturally Celestia was disgusted and appalled but this didn’t change the fact that six ponies had died as a result.
“The Little Rock disaster was a complete fabrication. There was no terrorist attack, nopony died, their all living their lives out peacefully under different names,” The princess stated sadly.
Nopony said anything as the words sank in. Emotions varied across the plain of faces, some somber, some utterly perplexed but more than a few were either angry or hurt. Even the Elements who were scattered around were shocked save Applejack who gazed sternly at her ruler, equal parts angry for lying and proud for confession.
“Little Rock intercepted a transmission two months ago,” Celestia said quickly picking up where she left off.
“At first we thought nothing of it as it was seemingly random sequences of noise. We were about to disregard it when one of my top scientists suggested we run it through the devices aboard the Yamato.”
“In return we got a message. A message from a distant star claiming that if we could return the message’s point of origin we would learn of our own.”
For the third time that evening the ponies gasped at the revelation. This was a particularly big claim, prior to a few hundred years before the unification there was no recorded history of Equestria. Not even the princesses had an idea as to when or where ponies started. Of course there were myths and legends, and the most commonly agreed upon theory was that ponies, zebras and the like had evolved from the Crystal ponies.
For some space faring message to say it knew of the beginning of their species was a monumental claim. One that could very well change Equestria and possibly the whole of Equus forever.
“This is why Little Rock was destroyed, we couldn’t risk this information being leaked, we were much too afraid of mass hysteria if it was ever found out.”
“In fact, I was planning to keep it this way until a certain pony ‘convinced’ me otherwise,” Celestia said with a smirk glancing toward Applejack.
“But I still wish to say this. I am truly, truly sorry that I kept this from you all. I don’t expect to ever be forgiven but it is enough to know that I am no longer keeping secrets from my own subjects,” She finished, her tone becoming very humble.
Several somber moments past. Celestia bowed her head low to the ground feeling the eyes of hundred of ponies burn into her. When she was convinced that no pony was about to start a riot she quickly looked up.
“And finally. I also wish to hold a Celebration in honour of the R.E.N’s adoption of the newest ship into its fleet. The Yamato!”
On her que Pinkie quickly flipped the switch that she had happened to be conveniently standing next to, The powerful spotlights turning their attention to the alien craft, as ridiculously oversized speakers seemed to pop out from everywhere around the base all begin to blare the same song.
The uplifting beat washed over the ponies within Axial, the simple addition of cheery music doing wonders to alter the atmosphere.
The entire mood of the base shifted as the happy music began to resonate through the crowd, ponies all began to ditch their sour attitude and starting swinging in time to the music.
The lies were all forgotten as the ponies embraced what was truly important. no use in brooding over what has already happened seemed to be the general consensus.
Ponies began to group into huge circles of laughing, dancing and partying. A few crowd surfers even emerged from the sea of partiers. A bottle of champagne seem to materialize of of thin air beside the Princess as she approached the edge of the pier.
“I christen thee Yamato!” She said jovially smacking the bottle against the ships hull, allowing the expensive liquid to wash down the side into the salty ocean.
The sudden swing in atmosphere came so quick Dash couldn’t help but let a stupid grin show as the music began to invade her body. Not wanting to succumb to dancing by herself on the top of a field light, she quickly glided down to the waterfront where Pinkie was rocking out on top of a mooring bollard.
“Pinkie did you set all this up?” Dash asked.
“Of course, silly! I’ve never held a party for a boat! Unless you count that time I christened that bathtub toy. But I’ve never had one for a space boat!”
“Where did you find this song? I’ve never heard anything so catchy,” Dash replied starting to bob her head in time with the infectious beat.
“Oh there were thousands of nifty songs on the Yamato’s radio, I just think this is the most splenderific of them all, its all about celebrating!”
“You got that right!”
As the two friends lost themselves to the music against the silhouette of the Yamato, a certain apple farmer was approached by a scholarly unicorn.
“Applejack?” Twilight said to her friend softly.
“Yea Twi?” The orange mare responded in a considerably lighter tone than the one she had used earlier.
“Why did you abuse the princess?” Twilight asked bluntly.
Applejack was slightly off put by the powerful comment but replied swiftly.
“Ah told ya, Twi. She lied to us. You know that just doesn't sit right with me.”
“No, if it was just that you would have been upset with her. You attacked her, I can tell you’re hiding something AJ.”
Applejack sighed as the memories bubbled forth in preparation of her upcoming recount.
“Ah told ya about how my parents died right?” She said softly.
“Mmm you said they were killed in a train accident.” Twilight responded carefully, now aware than the topic they were talking about was very sensitive.
“Mm hm. What I didn’t tell ya was about the stallion who came round to tell us all about it,” She said glumly.
Twilight, realizing that old wounds still hurt, moved in closer to comfort her friend.
“Ah was only young at the time, Applebloom had only just been born a few months ago and ah was looking after her.”
“Ah didn’t see him come in but when I heard cryin’ I came downstairs. Mac was crying into grannies shoulder, and she looked so sad. He came over to me, he was smilin’ but even then I could tell it was forced.”
“H-he said that ma and pa had gone somewhere, and that they wouldn’t be back for a really long time.”
“And for years ah believed him. I used to wait down by the gate for em.”
“It wasn’t till our old dog Gypsy died that I realized death was, it didn’t take long for me to put two an two together,” She trailed off as the painful memories surfaced.
Twilight wrapped a supportive hoof around her friend.
“Thats why ah came here to Manehatten. Ah just wanted to get away. When I came back I vowed that I’d never let another pony go through the pain caused by lies. Maybe thats why the element chose me?” She said with a sad chuckle.
“So when Ah heard that the Princess had lied to us about Little Rock, that did it. Ah was so mad and Ah-”
“It’s okay AJ. I understand,” Twilight said soothingly.
The orange mare looked over at her unicorn friend who sporting an understanding, sympathetic smile.
“Thanks Twi, ya really are a good friend,” Applejack said simply allowing the memories to be healed once again with the help of a close friend.
Meanwhile Celestia had since retreated to the Yamato’s deck, even if Axial was open to the public, the ships weren’t, allowing her some much appreciated silence.
That was until a dark Alicorn emerged from the shadows beneath the Yamato’s forward battery.
“Tia?” Luna asked.
“Eventful evening don’t you think?” Celestia responded, absently sweeping a hoof across the deck.
“...Quite. Tell me, Tia, why did you tell them? You told me you were petrified of the ponies learning the truth, why not just create a new cover?”
“That wouldn’t have helped Luna, I knew one day the truth would get out, I am glad that it was from my own lips and not some crazy newspaper.”
Celestia sighed before turning to look directly at her sister. “I’m tired of secrets. It hurt me so much to know that I was keeping things from my little ponies, especially Little Rock.”
Luna was about to respond when a wave of realization washed over Celestia, her face quivered before tears sprung from her eyes, the regal Alicorn now openly weeping.
Luna approached her bawling sister cautiously, “Tia? I understand it must have been difficult but I had no idea it hit you that har-”
“It’s not that Luna,” Celestia replied wiping the tears from her face with her hoof in a very, unbecoming manner.
“We went to the Moon, Luna. We found the crater. I-I saw the monolith, I’m so sorry Luna I..” She trailed off.
“You need not worry Tia, While I was angry at first of course, several of those craters weren’t there a thousand years ago I no longer blame you for what you did.”
“That monolith you saw wasn’t me counting the years I’d been there,” She said taking hold of her sisters face and looking straight into her eyes.
“It was the years I’d been away from you.”