"Thirty-five seconds to impact!" Rarity called looking down at her console, "It's going to hit Captain!"
"Stand-by!" Luna called from the Command Console, "Ninety Degree Left Turn, train all guns on the target! All crew assume brace positions!"
With several small clicks Applejack manipulated a set of flight controls, "Aye Cap'n! Left turn started! We're still a'climin'!" she replied as a small shudder was felt through the floor. "Sorry y'all! That was mah fault! Still gettin' used ta this flyin' thing!"
"Impact in fifteen seconds!" Rarity cried out with urgency.
"Twilight!" Luna exclaimed leaning forward with a hint of urgency in her own voice.
Twilight's hoof hesitated over the control as she looked up at the massive swirling ball of metal and went wide eyed.
"TWILIGHT!" Luna called out again.
And Twilight's hoof slammed down on the control, "Fire!"
One Hour Ago...
"This is sooooo exciting!" Pinkie Pie commented as the small air-train sped through the transparent tunnels that cased it. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at the statement. The prospect of flying through space interested her, but not to the point of throwing up streamers and partying. Rarity covered her mouth with a hoof as she giggled at Pinkie's display of enthusiasm.
"I don't think so..." Fluttershy commented quietly, "Space is big...and empty...and cold...and-"
"Now Fluttershy, what'd we discuss before we left?" Applejack asked with a smile.
Fluttershy looked at Applejack, her mane somewhat inflating with a bit of hope, "That I shouldn't be afraid of space and that all my friends will be there for me."
"Right! And it's true! See! We're all here!" Applejack said waving a hoof around at their friends. "Even Spike is coming along! And the rest of our animal friends like Owlicious and Angel Bunny will be there too." Fluttershy nodded quietly as she continued to look out the window of the air-car. The transparent glass suddenly becoming very dark brown as they disappeared underground. "Hey y'all, where are we even goin'? I ain't been to this section of the underground city before, even in the Navy's section." Applejack added as the ground became darker and darker around them.
"You'll see." Twilight replied without a hint of interest in her voice. Applejack looked at Twilight with an eyebrow raised curious as to why she was being so rude. However, she didn't press the issue, to her, Twilight had enough of a headache to deal with. And Rainbow Dash was just as equally quiet as Twilight as she simply stared at her, watching her like a hawk. Applejack raised an eyebrow at the sight, could the two...no, that wasn't possible. Rainbow Dash wouldn't let her personal feelings get clouded like that...especially in times like now, but...something seems off.
Rainbow Dash on the other hand was taking Cadence's request to watch over Twilight very seriously. Cadence, a Mae she really didn't know as well as Twilight nearly begged her to watch over her. Sure, Rainbow Dash was loyal but this...coming from her sister in law was a request she couldn't ignore. Besides that, if it weren't for Twilight, Rainbow would've done something she couldn't have recovered from. And that was trying to search the floating wreck that was Cloudsdale.
Twilight turned her head as the tunnel began to widen and then open up into the giant underground hanger that housed the Yamato.. A series of gasps and oh's and ah's could be heard as the passengers saw the mighty ship in her berth. The upper section of the mighty ship was covered in a dull grey metal that even in the dark shone. And her bottom was painted in a Royal Canterlot Red. Along the upper section were five, three barrel cannons, on her sides twelve smaller anti-aircraft guns were placed in perfect rows. As the ship came into view, Twilight was able to get a good look at the bow of the ship where a gigantic opening was seen, rifling all the way down as far as the light allowed. Her eye's glazed over the hull as she reached the aft section where a giant engine was settled in smoothly. And just below that, she recognized the ramp that she had entered the Yamato before.
"Is THAT what we're going in?" Applejack asked, her eyes wide at the sight.
"Yes." Twilight answered quickly as the air car turned sharply right and began it's quick decent towards the rear ramp of the Yamato. Question upon question followed as they slowly came to a stop. Twilight turned to face her friends, "Remember, we are here to save Equestria, let's leave the questions and excitement behind for the moment shall we?"
Her friends looked at her in a bit of surprise, Twilight wasn't one to quickly shut them up as she had done this time. They all nodded and began moving their way inside the ship. Twilight pointed to a map on the wall and explained a few things as they walked, explaining to them to use it if they ever got lost. It was five minutes later that they all arrived on the bridge. Where three colts they hadn't met stood standing over their consoles. They looked up and faced Twilight's group and bowed.
The Colt wearing a Blue Uniform spoke first, "Princess Twilight! It is an honor to meet you!"
"Thank you. The honor is mine." Twilight responded with a nod of her head.
The Colt stood up to his normal height, "My name is Shiro Sanada, I'm the Chief Science Officer onboard." he said raising a hoof pointing at himself. Then at the other two, "The Colt behind me is Kenjirō 'Eager' Ōta, we call him Eager because-"
"I'm always ah rearin' to go and am eager to work!" he said with a southern drawl that Applejack smirked at, "Pleasure ta meet ya miss Sparkle! I'm the Assistant Pilot, assigned to miss Applejack!"
Sanada continued, "And this is-"
"Yasuo Nanbu, but everyone calls me Dash." the Colt replied cutting Sanada off, who scowled at the other pony. Causing 5 mares to giggle. Nanbu continued, "I am the Assistant Gunnery Officer, assigned to Princess Sparkle."
Twilight nodded to each one, "I am sure your talents will be put to good use. Thank you." she looked at Sanada, "I assume that Princess Luna is in her cabin?" she asked pointing a hoof at the door at the back of the bridge that lead to a set of stairs leading directly to the cabin.
Sanada gave a single nod of his head, "That would be correct."
"Thank you." Twilight said turning on her hooves, opening the hatch, and closing it rather rapidly behind herself.
As Twilight ascended the stairs she took several hard breaths, calming herself for her meeting with Luna. As the ships Executive Officer, Twilight's job was to make sure that the crew was adjusted properly and got their assignments from Luna on time. A small smile formed on her face as she shook her head, "I wonder if Spike ever felt like I do, being my assistant..." she pondered the thought for a moment or two longer before reaching the door to Luna's cabin. She raised a hoof and tapped three times.
From inside a muffled voice replied, "Enter." Twilight pushed her hoof on the door and it swung open with a bit of a loud metallic creak. Inside the room was a collection of books on a shelf to her right, in front of them laid a pull down bed, and closest to her next to the bed was a small nightstand with a picture of herself, Luna, and Celestia at Twilight's coronation. The picture brought back happy memories to Twilight as she looked about the room. Nestled in the front of the room was a rather large chair that was on a small track that randomly disappeared in the middle of the room on a set of divided tiles. And directly to the left of the chair, stood Luna.
Twilight looked at her and spoke firmly, "Princess Luna, the final members of the crew have arrived. Everyone showed up, no one decided to stay behind."
"Good, have they all reported to their stations yet?" Luna asked briskly as she slowly walked towards the book shelf."
"They have, we are awaiting the final checks from Orion before we begin powering the Elements of Harmony." Twilight said only turning her neck as Luna walked. Twilight's neutral expression remained for several moments until once again her eyes caught sight of the coronation photo. Her expression softened as she remembered the shining faces of the Equestrian Royalty, her friends, her parents, and many of Equestria turning out to celebrate the coming of a new Princess.
It was then when the alarm broke her train of thought and Spike's voice filled the intercom, "ALERT FROM EDF HQ! CAPTAIN LUNA AND TWILIGHT SPARKLE TO THE BRIDGE IMMEDIATELY! THIS IS A CODE RED ALERT!" Twilight looked at Luna, who looked back at her and simply nodded. Luna swiftly moved to the chair and sat down, her magic flicking a switch on the control panel in front of her, and the chair began to move backwards. Twilight tracked the chair with curious eyes as it stopped in the middle of the floor, where the tiled floor lowered and then slid into the floor, opening a large enough gap for the chair to descend downwards through the floor. Twilight shook her head out of the daze and galloped down the stairs and into the bridge where she looked up and saw Luna descending still towards the most aft station of the bridge, The Captains Console.
Twilight moved towards the console at the center front of the bridge. "Report Spike!" she called as she sat down on the chair in front of it. The console's controls and readouts still offline unlike the rest of the bridge.
Spike turned around, holding a headset against his ears, "EDF HQ tells us that there is a giant missile headed this way! It will impact in roughly twenty minutes!"
Applejack spun in her chair, "Captain! We gotta move before then! Or the whole underground base will be destroyed, 'an us along with it!"
Sanada nodded at Applejack's statement, "Agreed, however, we are still charging the batteries to contain a constant magical charge for the Elements of Harmony. We won't be able to move for," he turned to calculate the time, "Another thirty minutes at minimum."
Rarity blinked, "But...but that's too long! There must be a way to get it done faster!"
Orion shook his head from the console directly to Rarity's left. "There isn't a way. Not unless you know how to get a magical charge to hold without a battery charging it. And even then, you'll need a massive amount of magical power sent directly to the ship through the lines we've been connected to." Orion blinked as his console chirped, "Well...would ya look at that..."
Sanada looked at his console as he heard the chirping as well. "Captain Luna...I don't know how, but we just got a surplus energy buildup in the batteries. I think..."
"Incoming transmission! It's EDF HQ Captain!" Spike announced loudly.
Luna looked up at the giant green tiled panel above the central consoles, "Put the transmission on the video panel."
"Yes Ma'am!" Spike announced as he reached forward and flicked a small switch with his claw. Immediately the panel glowed a bright green before fading into a video picture of Princess Celestia and Filthy Rich.
"Sister, it is with pride that I must tell you that the unicorns of Equestria have banded together, and are sending you bursts of magic to the shipyard!" Celestia said with a bright smile on her face, "Unfortunately this will only speed the process up by approximately fifteen minutes, as soon as the build up is complete, you MUST take off. The fate of Equestria, is in your hooves."
Luna's neutral expression didn't change as she spoke, "Thank you sister. We shall depart as soon as we can. Tell Equestria that will will return with the device to heal our planet."
"Good luck sister, and may your journey be safe." Celestia said with a nod. As the transmission was severed at the source.
Rich looked up at Luna, "Do you think it will be enough Princess? Fifteen minutes is cutting it very close..."
"It will have to be Rich. We have done what we can here. Now we must hope that they will take off before the missile impacts..." Celestia said with closed eyes, "And if they don't, Yamato, and everything aboard her, will be lost, and Equestria will die with her..."
"Surely you do not doubt their chances Princess!" Rich protested in shock at the grim reality of the danger the untested ship was in.
Celestia opened her eyes, "No, I do not doubt them at all Rich. My sister is in command and," she looked up at a Security feed that lead directly into Yamato's bridge as she watched Twilight give orders to the ponies on the bridge, "My most Faithful Student, Princess Twilight Sparkle is with them."
Rich huffed, "You put too much confidence in that mare of yours Celestia, one day I fear it will be your undoing..."
Celestia let a brief chuckle, "That Rich, is where you are very, very wrong."
Twenty Minutes Later...
Twilight wiped a hoof across her brow, never had she been so nervous. The plan was set, the ship was charged, all that needed to happen was...start the engine. Twilight looked over at Applejack, who like her, was sweating. Being an Earth Pony, Applejack had never flown before. But she was the only pony aboard that had experience operating mechanical equipment. Should something go wrong, she could react faster to it than any other pony.
Applejack gulped, "Alright steady Applejack...ya got this girl..." she reached forward with a hoof and pulled a few controls, "Start auxiliary engines..." She looked up as she listened to the Yamato begin to power up. "Pressure in the engine now increasing...now at one thousand and climbing..." The gauge in front of her showed the pressure level of the engine's power cell. "Two thousand five hundred." she called out as she reached forward once again and let her hoof rest above the lever that would engage the flywheels on the engine.
Twilight closed her eyes as the Yamato began to shake where she rested in the berth. "Three thousand! Connecting the Auxiliary Engines to the Main Engines! Flywheels engaging!"
Luna shouted loudly, "YAMATO TAKE OFF!" Twilight opened her eyes as she heard the Yamato's primary engine engage, a loud cry of metal on metal was heard throughout the ship. And then she exclaimed as her head was yanked backwards into the seat. Applejack smirked as she pulled back on the control unit, the giant thrusters on the front of the Yamato pushing it upwards at an angle.
From the front windows Twilight watched as the berth in front of them slowly began to disappear and the bow of the Yamato quite literally began plowing its way through the crust of Equestria. The surface of the dying planet collapsing around them in blasts of dust, sand, and ruined buildings. Slowly through the dust the bright shining sun streaked through, illuminating the hull of Yamato, causing bright glares to shine through the windows. Twilight found herself suddenly grinning from ear to ear as the Yamato tore free from the surface and began to fly.
"We're clear! Engaging all control surfaces for atmospheric flight Captain." Applejack announced as she pushed forward a control. Two giant wings began to extend from the sides of Yamato. The shuddering ship soon became smooth and gentle. And Twilight found herself slipping into a state of ease.
That is until Rarity decided to chime in, "The Missile is still on course with...us! I don't believe it! The Missile is targeting US!"
Twilight snapped her head up as she watched the swirling ball of metal and engine go streaking across the sky. She felt her heart begin to pound against her chest.
"Twilight, prepare the main batteries for firing." Luna announced calmly, speaking for the first time since giving the command to launch.
Twilight nodded as she leaned forward and began speaking into the intercom, "All hands to battlestations! Prepare main guns for firing!" Alarms throughout the ship sounded once again, ponies of all colors and sizes scrambled to get to their combat stations.
Nanbu watched his display as he watched several green lights turn red on a display of the Yamato. Finally, once all the lights were red he turned, "All hands report at Battlestations XO." Twilight shuddered for a moment as she began to sweat once again. This was it, the first test fire of the Yamato's main guns...a baptism of fire.
"Thirty-five seconds to impact!" Rarity called looking down at her console, "It's going to hit Captain!"
"Stand-by!" Luna called from the Command Console, "Ninety Degree Left Turn, train all guns on the target! All crew assume brace positions!"
With several small clicks Applejack manipulated a set of flight controls, "Aye Cap'n! Left turn started! We're still a'climin'!" she replied as a small shudder was felt through the floor. "Sorry y'all! That was mah fault! Still gettin' used ta this flyin' thing!"
"Impact in fifteen seconds!" Rarity cried out with urgency.
"Twilight!" Luna exclaimed leaning forward with a hint of urgency in her own voice.
Twilight's hoof hesitated over the control as she looked up at the massive swirling ball of metal and went wide eyed.
"TWILIGHT!" Luna called out again.
And Twilight's hoof slammed down on the control, "Fire!"
Instantaneously fifteen bright blue bolts of magical energy shot outwards from the tips of the Yamato's main cannon's. They swirled into a single beam as they approached the giant missile and impacted. For a single moment, nothing happened, but then in a massive explosion of fire and light the missile exploded. The sheer force of the blast sent a jolt through the ship as the view ports became a bright light of orange and red. Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs...it was too late.
Celestia's jaw had dropped as she watched the explosion, the ball of fire engulfing the space battleship, and then the camera cutting out. Rich was the only one on his hooves, "Get the feed back! Find out what happened! Where is the Yamato?!" he cried as ponies scrambled to comply with his orders.
"They...they hadn't even left the planet yet..." Celestia muttered in complete shock.
"Auxiliary camera fifty-nine B is online!" A tech announced as all of the screens in front of Celestia lit up. A gigantic mushroom cloud of smoke and fire filled them. All hope of seeing Yamato again faded from her heart.
"The Yamato...where are they?" Rich muttered as his eyes rapidly scanned the image. Which itself began to pan back and forth along the Yamato's predicted trajectory. For several moments, the room was quiet. Then, slowly, from the smoke a bulge appeared in it's billowing form. And then, with a sudden jerk, the bow of the Yamato emerged! Pushing smoke out of it's path as it continued it's climb towards space.
Cheers filled the chamber and Celestia let out a relieved sigh. She held her head down a few moments before lifting it, "Go Yamato and come home safe." she said quietly as the shining ship pushed it's way through brown clouds and into the sunlight.