MY LITTLE YAMATO

by RDFan1701

The Briefing

Rarity stood at the front of the crowd along with the rest of her friends. Looking up at the large stage with a microphone in the middle of the stage and several large speakers on either side of it. Her expression was one of pure ego. Around her Ponies of all shapes and colors stood wearing the new uniforms that she had designed. Shortly after the announcement of the Yamato Project, Rarity took it upon herself to design and create a new line of military uniforms for the Yamato crew. The old uniforms worn by EDF to her were simply too stiff and the colors were wrong. Something had to be done!

Within twenty-five hours, Rarity (assisted by Spike and Fluttershy) were able to create several hundred issues of the new uniform. A simple white base to not clash with anyponies coat. But on each, down the front, a militarist style anchor separated down the front seam and on the shoulders, three bars indicating name, position, and the section the individual was assigned to. And on the shoulder itself a matching pair of rank insignia's for the wearer. Rarity was quite proud of the uniforms.

Her own was left to be a yellow base with a black set of lines and arcs following her form. She was to be part of the crew, but as a more non-essential role as Operations Officer with Fluttershy as her second. Twilight stood to her left wearing a white based uniform with red as the trim color, indicating the Tatics Group. To her right stood Rainbow Dash who idly picked at the uniform, black based with yellow trim indicating the Flight Group. Pinkie Pie stood next to Rainbow Dash, her uniform looking slightly different as it had a nearly completely white appearance minus the section on her right sleeve that had the Word 'Medic' written on the side surrounded by four red squares. Applejack stood the farthest left and she wore a white base with Green Trim, indicating that she was to be part of the Navigations group.

Several other ponies had gathered in the crowd, three in particular caught Rarity's attention AND her frown. Standing side by side, grinning like a set of complete foals were Scootaloo, Sweetie Bell, and Applebloom. All three wore miniature versions of the Yamato crew uniforms on their smaller forms. All wearing the same color and trim, a dull orange with black trim. The three fillies had enlisted almost as soon as they heard that their older siblings had enlisted.

And finally standing proud next to Twilight stood Spike, wearing a yellow base and black trim uniform. Part of the Operations Group but being the ONLY person aboard the ship with any type of communication abilities he was a natural pick for the Communications Officer role. The friends stood side by side, all comprising the main command crew. Behind them stood a massive crowd, all volunteers for the Yamato Project.

Rarity tapped a rear hoof and huffed, "What is taking so long?" she asked quietly.

"I'm sure the Princess has a reason to be late Rarity...we just need to give her time..." Fluttershy replied in a near silent whisper.

Rainbow Dash looked past Rarity at Fluttershy, "Yeah, and that is something we are QUICKLY running out of!" Rainbow said with annoyance covering her voice and features.

"ATTEN-SHUN!" A lone Guard Stallion called from the far side of the stage. Everypony in the room instantly stood as straight as possible. The only sounds were that of hoofsteps slowly ascending the stairs to the stage. And the slight subtle breathing of the ponies in the room. And perhaps a single grunt of disapproval?

Princess Luna looked out over the stadium at the gathering. A small part of her proud to see so many ponies of different lifestyles volunteering. Another part, feared for the lives that may not survive the mission. But the pride outweighed the worry for the moment. As she made her way to the stage she could feel the burning gaze from the front row locking on her figure. She knew who it came from, she knew why it was there, but she couldn't let the feeling bother her. Instead she remained focused on her goal of reaching the microphone.

Approaching the microphone the Guard Stallion called out once again, "PRESENT ARMS!" Instantly every pony in the stadium raised a right foreleg to their foreheads, saluting Princess Luna as she made the final steps to the center of the stage, and to the center of every ponies gaze.

"At Ease." she replied simply, and the sound of nearly two hundred hooves could be heard making contact with the ground once again. She looked out again and fought the urge to smile. Instead she cleared her throat, "Thank you, everypony for joining us today. It was brave of you to even volunteer and I am proud of you all for that."

Twilight scoffed quietly as she listened, "Proud? How can she be proud? All she does is get-"

"You all know the situation so I shall be as brief as possible." Luna continued, "The planet we rest our hooves on has roughly one year left of life in it. After that, no pony here will be alive. The planet will be a giant radioactive ball in space." She paused to observe the reactions of the ponies in the crowd. A variety of anger, sadness, curiosity, and neutrality echoed in the wake of her words.

Luna began again, "We obviously cannot let that happen. In light of recent developments, the Equestrian Government has decided that in this crisis and new intelligence that we shall not be using the Yamato Project as an evacuation ship for those ponies who are 'noble' enough to pay for passage, leaving every pony behind that could not. No, we, my little ponies, we are the noble ones, for we, shall be making a long journey together. A journey that will not only test our skill to work as a team, but our skill to survive in a time where no light seems to shine through the gathering darkness."

Twilight watched as Luna nodded at the Guard Pony who began using magic to display images above Luna. "We are here, on Equestria. Our goal lies here, in the cluster known as the Magellanic Cloud on a planet called, Iscandar. It is there where we shall receive the materials that should restore Equestria to it's once former glory. Where ponies young and old could walk the surface in day or night, not living in fear of being irradiated from the damage caused by the Gamillus planet bombs."

She paused once again, sensing wonder and curiosity filling the room over the fear and anger, though the anger was definitely there...

"As this mission is one that no pony has ventured on before, this mission is entirely voluntary. Anypony wishing to stay behind will not receive any kind of negative feelings from me. But know this, that without every single one of you, this mission will most likely not succeed." Her gaze was cold as she looked at them all, "I shall await you all aboard the Yamato. All crew should be aboard by 0700 tomorrow morning. As of 0930, the Yamato shall begin flight preparations, 0930 is the last time the doors shall be open for anypony wishing to accompany the Yamato on her journey. At 1000, the Yamato launches."

With a single step back and the raising of a hoof to her forehead the Equestrian National Anthem began to play in the background. In response the gathered ponies too raised their hooves to their foreheads and waited until the slow, harmony of a mare vocalizing the harmony, melody, and rhythym of the anthem. And once finished, the ponies lowered their hooves and departed. Where they went, only the individual ponies could tell you. But one can assume that they in fact, turned to see family one last time before being unable to see them once again for a year to come.