A young alicorn named Imperial Crest, who's living in Canterlot finds out that his home country is being invaded. With time ticking, he and his friend journeyed to the other world to find help, during their visit they found a way to save his home.
A young alicorn named Imperial Crest, who is a crowned prince that lives in Canterlot and was informed by his friend and teacher Princess Celestia that his home country is being invaded by the New Lunar Republic even though their forces were mostly around the Northern parts of Equestria. And he found out that the New Lunar Republic's huge attack was nothing but a distraction so they can use their remaining handful of naval forces to sneak around the main front line and invaded some islands in the process. His country is the last line of defense and if it's occupied by the enemy, Equestria will be lost. So Imperial Crest found a way to prevent the invasion by visiting another world to seek help. After Celestia's requests, Crest and his friend Luna whos tagging along went on a mission to visit the other world to find help. During their visit they met a new friend and Crest found a way to save his home.......by reviving an old battleship?
Inspired by an anime called 'Space Battleship Yamato' The Classic and Remake Series and other naval themed anime shows.
Out over the waters of the expansive East China Sea it was dark and gloomy, as not even one ray of sunshine could penetrate the dark grey clouds which covered the sky. Veils of light rain descended like curtains from the clouds to the sky and the roaring of thunder could be heard in the distance, leaving an uncertain and uneasy feeling in the air. In the skies above, close to 300 military aircraft flew together in squadrons, all in formation and heading towards the same target. They consisted of fighters, torpedo bombers and dive bombers, all sporting the blue colours of the United States. After flying for a while, the pilots finally sighted something in the distance, a fleet of ten warships. The small fleet consisted of eight small destroyers, a cruiser and one large battleship. Although they were to attack the whole fleet of ships, their main target was the battleship that lay in the centre of the fleet.
“Come in, this is the first wave squadron of the Task Force 58. We have got visual on the target, I repeat, we have visual on the Yamato” One of pilots announced through his radio.
“Excellent! Commence bombing run!” Another pilot ordered.
As the wave of planes continue their advance towards the Yamato, they get spotted by the Yamato’s crew. The battleship’s large triple-barrelled gun turret slowly rotates to port side, aiming up towards the sky and at the incoming planes. With a loud, thunderous bang the Yamato fires its main guns, causing a series of explosions to occur in the air around the planes. Shrapnel is sent flying in all directions, however all but one of the aircraft do not get affected by the explosion. The aircraft that was hit plummets towards the water below as its engines malfunction, leaving the rest of the squadron to continue the bombing run. At the same time, Yamato’s Anti-Aircraft machine guns and artillery open fire at the incoming wave aircraft. Sailors at their Anti-Aircraft posts were shouting with patriotism and glory as another aircraft was shot out of the sky.
“Open fire!”
“Fire!”
High up in the sky and directly above the Yamato, several dive bombers started diving down towards their target while at the same time trying to avoiding the ship’s anti-aircraft barrage. As they got to a close enough distance to the Yamato, one of the squadron leaders of the dive bombers ordered.
“Bombs away!”
The dive bombers dropped their payloads, pulling out of their dives and flying away and out of range of the Yamato’s never-ending barrage of anti-aircraft fire. The bombs descended down towards the battleship, however most of them missed their mark due to the ship’s evasive manoeuvring. Two bombs did manage to find their target, with one bomb hitting one of the Yamato’s two Anti-Aircraft machine guns and creating a hole on the deck and causing a huge amount of smoke to billow out near the ship’s mainmast. The other bomb struck the radar room and one of the Anti-Aircraft artillery on the starboard aft, killing everyone inside. However, the crew were able to get some revenge, managing to shoot down one of the retreating dive bombers in retaliation.
At the same time, one of the torpedo squadrons was commencing their own run, flying low to try and avoid the anti-aircraft barrage. Whilst facing the portside of the giant battleship, they lined up their flight path so that when they dropped their torpedoes, they would hit the Yamato. When they got close enough, they dropped their torpedoes, immediately pulling up and flew away in different directions to quickly leave the battlefield, as they had done their job. However, they would not get out unscathed, as one torpedo bomber was shot down in the process. The Yamato managed to dodge all but one of the torpedoes which stuck her portside bow, killing those below deck who were unfortunate to be in the area and causing 2350 tonnes of water to pour in. The shockwave from the impact could be felt by everyone around the ship, however counter-flooding measures were quickly put in place and able to stop the Yamato from listing to port.
At the same time, sailors were continually firing their Anti-Aircraft weapons at the circling aircraft above, but were constantly being shot at themselves by the aircraft’s machineguns, suffering many casualties. This, combined with damage to their communications, made it very difficult for them to coordinate their fire and hit their zig-zagging, fast-moving targets.
Coming in from the second wave of planes, another dive bomber squadron dove towards the Yamato and as they reached the appropriate distance, they dropped their payloads and flew away to safety. Two bombs managed to hit near the Yamato’s aft triple-barrel secondary turret, causing massive damage and costing the lives of the sailors who were operating it. The sailors on-deck didn’t fare much better, as several squadrons of fighters planes quickly followed suit, strafing the Anti-Aircraft posts with machinegun fire, heavily injuring or killing many in the process.
High up in the clouds, another torpedo squadron flew towards the Yamato, deciding to strike her portside and lined up their runs. They flew down low to the water and when they had reached a certain distance, they dropped their torpedoes and flew away, leaving two torpedoes to rush towards the Yamato and strike her portside with two huge splashes. This caused even more water to pour into the ship, leading her to slowly list to port.
From the bridge of the Yamato an officer ordered, “Damage control, counter the flooding!”
In the interior of the Yamato, the damage control crew use even more counterflood measures to try and reduce the list of the ship. However, these extra counterflood measures cost them the loss of one of the boiler rooms which slowly reduced the speed of the Yamato. Above deck it was pure carnage, sailors and officers were being shot by the swarming fighter planes whilst trying to fire their Anti-Aircraft machines guns back at them. The whirring sounds of aircraft and loud sounds of gunfire were the only sounds that could be heard amid the chaos, with the occasional sounds of yelling and screaming from sailors either in fear, determination, or pain.
In the air, more aircraft from the second wave prepared their attacks. Squadrons of dive bombers flew high overhead to prepare their attacks, torpedo squadrons flew low, approaching the Yamato from different directions whilst the fighter squadrons swarming the battlefield, raining down their devastating machinegun fire upon the Anti-Aircraft weaponries. With all these attacks happening all at once, the Yamato was left manoeuvring for its life from all the bombs and torpedoes whilst all the crew could do to fight back was to fire their Anti-Aircraft guns back at the enemy planes, as no air support had been given to them. Again, the Yamato’s triple-barrel main gun turrets start moving to portside, aiming up at the swarms of aircraft. With a loud bang the huge guns fire, causing several explosions to occur in the air. This seemed to create a firework-like effect, with shrapnel flying in all directions, but once again it had little effect on the oncoming aircraft.
Several seconds after, a torpedo squadron were doing their torpedo runs, trying to avoid the Anti-Aircraft barrage whilst aiming their payloads at the Yamato’s portside. Dropping their torpedoes when they got close enough, they pulled up and flew away to safety. Three of the torpedoes managed to hit their mark, hitting her portside and causing 3000 tonnes of more water to rush into the interior of the ship. The commander of the ship shouts out orders for even more counterflooding measures to be taken and the damage control team manages to again counterflood the problem, reducing some of the listing on the ship. However, this costed them the starboard engine and boiler rooms, greatly reducing the speed of the Yamato while also trapping many sailors below deck to drown. The listing of the ship had started to become too much, as the mains guns became unable to fire due to the angle of the ship. However, the Yamato was not done fighting yet, still managing to limp through the water as what was left of her Anti-Aircraft guns fired back at the swarms of enemy aircraft.
“Enemy aircraft shot down!” An Anti-Aircraft officer shouted as he sees an aircraft crash into the ocean, with the pilot narrowly escaping with a parachute. The Anti-Aircraft gun crew watches as the pilot slowly lands in the ocean when suddenly a medium-sized float plane comes down to land on the ocean, near the pilot. They then watch in shock and confusion as the pilot boards the float plane, which then takes off and flies away.
Up in the sky, the third wave of aircraft were beginning their attacks. The dive bomber squadrons initiated their dives, dropped their payloads at the appropriate distance and retreated back to their carrier, with only one dive bomber getting shot down in the process. There were a few lucky misses for the Yamato but unfortunately, her superstructure got smashed by four bombs, causing many casualties to the Anti-Aircraft machine gun units and other crewmen who were above deck. This was followed by four torpedoes hitting her portside, critically causing thousands more litres of water to flow into the ship. The remaining engine rooms were affected by the flooding and the steering capability was compromised, causing the ship to turn to starboard and losing most of her forward speed and momentum. The Yamato was dying.
The order to abandon ship was given, but it was too late. Counterflooding measures were no longer able to reduce the listing of the ship, as there was just too much flooding of her portside. The ship slowly started to list heavily to port, as the sailors on deck ran to the railings on the starboard side of the ship to grab onto and hold on. A few were too slow to move and ended up sliding down the deck and into the water below, along with empty ammunition boxes and other debris. Loud creaking noises could be heard as the ship continued its slow but unavoidable roll to portside. Several of the remaining Anti-Aircraft guns start to drop from their placements and into the sea and the triple-barrelled main and secondary gun turrets all start to turn and point down towards the water on their own, their weight being pulled down by gravity. At the same time, the remaining crew above deck were trying to hold onto the railings, with some not managing to hold on any longer due to their tiredness and letting go, screaming as they fall down into the sea below. Some of these sailors were very unlucky as they ended up hitting the ship’s superstructure or gun turrets instead of the water, killing them instantly. As the Yamato continues to roll to port slowly, more debris and sailors continue to fall into the sea below.
In the water, hundreds of sailors screamed in horror as they saw the giant battleship beginning to capsize. Many of them attempt to swim away, using all their remaining strength to try and get away, however it was unfortunately too late for some sailors as the entire opposite side of the capsized ship crashes down on them. Right after the capsizing of the battleship, loud, screeching sounds of tearing metal and machinery could be heard as the three main gun turrets ripped off from their mountings due to their weight, slowly sinking to the sea floor. Then suddenly a gigantic explosion erupted from deep within the Yamato, causing the ship to be blown in two. The fireball created by the explosion went almost a thousand feet in the air and pieces from the ship were sent flying everywhere due to the large force of the explosion. This rain of debris fell on the sailors swimming in the water, killing many of them. The explosion instantly killed many crew who were either still aboard the ship or who were unfortunately too close to it in the water. There was a massive mushroom cloud created by the explosion, which reached more than four miles high and was seen by people more than 124 miles away, and in a way was the Yamato’s final wave goodbye. After the violent explosion, the surviving sailors that had gotten away could only watch on in despair as the two large hulls of the fallen battleship plunged slowly into the ocean, taking along any sailors still trapped inside to their doomed fates. The only signs left of the mighty battleship were some floating debris and corpses, while the main body of the ship slowly sank to the seafloor, to seemingly stay there forever…
Chapter 1 Imperial Crest - A Legend Returns The Yamato! (Revamped)
The magical land of Equestria… A place populated by a race called ponies who live in peace and harmony. This beautiful land was ruled by two regal sisters; the elder sister named Celestia who raises the sun to bring the day and the younger named Luna, who raises the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two royal sisters continue to maintain the balance and protect their subjects from any danger. However, this would not last long as far away, a military nation called the New Lunar Republic planned a massive invasion on Equestria in order to fulfil their former leader’s plan and win a great war that had lasted for a thousand years.
The military nation divided their naval forces to invade Equestria from different directions. The combined forces of Equestria and her allies were quick to react and luckily, were able to intercept New Lunar Republic forces before they could reach Equestrian waters. Their efforts paid off as they were able to hold most of them back and prevented the invasion from doing much damage, at least for now.
It is now the fall of 2012, and the war continues to wage between the two nations, spanning far and wide, across the waters around Equestria. However, one side may have just found an opening…
The morning sun shone brightly over the great city of Canterlot, a city on a beautiful mountain that was home to many ponies. In the streets of the huge city, a male unicorn wearing golden armour bolted through a crowd of ponies, heading to the large castle of Canterlot, the home of the two Royal Sisters. In the throne room of Canterlot, a winged unicorn mare with a coat that was white as snow was sitting on her throne guarded by eight ponies, the royal guards, who were loyally protected their majesty every day and night.
Then, the large door to the throne room slams open, revealing the male unicorn, who trots to the front of the throne and bows.
“Princess Celestia, we received a report from the South Luna Ocean Base that a distress signal has been sent from a neighbouring country!”
The white winged unicorn mare known as Princess Celestia seems alarmed by the news as she gets up from the throne, choosing to stand while she listens intently to the Royal Guard’s message.
“Our neighbouring country, the Empire of Zipang, is currently under attack by naval forces of the New Lunar Republic and is now on brink of collapse. Soon they may fall to the enemy...”
The Princess was in shock and disbelief. “That’s impossible! The military forces that we are currently fighting against should be the only remaining forces that the New Lunar Republic have! How did they manage to get this close? The front lines are meant to be much further away!”
“I don’t know your Highness, all I can think of is that they must have used their huge assault as a distraction, so we would focus all of our military forces on the frontlines to the Northwest and North East of Equestria’s borders” the unicorn replied.
“Are there any military forces at the South Luna Ocean Base?” The princess asked.
The unicorn’s horn lit up and a note appeared in front of him. “There are only two battleships and two heavy cruisers stationed at the base. There is an airfield but unfortunately, most of the aircraft were sent to the front lines. There are also around 2000 soldiers posted at the nearby army barracks. However, it’s not enough to deal with the enemy’s estimated 100 ships, let alone freeing Zipang from occupation” he replied.
“Inform the South Luna Ocean Base to keep watch over the coasts for any sign of the enemy fleet. I’ll organise a meeting later on with all of our other military leaders to discuss our new situation and formulate a plan to save Zipang” Celestia commanded.
“Yes, Your Majesty I will inform them right away!” The unicorn bowed and exited the throne room.
Princess Celestia trots over to a window, looking at the scenery with a look of concern as she remembered a pony who used to live in Zipang. “Imperial Crest…. I hope your family is alive.”
At a small beautiful garden near the castle of Canterlot, a young alicorn stallion with a blue coat as bright as the blue sky, and a mane and tail as white as snow, with red tips, was sitting on a bench reading a book. His reading was interrupted by the sound of hoof steps and he turned to see a royal guard.
“Prince Imperial Crest of Zipang, Our Royal Highness Princess Celestia wants to have a word with you in her throne room.”
“Why?” Imperial Crest questions.
“I do not know, but I was informed by her that it is something important” The Royal Guard answers.
“Okay” Crest says as he follows the Royal Guard to the castle.
The Royal Guard escorts the young stallion alicorn to the throne room and as he enters, he sees Princess Celestia sitting on her throne with concerned look on her face, sparking his curiosity of what this important matter could be about. However, he brushes his thoughts aside as he approaches the throne and bows on front of her.
Imperial Crest finishes bowing and Celestia asks “Crowned Prince Imperial Crest, the reason I called you here for this important occasion is because I have some bad news, and it’s got to do with your home country Zipang. It’s under attack and it’s going to be occupied by the forces of the enemy”.
The sudden news caused Imperial Crest to feel a big shock, as if something shot him. “What?! My family is there! I don’t understand, the New Lunar Republic’s forces should all be on the frontlines your military is still fighting at!”
The Princess knew how he felt and responds. “I don’t know but the New Lunar Republic outsmarted us somehow.”
Crest looked down, unsuccessfully trying to hold in his tears and Celestia approached him, extending her left wing wrap to around Crest. “I’m so sorry about your family Crest but I hope they’re still alive and fighting hard to stop the enemy.”
He wipes his tears off and asks, “Is there anything we can do to help them, Celestia?”
Celestia shook her head. “Unfortunately, not really. Pretty much all of our naval, air force and army forces are fighting on the frontlines and our remaining small fleet based in South Luna Ocean Base aren’t enough to be of much help.”
“Is it because if you send the few naval forces we have left, they still won’t have enough time to get there before the New Lunar Republic forces have occupied my country?” He asked.
Celestia nodded. “Correct and not just that, I suspected that they are going to plan another invasion soon and the small fleet stationed at the South Luna Ocean Base won’t stand a chance against an invasion task force that may have up to 100 ships.”
After Celestia’s response, a thought popped into Crest’s head of a plan, a plan so crazy that no pony had probably ever thought of or attempted before.
“How about asking for help from another world?” Crest suggested.
“And how would you do that?” Celestia asked.
Crest cleared his throat and answers “Well, during my stay here in Canterlot I’ve secretly been experimenting with a magic mirror. This mirror can create a portal to another world and I think I can find the help we need from that world.”
Celestia was surprised when he mentions the ‘Magic Mirror'. “How did you do that?”
“To be honest, I went into one of the classified areas of your castle’s library and found research on a crystal mirror that brings you to another world. This got me interested, so I ended up building the magic mirror and experimenting with it for months to get it to function the same as the original one” Crest explained.
After Crest further told Celestia about his Magic Mirror Experiment, she nodded. “So, this Magic Mirror you’ve replicated from the original one, does it still work and is it safe?”
“Yes Celestia, it still works and it’s safe to use” Crest replied.
“That’s good. In that case, since you’re currently a resident of Canterlot and a student of my school, I’m giving you a mission. Your mission is to go to this other world, to find the we need in order to save your home country and prevent the New Lunar Republic from invading Equestria” Celestia said.
Crest bows respectfully “I won’t let you down.”
“l suggest that you find a friend to help you on your mission” Celestia added.
“How about your sister Luna?” Crest suggested.
“Luna eh? She told me that you’re her first friend ever since she came back and helped her cope with things. I would like thank you for being friends with her” Celestia said as she smiled.
Crest replied, “Your welcome Celestia. Does that mean...”
Celestia nods. “Yes, Imperial Crest my sister will come with you but before that I’ll speak to her to make sure, so wait here please.”
“Okay Celestia and many thanks” Crest smiles as he bows, and she smiles back as she opens her wings and flies through throne room, exiting through the doors and leaving the young alicorn stallion to wait for her return.
Several minutes after she left, Imperial Crest trots towards the glass window and looks at the beautiful scenery of the towns of Canterlot, the vast skies, the great valley and he can even see a little town far in the distance called Ponyville. At that moment, he started to remember the day when he first met Luna, after she came back. Then the throne room doors opened, and Crest turned around to see Princess Celestia and a young winged unicorn mare with a coat as blue as the night sky, also known as his first friend, Princess Luna.
“Luna!” Crest smiled.
“My sister told me that you want me to go with you on this mission of yours, to seek help in order to save your home country. I have decided that I will come with you and help guide you since thou befriended me” Princess Luna declared.
“Thanks Luna, I appreciate it very much. Now, let’s focus on my mission to save my country. We don’t have much time to spare” Crest said, and Luna nodded.
Celestia announces. “Now go, Imperial Crest and my sister Luna, to this other world to find help in saving Zipang from the enemy and stop their invasion of Equestria! Good luck and please, stay safe.”
After Princess Celestia’s request, Imperial Crest thanked her and both he and Luna left the throne room. They headed to his house to prepare for the mission to save his home country and his family. After a few minutes of trotting from the castle, Crest and Luna arrived at a medium-sized luxury house that belongs to Crest, located in an isolated part of the city.
As the duo entered the house, they headed to the living room, as Crest uses his magic to close and lock the door behind them, and to close the windows and blinds.
“I’m just taking precautions in-case somepony is spying on us because I don’t want my Prototype Magic Mirror to be discovered by anypony” Crest added, and Luna nodded in agreement.
After all the doors and blinds are closed, Crest opens a door to another room. Then Crest and Luna enters the room, revealing a big bedroom with a pile of notes on a study table, chalkboards showing a rough sketch of the Prototype Magic Mirror and a nice medium-sized window, showing a beautiful view of the valley. In the centre of the room is a prince size bed.
Luna was amazed by the look of Crest’s room. “Nice room you got here”.
“Thanks Luna, I was lucky that your sister was able to offer me this house ever since I moved here, thanks to my parents” Crest said. “And now, let’s get started!”
Crest then trots to the corner of the room and pulls out a luxury mirror, using his magic along with other items; wires, small machinery parts and other components as he starts assembling the parts together to make the Magic Mirror work.
Luna asked. “How long did you work on this?”
“Well, roughly around the past 8 months, just during my spare time” Crest answers whilst setting up the Magic Mirror.
“That long?!”
“Yeah, getting the resources was the easy bit but the experimenting and testing was the hard part. That includes attempting portal related spells, which gave me some bad side effects” Crest continues his answer.
Luna felt worried. “What side effects?”
“Let’s just say, tiredness and fatigue. But it’s just part of the commitment and hard work I put into making the Prototype Magic Mirror” Crest explains as he finishes connecting some last components and brings out a notepad and a spell book.
“I think that should be ready, but I need your help” Crest asks Luna and he shows her the notepad.
“See, the spell I wrote will activate the Magic Mirror but if we perform the spell together, I believe it will reduce the side effects.”
“Alright Crest” Luna nods and she reads the spell along with Crest, both lighting their horns and shooting their magic beam towards the mirror. A big flash instantly occurs and after their eye sight clears, they see that the mirror is glowing with a blue vortex, showing a little glimpse of the other world which looks very different to Equestria. Luna was surprised and fascinated that Crest’s Magic Mirror Prototype actually worked.
“It worked!” Luna was stunned, and Crest nodded.
“Well, this is going to be both a great adventure and a dangerous mission at the same time” Crest said.
Luna agrees and said. “This is it, the mission to save your country has begun"
“Indeed, it has. Well let’s get going, shall we?” Crest asks Luna and they hold hooves as they approach the Magic Mirror portal, both closing their eyes before entered the portal. As they enter, there is a huge flash before they disappear into the other world.
After the duo exit the portal, they open their eyes and ask each other if they are okay. After they do so, they look around to see where they are and find themselves in what seems to be a quiet alleyway, in a town with different architecture compared to the ones back in Equestria. At the side of a fence next to them, they see an old mirror glowing.
“I guessing this is the way back to Equestria” Crest said as he touches the mirror with his hoof, creating a ripple effect.
“But with that aside, it worked! Your invention worked!” Luna congratulates him.
“Thank you, looks like all of my hard work payed off” Crest said with relief.
“Anyways, let’s take a look at what the inhabitants of this world looks like….” Crest says as he and Luna trot though the alleyway.
Luna suggests “I think we should find cover to keep hidden because I’m not sure what would happen if the inhabitants of this world see us, since we are strangers to them.”
Crest nods and they trot to a large bush near the exit of the alleyway. As they peek through the bushes, they are surprised and intrigued by the appearance of the inhabitants of this world. They seemed to have differently shaped faces and weird looking hooves, on which they walked on only two legs. Their clothing style was very different compared to the ones in Equestria and they mostly spoke in a different language, however, some seemed to speak in a similar language to the one the ponies spoke.
“The inhabitants of this world are unique” Crest commented quietly.
“I agree, I’ve never seen these creatures before back in Equestria, but how are we going to communicate to them? It sounds like they are speaking in a different language” Luna asks Crest.
“Good question. I don’t know” Crest answered.
Crest along with Luna trots back to the alleyway near the mirror, trying to think of a plan when suddenly, the backdoor of a house connected the alleyway opened revealing a figure, one of the local inhabitants. It seemed to be a male, wearing some sort of casual clothing. As he exits, he sees Crest and Luna looking at him and felt surprised but intrigued as he had never seen ponies that colourful before, let alone a unicorn.
“Hello, I’ve never seen colourful winged unicorns before” he asked, not expecting a response.
“Uh, hello” Crest said leaving, the two-legged creature standing silent.
“Y…you spoke?” The creature said in shock, not believing what he heard and he suddenly faints to the ground, leaving Crest and Luna surprised that the creature understood them.
Crest and Luna decide to take a closer look at the fainted creature. It appeared around adult age; its skin was a tinge of yellow and it had light brown hair of shortish neck length.
“Should we wake him up?” Luna asked.
“Just leave him, he’ll wake up eventually” Crest answered as he enters the creature’s home.
The duo starts to tour the resident of the fainted male creature. They were trying to find any useful information about this world and ways to ask these creatures to help them with their mission. After exploring the house, Crest and Luna stumble across a photo of the male creature together with other similar male creatures but all wearing what seemed to be military uniforms and a ship in the background. They both guess that they could ask the fainted male creature about it.
After a few minutes, the male creature woke up from his fainting and he looked around to see Crest and Luna staring back at him from inside the house. He was still surprised and was trying not to faint for the second time.
“Who are you and where did you talking ponies come from?” He asks, coming back into the house, quickly closing the door behind him as backs to the corner of the room, still shaking a bit.
“Hello, my name is Imperial Crest” Crest said as the male creature listens.
“I’m Princess Luna and we are from another world called Equestria” Luna says.
“Hi, I’m Osamu Yamanami and its pleasure to meet you” The creature who calls himself Osamu Yamanami spoke back.
“I know you’re still freaking out but can you please clam down? We mean you no harm. We just want to ask you some questions about your world” Crest pleads. Osamu nods and sits on a chair and the duo sit in front of him.
“I want to ask you Mr Yamanami, what kind of species are you?” Luna asks him.
“I’m a human, but my race is called Japanese and there’s other humans out in this world that are different races” Yamanami answers. He explains to the duo a brief description of the human race, a bit of their history, their wars and his Japanese culture and language. He tells them that this world is called Earth and the country they are in is called Japan. He further tells them about his background, how he can speak and understand both his own Japanese language and English, and he also mentions his career in a military organisation called the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force as a petty officer. The duo was intrigued by Yamanami’s brief description of Earth, his background and Japan. After he finishes, he questions the duo about what brings them into Earth.
“You see, the reason why we’re here is to seek help from your species. My home country called Zipang is under invasion of a military nation called the New Lunar Republic. Equestria’s military won’t be able to help because most of their naval forces are fighting on the other side of Equestria, dealing with the overwhelming force of the enemy fleet.” Crest answered. “And the New Lunar Republic forces used the opportunity to sneak several handfuls of ships through to the other side of Equestria, invading multiple islands, my country included, on their way to reach Equestria in order to overtake it and win the war between the two nations.”
“Are there ways that we can convince your military forces to help us?” Luna asks Yamanami.
“Well I’m sorry, I don’t think I can help with that because convincing my military leaders would be difficult and may cause harm to you. My leaders would probably not believe me if I told them and I could get into trouble, however, even if you showed yourself to them, the government would probably be alerted and you may be taken away to be questioned or worse, experimented on as they would be curious about your presence in our world. I wish there were other options, but I can’t think of any” Yamanami answered leaving the duo shocked.
“I understand Yamanami and thank you for answering” Crest said.
Then Crest looked around, trying to think of any other options when something caught his attention on a shelf nearby… an old photo depicting a large warship sailing in the ocean.
He asks Yamanami. “What warship is that? It looks interesting.”
“Ah, that’s an old Japanese battleship called the Yamato” Yamanami answered.
“Yamato?” Crest asks Yamanami.
Yamanami nodded as he gets up, grabbing the old photo and showing it to the two ponies. “In Japanese, Yamato literally means ‘Great Harmony’.”
“The design of the ship is fascinating” Crest commented.
“Our naval forces have a similar design but with enhanced technology with the use of magic” Luna commented.
As the two alicorns were looking at the photo, Crest suddenly felt something unusual and then he heard a voice in his mind- a female voice echoing to him, saying ‘Go to the Yamato…...bring the old battleship back…’
Yamanami and Luna noticed Crest spacing out and Yamanami said. “Um, Crest are you okay? Hello?”
After few repetitive words from Yamanami, Crest snapped back to reality and looks around, noticing Luna and Yamanami looking worried about him.
“Huh? Oh, sorry I thought I heard some voice talking to me, but never mind” Crest answered Yamanami which made Luna a bit curious.
“Okay that’s strange, anyways just to let you know, I don’t know that much about ship or its history. All I know is that the Yamato is one of Japan’s largest battleships ever to be put to sea during the Second World War and armed with the biggest guns ever mounted on a warship at the time. It also has a unique design compared to some foreign ships in my opinion” Yamanami said.
“Fair enough, but do you know any places where we can find more information about the Yamato? I have a feeling that doing so may help us on our mission” Crest asks him.
“Well, if you’re interested and wanting to learn more about the Yamato and Japan’s old navy, there’s a naval museum nearby. I can take you there, but I reckon you and Luna need some sort of disguise so the people won’t see you” Yamanami replied to his question.
Both Crest and Luna nodded, and Crest said, “Good idea, we’ll use an invisibility spell.”
“Perhaps this might be the opportunity for you to learn more about the Yamato” Luna commented.
Yamanami nodded as he is about to go to his room to change. “I forgot you guys could use magic, in this world no one can use magic, it’s just a myth. Anyway, I’ll be right back to change into my uniform just in case” goes into his room and closes the door.
After Yamanami finishes he exits his room, wearing his black naval uniform and the duo were surprised.
“You look neat” Crest commented.
“Thanks.”
Both Crest and Luna nodded and they walked towards each other, touching their horns together. Crest asks Yamanami to touch their horns with the tip of his finger and the duo light up their horns, performing the magic invisibility spell. This made the duo’s bodies fade until they could not be seen by anyone. Right after the spell, Yamanami can still see them and puzzled, asks.
“Did it work? I can still see both of you.”
“Yes, it did work, only you can see us whilst other humans can’t see us” Crest said.
“That’s good news” Yamanami added.
“Shall we go see this museum now?” Luna asks Crest and he replies with a nod.
Then the duo left the house, along with their first human friend, to continue Crest’s mission by visiting the local naval museum. Right before the trio leaves, Crest gets an old blanket nearby to cover the old mirror so no one finds out about it. They arrive at the museum and just as they were about to enter, Yamanami read the large text on top of the building and pointed out to the two alicorns that this museum is called The Yamato Museum. When the trio entered the museum, they noticed that there weren’t many people around, only a few touring the place, and as they pass by, they only saw Yamanami not the two alicorns.
After a few steps through the corridors, the trio entered a huge room and stumbled across a huge diecast model of a battleship and they can tell it’s the Yamato by its unique design, pagoda style bridge mast, the main guns and its secondary weapons. However, they notice that its different to Yamanami’s old photo.
“Just to point some things out, the Yamato from my photo is when it was commissioned in 1941. Later in 1945, it was modified to have more of those Anti-Aircraft machine guns that are mounted all around the Yamato, including more Anti-Aircraft artillery” Yamanami replied. He was explaining to them while whispering and pretending to hold his phone to make people think he’s talking to someone on the phone.
“It looks nice, the 1945 version” Crest comments.
The trio walks around the huge room that displays the model of the Yamato, taking a nice look from every angle. Luna pointed out to Crest and Yamanami the small sized human figures displayed on the decks of the Yamato model and Yamanami mentions that it’s to show how big the Yamato was. Crest was surprised that the warship was so huge and pictured himself standing on the decks of the ship.
As the trio walked around the display of the model Yamato, they saw another path to another room displaying old relics; large bullets, a plane and many other relics, all recovered from the Pacific War. Crest and Luna see a column of large bullets with different sizes on display.
Yamanami reads the small info card that is in Japanese on the display quietly whilst the two alicorns are listening.
“The large projectile shell replicas are from the Yamato class battleships and the ones a bit smaller are from the Nagato Class Battleships.”
Luna sees a green coloured plane and she trots over it to take a closer look, Crest and Yamanami following behind her.
Yamanami reads the display text. “This plane is called the Zero Fighter.”
“The Zero Fighter? It looks nice. Our military has fighter planes but they have different designs to this one” Luna commented quietly.
“Let’s get going” Crest whispered to Luna and Yamanami.
Luna and Yamanami agreed and the trio continue to tour the place to learn about Yamato and the history of the Japanese Navy. As they entered another room, it led to a gallery displaying old World War II photos, small display models of all the ships of the old Japanese Navy and recovered relics. Crest and Luna, with the help of Yamanami translating, look at the gallery of the model warships and are intrigued by the design, specifications and histories of each ship such, as the Nagato Class Battleship Takao, Class Heavy Cruisers and more including hybrids like the Ise Class battleships, which had a carrier deck on the rear decks. After going through the gallery, they found another room which shows more history and information of the Yamato.
After several minutes, Crest and Luna learned more history of the Yamato thanks to Yamanami translating the Japanese writing of each exhibitions. They learned about the Yamato, from its birth, how it was the flagship of the old Japanese navy, its part in Operation Ten Go that took place on the 7th of April, 1945, its resting place and its place in Japanese popular culture. Crest was fascinated by the history and Luna was also intrigued. They both had deep respect for the lives lost on the ship, including all of the soldiers who fought hard and didn’t make it home to their families.
Then Crest remembers what the voices had said to him back at Yamanami’s residence and asks him. “Hey, Yamanami, is it possible for you take us to the place where the Yamato sank? I think it will be able to help us complete our mission.”
“Well, asking my captain to use his ship is probably not the best idea… I guess we will probably have to borrow someone’s boat” Yamanami answered.
“I think that’s a safe option, but we need a boat that is able to take us to the Yamato’s resting place, it’s quite far away from here” Luna said.
Crest nodded and asks, “Do you know where we could get a boat that can take us to the Yamato?”
“From what I can tell on the map, Kagoshima is the closest place that has boats that can take us to the Yamato” Yamanami answers as he looks at the map displayed on the Yamato Exhibition.
“Well let’s get going” Crest said, and Luna nodded.
The trio starts to leave the exhibition and as they about to leave, Crest stares at the Yamato model for a few seconds, seeing it one more time before exiting along with Yamanami and Luna back to Yamanami’s house in the alley. After they got back, the two alicorns lit up their horns and stopped their invisibility spell, their bodies fading back into visibility.
“Before we go, we have to write a message and ask a request to your sister about the mission” Crest tells Luna.
Luna agreed and Crest uncovers the cloth that is covering the old glass mirror- the portal back to Equestria. Before the two alicorns enter the portal, Crest asks Yamanami to take the mirror into his home after they leave and to then wait for them.
“We won’t be long Yamanami” Crest said as he and Luna entered the portal and disappeared, returning to Equestria. After the duo went into the portal, Yamanami carries the old mirror into his home and waits for his two new friends to return.
Back at Crest’s huge room, he and Luna appeared out of his prototype. Crest uses his magic to grab a scroll and quill to write down a message to Princess Celestia.
“So, what’s the plan and what are you writing to my sister?” Luna asks.
“I’m letting Celestia know that we couldn’t find any help, but I believe there’s one solution that will be enough to save my home” Crest answered.
“What solution is that?” Luna asks him.
“Remember when I spaced out back at Yamanami’s house?” Crest replies to Luna.
“Yeah, something about you hearing somepony’s voice” Luna answered.
“Yeah, apparently the voice spoke to me saying “Go to the Yamato…. bring the old battleship back” from what I remember” Crest continues. “It feels like an entity or something is calling me to do that and that’s why I suddenly got interested in the Yamato. It’s why I want to go to the place where it was sunk… to resurrect the old battleship”.
“I see, that explains a lot. So, wait, are you planning to...resurrect that sunken battleship?” Luna pauses and feeling worried on Crest is planning to do.
Crest nodded. “Yes, I know it’s risky for a ship that huge but if I can try, I’m sure it will work.”
After he finishes writing a message on the scroll it, wraps itself and when Crest lights his horn the scroll disappears, sending his message to Princess Celestia. Then the duo entered the portal to go back to the human world, to continue their mission with the help of their new human friend.
At the throne of Canterlot, Princess Celestia is sitting, waiting for any news from Crest and her sister when a scroll magically appeared in front of her and her horn lights up to open it and she starts reading its message. It contains an update of Crest’s mission and a request for Celestia to borrow his Magic Mirror Prototype. After a few minutes have passed, Celestia finishes reading the message. She nods and puts down the scroll as she sees Commander Shining Armor trotting towards her throne.
He bows and she asks, “Commander Shining Armor, what’s the update on the enemy?”
“Your Majesty, a friendly scout plane reported that the New Lunar Republic Naval Forces have already occupied Zipang and it looks like they have started to prepare for the invasion” Commander Shinning Armor answered.
Celestia was shocked by the news, but asks, “Commander Shining Armor, is the elemental project still around?”
Shining Armor nodded. “Yes, Your Highness, the elemental project is still around, and the device is stored in the underground chambers of Canterlot”.
Celestia nods and orders Shining Armor. “Very good, get the device ready to be transported to the South Luna Ocean Naval Base and gather your troops to escort the transport”.
Commander Shining Armor responded with a salute.
“Yes, Your Highness!”
The white unicorn left the throne to prepare for the cargo transport. Princess Celestia then gathered her royal guards to head to Crest home to borrow the Magic Mirror Prototype. When Celestia saw Crest’s Magic Mirror Prototype she was intrigued by the hard work the young alicorn put into it and how he had gotten it to work successfully in the end. A small note suddenly appeared out of the portal and Celestia reads it. The note explains that she can turn it off as they have left to continue their mission and describes how to turn it off. She follows the instructions, recanting the spell with the help of her Royal Guards and they manage to turn the portal off. Celestia’s Royal Guards then use their magic to lift the Mirror out of the Crest’s house and loading it on a wagon and concealing it the entire time to keep it hidden. They meet up with Commander Shinning Armor before continuing their travel towards the South Luna Ocean Naval Base as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile at Earth, the trio of Imperial Crest, Princess Luna and their first human friend Osamu Yamanami are travelling to the town coast of Kagoshima bay to borrow a boat that will take them to the place where the Yamato was sunk. At the town of Kagoshima Bay, a vehicle stopped at one of the carparks and the back doors opened, revealing Yamanami exiting the vehicle followed by the two alicorns Crest and Luna, both using the invisibility spell again. Then Yamanami grabs the old mirror from the car boot and pays the driver, thanking him. Right after the vehicle leaves, the trio walk towards the nearby boating dock.
“So, this is Kogashima Bay” Crest said.
“I wonder how we going to borrow a boat from one of the humans?” Luna questions Yamanami.
“Let’s see if I can ask a few fisherman” Yamanami responded.
As they arrived the boating docks Yamanami saw an old man who is a fisherman and a young boy collecting some things from a boat nearby. Yamanami approaches the old fisherman and the young boy and they both bow respectfully. They start to have a conversation in their own language of Japanese. A few minutes pass and the old man gives a nod to Yamanami and they both shake hands and bow again. The old man salutes Yamanami with a smile and he saluted back. Then the old fisherman with his young assistant leave the boating docks and the trio hop onto the old boat. The two alicorns stop using their invisibility spell.
“What did the old human say?” Crest questioned Yamanami.
“The old man who calls himself Mr Katsumi said that we could borrow his boat because he doesn’t need it anymore” Yamanami answered.
“Why?” Luna questioned Yamanami.
“He’s retiring and heading back to his hometown and his assistant found a new job, that’s all I know” Yamanami said.
“I wonder why he saluted at you and smiled” Crest asks him as he puts the old mirror in the small bridge.
“I don’t know, but I’m guessing Mr Katsumi has some sort of huge respect for the navy or he might know someone from the navy” Yamanami answered.
Crest nodded. “Ok then, let’s get going!”
Luna and Yamanami nodded as they untie the ropes that attach the boat to the dock. Yamanami enters the small bridge and turns on the engine and its starts running. They were surprised that the old boat was still working despite of it being so old.
“Let’s head to the place where Yamato is located” Yamanami said as he puts the boat on reverse slowly whilst holding the steering wheel, turning the boat around to point at the sea.
“Let’s set sail! Yamato here we come!” Crest exclaims.
Yamanami puts the fishing boat in full speed and the two alicorns hold onto the seats, feeling the boat going fast. After several minutes they had already exited the coast of Kagoshima, heading to the coordinates of the old battleship.
Later in the morning, around nine o clock in the ocean of the East China Sea, the trio were still traveling at top speed to where the old battleship was sunk, the old fishing boat still working fine. During the long-distance sailing, Yamanami checks his phone to see if they are nearly to the place where the ship’s resting place, while he talks to the two of his new talking wing horned pony friends.
“So Princess Luna, what do you do other than raising the moon?” Yamanami asked.
“I go into the dream realm where I can watch everypony’s dreams and visit them whenever they have nightmares to help them overcome their nightmares” Luna answered.
“That’s interesting, basically a spiritual guide but through dreams” Yamanami said.
Both Crest and Luna start yawning and Yamanami notices.
“I guess using the invisibility spell twice in one day is making us tired” Crest said.
Yamanami nodded. “I’ll wake you two up when we are nearly there.”
“Thank you, Yamanami” Luna said as her and Crest go into the interior of the fishing boat and see two small beds, close together due to the limited space. Crest gets in the left bed whilst Luna gets in the right bed.
As the two were about to sleep, Luna noticed that Crest was staring at a blank space. He was thinking about the whole mission and what their plan was, once they get to the Yamato’s resting place.
“You can do it Crest” Luna smiled.
Crest turns around. “Thanks Luna, I appreciate it.”
“I’ll help you with the restoration spell” Luna said, and Crest nodded.
“Thank you, Luna.”
Then, as Crest yawns one more time, the two alicorns started sleeping to gain back their energy.
Two hours pass and at the bridge, Yamanami checks his phone for the coordinates and he is surprised. “We’re here! We made it!” he exclaims. As he closes his phone, he notices the two alicorns have not responded and he walks to the interior of the boat. He sees Crest and Luna sleeping. With a grin on his face, Yamanami and shouts, “Wake up you two!”
Crest and Luna slowly wake up and get out of their beds.
“Are we here?” Luna asked. Yamanami nodded.
“It looks like you two had a good rest” Yamanami said and Crest agrees and thanked him.
“So, we’re finally here” Crest said as he goes outside on the deck along with Luna and Yamanami.
“Crest and Luna, since we are here, what are you two going to do?” Yamanami asked and the two alicorns both nodded to each other.
“Wait a second, since you two have magic, are you two trying to go down there and restore the old battleship?!” Yamanami asked, shocked.
“We are indeed. Don’t worry Yamanami, we can both use a spell that creates a protective shield around us. It will protect us from anything and let us breath while inside” Crest explains as he trots to the side of the boat along with Luna.
“Alright be careful you two” Yamanami warns.
“We’ll be fine, Yamanami” Crest reassures him.
Crest and Luna light up their horns and their magic aura creates a shield bubble around the two and the two alicorns opened their wings, taking off and soaring into the air at an incredible speed, suddenly diving down very fast in the air until they hit the surface of the ocean, causing a big splashes as they dive deep down in order to reach the ocean floor as quickly as possible. Yamanami was left back on the boat, surprised and in awe of the little performance.
Yamanami looks speechless and says to himself, “Hmmm, pretty magnificent performance indeed.”
Meanwhile, in the deep depth of the ocean, the two alicorns continue to swim deeper towards the ocean floor. With their protective shield around them, they are able to breathe just fine. A few minutes later, they manage to land on the seafloor. Crest and Luna look around and notice that it is very dark, so Crest lights his horn so they can see in the darkness and try to find the wreck.
As they trot around the seafloor, they both see a big structure on their right. Crest brightens up his horn to see better, and he and Luna recognized the bow section of a wreck. It looks all rusted and coral has formed on some parts of the hull. They look up and recognize the Golden Seal, covered in rust but still intact. Both Crest and Luna were amazed by the size of the wreck and as they continued to trot by the bow section, they saw another large structure on the right. There is a large hull with a hole on it and they both remember that the ship was blown in two when it was sunk. As the two continue to approach the wreck, they notice lots of debris around the area.
Then the two alicorns suddenly felt something and then they heard a female voice talking to them through their minds, “Bring the old battleship back…”. After a few seconds their minds come back into reality.
“Crest did you hear that? I heard a voice and its calling us to bring back this battleship!” Luna exclaimed, and Crest nodded.
“I heard it too, it seems like you got to hear the voice that I heard before” Crest answered back.
“Shall we do the restoration spell now?” Luna asked.
“Yes, let’s bring back the Yamato to save my country!” Crest declared. “I’m sorry soldiers who have perished on the Yamato, please let us borrow your ship.”
“Alright my friend, let’s do this” Luna said, and Crest nodded. Then the two alicorns prepared the restoration spell.
As both of their horns light up to perform the restoration spell, Crest’s magic aura starts to go out of control and suddenly his eyes start to glow very bright, his wings open wide and he starts to hover off the seafloor. This causes the protection bubble to be separated in two, leaving Luna surprised about what’s occurring. Meanwhile at the surface, Yamanami noticed a huge light in the water and, suspecting that something is going to happen, goes to the small bridge and activates the engine. Taking the wheel, he moves the boat away from the area where the bright light is glowing from.
On the large seafloor, many different bits of debris started to float with a light blue aura around them. The two large hulls started to lift from the seabed and lots of the debris starts to turn into white glowing dust and begin to flow towards the two large hulls and into the battered areas of the ship. Princess Luna was amazed about this unexpected power that Crest was experiencing and she can see the missing parts of the ship had been fixed. As she continues to witness the restoration spell in front of her eyes, she sees the whole hull of the Yamato being fixed, including the superstructure. Then two medium-sized debris, which were the secondary guns, hover around the hull and are placed back onto their mountings. Then the secondary barbettes were put in place, one on the bow in front of the bridge and one at the stern. Then, the three large debris, which were the three main guns, start to hover above the ship and float down to the hull, being placed back onto its mountings as well- two of them at the bow section and one at the stern area. Other armaments float back to their mountings, such as the anti-aircraft machine guns and artillery. Right before the restoration of the ship is completed, all the missing hull pieces of the ship float back to their original places and all the holes from the hull are fully fixed. After the ship is fully restored, it moves until the bow is pointing upwards, ready to surface. Imperial Crest hovers to the front deck of the ship and looks up at the surface.
“Luna, hop on and hold onto something, this may be a rough ride” Crest said. Luna nods, and she hops onto the front deck of the ship, holding onto one of the railings. Then Crest put both of his forehooves on the deck and created a huge wave of magic blue aura around the Yamato and the giant battleship started to move fast from the seafloor to the surface.
‘Incredible, after we performed the restoration spell, Crest's magic started to increase as if something powerful is happening’ Luna thought as she holds onto the railings tightly.
At the surface, a patrol helicopter flew over high in the sky, and Yamanami noticed it.
“I hope Crest and Luna are aware that there are some naval ships patrolling around these waters because that’s a patrol helicopter from their of their ships. I suspect they picked up the large energy flow from the ocean floor and assumed it’s a tectonic plate shifting or something” Yamanami thought to himself as he continues to wait and hope that they don’t get spotted by the patrol helicopter.
High in the sky, the helicopter pilot looks down at the ocean, seeing a bright light from the water and then flies away.
‘They better hurry up because the navy is going to arrive here at any moment’ Yamanami thought as he looked towards the direction of where the helicopter left, and he spots three naval boats in the distance.
Yamanami then notices a huge shadow in the water, a few metres away from him, when a huge splash occurs, a gigantic ship surfacing out of the water, bow first, like how a submarine would surface. It revealed that Imperial Crest was standing on the front deck of the Yamato, with wings opened and eyes glowing bright. His flank starts to shine brightly for a few seconds then stopping, revealing an emblem shape. He also sees Princess Luna holding onto one of the railings of the ship. After the front half of the giant battleship had risen out of the water, it then falls back down, landing on the water bow first and creating a huge splash. At the same time, the rest of the ship comes to the surface, revealing the true size of the ship, from the bow to stern. As the blue aura around the ship disappears, Yamanami clears his eyes of water that had splashed on his face. When he opens his eyes again, he is shocked and amazed when he sees the giant battleship, the Yamato, right in front of him. The ship starts glow with blue aura again as all the rust and coral start to disappear away like dust. When the ship stops shining, it reveals the ship to appear good as new. At the same time, the three naval ships had arrived and were now only a few miles from the area, with a bunch of helicopters flying around the Yamato. Crest’s eyes stop glowing and he lowers his wings to look at Yamanami’s look of surprise and awe, still aboard the small fishing boat. Luna lets go of the railings and she stopped using her protection spell as she trots towards Crest. Looking around the ship, Luna felt proud of Crest and what he had just accomplished.
“Yooo!” Yamanami shouted and waved at Crest.
At that moment, Yamanami felt the old fishing boat start to rumble as it is levitated up out of the water. Crest was using a levitation spell on the boat and moves it towards at the rear deck, landed it gently onto the rear deck of the ship. Then Yamanami grabs the old mirror, gets off the fishing boat and starts running towards the front deck.
‘Man, running on the deck of a warship surely reminds me of my training days back in the naval academy’ Yamanami thought to himself, a big smile forming on his face as continues running towards the front deck, the old mirror firmly grasped in his arms.
Crest looks at Luna, feeling surprised, and laughs in disbelief, “I can’t believe we did it!”
Luna starts to smile, “I know but most of the credit goes to you. Your magic went out of control but you’ve ended up restoring the ship all by yourself!”
“Yeah, it was very unexpected for me as well” Crest replied.
As they both looked at the superstructure of the giant battleship, Luna asked “So, this is the mighty battleship that we saw at the museum, the Yamato eh? This is the battleship you’re going to use to save your country?”
Crest smiled and said, “Yes, Luna, but were doing this together.”
They both heard panting nearby, turning to see that it was Yamanami, looking a bit tired and holding the old mirror. “Hey guys, did I miss anything…” Yamanami starts to ask but pauses, noticing something on Crest’s flank, an emblem that looks familiar. “Um Crest, look at your flank.”
“Huh?” Crest turns around to look at his flank and he see a golden flower emblem. Luna starts to look as well. “My cutie mark? I got my cutie mark!” He then starts smiling and jumping in excitement, pointing one of his hooves up in the air.
“I’m so proud of you Crest, you’ve finally earned your cutie mark” Luna said as she is immensely proud of her friend.
“Congratulations Crest, your cutie mark almost resembles the imperial seal of Japan, the Japanese Chrysanthemum Emblem”, Yamanami points out.
“Wow, it looks awesome, but I wonder what it represents.” Crest asked.
Luna was also wondering about his cutie mark. “I have no idea but let’s discuss this later, since we are on a mission and-”
“-We’re about to get caught by the Japan Defence Force if we just stand around here talking” Yamanami interrupts her.
“Right, let’s get going!” Crest yells as he points his hoof to the bridge. “We must head to the bridge!”
“Leave that to me” Luna said as her horn starts to light up, a big, bright light appearing all around the three, teleporting them to the bridge. They all noticed they were now on the bridge of the Yamato. Luna looked around the bridge as Yamanami puts down the old mirror in the corner.
“So, what’s the plan now? Are we trying to escape from them?” Yamanami questioned Crest.
“Yes, we are but first we have to get the ship started. You stay here, I’ll be right back” Crest said as lights up his horn and teleports into a huge interior room which seems to be the boiler room. Everything appears to be as good as new, thanks to his restoration spell, and he starts up all the boilers, putting coal in them individually. When all the boilers become activated, he teleports to the engine room to activate the propellers, teleporting back to the boiler room again to give the boilers more coal. This increased power a bit more.
Back at the bridge, Luna and Yamanami feel the ship start to move and as they go to the back of the bridge, they see that the angle funnel is blowing with smoke, giving the indication that Crest has already finished activating the boilers and the four propellers. Seconds later, they feel the speed of the ship increasing and the funnel begins blasting even more black smoke as Crest teleports back to the bridge.
“I’m back, I just activated its engine. We are finally moving, but now we need to try and escape these other ships while we wait for Celestia to do her part” Crest said as he grabs the wheel and turns the ship hard right, trying to get away from the three JDF ships.
Luna notices the ship is going in its top speed and comments “Seems pretty fast for a battleship this big.”
“Yeah, not bad for a ship this size. It’s going at about 27 knots, however back during our naval research tour in the Yamato Museum, I read that a United States battleship called the Iowa is way faster than this one. It was meant to compete against Japan’s fast battleships such as the Kongou Class” Crest replied.
“It seems like you’re really into the naval history, eh Crest?” Yamanami commented.
“Thanks, I find your naval history very interesting” Crest answered.
Luna began to notice that the three warships following behind them were using some sort of light signal and directing it at the Yamato. She turned to look at Crest. “Um, Crest, are those guys signalling to us?”
“Just ignore them for now. If Princess Celestia has followed my instructions, she should have borrowed my magic portal and should now be at the South Luna Ocean, making a huge version of the portal and activating it for us” Crest replied while steering the ship.
“Oh, so that’s why you’re bringing that old mirror along” Yamanami realises, surprised at the plan.
Crest sees the old mirror in the corner and takes it. “I’m going to the front bow to prepare the magic portal” Crest said as he exits the bridge and flies towards the front bow, leaving Yamanami to steer the Yamato.
Crest lands at the bow of the ship and he places the old mirror in front of the bow’s flagpole facing the ocean, waiting for a magic portal to appear on the mirror- the signal for him to use the spell to create a huge portal for the Yamato. As the Yamato continued to advance at maximum speed, Crest saw that the magic portal had appeared on the old mirror, implying that Princess Celestia has activated his Prototype Magic Mirror. As he chants the spell, his horn starts to light up and then shoots a magic beam at the mirror, causing ripples of magic energy waves to swirl around him. The mirror then shoots a magic beam a distance in front of the Yamato and it creates a huge magic portal.
“It looks like my sister did it, which means we can escape!” Luna sighed in relief. Then she suddenly realised something. “Wait! what about you Yamanami?”
Yamanami smiled. “I wish I could stay but if they found out I helped you, my defence force leader will suspect me and I’ll be in big trouble. So, I guess there’s no turning back now.”
This made Luna feel a bit worried. “I see, but what about your family and home?’
“Don’t worry, I will come back and visit my home and family one day. For now, let’s just focus on you and friend’s mission. I’m looking forward to visiting your world and being one of the first humans to enter another world. Also, with my experience in the navy, I can give you guys advice in the battles to come” Yamanami said as he continues steering the ship into the huge portal.
Luna nodded. “I understand and thank you. I’m glad that we got to meet a nice human like you.”
After Luna’s compliment, Yamanami blushes and he shyly responds “I’m flattered and your very welcome.”
As the giant battleship sails towards the huge magic portal, Luna notices that the three warships are still chasing them at full speed. Mustering up enough energy, she lights up her horn and shoots a blue magic beam towards the three warships, hitting them. Seemingly no damage was done, but the three warships suddenly slowed right down, their engines shutting off. Even the helicopters were affected and the squad of helicopters started to fall out of the sky, forcing them to make emergency landings on the water. None of the pilots were injured. Crest watches as Luna’s magic spell stops the three pursuing JDF ships without hurting the other humans before quickly noticing that the Yamato is about to enter magic portal. He flies back onto the bridge, joining Luna and Yamanami and gets ready for another portal jump.
“Thank you for steering the ship Yamanami” Crest said.
“No problem my friend, it’s my first time steering a ship” Yamanami replied to Crest.
“And Luna, thank you for distracting the JDF guys” Crest said, and Luna smiled with a nod.
“No worries, we had to slow them down somehow” Luna smiled, and the trio looked at the portal they are entering.
“Here we go, into another portal,” Luna commented. “Yamanami, I hope you’re ready because it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.”
“Ready!” Yamanami answered as he tightens his grip on the wheel. “Alright,3….2….1…Warp!”
After Yamanami’s countdown, the Yamato entered the portal into a space void and the ship started to travel amazingly fast, heading to the other side of the portal which lead to Equestria. Whilst that was happening, the trio were all holding onto something as the travel was starting to get quite bumpy. Meanwhile, back in the water of the South China Sea, the sailors and officers of the three JMSDF warships, including the surviving pilots of the helicopters, caught a glimpse of the giant battleship as got away, disappearing through the magic portal. They were intrigued and curious about the abnormal occurrences of magic portals and the Yamato’s sudden reappearance.
As the Yamato continues travelling through the magic portal, the two alicorn’s new human friend Osamu Yamanami becomes increasingly curious and excited to see the world of Equestria and all its wonders. However, most importantly, the trio are continuing their mission to save Crest’s home country Zipang and to stop the invasion of Equestria!
Near the coastal town of the South Luna Ocean Bay, a large group of earth pony Royal Guards were escorting a big, wooden cargo wagon, which was carrying two strange and mysterious objects. The escort was led by Princess Celestia and Commander Shining Armor and they were marching towards the South Luna Ocean Naval Base. The base itself was quite big, being an important strategic location as the southern-most naval base in Equestria. It contained a headquarters, a barracks, a small airfield, and two large naval docks for big ships to be either built, repaired, or modified. Anchored near the docks were four ships consisting of two battlecruisers and two heavy cruisers, with their crews of pony sailors hanging around the decks, waiting for orders or announcements. When they spotted Princess Celestia and her escort in the distance, they became very surprised and curious at their sudden arrival, as they had not heard anything about a scheduled visit from the Princess. The higher-ups of their respective ships had been given orders to await the Princess’s arrival, however, due to the secretive nature of their visit, were not told the reason for their arrival. This meant that they were not surprised but were still curious. The group were allowed access into the base and quickly continued towards the docks. As they arrived at the docks, they stopped. Princess Celestia uncovered one of the devices, revealing it to be Crest’s Magic Mirror Prototype, and used her magic to lift and place the mirror on the docks, facing the ocean. She ordered Royal Guards to immediately start assembling the parts and plugs together, so that the mirror portal could be completed and set up as quickly as possible. Shining Armor then trotted towards Princess Celestia and bowed.
“Your Highness, may I ask a question? Just what is this mirror portal, and what is it for?” Commander Shining Armour asked.
“It is Imperial Crest’s Magic Mirror Prototype. From what I understand, it is able to create a portal to another world” the Princess replied. This made Shining Armour a bit intrigued.
“Crest’s device eh? How the hay did he managed to create such a thing?!” He asks Celestia, amazed but still a little confused.
“I do not know exactly how, but according to him, he worked on it for quite some time” Princess Celestia replied.
“Wow, that’s incredible! Well, it looks like his hard work paid off” Shining Armor said as he examined the Magic Mirror Prototype. “So, Your Majesty, let me get this straight. To prevent the incoming invasion of Equestria, you decided to go along with Crest’s unusual plan and have sent him along with your sister on a mission to save his come country from the New Lunar Republic?”
“Yes, indeed I have. I too was surprised at first, but as a teacher of his school, I have learnt to put my full trust and faith in him. I’m very proud of his work and what he has managed to achieve so far” Celestia said.
Shining Armor nodded and after thinking for a second, asks her, “Wait, is he too young be on this kind of dangerous mission?”
Celestia nodded. “I understand what you’re trying say but I sensed a spark of potential in him and-” Princess Celestia was suddenly interrupted by several Royal Guards as they approached her, bowing as they arrived.
“Sorry to interrupt Your Highness, Crest’s Magic Mirror Prototype is ready to go” The Royal Guard informed Celestia.
“Very good, stay back everypony” Celestia warned. Shining Armour and the Royal Guards stepped away from the mirror as she begins to chant the spell to activate the portal. Her horn starts to light up and then suddenly shoots a yellow magic beam towards the mirror, causing the mirror to light up. She then shoots another beam of magic at the mirror, a large magic beam shooting out of it and towards the empty waters of the South Luna Ocean bay. A huge, bright flash then occurs as a huge portal appears on the surface of the water. This left Shining Armour and the Royal Guards stunned and all eyes were now looking at the portal, waiting for something to happen. As they looked through the portal, they could see the ocean of Earth, looking very similar to their own. After waiting a few minutes with nothing happening, a big, dark silhouette of a large ship suddenly appeared in the portal, leaving everypony surprised and intrigued as to what it was. Celestia was the only one that was not surprised, as she knew Crest’s plan all along from reading his scroll message and instructions back in Canterlot. The large ship started to enter their side of the portal, revealing it to be the mighty Yamato. As soon as the whole ship exited the huge portal it closed up, causing a big flash which forced everypony to close their eyes from the brightness. As all the ponies opened their eyes, they got their first clear look at the Yamato right in front of them. Many of them became intrigued by the design of the ship, including its pagoda-style bridge, its main and secondary armaments, and the bow, which had a golden chrysanthemum emblem at the centre.
“Wow, it looks so different to anything that we have in our fleet” Shining Armor commented as he examined the large ship.
Celestia nodded. “According to Crest’s message, it is a battleship from the other world called Earth and is apparently quite old fashioned. However, it seems that since Crest resurrected the ship with the help of my sister, it was returned to its original state. It looks brand new, as if it were only just built”.
“Your Highness, may I ask what the name of this battleship is?” Shining Armor asked her.
“Yamato…The Battleship Yamato” Celestia replied to Shining.
Suddenly, a Royal Guard appeared, running towards the Princess as fast as he could. As he approached, he bowed and spoke.
“Your Highness, I am sorry for the interruption, but I bring urgent news concerning the Elemental Project device! The crystals have started to glow unexpectedly of their own accord, and are flashing light every second” A Royal Guard informed the Princess.
The news seemed to surprise the Princess. “Glowing of its own accord? Come with me Shining Armour, we must investigate this”.
Then Celestia, followed by Shining, quickly trotted towards the cargo wagon. The two peeked inside the wagon and uncovered the cloth that was concealing the device to reveal a clear, circular glass case containing a crystal that appeared to have six different colours. It was continually glowing, flashing light every second. After covering the device again, they trotted back to the edge of the dock looking at the Yamato, Celestia having a puzzled look on her face.
“It seems the Elemental Project started glowing right after that ship appeared” Shining said to Celestia. “I do not remember anything like this happening when were about to test the device on some of our ships”.
“You are right. From what I see, this could mean something” Celestia replied.
“What could it mean, Your Highness?”
“I believe this ship could be the right one to hold the device” Celestia said. Shining nodded slowly, though still seemed sceptical.
As the large battleship sailed slowly into the bay, the funnel stopped blowing smoke and the speed of the ship started to decrease. Shining Armor trotted over to one of the large dock areas and started ordering the tugboats to get ready and help park the Yamato at the dock. The naval pony staff saluted and rushed to carry out their orders, some got the tugboats in position while others went to the large dock’s front to get the large ropes, ready to park the Yamato. While the tugboats were sailing around the Yamato, the whole naval base, including the sailors of the anchored warships, were watching the parking of the giant battleship, which had just appeared out of nowhere from a portal made by Princess Celestia.
On the bridge of the Yamato, the alicorn stallion Imperial Crest lay unconscious on the floor, having experienced another portal travelling. He slowly gets up and opens his eyes to look around and sees that he and his friends managed to escape.
‘…. We did it, we made it back into Equestria…’ He thought to himself and he turned around to see his friends Luna and Yamanami both waving at him from the other side of the bridge. Crest smiled back, relieved to see that they were okay.
“We made it Crest!” Luna yelled in triumph as she trotted over to him, giving him a quick hug.
“I know” Crest hugged back, a smile on his face.
“Aw, that’s nice” Yamanami commented as he watched the two finish hugging. He then turned to look out the window, getting a view of the whole South Luna Ocean Bay, from its naval base nearby to the town and the huge mountains in the distance.
“Woah… So, this is the Land of Equestria? It sure looks beautiful” Yamanami was in awe of the sight before him.
“Yes, it is! Welcome to Equestria!” Luna said.
“Indeed, welcome to our world Yamanami! I believe you’re the first human to ever come here” Crest added.
“Thanks guys. Honestly, I am still trying to wrap my head around everything that’s happened, but I’ll be fine. I’m just happy to be of help right now.” Yamanami walked over to the window to look down at the water. “So, you guys have tugboats in this world as well? It looks like they’ll need them to help park this big girl after all. Well, we did use up all the coal we had during the chase by the JSDF back at Earth, so she doesn’t have much speed or power at the moment” Yamanami mentions to his two friends.
Crest nods. “We’ll just have to wait here and leave the rest to Celestia and the naval staff”.
As the tugboats connected with the hull of the Yamato, they started to push the Yamato slowly sideways, towards one of the large docks of the South Luna Ocean Naval Base. As the large vessel got closer to the dock, the ponies on the dock threw their mooring ropes around the Yamato’s individual bollards and with the help of other mooring ponies, they starting to pull the ship slowly towards the dock. After the ship hit the marine fenders, rubber, or plastic buffers on the dock to stop ships from hitting it, the mooring ponies start tying the mooring ropes around the pier bollards tightly. As they finished trying the mooring ropes, they connected a ramp between the Yamato and the main dock so that Princess Celestia could board the ship.
After the docking process is completed, Crest, Luna and Yamanami exit the bridge, using an elevator to get down to the deck. As soon as they exit the ship’s superstructure, they met up with Princess Celestia, who had just boarded the ship. “Celestia!” Crest and Luna trotted towards Princess Celestia and each gave her a big hug. She smiled as she hugged them back.
“Welcome back you two! Well done on pulling off this crazy plan of yours. I knew you could do it”.
“Thanks, Celestia, but we couldn’t have done it without you either” Crest replied.
Celestia nodded, smiling. “Oh, it was nothing”.
After briefly catching up with each other, Celestia’s attention turned towards the creature who had come along with Crest and Luna. It appeared to be around the same height as her, and it walked on only two legs.
“Looks like you managed to find some help after all”.
Crest and Luna also turned to face Yamanami. Yamanami noticed this, quickly bowing to Celestia out of respect, followed by a salute. “Hello, it is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Osamu Yamanami and I am a human from the planet called Earth”.
Princess Celestia smiled and saluted back “It is a pleasure to meet you Yamanami the Human. My name is Princess Celestia and I welcome you to the land of Equestria! I rule this land along with Luna, my sister. I believe that you are the first of your kind to enter our world. Now, I see that you are the one who has helped Crest and Luna with their mission”.
Yamanami responds with nod. “That is correct”
“Then I would like to thank you on behalf of Equestria. We could not thank you enough. Rest assured; I will see to it that you be treated the same as any other pony. I hope you enjoy your stay in Equestria” Celestia bows her head in thanks.
Yamanami bows back. “You are most welcome Princess and I thank you very much. If it is not too much to ask, I would like to continue to help Crest and Luna with their mission”.
Princess Celestia nods, “Of course, you may do as you please”. As she turned to face all three of them again, she was surprised to notice Crest’s newly acquired cutie mark.
“Wow Crest, you’ve got your cutie mark?! Congratulations!”
“Thanks, Celestia. It appeared after I resurrected the Yamato” Crest begins to explain. “It seems to be a golden flower emblem. I have no idea what the meaning behind it is, but I’ll have to find out later. Right now, I just need to focus on the mission.” Celestia nods in agreement.
“Well, it seems that you three have done a great job operating the Yamato so far. However, I believe you are in need of a crew to help you operate this massive ship” Celestia inquired, looking at the trio.
“Yes, indeed we do very much need a crew to help operate the Yamato. There’s no way we could operate the ship on our own for very long” informed Yamanami. Crest and Luna both agreed, as just getting the Yamato back to Equestria had drained a lot of their magic.
“Do not worry. I had thought ahead and sent Commander Shining Armor to the naval base to gather the naval graduates, who are well trained and well disciplined, as well as the army soldiers at the barracks, who shall serve as the landing party while also helping the crew with their duties where possible” Celestia reassured. “Now, may I please have a tour around the ship? I want to take a look at this uniquely designed battleship from Earth”.
“No problem, we actually haven’t had a lot of time to explore the whole ship either, so this will be a good opportunity to do so” Crest answered excitedly, Luna & Yamanami nodding in agreement.
As the trio and Princess Celestia start their tour around the deck of the ship, Celestia’s Royal Guards board the ship, using their magic to levitate Crest’s Magic Mirror Portal Prototype and another device onto the front deck of the ship. As they placed them on the deck, they removed the cloak covering the other device, revealing it to be the Elemental Project Device. It had a big, circular glass casing containing a clear capsule, inside which was a crystal that had six different colours. The crystal appeared to be pulsating light, glowing, and flashing every few seconds and around the casing of the device were several mechanical parts and electrical components. The Royal Guards, with the help of a mechanic officer from the naval base, then start to move the large capsule and the parts towards the superstructure of the Yamato. As they entered into the interior of the Yamato, a few Royal Guards went ahead to look for a suitable spot for the device. After a few minutes of skimming through the interior of the ship, they found a perfect spot for the Elemental Project Device; a large, empty room located under the Yamato’s conning tower. After moving the device and its required parts into the room, they immediately started to carefully construct the elemental device, under the instructions of the mechanic officer. First, the circular casing was placed at the centre of the room, with the required parts and electrical cables surrounding it. With the use welding tools and magic, they managed to construct the device in only half an hour. After the installation of the Elemental Project Device, they later moved Crest’s Magic Mirror Prototype off the deck and into another empty room, storing it in the corner. Then the Royal Guards left the mechanic officer to oversee the device as they headed back to the deck of the ship. While that was going on, multiple cargo boxes containing supplies such as medical supplies, food, fuel, and other essential items were delivered by the naval base personnel. Along with the Royal Guards who had just arrived, they helped to store each of the cargo boxes into the many storerooms in the interior of the battleship.
The trio and Celestia continued touring around the whole the ship, admiring the uniquely designed superstructure, the three massive 18-inch main naval rifles, the secondary armaments, the anti-aircraft weaponries, and the many other features of the giant battleship.
After they had finished their tour, they trotted back to the front deck and Celestia commented. “The ship has a very unique design, including its tower-like bridge design and its weaponry”.
“Fun fact; most of the old-fashioned Japanese battleships, including the Yamato, had pagoda inspired designs for their bridges” informed Yamanami.
“Is that so?” Celestia asked and he nodded. “Interesting that your country is good at designing such unique warships like this one. I have never seen a ship quite like it”.
As the trio and Princess Celestia approached the front deck, they met up with Commander Shining Armor, who had just arrived. He saluted to Celestia, who saluted back.
“Your Majesty, I have gathered the naval graduates and army soldiers as you ordered. I have also informed them of the nature of their mission. They are here and are ready to board”.
“Excellent. Group them into their specific stations before they board and inform the army commander to allocate his soldiers into the spare rooms for the journey” Princess Celestia ordered. Shining Armor bowed and left the deck to sort out the crewmembers.
Then Celestia turned her attention to the trio, smiling.
“Well, it looks like your crew and the landing party are ready”.
“Celestia, thank you so much for the support you have given us” Crest said, feeling grateful.
“Very much appreciated, Your Highness” Yamanami added, tipping his naval hat.
“You are most welcome. I mean, I did send you on this mission after all, a mission which just might save Equestria from invasion. I want to assist you as much as I can” Princess Celestia answered. While they were talking, Shining Armour boarded the ship, followed by multiple ponies wearing naval uniforms, each carrying their own duffel bags, who began to slowly gather around the trio and Celestia.
“Crest, Luna and Yamanami meet some of your crew members” Shining Armor gestured to the group of ponies, which consisted of pegasi, earth ponies and unicorns. When they had all gathered around, they saluted to Shining, Celestia and the trio, who saluted back. As they all finished saluting, Shining turned to the trio. “This group are a part of the Surface Combat Department and their role is to operate the Yamato’s weaponry”.
“So, you guys get to fire all the weapons including the big guns eh? I look forward to working with you” Yamanami commented.
“Nice to meet you all, members of the Surface Combat Group. We indeed look forward to working alongside you all” announced Crest, looking at the naval sailors.
“Since you aren’t familiar with the ship, now’s the time to get acquainted with her” Shining Armor advised. “Your Petty Officers and Chiefs will guide you to your posts”.
“Okay everypony, follow my lead and we’ll help you get stationed to your posts!” A naval officer ordered.
“Aye sir!” All the surface combat ponies obliged in unison, picking up their duffel bags and splitting up as they headed to their posts.
“Next up is the navigation department. Next group come aboard!” Shining Armor shouted, pointing to another group of ponies as they boarded the ship with their duffel bags, also consisting of the different three pony races. “Their role is to help navigate the ship and to operate the radar and the binoculars”.
As they all gathered around, Shining Armor saluted, and they saluted back. Crest, Luna and Yamanami similarly greeted the group before they too left, heading towards the entrance of the Yamato’s superstructure into the interior of the ship; some looked for the radar room and others went into the bridge.
After the second group went to their posts, another group boarded the Yamato and they gathered around Shining and the four. The group saluted and they saluted back. “This group’s role is to maintain the engine and speed of the ship, as well as being damage controllers to prevent fires and flooding of the ship” Shining Armor informs the trio. After Luna, Crest and Yamanami greet them they disperse, trotting into the entrance of the Yamato’s interior to find their specific workstations.
“Wow, there are so many crewmembers” Luna commented.
“Well if I can remember correctly, the Yamato was operated by around 2800 sailors when it last sailed. We won’t need as many as that because our crew has earth pony strength, unicorn magic and Pegasi wing strength to help them” Crest evaluated. Yamanami was a bit surprised to hear this but quickly remembered what Crest and Luna had managed to do with their magic and nodded, “You’re probably right, you ponies are pretty strong. Definitely stronger than us humans”.
More groups of ponies continued to come board the Yamato, all carrying their own kits in their duffel bags. As they approached Shining Armor, Celestia and the trio they all saluted. After Yamanami, Crest and Luna saluted back and gave them a respectful military greeting, they too trotted off towards the entrance of the Yamato’s interiors, heading to their posts.
“These guys are made up of a bunch of different groups. There are the accountants, the supply personnel, the artillery & AA (Anti-Aircraft) operators, the cooking officers and the medical officers, who will help the wounded during battle” Shining pointed out. Looking back at the naval dock, they could still see more ponies waiting to come aboard. This group seemed to consist of five naval officers and two thousand soldiers, led by a commander. As the large group approached the ramp, they all stopped and Shining gestured for the five naval officers to come aboard.
“Well there’s the army, but who are those five in the front?” Yamanami asked.
“They are the bridge personnel” Shining Armor said as the five pony naval officers boarded the Yamato, all saluted to Shining Armor, Celestia and the trio. After they had saluted back, Shining Armor turned to look at the trio. “And we got a couple more right in front of me. Three more to be exact”.
“Wait… you mean the three of us?” Luna asks Shining.
“Correct my sister, you three will make up the remainder of the bridge personnel. What did you expect, that you would be put with the cleaning staff? You will be an advisor; Crest will be an acting tactical officer and you Yamanami” Celestia pulled out a captain’s hat from behind her back and handed it to Yamanami “will be acting Captain” Celestia finished and she looks at the trio. “In other words, you three will be in command of the ship” As she spoke, they noticed another two almost identical hats were floating behind Celestia and they moved to land on Crest and Luna’s heads. “I had these captains’ hats made for you three when you were still making your way back to Equestria. As we were touring the ship, I improved them slightly to better suit their wearers, in secret of course”.
Yamanami was quite taken aback after hearing what his role would be. He would never have thought that he’d be given the position of acting captain, figuring that he would get an advisory position instead. But he quickly regained his composure, becoming a bit excited “Acting Captain?! Wow, thank you very much Princess for giving me such a high position. It was always a dream of mine to one day become a captain of my very own ship, but I never thought it would actually happen! I was a petty officer back on Earth, so I have experience in having a leadership role. I will fulfil my role as best as I can, you have my word Princess. I will not let you down” Yamanami bowed. He took off his Earth naval hat and put on the Captain’s hat, a big grin on his face.
“I’m glad to hear it. I know I’m giving you a lot of responsibility, but I picked you because of your experience and knowledge of human ships and naval warfare. You’re the best man for the job and I believe in you Yamanami the Human, or should I say, Captain.” Celestia saluted to Yamanami, who saluted back, smiling. She turned back to face the five naval officers “you may go to your posts on the bridge, these three will meet you there once they are finished with everything here.” They bowed before leaving, heading to the bridge. Crest looked down at the large group still waiting to come aboard. “Lucky last eh? I believe they are the soldiers from the army, who will serve as the landing party?” Crest asked and Shining nodded in response as he signalled to the commander to come aboard the ship. Then the trio watched as the large group boarded the ship, gathering in an orderly fashion around them on front deck. When they were all on board, the commander shouted “Attention!” All the soldiers stood to attention, saluting to Celestia and the others. Shining Armor saluted back, shouting “At ease!” and they relaxed. The army commander trotted over to them, bowing to Celestia and Luna “It is an honour to meet you, Your Majesties. I am Rocky Thunderhoof, commander of these soldiers. They are now all aboard and are awaiting your orders”.
“Commander Thunderhoof, thank you for coming under such short notice. Please allocate your soldiers into the spare rooms on the ship, where they can stay during the trip” Celestia ordered. “Also, I will not be coming with you on this mission, so during the mission you will take orders from these three.” Celestia gestured towards Yamanami, Crest and Luna. The Commander Thunderhoof replied “Aye ma’am!” and saluted, trotting over to his ponies to inform them of the news before leading them into the interiors of the giant battleship. After several minutes had passed, all the army soldiers had entered the interior of the ship and were being allocated to their rooms.
“Well, there you have it. The Yamato’s new crewmembers, plus some extras along for the ride”.
“Alright, we finally have all our crew. Now all we need to do is to plan how we are going to reach Zipang and stop the New Lunar Republic Forces” Luna stated.
Celestia nodded and her horn lit up, a map appearing in front of them, displaying a map of Equestria and the lands beyond. “According to the latest data from our reconnaissance planes, Zipang has unfortunately become occupied by the New Lunar Republic forces. Also, we still have no confirmation of when they are planning to invade Equestria”.
After hearing this, Crest remembered his family and started to feel worried. He asked “Wait Celestia, is my family still alright?” concern in his eyes.
“Crest, the reconnaissance aircraft was supposed to look for signs of any survivors, but unfortunately the craft was shot down before it could find anything” Celestia explained. She trotted over him to put her hoof on his shoulder “I’m so sorry Crest but that does not mean that you should give up hope”. Crest looked down, tears starting to form in his eyes.
Luna, being his first and best friend, wrapped her wing around Crest. “Listen, I know you’re concerned about the safety of your family but don’t worry, I’m pretty sure their still safe or hiding somewhere on the island. They’re tough ponies, they wouldn’t go down that easily”.
“Luna’s right. From what you’ve told me your family are very strong. They probably managed to slow the enemy down, choosing to fight instead of surrendering quickly. Otherwise this place would probably have been invaded by now” Yamanami consoled as he walked closer to Crest to pat him on the head. Crest looked up at Yamanami, Celestia and Luna and began to smile again, wiping his damp eyes.
“Thanks guys. You’re right Yamanami, my family have given us the time to do this mission, to meet you and resurrect this old battleship. Even though we’ll be facing around 100 ships, with your naval knowledge and leadership, Luna’s guidance, and the help of our new crewmembers, we should be able to break through and save them” Crest announced, feeling confident again.
“Don’t forget about the other four warships; they will serve as an escort. And don’t forget the army soldiers either as they will help you with the landing operation” Shining Armor added pointing at the four anchored warships and Crest turned to see them.
“You’re right, thanks for reminding me Commander Shining Armor. We will need their help too if we are to succeed.” Crest smiled.
“You are welcome my friend” Shining Armor nodded.
After Crest was reassured by his friends, they left the deck, gathering in one of the meeting rooms below deck in order to focus their attention on planning the operation to liberate Zipang. They poured over the map, discussed tactics and possible scenarios that they could use or may happen. After an hour of this, an idea came to Yamanami, a naval tactic that was similar to what the Yamato failed to do back in Earth, during the last days of the war. He told Crest about the idea and Crest was liked the idea, agreeing that it could work.
“Sorry to interrupt everyone but Crest and I have an idea” Yamanami declared. Everypony quickly stopped what they were doing, turning their attention to Yamanami as he pointed at the map of the South Luna Ocean. “The Yamato, escorted by the two battlecruisers and two heavy cruisers, will sail straight towards the direction of Zipang. It will take several days to get there”.
Commander Shining Armor pulled out a pen and paper and started taking notes on the mission.
“If we meet the enemy fleet along the way, we shall attack with everything we have in order to push through and reach the coast” Crest added. “Luna and I can perform the Protection Barrier Spell to protect the Yamato and the four escort ships from enemy fire, but there’s a problem”.
“We don’t know how long we can keep the spell going with 100 ships firing projectile shells at us non-stop?” Luna guessed.
“Correct Luna. The more raining projectiles that hit our protection barrier spell, the more time is reduced on how long our spell can withstand” Crest started to yawn. “Sorry, I’ve done a lot of magic spells today. I guess it’s taken its toll on me”.
“Are you okay?” Luna asks Crest, concerned, and he nods.
“Yeah, I’ll just need to take a rest later after we set sail” Crest reassured.
Celestia quietly motioned to one of her Royal Guards to come to her. After she whispered an order to the Royal Guard, he bowed and left the room. Celestia then suddenly declared “I think I have a better idea and it will probably help you with the protection barrier spell problem” Everypony, including Yamanami, turned to looked at her.
“Luna, do you remember the Elemental Project?”
“Kind of, but wasn’t the project scrapped a few years ago?” Luna replied and her sister shook her head.
“No, it was not. We did stop doing tests and experiments with it, but we never destroyed it. I kept it around for safe keeping, just in case we ever needed it” Celestia answers back.
“The Elemental Project?” Crest asked, puzzled. “What’s that?”
“During the New Lunar Republic’s huge assault, one of our scientists discovered six crystals in the deep depths under Canterlot, which almost resembled the six elements” Celestia said.
After Celestia mentioned ‘six elements’, Crest was shocked. “Wait, six elements? Like the Elements of Harmony? How strange”.
“Anyway, after the discovery, the Elemental Project was started, and our scientists were researching and experimenting with the crystal until they discovered that it could generate a powerful magic shield” Celestia explained. “Then, while Shining Armour and I were visiting the research lab, an unnatural occurrence happened; a ghost appeared before us and gave us a message. She told us “Only one ship can carry this device” and then she disappeared without telling us any other clues”.
“That’s weird, an entity appearing before you just to tell you that? It must be important for the device somehow.” Yamanami commented.
Celestia nods. “Yeah, we thought so too. We decided to test the device on some of the best ships in our fleet, but the device never fully activated during any of the tests that we conducted, even though the crystal seems to still be alive. So, I decided to put the device in storage for safe keeping, just in case it could be of use in the future”.
Right after Princess Celestia had mentioned her encounter with the ghost and its message, Crest suddenly thought about how a similarly unusual experience had happened to him twice and once to Luna as well; the female voice that had called out to them to restore the Yamato. Crest started to realise that there could be a possible link between the two, and so he asked Celestia. “Celestia, you mentioned something about a ghost appearing before you and giving you a message. It sounded similar to something that I experienced back on Earth”.
Celestia and Commander Shining Armour both turned their attention to Crest.
“During our visit to Yamanami’s house, he showed us an old photo of the Yamato and as I gazed at it, I suddenly heard a female voice calling to me, telling me to bring the ship back to life” Crest explained. Celestia became intrigued by his testimony.
“After the occurrence, I suddenly became interested in the old battleship and later decided to restore it”.
“So that’s why you suddenly spaced out eh?” Yamanami chuckled.
“Something similar happened to me as well my sister” Luna added. “When Crest and I went into the deep ocean and saw the Yamato, I heard the sound of a female voice, calling us to bring back the Yamato”.
“Another phenomenon occurred as well” Celestia said. “The device started glowing and flashing repeatedly, right after the Yamato appeared out of the portal. Which is why I speculate that the device could be fully activated on this battleship”.
“So, where is the device?” Crest asks Celestia.
“It has already been installed in the Yamato” The white alicorn replied. Crest was surprised as he could not remember seeing any such device being loaded onto the Yamato. “While I was touring this ship with you three, I ordered my guards, with the help of a mechanic officer from the base, to install the device in the Yamato” Celestia explained.
“Ah, I see. That makes sense.” Luna said. “Well then, can we see it? Maybe we could test to see if it works?”
“Yes of course, my sister. Follow me.” Celestia nodded and she trotted over to the door. She opened it to reveal the Royal Guard that had left earlier, along with the mechanical officer, an earth pony, who had helped with the installation of the Elemental Device earlier. “Meet Brave Warner, the mechanical officer who is in charge of the Elemental Device. He was one of the ponies who worked on and tested the Elemental Device on several ships right here at this naval base, so he has a better understanding of it than anypony here. It’s lucky that he was still at this naval base and so could help us on our mission”.
Yamanami saluted. “Nice to meet you Officer Warner, I look forward to working with you”.
“Indeed, pleasure to meet you Officer Warner” Crest also saluted.
“Thank you Captain Yamanami and Tactical Officer Imperial Crest”. Brave Warner saluted back. He then bowed to Celestia and Luna. “Your Highnesses, I am glad to be of service. What do you require me to do?”
“Can you please take us to the Elemental Device?” Celestia asked.
“Of course, Your Majesty.” Brave Warner bowed again before trotting down the hallway, with everypony following after him.
“I forgot to mention, where’s my Magic Mirror Prototype?” Crest asks Celestia whilst trotting next to her.
“Do not worry, it has already been stored in the ship as well” Celestia replied.
They then arrived at the room containing the Elemental Device. Officer Warner entered, everypony entering after him. After they had entered room, they immediately saw a huge circular device in the centre of the room. It was connected to the ceiling and the floor by metal platforms that held it in place, several cables coming out of the sides of the device and connected up to the ship’s power. A clear capsule was in the centre of the circular device and inside of it contained a crystal that appeared to have six colours: red, orange, pink, purple, blue and green. The crystal was flashing with light every few seconds, casting the different colours of light around the room every time it did so. The sight of the device caused both Crest and Yamanami to become surprised but intrigued, especially when seeing that the crystal had six colours. Luna had seen the device before, but was surprised to see that the crystal was glowing of its own accord, as it had never done that before.
“Woah… So, this is the Elemental Project Device? I’ve never seen anything like it before” Yamanami asked in awe. Celestia nodded in response.
“The crystal’s colours look almost identical to the Elements of Harmony” Crest commented as he looks closer to the device.
“It sure does Crest” Luna added.
“Since you talked about how the Elemental Device could possibly be fully activated on the Yamato, can we test it?” Crest asks Celestia.
The white alicorn nodded and she gestured to Officer Warner. He nodded, trotting over to the side of the Elemental Project Device to open up a small monitor where he pressed a few buttons to activate the device. After he pressed the activate button, loud whirring sounds were emitted from the device. The crystal stopped flashing with light every few seconds, instead glowing brightly and a huge and colourful energy wave bursts out of the device. The energy wave was so bright that it forced everyone to cover their eyes. Right after the energy surge, a rotating mechanism located on the top of the device started spinning, indicating that the device was fully activated. The crystal was now glowing with constant light, washing the room with its six different colours. As everypony cleared their visions, they saw that the device was working. Celestia, Luna, Shining Armour and Brave Warner were all especially astounded that the Elemental Project Device was finally activated, after two years of hard work.
“I can’t believe it… It actually works? We tested it on so many of our ships, but it decides to work on the ship that comes from a different planet?!” Shining exclaimed as he gazed at the device, astonished.
“Yeah… I wonder why?” Crest pondered as he trotted closer to the device, examining it.
“Well according to the readings, the crystal’s energy has stabilised. The device is now fully activated and ready for action” informed Officer Warner as he stared at the small monitor, which was displaying the device’s status.
“I guess I was right all along, the device is useful after all. Glad I didn’t scrap it after all aren’t you?” Celestia smiled at Shining and Luna.
“Well, we might not know exactly why but something tells me that it was specifically meant to be activated on the Yamato” Crest added.
“It seems like you might be right” Luna agrees, as she closely inspected the crystal. “It’s pretty amazing that this small crystal can create magic shields”.
“Officer Warner, it’s great that we got the device to work, but can it really generate a big enough shield? We’ll probably need a shield big enough to not only protect the Yamato, but all four of the escort ships as well.” Yamanami asked.
“Yes Captain, according to our calculations I believe it can” Brave Warner replied. “However, sir, you need to remember to use it wisely. We have done a lot of testing with this device and according to our predictions, the shield can last for around three hours. After that, the device will need to be recharged before it can be used again. We estimate that this will take a few hours to complete. This is still a prototype device though, so our estimations may be a little off”.
“That should hopefully be good enough, thanks for letting us know” thanked Yamanami, slightly blushing at being called Captain.
“You really know a lot about this device, don’t you? It’s lucky that we have you with us, we probably wouldn’t have a clue about how to use it” Crest comments.
“Yes well, as Her Majesty told you, I was assigned to help the scientists set up and maintain the device during the many experiments that they conducted. After the project was supposedly scrapped, I was reassigned to the base here and have been working here ever since. I honestly thought that I would never get to see the device ever again, but here it is.” Brave Warner replied.
“Ah I see, that’s good to know. Thank you for your services so far, we’ll be counting on you.” Crest saluted.
Brave Warner saluted back. “Of course, sir, you can count on me”.
“Alright everypony, the crewmembers are all aboard and ready to operate the Yamato, the army is all settled in and ready as well, we’ve figured out a plan for the operation and the device is now fully activated. I think you are pretty much ready to go. We should probably notify the captains of the four other ships now.” Celestia announced as everypony stopped what they were doing and listened to her. They all nodded in agreement and exited the room, leaving Brave Warner to monitor the device.
“Do not worry Your Highness, I am already on it” Shining Armor was using his magic to write a message on four pieces of paper, which were floating in front of him as he trotted. After he was done writing the message, the four notes disappeared into magic dusts, speeding through the air towards their different destinations. “There we go, I just sent the messages that contain the plans for the mission and the request to depart to the four captains of our escort warships”.
“Very good, once we get their reply to depart, prepare to set sail” Celestia ordered as she and the others exit the Yamato’s superstructure, once more standing on the deck. As they waited for a response, they decided to go through the plan again so that they wouldn’t forget any important details.
After only fifteen minutes of waiting, four scrolls appeared in front of Shining Armor. He opens each of them to read the responses, the trio eagerly staring at him as he did so, waiting for him to tell them the reply. After Shining had read the four messages he smiled as he looked up and nodded.
“Very good, it seems that they have actually all finished their preparations a while ago and were waiting for us to finish. They have all accepted the request and are now preparing to set sail” Shining informs the trio.
“Very good. Looks like we’re all ready to go” Yamanami added.
“Yes, it does seem that way, however, I will sadly not be joining you on your mission. I must head back to Canterlot and continue to keep the peace. We’ve still got a war to win, remember? Most of our army, navy and air force are still fighting to the north and the east, I still have to make sure that they can hold the lines and push back the enemy” informed Celestia.
“That’s true. Well then, thank you so much Commander Shining, I appreciate your help to organise all of our new crewmembers and the army soldiers, as well as everything else that you’ve done for us” Crest smiled and salutes at the white unicorn commander.
“You are most welcome my friend. I wish you good luck on your mission” Shining saluted back, extending his hoof towards Crest, where they both do a hoof-shake.
“It was nice to meet you Commander Shining Armour and I too thank you for all your help” Yamanami salutes and shakes Shining’s hoof after Crest.
“No problem and it is a pleasure to meet you too, Yamanami the Human” Shining said.
Shining then turned to look at Celestia. “Your Highness, should we get going?”
“Yes, Commander Shining” The white alicorn princess nods and Shining trots to stand next her.
“With everything done and ready, I’m proud of you Imperial Crest for coming this far on your mission. With the help of my sister, you have successfully found help on Earth and managed to find a mighty warship to aid you on your quest. With all this helping you, I’m confident that you can complete your mission and stop the New Lunar Republic’s invasion.” Princess Celestia smiled as she hugged Crest.
“No problem Celestia, and thank you” Crest replies, smiling back. Luna trots towards Celestia and gives her a hug.
“Stay safe my sister and look after the others. Especially Crest, I fear that he may do something rash if his emotions get the better of him” Celestia cautioned as she hugged back.
“I will, sister” Luna responded.
“Once again, it is very nice to meet you Your Highness and I thank you for all the help you have given us” Yamanami smiled and bowed lower in respect.
“Thank you very much Yamanami the Human, the pleasure is all mine. As I have said before, you are most welcome. You humans sure are very polite, I like that. I hope that the next time we meet, we may do so under more cheerful and less rushed circumstances as I am most intrigued about you and your planet of Earth. I apologise again that I must leave so quickly, this is no way to properly treat a guest from another world, however as you know it is due to the current situation that we face” Princess Celestia apologised.
Yamanami looked up at Celestia, nodding in agreement. “That’s alright Your Majesty, I completely understand. I’m just happy to be of help”.
The Royal Guards then started to go back down the ramp to the dock. Princess Celestia and Commander Shining Armour followed them, pausing just before the ramp to look back at the trio. Celestia smiled as she felt confident that they would succeed on the mission. “Good luck Imperial Crest, sister and Yamanami the Human. Be careful and stay safe on your mission”.
“As long as we have this ship, the shield generating device and the four escorts, we will be able to succeed even if we have to face all 100 ships head-on” Yamanami confidently declared.
Princess Celestia and Commander Shining Armor then trotted down the ramp to meet up with the Royal Guards. They stayed on the dock to watch the preparation and departure. The trio then left the deck and entered one of the two elevators to take them to the main bridge. At the same time, the ponies hanging around the dock all trotted to the dock bollards and started to remove the ramp in order to prepare for the ship’s departure. Simultaneously, the tugboats were starting up their engines and were on standby. Back at the bridge, the trio exited the elevator and meet the five bridge officers, who all saluted to them and they saluted back in return.
“Nice to meet you five, what are your roles on the main bridge?” Yamanami asked and each of the five officers responded to him one by one.
An earth pony stepped forward and spoke first. “My name is Timone Helm. I am the navigations officer and my role is to steer the Yamato with this” he said as he touched the Yamato’s steering wheel.
Next a unicorn stepped forward. “My name is Armis Ferrum. I’m the artillery and anti-aircraft officer, I get to announce the command when firing the guns, but it requires an order from you three. since you three are all command of this mission”
The remaining three then stepped forward, all of them earth ponies. The tallest of them spoke “My name is Raylight Ranch. These two are my brothers, Lampas Ranch and Vexillum Ranch. The three of us are the communications officers and our roles are to spot anything suspicious and to read any communications, such as light signalling or flag signalling”
“Ah yes, the communications officers” Crest nodded. “Very good. Well, it is a pleasure to meet you all. As you may or may not know, I am Imperial Crest and I will be the acting tactical officer”. He gestured to Luna “You all probably know who she is. Princess Luna will be an advisor and will be supervising the ship’s general functions and management. And this here,” Crest turned towards Yamanami, “is your Captain”.
“Yes, it is nice to meet you all. My name is Yamanami and I am a human from a world called Earth. I know that I look different and even speak a little differently to you all, however I want to reassure you that I have worked many years aboard a warship back on Earth, so I have the skills and knowledge required to be Captain. I am willing to put all my faith and trust in you, all I ask is that you do the same. I also ask that you obey Crest and Luna’s orders as if they were my own as well”.
The five officers all saluted, “Yes sir!”
“Very good, thank you. Now, I want to know if all departments are ready before we depart with the escort ships” Yamanami said.
The three Communications Officers all nodded and went off to the speaking tubes to make sure that all preparations had been complete before they set sail. A few seconds later they started to get responses, one after another.
“Main guns, secondary guns and AA guns are in good shape!”
“Weapon supplies are full!”
“All radar and radio are functioning as normal and we’re good to go!”
“Rangefinder and lookout groups are ready to keep an eye on the ocean and skies!”
“Engine is good and stabilized and the ship has been fully refuelled with easily enough for this trip!”
“Hello there this is the head chef speaking, our food supplies are fully stocked and there’s enough to easily feed everypony onboard for a whole week if we need to!”
“Damage control unit is ready for any damage problems!”
After the responses from all the ships’ personnel, Yamanami commented. “Very good”.
“A message from one of the four ships” Officer Raylight announced as he looked through his binoculars at the four escort ships. One of the battlecruisers was using light to signal to the Yamato and he continued “This is the captain from one of the battlecruisers. I am speaking on behalf of the other three captains of the other escort ships as well. We are departing now and will travel at slow speed as we wait for the Yamato to meet up with us”.
“Excellent. Announce to everypony that we are going to depart now” Yamanami commanded.
Officer Raylight saluted and went over to a radio in the corner of the main bridge. He activated it and announced, “Attention all sailors, officers and soldiers! We will now be departing the South Luna Ocean Bay and heading for the island of Zipang. Please finish up any preparations as we will be departing immediately!”
After the announcement was sounded over the ship’s speakers, the mooring ponies all nodded to each other before starting to loosen the mooring ropes from the dock’s bollards. At the same time, the tugboats sailed on the starboard side of the Yamato and the tugboat crews threw their ropes to wrap around the Yamato’s individual bollards in order to pull the ship out of the dock. Then the mooring ponies started to pull the mooring ropes off the Yamato, letting the tugboats pull the ship out of the dock slowly. After the ship had moved a couple of metres away from the dock, the tugboats stopped, and their crew detached the ropes from the Yamato’s individual bollards. Then the tugboats sailed on the portside of the battleship and repeated the process, continuing to slowly push the battleship away from the pier and give it more space to turn. After several metres of distance was put between the ship and the dock the tugboats sailed away, leaving the ship to begin its departure.
“Captain, the ship is now out of the dock” Officer Helm announced.
“Good, hard to starboard at slow speed” Yamanami ordered.
“Yes sir!” Officer Helm nodded as he turned the steering wheel hard to the right and spoke through one of the speaking tubes. “Start engine at slow speed!”
“Engine at low speed!” One of the officers from the engine room shouted a response through the message pipes. Then the angled funnel started blowing some smoke, indicating that the engine of the ship had started, and the ship started moving slowly to starboard, in order to avoid hitting the dock.
As the Yamato sailed slowly whilst turning to starboard, Princess Celestia and Commander Shining Armor, along with the Royal Guards, all saluted to the giant battleship and in response everypony on the bridge and some officers and sailors on deck saluted back. Right after the salute, the trio waved goodbye to Celestia and Shining Armor and they waved back. Yamato was now facing west side of the huge South Luna Ocean along with the four escort warships, who are waiting for them.
“Set engine speed on medium and we will meet up with the escort warships” Crest ordered. Officer Helm nodded in reply as he fixed the steering wheel position point the ship straight towards the ocean. “Engine at medium speed!” he shouted through the speaking tubes.
“Engine at medium speed!” An officer from the engine room then shouted back through the message tubes and later the ship’s speed changed as they slowly caught up to the four escort warships.
As the Yamato got closer, the four escort ships started to match the same speed as the Yamato.
“Sir, meet up completed and they are now moving at the same speed as us” Officer Helm announced.
“Good” Yamanami said. “For now, we will continue sailing at this pace”.
Crest went over to the radio communication device and pressed a button to also allow the radio device to contact the four warships, so that they could also hear what he had to say. He then turned the radio on before speaking.
“Attention everypony! This is Imperial Crest, the crowned prince of the country we’re saving, Zipang, and the acting Tactical Officer aboard the Yamato for this mission. Most of you already know about how dangerous to mission we are partaking in, which is to stop a mass invasion force of the New Lunar Republic. I won’t lie to you; it is going got be quite difficult. We’ll be up against possibly around 100 ships. However, there is no need to worry because within the Yamato holds one of Equestria’s forgotten military projects called the Elemental Device. This device can create a powerful magic shield that will protect us from all attacks of the enemy fleet. Now, with the device fully activated, we have an advantage over the enemy. If we can stop them, then we would have prevented a mass scale invasion of Equestria and essentially saved us from losing the war, while also saving my home country from occupation. Let’s all try our best for this important mission. The whole of Equestria and Zipang are counting on us and I know that we won’t let them down. I thank you all for listening. Please rest up and prepare yourselves for the fight to come. I wish you all good luck”.
After Crest’s speech, the loud sound of voices could be heard coming from both the Yamato and the four escort ships. Ponies were screaming and cheering with patriotism, shouting ‘Glory to Equestria! Glory to the Yamato!’ and other supportive chants. Crest started to smile, feeling the huge support of all the crews from each of the five warships. Luna and Yamanami clapped as well, as did the other five bridge officers.
“That was an interesting speech, well done” Luna smiled at him.
“Thank you, Luna. I sort of made it up as I went along” Crest smiled back at her.
“That was a very good speech Crest! It almost sounded like you were the captain” Yamanami complimented as he patted Crest on the back.
“Thanks, Yamanami” Crest thanked, a bit flattered.
“Anyways, Officer Helm, maintain course to my country, Zipang” Crest commanded.
“Yes sir!” He replied as he grips the steering wheel, looking out at the afternoon ocean and its endless waves.
The Yamato maintained its course and speed along with the four escort warships as they exited the South Luna Ocean Bay and began entering the huge wide ocean. Back at the South Luna Ocean Bay dock, Princess Celestia and Commander Shining Armor, along with the Royal Guards, were watching the giant battleship and its escorts as they sailed away into the distance.
“And so, their journey continues eh?” Shining commented. “Well, shall we head back to Canterlot now Your Highness?”
“Yeah” Celestia replied. She gazed at the Yamato and its escorts one last time, as the small fleet slowly receded into the horizon. ‘Farewell Yamato, and good luck to you all’ she thought to herself as she turned around, left the dock, and began heading back to Canterlot with Shining and her Royal Guards in tow.
The battleship Yamato commanded by the trio, along with the escort warships, continued sailing along into the huge ocean. They were heading west towards Zipang to fulfil their mission; to save Imperial Crest’s home country and prevent the invasion of Equestria by stopping the New Lunar republic invasion naval fleet in their tracks. It seemed that the fate of Equestria and Zipang rested on the crews of these few warships and their captains. Imperial Crest, the crowned prince of Zipang, Princess Luna, the sister of Celestia and co-ruler of Equestria, and their human friend Osamu Yamanami, from another world, continued on their mission. But no one really knew exactly what the outcome would be, of the battle to come…
