Ivory Sparkle, First Sea Lord of the Equestrian Royal Navy, rubbed her ears to make sure there was nothing in them. There was no way Princess Celestia had just asked her what she thought she had. Was there?

"You want me to what?" Ivory asked, just to be sure.

Princess Celestia just smiled that famous enigmatic smile of hers. "I want the fleet out of harbor as soon as possible."

That what Ivory was afraid she had said. "The whole fleet? With all due respect Celestia, I can't just pull this out of my hat."

Celestia's smile slipped somewhat. " Is it impossible to do so? I fear we will need it in the days to come."

Ivory shook her head, her mood swinging up somewhat. "We can do it, but these things take time. Lucky for me, most of the fleet is in their homeports."

Celestia frowned slightly. "Is there anything you need besides time Ivory? You know you can be frank with me."

And it was true. Ivory was always known for being as blunt as possible with either Celestia or Luna when she needed to deal with them. It was one of the things they liked about her.

She was never afraid to tell them what needed to be said and not what the flank kissers at court what them to hear. Very few were ever like that around the sister.

Ivory shook her head. "Time is all I really need. All the ships and crews have to be notified, ordnance needs to be loaded, and the boilers have to cold-started, and that would take a week to do it right. Unless you want to risk pony's lives."

Celestia nodded. While she knew little of naval technology, she enough of how long it took a fleet to be ready to sail.

Honestly, Luna was better at this sort of thing than her. Not that she would ever tell her sister that of course. Oh no. Celestia would never hear the end of it.

Ivory sighed. "Where do you want us to sail to?"

Celestia smiled. "As far from Equestria's shores as you can, but not too far that cannot be recalled as soon as possible."

Ivory finally couldn't help herself and asked the question that had been bugging her since the meeting had started. "Why are we sailing at all? Is this about Tirek?"

Celestia shook her head. "No. Twilight and her friends have done a remarkable job as always in ending his rampage." She smiled ruefully. "Call it a precaution."

Ivory couldn't argue that. While it had been a long time since they had last seen each other, she was as proud of her little cousin as any could be. She sighed as she snapped to attention. "We will not let you down, Princess Celestia."

Celestia nodded in return. "I know you will not Ivory. Now go on. Don't let this old mare slow you down. You have a lot to do."

Ivory nodded before turning and leaving at a brisk pace. If she wanted this done in a timely fashion, the sooner she got started the better.

Celestia watched the earth pony go with pride. For all their differences, she and Twilight were alike in so many ways. As the door closed behind her, she sighed sadly as she floated out a letter she knew she would be sending soon, for she knew for certain now.

This had been the last time she would ever see Ivory Sparkle again. No matter what or all their disagreements over the years, Celestia would miss her greatly.

With another deep sigh, she stood down from her throne and turned toward a door that leads into the private areas of the castle. At the threshold, she looked out a nearby window at the darkening sky.

The celestial object was growing bigger and bigger every day. It was now known for sure that it had a golden tint to it. Nopony knew what that could mean, but few liked it.

If the calculations of the Royal Astronomy Guild were correct, it would enter Equus's orbit in the next several weeks. None could say for sure if it would hit the planet or miss entirely. There was also the chance it could hit the moon. Luna was not at all happy about the idea.

Celestia hoped with all her heart that nothing would ever come of it and it was just a passing oddity that the whole world would see once before it vanished again into deep space.

But for some reason, something was telling her that it would not be that easy.

***

One week later, every newspaper in Equestria had the same headline, and even those who didn't read the paper soon knew the news. Gossip soon spread like wildfire across every town and city from Appleloosa to the Crystal Empire.

'Entire Equestrian Royal Navy sails from homeports. First Sea Lord Ivory Sparkle refuses to comment on why as she joins the fleet in sailing.'

As it turned out, Twilight was swamped by questions of why she had never told anypony that her cousin was the First Sea Lord of Equestria. As far from the coast as Ponyville was, even Applejack had family in the Royal Navy. They all did as it turned out.

Twilight could only smile sheepishly and say that it had never seemed that important to bring it up. She herself hadn't seen Ivory in years. With more and more of her time taken up as Princess Celestia's personal student, they had lost touch.

Looking back at it now, Twilight regreted the two of them had drifted apart. She made a note to change that when Ivory returned with the fleet. As it was, her time now was taken up with the object growing larger and larger in the skies of Equus.

And the feeling that something was very, very, wrong. Nothing seemed outwardly to be wrong in Equestria at the moment. But the feeling would not leave her alone.

Author's Note

And now, the last piece is in place. Ivory and the navy have a role to play in what is to come. Celestia ordering the whole fleet out of port will help Equestria more than she will ever know.

As for the fleet itself? It is based on England's Royal Navy during the Edwardian Era. Just after the Dreadnought Revolution in fact. Most of Equestria's battleships are still Pre-Dreadnoughts.

But that is slowly changing. So it's more of a mix of Edwardian Era and Victorian Era battleships. Aside from being pony oriented, they have not changed from the battlewagons we knew at the time.

Edit: Expanded the chapter a bit to fit in more with what is coming.