U-650 was on her eighth patrol in the North Atlantic when she is caught in a storm hunting an allied supply convoy. When the sub surfaces it is no longer in the North Atlantic but in a sea off the coast of Equestria.
This story was originally written by Lockheed. He had cancelled the project and passed it to me, so I will put this on hiatus until I could rewrite the whole thing.
"Captain! I have der allied convoy on the sonar, bearing of 2-4-0 degrees!" came the excited call from the sonar operator. "Take us to periscope depth!" the captain ordered. With this order a sailor began to turn the dive-planes on the bow to ascend to periscope depth.
"At periscope Herr Captain!"
Captain Hochstetter walked over and gazed through the periscope. The clouds had closed in on the U-650 and the convoy. He could tell it was going to be a bad storm. Storms in the North Atlantic could get bad but Hochstetter knew this one would be worse then the rest they had encountered in the Atlantic on previous patrols. Then he saw the convoy, a group of about twenty cargo ships along with five destroyer escorts.
"Load torpedo tubes and stand by."
The men in the torpedo room quickly loaded the tubes then stood by to fire. Captain Hochstetter made some last second adjustments to the aiming.
"Fire torpedoes one and two!"
A whoosh could be heard throughout the U-Boat as the torpedo's fired. Hochstetter watched as the white trail the torpedo's left met with the side's of a destroyer and a cargo ship.
"Direct hit! One destroyer and one transport sunk! Reload tubes and prepare to fire again. Are tubes three and four ready?"
"Ja Captain!"
"Fire three on my mark.....................Fire three!"
Another whoosh was heard as a third torpedo left the sub. The torpedo hit a destroyer below its bow turret, detonating it's forward magazine full of high explosives. Hochstetter peered through the periscope aperture as rain begin to pelt the glass of the viewing device and lightning danced across the sky overhead.
"Bootsmann! Take us to 100 meters."
"Ja Herr Captain."
As the sub dove Hochstetter could hear the storm intensify. Even at 100 meters below the surface he could feel the U-Boat move with the raging ocean above them. 'This is not normal. At this depth the sub shouldn't be moving around like this' Hochstetter said in his head.
"Bootsmann! Take us to 150 meters."
"Ja Herr Captain."
Hochstetter ordered the submersible to level. Even at this depth he could feel the subtle, unnatural shift of the sea. The captain was well know in the Kreigsmarine for having a 'sixth sense' when it came to these strange occurrences. He was right when he had said the Bismarck could be sunk or when he said the allies would eventually capture a U-Boat and it's Enigma machine. He felt that something was going to happen this time that would end up with him and his crew in prison or sunk, or worse. To try and calm his nerves Hochstetter sat down to play cards with some men on the bridge. After several hours he felt the sub return to normal.
"Bootsmann! Surface the boat."
"Ja Herr Captain."
When the submarine broke the surface Hochstetter climbed outside. The storm had subsided and Captain Hochstetter saw a coastline in the distance. Peering through his binoculars he saw nothing but beaches and trees right up to the horizon.
As Rainbow Dash flew over the coast of the Equestrian Sea she saw a grey boat off in the distance, a boat that was far to big to be from Equestria.
"I'm telling you Twilight it's the one of the biggest ships I've ever seen!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she told Twilight of the ship. "We need to report this to Princess Celestia immediately." Twilight responded, all the while pondering where the ship could be from.
Princess Celestia sat atop her throne as she read the letter she had just received. "Luna, you are knowledgeable in weaponry. Do you know of any warship's that match this description?" Taking the letter from Celestia, Luna read the letter from Twilight describing what Rainbow Dash had seen.
"It does not sound like any warship I know of. It certainly does not sound big enough to be a battleship. I haven't the slightest clue."
"Then we must investigate this vessel. I will send Twilight and her friends as well as some royal guards to find the ship."
The girls and five royal guards walked along the beach scanning the horizon for the ship. As they walked they saw a white pegasus in golden armor flying towards them. The stallion landed in front of the group and saluted the head guard in the group.
"Sir, Red Flight has located the ship about five miles north of here."
"How far off shore is it?"
"About one mile but it appears to be sailing towards the beach."
Twilight was alarmed by this information. If it was indeed a warship could it be getting close to try and fire on a town or city? The group continued north in a run and was at the beach within ten minutes
As Hochstetter scoped the beach he saw what looked like large white and golden birds flying over the tree line. As he watched them he saw technicolored creatures walking along the beach. This was strange and Hochstetter felt that this deserved investigating.
"Stop engines and prepare a raft to take me ashore!"
As the raft pushed away from the sub Hochstetter ordered the crew to come ashore if the men in the raft weren't back in twenty minutes.
As the group stood on the beach they could see creatures in a raft leave the ship. Now everyone was on high alert as the raft headed towards shore. "Everypony hide! When they land we'll arrest 'em!" came the order from the head guard.
Captain Hochstetter took one last glance at the U-Boat as they neared the shore. He turned his attention on the men in the raft. His focus on the four men rowing was broken by the click of a gun bolt. Hochstetter turned and saw the fifth sailor loading an MP 40 sub-machine gun. He didn't see the need for the gun since it looked as though the land was uninhabited. The raft dragged bottom in the shallow water giving the signal for the men to step ashore. As the men stood looking at the beach and the forest beyond it they were suddenly surrounded by a light blue glow and found they couldn't move.
The group had scattered to shelter behind the large rocks on the back of the beach. They could hear the creatures splash in the water as they jumped out of the raft into the shallow water. Twilight, peering around her cover, could see the creatures. They were bipedal and appeared to only have hair on their heads. They wore blue uniforms except for one, who wore a leather jacket and wore a white cap with golden oak leafs. "That must be the captain." Twilight whispered to herself. As the creature looked around she could see his face, he had green eyes and thick black hair with a bit of stubble on his chin. Nearby she could see the commander of the guards peering from his spot and saw his horn glowing blue. She turned and saw the sailors surrounded by a blue hue and them being forced to the ground.
Captain Hochstetter sat on the beach, still surrounded by the blue glow. He could see the other men out of the corner of his eye and saw they too were still in the grasp of what ever this was. Hochstetter could hear something move behind them. "You are under arrest by the Royal Guard of Equestria!" a voice barked. 'Well we're in deep shit'
The group began to come out of hiding and finally saw what had landed. As they did they finally got a look at the creatures, all but the one in the jacket looked young but the other looked quite a few years older. Two guards approached the sailors and began tying their feet and whatever those things on their arms were together. After they were tied up the blue glow around them disappeared and allowed them to move again. As they watched the new beings they saw one raise his head to look at his captors. When he did a grin slowly crossed his face. "What is so damn funny?" the guard commander asked.
On the beach the sailors sat on their knees looking down at the sand, until one looked up at them and began grinning. As he did so a guard began yelling at him.
"My Grandfather told me story's about creatures like you. That was twenty years ago and I still remember them. He had claimed to have seen your kind one night during the Battle of Wörth. We all thought he was crazy. Now I see he knew more than the rest of us."
The rest of the men looked up in awe at them, except for Hochstetter. He watched the six mares behind the guard; from how they were almost eye to eye with him on his knees he judged that they must be ponies. As he watched them a lavender colored unicorn stepped forward and approached him. She stood in front of him and stared wide eyed. "What are you?" she asked with curiosity and fear in her voice. "I am Captain Wilhelm Hochstetter of the Kriegsmarine. Who are you?" he asked. “Twilight Sparkle.” was the unsteady answer. “Well Miss. Sparkle do you mind telling us where we are?” Hochstetter asked with slight concern in his voice. “You are in Equestria. Now we know that that vessel is too big to only need five sailors and a captain so how many more are there on board?” the guard interrupted. “I don’t believe you have been introduced to me yet. Who are you?”
“Lieutenant Silver Sword of the Royal Guard. Now enough of this chit-chat bullshit, how many more are on the ship?”
“No need to be hostile Lieutenant, there are forty-six more men on board.”
“Well Captain Hochstetter, you are going to get the rest of your sailors to surrender and you will be held and questioned in the capitol prison until we can figure out how to send you back to where you came.”
“Very well but I demand to be present during the questioning of my men and I ask that you government follow the same rules that we have to follow according to the Geneva Conference."
A look of suspicion appeared on Silver Sword’s face.
“We will see but first the rest of your crew must surrender. Can you get them to do that?”
“I can but I request that they be briefed by you on what is going to happen. Oh and if I were you I wouldn’t mention prison to them. So shall we be shoving off or are we going to sit and talk all day?”
The U-650 sliced through the water under the watchful eye of the guards and the six mares. Below deck the crew had been gathered and told of the situation by Captain Hochstetter.
"But sir why the hell did we surrender to white fluff balls like them?" a young sailor who couldn't have been more then nineteen asked while motioning towards the guards, drawing an angry glance from Silver Sword.
"Because do you really want to fight a magical creature that most thought of as a myth and all the while not knowing if they are friend or foe? God knows what a unicorn could do to a tin can like this." Hochstetter replied waving his hand at the walls of the U-Boat. The young sailor slunked down into his seat and remained quiet for the rest of the briefing. "Now the boat will be interned and we will be placed in protective custody. If any of you have a problem with this then I will personally load your ass in the torpedo tubes and launch you into the sea. Do I make my self clear?"
There was a collective nod from the men. They knew the Captain was one that was a difficult man to displease but if you did then he would have no problem sending you overboard. They were dismissed and proceeded to go about their usual business of preforming maintenance and other necessities that were needed to keep the sub in running condition. Up on the coning tower the mares waited for Hochstetter to return from the briefing. When he appeared on the bridge they began to observe him to see how he ran his ship. He seemed to be well liked by the crew and seemed like a rather calm, happy man. But they also hadn't heard the torpedo tube threat he had made which added to the nice appearance. After several minutes of watching him the girls were snapped out of their concentration by a voice coming from a tube like device.
"Captain, I just picked up a ship on the hydrophones."
"How big?"
"Triple screws and I can hear the engines. Captain it sounds like a battleship."
This was a shock to Hochstetter. How in the hell could such innocent looking creatures have a battleship?
With this news Hochstetter climbed the ladder up to the top of the conning tower. With the binoculars that had been built on to the sub's deck he could see the battleship to the left of them and getting closer fast. The ship was huge, she had four turrets with two 15in guns on each for a grand total of eight. She was in typical navy gray but had black and white stripes on her amidships.
'Why does that ship look familiar? It almost looks like the Tirpitz but it's in Norway so where have I seen that ship before?'
His thoughts were interrupted by the mares and Silver Sword climbing up onto the deck with him. They seemed amused by his shock of seeing their battleship. 'Well there's no use trying to escape. If we do they'll just blow us to bits.' Seeming to have read his thoughts Twilight spoke up.
"Don't worry Captain. If the Admiral wanted to sink us he would have already. Well maybe not since we're on here," she motioned towards the others with her hoof. "but he is a reasonable pony. He's going to escort us to Manehattan and then you will meet with him and the princess' before they interrogate your crew."
"Well it'll be nice to see who runs this place. They've certainly got to be better then old scramble brains in Berlin."
"Who?"
"Nobody. Just a bad egg that spoiled the carton."
"Oh. One thing I've been wanting to ask you Captain is how can we understand you?"
"Well I can understand you so I'm assuming you can speak English. Guess there were benefits to that private school in London."
"English?"
Hochstetter looked down at Twilight and realized that it probably wasn't called that here.
"The language that we are speaking in. Me and my crew all came from privileged family's and we all attended private schools in the United Kingdom so we all can speak English. If I hadn't requested these men then more than likely I would be the only one that you could talk to. Most of the time once we leave port we speak English but the rest of the time we have to speak in our native tongue."
"Oh. Well now that that is cleared up I suppose if you're going to be here for a bit you may as well know my friends."
"That might help."
"Well this is Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy." she said while pointing to the ponies as she listed their names.
"Well it's nice to finally know my captors names."
"Captain, the radio operator has made contact with the battleship. You're going to want to get below immediately, you aren't going to believe this." a sailor called up to him.
"Well shall we go below?"
Down below decks the radio man's face was pale as though he had heard a ghost in his headset.
"What's wrong with him?" Hochstetter asked a nearby sailor.
"Sir, the battleship, you need to hear this."
The sailor leaned forward and flipped a switch turning the radio from the headphones to the conning tower speakers.
"This is Bismarck to unidentified sub, come in, over"
The men on the bridge turned to see the Captain had gone as pale as the radio man. This was not what he had been expecting.
Picking up the microphone Hochstetter began to speak.
"Hello Bismarck, we read you load and clear."
"Nice to finally get a response from you. Thought you might have jumped ship."
"No we're here. You just gave our radio man a bit of a shock."
"Well just follow us to port and don't do anything stupid."
"Well you have the bigger guns Admiral. I don't think you're going to have any problems."
The U-650 sailed into Manehattan harbor along side the Bismarck and approached a pier that seemed to be built just for the battleship. At the end of the pier Hochstetter could see two winged unicorns and at least a couple dozen more guards. As the sub slowed to a crawl alongside the pier Hochstetter could see them in better detail. One had a white coat and a waving pink, blue, and green mane and appeared to be about the same height as him while the other was a deep blue with a mane that matched and was slightly shorter. When the submarine had been moored the crew began to emerge, and Hochstetter stepped towards the mares he had seen on the pier. 'If they had that many guards then those must be the princess' that Twilight had mentioned.' Hochstetter's mind raced as he thought of how the two princess' might react to alien creatures suddenly appearing in their land. As he approached he saw not looks of anger or fear, but smiles. 'Why are they smiling? I come in a warship and they're all smiles. Maybe they're on some sort of drug like they give you at the doctor's.' When he stepped on to the pier he noticed the taller of the two princess' was beginning to approach him.
"Are you the Captain of this ship?"
"Yes your highness. I am Wilhelm Hochstetter of the German Kriegsmarine."
"I figured as much by what Admiral Lindemann told us."
"Admiral Lindemann? As in Ernst Lindemann?"
"Yes. He said that your crew were in shock when you heard the name Bismarck."
"Well ma'am, our government said that the ship had been sunk so our shock is understandable. What I want to know is how did it get here?"
"Well it is a long story Captain."
The three turned to see an average sized pony with a grey mane and tail in a blue jacket and cap walking down the pier towards them.
"Captain, this is Admiral Lindemann."
Hochstetter extended a hand to the Admiral.
"It's an honor to meet you Admiral."
"The honor is all mine Captain. Nice to see a new crew around here."
"It's just nice to be on land again. I understand we are going to hold a private meeting before my crew is questioned?"
"Yes we are. Shall we be going your highness'?"
"We shall. We have a lot of questions for you Captain."
Hochstetter walked along the pier next to Admiral Lindemann and the Princess'. His mind continued racing with wonder about what kind of questions they may ask. But he had one for them first.
"Where are we going Herr Admiral?"
"Captain we dropped the Herr a long time ago, and we are going to the airfield."
"An airfield?"
"Yes. You see after we arrived here some ponies began to build their own planes after seeing the ones that our battleship was equipped with. Eventually they copied aircraft designs from our world that they learned from our pilots, including zeppelins."
"Well I suppose if there are things they learned from us then it might make our stay more comfortable."
"Trust me Captain it will. Another thing they leaned to build is automobiles but until they get the assembly lines going only the rich can afford them."
"Then I have another question Admiral."
"Yes?"
"Is my license good here?"
The four approached a car that to Hochstetter looked like the Mercedes staff cars that the High Command rode in. When they got closer a pony in a black suit opened the back door for them. As he climbed in behind the Princess' Hochstetter kept an eye on the pony. If they had copied things from Germany then they could have very well have made their own version of the SS. As he sat down in the middle row of seats next to the Admiral he turned to see his crew and some of the dock workers breaking open a case of cognac that had been stowed on the sub. As the car began driving through the crowded streets along the docks Hochstetter began to notice some of the other ships in the harbor. There was every type, from ocean liners to small sail boats, but one stood out in particular. It was a giant ship with four funnels painted yellow and black with a black hull and white paint along the promenade decks with a narrow yellow line separating the black and white. As the car drove past he could see it was at least ten story's high and had to be over a hundred feet longer then the Bismarck. Even after the car had left the docks the size of the ship still had Hochstetter in slight shock. 'They've done in a few years what it took us one hundred to do.'
As the car picked up speed outside of the city Hochstetter could see a silver cigar shaped blob ahead. When they got closer he could see it was a zeppelin almost identical to the Hindenburg in size. Then he began to notice the smaller aircraft and their crews scattered around the airfield. Among them was a mare in a flight jacket with a shaggy blonde mane climbing in a silver twin engine airplane with red leading edges that sat near the fence. His attention turned from the mare to the passenger planes parked near the small terminal. He could see all different designs like the Ju-52 and the DC-3 but he also saw a silver FW-200 Condor sitting alone on the other side or the airfield. The car turned and drove through the grass before pulling up next to the Condor. When the car jerked to a stop next to the aircraft a small team of ponies began pushing a small set of stairs up to the door of the plane. As they climbed out of the car the pilot began descending the stairs. When they met halfway Hochstetter could see it wasn't a pony in his thirties like he expected but rather he appeared to be in his early teens. 'As if I didn't have enough to worry about with the questioning but now we're being chauffeured by a damn choir boy.' The first to speak was the taller princess.
"Captain Hochstetter, this is Thunderbolt our personal pilot."
"Pleasure to meet you Mr. Thunderbolt. If you don't mind me asking, how old are you?"
"I'm fifteen sir. I hold the altitude, airspeed, and endurance records for pilots under seventeen."
"Well that's a little reassuring. What age can you get your aviation license here?"
"Thirteen sir. But the government requires you to have so many flight hours before hand."
"Good. I never did get your names by the way princess."
"I'm sorry Captain. I am Princess Celestia and this is my sister Luna. We are the co-rulers of Equestria. I'm a bit surprised Twilight didn't tell you about us before you arrived."
"She did mention that you two would be meeting us at the docks but she never told me your names. Perhaps the submarine distracted her from it. Are there any other nations near yours?"
"Well just a couple share the southern border with us. We're allied with the dragons but recently talks with the gryphons went downhill so we're transferring more forces near the border."
As they walked up the steps and on to the plane new things raced in Hochstetter's mind. 'Ok so there are other countries but she said talks broke down and mentioned more forces. Does this mean we're getting into a new war with things we don't know how to fight?'
The four took their seats in the plane and watched as the ground crew finish prepping the plane for takeoff. Thunderbolt walked up the isle and into the cockpit where he began the preflight check before turning four small switches and pushed in buttons above them. As he did the engines sputtered before roaring to life. The plane began to roll down the taxiway towards the runway. After a few minutes of taxiing the Condor turned onto the runway and began to gain speed before it clawed its way into the sky. When the plane began to level out another pony in a tux appeared with a silver platter with four small cups of tea. Taking a cup Hochstetter began to sip before he noticed Celestia glance over at him. Lowering his cup on to the small saucer he cleared his throat before he began to speak.
"Is there something you want to ask me your highness?"
"Well I was just wondering what your life might have been like before you came here,"
"Well it was pretty boring. I grew up in a fairly privileged family with my brother."
"Is your brother a nice man Captain?"
"Well he's a Major with the Gestapo so not really. But most of the time he has to deal with a Stalag outside of Dusseldorf and its Kammandant."
"That wouldn't happen to be Stalag 13 would it?" Admiral Lindemann asked.
"Yes it is."
"Are they still having problems with that troublesome Colonel Hogan or whatever his name is?"
"Most of the time that's why my brother Wolfgang is there." Hochstetter replied with a chuckle.
As the plane bounced along in the sky's over Equestria Hochstetter had a question for them that had been in his mind since he had first seen these ponies.
"Princess?"
"Hmm?" Celestia lowered her cup and looked over at the Captain.
"What's that thing on your ass?"
A roar of laughter erupted from Luna and Lindemann while Celestia sat slightly stunned by the question. When the Admiral and Luna had regained their composure Celestia began to explain it to him.
"It's a cutie mark. It appears when a pony finds their special talent in life. For me it represents how I raise the sun and Luna's how she raises the moon."
"Makes sense to me." Hochstetter replied as he took another sip of his tea.
In the distance a large castle on a mountain side was barely visible out the windows of the plane.
"Five more minutes and we'll be over Canterlot Airfield!" Thunderbolt called back to them from the cockpit. They put the cup's away and began to descend over the castle, which by this point Hochstetter could see appeared to be almost as tall as the Empire State Building that he had seen in King Kong. The plane did a couple of circles over the city below before it leveled out and the drone and clanks of the landing gear lowering filled the plane. The ground continued to grow closer until the plane made contact with it, causing Hochstetter to bounce in his seat. When the plane slowed to about walking speed it turned onto a taxiway towards a large hanger at the end of the parking area. As the plane approached the hanger Hochstetter saw the doors slide open to reveal several more aircraft, amongst them three Spitfire's and what looked like an American P-38 Lightning under repair. The Condor rolled into the hanger and shut down it's engines before a loud click was head as the main door swung open to another small stairway down to the ground. Hochstetter again saw that none of the ponies even cared about his presence.
'Um, Princess. Why is it they don't seem to care that I'm here?"
Celestia turned to him and seemed to have known that question would have come eventually.
"Well Captain, to be honest with you, you're not the first human to come here. Remember that mare you saw at the airfield in Manehatten?"
"Yes. What about her?"
"Well we found her, the navigator, and her plane on an island in the middle of the ocean. We kept the plane in a secret hanger until ponies began to build their own planes due to the Admiral's sudden appearance. As for her and her navigator, they let us turn them into ponies so they could blend in."
"And that's how I'm assuming you got these Spitfire's?"
"Some of them."
"So why were those ponies you sent so surprised by me?"
"Well we would always find the humans that came into our world before they could be seen. All the guards involved were sworn to secrecy and all evidence was covered up. But there is a unicorn mare in Ponyville who seems to know more about human's than we'd like."
The group then proceeded to walk through the hanger and through a doorway. After going down a long corridor then up several flights of stairs which, to Hochstetter, seemed like they would never end, they finally entered another corridor which was lined with some of the most lavish decorations he had ever seen. They entered a room halfway down the corridor and began to take seats at the boardroom table situated in the middle of the room. Celestia sat down in the chair on the far side of the table leaving the other seats open for Luna, Lindemann, and Hochstetter. After taking their seats Celestia placed a stack of blank paper and a quill on the table in front of her with her magic.
