Equestria. A land of peace and harmony on the planet of Gaia. For over a millennium the area has been a symbol of stability. However that has been the case in the interior of Equestria. What the princesses don't speak of is the no stop war waged over the sea. For centuries various group known as the "Pirate Lords" have dominated the ocean forcing countries to pay tolls or risk raiding. Today was one of those days...
The sea was crisp and the port of Shetland was busy. Located in Southern Equestria, it was a harbor for trade and a prime port for carnivores since it was one of the few places that meat was supplied to Equestria's meat eating inhabitants. Children played on the sand, stallions unloaded cargo and the mares were keeping everything calm.
BOOM! CRACK!
A cannon ball smashed into the pier.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
More cannon balls smashed came and smashed the wooden walls of the city. Alarm bells were sounded as a large fleet of ships were spotted coming towards the port. dinghy boats hit the shore with creatures of various races pouring out.
"PIRATES! PIRATES!" Called one of the guards as they rushed to the scene swords clashed and griffon claws struck armor. The townsfolk were in a panic trying to evacuate. colts and fillies screamed for their mothers in the confusion. Soon the guards were forced to a fighting retreat to try and stall for evacuation, but it wan't enough. Stallions were executed where they stood and mares were tied up with foals caged up. As they were loaded onto the boats they could see one terrifying figure. A stallion with a patch and scars all along his body. A tattered coat hung around his neck as he held a sword with a pistol in his other hand. his fur covered in dried blood stains.
The stallion just looked at the ponies before nodding and they were loaded up as the pirates started hurling torches into the city to set it alight.
The princesses arrived to an ashen port. Corpses lay strewn about and nothing was left. Not a single spec of food, not anything of worth...just ash and blood.
"TIa. What are we supposed to do?" Luna said putting her hand on her sister's shoulder.
"I don't know sister. seventy six ships...Seventy six ships in the entire Equestrian navy and we cannot catch the enemy. Our fleet is just too small and slow to catch them." Celestia said kneeling on the sand.
"Please guardians of Gaia. Help us. Your people beg for your saving and need your guidance. Send us the means to fight back." She said as she started to cry. Luna picked up her sister as they walked back to the carriage.
A translucent figure saw this pleading from the ocean.
"I promise you little pony. Your prayer shall be answered." the figure said before vanishing.
It was nearing the end of 1944. The Nazi Regime was losing battle after battle on all fronts. The German fleet was suffering and the surface fleet piratically ceased to exist. The main fleet had diverted to defend the Baltic. Two battleships were left in the entire main fleet. The Tirpitz, which was stuck in the port of Trondheim and her bigger cousin. This ship was H-44...GERMANIA.
"(Sir, we are en route to Trondheim.)" a crewman called out.
"(Good, our mission is right on schedule.)" said the admiral. This admiral was Admiral Hanz von Ravenmark of GERMANIA. His orders came from Der Fuhrer himself and were blunt to the point.
"Bring Tirpitz home."
"(Estimated arrival in Trondheim?)" Hanz requested rubbing his eyes from slight drowsiness.
"(Sir, we should arrive by dawn of tomorrow if we are lucky.)" the officer called back. It had been three days of dodging British ships to get just this close to the crippled Tirpitz. Soon they would escort her back through the sea to German ports in the Baltic for repair and combat in the area to stop the Red Wave.
"(Excellent open the internal radio. I shall tell our crew.)" Hanz said reaching for the internal radio to speak. "(My fellow Germans and brothers in arms. We are nearing the end of our mission. The Tirpitz waits for us to guide her home to defend the Fatherland. Come dawn tomorrow we will shake hands with the men of Tirpitz and return heroes. For Germany!)" he finished turning of the radio as the men across the ship cheered for their work and their homeland.
When the sun set beyond the horizon, Admiral went to his cabin to sleep. His room was sparse except for the necessities and a picture of his family before he set sail on GERMANIA. He kissed the tips of his index and middle fingers before touching them to the picture before falling asleep.
What he didn't realize was that the night was far from over...
Admiral James Duncan was considered an upstart by the Royal Navy. He was born a son of a soldier and quickly climbed the ranks. He was given command of HMS Lion the supposed solution to the German surface fleet despite his youth and all other candidates. He was patrolling with several others to intercept GERMANIA on its way to the North Sea. Days of missing each other by mere minutes had passed and morale was low.
"Admiral! Enemy ship on Radar!" A officer shouted.
"It it alone" He asked.
"Yes, its heading north from here." The officer replied.
"It's heading for the Norwegian coast. It has to be GERMANIA. Begin pursuit and inform all nearby ships! " Duncan called and the order was sent out to all of Royal Navy ships nearby.
"Sir we've got word from command. HMS Renown, Victorious, Berwick and three destroyers are moving towards pursuit. More are on the way, but it will take time." The officer said.
"Soon. We shall send Adolf's damn ship to the bottom of the icy water." Admiral Duncan said.
The night was quiet for the crew of GERMANIA who slowly slunk through the waves. The ocean lapped at the hull as the crew kept eyes to the dark for signs of enemy ships. as the radar operator was checking for pings on the radar. his eyes started to droop and head nodding off when a loud ping rang out.
PING....PING...PING
He looked at the radar to see a terrifying sight. Multiple blips showed up on the map and he slammed his hand onto the alarm. The siren whined as it rang across the ship and then BANG!
Sploosh
Splash
Splash
The ship was getting hit from multiple sides. Ten ships of varying classes and type were lobbing shells. The formation was covered by a smoke screen making it worse.
---
"Sir we are surrounded by Royal Navy ships!" an officer called. Ravenmark heard as he raced from his room to the citadel to give orders.
"Target torpedoes at the fronts of the smoke screen and fire the main guns into the smoke itself!" He commanded. Torpedoes launched out towards the destroyers trying to create the smoke. This caused the destroyers to divert course and one got set a light by a secondary shell from the smaller guns.
A fire was seen in the smoke as a torpedo had gotten lucky to hit a random ship while the others were detonated by defensive fire by the British warships.
("Sir the smoke is clearing! One destroyer sunk and one cruiser burning!") an officer called back.
"Excellent. have one gun target that cruise, the others are to target the closest large ship with the other three guns." Admiral Ravenmark ordered. 20 inch shells rang from the main guns the light cruiser that was on fire exploded by a magazine hit. another cruiser was bracketed with hits to the main turrets knocking them out of action.
"Admiral. We've lost a Z class and a Leander light cruiser has exploded. They've bracketed Berwick! right on the turrets themselves!" an officer called to Admiral Duncan.
"Damnit! keeps all main guns targeting the GERMANIA! have all torpedoes launch and tell the carrier to launch torpedo planes!" Admiral Duncan ordered.
"Aye sir. HMS Victorious is launching now." an officer called back.
'This big beast will fall just like Bismarck. To a volley of planes' Admiral Duncan thought to himself.
("Sir Torpedo barrage! from all sides!") an officer called.
("Full throttle on the engines! have secondaries fire at the incoming torpedoes!") The ship roared forward to dodge the torpedoes. As the ship escaped the main barrage of torpedoes, the sound of anti air batteries rang out.
("Sir, Enemy torpedo planes are closing in! We can't dodge all of them!") an officer called.
("Brace for impact!") Admiral Ravenmark said as Torpedoes hit the blisters causing the ship to rock. of the 7 fired from the planes, four struck but the damage wasn't going to sink GERMANIA. Many planes were shot down in a storm of bullets.
("Get repair crews to the holes and target the next vessel!") shouted Ravenmark. the front guns roared as another ship was pierced badly. A destroyer exploded and the small guns kept their aim at the skies to knock out further planes. Shells slammed into the hull making scorching hot holes in the side of GERMANIA.
("Multiple hits on us Sir! They've got us zeroed in!") an officer called. Admiral Ravenmark was furious at this. He was surrounded and only damaged four of the ten around him.
("Angle us towards the enemy 50 degrees!") the admiral called and the ship started angling and the shells aimed had now missed or ricocheted due to the angling of the armor. The guns fired more and knocked out the last destroyer and sunk another cruiser.
"Admiral the enemy has knocked out the last destroyer and sunk a cruiser. What should we do!" an officer called. Admiral Duncan was becoming infuriated at the GERMANIA.
'Why won't this devil die!' he thought as his ships were desperately trying to kill the beast.
"Tell ships to close the distance. and target their steering!" Admiral Duncan said.
"But why sir?!"
"DO IT!" Admiral Duncan yelled. After getting incredibly close, the GERMANIA had knocked out the Lion's guns and many of the other ships refused to charge and risk all their sailors dying. However, the Lion kept closing.
("Sir, the flagship is closing still!") an officer called.
("That admiral is insane! Focus all fire on that ship and turn us out of the path of that ship!") Admiral Ravenmark shouted. The ship was firing all its guns into the flagship but the ship was still speeding towards them and their ship was too damaged reducing the speed from 19 knots to 10 knots. The Lion was getting closer and closer.
"Brace for Impact" Admiral Ravenmark shouted.
("Prepare to die you damn demon of a warship!" ) Admiral James Duncan shouted.
SKCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!
The Lion smashed its bow into the enemy and a magazine exploded inside GERMANIA. The British warship reeled back from the bang as its front was tilted up and slid out from the hole the ramming had caused. A rain squall started hitting the area as the Lion slowly slunk away with barely enough of it left to not sink immediately. GERMANIA started to list forward in the storm as large waves flooded the front decks.
Admiral Ravenmark awoke with his head bleeding. The crewman were being evacuated by his second in command.
"Sir we need to leave!" the officer called.
"No. I'm going down here. Its been an honor Klaus. You were a great officer." Admiral Ravenmark sat in his chair as the ship continued to list and the men evacuated. Of the over two thousand, a mere half survived to leave.
"It was an honor being your admiral GERMANIA. I'm just ashamed it had to happen so early my dear. I hope we meet again my lovely ship." Admiral Hanz Ravenmark said as the ship started to sink. As his sight faded, he felt the floor fading and his body seemed to be losing feeling.
'Guess heaven has come for us dear' he said.
If any of the ships of the enemy could see, they would have seen the ship and its admiral fading away in a column of light at the eye of the squall...
The translucent figure looked at the bright light in the sky of Gaia and smiled.
"The seas of Equestria shall be liberated at last. your prayer little pony is answered." the figure said. she teleported herself into the cabin of the large vessel and saw a figure on the ground. he figures eyes opened and put an ear to the figure's chest.
......nothing.
"No you can't die. Please." The translucent figure said trying to come up with a solution to the creature dying in front of her. Then an idea came. a circle was quickly embedded in the metal of the vessel and the figure began to chant.
"I beseech the power of Gaia. I ask the gates of Elysium to fuse this soul into this circle." The being said cutting her translucent form and letting glowing blood pour out onto the circle. "I offer the blood of an immortal in exchange for the soul of this creature to be sealed within this vessel. Heed my call and make it so!" the being finished and the circle glowed absorbing the blood and finally dimming into the melted seal of metal.
"Thank Gaia. My champion will live." the figure said as she vanished into the seal. She had a conversation to have with this champion of Equestria and Gaia as a whole