The waves danced up and down the shore in the distance, clouds ever so sparsely aligned in the sky cast the Sun’s rays in different beams. These beams descended from the heavens and bounced off the water like a rough mirror which then shimmered on the melting mountains in the background. Had it been any other day, in any other decade, the sight would have made captain Donetscu smile in awe, today nearing the idea of May however, there was no happiness, only the cold stares and calculations that proved Him and his crew’s diligence to maintaining the route. The year was 1944, Romano-German forces had been trapped, first in Crimea, and then squeezed into the port of Sevastopol, where the outgunned, outplanned, but not out maneuvered RRN was working around the clock to get as many German, Italian, and Romanian forces out the Crimea as possible.
Donetscu was particularly proud of his ship and her position, flagship of the navy, most powerful axis surface combatant in the Black Sea, The Regele Ferdinand. For 3 years the Soviets had hunted her, for 3 years she escaped, often right under The Soviet fleet’s nose. She had undergone extensive refits since 1941 in order to fufill her destroyer leader role seriously. All but her Midship turret was double gunned, her torpedoes were modernized, new engines installed, and most importantly, A dual battery of Flak 36’s to replace her aging 76mm AA. She was a ship to be reckoned with. Off to his port side, Donetscu spotted the Destroyer escort/Minelayer , Amiral Mirgescu and cracked a smile, he knew his best friend Ian Petelo was on the bridge of that ship right now. Leading her alongside the Regele, ready to repel any Soviet submarine attacks. Donetscu eased back into his seat and prepared to confirm coordinates with The Mirgescu when his chief radar officer yelled over the pipelines in a desperate cry that caught the whole bridge crew’s attention, “Soviet planes! Hundreds of them!”.
Donetscu’s heart skipped a beat, he collected himself and barked back “Well what are you standing there for? Get the crew on full alert!” He turned to his Midshipman, “I need you to get a message to the Sevastopol defences, let them know we are under attack.” Turning once again to his front he ordered the man to get a message through to the Mirgescu and have them ready their guns.
A single bead of sweat dripped down His face. So this was it, no more running, no more hiding, the Soviets had caught her at last. But like a caged beast, Donetscu would make sure they would remember the claw marks his ship, no, his nation’s ship had given them.
Reaching for the voice tubes in front of him he shouted to anyone who could hear on board. “TRAIESC, LUNG REGATUL ROMANESC!”
A cry of “Da!” Was heard clanging around the ship until all became eerily still. Donetscu peered at the Mirgescu, a mear 300m away and could make out the sounds of shouting and the rotating of guns as the Amiral Mirgescu brought her modest AA to bear.
The once charming sky and beams of golden sun gave way to the silence of a forest meadow, for an hour they waited there, never once backing down, never once leaving the viligance of their posts, not a man among them had a single fear. That was,until it happened.
The clouds among the sky exploded in a fury only akin to a wildfire as a hornet’s nest was unleashed upon the tranquil seas that afternoon, the afternoon where hell broke loose. The day where, for all he knew, Donetscu would give his life.
The first wave descended upon the duo at ludicrous speeds, with the way their silhouettes darkened the sky he could only guess these were the Naval bombers, nasty beasts with a single 500kilo each.
Donetscu bit his lip as they descended he could see them now, locking eyes with a pilot he could see the adrenaline is his eyes, right before his plane was turned into a flaming pile of metal and wood. Several more followed him as a separate Hell unleashed it’s fury of 20mm, 30mm 76mm, MG, and 88mm wrath upon the descending bombers.
It was as if two versions of Hell, both as loud and death filled as the other had met each other in mortal combat. Dealing and destroying as they traded blow for blow.
As the last of the Soviet bombers pulled off Donetscu cracked a grin, Not a single bomb had come even close, the Soviets were retreating with their tails between their legs and thirteen of their own would not be joining them. He almost laughed and celebrated until one of his offcicers froze in shock, out the window of the bridge, Donetscu could see 60 Soviet ground attackers armed to the teeth with rockets approaching the ship at a rapidly increasing pace.
He panicked further when an unexplained light engulfed the Mirgescu and expanded. Mistaking it for the explosion of the ship and it’s crew he almost cried right then and there, almost, because the same light engulfed him too and soon there was nothing left of the two tin cans.
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Gorbysysky was closing in, the bombers had failed to do the job as expected but now they were behind them. He laughed, those damned fascists would pay for invading his land, for burning his village.
Sweet, Sweet revenge he thought as he neared the smaller of the two ships, it wasn’t their target but it was Rumanian fascist filth anyway and it needed removing too. His finger sliding into place on the fire button he almost didn’t notice the blinding white light that emanated from the water in front of the ship, that was, until the ship he was aiming at ceased to exist.
His jaw firmly unhinged, Gorbysysky immediately pulled up and off of the attack and climbed back into formation before any fascist fighters could be scrambled.
There was silence the whole flight back. Boy are we gonna have a story to tell tonight he absentmindedly thought.
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Ian Petelo groaned as he slowly rose to his feet, checking his surroundings he noted the unconsciousness of his crew, the fact he was still on the ship (which was a huge relief) and also how NOT filled with Soviet aircraft the sky was. Leaning over to his starboard window he confirmed the presence of a seeemingly unharmed [Regele Ferdinand /i] and let out a breath he wasn’t aware he was holding. Looking back out to port however, put the breath right back into his throat.
Out the window, less than a few kilometers away was a sprawling American esque City, and that’s not all, oh no, there was a flying horse knocking on the glass in front of him.
Ian Petelo, seasoned captain he was, promptly fainted on the spot.
They had never seen anything like it, sure, Equestria had had it’s fair share of bright mega lights before, but those usually heralded mass explosions, invading creatures, or Celestia on a really bad hair day.
This time, however, there were no explosions, no death rays and no destruction. Instead, ponies lined the shores just outside Baltimare to watch them. Huge steel beasts with long bodies and a blocky head stood floating in the water, their claws arranged in strange metal boxes. They were unlike any creature seen yet, and everyone wanted to see them while they were still “inert”.
Word had traveled quickly to Canterlot and while Celestia made ready to clear her schedule for a visit to Baltimare to hopefully establish friendly relations with, well whatever they were, she sent a small detachment of royal guard under a rookie captain to make first contact for her. She had also dispatched a letter via dragon breath to Twilight so that her and her friends would be available in case things went south. And things were definitely happening down south.
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The storm King smiled as he gazed upon the map sprawled haphazardly on his desk, just like everything else in the room. He gave a hearty chuckle as he blanked Abbyssynia off the map. “One more to go, he thought. Those naive peace loving Ponies are going to bend to my will wether they like it or not!”
“That’s great sir, wonderful even, but I’m afraid we don’t have the capacity for another invasion” The Storm King nearly fell out of his rear facing recliner before he shot back up and turned to the speaker who had entered his cabin. Tempest Shadow, his chief General and champion, oddly enough, a pony herself.
“And why would that be? I’ve just taken the largest trading nation in the world! What can stop us now?” He half laughed, half yelled.
“That” Tempest deadpanned while sticking an armor clad hoof out at the map that was now sprawled on the floor.
Moving around his desk to get a better view, the Storm King saw what was “impeding” his great plans. The South Shoal Sea, a dog bone shaped body of rocky water that had seperated his island, and his conquests, from Equestria.
“So? We just sail through it and over it, our ships have plenty of range.” He asked, expecting to be proven right, he was always right, right?
“Because of your... reckless attack on the Capital, we lost a large amount of our air fleet and the trap in the harbor has left our naval forces in dire need of reconstitution” Tempest flatly spoke as she stood upright facing the much larger storm creature.
“Yeah, yeah, big deal, just get the docks back up and running. 400 new ships should do I think. So get ON IT” He shouted. Tempest simply nodded and turned around, closing the door on her way out.
“Geez, one would think taking over the world would be easy right?” The Storm King muttered to himself as he flicked a pony miniature off his desk.
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Ivory glider had lead his detachment of royal guard to investigate the new beasts that had appeared outside of Baltimare. He had first moved on the smaller one, hoping it would be more susceptible to attack if necessary. He had found instead while peering through the ‘head’ several ape like creatures unconscious on the ground and one that looked him right in the eye before collapsing. They were strange things with two legs and two arms, which ended not in hooves or claws but a strange 5 piece appendage, they had no hair, save for the top of their head and some on their faces, they also all appeared to wear clothes of some kind.
Still puzzled at the sight, one of Ivory’s men pointed out a moving rectangular mesh on the other beast. Motioning for his guards to follow and circle around it he took off into the air and descended upon the platform on which he saw another one of the ape creatures.
Dragos had no idea what had happened after he saw an explosion or what he thought to be one aboard the Mirgescu, but he did know he wasn’t anywhere near Sevastopol judging by the strange city in the distance. The Regele Ferdinand and Amiral Mirgescu we’re still afloat so he figured the best course of action, as chief radar officer would be to get the radar and radio working. No sooner had he turned the radar on, that 50 flying horses approached the ship.
Flying. Horses. Dragos froze in place as one of them, wearing a different armor piece than the rest landed in front of him. “So they are intelligent” he thought to himself as he noticed their armor and spears.
Ivory Glider had landed on the grated platform not 5 ft in front of the strange ape. After a long period of silence Ivory thought it best to introduce himself and the obviously distraught creature to Equestria.
“Welcome to Equestria! On behalf on the royal sisters we have come to establish a first contact with the beasts you are currently riding, we mean no harm.” He boomed hoping the creature could understand what he had said.
It seemed puzzled for a second before a light bulb seemingly went off in it’s head and motioned for him to follow.
As the creature descended a ladder of sorts, Ivory noticed the distinct lack of magical abilities it seemed to posses. Following it to a blocky metal construct and what appeared to be a door, he ordered his detachment to stand down as the ape knocked on the door three times and said something unintelligible into it. “So it is intelligent” Ivory thought, noting the use of hand gestures and language.
Soon after the door swung open and another one of the apes came out, talking to the first one briefly before it’s eyes fell on him and his surrounding accomplices. Surprised, but not fearful as the others had been, he too gestated for ivory to enter the room which had been assumed was a head.
The second ape turned around and gestured for the first to return to its position. Ivory then spoke again “ we appreciate your courtesy in inviting us into your... room but I am afraid we cannot understand you” he finished hoping at least some of that had stuck.
Much to his surprise, the second ape spoke. “I am aware” it said, before Ivory could say anything more however, it continued.
“Dragos told me he had seen sentient horses speaking to him in an English like language, I didn’t believe him but here we are. I understand you have introduced yourself to him so allow me to introduce myself and my crew, well, what’s awake that is. My name is Captain Donetscu, the man you met earlier is named Dragos, we are members of a species formally known as humans, I understand if all of this is a little confusing to you, please take your time in responding” Donetscu spoke, the words came out formally but on the inside he was shaking from the fear of being in the presence of an alien military detachment. Where was he? What was that city? Who were these alien horses? What was that blinding light? Most importantly, how was he going to get back to Romania? Back to Constanta where his family, no his country needed him. All these questions and more swirled through Donetscu’s mind as he anxiously awaited an answer from the commander he assumed in front of him.
“On behalf of the Royal sisters, we, the Ponies, welcome you to Equestria” It finally said, grinning from ear to ear.
Donetscu couldn’t resist raising a smile of his own and replying “On behalf of the Crown of Romania, welcome aboard the NMS Regele Ferdinand
Cheers rang up and down the bridge.
Author's Note
Thanks to anyone reading my little story here. I’ve been looking for a while on how to get Romania in to MLP and I guess here it is, everything’s is t exactly historical or even show canon, hence the AU tag but I hope you’ll stick around for the ride as captain Donetscu and Petelo fight the forces of the Storm Empire.
This is only my second story so comments and critiques are highly encouraged and greatly appreciated