Equestria has always been filled with magic, and a great deal of it's magic comes from working together. And in the case of Sunset Shimmer and The Rainbooms, the simple act of playing simple songs together for their friends at Canterlot High causes magic to stir around them.
But when another group of musicians plays a memorial, for all the world to hear of those they honor with their song, a far greater magic comes forth. The raw energy of the spell reacting to the desires of the casters: For their song to be heard, and for the slain to be remembered.
Twilight was reading a new book in her castle, alone on the weekend with no cares or worries to think of, when she felt a surge of magic even greater than when the Tree of Harmony became a castle.
It seemed to be calling her, like whatever magic it was needed her to see it's effect, and so she zeroed in on it's location and teleported to it.
In a flash of lavender light, she appeared 30 feet above the fog covered ocean between Equestria and Mount Aris. She called out in shock as she started to fall before flapping her wings to retain her position in the air.
After breathing a few calming breaths to recover from being startled in such a manner, Twilight searched for whatever could cause such a powerful magical signal.
She couldn't see the magic...but she could hear it. A low drum beat and vocalizations that was followed by orchestral tunes that came from something within the fog.
That something revealed itself to be a fishing boat...with humans on it. Coming from one part of the fog and heading for another.
The humans had musical instruments like those of the Rainbooms, but they weren't playing them...until the background music stopped.
As the last note began to fade, the musicians took up their instruments and started loud and hard. Twilight had to cover her ears at first, the music was so different from anything she had heard before, though she knew this sort of music existed.
The heavy metal intro faded, and the drummer transitioned the band into the first verse, it is here that the singer is heard.
From the mist. A shape, a ship, is taking form.
And the silence of the sea is about to drift into a storm.
As he sang, another vessel appeared in front of the fishing boat. Twilight gaped in unfiltered awe at the vessel before her, it was large enough that all of Ponyville could ride on it, but it was no cruise vessel.
From bow to stern, the large ship carried four large two barreled cannons. (she assumes this because of their likeness to Pinkie Pie's party cannon, which is the only thing similar to what she is seeing)
Before she recovered her voice to question aloud what it was, the singer said it for her.
Sign of power. Show of force.
Raise the anchors. Battleship plotting it's course.
As Twilight had guessed, the 'Battleship' was armed for ship-to-ship combat.
Suddenly, it's weapons changed positions as another ship appeared out of the fog.
Twilight attempted to intervene and uncover who these sailors were, who they were fighting, and why. But as she tried to land on the ship, she went right through it.
Pride of a nation. A beast made of steel. Bismarck in motion. King of the ocean.
As the pre chorus ended, the ships opened fire on each other. Twilight screamed in pain at the sheer noise of the cannons firing and retreated to hover over the fishing boat in the center of the battle where the noise was least, and also drowned out by the song.
Twilight had pieced together that what she was witnessing was a magical image retelling a great battle. Brought to Equestria through the magic of the human band, who were themselves an image created by magic, and so Twilight listened to their story. (casting a 'recording' spell so she could document everything, of course.)
He was made to rule the waves across the SEVEN SEAS!!
To lead the warmachine.
To rule the waves and lead the KRIEGSMARINE!!
The terror of the seas.
THE BISMARCK AND THE KRIEGSMARINE!!
The battle ended with the chorus, the first ship sinking the second. But as the second verse began, a swarm of planes came from the fog, and the ship opened fire with smaller weapons that Twilight hadn't seen beside the larger ones.
2,000 men and 50,000 tons of steel.
Set a course for the Atlantic, with the Allies on their heel.
Twilight watched as one of the planes dropped something into the water, which then sped toward the battleship and exploded.
Firepower. Firefight.
Battle stations, keep the target's heading in sight.
The planes faded into the fog as more battleships, four of them, emerged and trained their weapons on the first.
Into formation.
The hunt has begun.
Death and damnation.
The fleet is coming.
As the pre chorus ended, the ships opened fire, the surrounded one firing at whichever ship was in place for all of it's guns to inflict maximum damage while the attacking vessels circled their prey like sharks.
He was made to rule the waves across the SEAVEN SEAS!!
To lead the warmachine.
To rule the waves and lead the KRIEGSMARINE!!
The terror of the seas.
THE BISMARCK AND THE KRIEGSMARINE!!
The battle continued as the chorus gave way to a bridge, the attacking ships launching explosive projectiles relentlessly as the lone battleship defied them and returned fire where available.
Eventually, however, the attacking ships destroyed the lone ship's guns, leaving it defenseless and leaning to the side as it slowly started to sink.
At the bottom of the ocean, the depths of the abyss.
They are bound by iron and blood.
The attacking ships disappeared, and another, darker ship appeared horizontal to the dying ship and dropped two objects into the water which sped towards the ship.
The flagship of the navy. The terror of the seas.
It's guns have gone silent at last.
The speeding objects hit the ship and exploded as a guitar solo began and the ship sank faster.
Twilight watched the great vessel go down as it's crew jumped into the ocean. The solo ended when the ship disappeared from sight, and a second bridge began as the ship that dealt the final blow threw nets over to rescue the crewmen.
The ship pulled up a good number, but many more were still in the water when the ship sailed back into the fog. As the ship disappeared into the fog, the sunken ship's sailors disappeared in fading light. Leaving only the fishing boat and it's band as the final chorus began.
Pride of a nation. A beast made of steel.
Bismarck in motion. King of the ocean.
He was made to rule the waves across the SEVEN SEAS!!
To lead the warmachine.
To rule the waves and lead the KRIEGSMARINE!!
The terror of the seas.
THE BISMARCK AND THE KRIEGSMARINE!!
The chorus ended and the outro began, the instruments picking up the tempo as the singer put more fervor behind the lyrics.
TO LEAD THE WARMACHINE, RULE THE WAVES AND LEAD KRIEGSMARINE!!
THE TERROR OF THE SEAS, THE BISMARCK AND KRIEGSMARINE!!
TO LEAD THE WARMACHINE, RULE THE WAVES AND LEAD THE KRIEGSMARINE!!
The music dropped for the final verse, the singer putting everything he had into the final line.
THE TERROR OF THE SEAS: BISMARCK AND THE KRIEGSMARINE!!!
As the song concluded, the fishing boat faded, the last remnants of the magic that made their images forming letters as one final message to it's audience of one.
War knows no nation.
This song is dedicated to those who fought to the bitter end in the battle of the Atlantic.
...Twilight was utterly speechless...what exactly did she just witness? What was that ship? What caused it to be hunted and destroyed? What was it's story?
1 Week Later
Twilight was putting the final touches on the book she had written on the Bismarck.
After pulling away every piece of information from what she had recorded, Twilight contacted Sunset Shimmer who confirmed that the band Twilight had seen was indeed from her world, and explained the story behind the song, while mysteriously avoiding Twilight's questions on the war that the Bismarck had fought in.
After Sunset gave Twilight several different sources of information regarding the Bismarck, Twilight had cross-referenced them all, and came to the conclusion that the song that she had heard a week ago was, in fact, a funeral hymn.
The Bismarck sailed with a crew of over 2,200 Kriegsmarine sailors, and only 114 had survived it's destruction, the rest, roughly 2,086 sailors, were buried in a grave of fire and water. Twilight shuddered to think of what the rest of this war would've been like, and was grateful that Equestria had known nothing like it.
Peculiarly enough, finding the place where the Bismarck went on a map of Sunset's revealed that it aligned with where the magical phenomenon had occurred in Twilight's.
Twilight has also questioned Sunset on how this magic could occur, as the band: Sabaton, had no connection to Equestrian magic, and just singing a song by itself wasn't enough to send a message through to another world.
Sunset had explained that Sabaton didn't just sing songs to sing them, every song was historic in it's origin, and this song in particular, which was heard by over a million people in three days, was dedicated to the memory of the Bismarck and it's crew, so the world will never forget them.
As Twilight lamented on the reasons the song was written, the reason she was writing her own retelling of the voyages of the Bismarck: From it's battle with the Hood to the rediscovery of it's sunken corpse 40 years later. She made the final correction to the book after the tenth proofreading, closing the book and reading it's title.
THE TERROR OF THE SEAS: THE BISMARCK AND THE KRIEGSMARINE
Author's Note: I had to... I. Just. Had. To.
I had never heard of the Bismarck until I heard it's song. That song put an obsession into me, driving me to learn more about the Bismarck and why it truly deserved such an amazing tribute.
My knowledge of WWII comes from an Alabamian education, a racist father, and Sabaton. Guess which one confirmed my suspicion that it was impossible for every German of the time to treat Hitler like Jesus.
So yeah, Twilight's thoughts are my thoughts, her reason for retelling the story of the Bismarck is my reason for writing this fic. And that reason is Sabaton.
P.S. I am well aware that it only took two days, not three, for the video to hit one million views on YouTube. But assuming that I wasn't the only one pounding the repeat button like it owed me money, I gave it another day for one million individual viewers.