The Crystal Curtain: Red Storm Rising (Equestria at War)
Dieter’s father, a tank ace in the great war once said, “violence is rarely the answer, but when it is it’s the only answer”. This phrase played on repeat in Dieter’s mind as he watched the trees and endless rotting farm buildings roll by through the lightly frosted window of the ZIL sedan. To anyling on the outside their sedan would first illicit shock as to why a car only for high level changeling bureaucrats of the Union of Socialist Changeling Hives (USCH) was in the rural countryside. Then would come the frightful look away as the car passed. Too many of these lings had learned the hard way that the only time the government got off its ass and left the capitol in any official capacity, the local rural population would mysteriously drop by 1 or 2.
“If only they knew what I am really doing” Dieter said to himself. “Sir?” the Stasi officer in the front seat asked. “Nothing, just going over my presentation for later today”.
The officer seemed unconvinced but turned to face away all the same. To anyling outside of his own mind Dieter Mayflay was a shining virtue of a socialist changeling. No one would question him. No one would suspect what he planned to do at today's liaison meeting with officers from Stalliongrad. After all, changelings despite the many governments they officially lived under never lost the art of espionage and deception. It may have been 30 years since the empire Chrysalis tried in vain to create had fallen apart around her, but few forgot. And now, history seemed to be repeating itself. The love shortage that influenced the first Great War was back again, especially in the USCH. To the worry of the local government and the overlords from Stalliongrad a few too many factory workers were starting to look longingly back on the days of Tiger Tanks and Stuka dive bombers. Although with most of the population starving and the rest deathly afraid of the Stasi both the citizens and the government had become convinced that these dreams were nothing but, which is why it had to be an inside job. After all, Dieter or anyling for that matter wouldn’t be worth their salt if they couldn’t blend in.
As the ZIL limo crested a hill of corn, the rural and dreary landscape of the last 2 hours gave way to a large hexagon shaped monstrosity surrounded by walls and barb wire. This was the Bundeswehrkommando Ost, the brain of any and all military operations for the USCH military. This base held the 1st and 3rd Changeling Guards Tank divisions. The most loyal and effective soldiers the socialist changeling nation had to offer to the global struggle against capitalism. These were the only foreign divisions that were issued the new T-80 MBTs that were now commonplace in the Stalliongrad Guard’s Tank and Motorized Divisions. It also held an air base where the executive fleet as well as the only 5 Tu-16 naval bombers the Changeling nation held were based. Unofficially, this base was also for both the maintenance and command of Changeling forces that would, if needed, coerce by force their protesting or striking brethren into submission. This was the pride of the Stalliongradian officials who presided over their zone of Changeling Lands. The nerve center of any and all military operations for the Weter Pact on Equus’ most contentions border. In the center of the base was “Steel Mountain”. A pyramidal structure of metal that extended down into the bedrock by some 20 stories. The nerve center where anything from chemical warfare, to a strategic nuclear exchange, to a conventional assault on the Free Changeling Hives would be commanded by Stalliongradian and Changeling generals. It was impenetrable. No nuke could shut it down, no gas could seep into the ventilation. And to visit such a place one must either be of high enough rank to be above suspicion or be vetted over the course of 6 months. The Stasi officer sitting in front of Dieter wouldn’t even be allowed to escort him past the front gate. Dieter was the USCH head intelligence officer for the Luftstreitkrafte or Ground Forces. He was scheduled to listen to briefing on the new deployment of Equestrian Eclipse III SRBMs in the Free Changeling Hives (FCH) and provide additional information if asked. In attendance would be himself, the head changeling generals for the Guards Divisions, and the commanders of Army Groups A and B for the Red Army. Army Groups A and B were the QRF en masse for the Stalliongrad Red Army. Designed to be able to bring the best and brightest the Weter Pact and more specifically Stalliongrad had to offer to bear for offense or defense on the Changeling Border at a moment's notice. As a result, today's meeting would be attended by the masterminds that would launch a potential conventional war against the Harmony Pact.
Personally, Dieter thought the Harmony Pact a weak group of bickering kids. No doubt their readiness for the defense was finally increasing in recent years after a decade of stagnation and military budget cuts. But, they had failed to learn from Chrysalis’ Wehrmacht. Initiative in war is key, and the structure of the Harmony Pact as a defensive alliance was by its existence putting Equestria on a broken backfoot the moment any war started. Unless Equestria kept constant 100% readiness which they didn’t they were at a massive disadvantage the moment conflict arose. No, for the forces of the Harmony Pact to reunite the Changeling Lands by force, an inside influence was needed to push the scales in a particular direction. Dieter didn’t need to be a high ranking general to force the hand of the Harmony and Weter Pact. Rather, only 1kg of a plasticy concoction used to breach doors with the right fusing was needed. While on the surface it was a “light” explosive, the amount carried was 5x that used in breaching charges. Given the briefing would occur in a reinforced conference room, no amount of explosives would bring the roof down. However, the same material that shielded a possible nuclear detonation would allow the shockwave from the small charge he carried to ricochet and amplify, killing all inside from the concussive wave. Dieter never forgot the high power Chrysalis achieved in his childhood, and never forgot the sorry state the USCH and the changelings it controlled lived under since. To the west the FCH was booming. Love was in free supply, industry was better than ever, and the Bundeswehr of the FCH was the closest Dieter believed a post-great war changeling nation would get to its once great army. Dieter didn’t have much love for the Harmony Pact. After all Thorax was a traitor and it wasn’t just Stalliongrad tanks that ravaged Changeling cities during the last days of the Great War. But Dieter was a realist. The Changeling Lands of old would never be. But a united Changeling nation under Thorax and the Harmony Pact would be a massive step in the correct direction. And Dieter, since his first quiz on political orthodoxy had worked his way up the USCH chain of command. Doing what any good changeling does and blending in. Being what everyone wanted him to be. And in an hour he would personally tip the scales with the hope that in the aftermath of his sacrifice the rest of his brethren would be freed from Stalliongrad’s yoke. As far as Dieter was concerned he and his brethren in the east were living in a condemned house moments from falling down and refused to leave. He would light a match in that house. And the resulting fire would either motivate his brethren and their allies in the West to leave that burning house or they would be kept there by their masters as the world burned down around them. Either way the struggles of his brethren in the USCH as far as Dieter was concerned would end.
As the ZIL approached the main entrance the driver had to begin zigzagging through a maze of tank barricades. Unless paradropped in, armored vehicles would not be able to navigate any closer than 500 yards in a circular radius from the perimeter of the large base. The car soon approached the main gate, a large concrete arch adorned with a red star and holding vault-like blast doors. On cue the driver stopped the car slowly as two signals to the sides of the gate flashed red. To the right of the gate a T-72 in defilade had its 125mm smoothbore gun trained on Dieter’s car. To the left was a modern glass and concrete guard station with tinted windows. After a few moments a changeling major emerged from the guard tower and walked towards the car. Behind him were 3 members of the the Stasi Special Operations Branch, a new invention that aimed to imitate Equestria’s counter terrosim tactical units. As the officer approached Dieter’s window one soldier kept aiming at Dieter and the driver at the front. The other two flanked left and right around the car standing in the car’s blindsides, their weapons aimed at the occupants. The officer stared at Dieter for a moment before asking for his papers. Dieter nodded and handed over his credentials.The officer looked over them briefly, but rather than giving them back he put them in his jacket, “Sir, please follow me” the officer said. Dieter slowly stepped out of the car and proceeded to follow the officer through the guardpost and further into the base. As he took a last look back the car was still there with three guns and a tank trained on it.
After walking a few hundred yards Dieter entered the main lobby of Bundeswehrkommando Ost. The lobby was lit by a large pyramidal skylight. The floors were made of white marble with the insignia of the Changeling Socialist Party. The walls and ceiling were made of a blackish-green marble stone. The officer led Dieter right past the front desk and swiped a card on the back wall, opening a door to a 10 meter corridor lined with wooden walls. On the right was a large vault like door with cameras flanking it. However, rather than leading Dieter through this door the officer proceeded to swipe his card again over a picture of a Stalliongradian general on the right, and the wall on the left revealed a secret door which led to an elevator. The vault was a diversion. If any assault force managed to gain entrance to the building, the “path” to the underground headquarters just led to a dead end. As Dieter passed through the door alarms sounded from hidden metal detectors. Within the blink of an eye the officer had his sidearm on the back of Dieter’s neck.
Sheepishly Dieter pulled out his lighter and cigarettes, “Last time I checked smoking was allowed”. The officer stared at him for a few painful seconds. “It is, but you should have told me. Don’t pull shit like that again, this isn’t a place to forget things like undisclosed metal on you.”
The officer reholstered his gun and proceeded to the elevator as Dieter followed. As the elevator began to descend the floors counted down to zero, and then kept counting. By the time the elevator got to the bottom, the floor read -8. As they emerged Dieter saw a long corridor with frosted glass on either side, the flags of all Weter Pact nations lining the sides of the corridor. At the end was a metal door that led to conference room 1, the reinforced room for inter-country meetings.
Dieter took his seat at the end of the long table. As he looked around, Dieter began to realize this was a much bigger affair than he expected. The Changeling General in charge of Naval Aviation as well as Naval intelligence was in attendance. Stalliongrad generals from Army Group’s A and B were present as well as the Stalliongradian Admiral in charge of the fleet in this sector. Various aides and Lieutenant-Generals filled out the rest of the seats. Soon the room dimmed and the Admiral introduced himself as Serovitch Ponchencko. The head of Stalliongrad’s western Carrier Battlegroup, which held a new full size carrier and a smaller helicopter/VTOL carrier as well as various destroyers and cruisers. As the meeting began, it soon became clear that the new Eclipse III SRBM’s were only a small part of the meeting. It looks like the recent tension had ruffled feathers in Stalliongrad. After 30 minutes the Admiral was going over wargames recently conducted that focused on a surprise naval attack on the Equestrian southern fleet. Even more interesting, the tactics used were new, evident by the Changeling Naval Staff looking surprised at what they were hearing and seeing. The wargames were promising. Two Equestrian carriers sunk and large scale submarine cruise missile attacks on shipping from Equestria to the FCH. The wargames predicted the effects of the naval action would make the two-week timetable of a Weter Pact invasion of the FCH more feasible. As the talk continued Dieter realized this wasn’t just some typical muscle-flex wargame. This was real. He could see it in the Stalliongradian’s eyes. Equestria had crossed a line and the Stalliongradian’s recent simulations using new computers had them very confident in the previously shaky doctrine.
As the presentation wound down Dieter realized what he was about to do was more important than he thought. A Weter Pact victory in a war would either damn Changelings to wither away or would burn them from the face of the Earth in a nuclear hellfire. Dieter was not only about to decapitate the Soviet navy in this sector but maybe lazy bureaucracy failed to duplicate the tapes containing the wargame results which were presented. Dieter may get two very big birds with one stone. As the floor was opened for questions Dieter began to smoke only after a few others. As he took a puff he made sure that the tip was orange with flame and quickly reached under the table and held the cigarette bud on a small wire made of a special non-metal chemical on the inside of the bottom of his jacket. Within seconds Dieter felt the fuze light and worked its way up the bottom of the suit to the chest where the explosive sewn into his jacket would explode. As he felt the fuze near his chest Dieter got up on the table and walked to the middle, shocking everyone as he stood there staring down the Admiral. Dieter last thoughts was looking from the Admiral to the end of the wargame on the projector showing a Weter Pact victory hoping this would stop it, before his world disappeared in light and thunder.
Author's Note
Hey there! This is my first story on fimfiction and the first story I have ever posted. Feedback is welcome, I definitely made some errors but tried to keep them to a minimum. This will be (if all goes well) a story describing the Equestria at War universes Cold War gone Hot. If not obvious, heavy influence is taken from Tom Clancy’s Red Storm Rising. Thanks.
