//------------------------------//
// First Impressions 
// Story: Revolution Equestria 
// by SeriousTWILEY 
//------------------------------//

Zecora’s house, Everfree Forest, Equestria
December 31st 2059

Twilight trotted slightly uneasily through the dark path that wound through the woods to Zecora’s hut. Her unease was certainly not the product of the forest itself – she had travelled this path countless times since meeting Zecora – but from the fact that she would have to explain the awkward presence of the Royal Guard who marched just beside her. When Twilight returned from her coronation it was insisted by Shining Armor that a guard be sent with her, just for the time being. As the newest member of the royal family she could become the target for changelings or diamond dogs. Her new bodyguard went by the name of Iron Helm, like most guards he was a pegasus as with Twilight’s new wings it would be necessary to have a bodyguard who could keep up with her. Not that she knew how to use them anyway, at her coronation she had managed to launch herself into the air with the help of magic but it wasn’t long before she found herself face first in a tree. Rainbow Dash had promised to turn her into a flyer on par with the Wonderbolts but Twilight didn’t really care. As long as she could get from A to B without crashing she was happy. As the two approached the Zebra’s hut Iron stiffened. 
“Maybe I should go in first Your Majesty” he said.
“I wouldn’t worry about that” Twilight replied modestly, “I’ve been coming to Zecora’s for years and she’s never tried to assassinate me. Besides I think that you might alarm her.”
Iron fell silent.
“And call me Twilight” she added.
Twilight approached the door and knocked. No answer. Twilight was puzzled. She knocked again, harder this time. With this try, the door revealed itself to be slightly open and the force of Twilight’s knocking was enough to push it ajar. Twilight and Iron entered the dimly lit hut, the light of a fire lit beneath a cauldron cast eerie shadows over the many masks and pieces of art that Zecora had brought from her native land. 
“Zecora?” called Twilight, “are you home?”
“Maybe we should go…. Twilight” said Iron nervously.
“Not until we find- hey! Zecora!”
Zecora was lying on the floor in front of her fireplace, seemingly unconscious. Twilight rushed over to where she lay, ignoring Iron’s protests. 
“Zecora! Are you all right!” cried Twilight as she stood over the sleeping Zebra.
Without warning Zecora sat bolt upright, her eyes remaining closed. This startled Twilight, who called her name two more times but received no answer. 
Then Zecora spoke in a voice not her own, “Four demons shall rise in the night, seeking to kill and maim and fight. With fire and steel they shall attack, never once holding back. In the north shall rise a bird of prey, talons sharp and feathers grey. In the east shall rise a star of red, willing to fight till all are dead. In the west shall rise a serpent of gold, from deserts hot and caverns old. In the south shall rise a crescent moon, whose warriors fear not their doom. Grey, red, gold, green, the likes of which have never been seen. War eternal is their intention, which they will wage with foul inventions. Thunder and pain is their tribal song, which shall be heard before too long….”, then the otherworldly voice trailed off into a sickening gargling sound.
By the time the chilling poem had ended both Twilight’s and Iron’s eyes were wider than saucers. Zecora once again collapsed on the floor before her eyes fluttered open.
“Z-zecora? Are you okay?” asked Twilight, the fear obvious in her voice. 
“It must have been a dark, long night! For here in front of me is young Twilight!” exclaimed Zecora in her normal voice and usual rhymes. She seemed unaware of what had just happened.
“Zecora what happened to you?”  gasped Twilight.
“I know not what you speak of, but it is fear that you wreak of.  I do not know what you mean, but please tell me what you have seen.” Zecora replied as she stood up on all fours.
Twilight told Zecora of the terrifying spectacle that she had witnessed and recited the poetic prophesy word for word. Zecora looked puzzled.
“I do not know of this prophecy” she began “but I know what it has to do with me”.
“What do you mean Zecora? Do you know what this means?” Twilight inquired.
Zecora nodded, “Zebras are said to have special powers, which appear every hundred years and ten hours. When the planets align in just such a way, some Zebras can see ahead many days.”
“So you’re saying that some Zebras - like yourself apparently - can sometimes see the future?” Twilight’s fear had now given way to fascination. 
Zecora nodded again, “My mother had this special sight, and she tried to control it with all of her might. But now it seems that I too have the eyes, to see through the shrouds of time and of lies.”
Twilight was shaken, but intrigued. She asked that Zecora accompany her back to Ponyville to help her research the prophecy that she recited, but Zecora refused and said that she had other things to tend to. Twilight then purchased some tea (the reason why she had come) and headed back towards Ponyville with what she had just seen weighing heavily on her mind.

500m above Ponyville, Equestria
December 31st, 2059

Rainbow Dash let out a long yawn. After she had spent over two hours cooped up in the train from Canterlot she had taken off into the stratosphere. Now she was spent, and as the sun began to dip below the mountains she wondered if she should just spend the night on this cloud. She opened her eyes briefly to take in the scenery but instead noticed something strange. Just emerging from the Everfree forest were the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
‘Well that seems strange” she thought, ‘Rarity and AJ usually keep a pretty close eye on their sisters. They’d never let them into the forest this late. I’d better go down there and see what’s up. Scoots will be happy to see me’.
Just as Dash began flapping her wings to lift herself off of the cloud she saw them. Four creatures following on the tails of the fillies, they were tall and walked in a strange manner. They wore strange clothes and carried stranger devices. Dash was worried, these creatures were at least five times the size of the fillies and they could have easily overpowered them. Dash’s wild imagination began to crank out all sorts of terrifying scenarios for who these creatures were and why they were here with the fillies.
‘Or maybe…. they’re ALIENS!!! HERE TO EAT OUR BRAINS!!!’ Dash thought as the panic began to well up within her.
It didn’t take her long to decide on a course of action, and while Dash was planning a rescue operation for the fillies, the four men were having an interesting conversation with the four tiny ponies.
“No Anon! That’s not how a cutie mark works!” exclaimed Sweetie Bell.
“It’s supposed to be something you’re good at right? Something you enjoy.” 
“Uhh yeah!” said Scootaloo in annoyance.
“Well then why do you try all this crazy stuff like ‘alien finding’ or whatever? What don’t you just try something you like?” Anon asked them.
“Well uuuhhh….” Applebloom began but was at a loss for words.
She didn’t have time to think of an answer because a multicoloured streak of light had swooped down and knocked Lee off of his feet. The three other men and the four fillies turned to see a stunned cyan pegasus with a vibrant mane sitting on the ground beside Lee. They both looked equally stunned.
“Whoah…” the blue mare said groggily, “They’re heavier than I thought they’d be”.
Before anybody could say anything Dash’s senses had returned to her. With renewed vigor she sprang into the air and swooped in a wide arc. In a single second she had corrected her course and was coming straight for Boris, ignoring the cries of the fillies. Boris wasn’t worried however and Anon knew exactly what that meant. Very calmly and seemingly in slow motion, Boris raised his rifle to his shoulder, carefully he aimed with the precision and calmness of an experienced killer, and pulled the trigger. The thunderous crack of the rifle rang out through the early dusk and the cool Equestrian air, a sound the ponies had never heard before. The report of the weapon was followed by the sound of Dash landing face first in the soil, then by the sound of her sobs.
Blood poured from a wound on her right wing, and she cradled the damaged appendage like it was a newborn foal. 
“Wh-what the buck was that!” she yelled, her shock and pain turning to anger. “What the buck are you!” she said as she stood up on her hind legs and raised her front hooves up like a boxer. “You think I’m scared of you and your crazy alien weapon! Put that thing down and fight like a stallion!” she screamed at the humans.
“Very well rainbow horse” Boris began with a dangerous calmness to his voice, “we will fight your way” he said as he slung his rifle and drew a large hunting knife.  
The burly Russian took a menacing step towards the brightly coloured mare, but found himself a new obstacle as Anon put a hand on Boris’ shoulder. The four fillies ran towards Dash and hugged her while desperately trying to explain that the soldiers were friendly, much to Dash’s confusion.
“Well, what are they?” asked Dash as she sat down on her haunches and cradled her wounded wing.
“We’re called humans, and those little ankle biters just saved your life.” said McPhee, “You’re also lucky Boris missed”
“I do not miss, Crocodile Dundee.” said Boris with a small smile, “If I wanted to kill her then-”
“Aaaand that’s enough out of you Boris” said Anon, clearly desperate to keep Boris from finishing that sentence. “What’s your name” Anon then asked as he turned to Dash.
“R-rainbow Dash” she said without looking up from her wing.
“Well miss Rainbow Dash” said Anon politely, “sorry we uh… sorry we shot you, and uh… this might be a little uncomfortable for you but you’re going to have to let Boris take care of that wing”
Boris was a fighter pilot and as such he was trained in basic first aid, never know when you might need to haul yourself out of a crashed fighter jet and hack off your own legs. Dash initially recoiled from Boris as he approached, but he then made the case to her that it wasn’t a good idea to aggravate the man who had just shot her and who was now tasked with healing her. 
“Is that what this does?” asked Babs, pointing to the rifle in Anon’s hands.
“Hey, I said it was dangerous.” Anon said, “If Boris didn’t know exactly what he was doing then there’s a pretty good chance that little miss Rainbow Dash could be de- uuhhh… really badly hurt.”
“Hey I’m no ‘little miss’” piped up Dash from a few feet away, “I’m Rainbow Dash! I’m the best flyer in Equestria and the future captain of the Wonderbolts!”
“Well what a coincidence” Anon replied smugly, “Boris over there is the best flyer in the USSR and current captain of the Blackbird Squadron”.
“Blackbird Squadron?” Dash said with confusion, “Never heard of them! Besides, he doesn’t even have wings! How can he fly?”
“Well I’ve never heard of pansy ass Wonderbolts but you don’t see Boris bugging you about it” Boris muttered begrudgingly. “Also I am of having wings, I call them Natalia.” he said with a snicker as he finished bandaging Dash’s wounded appendage. 

The entrance of the six ponies and four humans into Ponyville was met with no confrontation from the locals. By the time the humans and fillies had managed to convince Dash that they weren’t planning to eat the brains of all Ponyville’s citizens it was dark. The streets were devoid of ponies when they reached the town square. 
“Okay” Dash began, “So aside from the fact that ‘take me to your leader’ is an obvious brain eating alien request, we should probably get Twilight and the Mayor down here.”
“Who’s Twilight?” asked Lee.
“She’s one of my best friends” Dash whispered, “and she recently got crowned a princess! It came with a new set of wings but she can’t use them too well yet and-” 
“Just show us where she lives” Anon said with a little annoyance showing in his voice. He was tired. 
“Okay okay! Sheesh. Girls go home, your sisters are probably worried sick about you!” Dash said as she turned to the fillies, who hung their heads and began trudging home, clearly too tired to argue. “So here’s the plan” Dash began again as she turned towards the humans, “I’ll go get Twilight and the Mayor and tell them you’re coming. Then I’ll come get you and we’ll all meet in Twilight’s house. Okay?”
“Okay” was the collective response from the group.
As soon as Dash was out of earshot the four men got to talking about their situation.
“Well fuck me” said Anon, “Princesses, just had to be princesses. This is sure to put a strain on things if we’re dealing with a monarchy”
“Hey I’m more worried about rainbow pony” said Boris as he sat down on a bench that was clearly designed for ponies half his size, “she is one hell of a cunt…. nice mane though”
“Yeah, she was… wait what?” said Anon, not sure if he heard correctly.
“Err uhh… Nothing!” said Boris hurriedly.
Before their conversation could continue Rainbow Dash came trotting back up the street. 
“Well the Mayor’s not home, I think she went to Trottingham for some reason. But Twilight was up and wants us to come over.”
“Good, take us there.” replied Anon.

Twilight paced nervously around along the groove worn in the floor, she was still contemplating the mysterious things that she had heard Zecora say. Rainbow Dash had appeared at Twilight’s door just after Twilight had convinced Iron to go home for the night. Dash had been babbling about her wing and something called a hoo-man but Twilight had been too preoccupied with her thoughts to pay much attention. She jumped a little when a heavy knock came from her door. 
“Urrrgggh! I don’t have time for this Rainbow Dash! I’m trying to….” her voice trailed off.
She had opened her door and in front of her stood Rainbow Dash and four tall creatures on two legs. But Twilight didn’t notice that they stood on two legs, she didn’t notice that they were over six feet tall, and she didn’t notice the strange weapons in their hands. From the moment she opened the door her attention had been trained on one thing; four red stars, imprinted on their helmets and shining feebly in the light of Twilights treehouse.