“Oh, dear.”
The anti-grav engines of the phantom drop ship made the sleek craft’s outline ripple as they glode out of the Purveyor of Truth’s hangar. Nice and slow. Not at all threatening.
Nerbyus would make sure to give the drop ship pilot more praise than his battle cruiser’s helmsman. Their descent over what was clearly the planet’s capitol city was anything but non-threatening.
The chieftain still had no clue of the defensive capabilities of these “ponies.” What he did know was that they were a curious species. What he gathered their language was like that of the humans, a language he luckily strived to learn himself in the pursuit of knowing his enemy better.
He also knew these ponies came in three distinct forms. The thought and hardy ground based form, the flying form and the mysterious magic form whose understanding of the fabric of space, time and reality far surpassed even his own. They could conjure objects out of thin air, generate glowing lights and manipulate objects with localized gravity fields. He assumed this “magic” they used was similar to much of the Covenant technology, only more organic.
An orbital plasma bombardment was the most tactically prudent course of action of course. But it would be ultimately unfair on these creatures, and on Nerbyus’ crew. He had a large contingent of younglings under his command, many who had yet to see the sweet embrace of battle. He could not deny them the opportunity.
Aside from that, the luminary scans indicated many indications of Forerunner ruins across the planet. Many buried, the chieftain did not doubt. However he could not risk damaging the structures of the Gods with rash orbital bombing.
His mission was twofold. And he would complete it, propelling all of the Covenant down the divine path with the jiralhanae, not the sangheili, as the prophets’ escorts.
The sides of the phantom hung open giving Nerbyus a bird’s eye view of the city below. He had no name for it, nor did he have a name for this land. But reminded him of home. A lush, green planet rife with hunting grounds and cities made of grand spires. His own home town was similar to the city below him, only the jiralhanae cities were mostly molded out of clay, brick or hollowed into the enormous trees that only grew on Doisac.
The pilot banked slightly around the outskirts of the city, setting the largest of the city’s structures in his sights. To one flank was a sprawl of gondolas, clearly a skydock of some sort judging by the ships moored there.
The ships were nothing intimidating. They seemed more adept at crossing seas than skies, the only thing holding them airborne were the enormous overhead sacks of gas. A slow, inefficient design the jiralhanae had admittedly used once; but that had been ages ago, before contact with the Covenant and the jiralhanae’s steering onto the divine path of enlightenment.
Looking up, Nerbyus saw it was no choice of the pilots to set down there. A trio of the flying ponies to one side, and another trio to the other side had formed up beside them. Their wings did not beat frantically despite their small size compared to the bulk of the gold-armored equines. They hung calmly in the air, gliding as gracefully as the phantom.
One pony turned his head then jabbed a hoof in a downward motion, indicating them to land at the skydocks.
Looking down again, the chieftain noted the obvious gathering of ponies waiting for them, two ranks of the magical ones clad in similar armor to their flying comrades, and two taller figures that stood out from the rest.
Nerbyus turned into the phantom and noted the delegation he was bringing down for first contact. Seven young jiralhanae warriors, the pilot included, their spike rifles clipped to belts and rifles hung diagonally, non-threateningly across their backs. Their cool blue armor was powered up and shields had been prepped. They were heading into more unknowns than the chieftain was comfortable with and he wanted his warriors well prepared. They had feasted during the descent upon the capitol, so with bellies full and souls eager they now made their final descent upon these unenlightened beasts.
The pilot pulled low enough along the gondola for the open side of the phantom to line up perfectly, and seven jiralhanae, the chieftain in front, stepped calmly off. Over the heavy tchock of his warhammer’s hilt striking the floor like a walking stick with each of his long strides he heard the soprano whine of the phantom’s engines dim to a calming hum. Nerbyus threw his weight as he walked with surprising grace and considered the ranks of soldier ponies, then the two regal figures before him.
The two, clearly females if their eyes were anything to go by, stood tall and formal. The taller of the two was pure white, with a pair of wings as well as one of the magic producing horns on her forehead. The smaller one was a dark blue color, the two of them physically contrasting like day and night. Even their manes and tails, magical clouds of color and stars contrasted each other.
“I am Chieftain Nerbyus, divine instrument of the Gods and humble voice of the Covenant,” Nerbyus announced, holding a respectable distance from the regal figures and bowing his head respectfully. “I thank you for inviting us for this parlay.”
“The pleasure is ours, Chieftain Nerbyus,” the taller white creature returned with a kind smile. She had a warm, motherly voice that suited her appearance, every aspect of her soothing to every imaginable sense. “I am Princess Celestia, and this is my sister, Princess Luna. We would like to humbly welcome you to our home, Equestria.”
The younger princess, Luna spoke next. “May we ask what brings you to our world, chieftain?”
“We are explorers. We seek to learn about other races and cultures,” Nerbyus lied without fail. Most primitive species set in their ways found it hard to accept new lines of thinking, even if the truth of the Covenant’s word was undeniable. Especially the peaceful societies who have managed to hold on to peace as long as Nerbyus assumed these ponies had. There was no need to bring them undue alarm at this moment.
And bringing them alarm would not serve the chieftain’s tactics.
Nerbyus continued to say, “Your interesting title for example. I’m afraid I’m unfamiliar with it. What duties does the rank of princess entail?”
“As princess I am the leader of Equestria and guardian of all my little ponies. I watch over the land and protect all that you see during the day.” Celestia looked to her sister as if handing her the invisible announcement-stick.
“And I during the night,” Luna added proudly stepping forward.
“You are the guardian of all…” Nerbyus rubbed his chops for a moment, then gestured out over the expanse of snow dusted land stretched out before them. “All this?”
Celestia nodded with a smile. “We are.”
“Hmmm.” Nerbyus looked thoughtful. Though it was an expression that didn’t last long before a spark of darkness took his eye.
It would seem everything he wanted to learn of these creatures had just been taught to him. So without further ado, before anyone or anything could stop him or even realize what he was thinking, Nerbyus snatched his mauler pistol from his belt. It came loose with a sharp click before he levelled it squarely on Princess Celestia and pulled the trigger to unleash a terrible roar of deadly energy.
The ponies were stunned, in a frozen state of shock as they watched Princess Celestia, their guardian, fall into a pile of bloodied feathers and fur. The first part of Nerbyus’ mission was well on the way to completion. With the guardian down, he and his pack could begin avenging the crew of the Unyielding Hierophant.
As Celestia slid to a halt in a slick pool of crimson, Nerbyus seemed to give a mocking huff of realization at the grim fate that awaited Equestria. “Oh, dear.”
Luna screamed with a mixture of wicked rage and terror at the sight of her sister on the ground. Her horn lit up the same time as several reacting Royal Guard, bathing the platform in a ghostly glow of magic. But turning upon the alien beasts, Luna saw the jiralhanae had already drawn weapons; and it was a flash of memories about Princess Twilight Sparkle’s tales of hostile monsters from the stars and deep regret she had not listened that Luna saw Nerbyus’ weapon levelled on her face and his finger curling around the trigger.
The second part of the Purveyor of Truth’s mission had begun – the mission to cleanse this world and liberate the artefacts of the Gods. One more princess-ending gunshot raged into the air from the skydocks before the gates of Tartarus were flung open…
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Well... that escalated very quickly.
This is why you shouldn't trust space monkeys with space guns. In can only end in tears.
Celestia is dead, i dont believe it, she is an inmortal after all
6600194
Not aging and not being able to die are two completely different, unrelated things. We don't even know if she is non-aging, even. She could be merely long-lived. We only know she is at least one thousand years old.
Though, I too doubt she is dead simply because she is pretty big, so a mauler shot might not be enough to kill her and Luna. I don't particularly care in this fic. If they died, they got what they deserved for not believing Twilight despite all the weird stuff Equestria has encountered and despite flat out stating that every time they don't heed Twilight, things go to hell, right before they said they don't believe her about the aliens. Too dumb to live.
I've fallen! And I choose NOT to get up...
6599343
Aren't humans also space monkeys? Lol! Guess it works!
6600194 she is immortal in the since that she cant die from disease or age, but that doesn't mean she can't be killed.
6603970 I wouldn't trust a space human with a space gun to be fair.
6657773 I would
6603970
no, we're space apes. monkeys are a kind of ape, but not all apes are monkeys.
So just casually killing off both princesses, huh......... gotta admit, that's a first, and I don't like it. My liking for this story has went down quite rapidly as of this chapter.......
Honestly? Exactly what I'd expect a creature like Nerbyus to do. For all his perceived regality and intellect, in the end he's still just a brute.
Peace was never an option.