Hunters In Equestria

by DarthRevan

The Temple (Part 2)

"Cr-Cresun?" Ciede asked in disbelief. "I saw your head!" Cresun laughed.

"Putting my helmet on an Elders head was quite easy." He noted. Ciede growled.

"You betrayed our clan! Your cult!" Ciede roared. Cresun growled in return.

"None of them would do what needed to be done! The Yautjas purpose in life is to bring the ultimate hunter into existence! And I plan on doing just that!" Cresun spat.

"By infecting our father with a Serpent and creating The Abomination?!" Ciede spat back. Cresun scoffed.

"Abomination?! The combination of Yautja and Serpent would be the most dangerous hunter in existence!" Cresun argued.

"And the most honorless. Abandon these ideas, brother. The Clan might just forgive you if you save our father!" Ciede pleaded. The egg was close to hatching. The struggling World-Killer still strapped to the table.

"Even now you cling to the old ways! World-Killer chose to exile himself in this temple over us, over mother!" Cresun yelled. "We will watch him die, and a God be born, together as brothers!" Cresun said.

"I will not be a part of this madness, brother. If I can't save father, you know damn well I'll kill The Abomination." Ciede threatened. Cresun looked down in defeat.

"Pity. I did not want to have to kill you." He said. A sickening splash rang out. The egg had opened. A creature came out of it. It looked to be some cross between a hand and a spider. Its coloration was blood red and it seemed quite larger than it should. The Royal Facehugger saw the bound prey before it and leapt. Cresun began to chuckle. These chuckles soon turned into full laughter.

"You-You monster!" Twilight spat. Cresun immediately stopped and crouched down to be level with the unicorn.

"Really, brother? You ally yourself with the prey?" He said. "Such unworthy creatures. It seems you've fallen into the same trap our father fell into those thousand years ago." He added. Ciede slammed his fist into the glass.

"This is between you and I, Bad-Blood!" Ciede spat. Cresun immediately stood.

"Bad-Blood? I'm shocked, brother. You of all Yautja should know how unfair the current honor system is. Five separate attempts to rank up? And five different failures solely because you can't survive a Serpent onslaught all on your own? Hardly seems fair." Cresun pointed out.

"If others can pass that test then so can I." Ciede said. Cresun sighed. He brought his wrist computer up and began typing.

"Good bye, brother." As soon as Cresun said this, a heavy metal plate slammed down from inside the thick glass.

"We have to go around!" Ciede yelled. He turned and ran down the hallway they came from.

"We must save your father!" Luna called out as she ran. Ciede sighed.

"The Serpent is within him. It is too late for World-Killer. However, we can still kill The Abomination before it erupts!" Ciede corrected. "And then, we kill that snake Cresun!" Ciede growled. The four turned a corner and stopped. At the other end of the hall was Cresun.

"Prepare to die, little brother." He teased. Ciede charged and tackled his brother.

"Go! Stop The Abomination!" Ciede called. The pony trio ran past the fighting Yautjas. Cresun punched his brother in the jaw and kicked him off. With a roar, he tried to stab Ciede with his wrist blades. Ciede threw himself to the side, narrowly avoiding the blood stained blades. Ciede began kicking at Cresun. The Bad-Blood caught a leg and dropped his elbow on it. Ciede roared in pain.

"You always were worthless in melee."
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The ponies had quickly run into a problem.

"Dammit! We don't know how to use these doors!" Yearling cried out. Luna approached the control panel for the locked door. With a flash, her horn unleashed a torrent of lightning into the computer. With a small explosion, the door rumbled open. A wall of mist flew out. A wave of cold immediately besieged the ponies. The magic users used their horns to keep them warm and Luna sent a shield of heat for Yearling. Inside the freezer were some very familiar objects.

"Parasite eggs!" Luna announced. "Destroy them all!" She ordered. Torrents of flame shot out from Luna and Twilights horns while the archeologist simply smashed them. A loud shriek rang out. The trio stopped in their tracks. A four legged monstrosity trotted out from the shadows. Its body was certainly horse shape but several things were different. Its skin was not furred but instead was a black shell, similar to changelings. It lacked eyes and instead of the blunt teeth of a horse, it had rows and rows of small but sharp teeth. Its tail was thin and long and ended in a sharp point. The tails end was covered in spikes. With a screech, The Serpent leapt.
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Cresun had heard The Serpents shriek.

"It seems my little pet has found your friends." He noted. Ciede growled.

"How are there Serpents here?" He asked.

"A full day had past between the me arriving here and you. I had plenty of time to play around." Cresun answered. Ciede used his talk to throw three throwing stars at his brother. Cresun took all three to the chest without flinching. "You'll have to do better than that." Cresun teased. Ciede took this to heart. Several low power plasma shots were launched in Cresuns general direction. The majority had hit the walls, blowing chunks out, but one hit Cresun squarely in the chest and threw him into a wall. Ciede took this chance and began kicking at his brothers stomach. After taking a few hits, Cresun grabbed Ciedes leg.

"Oh pauk." Ciede was flipped onto his back. Cresun was on top of him and began beating him. Ciede could only hope the ponies were faring better than he.
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Luna was barely keeping The Serpent at bay with both her magic and new spear. A horrid inner jaw shot out of the outer one every once in a while, seemingly having a mind of its own.

"Fire, Twilight!" Luna roared. "The Parasites hate fire!" Twilight began casting fire blasts as Yearling brought out her spiked whip. As soon as the first fireball was cast, The Serpent leapt to the ceiling. Its tail stabbed at Twilight as it hissed in anger. Yearling swung her whip at the tail, catching the sharp tip.

"Gotcha!" Yearling called as she tugged on the whip. The spike covered whip tore the tip straight off. Yearling was smiling until she saw her whip, beginning to melt. The green blood was eating through the metal and leather. "Acid blood?! Are you kidding me?" Yearling groaned. A realization came to Luna. Acidic blood. A wounded, and flexible, tail. A narrow room. One could almost see the sadism on The Serpents face as it put two and two together.

"Run!"
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Ciede finally managed to kick Cresun off. As soon as he was free, Ciede let loose with his plasma caster. The hallway they were fighting in was quickly becoming unstable. Cresun was dodging left and right.

"Can't shoot what you can't see!" Cresun spat as he activated his cloak. Ciede switched from his ordinary vision to electromagnetic. The wiring of the building overwhelmed that. Thermal was next. The building was naturally warm and Yautja cloaking made its user the same temperature as its surroundings. However, Cresuns helmet was carved from a skull and was not connected to the internal heating/cooling system. Comically, it appeared a skull shape blob was just floating around. With a victorious grunt, Ciede shot once. The normal charged shot hit Cresun in the chest and launched him back. The cloak deactivated and Ciede could see he blew a hole in both Cresuns armor and chest.

"Give in, brother. You are done."
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The Serpent swung its tail around madly, throwing acidic blood everywhere. The pony trio was on the run, magical users casting fireballs whenever possible.

"I'd like to point out," Yearling began. ", that this is not my fault!" She finished.

"Of course not." Luna teased. Two puddles of acid flew through the air and landed on Yearling. She screamed in pain as both sides of her hindquarters were being eaten away.

"Yearling!" Twilight screamed.

"Help her! I shall deal with the Parasite." Luna ordered. She brought out her spear and charged The Serpent. The Serpent was not used to hosts running directly at it and was caught off guard. The spear stabbed into a leg, the metal proving too strong for the acid. The Serpent screamed in pain and bit at Luna. Said alicorn had ducked and stabbed again. This time, the spear went through its chest and out the neck. With a screech, it we t limp. "How fares Yearling?" Luna asked between pants.

"I got the acid off but her flanks are permanently burned." Twilight answered
Yearling was panting on the ground.

"That monster took my cutie mark." She said slowly. She looked up at Luna. "Look out!" She cried with urgency. The Serpent began biting at Luna with renewed vigor, somehow still living. Luna removed the spear and backed up. A torrent of acid fell onto the floor from The Serpents wounds. Despite being greviously injured, it was still crawling forward. Its face nothing but hatred and fury. With a grunt, Luna stabbed the spear into The Serpents head.
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Cresun sat up against the wall. His chest wound may not have been deep but it covered the entirety of his chest.

"Well, brother. I guess this is it." He said.

"It seems so." Ciede replied. Cresun chuckled.

"Do you remember what hunters are supposed to do if defeated in battle?" He asked.

"Educate me." Ciede said, stepping ever closer. Cresun held up his wrist computer, which showed numbers.

"Don't let the prey get the tech." With a slump, Cresun was gone. Ciede moaned, he had lost everything. His home. His friends. His father. His brother. However, Cresun had left a parting gift in the form of the self-destruct. With a growl, Ciede began to run. He ran past rhe freezer room and into the next hallway. The corpse of The Serpent laid there. He glanced at his allies. Yearling was laying on the ground, shuddering in pain. Twilight was studying the corpse. Luna was cleaning the spear. Ciede picked up Yearling.

"Whoa! Hell's going on?" She asked through clenched teeth.

"The temples going to blow. We need to leave." Ciede explained. Lunas horn immediately lit up but nothing happened.

"Why can't I teleport us?" She asked.

"The technology here is made to cancel out any frequencies going out." Ciede answered. "We have to run." With that, the four turned tail and ran. They rushed past The Serpent corpse. They barreled through the freezer. The ponies noted Cresuns body on the way. The viewing room was soon behind them. With a few more turns, the four made it out of the temple. They dove into the tree line as a brilliant blue light engulfed the temple and burned it from the inside out. The four sat up, panting.

"So." Twilight began. "What now?"
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During the two fatal battles that took place inside the temple, World-Killer waited to die. Oh how he longed to kill himself. To slaughter the Abomination within. A sharp pain in his chest told him otherwise. With no way to stop it, World-Killer resigned to his fate. He was silent as the thick snake like creature erupted from his chest. With an unholy combination of a screech and a roar, The Abomination was born.

Author's Note:

And with that, Arc 1 of Hunters In Equestria is complete! So many thanks to all the people who've liked and favorited my first published story! We are now half way throughout my story!