Predator 3

Rock and roll music played loudly from a record player as the team of seven mingled on a purple air balloon piloted by a Canterlot Guard stallion. Applejack looked around and reflected on her team with pride as they mingled with each other and checked their gear.

Rainbow Dash quietly polished her weapon of choice if things didn't go as planned; an ornate set of wing-blades- as lethal as any magic when combined with her athletic prowess. Though her attitude could really stir up a storm of controversy she had proven to Applejack time-and-time-again that she owned the Element of Loyalty and would always be at her side in moments of danger.

Starlight Glimmer, although she had joined up with the Mane 6 well before Applejack took over as leader, still stood out of the group as the newest member. When things got tough in the Saddle Arabian friendship affair the team leaned hard on her heavy offensive magic. Her cheeks bulged out as she masticated a mouthful of falafel. Her most important role was stepping up as the new Element of Magic when Twilight Sparkle moved on and up and Applejack often wondered if it was all the salty, deep-fried food she stuffed in her face that fueled her magic. She offered up a bite to Rarity.

"Goodness, no, darling." Rarity protested as she gave the falafel a sniff. "Get that dreary commoner's food away from me!"

Starlight Glimmer then offered a bite to Fluttershy who simply raised a hoof in refusal. "You girls are a bunch of boorish pushovers! This stuff will turn you into a freaking sexual tyrannosaurus!" she then chided.

Rarity flashed a sinister smile toward Starlight Glimmer as she lit her horn aglow. "Let's see you sit so smugly after I'm done with you, darling." The balloon filled up with boisterous laughter. Rarity often flew under the radar as the underdog of the group. Being a seamstress gave her a very utilitarian personality that was often taken for granted but as the Element of Generosity she didn't seem to mind. In moments when things didn't go as planned she had always proved that she could hold her own.

"Hey Fluttershy Guess what!?" Pinkie Pie called ecstatically. Fluttershy turned her head to look. "I was up all night working on dessert with Mr. Cake and I said 'hey! you weren't supposed to put the icing on yet!' and he said 'I didn't'." Fluttershy stared meekly at Pinkie Pie. "Get it?! Because it wasn't icing." Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes in defeat and went back to her own business. Applejack was begrudging to accept that an Element of Laughter was necessary at all but Pinkie Pie's ability to break the fourth wall came in handy quite often- even if it could only be used as a catalyst to bring about a turning point and not an outright deus ex machina. Fluttershy never spoke much out on missions but the Element of Kindness went a long way solving friendship problems and her affinity for nature proved most valuable in keeping a track of objectives when things stopped going according to plan.

Twilight Sparkle on the other hoof, Applejack thought, was the wildcard in this group now. It had been years since they had seen each other, let alone worked together, and Applejack wasn't quite sure if Twilight Sparkle was still somepony she could trust.

As the group disembarked onto the snowy mountainside from the balloon Starlight Glimmer was working on another falafel wrap and offering around a bite to the group. "That's a real nasty habit you have there." Twilight Sparkle lectured before jaunting off toward the edge of a deep chasm. "Around here is where we lost contact with the balloon." She explained.

"Why is it all melty!?" Pinkie Pie asked excitedly, noting that grass jutted out from the snow toward the edge of the chasm.

"And what's that smell, darling?" Rarity placed a hoof at her scrunched nose to fend off a sulfurous odor.

Applejack Wandered toward the edge of the chasm with Twilight Sparkle. The other mares could see their faces light up from an orange glow as they got close. "Well, I'll be." Applejack said with wonder.

"It looks like a volcanic tube flows out into the chasm." Twilight Sparkle explained as the other mares approached to look.

"Wow. It's so lush down there." Starlight Glimmer observed a dense deciduous forest that thrived in the heat of the lava flow that stretched on for miles.

"Looks like I brought this designer scarf for nothing!" Rarity huffed, as she stuffed the scarf back into her saddle bags.

"Hey! I think I see the balloon down there!" Pinkie Pie screeched as she strained her eyes toward the floor of the chasm. She produced a hoof-full of narrow balloons and quickly folded them into a pair of binoculars and began scanning the terrain below. Applejack grabbed the balloon binoculars from her and took a look around.

"It's a long way down for ponies who can't fly." Rarity sighed as she stepped forward, accidentally kicking a small rock over the edge. The rock bounced several times against the surrounding rock face on its way down.

Fluttershy approached the scene meekly, shuttering quietly to herself.

Applejack hammered a piton into a large boulder nearby, threaded a steel cable through it and looked over to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash nodded, grabbed the cable, and flew it down and across the chasm, hammering a piton into the cavern wall at the other side.

"Ooh! A zip-line!" Pinkie Pie screeched excitedly. She produced some more balloons and created a hoof grip for the line.

"Z-zip line?" Fluttershy stuttered nervously.

"Oh, for crying out loud, Fluttershy! Can't you just fly down?" Applejack buried her face in one of her front hooves.

"But it's so far." Fluttershy protested.

"Come on, Fluttershy, We got this!" Rainbow Dash encouraged as she flew back to the group.

Rainbow Dash held one of Fluttershy's front hooves with her own as the two flew down together.

Pinkie Pie was the first to take the zip-line down, letting out an excited "WEE!" as she went. Somewhere across the chasm the scene was quietly being watched. The shorter wavelengths of infrared radiation from her body popped out in contrast against the longer wavelengths from cooler surroundings at the top of the chasm. She was being watched by her body heat. "WEE!" the observer repeated to itself like a vinyl recording. Its attention turned to another bright heat source taking flight from the top of the chasm directly toward the damaged air balloon which was caught up in a tree some distance away.

"Now wait just a darn minute!" Applejack protested as she watched Twilight Sparkle fly on ahead of them. She quickly jumped on to the zip-line and slid down with her bare hooves on all fours as Rainbow Dash flew the balloon hoof-grip back up for Rarity.

Twilight Sparkle let out a dread sigh as she approached the scene. The balloon was caught up in some trees and there were streaks of blood along the forest floor but otherwise no sign of the delegates.

"This doesn't look good, sugar cube." Applejack sighed as she caught up. The two mares scanned the nearby woods for any signs of life as the others caught up.

"Over here!" Starlight Glimmer called out. Applejack walked over to her side and the two looked over a burn mark on the side of a tree. "There was a magic fight down here." Starlight Glimmer explained. "Whoever fired these blasts was completely spooked."

Rainbow Dash stood and comforted Fluttershy as she looked for tracks on the forest floor. Fluttershy then whispered her conclusion to Rainbow Dash.

"Hey Applejack!" Rainbow Dash called out.

"What is it?" Applejack walked back over to Rainbow Dash.

"Fluttershy says that it looks like three ponies got off the balloon. A yak and two ponies ambushed them from the south east. Dragged two of the ponies off with them."

"Then where's the third? Fluttershy, ain't there a bird or something you can ask?" Applejack asked in a commanding tone.

"Something scared everycreature away." Fluttershy explained nervously.

"Darling!" Rarity called out nervously as she observed a drop of blood descending down from the canopy above.

Applejack looked over to Rainbow Dash and the two nodded. Rainbow Dash pulled her wing blades from her saddle bags and strapped them on. With a mighty leap and a stroke of her wing she cut a thick branch out of the way and the other six looked up and then pulled back and winced in terror. The bloodied body of a pegasus hung from a higher branch, the skin removed. Twilight Sparkle stepped over and with tears in her eyes her horn glowed as a pair of dog-tags began to levitate toward her from the body. Rainbow Dash leaped up and snatched the dog-tags and passed them to Applejack instead.

"Lieutenant F. Sentry." Applejack read out loud and then looked down solemnly.

"They just skinned him alive? Darling!" Rarity shuddered with disgust.

"Ew! That's not very fun!" Pinkie Pie squealed with a jarringly upbeat candor.

Twilight Sparkle sobbed conspicuously as Applejack came up and placed a hoof on her shoulder. "He was our friend too, sugar-cube. We worked with him back in the Great Vanhoover Fiasco."

"There's still two delegates missing." Twilight Sparkle fought her tears back and held her head back up high. "I want every pony armed and on full alert." She commanded.