Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rarity came to a stop at the barn. There were holes in the walls, the ground was scorched. No sign of Applejack or anypony else. A pit started to form in Twilight's stomach. What if they couldn't find their friends? What if they suffered the same fate as Spike?

Twilight's thoughts were interrupted by Fluttershy, who had only manged to squeak when she found the tracks leading deeper into the orchard.

"Come on girls, if Applejack's anywhere, we aren't going to find her here," Rarity said, as curious about the tracks as the rest of her friends were. They were fresh, and it was clear they had taken off running in the mud. The three friends followed the tracks as best as they could until they came to a large series of scrapings in the ground.

"Oh my, what happened here?" Fluttershy asked as she inspected the torn ground.

Twilight looked at their surroundings, bark scarped off of trees, apples laying on the ground. Twilight discovered more tracks leaving the scene, the same kind they had been following, but now they were accompanied by something, four straight lines all about the same distance apart.

"This looks like it could be from Scootaloo's scooter," Rarity observed, "if they're together, then we might be in better shape than we thought."

"Well we’d better hope so," Twilight commented," otherwise I have no idea how we'll find them." The three ponies followed the tracks towards the edge of the orchard. They clambered over the rail the rail fence surrounding the property and continued to follow the tracks . Twilight didn't like what she was seeing - if she was right, these tracks would them straight into the Everfree Forest. Fluttershy stopped in her tracks as Twilight looked up from the ground below - she was right; they were going to have to go in.

"Well, come on girls," Twilight said with the same tone she's always used when she was trying to cover up fear. The last thing she wanted to do was go on a wild goose chase through the Everfree Forest, but she knew she had no choice. She started walking into the forest and Rarity followed. Fluttershy only stood frozen looking into the trees.

"Fluttershy, come on," Twilight encouraged as Rarity nodded along.

"I-I can't..." Fluttershy shied away," j-just go on without me, I'll be fine, I'd end up slowing you down half the time anyway."

"Don't be ridiculous, Fluttershy," Rarity said," we need you in there, you are the only one that can deal with those wild animals in there safely. We need you, and our friends need you."

"We can't get separated again," Twilight added," you know our friends would do the same for you." With that, Fluttershy realized she had to go in, even if she didn't like it. She had to do it for her friends. You can’t let you friends down, she thought as she tried to gather the courage to go in.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

"Well? Who are you?" Gates kept his weapon steady, aimed in the center of the group. He didn't like that he had to act like this - there were fillies with them - but he couldn't let his guard down, if this was a trap he'd be bucked.

Sweetie Belle quivered in fear behind Pinkie Pie and whispered to the earth pony, "those ponies that were chasing us had those sticks..."

"Well what do you know, the Chasey McChaserton chased us all the way in here," Pinkie said sharply.

"Wait, what?" Gates replied confused," I wasn't chasing you, I was... never mind. Tell me, who are you?"

"Well, your friends didn't seem so interested in knowing who we were. Why do you need to know our names if y'all are just gonna throw us in one ah those portal things?"

"Portal... what?" Gates realized they were no threat as he lowered his weapon," I guess they got to Ponyville..." He looked at the ground, ashamed that he had just threatened a group innocent, and probably scared out of their minds, ponies.

"They?" Rainbow Dash questioned. "You mean you know about what's happening? Who are you? Are you one of those bad ponies?"

"Bad ponies? No," Gates responded," I'm sorry I threatened you - for one, I just couldn't be too sure. My name's Golden Gates, I'm a member of the Royal Pony Sister's elite guard. I was going to-" He was cut off, his staff wrenched out of his hands by a magical force, breaking off of the brace that kept it in place. The staff bashed Gates' face, shocking him with magic and rolling away.

He recovered quickly, taking a defensive stance in front of the ponies he had just been threatening, now protecting them. Three figures came out of the woods, two unicorns and a pegasus. Twilight levitated Gates off the ground, her horn glowing a bright white light.

"Twi’! Stop!" Applejack yelled. As Twilight suddenly dropped Gates from the air. He hit the ground hard, and stood up quickly, back in the same stance he had taken before the unicorn attacked him. Twilight's horn began to glow again.

"Both of ya simmer down, this is a big misunderstanding," Applejack intervened. "Golden Gates here is on our side I reckon, and didn't mean to threaten us like that," Applejack explained. "These are our friends, here," she said looking at Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy. "They clearly thought you were one of the ponies chasing us earlier. But you aren't, we're all friends here." Gates kept his eyes fixed on the three ponies who had sneaked up on him, and eased up only when Twilight and the others did.

Zecora led all of the ponies inside her hut and began tending to Rainbow Rainbow’s wing. In the corner of the room, the Cutie Mark Crusaders retold their adventure, trying - and failing - to keep their voices to a minimum. Meanwhile, the others stood talking by the door.

"I really am sorry I acted like that," Gates said, still ashamed of what he had done.

"Don't think nothin' of it," Applejack soothed," I'm sure I woulda done the same thing if I was in your horse shoes."

"I'm sorry I was so quick to attack you - I just didn't want anything to happen to my friends, you know?" Twilight added, apologetically. Her words hit Gates hard. He started to think back, but stopped himself - he knew he couldn’t get distracted, not now.

"No apologies necessary," Gates said firmly.

"Well, Twilight here kind of interrupted your introduction, who did you say you were?" Applejack asked.

"My name's Golden Gates, a member of Celestia's elite guard, I was going to Ponyville to try and stop what’s happened in Canterlot from happening there. I guess I was too late," Gates’ voice trailed off. "I need to do what I can in Ponyville however, so I really should get going," he said, starting to walk out he front door.

"Wait!" Twilight yelled. "Let us go with you, I'm sure we can help," Twilight said as her five friends perked up.

"I couldn't let you do that, you've been through so much already and I can't guarantee your safety," Gates deflected her offer as quickly as he could.

Pinkie Pie popped in: "How can the bearers of the Elements of Harmony not be helpful now?" She looked at Gates with a sense of curiosity that threw him off a bit.

"You're telling me that you are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony?" Gates asked slowly. Twilight and the others all gave a nod. Gates couldn't believe it, but he had to - it was the best chance he had at beating this. He closed the door and walked back in the hut. "Alright, I'm not going anywhere."

Next Chapter: Chapter Eight - The Triumvirate Estimated time remaining: 2 Hours, 49 Minutes