The Divide

For a long time, nopony said a word. They all marched in silence; Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth ponies side by side.The road was so narrow, the soldiers found themselves marching in a thin line; three soldiers per row and if given proper visibility, one would clearly see how thinly stretched the company was. Applejack assumed the silence was due to the weather, the cold relentless freezing windstorms that were keeping everypony's head down and forcing silence onto everyone. Eventually, when the weather let up a bit, a few ponies would start a song or a chant, and one by one, the rest of the group would join in. When the depressing weather returned,  silence would return. Then more song or chatter when it went away. This was the pattern for the rest of the morning.

"Been with the Guard for years," Badger said after some time, "Today marks my eleventh year in the service."

"Ah never got why anypony would want an' join the Royal Guards," Applejack wondered, "I mean, . 'Cause I know there are militias  and they do a mighty decent job at keep the security in their home town. I guess I don't know why we need Royal Guards prepare

"We're far too overstretched, yes. Sometimes we gotta leave the towns at our frontiers in the hooves of the locals.

"You're talking about the Apple Rangers, am I right?"

Applejack didn't know whether to take it positively or not but she nodded in honesty.

"I've always admired the Apple Rangers," Badger willingly acknowledged, "They're good folk. Their intentions and hearts are in the right places; helping those the army or Royal Guards cannot help and abiding by honorable principles. It's a shame they never seem to want to lend their support to us."

"And why's that?"

The Captain sighed, "A long story, Applejack. Let's just say

"Captain!" Somepony yelled out through the mist. It came from ahead on the . It was impossible to see anythingApplejack heard a murmur somehwere near her, claiming that it was a member from the scouting party Badger had sent out to  Soon, the murmurs grew louder and louder, as they passed the news to their comrades behind them.

Applejack trotted to Badger and the supposed scout party. The dark silhouetted figures in the mist soon became distinguishable as she came closer, but so did the bodies, or corpses to be precise.

"Aw no..." Applejack whimpered in disbelief. It had been a long time . She tried to stop herself from shaking but it was no use. To see the frozen corpses of ponies, keeping their same expressions as they died, was just too much for her to bear.

"Applejack?" Badger said, but she just now covered her fears and sorrow by covering her face with her hat, as a sign of coping. Badger

"They're from the company manning the outpost, sir," the leader of the scout team said.

"Are you sure?"

The team leader walked up to one of the corpses, looking awfully unsettled. "She served with me at Vanhoover, sir." Badger looked on at the three corpses while the team leader continued, "More and more bodies are being discovered the more and more we continue on this road. I think it's best we assume the worst."

"All from A Company," Badger troublingly said. He quietly muttered a curse under his breath.

"Sir! Sir!" a voice came screaming from behind, where the main body was positioned on the road. The soldier came through the frost cloud and stopping right in front of Badger, panting heavily as he spoke. "P- pri- private Leatherhoof, sir. Officer St- St- Steelhoof sent me."

"What is it, private?"

Finally catching his breath, he continued, "Some of the soldiers believe they saw movement on the two opposing snow mounds on each side of the road."

"Yes, sir.  Steelhoof .

"Has he prepared to fight?"

"He's waiting for your orders." Leatherhoof concluded, also waiting for orders. They were all waiting orders. His main body of troops, Leatherhoof, the Scouting Party, and he himself as well.

Badger rose to his feet. It was time, he thought to himself. The scouting party and Leatherhoof watched as Badger paced back and forth on the road, thinking out the forty mare-strong company's next move. About forty new recruits' lives were now in his hooves to lead into battle and preferably, return home safely. Not all of them would make it but he had to try, still.

He shut down everything around him, the sounds of the windstorm became muted, allowing him to think properly. He knew a full retreat was unlikely at this stage, it had taken the entire morning to get where they are now and the ponies were obviously exhausted now. Surrender? To Griffons? He and his soldiers probably would rather die than be taken prisoners. Surrender was out of the question.

"We stand and fight, lieutenant." He firmly announced to the scouting leader and she saluted, followed by an afirmative response. He then to Leatherhoof, "Get back to Steelhoof and tell him to get his end of troops to get into a defensive position. Pass the word to those at the front most of the column that the enemy is here." While Leatherhoof was running back to the rear lines, Badger believed that spreading this news to the front column would quickly spread throughout the company and the officers. By the time Leatherhoof had reached Steelhoof, most soldiers would have been aware of the situation.

"They're everywhere!"

"Hold your positions!" Badger angrily snapped back, unable to single out the defeatist had no time to find out who. AnWe're dead! . Before the few officers even realized it, what little forces they still had remaining, had now broken and were routing in every direction.  Blinded by the snow storm and confused by the sounds of gunfire that felt like it was coming from all directions and screams of agony littering the battlefield, many soldiers found themselves routing in all directions, . The officers tried rallying their troops but it was too late and soon, they themselves began to flee from the scene.

Off to her side, she caught a glimpse of a fellow soldier, also racing up the hill though several paces away from her. Rolling down the slope like a ragdoll.

All she could do to defend herself against her surrounding enemies. She tried looking for an opening between any of them but they were too tightly spaced to another. Still thiking, a pony tried to ram himself at Applejack only to have Applejack side strafe out of the way. She drove a hind leg into the ribs on the attacking pony's vulnerable side, sending him diving forward into the snow. He caught a lightsaber strike on his beskar vambrace, then tried to drop an iron-gloved fist across the bridge of Caedus's nose-only to find himself striking at empty air when his foe was already ducking away and driving him back with a shoulder to the midsection.