Equestria Divided

Sunlight shone across the valley, illuminating the streets of Dodge Junction. Early morning toilers went about their business, performing routine maintenance on the scouting balloons and carriages parked around the town.

The light filtered into a small, stone overhang in a nearby hill, causing one pony to stir in her sleep before she ultimately stretched and awoke. She shook the dirt from her coat, and slid on the leather tunic that lay next to her. Quickly flipping a leather helmet onto her head, she exited the structure to greet the sunlight. She closed her eyes, allowing its warmth to wash over her.

“Still sleepin in that little cave, eh Pup?” A voice startled her from her blissful respite from the cold stone. She looked up to see a light tan pony she recognized.

“Good morning to you too, Clover...” She responded with a sigh. “Yeah, I sleep in a small cave, because it feels right.” She said, stretching one last time before walking toward Dodge.

“I guess I wouldn’t know... My parents were ponies. Not mutts.” Clover said with a smirk.

The mare spun, coming face to face with him. “When my family was lost, they took me in. I’d take care to not speak ill about my kin, if I were you.” She growled.

“Awe, come on now, Wolfe. I’m just messin with ya. I know how much you care about them. I didn’t mean nothing by it.” He said with a smile, nudging her shoulder.

Wolfe grumbled, and continued her walk into Dodge.

After a quick breakfast, the duo went about their morning duty of patrolling the edges of the town for intruders.

It had been a rather quiet morning of Wolfe not talking to Clover, and ignoring his apologetic nudges. Finally, just after he had given up, Wolfes ears twitched, and she darted off ahead of Clover, leaving him to catch up.

As she crested a hill, she came skidding to a stop. Two unicorns stood, looking toward her, ones horn glowed as a bolt of energy streaked toward Wolfe.

Wolfe was pushed out of the way by Clover, who pulled a rope from his side, and spinning it with a trained precision. Wolfe charged forward toward the Unicorn that had shot at her, ducking under the next bolt.

The second unicorn readied a shot, but the shot went wide when her hooves were wrapped in a rope, and were pulled out from under her.

Wolfe set herself, and turned, pushing both of her rear hooves outward with tremendous force. Her hooves connected with the side of the unicorns head as another beam of energy lept from it, but flying off harmlessly. The unicorn fell to the ground, unconscious.

“Well, Wolfe. What now?” Clover asked, placing a hoof on the side of the tied up unicorns head, to keep her from casting any magic bolts in their direction.

“I see two unicorns that were trespassing on Earthborn territory. You know what that means?” Wolfe asked with a grin, causing the Unicorn to thrash and beg.

“I don’t think she wants what’s coming to her. But why else would she be here?” Clover grinned as he pulled a blade from his saddlebag that had what seemed to be the teeth of a saw on the back of the blade. He placed the blade against the unicorns horn, and started cutting through.

The scream that the unicorn let out was almost enough to curdle Wolfes blood. “Don’t scream too much... Your dehorning is going to be a lot less brutal than your friends is.” She said with a chuckle, ignoring the screams of the unicorn.

After the agonizingly loud few minutes, Clover placed the blade back in his pack with his new trophy, looking toward Wolfe. “Would you like to do the honors with the next one?” He asked. Wolfe nodded and walked over toward the unicorn who had barely started shifting from the first kick.

She planted her forehooves, swung around, and delivered a forceful buck to the base of his horn. A crack worked its way up the horn, but it ultimately stayed connected. She set herself once more, letting out another kick, and the horn shattered, falling to pieces against the ground.

She nodded, heading over to the first unicorn, who had finally stopped screaming. “You take a message back to your commander. You tell them that Earthborn territories are the most dangerous place to be right now. Especially for you magic using filth.” Wolfe said, looking toward Clover.

“Now, take your friend, and get out of here. Return to your home with the shame of your failure.” Clover muttered as the unicorn mare helped her friend up, and helped him along as they made their way back north. Clover sighed, turning and heading back toward Dodge, hanging his rope on hsi side once more.

“Something wrong, Clover?” Wolfe asked, catching up with him. “You seem kinda depressed.”

“It’s just the dehorning we put unicorns through.” Clover started, looking back toward the site of the fight. “It almost seems barbaric. It’s a part of who they are, and we remove that from them.”

“You weren’t complaining while you were doing the dehorning,” Wolfe pointed out, “And you seemed happy about it at first. Why the sudden change of heart?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it just took this many dehornings to get to me...”

“Did I tell you the story of my first dehorning?” Wolfe Asked.

“Not that I remember.” Clover said, stopping as Wolfe took a seat and gestured for him to do the same.

“I had first crawled out of the Diamond Dogs tunnels, my eyes adjusting to the light. I heard shouts around me, and when my vision finally came to me, I had two Hoof Cannons pointed at me, and a ranger spinning a rope, looking at me angrily. They were asking me all sorts of questions about who I was and where I came from. I couldn’t give them very many answers, and they suspected me of being an enemy.

“As they were dragging me off, a small troop of Unicorns attacked, killing the two Hoof Cannoneers, and wounding the Ranger. Finally, the unicorns were subdued, and the Ranger went about collecting the horns as you did. He paused, dragging one Unicorn over to me and grinning. ‘Congratulations. You’ve earned my trust, and your own dehorning.’

He handed me his knife, and waited. It took one fight, and him nearly dying, but I became part of the Earthborn that day. But my first dehorning was from a young Filly.” Wolfe said, shaking her head softly.

“It wasn’t your fault. They attacked you.” Clover said, trying to encourage his sorrowful friend.

“I know. It still hurts when I dehorn other unicorns. The memories of taking a filly’s horn still haunt me. But, in the end I remember that this is a war. Leaving them with the horn could be disastrous for us.” Wolfe said, nuzzling Cloves cheek for a moment. “Don’t let it get to you. One day, all of this will be over, and We’ll be able to go back to the way things were.”

“That’ll be a cold day in Tartarus... C’mon. I’ll buy you a cider. You look like you need one.” Clover said with a grin as the duo found themselves back in Dodge Junction.