The Colonel stood outside the Command building, stalling. Anything he could do to postpone his meeting with the Princess for just a few more moments. He made doubly sure that his uniform was straight, and that there was not dust or mess left on it from earlier. After he had stalled as long as he could, he turned and gave a nervous smile to the dusky blue unicorn standing next to him. Without further pause, he pushed open the door and stepped inside.

A soldier pointed towards a door at the back of the building and gave him an apologetic look. Following the soldier’s directions, the assassin quickly made his way to the door with his companion still striding next to him. He pushed open the door at a nod from the unicorn and stepped into the room where awaited him the Princess. The pair who had just entered bowed in respect.

Jaze was waiting for Celestia to tell them to stand up, yet she never did. He could feel her eyes boring into the back of his head. He shifted his weight to make himself a little more comfortable, which utterly failed. He heard the hollow sound of her hoof-steps as she walked towards him.

“Look at me, Colonel.” The cold anger in her voice made a shiver run down the assassin’s spine as he brought his eyes to meet hers, “What happened today?”

“No more than what I said in the after action report.” Jaze said quickly, “A few of the soldiers defected…”

“I thought that humans hated the Cye.” It wasn’t a question, just a cold statement of fact. Jaze had never truly seen anypony this angry with him before.

“We do, but Carn apparently offered them sanctuary if they killed me; for them and their families.”

“I want you to tell me everything that happened today, exactly as you remember it.”

“Ma’am, I already put everything in my report to you…”

“I want to hear this from your mouth!” the Princess suddenly yelled, her wings flared angrily. “One of my little ponies was gravely wounded, another could have been killed, and blood has been spilt. Tell me what happened!” The Colonel realized that it was not anger that made her treat him like this, but fear. Fear for her subjects, and of a foe that she did not understand; a foe that could seemingly turn allies against each other with ease.

Jaze could understand her fear and told her, without sugarcoating anything, all that had happened that morning, leaving off only what happened between him and Trixie. He watched as first shock, then horror, and finally hatred played across her face. Her eyes continued to bore into him as he finished his tale. The assassin could not bring himself to look up from the floor, to meet the Princess’s eyes.

“That is everything I can tell you ma’am.” He finally said when the alicorn’s gaze had become unbearable.

“Why?” she said in angry disbelief, “Why do humans behave like this?” Her voice was shaking in anger now, “What could drive you to do something so horrible!”

“Have you ever feared for something more than you do for yourself?” Jaze asked quietly, his own anger suddenly awakened, his hands balling into fists. He did not know why he was defending these men; he just knew that he had to protect them from the wrath of the Princess.

“Of course, I do all the time!”

“But have you ever had to sit and wonder when they are going to die, and know that there is nothing you can do to stop it?”

“I fear that right now! Ever since humanity’s enemy invaded my home!”

“Now try living with that fear for six goddamn years!” The unbridled fury in his voice, as well as the thought itself, gave the irate Princess pause, “These men and women may not have seen the ones they love for six years! Six years, six years of never knowing if you will live or die! Six years of not knowing when your CO will take you aside with a somber look on his face! And six years of being told to save other people’s families when your own may be getting killed at that very moment!” Their furious gazes were locked onto each other; neither wishing to continue to continue the fight, but neither willing to concede defeat.

“Can you understand what it is like trying to keep thousands of scared ponies calm after suddenly being brought into a war between creatures they do not understand?” Celestia asked slowly, trying to keep from yelling again.

“I can,” Jaze left the room, nearly but not quite slamming the door behind him. He came back holding a data pad which he tossed on a table near the Princess, “Look at that. That is a list of all the men and women that are here to defend you and you and your ponies from an enemy that you could not hope to best. Every one of them relies on me to see them through this; every decision that I make could send them to their deaths. And the worst part is that I know that some of them will die, and there is nothing that I can do to stop that.”

“And your point?”

“They are here because you cannot defend yourselves. You have no soldiers of your own, no way to strike back against the Cye; their technology would tear you apart. You owe these soldiers nothing but respect.”

“We have the Royal Guards!” She yelled, angry that the human would insult ponies who dedicated their lives to defending Equestria from all who would attack her.

“Please, I could kill the whole lot of them by myself with no problems. They are untried and have never had to deal with the hell and chaos that is war.” He pointed an accusatory finger at the Princess, “Your guards may be scary in Equestria, but they have no way to defend against the weapons of a space-faring race. With the thousand soldiers I have now, I could sweep aside any defenses that you could try to put in place and take over Equestria in a matter of days.”

Her eyes narrowed, “Is that a threat?”Jaze was stunned speechless; he tried several times to say something but no words would come forth. He stood opening and closing his mouth like a fish on a bank as he tried to force his tongue to work.

“I… you… how… I would never!” He finally roared, “How could you say something like that? I love this land more than I have any other! I only want to save it and its people, or ponies as is the case. They are innocent and have had the good fortune to have never been exposed to something as evil as war. Now you think that I would bring war to them? Ponies that I have lived and worked with?” Jaze spun on his heel and made for the door, “This meeting is over, Your Majesty.”

He tore open the door and slammed it shut when he passed through, leaving behind an angry silence. Trixie had been too stunned to say or do anything since the argument had started and was now watching the Princess with bated breath. The pure white alicorn was shaking with anger at first, but as the seconds turned into minutes she slowly began to calm down and finally noticed that she was not alone.

“I am sorry that you had to witness that, my little pony.” Celestia said quietly.

“That is fine, Princess.” She answered awkwardly, “But please do not be mad at Jaze. He has been more torn up about this than I think even he realizes.”

“How do you come to that conclusion?”

“Well,” she turned her head towards the door the angry soldier had departed from, “these soldiers are supposed to be the ones he could count on to help him in his time of need. But now he is unsure of everypony; he is scared and he doesn’t know who to turn to.” She paused, a thought entering her mind.

“Go on.” The alicorn encouraged when the silence had continued for several minutes.

“Please do not be mad, Princess.” Trixie took a deep steadying breath, “Jaze has nothing but respect for you; so when you started pointing out the thoughts he himself has been having I think that he was more scared then angry. Unlike you, he has not had many years of experience to draw on to help see him through this. He is scared that he will fail with everypony counting on him.”

The Princess turned her eyes to the ceiling, “Could it be that I have made a mistake? I believe I have.” She sighed and turned her eyes back to the blue unicorn before her, “Please find Jaze and offer him my sincerest apologies. I am more afraid now than I have been since Discord escaped. I acted out of fear, and I was wrong to turn that fear towards him. I know that he is doing his best.”

“I’ll try to find him.” She started for the door, but Celestia called out her before she could reach it.

“Trixie, I can see that you care for him.” This brought the blushing unicorn around to face the Princess again.

“I don’t…” She heaved a defeated sigh, “Is it that obvious?”

“Only if one knows what to look for.” the Sun Princess said with a smile, “Remember that he cares for you too; it was not a coincidence that those men took you instead of somepony else. He will need you before the end of this; I know that.”

“I plan to be there for him, no matter what. So do Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Vincent, Shelby, and all of his friends. I hope that you will be there for all of us.”

“You could not make me stay away, this fight has become personal.” A shiver ran through the blue unicorn after seeing the look of cold determination; the same look that had been on Jaze’s face when he slaughtered her captors. She left as quickly as she could; anxious to escape the smoldering anger burning in the ancient alicorns eyes.

Twilight walked the path through the White Tail Woods. A soldier had told her that the missing Colonel had been heading this way about an hour ago. She had seen hide nor hair of the elusive human since she entered the forest, until she happened upon a set of booted foot prints that stopped at a tree. Her purple head lifted to see first a foot, then a leg, and finally the rest of the human warrior sitting on a tree a branch with his back resting on the tree. His gaze fell from the sky to the unicorn below him.

“Hello Twilight.” he sighed.

“Jaze, what are you doing up there! Come back, everypony’s worried about you.” she lectured, “Trixie and Vincent even went into the Everfree to find you.”

“Please don’t start, I just need to be alone and think.” was his disheartened reply.

“I know what happened, between you and the Princess. You need to come back Jaze… oh! Come down out of that tree so I can talk to you face to face.”

“I’m already comfortable up here.”

“Ugh, get over here!” she grunted, her horn beginning to glow. The treed assassin suddenly found himself lifted off his branch and brought to the ground, stopping just a few inches from hitting it. He struggled momentarily to free himself from the magical cocoon surrounding him, but quickly gave up when he ended upside down, floating above the ground.

He crossed his arms, “Okay, you’ve made your point. You can put me down now.” Twilight cut the flow of magic keeping the soldier aloft and he fell with a loud thud. He climbed slowly to his feet and gave the unicorn sidelong glare before leaning against the tree he had occupied.

“Now listen to me Jaze.” She planted herself in front of his gaze and stared into his eyes, “You are being foalish. It is time that you head back.”

“I need to be alone right now, Twilight. I just don’t know what is going on anymore.”

“What does that mean?”

“These men, I don’t know who they are. Any one of them could decide that I need to die and follow in the footsteps of those before them. Not to mention the fact that they have no real reason to risk their lives for a bunch of aliens they didn’t even know existed until now. Can I really trust these soldiers to do what I need?”

“Most of them are good people; they will do what you say because it is right. And those that could not care one way or another will do what you say because you are their leader.”

“I know that in my head, but your gut is a hard thing to ignore.” He pushed away from the tree and walked past his friend, “I don’t want to believe that any one of my soldiers could even think of doing anything as evil as what happened today. But I know better than that. If you are afraid of something, there is two ways to deal with it. You can seek to destroy the object you fear, or you can join forces with the feared thing in hopes it will leave you alone. That is what those men did; they joined that which they feared.”

“Jaze, if anymore of the soldiers try to defect, you are surrounded by skilled friends to help keep you safe. There is no need for you to worry about them getting you.”

The assassin gave a derisive laugh, “You think that is what I worry about? I’m scared that they will try to get to me through my friends. That is how these cowards have always operated.”

“Come on, let’s go back.” She began to leave, but turned back and fixed the soldier with look, “Just so you know, I plan on learning to use a gun. I am sick of being useless, I could have lost three of my friends today and I want to be able to help if it is needed.”

Jaze’s eyes narrowed, “No, you will not learn to use a fire arm!”

“You have no say on what I do with my time.”

“As the resident CO, I think that I can ban you from using any of the Marines’ weapons, civvie.”

“Civvie? What is that?”

“Short for civilian, some one that is not part of the military. But don’t change the subject; I won’t let you train with weapons.”

“Why not? You will need all the help you can get, and I can use a gun with my magic. It makes perfect sense.”

“It does, but rarely does sense have any say on desire. Why do you want to learn to shoot a weapon?”

“Because, I want to have a chance to live. The Cye won’t care that I don’t have a weapon; they’ll kill me anyway, right? So I want to be able to defend myself, somehow.”

“Fine then, if that is what you really want. But,” He held up a cautionary finger, “you will be going through the whole basic training. We’re not just going to turn you lose with a gun. If you can tough it through boot, I’ll let you learn marksmanship.”

“Okay, but what is basic training?”

“It is a program designed to make you tougher in every way possible. It is supposed to be hell so that you don’t seize up on the battlefield and cost people their lives. Do you think you can handle that?”

“I can try…” Her face took on a worried cast, a look worn by many a new recruit.

“Then you have three days to get ready. After that you belong to the drill Sergeants until they say you can handle a weapon. Is that clear, Recruit?”

“Yes Jaze.”

“And there’s one thing to work on. When a CO, commanding officer, asks you a question; you answer with a ‘sir’. So try it again; is that clear, Recruit?”

“Yes sir.”

“Much better, but I won’t pull rank on you often; so for the most part Jaze will be fine.”

“How will I know when to do what?”

“If it is an order, or I call you by rank, then I am not your friend; I am your CO and you will obey the order.” A thought struck the Colonel suddenly, “Have you talked to Celestia about this?”

“Oh gods,” horror played across Twilight’s face, “I never even thought… Oh no, she is gonna be so mad at me, she might even banish me or…”

Jaze pressed his hand to her mouth, “I’ll talk to her; she is already mad at me so this won’t make it worse.” He took his hand away, “Let’s get back, I believe you said that everypony was worried?”

“Oh, yeah, hang on.” Her horn glowed and a small ball of light shot into the air before exploding, “Now they know that I found you and to meet up at our starting point.”

“Have I been gone that long?”

“Not really, but after today everypony’s on edge. We had no clue where you were and Shelby thought there could have been more soldiers in on the plot to kill you.”

“If there are, they will think twice before messing with my friends again.”

Twilight led Jaze to what appeared to be a bar that the soldiers had set up to deal their meager supply of beer. He could see Vincent, Applejack, Trixie, Shelby, Sands, and Rainbow Dash milling around; waiting on him and Twilight to arrive. Shelby spotted them first and made a beeline for the assassin. She pulled her fist back to her ear and delivered a powerful blow to his shoulder.

“You jerk! We have been looking everywhere for you. What did you do, learn to become invisible?”

“Sort of, I suppose.” Jaze laughed as he rubbed his shoulder, feeling a bruise already forming.

“Well, stop it! Every time we let you out of our sight you get in trouble.”

“But at least I can usually get myself out of the trouble.”

“Okay we found Jaze.” Vincent said happily, “Let’s grab a beer, I’m buying.”

“I think I could use a beer after today, let’s do it.” Jaze said as he grinned.

“Am I invited?” Sands asked

“Of course,” Vincent assured, “You’re an Angel now, ain’t you?”

“Damn straight you’re buying! You lost the bet so you still owe us.” Shelby said smugly.

“Oh right…” he turned to the ponies, “You ladies coming too?”

“Ah’ll give it a try, sure.” Applejack answered.

“I might as well, too.” Dash shrugged, glancing at the humans.

“I am just going to go home.” Twilight yawned.

“I’ll go, but I don’t want any of this ‘beer’.” Trixie said.

“Alright that’s…” Vincent took a quick count, “six.” He shook his head and muttered darkly, “Glad I know the bar keep.”

The group enter the packed bar, Vincent breaking away to get the drinks while the rest went to find a table. A group of soldiers saw the Colonel, downed their drinks, and left with a respectful nod. Jaze could hear the talk turn to what happened earlier today. The group of friends took the vacated table and waited for Vincent to return; who placed a glass of frothy, dark beer before everyone at the table.

“Cheers, friends.” he said as he raised his glass and brought it to his lips. Jaze savored the first beer he had had in months as he watched the two ponies investigate the strange liquid. Applejack was the first to cautiously bring the glass to her lips and take a sip, a sip that she barely managed to swallow. She stuck her tongue out at the glass and shoved it away.

“Ya guys actually drink that?” she asked incredulously.

“Yep, but it is not for everyone.” Vincent swept the glass away from Applejack, “I’ll take that.” A sudden burst of laughter brought Jaze’s head around to see Sands laughing at Dash.

“This isn’t bad. Hey, what’s so funny?” she asked in confusion. Jaze had trouble keeping a straight face; some of the foam had stuck to her upper lip, giving her the look of having an old man’s mustache. Shelby had to duck below the table to hide the tears of laughter in her eyes while Vincent pressed his eyes into his hand. Trixie was, like Jaze, trying and failing to keep a straight face.

“Here, I’ll help.” Sands laughed as he picked up a napkin and wiped the foam from her lip.

“Whatever.” The cyan pegasus shrugged and began sipping her drink. Jaze scanned the room, his eyes landing on each of his friends in turn. I, he thought as Vincent told a bawdy joke, getting a laugh from everyone and a thump from Shelby; must be the luckiest man in the galaxy to have these nuts as my friends.

The assassin became aware of eyes watching him once again. He stealthily searched around the room, looking for the offender. He saw someone staring at him from a dark corner. It was a woman wearing a flight uniform, she must have been a pilot. She downed her drink and climbed unsteadily to her feet. Unsteady steps carried her to the Colonel’s table, causing everyone at the table to fall silent.

She gave a shaky salute and said in a slightly slurred voice, “Sir, I am Senior Airman Karen Shar. I jus’ wanted to tell you sumthin’.”

“What is it, Airman?”

“I wanted to say that Corporal Jenkins, one of them traitors, was a friend of mine. Known him for near ten years; we joined the service together.”

Jaze sized her up in case she decided to attack him, “I am sorry for your loss.”

“I’m not. That bastard was get me killed and hand this planet over to the Cye. I am glad that you took him down and I wanted to tell you that I got your back, sir.”

“Same here, Colonel.” A soldier said as he raised his glass in salute.

“Too right mate,” agreed another, raising her glass as well; “you done good by gettin’ rid of those fools. So I say good on ya.” Several more soldiers raised their glasses as well.

“Gimme that,” said Shar as she took Applejack’s nearly full glass from next to Vincent and raised it, “I purpose a toast, to the Colonel!”

“To the Colonel!” echoed across the room as every soldier raised his or her glass.

“I purpose a counter toast,” Jaze said as he brought his glass up, “To us, friends, brothers and sisters in arms. Nunquam intereo.”

“Nunquam intereo.” rang out solemnly as all the glasses in the room were drained. Shar nodded to the Colonel and left through the front door, her step even more unstable now.

“What is ‘nunquam intereo’?” Trixie asked when the room regained its usual noise level.

“It is the motto of the StarSide Marines; it means ‘never to perish’ in a dead Earth language.” Shelby answered with a smile, “It means that our resolve will never die, no matter what.”

Vincent had a confused look on his face, prompting Sands to ask, “What is wrong there, Vincent?”

“She… she stole my beer.” Stunned silence struck the table, “What? I was gonna drink that!” This released everyone from their stupefied state and set them all roaring with laughter.

Jaze sat once more before the blank pieces of paper that were to be the letters he sent to the families of the men who had died. Outside it was already well past dark. Trixie knocked on his office door and pushed it open. She walked over and stood beside him as he took up his pen.

“I thought that you weren’t writing those now.” she reminded him quietly.

“It’s okay now; I think I finally figured out what I needed to write.” He placed his pen on the paper and began to write furiously.

To whom it may concern,

My name is Colonel Jaze Armand with the StarSide Marine Corps. I regret to inform you that your loved one_____ has passed in the line of duty. He died fighting for what he believed to be right, and, I believe, for you and the rest of his family. I wish that I had the power to turn back time and stop what cost them their life, but I can swear that the madman that caused them to die will be brought justice if that brings you some small comfort. Consider that a personal promise from me to you.
Colonel Jaze Armand
First Equestrian Defense Force

Trixie read the letters over his shoulder, “You are not going to tell them that their young men were traitors?”

“What good would it do?” he replied honestly, “At least this way they can mourn their loss in peace. Besides, every word in there is technically true.”

She gave him a wry smile, “Lies of omission are still lies, Colonel.”

“I know, but I can’t bring myself to give those poor people anymore pain.” He put each letter into an individual envelop, sealed, and addressed it himself. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, “Let’s go home, it’s getting late.”