The dropships touched down inside the human camp, let down their ramps, and released the stunned pegasi from their holds. The ponies stumbled around, shell-shocked from the attack; many of them were crying for the loss of their homes and loved ones. Of the ten dropships that left, only nine returned; the last one lost with no survivors as they fled. The wounded ponies were escorted to the medical tents for treatment, while the rest were told to try and rest.

From one of the dropships came a desperate cry of “Medic!” This ships opened and, like the rest, several pegasi spilled out, but a silver-eyed human walked out; a limp form in his arms. The form was a young woman in a flight uniform, her abdomen torn to shreds, and her face pale and drawn.

“Someone get a medic over here!” the man carrying her called once more. A pair of unicorn doctors rushed over to relieve the man of his burden; floating the pilot towards the medical tents. The man grabbed a larger injured human, whose leg was wrapped on bandages, and followed after the unicorns. Unbeknownst to anyone, a small gray pegasus filly slipped away from the group to follow the precession to the medical tents.

Jaze threw open the flap to the medical tents, holding it aside for the unicorns carrying Airman Shar. Her wound was still bleeding profusely and showed no signs of slowing down. The ponies set her down on a table and began to go to work. Her breathing was becoming irregular and she did not seem to notice where she was. She kept mumbling something about flying while the doctors worked to stem the flow of her life. Vincent had been taken elsewhere, his injuries less serious and in need of only minor medical treatment.

The assassin reached out and took one of her hands in his, “Hey you, we’re back. You can stop trying to fly now.”

Shar seemed able to focus for the first time in a while, “Colonel, that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Listen, you’re going to pull through this.”

“You think so, huh?” she asked weakly, her voice barely more than a whisper.

“Sure I do, I’ve seen these doc’s fix much worse, and the ponies have magic.” He caught a shaken head from one of the human medics, and the assembled personnel moved away. Jaze was left standing next to the medical table her hand clasped in his as she shuddered from the cold feeling of death.

“I think…” her voice dropped even lower, every word a struggle, “I think that means I’m gone…”

“No soldier. You will pull through; that’s an order!”

“Sorry sir,” she smiled, “that’s an order I don’t think that I can follow.” Her eyes slid shut, though she still managed to force air into her lungs. Jaze continued to hold her hand; telling her, and himself, lies to try and make it easier. The pilot’s breathing slowed as her life continued to flow out of her body, albeit at a much slower pace. Suddenly, tears welled up in her eyes, “Colonel, I don’t wanna die.”

“I know, but you’ll be fine. You have to be, maybe…”

“No, I’m done. Just, please don’t leave. I don’t want to die alone.”

“I’m here, for as longs as it takes.”

She lay in silence for a little while, before she finally forced her bleary eyes open to look at her commanding officer one last time, “Hey Colonel, did I do good?”

“No, you did great.” He tried and failed to put on a reassuring smile, “You were the one to save us all.”

With an inhuman amount of strength given her state, Shar pulled the assassin in close enough to whisper, “Please, Jaze. Kill that bastard, for me, for Jenkins, and for those ponies.”

“I swear, he will pay for everything.” She gave a weak nod and finally gave up, her face peaceful. Jaze placed her hands on her chest and stood to leave, tears flowing freely down his face. He suddenly noticed a soft beam of sunlight was piercing the darkness of the tent and looked behind him to see the little filly he had saved holding open the flap, watching him. She hesitated before slowly walking up to the strange creature before her.

“Why you cwying?” she asked in a sweet voice, “Is nice wady hurt?”

Jaze picked up the filly and carried her away from the body, trying not to let her see the horrors of war any more than she already had. He carried her away from the tent, and away from the wounded that would soon be arriving there for treatment. The young man found it nearly impossible to talk past the lump in his throat, “Yeah, she’s hurt. But she’s sleeping now so we have to be quiet.” He pressed a finger to his lips, “Shhhh.”

The pegasus mimicked his motion “Okay, shush.” Her innocence, coupled with the loss of so many innocent lives brought more tears to his eyes, and the filly reached up to brush them away with her tiny hoof, “Why is you still cwying?”

“Because a lot of ponies and people are hurt.” He forced a smile on to his face for her, “My name is Jaze, what is yours little one?”

“I Zeppher!” she called happily.

“Zephyr?” The little filly nodded her agreement, “What a pretty name for a pretty filly.”

Zephyr let out a small giggle and buried her face in his chest, “Jazer’s a funny name!” She soon brought her face away from him, her nose wrinkled in disgust, “You got a stinky.”

To his horror, the Colonel found that he was still covered in sweat and blood from the battle. Zephyr was splattered as well, though not nearly as much as the human. The thought of this little child wearing her parent’s blood in her coat made him sick, even though she did not know what it meant. He tried not to let his unease show; he did not want to scare the little pony.

He gave her a playful poke in the ribs to make her giggle again, “I guess that we should take baths, huh.”

“Yes, it bath time!” she cried excitedly. The smile on the soldier’s face was no longer forced as he carried her through the camp towards the communal showers; one side for men the other for women. Several soldiers he passed gave him confused looks, while the pegasi merely gave nods of gratitude. The Colonel ignored them all, preferring instead just to hold the bundle of innocence that was Zephyr and smile.

When he had finally made his way to the showers, he grabbed one of the pegasus mares who was about to walk in, “Excuse me,” he held Zephyr out, “would it trouble you too much to give her a bath?”

The pegasus gave a gentle smile, “Sure, everypony needs a bath after that.” She took the little filly into her forelegs, “Besides, giving your filly a bath is the least I could do for you, you and your friends saved our lives. Let me be the first to say; thank you, from everypony.”

A slight blush touched his cheeks, “She is not mine.”

“I see.” the mare replied with a wink.

“And I didn’t do nearly enough,” Jaze said softly, entering the shower room, “not by a long shot.”

The shower felt amazing, the water running a light red from the blood coating the young Colonel. He tried to let the water wash his mind as well as his body, but the mind is not so easily cleaned of the things that plague it. His mind did nothing but replay Zephyr’s mother’s death. She fell, just out of reach, over and over again and every time the soldier tried to think of a way to save her.

“Stop it!” he growled to himself, “She’s gone and there’s nothing left you can do for her.” The soldier’s mind slowly wandered to thoughts of Zephyr, which at least managed to put a wan smile on his face. “She is so innocent, how can I ever explain…” Jaze shook his head to turn his thoughts from that road and shut off the water. He quickly dried off with the towel he had grabbed and wrapped it around himself. His war messed clothes had been exchanged for something clean, and the assassin wondered how they had avoided his attention. With a mental shrug, he dressed and got ready to leave the shower, until he heard the sound of little hooves.

“Jazer!” a certain little gray filly called, “Where is you Jazer?” the door, which Jaze had left slightly ajar in his rush to get clean, was pushed open. The gray filly, her mane and coat fluffed up from the bath, jumped into the assassin’s arms; her wings fluttering happily.

“No Zephyr!” the mare who had taken the filly called out, rushing in after the child “That is for colts only!”

“It’s okay,” Jaze laughed, “She doesn’t know any better and I am already dressed.”

“I am sorry for that, mister…?”

“Just call me Jaze.”

“Okay then, Jaze, I’m going to go and help the rest of the Cloudsdale ponies. I just needed to wash away all the… filth.”

“I know; so did we.” The mare left quickly with a thankful nod, and the Colonel gave his attention to the light brown maned filly in his arms, “You feel better, little one?”

She wiggled into a more comfortable position, “I not little, I three years old!”

The soldier let out a light laugh, “I’m sorry, you are not little any more. Then do you feel better Zephyr?”

“Yes!” she said happily, then a sudden thought struck her, “Jazer, where Momma and Daddy?”

Jaze bit his lip in a vain attempt to keep the tears from his eyes. What do I say?, he thought desperately, I can’t tell her the truth, she wouldn’t understand. “Well,” he let out a heavy sigh, “sometimes mommies and daddies have to go away and leave their little fillies and colts behind. They never want to, but sometimes it has to happen that way.”

“Why?”

“Because, sometimes in life things happen and the mommies and daddies have to leave.” He said as he pressed his back to the wall and slid down it.

“Will Momma and Daddy come back?”

This pushed Jaze over the edge, he hugged her tightly so she could not see his tears, “One day you will get to see them again. But not now, for now it is up to those that your Momma and Daddy left you with to take care of you.”

“But I want my Momma!” Zephyr began to cry, her tears soaking the soldier’s shoulder.

“I know, baby. I know. And they want you, but it is not possible right now. You just have to remember them and love them. And know that they loved you very much.” Enough, he thought tiredly, to die to let you live.

“But… I want… Momma…” the exhausted filly mumbled as she fell into a deep sleep in the assassin’s arms.

“That’s right little one,” he whispered to the sleeping child, “sleep, and dream of happier times.” The door creaked open again to admit Trixie. Jaze looked up to throw her a smile before dropping his arms to the tiny pony in his arms.

“Somepony told me I could find you here.” she said, giving the filly a questioning glance.

Trixie stood over him, not wishing to wake the child but wondering where she had come from. The silver-eyed human kept his voice low as he explained everything that had happened, from the time he left until Shar’s passing. He found himself in tears once more, thinking about how Zephyr would not be able to see her parents again.

“Jaze.” the unicorn said, brushing a tear away with her hoof. He looked up to see that she, too, was in tears, “I am so sorry for everything. You cared for her, didn’t you?”

“The same way that I care for all of my soldiers.” He shook his head to chase away the tears, “They are all too young. Hell, I’m too young. I just don’t know what to do anymore. I can’t bear to face the truth; I that I may not be good enough.”

Trixie moved next him; making herself comfortable on the floor and pressing up to the man’s side, “I wish that this was over. That we didn’t have to worry about anything anymore.”

“Trixie,” Jaze found he had to force himself to say the words, “you know that when this is over that Marine Command will have me moved somewhere else, right? Much as I don’t want to sometimes, I am still a soldier and have to follow orders.”

“You don’t know that. Maybe they will…”

“No, I won’t let you get your hopes up. Command doesn’t care about the personal feelings of the soldiers. We have an important job, and that is to keep everyone safe. Command can’t let something like feelings get between us and that job.”

“But that is not fair!” she nearly yelled, dropping her voice again when Zephyr stirred, “Why would they do that; haven’t you done enough?”

“I am lucky that they let me stay here long enough to help in the defense of Equestria. I technically should have been tried for desertion.” He stared at the wall, thinking for the first time of what would happen after the war was over.

“Instead, you got a promotion.” The azure unicorn forced his face around to meet hers and wrapped him in a loving hug, “Everything will work out for the best, you’ll see.”

He returned the hug with one arm, the other holding the sleeping filly, “Thank you Trixie. The fight never seems to end, and I can’t face the dark without you.”

Zephyr stirred in her sleep, mumbling, “Jazer, no be sad, Jazer.” before drifting back off to her dreams.

“You should listen to her, Jazer.” The unicorn smiled, “You should not be sad.”

“I can try.” He suddenly pulled away enough to look the unicorn in her warm, purple eyes, “Trixie, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“What is it, Jaze?”

“I… well I… Trixie, I lo…”

‘Sir?” a soldier called from outside the shower house.

Jaze heaved another sigh at the interruption, “What is it soldier?”

“Princess Luna is here to see you. She is waiting in the Command building.”

“Okay, I am on my way.” He disentangled himself from the unicorn and shifted the sleeping filly into a more comfortable position, “Will you come with me?”

“Always.” She lifted herself from the floor and followed the human out the door.

Luna waited patiently for Jaze to appear. Dmitri and Shelby were on either side of the alicorn, Shelby leaning against the wall while Sands absently rubbed his left hand. It did not take long from the time she arrived until the time the Colonel appear, carrying a young filly and with Trixie in tow. He nodded his greetings to the two other humans in the room before sitting across the table from her.

“You wished to see me, Princess.” he said, sliding the gently snoring filly to his other shoulder.

“Please Jaze, this is a personal visit.” Luna pointed towards the young filly, “And who is the little one?”

“Her mother gave her to me before she died.” Jaze whispered in explanation, “Her name is Zephyr.”

“She is adorable.” Sands whispered, drawing an incredulous look from Shelby, “What? She is cute.”

“Yeah,” the female replied with a coy grin, “but I did not expect you to say so.”

“And why the hell not?” the newest Angel asked defensively.

“You just don’t seem the type.” Shelby teased.

“Be nice to the rookie, Shell.” Jaze laughed softly.

“Shush,” Trixie hissed sternly, “you’re going to wake Zephyr.”

“Sorry,” the assembled humans whispered in unison.

“What I wanted to ask you Jaze,” Luna whispered quietly, “is how everything is.”

“Well Luna,” the Colonel began, “we got our butts handed to us on a gilded silver platter. I lost most of the men and women that went with me. And of the fifteen hundred pegasi that made Cloudsdale their home, only five hundred made it out at all.”

“Why did he do this?” Shelby asked, unable to contain her horror.

“My guess?” Jaze’s eyes clouded over with hate, “He did it to make us angry, and make mistakes.”

“He more than managed it with Tia.” Luna gave a short girlish giggle.

“I meant to ask about that,” Jaze said suddenly, “what happened to Celestia? She stopped talking after Carn did.”

“Well…” Another giggle escaped the Lunar Princess’s lips despite her best efforts, “I know that I shouldn’t be laughing at a time like this but I can’t help it.”

“We have a saying in the SSM.” Sands told her, a small smile crossing his face, “Take laughs where you can, they will keep you sane. And I think that those two could do with a laugh.”

“Why, what happened?” Trixie asked; curiosity coloring her voice.

“You see, when this Carn man spoke to Celestia, she got so mad that she accidently made the little communicator explode. She was so surprised she squeaked!”

“Celestia… squeaked?” Jaze asked, tears of laughter forming in his eyes.

“Yes, like a mouse!” the black alicorn affirmed.

“Funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time.” Sands laughed at the memory.

“I never would have thought,” Shelby was holding her sides, “that a being as powerful as her would be able to make a noise like that!” The group tried to keep their laughter down, but it slowly grew in volume. It was not until Zephyr stirred once more that Jaze finally got them to quiet down.

“Luna,” he whispered, “I think that I need to take Zephyr home and let her sleep. She has had one hell of a day.”

“Okay,” Luna said as she made for the door, “I will find you if something happens.” She pulled open the door with magic and left, softly closing the door so as to not wake the filly.

The Colonel pointed to Sands, “Would you tell the Marines to stand down? But I want a token force of two hundred and fifty soldiers manning the defenses at all times.”

“Yes sir.” He gave a salute and left to start issuing orders on Jaze’s behalf.

“Shell, you may want to go see Vincent. He got hurt and could use some ‘cheering up’.”

“Will do, sir.” she replied with a knowing wink. “You should get some sleep sir; you look like hell.”

The assassin let out a yawn, “Sleep sounds wonderful.”

“Jaze,” Trixie pointed to the still snoring filly as Shelby left for the medical tents, “what are we going to do about her?”

“I was going to give her my bed and sleep on the couch.”

“Or I could give her mine and we could share yours.” Her face burned a bright crimson, “I mean it’s just till she finds a home right?”

“Yeah,” the human said as he rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, “I guess my bed is more than big enough for two.”

“Then let’s get home, I am tired as well.”

Jaze tucked the sleeping filly into her temporary bed, and her to have sweet dreams. He made his way down the hall, past the bathroom where he could hear the water for a shower running, and into his room where he donned a pair of sleep pants. The tired soldier crawled into his warm and comfortable bed. He found it hard to keep his eyes open. Trixie pushed open the door and stepped inside, her eyes betraying her weariness. She slipped under the covers next to the exhausted assassin, flicked off the light with her magic, and shut the blinds to block out the last of the dying sunlight.

The only sound was the pair’s gentle breathing as they tried to find sleep. The dark room was slightly cold, and the pair found themselves huddled together to stay warm. Jaze listened to the unicorn’s breathing, the soft steady sound slowly lulling him to sleep. Soon, they were both out; neither knowing or caring what tomorrow would bring.