There is only one thing worse than fighting with allies, and that is fighting without them.
Winston Churchill

What the fuck was I thinking? Matt thought as he grit his teeth through a pounding headache brought on by the ponies' questions.

Matt slumped in the dining room seat, feeling drained from the hours long interview by dozens of ponies. It had lasted so long, Dory had needed to refresh his translation spell three times. Idiot that he was, he'd decided against his better judgement to open the floor up to questions following what was likely the greatest revelation Equis had ever gotten: that aliens were real, and that the world was to become the newest battleground in the vast conflicts of the Koprulu Sector. And he had chosen to answer all the questions fielded that he could.

What were the Zerg, Terrans and Protoss? How big was the Dominion? How many soldiers did they have? What were their chances? Would they really come to help? What did the troopers have at their disposal? When would they get here? Where would they go? How would they get here?

A slew of many, many others, but the one that lingered the longest:

Why?

They hadn't liked the answer. For that matter they didn't like many of his other answers, and there were more than a few skeptics that refused to accept that the Zerg would pose a real threat when faced with the Princesses and the "Elements of Harmony," whatever those were. Some even accused the Terrans of bringing them here deliberately to pose as saviors, a claim that Matt vehemently denied. It didn't help that too many of the questions posed Matt had to answer with a drawn out way of saying "I don't know."

There were some details he had kept to himself, though. In particular his theories of who the "Last Son" was and the Dominion's last encounter with it. If the ponies knew that it had defeated the entire quasi-united galaxy once before, Matt thoroughly expected they would riot.

He'd also kept the two nuclear shells for the RecR under wraps. Matt wasn't sure what the implications of such devastating weaponry would have on the naturally peaceful ponies.

Dory hadn't fared much better. The ponies were still hesitant about hearing the words of an "unreformed changeling," and had grilled her relentlessly. They'd demanded to know why they never sent a warning, or if she was manipulating the troopers somehow for her own gain. They compared her to "Queen Chrysalis," the would-have-been tyrant that attempted a coup of Equestria some years prior. Matt had recalled mention of it in Appleloosa, but written it off for the time as neither here nor there. He was sure they'd said more to that nature, but the conference ended long after his translation had worn off, leaving him standing there feeling sorry for the increasingly distressed changeling.

Despite being raised as an heir to the throne, Matt could see that Dory had not taken the accusations well. Even now in the dining room, hours after Luna had apparently raised the moon the same way Celestia did the sun, she looked absolutely crushed by what the ponies had said to her, about her. At least Matt had decided to ride the lightning and brush off the verbal assaults, but that was apparently a trait Dory lacked.

Given that it was now late at night the dining room was empty aside from the two of them, and a pair of stewardesses that gave the brooding duo worried looks from afar. Eventually Matt's splitting headache subsided enough that he could at least function. He began to pick at the food laid in front of him, silently begrudging the vegetarian dish. Still, it was better than eating another MRE.

"How you holding up, Dory?" he asked, noticing the her simply staring downcast at her own plate. Do changelings even need to eat real food? "They threw a lot of fire at you back there."

She drew herself out of her stupor long enough to rest her chin on the table, eyes still on the plate. "I don't know... Like, I expected them to be... unwelcoming, but... not like that."

"Yeah... I guess reality hasn't really sunk in yet for these ponies. At least in Appleloosa they saw what was going on."

"How do you do it?"

Matt paused mid-chew. "Do what?"

She turned her head slightly to eye him. "Hold yourself together like that. After everything you've been through, you're still able to function normally."

"'Normally'."

"You know what I mean."

"Not a damn clue."

Dory blinked. "What."

"Dory, I've been a Sergeant for less than three months. The biggest thing on my mind is making sure we all go home in one piece, and so far I've just been playing it by ear. One of the things they taught us in boot camp was to be comfortable with being uncomfortable, so... I guess I've just kinda reverted back to that way of thinking."

"That's it?" despite her obvious depression, Dory still managed to sound incredulous. "You just deal with it?"

Matt laughed as he remembered his days in Marine Corps boot camp back on Korhal. "Listen, when you go six months without proper sleep, being given impossible tasks, having to live with people you hate, training exercises where you have to sit in a cold-ass mud pit for hours on watch, and having drill sergeants that come up with the most creative ways to make you feel like a worthless piece of shit, all while not being able to say 'no,' you develop a weird mentality."

"That sounds awful. Why would anyone want to stay?"

"Everyone's got their own little tricks to stay motivated. Some guys find God, some are just too stubborn or prideful to quit, some pick up on what the drills are trying to teach and just accept it. I always thought of it like, millions of people have done this before me, and millions will do it after. If they can do it, so can I."

"And how many have been in your position now?"

"Well... five that I know of," he said, forcing a laugh. "But yeah, I see what you mean. I don't know, like I said I'm just kinda making this up as I go. Helps at least having the guys, though."

"Misery loves company, huh?"

Matt chuckled. "Something like that. We might be in the suck, but at least we're in it together."

Dory's eyes returned to her plate. While she wasn't as obviously upset as earlier, Matt was sure it wasn't what she wanted to hear.

"He's not wrong, you know."

Matt and Dory both jumped at the new voice, deep and gravelly. They turned around and saw a royal guard unicorn, built like a brick shit-house and wearing a red plume on his golden helmet.

"Commander Iron Aegis. Sorry for eavesdropping, but I didn't want to interrupt."

"Not a problem, sir," Matt said. Though not part of his chain of command - or military, for that matter - he showed respect for the rank.

"I take it you're Sergeant Hobbes? I've been asked to work with you in regards to helping defend Equestria from these... 'Zerg'."

"That's me, sir. Wasn't expecting a coalition to get started so quickly, but, desperate times I guess."

"Indeed. Normally I'd have expected it to be hemmed up in negotiations and politics, but these Zerg don't seem like they're going to wait. I'll let you get to sleep, but come find me in the morning. Nine o'clock. We've got a lot to go over."

"Got it, sir. Zero nine tomorrow."

Matt and Dory stood in front of a secretary's desk after being led to Commander Iron Aegis' command suite by a palace steward. The dusty brown female pony - Mare, right? Man, that feels weird to say... - with stereotypical librarian glasses looked panicked by the appearance of the changeling and alien soldier in her midst. After a brief bout of hyperventilating, she bolted into a nearby door, followed by hushed but frantic words.

After a brief moment, she popped back out and returned to her desk. Stuttering, she squeaked, "C-Commander Aegis w-w-will see you now..."

"Thank you, ma'am," Matt said with a polite nod as they walked and trotted past her desk.

After knocking at the door and hearing the Commander say, "Come in," in his distinct voice, they opened and entered the surprisingly spartan office. A wide desk piled high with papers and a typewriter somehow designed for hooves filled most of the room. Bookshelves jam-packed with what Matt assumed were doctrine and manuals lined the walls, and a mannequin - ponyquin? Whatever... - sat in the corner wearing the golden, red-plumed armor.

The pony - stallion? God dammit, I hate using these horse words. - surprisingly looked almost nothing like Commander Aegis, aside from his horn and sheer size. Where before he'd been a dark gray, now he was... green. Green with a blonde mane and tail, both of which were ridiculously curly, surprisingly. The fuck? Do they have to dye their fur every time they're in uniform? The emblem on his flanks was that of a medieval-looking shield.

Okay, seriously, the fuck is with those marks? Does it have something to do with their names?

"Good morning, Sergeant. I trust you slept well?" Commander Aegis motioned to a pair of chairs in front of his desk.

"Well enough, sir," Matt said as he and Dory both took a seat. "Woke up with a headache though, same as the rest of my guys."

"Odd," the Commander mused. "If I were to guess, it might have something to do with your friend here."

Seeing Dory shrink in on herself, Matt glowered at the implication now that he had proper context of the coup attempt. "I am not under Queen Dorylus' manipulation. The only thing she's done to me is the translation spell."

"Apologies. I didn't mean to suggest that, but you did inadvertently address my concern. I'm worried the consistent use of that spell may have... let's say a detrimental effect on you and your fellow Terrans. To the best of my knowledge, nopony's had such a spell applied to them for so long."

That did admittedly worry Matt. If Dory's translation magic was enough to start causing headaches after less than a week, who knew what shape they would be in after almost a month? The only logical solution then would be to start learning the local language, but becoming serviceably fluent in three weeks seemed like an impossible task, not to mention the other languages on Equis.

Then again, Matt thought, What's one more?

Seeing the concern etched on his face, the Commander attempted to allay his fears. "But, I could be talking entirely out of my flank. For all I know, it's the stress of what you and your colts have been through. Like I said, nothing like this has ever been documented before, but we do know the detrimental effects of the more... invasive spells changelings have been known to use. Again, I trust that you're not the victim of such magics; given what you've said about your Dominion's goals here, I don't think they would even be necessary.

"Even so, I would still recommend closely monitoring these headaches of yours. Best case scenario, they go away and we can safely forget they ever happened. Worst case... best hope this war gets resolved quickly, for your own sake."

"'Then the last remedy of all is war, which provideth for every man, by victory or death...'" Matt muttered, remembering the words of one of his long dead ancestors. Commander Aegis and Dory looked at him with raised eyebrows. He shook his head. "It's nothing, don't worry about it. Let's just focus on winning this damn war."

"If you say so..." Commander Aegis trailed off as he pulled a short stack of papers out of his desk. "So this is a report of everything we know of the Zerg, based on what admittedly little we've seen ourselves, and what you've said yourself. I hope you don't mind that a lot of this was relayed by Princess Celestia."

Matt eyed the paltry list. "Don't suppose she also gave you intel on the Dominion?"

"A little bit. Don't worry, I haven't recorded any of your... personal details."

An annoyed groan escaped Matt as he facepalmed. God dammit, Celestia... "Fucking hell... Good to know at least someone here gives a shit about stuff said in confidence..."

Commander Aegis gave a light smirk and said, "I think you will be pleasantly surprised to learn that we in the Royal Guard are professionals, Sergeant. Unless it interferes with your duties, your personal affairs are your own."

"Good to hear. I swear, civilian gossip is worse than the PNN sometimes." After seeing the Commander's bemused expression Matt clarified, "Private News Network."

That drew a hearty laugh from the stone-faced pony. "Ah, yes, the wondrously outlandish rumor mill of the lower enlisted. You wouldn't believe the nonsense I've been hearing them say about you lot."

Oh, good Lord. "I hesitate to ask, but what do they think?"

"After that speech you gave yesterday, they're under the impression that you've all got some kind of Zerg-killing superweapon and that as soon as your fleets get here this'll all be over. But, I think you and I know better than that."

"Yeah... Don't get me wrong, we've got some powerful shit, but short of ripping a page from the Protoss and glassing the planet, no. At least, nothing practical."

"That's about what I figured." Then, with an almost imperceptible glance towards Dory, he coughed and said, "I think I also heard the word 'chussy' when they were talking about you."

Matt's eyes shot wide and he felt his face burn up. Dory, sensing both of their reactions, raised an eyebrow and asked, "What?"

Oh, don't act like you don't know. Ignoring the changeling, Matt stammered out, "Uh, no. That's... Yeah, no. Just no. CanwegetbacktotheZerg?"

The Commander chuckled at Matt's antics but obliged him unperturbed. "Of course. Now, you handled yourself pretty well in front of the press, but I know when somepony's trying to play something close to the chest."

"Uh, right. Sorry about that, I wasn't sure how much was a good idea to say to the public. Not trying to hide things, just... more worried about their reaction to it, I guess."

"Given that you weren't gentle with what you said, I'd say what you do know is nothing pleasant."

"'Fraid not, sir."

He sighed and pulled his hooves down his face. "I had a feeling. Might as well hit on that, then. I need to know as much about the Zerg as you can tell me." With an even more stern look than he normally wore, the Commander growled, "Don't hold anything back."

"'Kay... Man, where do I start? You should already know about the hivemind structure, genetic assimilation... Did Ce- Princess Celestia mention anything about the 'Last Son'?"

"She said you lost to it," he grumbled.

"... Yeah... Maybe I'll hit on the whole assimilation thing a bit better. Basically, the Zerg tend to have two or three methods of it. Four, if you count infestation, but that's a different thing. The more common mode you'll see is them basically seeing a trait in the local wildlife that they think would basically be a good upgrade to a combat strain they already have. So, for example, finding something especially adapted to hot or cold would have whatever mechanism they use applied to them. Sort of like... lateral gene transfer, I guess would be the more scientific way to describe it."

"Combat strains? I think I have that mentioned in my report, but I'm not sure I follow."

"Okay, so Appleloosa got attacked by zerglings and roaches. The zerglings are the little ones with all the claws, and the roaches were the ones that spit acid. Those are combat strains, and the Zerg have a big variety of them."

"How big?"

"Damn near one for any situation. You've got ones for the main ground forces, air defense, aerial superiority, ground attack, support... The list goes on. The one saving grace we've got there is that each one of those requires its own infrastructure to be able to use. The zerglings are the simplest, so you'll see those in almost any hive, but as they get larger and more complex you'll start seeing shit like hydralisks, mutalisks, and ultralisks."

"'Ultralisk' doesn't sound pleasant. Dare I ask what exactly that is?"

"Imagine a zergling the size of a warehouse with enough armor to shrug off artillery shells."

The Commander's eyes widened. "Here's hoping we've got time until we start seeing those."

"Probably. Another method they use is basically the 'throw shit at a wall and see what sticks' where they'll just induce random mutations into a group of one type of combat strain, stick them in a hostile environment, and see which ones survive."

"And the last one?"

Matt took a deep breath. This was the one he was really worried about here. "The last one... is where they see something they like so much they just incorporate it directly into the Swarm, with some modifications to make them more suited to a specific role. That's the biggest concern I've got. I've already seen what the changelings can do with their disguises and magic, so we should expect to start seeing Zerg capable of infiltration and sabotage soon."

"That's... definitely concerning."

Apprehensively, Matt added, "Also... this is kind of an intrusive thought, but if they were ever able to get their claws on the Princesses or Discord..."

A dark silence fell on the Commander's office as the implications of such an abomination settled in.

"... Then Equis might as well belong to them already..." the Commander muttered with a shudder. "And I get the feeling the Dominion wouldn't fare much better."

"They turned a psionic Terran into one of the deadliest creatures in existence. I can't even imagine what they'd be able to create with something that can move celestial bodies."

"Surely they must have weaknesses? You mentioned they turn feral if they lose this... 'psionic link' with their hivemind. Is there any way to exploit that?"

"There is, actually, but unfortunately I couldn't even begin to tell you how. During the Great Wars we developed things called psi emitters and disruptors that could actually control the Zerg to a degree..." Matt trailed off, debating on whether or not he should mention the one superweapon they did make. "We... also made the psi destroyer, that can tear the Zerg apart on a cellular level."

That got the Commander's attention. "Now that sounds like something we could use. But I'm guessing that bringing one here is a bit more complicated than it sounds."

"We only ever made one. It was the size of a small town and required an entire city's worth of power to run."

"Figures... Anything else?"

"Nukes," Matt said with a sigh. Though he didn't want to admit it, they were going to have to use them eventually. The ones for the RecR were relatively small, but that didn't mean they wouldn't have a devastating impact wherever they decided to deploy them.

"Beg your pardon?"

"Nuclear weapons. It's what you get when you release the power of a small star on a planet's surface. If we wanted we could obliterate the entire surface of the planet."

Dory and Commander Aegis stared at him agape. "You... don't have anything like that, do you Matt?" Dory asked hesitantly.

Matt looked at her nervously, not sure how she would take it. "... Yeah. We do. Two micro-fusion shells for the wrecker with a TNT equivalent of a hundred tons. For reference, the first nuke ever used had fifteen thousand and it was enough to level an entire city, and even that's considered small by our standards."

The Equestrians looked horrified. "And... the Dominion just gave those to you?" the Commander asked.

"Commander," Matt said, looking him dead in the eyes. "When it comes to fighting the Zerg you do not take half-measures. You'll do what's necessary, or you'll die. There is no middle ground."

Dory was still reeling over what Matt had told them. She was already upset about him not telling her about the Zerg infesting her changelings. The fact that he hadn't told her about what they were capable of with their weaponry didn't help. The fact that he had mentioned they were capable of destroying a city implied that the Terrans had used the 'nukes' on each other in the past.

Before, she was angry at Matt.

Now she was afraid of him.

She remembered the sadistic glee he had when they first fought the Zerg together at Appleloosa. Later, he'd nearly abandoned any semblance of a sapient being, operating almost purely on instinct with mechanical focus. All the troopers had. Now she'd been told that they deliberately developed weapons capable of destroying entire civilizations.

"Be meaner than the Zerg," Matt had said. It only now settled in what that truly entailed. She'd initially wondered if the Terrans' violent tendencies were the product of their conflicts with the Zerg, but now started to think they'd always been like this.

Are these the kind of people we want to be friends with? she wondered. But if we don't work with them... what chance do we have? Maybe Matt was right. Maybe we are too naive for our own good. What good is friendship and harmony when you're faced with something that has no concept of it? As violent as the Terrans can be, they still understand and value those things.

They'd since left Commander Aegis' office after several hours of talking strategy and defense, most of which had gone over her head, and were walking back to their rooms. Lost in her thoughts, Dory unconsciously fell behind the Terran's long strides. Noticing her starting to trail him, Matt turned and paused for her to catch up.

"What's up?"

"N-Nothing, just thinking."

Matt looked at her with a pained expression. Reading his emotions, Dory felt... regret?

With a heavy sigh he continued walking once she'd caught up with him, taking smaller strides now to keep pace with her. They continued on in silence for a minute, tension heavy in the air between them.

"You're mad at me again," Matt finally said, still looking straight ahead. "Is it 'cause I didn't tell you about the nukes we had?"

"It's not that," she defended. How do I say this? Should I say this? How do I tell him I'm scared of what he is? He's tried to keep things from me, but at least he thinks he's doing it for my sake, but... "Why aren't you telling me these things?"

He turned his head to face her, confusion radiating from him. "What, about the nukes?"

"No, why aren't you telling me? Every time you've said something big like that, it's always to someone else and I just happen to be in the same room. Is there anything important you actually do plan on telling me, or am I going to have to wait until we go talk to the griffins or something before you drop the next revelation?"

Matt stopped in his tracks, looking up at the ceiling. Dory felt a confusing mix of emotions coming from him. Frustration, anger, fear... all directed at himself. Does he always beat himself up like this? she thought.

"I'm... trying to think of how to say this without it sounding like an excuse."

Dory snorted. "Well we've already established you're an idiot, so let's start from there."

Immediately she regretted those words. As soon as she said them, a deep spike of pain shot through Matt. Does... my opinion of him really mean that much?

"Because you never asked about the nukes," he blurted with frustration. "We always have a couple of those things on us when we go on missions, and we treat them like any other piece of ammo. Do I really need to tell you about every last bit of equipment I carry? I told the Commander because it was relevant. No offense, Dory, but you're not exactly in any position to stage a defense, he is. Look, I'm sorry if you're upset I'm not telling you everything upfront. The infested changeling... was a lapse in judgment on my part. I get that. But the nuke thing isn't something I want to go spreading around. When we first developed those things, we were at risk of wiping out all of Terran civilization back when we were still stuck on Earth. I don't think we have to be worried about mutually assured destruction here, but I don't want to risk it. By the time you'd figure out how to build them yourselves, the Zerg will have already won, and I can already tell that just the knowledge they even exist is freaking you out. I've already accepted that you can handle that stuff for the most part, and I think the Commander can too, which is why I told you then, when it was relevant. I chose not to tell the press about them because I don't think they can, and I don't know if I trust Celestia with that information just yet. I'm not doing this to hurt you, I just..."

Matt paused his rant for a moment to look at the floor, his constant inner turmoil showing on his face.

"I don't know what to do..." he finally muttered, and Dory felt all the shame, fear, and sadness that came with it. "I've got three weeks to make sure you all survive long enough that there's anything left to save, and I don't know how." He slumped against the hallway wall and slid down until he sat on the floor, legs slightly tucked in towards his chest as he stared at the far wall, forearms resting on his knees. It was only now that Dory realized how small the Terran really was, having to actually look down to see his face. "And if the Commander's right, then trying is just going to make my brain explode anyway."

Dory had no idea what to say to the rapidly breaking down Terran. She slapped herself mentally. He'd made the mistake of assuming she was weaker than she was, but now she realized she'd assumed the opposite for him. She'd felt like Matt had all the answers, that somehow he had some arcane knowledge that would win the day. But as it turned out, the Terrans could be no less fallible or irrational than anyone on Equis.

"I don't suppose being 'comfortable with the uncomfortable' is an option?"

"I'm trying, Dory. I'm really, really trying. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I've got the guys with me, but... I don't know. I'm their leader. I can't just tell them this shit. Not even Stu."

Now a new feeling came from him, eclipsing all the others.

Loneliness.

She sidled up alongside him and nuzzled the side of his head, not getting a reaction.

"But you can tell me."

Matt turned his head and met her gaze, but only for a brief moment. He stayed sitting there for several minutes in silence.

"... You've got a cute butt," he finally said.

Dory blinked in surprise. Then she smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

"Not quite what I meant," she said. "But... you're out of the doghouse now."

Author's Note

Man, I really apologize for the massive lore dumps these past few chapters. I'm trying to blend them in to the story in such a way that it at least makes sense why they're there, but it still feels like it's too much. This should be the last of it, though. Back to the action in the next.

Edit 1 Dec 2024: Changed the strength of the nuke shell. Seemed a bit world breaking at their original yield.