@SmokySkies  
I doubt any Equestrian can match them, as their military relies on two demigods and artifacts for all the heavy lifting.  
And they do know it. They’ve seen the results in their past, the things they’ve fought before and the basis of their philosophy.  
To die defending ones cause is far more powerful then preaching light only to say ‘Nope, centuries of effort and thought mean jack, lets murder everything’.  
Even more so I have a nagging feeling that the one who started all this, IE mister high preist, is from Equestria, and their inability to actually solve a problem led to him getting exiled instead of, you know, stopped. Which had him end up in Juddeca, which led to this.  
And one can be nice and kind and still wage war. It’s difficult, dangerous, and requires sacrifice, but will in the end form a stronger peace then crushing everything that stands against you.  
He also doesn’t know whether his wife and daughter are actually dead, what with the lack of bodies in any of the previous pages, and blood being a poor mark as to death or simple injury, making his acts potentially even more hazardous to his families safety, if he had any understanding of basic tact and reasoning.

@ExistenceNull  
Yes, but they don’t know it. And at this point, willing or not, it doesn’t matter anymore.  
Actually, I don’t see how kindness and the nice old way can save Equestria. It’s fight or die. The Judeccans are way too brutal and don’t seem willing to negociate (and are winning).  
Plus, the main characters are military (except Willow), it’s their job to be able to do things, bad if necessary, the others can’t and should’t do, and endure this sacrifice to save them.
 
Fighting back don’t make more wars, at their point, it’s only accepting a war already there.  
The stupid thing to do would be to die because you were too nice to fight back.
 
In the end, it does not matter if you stayed nice and all if you die. The true evil guys still win, and they won’t change their ways, millions will suffer because a few refused to make a sacrifice, and they will probably wage war elsewhere.
 
If Pierson can save the world in this state, it’s all good.

@SmokySkies  
And unfortunately all that does is breed more.  
He isn’t going to fix anything, he’s only going to make more monsters and more wars.  
And as it seems, the ‘betrayer’ didn’t have much choice in it either, so he’s hardly a willing participent at this point.

@ExistenceNull  
He lost his wife, his daughter, his country was invaded, lot of innocents killed, princesses maybe died, ponies forced to live and resist in the wild outside the occupied cities.  
And all this because he was nice and befriended the pony who started all of this and betrayed them all.
 
He kinda has a right to be upset.  
And culturally, for a people of friendly ponies who almost never knew war, to meet another country of ultra-violent, hateful and cruel minotaurs and ponies, it’s kinda a shock. Especially how they got defeated so easily.
 
Sometimes, the world doesn’t need a hero, sometimes it needs a monster.

Weakness. To call one a monster when you would stoop to the same level given enough reason and expect to be called just is what I expect of Zealots and blind fools with to much power.