"Well, Savus, I ah...ain't too sure what to do with ya," Applejack began as she trotted down the farm path, "we get by most seasons just fine, but this is harvest and that's our busy time."
"Harvesting apples seems easy enough, do you have any ladders?" He clanked in his metal armor as he went, holding his helmet in his left hand.
"Ha...hahaha! We don't use ladders! We buck 'em, right down from the tree!" The farm pony hopped a fence, trotting up to a tree with buckets below and bucked the trunk, apples falling from it.
"Da..damn, you have some powerful legs, maybe as strong as my arms!" Savus took his greatsword from his back, putting his helmet on.
"H-hey now, don't go cuttin' 'em down," Applejack warned.
"I figure if you're slamming your hooves in 'em, not much a difference," he slung himself over the fence, "if I use my hilt."
Savus turned his greatsword around, holding the blade and slamming the flat of the hilt with the same force Applejack used on a nearby tree and apples quickly rained down onto the soft grass.
"By granny's lost pair of teeth...I didn't think ya had it in ya."
"Applejack, I'm a general, my arms are stronger than any muscle you could name of yours. I'll make this harvest season for you easy."
Applejack hopped over the fence again with Savus joining her side, "no offense ta ya, Savus, but you look pretty old. Not that I know what old looks like for one of ya's, but Granny Smith ain't no spring chicken and she's got the same wrinkles and greying hair you do...but more of it."
"Aging is normal, but physical degrading doesn't have to be. That's what we're taught in Aeternia military and I'm one of the few living examples of that."
"Y'all's politics n' so are odd. Come on," they approached a farmhouse and Applejack rang a bell hanging off the porch, "we got ta gather the Apples and introduce ya."
A small filly with a singular red bow in her mane trotted out from the house, "what's goin' on, AJ, why'd ya...oh," she hid behind the door she was partially out of, "he’s...big," clad in plate Savus was intimidating.
"Now, Applebloom, that ain't no way to greet our new guest and helper for the season!" Applejack scolded the foal and she eagerly trotted out.
"If n' he's helpin', this'll be the easiest season ever!" She chirped.
"What's all the commotion out there?!" The old mare who was quite clearly Granny Smith came out of the home next, "Applejack," and she deadpanned at Savus, "mind explainin' why we have a knight on our porch?"
"Wait until Mac gets here."
A stallion came quickly enough from a different dirt road in the farm, cantering along at a good pace, trotting right up to Savus and staring without a single word.
"This here is Big Macintosh, he's a pony of few words."
He grunted.
"Well, it's nice to meet all of you. Applejack was kind enough to offer me a job on your farm so I can make some kind of living."
"Don't take offense, but judging from your armor, you make by just fine fightin'," Granny spoke, "so why are ya on our humble little farm."
Savus laughed, lifting his helmet off so they could meet his aging face, "no offense taken. I'm done with military, with war. I'm retiring, I want my duly owed peace."
A cascade of howls came by the Eastern side of the farm.
"They're back again!" Big Macintosh shouted, speaking his first words as he galloped off.
Savus knew these signs well enough and he slipped his helmet back on and sprinted after Big Mac, catching up to his side, "what are they?"
With wide eyes, Macintosh met Savus' metal encased head. He knew that anything brave enough to charge without knowing what a threat was had to have a good heart, especially for ponies he barely knew.
The strongest on the farm took the only measure of Savus he needed to right there.
"Timberwolves."
"Oh, Arctus mentioned those, creatures from the Everfree F-his forest...your farm is close?"
"Nnnope."
And they met the edge soon enough, seeing Applejack and Applebloom gallop up behind them and stay a few meters away. Savus stretched out his hand when he saw the wood wolves, keeping Big Mac back, "let me handle them."
Macintosh let the muscled warrior stride forward to the group of six magic wolves. Savus took his greatsword off his back, holding it with both hands. He fought to secure resources and stability for Aeternia, but he forgot what fighting to directly protect felt like.
"Come on, it's time you all got the message you don't belong here!" He shouted at the wolves who were at least a kilometer from the edge of Arctus' forest.
The six saw him and sprinted without delay. Savus braced in a wide stance, his right hand placed at the top of the sword's grip, his left hand hovered a few inches away. This was his usual posture for combat.
None of them struck just yet, but they instead circled.
"Be careful, Savus!" Applejack shouted.
One of them went to pounce on the general, meeting sharp colossal steel in its muzzle and the wood was blasted into pieces, magic no longer tying it together.
"By Celestia...that's power," the honest farmer let the words drop from her mouth.
Another timberwolf cascaded toward him to be met with the same fate. Savus was finding it rather easy to defeat these creatures.
The remaining four split apart in a green glow, whirling about in front of Savus' eyes before forming as a larger bipedal timberwolf.
"A timber werewolf? Almost like Aeternian history books," Savus laughed, "bigger doesn't mean better," the general let his left hand off his greatsword and drew the curved sica dagger from his side, preparing a classic manuever of his against larger monstrosities.
It roared down at him, plant material falling onto his metal form.
"Nnnope, nope nope nope," Big Mac began rushing to Savus' side.
"Let the Sacred Star General handle this," he waited until the wooden creature took initiative and he caught a giant wood paw with his curved sica, dragging it down to the earth and stomping hard enough to drive the curved dagger in deeper, diving all the way through its limb.
A supernatural yelp of pain echoed while he continued his savage tactic, shoving his greatsword down into the wood paw with great force and staking it to the earth.
Savus raised his left arm and spread all five fingers. Dozens of long daggers appeared in the air above him from small orange lights. They were sent magically into the right paw of this creature and pinned it to the ground, forcing the timber werewolf onto its back, "you're sentient enough, so I'll make this clear through your pain."
He leapt atop the beast, choosing to pummel its face with his fists.
"AJ, what's uh...what's happenin' here?" A well known pegasi of the Ponyville community flew down to meet the farm pony a couple meters off.
"Hey...hey, Rainbow, you know anythin' about that stallion Savus?" She pointed a hoof at the general who caused yelp after yelp to leave the now subdued timber beast's maw.
"Nope, never seen him, but how's he managing that? I've never heard of a pony beating something like that...like that."
Savus stood above the wolf for many minutes before he finally stood up and watching the creature wriggle in fear. His left hand wrenched his sica free and his right hand wrestled his greatsword free. He took no combatative postures.
"You fucking come around here again and I'll burn you," the daggers he summoned remained in its paw as the wood monster dispersed into four wolves again, yelping and whining back to the forest, "remember the face!" He shouted after them.
"Sa...Savus," Applejack sheepishly trotted over with Bag Macintosh while Rainbow Dash flew gently, "what the hay was that?"
He stowed his weapons and lifted his helmet off, sweat dripping down his face.
"Holy cow, he's old too!" The pegasus landed.
"Rainbow! That ain't to nice of-."
"That's fine, Applejack. It's what a lot of the," he stared at Rainbow Dash with a smug grin, "kids back home would say, too."
"Hey! I'm no filly!"
"But you definitely get ruffled like one," Savus laughed, "those timberwolves won't ever be a problem on your farm again, Big Macintoch, Applejack."
"Shucks, call me AJ. Your a friend after that."
"Why?" Big Macintosh addressed the general.
"Why what? Why so excessive?" Mac nodded at Savus' words, "Aeternia. I could have gone in there and started tearing all of them apart, but they'd come back. So, I set a boundary and a consequence if they cross it," he smiled, "like they're children. Animals and people...er ponies can all understand that concept, especially pain."
Applejack and Applebloom grimaced at his words, "I did get carried away," Savus admitted, "forgot how it was to directly protect others from harm, spent so many years marching on other nations to even stop danger from coming back after Aeternia."
Big Macintosh nodded, "I like 'em."
"Wow! Nopony earns Big Mac's respect that fast!"
"That Arctus guy, you a friend of his?" Rainbow Dash questioned while they began moving back to the farm proper.
"Aye. Good friend, he's the only Scout who wasn't parading his old accolades around, he was always earning more. Well, he was also the only Scout who wasn't dead."
"Is he...safe?" AJ cleared her throat, "just the stories I've heard..."
"He's absolutely safe, he fights like no other. His brutality and expertise in combat is unmatched. Master Arctus stands with Equestria."
"Master?" Rainbow laughed, "like you could be anyone's trainee."
"He has that title for a reason, Rainbow, it's a form of respect for 'em!" Applejack stood for the present human.
"Savus, you have to be the coolest po..thing ever!" Applebloom chirped, "the way you sent those timberwolves runnin'!"
"Apple-AJ, you mind letting me work here?" Savus addressed the topic he still didn't have an answer on.
"You can work all ya like and you can sleep out in the barn, I'll bring ya by some covers. 'Least until you find a proper home in Ponyville," the farmer smiled.
"Fine by me," Mac agreed.
