Brother-Captain's heavy footsteps thundered throughout the forest as he walked through it. He stood well over eight feet tall in his silver and gold power armor and the Nemesis Blade strapped to his back was easily the same length. His power armor's servos whirred and whined as crunched the forest vegetation under foot.

"Pyromander, this is Brother-Captain, do you read me?" he said into his vox unit. "Magos Chronologis, are you there?"

He received no response from either the mage or the tech-priest. Though for all he knew the static could be the Magos shouting at him in machine code. Briefly he wondered if any of the villains would respond.

"This is Brother-Captain to the vile heretics assigned to accompany us." he began flatly. "If any of you yet live, respond. If you are dead, please do the world a favor and stay that way."

'If only I could be so lucky.' he thought wistfully.

Unsurprisingly he received no response, though he thought he made out a faint "Screw you!" amidst the static. He didn't care enough to look into it. He began to wonder if shouting would yield better results, it certainly couldn't turn out worse.

"Pyromander! Magos!" he boomed into the forest. "Is anyone there!"

He listened for anything over the ambience of the forest but could make nothing out. After walking for a few more minutes he tried again.

"Commander! Magos! Can anyone hear me!" he shouted. He listened intently again and this time he heard something, though it didn't sound like his comrades. It sounded like shouting, but he couldn't make out the words.

"Hello! Is anyone there!" he shouted again. Straining to hear the voice again, he finally understood it when it returned.

"Help!"

He burst into action. His goal was to reunite with his team, but if there was someone in trouble it was his duty to help.

"Hold on!" he yelled, sprinting in the direction of the voice. "I'm coming to help, run towards me!"

As he ran he began to hear a commotion along with the voice. It sounded like who ever was in trouble was being chased. By who or what, he couldn't tell, but the snarling he heard didn't exactly put him at ease.

"Help me!" the voice yelled again, much closer this time. It was close enough for him to make out a southern accent amid the panic.

"Keep running, I'm almost there!" he called. He crashed through the forest and into a clearing. At the same time as he entered the clearing an orange blur shot by his legs, a Stetson hat falling by his feet as it passed into the undergrowth he just tore through.

Distracted by the mysterious orange blur, he was almost caught by surprise when a titanic wolf lunged at him from the other side of the clearing. He kept running and smashed right into it as it sailed through the air, sending it flying back a few feet.

The impact nearly knocked the wind out of him and when he looked at the wolf he saw why. It was massive to be sure, well over five feet in length and built like a tank, but he noticed with some unease that it also seemed to be made from wood. The wolf scrambled to its feet and began to stalk around the clearing. He turned with it to keep it from getting behind him and reached for the Nemesis Blade on his back.

Before he could grasp the blade, however, he was tackled from behind and quickly realized his mistake. He had been too focused on the wolf in front of him and let it maneuver him so his back was facing its pack mates. Two more of them jumped him from behind and the three went sprawling out of the clearing and into the woods. Once they came to a stop he forced himself to his feet, lifting several hundred pounds of wooden wolves with him. He reached around behind his back and yanked both of them off and tossed them away. One went crashing into a tree and its back wrapped around the trunk, accompanied by a splintering sound the wolf fell limp to the ground.

"One down," he grinned.

No sooner had he said it than three more wolves came bursting through the forest into the fight. As one leapt at him he pulled the Nemesis Blade off his back and brought its flat side up under the wolf's chin, snapping its neck and sending it careening away as he returned the blade to its place on his back in one smooth motion.

Three more wolves entered the fight and Brother-Captain found himself cursing the forest. There was no room to swing his blade, meaning he couldn't build up the momentum he needed for his more devastating attacks. It mattered little though, the enemies of man would fall before him, weapons or no.

A wolf charged and he met its charge with one of his own, driving his pauldron into its snout. With a yelp it crashed back into the ground, hastily scrambling to its feat.

"My faith is my shield!" he cried.

Two more wolves jumped at him. He grabbed one out of the air and swung it into the other one.

"My fury is my sword!"

He squeezed the throat of the wolf he still held until its thrashing ceased, letting its body fall to the ground. Out of the corner of his eye he saw four more wolves join the fray. He turned to face them and was instantly jumped by the first two. He cried out in shock and tried to grab them. He was nearly driven to the ground as another wolf jumped on him and added its own weight to the struggle. Apparently they had given up on probing attacks and were simply trying to overwhelm him with numbers.

Brother-Captain began moving as fast as he could back towards the clearing where he could bring his Nemesis Blade to bear. A fourth wolf jumped him and he was driven to his knees.

'Not like this!' he thought. 'Not by these beasts!'

"I carry His will as my torch!" he cried as the wolves raked their claws across his armor. Mustering all of his strength, he exploded into action and threw the wolves from his body.

"With it I destroy the darkness!"

Free of the wolves at last, he sprinted back towards the clearing and dove through the bushes into it. Brother-Captain got to his feet preparing himself for the wolves, but found no less than seven more of the beasts waiting in the clearing. He heard the others come bounding into the clearing and whirled to face them.

The wolves began to circle him looking for a weak spot. The hero slowly turned with them, trying to keep as few to his back as possible. Finally free of the confines of the forest, he grabbed the Nemesis Blade from his back and activated it, it's plasma edge flaring to life.

A wolf attacked from behind, tearing at the golden aquila on his cloak. Furious, he whirled on the beast and swung his blade at it, but only managing to graze its side as it darted away. Another charged and he managed to backfist it across the snout before it struck him. The unfortunate wolf scrambled back to the circle, tail between its legs.

"Emperor preserve me." he muttered.

Applejack watched as the silver monster took on the whole pack of timber wolves from within the bush she cowered in. Whatever this thing was it was strong, though it seemed like the numbers the wolves had were wearing it down.

She watched as it swung its blade at a wolf, missing it by inches, then cringed as another raked a gash along the side that its wide swing left unprotected. The giant roared with a fury that made even some of the wolves shrink back.

Suddenly something in the giant's bearing changed that Applejack couldn't really place. Soon it became obvious, its stance relaxed, its shoulders slumped, it stood up straight, not seeming to care about tracking the wolves. It almost looked like it was giving up. It returned its blade to its back and raised its arms into the air in what almost looked like an act of surrender. Applejack felt terrible, this creature had risked its life to save her and now it was going to die for it.

"Come on! Don't you give up now, you c'n beat these mangy varmints!" she quietly cheered.

Suddenly she heard it begin to speak what almost sounded like a prayer.

"I am the Hammer." it intoned.

Applejack wondered what it could be doing, it didn't sound anything like when it roared those oaths at the wolves earlier. She nearly jumped out of her bush as a bolt of white lightning shot down from the sky and struck the creature's hand.

"I am the gauntlet about His fist."

Another two bolts of lightning shot down and struck both its hands.

"I am the point of His spear."

Bolts of lightning stuck its hands nearly every second now.

"I am the bane of His foes and the woes of the treacherous."

The giant was a veritable lightning rod now, multiple bolts of lightning struck its outstretched hands every second, bathing the area in blinding white light. The giant opened its one visible eye and it shone with a light the same blinding white as the lightning.

"I am the end."

With that the lightning abruptly stopped and the giant roared its fury at the wolves once again.

"For the Emperor! Ion Core Final Judgment!"

It thrust its hands out towards the wolves and a beam of pure white shot out from between its hands and impacted the nearest wolf. Upon impact the beam split and jumped to every wolf within the whole circle, sending some flying and even causing some to burst into flames.

Applejack could only stare in awe as the scene played out before her. Half a dozen crumpled or smoldering wolf corpses lay sprawled in the clearing around the giant and the remaining wolves sprinted away as fast as they could. She'd never seen anything like it before.

"Ah'm gonna make that fella the biggest dang apple pie." she whispered to herself.

Brother-Captain shuddered as the last vestiges of the Judgment faded from his body. He never tired of channeling the Emperor's light against his enemies. Looking around he saw the Stetson hat laying on the ground and walked over to pick it up. Remembering the orange blur from the beginning of the fight he called out in case the owner was still around.

"Hello?" he called. "The wolves are gone now, you can come out."

A rustling in the bushes caught his attention and he readied his blade again in case it was another of the wooden wolves. He was surprised to see that out of the bushes came not a wolf, but a small, orange pony.

"Thank ya kindly fer savin' me like that." the pony said in the southern accent he'd heard earlier. "I'da been done fer if you hadn't come along."

Brother-Captain stared at the creature for a few seconds, his bionic eye whirring as it focused on the creature, and tried to wrap his mind around what he was looking at. This overly adorable creature looked to be something right out of a children's cartoon show. Strange as it was, though, stranger things had happened to him.

"Would this be your hat?" was all he could think to say.

"Sure as sugar is." the pony said, taking the proffered hat and replacing it on its head. "Mah name's Applejack, by the way. Pleasure to meet ya!"

"Brother-Captain." he replied, kneeling down to take the pony's hoof in an awkward handshake. His hand almost enveloped its entire foreleg.

"What were those things?" he asked, indicating the smoldering corpses around the clearing.

"Those nasty critters 're called timber wolves. But they're nothin' compared ta summa the bigger critters in here." explained Applejack.

"And are... ponies the dominant species on this world?" he asked.

"Ah, so yer some kinda alien then? Ah figured as much, what with yer fancy laser sword there." she remarked. "Well it's not jus' ponies, ya got yer griffons 'n yer cows 'n yer donkies 'n whatnot. But fer the most part, yeah, it's mostly us ponies here. This here land's called Equestria."

"Equestria? So this definitely is not Praetoria?"

"Never heard'a no Praetoria." she confirmed. "Yer flyin' saucer get yer planets mix up 're somethin'?"

"Trans-dimensional portal, not flying saucer." he corrected. "But yes, that just about sums it up. And if you don't mind my asking, you don't seem very surprised to be talking to an alien. Do you often get visitors from other worlds?"

"Nah, not really. But ah've definitely seen stranger things than an alien before. This actually rates pretty low on mah weirdness scale."

"I know that feeling." he sighed, eliciting a chuckle from the pony.

"Now why don't ya'll come back ta mah farm, it's pretty close by 'n I need to properly thank ya fer savin' mah hide. Y'all like apple pie?" she offered.

"I'm flattered by your offer, but I'm afraid I can't." he said. "I need to meet up with my team and figure out a way to get to my original destination."

"Well ah don't know nothin' 'bout no fancy portals, but ah'm sure my friend, Twilight, does. She's one'ah them bookworm types. If anypony c'n help ya it'll be her."

"I'm very grateful for the assistance, ma'am," Brother-Captain thanked her.

"T'aint nothin." replied the pony as she lead Brother-Captain out of the forest. "But if yer gonna be stayin' a while, y'all 're gonna have ta let me make ya that pie. Can't let a good deed like yours go unrewarded. 'N ah know mah whole family's gonna wanna thank ya too."

"You have a deal, Miss Applejack." Brother-Captain replied with a smile.

He was going to enjoy his time here.

Next Chapter: Let's Do the Time Warp Again! Estimated time remaining: 22 Minutes