Sweat streamed into his eyes. His bones ached and muscles screamed from exhaustion. His powerful legs were quaking, shivering with each beat of his racing heart, barely managing to keep him upright. His vision was blurred, and heat was radiating off of him in waves. A slight breeze ruffled through the sweat flecked black mane grown significantly now since its last martial cut. He was exhausted to a point he'd rarely known, his body driven to the edge of breaking.

But he hadn't broken.

Breath coming in delicious gasps, he surveyed the task that had brought him to this point. This morning, he had taken another few steps down the road to a new life. The first full acre of land stretching out behind Derpy's home...Derpy's and HIS home, had been bought this morning. Over the past uncounted hours, he had cleared, cleaned, and tilled HIS land.

A sensation he'd last felt in full plate armor swelled in his breast, rearing up his throat, threatening to close the gasping passage with its strength. It had worn him, hurt him, the flesh of his chest, rubbed raw and bleeding by the harness a testament to that, but this task hadn't beat him. He stood atop the gentle slope, the late afternoon sun beaming its orange light into his face, catching and reflecting back from the keen metal of the plow and the liquid streaming down his cheeks.

He loved this. The feeling of a completed task, the knowledge that he had taken an empty, unused stretch of land, and turned it into a rich brown carpet arcing down to the tidy row of top heavy homes, ready to grow, flourish, and prosper. He had created. He had marked the earth, changing it to fit his wishes. This is part of what had driven him to retire, to give up status, privilege and station.

The unmistakable flutter of wings through the air and the crump of hooves on freshly tilled earth let him know he was no longer alone, and that another, much more important reason for his return had just arrived.

"Wow Behemoth...is this...is it all ours?"

A grey pegasus mare stepped up next to him, the deflated and empty husks of mail bags settled across her flanks, a jaunty little cap settled on her head, just a little crooked. Her eyes the same shade as the one he still possessed, looked out across the result of his labors...and up above them. She silently took in the changes his determination had wrought, lovely golden eyes wide in surprise, and brimming with pride. His reply was a simple nod.

"You did this all today. All by yourself?"

Another nod.

"Wow. That's just...you're...wow."

She reached up, hugging his larger form gently. She could feel him trembling, the drenching wetness of his effort. She kissed his cheek, then dropped back to the ground. She smiled up at him, her nose scrunching up cutely.

"Come on down big brother, I'll cook something, and you take a shower, you're pretty stinky."

He smiled down at her, his eye shining with silent love even through his exhaustion. She helped him unbuckle and cast off the crisp new harness as the suns downward arc chased long shadows out from under the orderly homes, sending the darkness racing uphill. As they strode down together, the darkness enveloped them in its soothing caress.

Two different groups watched the brother and sister head inside. Two different groups had watched him push himself near to the breaking point for the better part of the last day. They were there for wildly different reasons, and neither was aware of the other. As the last light of day faded, two narrow set, rodent like green eyes watched the windows of the home glow to life.

- - -

The following day had been soggy and overcast. A uniform blanket of grey cloud cover had rolled in with the dawn and made several half hearted attempts at precipitation, achieving little more then sporadic drizzles and a faint, fleeting fog. For the last ten minutes or so, Behemoth had stood under a tree in the yard of the Ponyville schoolhouse. He'd decided that today was good a day as any to reacquaint himself with another face from his youth.

Before long, the doors opened, and the fillies and colts, mostly bundled up against the weather, boiled out and scattered in all directions, making their ways home after another day of school. He was making no effort to hide, but given their hurry and his silence, not one of them noticed his form in the shadows cast by the sheltering tree.

She stepped into the doorway, seeing her students off, watching them depart with a happy smile. Her love and care for each and every one of them plain as day. The sight of her kindness warmed his heart. As the apparent last of them crossed beyond the yard, he stepped out from under the tree and strode forward, crossing the distance to her in just a few leisurely strides.

"Hello Cheerilee. Its been awhile."

He stopped just short of the doorway she was occupying as she turned to him, that loving smile fading from her face as it steadily gave way to surprise, recognition...and then something else. A dark pall fell across her face, and any hint of kindness disappeared from her gentle eyes. After a moment she spoke.

"Behemoth. I heard you had come back. Just what the he-"

She was interrupted, cut off by the clatter of three fillies tramping out of the door behind her in a gaggle.

"Goodbye Miss Cheerilee, see you tomor-Hey! Mr. Behemoth! What're you doing up here?!"

Apple Blooms cheery farewell had been delayed when she caught sight of the large, familiar shape of her brothers friend. She knew him well, he'd been a common sight around Sweet Apple Acres over the past couple months. As Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo slipped out behind her, they joined their beribboned companion in greeting.

"Hello Crusaders, I just stopped by to-"

Looking to her students, a kind, but not quite genuine smile had instantly reappeared on Cheerilee's face as she spoke over him.

"He just came by for a little chat. Hurry on home girls, and be sure to dry off when you get there, you wouldn't want to catch cold."

"Yes miss Cheerilee."

The three fillies replied in unison, smiling at their beloved teacher before heading off towards the Apple family orchards. Scootaloo lagged behind just a few steps.

"Good to see ya again Mr. B."

"You too Scoot, you still practicing like I taught you?"

She grinned hugely, seemingly placing every tooth in her little orange head on display as she flared her slightly below average wingspan.

"Oh yeah! Every day, just like you said! I can stay up for almost twenty whole seconds now!"

He laughed good naturedly, returning her smile.

"That's great, before long you'll be flying laps around me...better get going though, the others are waiting."

She scampered off with a hasty goodbye, catching up to the other Crusaders as they slipped into the trees. Cheerilee and Behemoth stood, watching until they were out of sight. He spoke first.

"They're a good bunch, those girls..."

"Yes. They are. Would you step inside with me, please?"

He nodded, admittedly slightly surprised by this invitation, and slipped past her into the schoolhouse itself. The old, familiar scents of chalk, slate and wood polish hit him with nostalgia like a brick. It wasn't so long ago that they were students here. Well, not long comparatively speaking at any rate. He turned to face her as she came in, her rear to him, pulling the door firmly closed in her wake.

"I would've stopped by sooner, but I-"

He was cut off again as she spun quickly around, a loud smack reverberating through the silent building as she brutally slapped him across the face. The sudden impact of her hoof silencing him and turning his head slightly to the side.

"How dare you."

She struck him again, he made not so much as a twitch to step back or defend himself as the second impact smacked into his jaw.

"You rotten bastard, how dare you come back here. Back to Ponyville, back to this school. how DARE you?!"

He took a moment to respond. His vision fixed on the wall where her blows had spun his head. He turned to face her glacially, the surprise at her invitation had disappeared, replaced with faint resignation. This was more the greeting he had honestly expected.

"This my home, Cheerliee, I still have family here and-"

"Home?! HOME!? No, you don't get to have a home, not after what you did. And as far as family, did you ever think, for even a second what it'd do to Derpy, you just...strolling back into her life like this?"

Her smaller frame shoved past him. Moving into the classroom, she set about cleaning and straightening up in a series of quick, haphazard motions. She spoke the next, a quality of venom in her voice he'd never heard from her before.

"She moved on with her life, has a good job, a home, folks around town love her. Then you come back, and toss all that up into the air. You should've stayed...wherever the hell you went. She was happy. Happy in a life without you...but that's what you do, isn't it, destroy happiness?"

He had followed her in, his bulk filling the doorway. He let her say her piece without interruption. He spoke again when she stopped to take a breath.

"I see the last decade hasn't diluted your hatred of me for doing what needed to be done. I suppose it was a bit naive of me to expect anger like that to fade over time."

"Gods damn right it was you sociopath, it'll never fade, not after what you did to-"

He spoke, taking a more active role in this 'conversation'.

"After what THEY did to HER, what would you have had me do, Cheerilee? Forgive and forget? Run to the authorities? With what proof? What evidence? The system would've let them walk, let them move on without punishment after what they did to my little sister-"

She spun on him, eyes flashing with an anger so hot it was almost a physical thing.

"You KILLED them you son of a bitch!!! You murdered those two colts!! You-"

His single eye flashed in dark similarity to her own, and he took a single step forward as he'd finally heard enough. His ever calm, level voice was growing, he was fighting not to let his building fury bleed into it, he refused to blow up at her. Even after this, she didn't deserve his anger.

"They got what they deserved. Yes, I killed them, their blood is on me. I never hid from that, never tried to put it off to rage or fury or insanity. Didn't then and wont now. I killed them, Cheerilee, for what they did. What you KNOW they did. And I'd kill them again, tear the life from them once more without a blink of hesitation. They deserved no better. They deserved the deaths I gave them, and deserved to suffer more then I made them."

She met his eye, shaking her head slowly, the corner of her mouth curled up in a snarl, the usual kindness in her eyes obscured now by the heat of her anger. She could hardly believe what she was hearing, that he made no attempt to deny what he'd done.

"You're a monster, every single thing about you is sick. You don't deserve happiness, a friend like Macintosh, a sister like Derpy, they deserve better then you. No wonder your parents are dead, if I had a son like you, I'd kill myself too."

He leaned back, his face dropping to slack with the speed of a slap. Slowly he shook his head, a twisted little look of victory distorting her always kind visage. He turned from her without another word. He'd heard enough. Stepping back into the hallway, he moved towards the door. Fresh, fat raindrops splattered against the glass panes set high in the red painted wood. She followed him out.

"You listen to me, you bastard, you don't get to run away this time. Everywhere you go, sadness follows. All you have to show for your life is pain, fear and death. Real, true evil exists Behemoth, and its you. You never should have come back. Everypony in your life was better off without you. Mark my words, everything you love will suffer from your return. You are a plague on every living thing that has ever cared about you. You should've died out there, alone and forgotten. You should've gone straight to hell."

As he opened the door and stepped out into the rain, he weathered the deluge coming from behind him as he stepped out into the more literal one. He looked back over his shoulder, his one golden eye as clouded as the sky visible beyond him.

"I did."

The door swung shut with a firm clack, leaving Cheerilee alone in the schoolhouse, shuddering as the adrenaline of her fury left her feeling sick to her stomach.

- - -

He moved through the town, a shadow cast silently down muddy streets. The rain came and went, fading in and away, inconsistent and random. Her words kept pace, running through his head over and again as he made his way along, heading nowhere in particular. He knew those words for what they were. The cry of the frightened and angry. She had meant to hurt him, and pulled out all the stops en route to that goal. The words didn't faze him. The truth in them did. Though it had been the first time he'd heard those thoughts out loud, it wasn't the first time he had heard them.

A door opened behind him, and the warm, cheerful voices that drifted out into the heavy air drew him around. Four figures stepped out into the street, heading away from him. Two big, two small, moving together with an easy, simple grace.

A young, beautiful mother, ~You don't deserve happiness.~

A father, full of pride and strength, ~ if I had a son like you, I'd kill myself too.~

A young colt, just getting to the age where his rebellious side would come out, ~You are a plague on every living thing that has ever cared about you.~

And a younger filly, following in her older brothers wake, gazing up at him with a look of awe...and love. ~Everyone in your life would be better off without you.~

The little filly stopped, turned back to face the stranger standing in the street. Her eyes, filled with the joy and happiness of youth met his. Those two eyes, brimming with the promise that everything was exactly as it should be, that the world was a wondrous and pure place, full of love, warmth and kindness. ~You should've died out there, alone and forgotten.~

As she smiled and waved, he replied, giving a half hearted wave and the faintest twitch of a smile of his own, before turning and continuing on his way. A moment later, he looked back. The street was empty, barren of all life save his own. He remembered her. Her eyes, beautiful, joyful golden eyes.

He kept walking, continuing down the road, going the opposite direction. Going away from that happy, loving family. His eyes were dry, and his mind was clear. Their day was done. He spoke as he moved on, words heard only by his own ears.

"You were right, Cheerilee, about some things at least. But that doesn't matter any more. What I've done is what I've chosen. What I've become is every bit what I'll need to be."

His demons at least momentarily silenced, he smiled to himself as he turned the corner and caught sight of the bright glow that was the lantern hanging outside their front door. That simple, steady light buoying his mood. He continued his brief monologue as he strode towards that patch of warm light. His words unheard by any ears save his own.

"After all, if not me, then who?"

He sensed her before he saw her, knew she was there before her svelte form stepped into the flickering orange light, slipping out of the shadows next to the front door as if shed been a part of them. For a moment, it almost looked as if the shadow was hesitant to let go, strands of inky blackness stretching back from her into the waiting pools. She spoke without pretext.

"I cant stay in Canterlot. Not without committing multiple counts of murder...so, I'll be staying here for a while...if you don't object, that is..."

He smiled broadly, after the both physically and mentally exhausting last couple days, seeing her now was a welcome respite. Two slightly damp forms embracing in the street drew no attention and caused no stir. Except in those two groups still silently watching from their distant perches.

"Well, I'll talk to Derpy about it, but I don't think she'll mind some company too much, but what happened?"

Luna sighed, stepping back under the overhang, out of the half hearted rain, parking her narrow rear against the side of Derpy's home.

"Celestia and I had a...bit of a disagreement. We ran into each other as we both happened to be passing through the same side chamber, you know, the one just off the hall that leads to the secondary kitchen?"

"Yeah, I know the one. Always liked it in there, quiet, out of the way...near the secondary kitchen...so, what happened?"

She looked up to him, a flash of embarrassment mixed with the shadow of more then a little residual anger crossing her beauty as she met his eye.

"Well...its...not exactly there anymore..."

He stared silently, then blinked several times rapidly as her verbiage sunk in.

"...Go on."

"Well, the Celestial Princess and I had a...a bit of an argument about the investigation into the 'Children'...things got a little loud, and...now there's a rather sizable crater where the western wall used to be, the secondary kitchen appears to have been pushed about halfway into another dimension...and several of the kitchen staff...may have been turned into turnips...or large radishes. I'm not entirely certain which..."

He listened in silence, a silence which drug out for more then a few seconds after her story trailed off.

"Turnips."

"Yeeeahhh..."

He nodded sagely, turning to look out at the soggy district of shuttered homes and quiet streets.

"Hmmm. Sisters. Cant live with em, cant have arguments with them without breaking the laws of space and time and possibly turning the help into root vegetables."

She turned to stare at him, eyes wide open, face set in shock at this calmly delivered little nugget of wisdom. She shook her head and started laughing. The lilting, almost musical tone made it impossible for him not to join her, his gruff, booming laughter mixing with hers. It really wasn't that funny, but given the day they'd both had, any excuse to laugh was enough.

"C'mon in then, lets see what the boss has to say. Something tells me she wont mind the company..."

As it turned out she didn't.

"Really?! You really wanna stay here?! With Us?! REALLY?!"

"Well...yes...if you don't mi-"

"Mind?! Oh nonononononono, I don't mind at all, we got a spare room and everything! Please, make yourself at home, stay as long as you'd like!"

Derpy was practically vibrating with happiness as she Pinkie-bounced over to her big brother, throwing herself at him, wrapping her forelegs around his neck. She whisper-shouted in his ear as she hugged him tightly.

"We're gonna have COMPANY!! This is so great!! It'll be great having someone to talk to who isn't all frowny and grumbly all the time!"

Luna, smiling and caught up in Derpy's happiness, chimed in.

"Yes, he can get kind of grumbly from time to time..."

Derpy disentangled herself from her brother, spring-boarding off of him and landing in front on the lunar princess in a rather impressive maneuver.

"Oh, he's SUPER grumbly, all like, 'Grrr, I've seen stuff, and things, grrr!, and I'm all scarred and look like I'm going to eat orphan foal souls even though I'm secretly a huge softy, GRRR!!!"

Behemoth feigned indignation at this, the huge smile splitting his face not doing much to lend credence to his alleged offense.

"Hey, I don't recall saying 'grr' nearly that often, and I'm not that much of a softy..."

Still smiling, Luna shot him a playful little wink.

"Oh, I know, you've never had an issue with being too 'soft' with me..."

Bouncing around with little leaps and skips, Derpy spoke again.

"No, I meant he's much nicer then he..."

Her bouncing ceased, the corners of her smile turning south in record pace.

"Dangit, you meant innuendo-ly, didn't you?"

Luna shrugged.

"Well maybe just a little bit..."

"Ew, ew, ewwwww!!!! I DO NOT wanna hear that kinda stuff about my big brother!! That just...no, just no."

She shook her head forcefully. Her mane, mussed in the way very few could make look good, danced with the strength of her disapproval of this particular topic.

"Okay, no more about that. Behemoth, show her upstairs an help her get settled in, I'm gonna make us something to eat..."

Luna and Behemoth nodded in unison, heading off upstairs, Luna in the lead. Behemoth reached a wing forward, giving her royal flank a little slap as she climbed the stairs.She looked over her shoulder with a mock gasp of surprise, then gave her rear a little wiggle as she smiled at him with a wink. Watching them go with a mighty frown, the young grey mare leaned over the railing, shouting upstairs after them.

"And no funny business you two, just settling in, don't make me come up there with the spray bottle!"

A little less then two hours later...

"Oh, gods, Derpy, I had no idea you were so good at this, mmm...so full..."

Luna groaned, squirming her back deeper into the massive, well stuffed couch that filled a healthy chunk of their living room. Laying next to her, Behemoth glanced over and agreed.

"Oh yeah, she amazing at this. Not as flashy or dramatic as some you may be used to in Canterlot, but...damn she gets the job done."

Grinning and blushing more then a little at their praise, Derpy ran a hoof back through her unkempt mane, rubbing the back of her head with a shy chuckle.

"Hehe, thanks...its nothin special, just a few little tricks I taught myself from books I snuck outta the library when Twilight wasn't looking..."

She pulled herself up onto the couch with a cute grunt of effort, then flopped down next to her brother. With a faint smile, Behemoth reached over, mussing her mane with a truncated wing.

"You did good kid, every time I turn around you impress me more an more. I'm proud of you, little one. Not just for being an amazing cook, but for...well...hell, everything you've done since I was...away."

He pulled her closer, kissing the top of her head, wrapping his abbreviated wing around her narrow shoulders. She snuggled against his side happily, the motion serving to camouflage the tears of pride she'd never admit to shedding.

"I...uhm...th...thanks..."

As Luna came in from the other side, her lithe form stretching along the length of his frame, she leaned up, placing a single, gentle kiss on his jawline, at the end of the scar that had taken his right eye. Derpy spoke again, her voice thick, barely a whisper as she curled up against the only family she had left...the brother shed never quite given up on.

"...I'm so glad you came back...I missed you a lot..."

"I know...I know you did...but I'm back now, for good. The elder gods themselves couldn't take me away from you again. I love you, little one..."

He leaned down again, another gentle kiss pressed into her mane as he felt her silent tears soaking into his chest. He turned to Luna, shining gold once again meeting breath taking turquoise. Their lips met with the faintest, fleeting brush.

"And as for you, I lo-"

She stopped him, her lips silencing him for a second just before he could finish that thought. The bottomless green pools of her eyes flashing with centuries worth of accumulated knowledge and just a hint of amusement.

"I know."

Smiling, the trials of the day forgotten, Behemoth laid back. His beloved sister curled against his left. His past, and all that was good in it embodied in her slight frame. To his right, the enigmatic princess laid her head across his chest. Endless possibilities, the perfect tapestry of the myriad possible futures laid out in silent promise in her mystic form. As his mind drifted off into the warm fog of sleep, a final thought ran through his mind.

~I could think of worse places to be.~