The unexpected hit spun him full around with its force. It would've dropped him clean out if black tipped cobalt wings hadn't flared out instinctually, slowing him just enough to get his legs back under him.

~KILL HIM SINK YOUR TEETH INTO HIS THROAT TASTE HIS BLOOD REND HIS FLESH-~

Behemoths narrow, one eye perspective flashed to red, boiling fury threatening to over take him in response to the sudden, savage blow.

~KILLHIMKILLHIMKILLHIM!!!~

He took a deep breath, forcing his demon back into its cage. He didn't turn until he was certain he was in control enough to not launch himself at Mac's jugular. He spoke softly as he turned.

"I...suppose I deserved that, after everything..."

Looking into the face of his old friend he saw the fury he felt reflected back at him...and deep down, buried under the righteous anger, something that might've been sadness...or pain.

"Damn right you bastard, that was for leavin the way you did, an this is for coming back..."

Behemoth set his shoulders, squaring himself to take the beating he believed was deserved. He knew this was likely to happen one day, and it might as well be today. Massive, powerful legs engulfed Behemoth and pulled him roughly forward, wrapping around him tight enough to make sore bones creak, to pop his back half a dozen times. His body held tense, expecting a savage beating. It took him a few seconds to realize this wasn't an attack. Slowly, he returned the fierce embrace.

They stood there, two towering monoliths, one rust red, the other blue as dark as midnight. Unmoving they stood, their world spread beneath them. The silence between them saying more in that moment then any words could have.

After a moment, Mac stepped back, the anger having faded back into his normally placid facade. Most of it at any rate. Silently he looked Behemoth over, getting a better view of his old friends injuries now that he wasn't so preoccupied with smacking him upside the head.

"...Last few years've been eventful then, B?"

Behemoth responded with a wry grin, his jaw still hurting like a son of a bitch from the second massive thrashing in less then twenty four hours.

"Yeah, eventful, that'd be one way to describe it."

Mac considered this in silence for a few seconds then nodded, speaking again as he turned, heading down towards the orderly row of apple trees to the east, beyond which the roof of the main barn of Sweet Apple Acres was visible.

"Alright then, fill me in as we head up, the family'll wanna see you."

With a shake of his head and a chuckle Behemoth caught up with his friend on the downward slope.

"That's it then, no demands for details, no questions, no more bludgeoning?"

"Nnnope, you'll get to it, but no sense in standin around doin nothin while you do. You'll help me finish plowing the north field. You can fill me in while we work."

Three hours, one plowed field and a long winded monologue later, they came out of the tree line and into the yard. Behemoth was breathing heavily, almost gasping, drenched in sweat. A steady breeze from the storm that had been built throughout the afternoon a welcome relief. Mac, in usual Mac fashion, was unfazed.

"...and then you found me on the hill."

Mac nodded slowly as Behemoth finished his tale, having not said a word the entire time. He had just been listening, absorbing the glossed over details of a decade worth of busy life. Once it was certain Behemoth was done, Mac turned to him with a faint smirk.

"Lookin a little rough there fella. Seems you got soft while ya were away. Whats the matter, didn't have to work this hard bein a big fancy royal guard?"

"Heh heh, fuck you Mac, lets see how energetic you are after getting bludgeoned and tackled through a friggin fence by a damn thirty strong mob."

They shared a chuckle at the good natured ribbing, then continued on up the hill.

"Well, guess that explains the scars, bandages...and the wing an eye...but there is one thing you didn't cover..."

He stopped short, turning to face the slightly taller, slightly lighter pegasus in his wake. His face set and calm, his voice a slow, low, level rumble betraying no emotion.

"One thing I've wondered about all these years, an I finally want you to answer for me."

After a seconds hesitation, Behemoth nodded.

"Sure Mac, anything you want to know."

"How is it, no matter what we're doin, no matter where we are or how long you've been away, how is it, you always, without fail...manage to smell like blood, sex, and steel?"

After a few seconds of staring blankly, Behemoth laughed, his deep voice booming across the peaceful farm, echoing back from the orchards. He shook his head at the sheer randomness of the question and its dead pan delivery.

"Thats...heh...that's actually a pretty good question, I hadn't really noticed myself. The way you describe it though, sounds like the way a badass would smell."

"Hmmm, not so sure badass is the particular adjective I'd-"

Mac was cut off by the sound of the front door opening and a familiar voice, to both of them, crying out.

"Hey, whats all the noise out here, Mac, you forget abo-"

Applejack stopped mid sentence as she caught sight of the "stranger" standing with her brother. Behemoth looked back, equally surprised by her emergence. They stared at each other in silence, neither expecting to see the other quite so soon...or quite like this.

Noticing their difficulties, Mac stepped in, his quiet drawl filling the silence.

"AJ, you remember Behemoth from all those years ago, B, 'course you remember my lil sis Applejack..."

Behemoths face, set as an impassive mask, displayed none of the shock and dismay running rampant through his mind.

"Of course..."

~That's...little Jackie? Great, just great...first day back an I spend the morning balls deep in my best friends little sister...Mac's gonna murder the shit outta me...~

A similar, but accented line of thought was running through AJ's mind. she covered her shock under a fierce frown and stalked forward toward the blue leviathan that had left her walking bow legged all morning after their "encounter" by the stream.

"Yeah...I remember him...from back then, not from anytime recently, o course..."

She stopped right in front of him, smiled...and smashed a hoof into the side of his head, the impact a perfect mirror to the blow he had received from Mac just a little earlier. The hit enough to jerk his head to one side so he found himself facing Mac.

~Sigh...at least now I'll having matching bruises... seriously, whats with folks hitting me in the facial region today, this is getting kinda old...~

"Thats fer leavin ya big ol bastard, you have any idea what you put Mac through, just disappearin like that?!"

Behemoth watched as his friend made a truly Mac-ulean effort not to start laughing at the abuse. Mac spoke, voice wavering just a bit from restrained laughter.

"Well, best head inside then, m'sure granny'd like to see ya."

The massive crimson stallion moved to the door and headed inside, Behemoth and AJ falling into step behind him. As Behemoth stepped into the living room, a wave of nostalgia hit him as hard as Mac had. The room hadn't changed a bit since he last stood here. Warm, orange light filled the room from the large windows. Same worn, often patched couch and chairs, same faded wallpaper littered with family photos. One or two even showing a long legged little blue pegasus squeezed in with the smiling family, always next to a equally youthful red colt.

In his minds eye he watched two scrawny little colts tear around the room in that crazy, random way that only the young could pull off, so full of energy, so full of life. All the times they had fallen asleep in front of that fire place after a day of adventuring. The way that worn old chair still sat crooked, one leg shorter then the rest as a result of one of his first flight attempts off the back of the couch. All the times they'd lain awake, long after they were supposed to be asleep, whispering back and forth about all the amazing things they were going to do. All the exciting places they'd go and things they'd see together...once they were just a little bit bigger...

~Things...didn't quite work out the way we imagined, did they brother...~

"Granny, c'mon out here, see who showed up outta the blue!"

Behemoths reverie was cut short as Mac called out, and by the unmistakable tak-clump, tak-clump of a walker on a hardwood floor. Granny Smith grumbling away as she came out of the kitchen.

"Who the...whats all the hollerin an fussin about out here...wait justa gol darned minute..."

Squinting and pushing her glasses a little higher on her nose, she came right up to Behemoth.

"Hmmm, almost looks like..."

Shock snapped across her face as she finally recognized the little colt who she used to sneak treats to when no one was looking...only he wasn't so little anymore. He smiled and reached out to her.

"Hey there granny, its sure good to see you, how're-"

"DEMON, GHOST DEMON!!!!AHHHHHH!!! THE SPIRITS OF THE DAMNED'VE COME BACK JUS LIKE I ALWAYS SAID THEY WOULD!!!!"

Behemoth recoiled a step at her sudden outburst.

"No no, not a demon just-"

He was silenced by by the impact of a metal frame walker into the side of his repeatedly abused head.

"OW!! Hang on granny, I'm not a-"

"KILL IT, KILL THE DEMON GHOST AFORE IT KILLS ERYBODY!!"

A second, third and forth blow smacked into him, surprising strength behind them actually staggering him a bit. After one last, powerful overhead strike, the assault ended. Behemoth turned back to face her, noticing she was breathing hard, out of breath, and the walker was no where to be seen.

He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the sound of something large hitting the floor behind him. He turned, and Mac, usually as stoic and restrained as they came, was lying on his back, laughing so hard he was turning a even darker than normal shade of red, edging towards purple. AJ had pulled off her stetson and was using it to cover her mouth, her own amusement just as obvious from the tears in her eyes as she was trying to restrain her own laughter.

"Oh come on you two, watching me get beat isn't that..."

He stopped as realization dawned on him, eyes drooping to half closed with a resigned sigh.

"There's a walker stuck on my head, isn't there?"

This was too much for AJ, peals of laughter spilling out from around her well worn hat as she keeled over, landing on her brother, driving him into even deeper fits of hysteria.

"Oh for the love of..."

He turned away from them, looking into the small mirror hanging over the fireplace. Sure enough, Grannys walker was jammed down over his head, bent slightly from the force of the blows, and looking vaguely like a set of mishapen metal antlers. Glancing over at granny he saw that once her initial shock had faded, even she had succumbed to the humor in this ridiculous situation. Leaning against the wall between living room and kitchen, she was chuckling heartily along with her floor-bound kin.

"Heh...so-sorry fella, you just startled me is all..."

"No, its alright...so, any other family members who'd like to assault me while we're-"

Interrupted by the familiar loud creak that meant someone was at the top of the stairs, he looked over to see three little heads peeking down from the second floor. The one in the middle, head crowned by an illogically massive red bow, was the first to speak.

"Granny is everthin awright, we heard yellin an..."

The cute little filly and Behemoth stared at each other in silence for a second, then that silence went away.

"Aaaahh!!! Monsters' attackin granny!!!Cutie Mark Crusader Monster Mashers, GO!!!"

As one, the three fillies charged down the stairs and towards the stranger.

"Cutie Mark who now?"

Behemoth watched, more then mildly confused as the girls came at him.

"Attack pattern delta, execute!!" The little orange one shouted. In response, the white one crossed to his left, the one with the bow to his right, and the orange one came head on at him.

"Attack pattern wha...the hell is going o-GAH!!"

Confusion turned to alarm as Scootaloo launched herself into the air, landing on his snout with rear hooves, her front braced against the walker framing his head. She leaned forward, their foreheads almost touching.

"We got you now, you walker stealing monster!!"

"I repeat, what the hell is go-AAAGGGHHH!!!!"

Behemoth was cut off, again, as Sweetie Belle and Applebloom threw their bodies into his foreleg knee pits before bounding away. His attention too focused on Scootaloo to notice what the others were doing. The impacts taking his legs out from under him and spilling him to the floor. Scoot hung on, literally surfing Behemoths face until he landed hard on his back.

He lay there in silence, not moving or speaking as he felt the other two criss cross the barrel of his chest with a rope they had apparently stashed nearby for just such an occasion. Eye focused on Scootaloo, he finally spoke.

"Mac...there's a tiny orange creature standing on my face..."

"Hey!! I'm not that tiny, GRRRR!!"

She didn't growl. She quite literally said grrrr.

"...Mac, the not-that-tiny orange creature just grrr-ed at me, how do you suggest I respond to this particular event?"

Mac, as it turned out, wasn't in any condition to reply. Nor was AJ as they were both laughing so hard at this latest development that they were a rather startling shade of purple, and had begun twitching in a moderately disturbing fashion. Apparently satisfied that he was secured, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom climbed up onto Behemoths chest, adding their negligible weight to assist in his restraint. Scootaloo turned to the others, a huge toothy grin splitting her face.

"Nice job girls, we did it, just like the book said! Cutie Mark Crusaders, yeah!"

"Wooohooo!!"

A celebratory chorus rang out as the three little fillies relished their victory with a triple high-hoof. Seeing how excited they were, Behemoths annoyance faded away and he smiled in spite of himself.

~Geez, I cant be mad at them, they're too damned adorable...~

He laid there, content to let them bask in their glory. They had just defeated a 'terrible monster' after all.

Still chuckling and supporting herself with the wall, it was granny who was the first to recover enough to speak.

"Hehee...its okay girls, hes not a monster, hes just really ugly...and a bit of a bastard."

As she spoke, everyone's eyes turned to her, except for the siblings who still hadn't quite recovered.

"Gee, thanks granny, I missed you too."

"W-wait, he's not a...oh..."

At this revelation, the triumphant and proud Crusaders deflated visibly, not as pumped over assaulting a family friend as they were when he was a big scary monster. The three of them slid off his chest, staring intently at the ground, shuffling their hooves dejectedly. It was Sweetie Belle who was the first to muster a response.

"We-we're sorry mister, its just...we saw you, an you're kind of scary, and the walker, an Applejack and mister Mac were on the ground and..."

As she finally managed eye contact, she saw that he was smiling warmly, not angry at all. Now he didn't seem quite so monster-ish.

"Its ok little ones, no harm done."

He flexed his back and chest, and without visible strain, the ropes crossing over him popped with a quick series of dry snaps. He rolled over onto his stomach, but didn't stand immediately.

"Im actually impressed to be honest, that was very brave...and very well organized, where'd you learn to work together like that?"

As the orange one responded, the adorably squeaky voiced white one pulled a thin, worn, and heavily dog eared book from...somewhere.

"Well, we found this book at the library, an it sounded kinda cool...once we used a dictionary to figure out what the title meant anyways. Its called...ummm..."

She glanced back at Sweetie, who was holding the book over head like some mighty ancient relic, and who quoted the title verbatim from memory, in a voice of somber reverence...somewhat diluted by the occasional high pitched squeak.

"Small Unit Maneuvers and Applicable Tactics: A Compendium and Reference Guide for Small Scale, High Intensity Conflicts, written by Sergeant Dusk Shield, RLG."

Scootaloo stared at her for a second in awe before responding.

"Uhh, yeah, that one..."

"What the...where those even words?"

Finally recovered enough to speak, AJ got into the conversation.

"Its basically a book listing tactics and the ways they can be used by small groups to even the odds in fights against bigger forces, how, where and when they should fight, that kinda thing."

Silence reigned as everyone in the room turned to look at Mac after his unexpected explanation. He grinned sheepishly at the sudden attention.

"Umm...I mean...eyyyyuuppp..."

Grinning at his friends discomfort, Behemoth turned back to the little fillies, looking to Sweetie in particular.

"So, you have that entire book memorized?"

"Uh huh, every word!!...umm...except chapter six, I'm still working on that one..." she frowned just a little, pulling the book back down, holding it against her chest.

"Ahhh, chapter six," Behemoth nodded in acknowledgement, "Correct usage of Preexisting Artificial and Natural Terrain Features in the Deployment of Mechanical Force Multipliers, yeah, ol Dusk got a little dry and technical in that chapter..."

A huge grin spread across Sweeties face and Applebloom bounced forward, looking equally excited.

"You've read it too, mister?!"

"Heh, yeah, you could say I've perused it a time or two...read the foreword for us, would you?"

"Oh!!Sure!!" Sweetie cleared her throat with an adorable little cough before she began reading, Applebloom and Scootaloo both moving to read over her shoulders.

"I have known Sergeant Dusk Shield for over a decade. In that time I advanced from a fresh faced recruit to the station I currently possess. The sergeant is an unparalleled guard, an honorable stallion and great friend with many years of distinguished service. The information he has collected here will be of great use to any and all groups seeking to level the playing field against a numerically superior foe. I have seen the following maneuvers in effect, and my continued existence is in no small part thanks to the Sergeant and the knowledge contained herein. Signed, Officer in Command, Captain Behemoth, Royal Lunar Guard."

The girls looked up from the book and at their guest simultaneously, "Wa-thats you-"

"YOU'RE Captain Behem-"

"Oh wow, no wonder you knew Chapter 6!!"

The Crusaders verbally stumbled over each other at this revelation, their voices overrode by Mac's after a few seconds.

"Officer in Command, CAPTAIN Behemoth...?, seems you left that little detail out of yer story, B."