I felt the stabbing of Celestia's sun on my eyes. Groaning, I turn over and pull the blankets closer, hoping to block out the light. My blanket snuggles around my furred form nicely, I feel so comfortable. Warm and Cozy, and the near silence is music to my ears. The birds chirp happily outside and a faint breeze wisps through the room.

Huh, the windows open, Spike usually opens it when he gets up.

.....

But Spike usually sleeps in, if he is up before me than that means...

The purple unicorn practically bursts from her bed. Mane frazzled, she summons her checklist with a quick spell. She reads it twice, then a third time for good measure, before beginning to magically groom her mane and tail. Once she is satisfied with her efforts she heads downstairs.

The smell of breakfast tugs at her, and she follows it almost in a trance, to the kitchen.

Upon entering, Spike turns from the food to greet her.

"Morning Twilight, hope you slept well, it's nearly 10!" Spike proclaims before turning back to the food, some waffles and oats. Twilight sighs.

"Last night things got pretty intense, I hope today is much more calm." Twilight responds, taking a seat at the table. She thinks back to the night before. Those ponies going missing is worrisome, but Wrath needs to see something kind, something nice, something unlike what he is used to...right? Or do I need to help with the search and rescue project? Spike sets a large pile of Waffles and a bowl of oats with cinnamon just in front of Twilight. Who takes a deep breath through her nose before sighing dreamily. Spike is an excellent chef.

Celestia said she had her Royal Guard investigating and that I should focus my attention on Wrath, so that is what I'll do! She thinks to herself.

The unicorn goes to take a bite of the wondrously smelling waffles, but is interrupted by her own thoughts again. Speaking of my house guest, where is he?

"Spike?" Twilight asks.

"Yes?"

"Where is Wrath?"

"In the front room, didn't you pass him on your way in?" He replies, before setting an equally large helping of Waffles on the table and sitting in front of it. He takes a huge bite, and chews loudly before stopping.

"He looked kinda weird though, like he was sleeping with his eyes open." The dragon garbles.

"Don't talk with your mouth full Spike," Twilight chides as she rises from her chair. She trots into the front room to find her newest friend. Or who she hoped was her newest friend. The human had not been unfriendly, in fact he had been quite polite. But she felt that he did not trust her, and according to Twilight. Trust is the foundation of any friendship.

Upon finding the human, she remembers what he said the night before.

"Sleep well, this night I will meditate, please wake me come morning if I am still in my trance."

She approaches the entranced human, he is sitting in that awkward position of his, with his lower limbs bent almost like a pretzel beneath him. His hands are in his lap turned upwards, but his eyes are wide open, a faint, ghostly magic dancing around them. Oh he is meditating alright, he will have to teach me how it works one of these days, but for now. How to wake him? The unicorn puzzled briefly.

She decides a scientific approach is in order. Her plan: To employ strategies used by pony scientists all over the world in generations past.

She is going to poke him, and if that doesn't work, slowly resort to more extreme measures to get her desired result.

After pondering a moment further, Twilight nods to herself. Confident hat her plan is infallible.

She pokes his shoulder.

No response.

She pushes him gently.

No response.

She conjures a small force spell and thrusts it at him.

No response. Curious she thinks.

She rises to her back hooves, and puts one hoof on each of his shoulders, and gives a mighty push. At first nothing seems to happen but soon he budges an inch, then another, then another. Soon enough her full body shove sends his prone form backward to the ground. The faint magic around him dissipates. But did it work? Twilight thinks to herself.

A sigh affirms that her methods were a success, and Twilight grins a huge grin. Another victory for science!

"I suppose I technically did ask for this," The human gruffly states from the ground, clearly unnamused. "But was this really necessary?"

"Yes." The unicorn states with a grin. "Now come get some breakfast, today is a busy day!"

Even though its starting so late. She frowns. I guess we can't visit Cheerilee and the school today.

Wrath rises from the floor, and together with Twilight, enters the kitchen and takes a seat at the table. Spike had prepared a plate for Wrath, and the three begin to eat.

After eating in silence for a while, Twilight speaks up.

"So, did you find anything while meditating?" The grizzled veteran swallows, then gravely answers.

"Nothing good, I will need to speak to Celestia herself about what I have found."

Twilight stops mid bite and magically drops her fork.

"Why didn't you say so sooner?!" She asks, flabbergasted. "Celestia should be notified at once! What did you find out?"

"Well...." Wrath starts, claiming a large chunk of waffle with his fork. He dips the golden loveliness into the pool of syrup pooling on the plate. Then raises it to his mouth, and chews slowly before swallowing.

"I figured it could wait until after breakfast," He carves out another chunk of the spongy breakfast cake. "...and what I found is for Celestia's ears alone." He finishes, returning completely to his meal.

Twilight glowers at the human briefly before turning to her assistant.

"Spike, take a letter." She commands. The dragon looks down at his mostly finished waffle and sighs. He then runs into the other room, quickly returning with a piece of paper and quill.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

Wrath has some information regarding the missing ponies and will only tell you what he found. Please come to Ponyville to question him at your earliest convenience.

-Your faithful student.

-Twilight Sparkle

The drake finishes transcribing the letter, then blows a thin stream of green fire onto it, burning it to ash. It then floats away through the open kitchen window on an invisible wind.

The young dragon then returns to the table and begins to devour the last of his meal, a sharp contrast to Wrath, who seems to savor each and every bite. Twilight continues to glare at Wrath as she returns to her own meal. Why can't I know? she thinks. What could he know?

Spike finishes his waffles, and begins to wash the breakfast dishes. Twilight slowly eats, frowning. Wrath looks stoic, but beneath the surface his thoughts are fraught with an emotion unfamiliar to the bearded warrior, fear.

He needs to have a long chat with the solar diarch, and perhaps the lunar diarch as well. He has an idea of who, or what, is responsible for the disappearances, or rather, killings, as he has sadly learned. But he hopes he is wrong. The ancient berserker hopes with every fiber of his being that his hunch is wrong. Because if he is right; something darker than Equestria has ever known is lurking within her borders.

Wrath shivers involuntarily, his mask of stoicism cracking briefly, then continues on with his meal. This does not go unnoticed by Twilight.

What is he thinking? She wonders.

The rest of the meal passes in semi-awkward silence.

"Now what were those called?" Wrath asks, having just finished his meal. He pats his belly from the table and allows himself a small smile.

"Waffles," Spike responds, walking away from the sink, having just finished cleaning up breakfast. "Tasty arent they?" Spike asks, smirking.

"Indeed" Wrath affirms, bowing his head slightly.

"Hey Twilight." Spike asks from the doorway to the front room. "I promised Rarity I would help her dig up some gems today, so I'm going to go do that."

"Be careful," she warns. "We don't want a repeat of last time."

"I know I know!" He hastily replies as he turns and heads to the front door. Wrath looks to the unicorn sitting at the table across from him, quietly looking over a rather large checklist.

"What happened?" he asks.

"Well... long story short, Rarity can be annoying to the degree of it being considered a weapon. She used that weapon against a group of Diamond dogs who had found her mining in their territory, and imprisoned her. She wasn't captive an hour, but Spike still thinks it's his fault,"

"I see," Wrath slowly responds.

Twilight returns to looking over her checklist while Wrath reflects on what he learned the night prior. The two sit in a confortable silence for several more minutes before Twilight rolls up her check list, and levitates over a saddlebag to put it in. She then rises from her seat and dons the saddle bag and looks toward Wrath expectantly.

"Ready to get to know some ponies?" She asks brightly, grinning. Wrath nods and stands.

"Lead the way,"

This is working! The ponies are beginning to accept him! Twilight thinks, stirring her tea while looking around at the crowded cafe.

The first thing on her checklist was to take Wrath to a very public place, and be casual. So far it was working. The little tea shop they are in is named "Spirit Lotus", which specializes in exotic teas from Griffonia and the distant Zebracan tribe-lands. Twilight was enjoying some fruity herbal tea, strawberry, while Wrath sipped on jasmine.

The purple unicorn's excitement stemmed from the fact that they were drinking tea in a public place casually, and no one was freaking out. Twilight couldn't see a single pony that seemed bothered by the bearded oaf.

"You were saying?" Wrath asked. Twilight was confused for a moment, having suffered a lapse in thought.

"I'm sorry, what were we talking about?" She sheepishly replied. Taking a dainty sip from her cup. Her rapid-fire thoughts had made her completely forget whatever conversation they were having.

"You were speaking of your first adventure here,with the nightmare, you were heading into the forest." Wrath reminds her. She nods slowly before recounting the tale.

"We had decided to head to the 'Castle of the Two Pony Sisters', to recover the elements of harmony." Twilight took a deep breath, then continued.

"We first suffered through a landslide near a ravine, I would have fallen in if not for Applejack. After that, we made our way deeper into the forest, and we encountered a manticore!" Wrath nods.

"How did you slay it?" He asked. Twilight was taken aback by the question.

"K-Kill it? We didn't kill it." She stutters.

"Well, what happened then?" Wrath asks her.

"Well, Fluttershy pulled out a thorn that had been stuck in its paw, which had been causing the beast a great deal of rage. Once it was calm it let us pass without incident." Wrath hummed deep in his throat.

"I can't believe that, manticores are violent, territorial creatures. It would have attacked you regardless." He theorized.

"Well, what do you think then? I have not done much research on manticores, we know little about them other than they prey on virtually anything smaller than them." Twilight asks, then takes a large pull from her tea, emptying it. Wrath leans back in his chair and brings his own cup to his lips, sipping slowly at the tea. Twilight can't help but find the sight amusing. The massive muscled warrior with a cup of tea not the size of his hand, daintily sipping with a stern expression on his face. I wish I had a camera. She thinks.

"The beast was probably grateful," Wrath finally says, bringing Twilight out of her thought again.

"Grateful, how does that factor into the equation?" she asks.

"She pulled the thorn from its paw, correct?" Wrath starts, setting down his similarly empty cup of tea. Twilight nods. "Then it probably felt indebted to her, and by extension her group being you and your friends, and decided not to kill and eat you." Twilight puts her hoof to her chin in thought as a waiter stallion comes and takes away the empty tea cups, leaving a small bill on the table. That is a possibility. Twilight thinks as she looks through her saddle bag, then deposits three bits onto the table. But that would explain why only Fluttershy and sometimes us don't have problems with them. I still hear about ponies getting mauled by them on a monthly basis, so it would make sense.

"Anyway, what happened after that?" Wrath asks.

"We traveled through a haunted forest where the trees seemed to come alive, then with the aid of a sea-serpent crossed a raging river." Twilight stands and Wrath follows suit. The two make their way out of the small shop and into the busy street, the sun hangs high in the sky.

"A sea-serpent? In a river?" Wrath asks as they begin to walk towards the north-eastern side of town, where Applejack's farm is.

"Yes, a river-serpent perhaps? He was there, Rarity gave him half her tail to repair his mustache. That is why he helped us cross," Wrath gave a sideways glance the Twilight, who was trotting beside him. He shrugs.

"After the river fiasco, we tried to cross this rickety bridge onto the castle grounds, but it was broken. Rainbow Dash had to fly over and repair the thing. But Nightmare Moon tried to goad her into abandoning us, she failed of course, and we made it into the castle once we crossed the bridge,"

"And then you found the elements and blasted the Nightmare correct?"

"Not exactly,"

"How do you mean? That is what happened is it not?" Wrath raises a brow.

"It was, but the old physical manifestations of the elements were worthless, and Nightmare Moon destroyed them. We had to see each element within our selves and they manifested new forms. Then we blasted her back into Princess Luna!" Wrath stops in his tracks.

"What do you mean blasted her back into Princess Luna?" He eyes the unicorn with an extreme expression she does not recognize. His eyes are wild and intense, but the rest of his face seemed slack.

"Ummmmm, yeah. Once the elements cleansed her of Nightmare Moon she turned back into Princess Luna, Celestia's sister." Wrath's face relaxed briefly into a small frown, which made him look ancient.

"I see," Wrath states before resuming their walk. Twilight just follows and wonders what the human could be thinking.

Cleansed of the Nightmare, that magic had to go somewhere... fear magic doesn't just dissipate into the air like mist. If it was powerful enough to posses an alicorn, I would have sensed it when I meditated. Someone had to use it, but for what end? Morbid thoughts echo through the worried human's mind as he and Twilight make their way to Sweet Apple Acres in silence.

Author's Note

A little break from the bloodshed, it is not all just mindless gore you know.

Anyway

Please leave a comment and thanks for reading!

I can answer any questions/concerns as time allows.

One more thing, would you guys prefer to see longer chapters with a longer wait time, or shorter chapters with shorter wait times? If you care at all, lemme know!