The uncaged Wrath of Equis.

It was nearly midnight when Warwick was rudely pulled from his sleep. A loud thumping noise paired with the tree shaking nearly made him fall out of the tree.

It was dark so a human wouldn't be able to see a tree in front of himself, but this was no problem for Warwick.

Warwick pushed his ears flat to defend against the offending noise. He looked down to see what was causing all of this sound. It was a massive cat-like creature, perhaps even a cross between a bear and a cat considering how large the animal was.

Upon further inspection the creature had small bat-like wings on it's back, clearly not large enough to fly but maybe able to extend it's jumps, it even had a large scorpion like tail with stinger and all. Considering the stinger it could be venomous thought Warwick.

It was pawing at the tree Warwick was in, probably marking it's territory. From the small observation Warwick could tell that this was a top tier predator. He was going to have to carefully plan his next moves to get away unnoticed. He would rather not risk engaging the creature head on.

He looked to his left and saw the next tree fairly close. A plan formed in his mind.

He could try and hop from tree to tree, but with the creature constantly shaking this tree it would be hard not to lose his footing.

Warwick carefully stepped to the edge of the branch he was on, he had to try and jump to the next tree.

The moment he tried to jump to the other tree the creature down below shook the tree hard enough for Warwick to lose his footing. 'Just my luck' thought Warwick as he fell down from his tree.

He landed right on the back of the strange cat. The cat-like creature reacted with a roar and threw Warwick to the side and against one of the trees.

To the manticore it looked like this smaller wolf like creature just jumped from the trees and tried to attack him. This was not acceptable. It was time the manticore taught this weird wolf the pecking order of this forest. With a roar the manticore approached the weird wolf while making sure to show of it's massive bulk and swinging it's tail in order to intimidate.

To Warwick the reaction was just as he expected. An alpha predator would not let an act like this go without retaliation. They would not take an attack laying down. So Warwick readied himself for the inevitable.

Both of them were staring each other down. Neither of them gave in, until the manticore had enough of this disrespectful display. Usually any creature that came across a manticore would have ran in the other direction. But not this weird wolf. So the manticore charged.

Warwick was expecting the charge and prepared to jump out of the way. Right when the large cat was only a leap away he jumped off of the tree trunk and dodged to the side.

Multiple times did the manticore charge and Warwick was barely fast enough to dodge every time. Sudenly the manticore changed his plan of attack and jumped with Warwick just in time to swipe his leg.

A nasty cut now adorned Warwick's leg and it was bleeding decently. He could not keep this up for long anymore.

The manticore tried to impale Warwick with his massive tail. But Warwick was barely fast enough to dodge. The tail smashed into a tree shattering it. Bits of wood flew everywhere. A few pieces managed to fly back at the manticore and cut his leg. The large cat had gained a small cut on one of it's paws. It was small and only bled a tiny bit, a wound this small would not hinder an animal this size or his next attack against the small offender.

However for Warwick this small cut was enough to smell it.

Blood.

The machinery in Warwick surged as the green liquid was pumped into him. The liquid even changed color from bright deep green to yellow and even a fiery orange.

The rage was overwhelming him with blood lust. He was forced down on all fours just to bear all of it impacting his mind and body. Pure power surged through him as he easily sliced a tree cleanly in half.

Finally a deep growling voice came from him. "What have you done?!" He roared as he gave into his rage. His claw extended. The beast was back and on the hunt.

The manticore knew something was up when strange sounds came from the weird wolf. It's claw extended to at least twice the length. It's color changed from green to almost red. Together with it's piercing red eyes, it was pretty terrifying to look at. That's when the manticore realized he messed up.

Warwick just gave into his rage and took a very high leap into the air. His claw was extended, the liquid was pulsing, his rage was burning. When he came down his claws were poised to strike at the creature's massive head.

Warwick landed on the creature's head and almost decapitated it. Blood and brain matter splattered in every direction. At least now Warwick had dinner.

Warwick ate from the creature's carcass until he was full and looked around again. His rage had subsided a bit. When he looked at himself he noticed that he was full of blood and gore from the large cat. He needed to find that river in order to clean himself. So he started walking in the direction of the river he spotted earlier. But he seemed pretty upset while he walked.

He was disappointed that the rage was still there and could rise up at a moments notice transforming him into a merciless killer. But the emotions and memories were less detectable which in turn gave him a clearer mind when he wasn't enraged. Usually his mind was poluted by traces from the summoners, by his memories and by the augmentation on his body. But now that his mind was as clear as it could get He started to realize it. This situation was so strange that it frightened him. It scared him how unpredictable his mind was.

The forest was dead silent, as if to acknowledge the fact that there was a new alpha predator. Warwick didn't mind. It gave his ears more opportunity to detect danger or at the very least any creature that his nose didn't pick up.

It took Warwick a good while to get to the river where he took a drink and washed himself. He took a look at the gash in his leg. It was already starting to seal up. The liquid that was being pumped into his body greatly improved his stamina and his regeneration of both flesh wounds and bone breakage.

After he washed himself he decided to wander and explore. Maybe he could find the castle and the city inside this forest.

***Scene Change***

In the Everfree city, capital of Equestria, a squad of lunar guards just set out on their nightly patrol through the Everfree forest. Patrols were always four squads that alternated. Two solar squads that patrolled during the day and two lunar squads that patrolled during the night. It was an effective way to make te existing trade routes safe to travel.

But recently the Everfree had been plagued by trappers/hunters. These were griffons and sometimes minotaurs that hunted animals inside the forest. Technically they were not doing anything wrong. But they were only hunting the big predators like manticores and hydras. The hunting drove these creatures dangerously close to the Everfree city which had everypony on edge.

There were even a few incidents that these animals attacked traders on their way to the city. But there was nothing the ponies or even their leaders, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, could do about the hunters. The griffon leaders just refused to stop these actions. And any hostile interference would be met with severe consequences from the triple alliance. This triple alliance consisted of griffons, minotaurs and camels. Tensions were already high but an all out conflict could never end well for Equestria.

So these were stressful times and everypony was on edge. You could never know what you would find on the patrol.

But still the patrol set out on their nightly routine.

"Okay everypony, listen up," the Sargent of the squad said as he addressed the rest, " Reports came in that large predators have moved closer to the edge of the forest near the settlement Ponyville. So the road connecting our city with that village could no longer be safe for traders to use. We'll start our patrol on that road."

"Yes sir," Came the automatic reply from the rest.

The forest was unusually silent for this time. Usually every kind of night dwelling creature could be heard, but now it was dead silent as they continued their way up the road.

As they walked they found tracks of some timber wolves, signaling them that there was at least one pack in the area. Timber wolves usually didn't attack traders or a trade caravan. You would only have to worry about them if you were walking alone trough the forest. But precautions were already taken and travelers always had a small escort of guards with them to guide them out of the forest. This way incidents were kept at a minimum.

The real trouble was with the bigger predators like manticores and hydras creating territory along the roads and attack all those who came to close. And the worst part was that you couldn't blame the predators. They had to flee in order to escape the hunters

When the patrol got closer to the edge they began to see signs of manticore territory along to road. Trees were deeply marked with claw marks signaling the start of a territory. And from the looks of it these were freshly made.

The ponies would have to continue with caution.

"Lads," the Sargent started, "These marks look at the most a day old. The manticore might still be in the area. Keep your eyes pealed," He warned his escort.

"Sir? To the side at about fifty to seventy five steps there is some destruction in the forest," One of the stallions reported.

"Could it be the hunters? Would they have spread this far in the forest?" An other stallion suggested.

"Unlikely," the Sargent answered, "Maybe somepony got unlucky and ran into the manticore. We should investigate. If somepony indeed got unlucky than we will be able to make a report about it and give the pony in question a proper burial. But stay alert, we don't know where this manticore is."

They continued towards the devastated area. Several trees were cleaved in half. One was even shattered into pieces, while the rest were marked with claw marks to signal the center of the manticores territory.

Then the Sargent noticed blood splatters here and there.

"Euh. Sir?" One of the guards asked the Sargent to get his attention, "Did you see this?" He said while pointing behind one of the fallen trees.

When he went over to look, a strange awful smell hit his nose. Almost like something was dying or had died. And then he saw what his fellow guard was pointing at.

"Oh my pony sisters."

Behind the tree lied the mutilated carcass of a manticore. It's head nearly sliced off and it's skull caved in. The side of the beast was torn open and it looked like something had eaten from it.

"Sir? Could the hunters have done this?" A stallion asked.

"Maybe? But I doubt it was the hunters. They would have taken the carcass more apart. Also there are no signs of any of the traps that the hunters use," the Sargent answered while he continued his investigation.

"Somepony please write down our findings," He commanded.

"Yes sir."

"Okay let us start.

The claw marks beside the manticores marks are foreign. I don't know any creature that could make these marks. The wound on top of the manticore's head would indicate a single powerful attack took it out. Bite marks on the side of the manticore are of unknown origin as well. There are unknown paw prints all across this scene, most of the time they come in a set of two. This suggests that the unknown creature would walk upright and was bipedal most of the time. But we have no further indication of what the creature looked like.

Anything else I missed?" The Sargent concluded.

"No. I think that is all," A stallion replied.

"Good, look around in case we missed anything and then we'll continue our patrol. But we have to report this to the princesses as quickly as possible. I don't think we would want anypony walking into this creature unprepared," The Sargent said.

They searched the site one last time and continued their patrol.

The rest of the patrol went uneventful. They saw some timber wolves, but timber wolves would never engage a military force. Even a small one.

When they got back to the city the Sargent dismissed his squad.

"You boys can relax for a while, maybe get something to eat. I'll go and report back to the princesses."

"Okay sir. We'll see you in a bit."

The patrol leaders were instructed to report back to the princesses. Ever since tensions between most nations rose up have the princesses been taking matters more into their own hooves. Even small matters like the patrols.

As the Sargent walked up the stairs up to the castle, the guards recognize him as one of the patrol leaders and let him pass.

Both sisters would be hard at work now, filling in papers and finding solutions to the complaints ponies had, as well as finding solutions to the financial problems Equestria had at this moment. It didn't help that tensions rose between the two sisters. This entire situation got to both of them pretty hard. And they both disagreed on the other's decisions. The younger sister liked a more aggressive approach to the problems they faced while the eldest preferred a more passive approach.

The Sargent arrived at the study where both of the princesses would be working and he knocked.

"Come in," Two voices said at the same time.

"Princesses." He addressed them while walking in.

"Ah, Sargent Watch. How was the patrol this night?" Princess Luna asked.

"Quiet for the entire night," He trailed off.

"That is good to hear," Princess Celestia said.

"Indeed, but my squad and I came upon quite the unsettling scene," He continued.

"Oh, please continue," Princess Luna said.

"We came upon a carcass. The carcass of a manticore. Quite close to the edge near ponyville," He explained.

"What was the cause of the creature's untimely death? Did the hunters get that far into the forest?" Celestia asked.

"No. We found no evidence of the hunters anywhere near the site. We did however find evidence of an unknown creature that could have attacked the manticore. This unknown creature seemingly had the power of striking down the manticore with a single attack," He said as he finished his report and gave them the report his squad had made at the scene.

"Do you have any idea where this creature could be?" Luna asked while she read the report.

"It's tracks led straight towards the river. For all we know it could be near the city by now," He guessed.

"Thank you Sargent. Go and have some rest. You and your patrol earned it," Celestia said.

"Thank you princesses," The Sargent said as he took his leave.

"Sister, this creature is going to pose a threat of unknown size against our little ponies," Luna said.

"I know Luna. But what could we do? We have no idea where it is, we can only guess. Maybe it won't even bother our ponies. " Celestia tried to reason.

"Tia, with a creature with this kind of potential power, there is only one thing to do."