Zeus's eyes flew open, the bright lights of his surroundings casting a blinding light on his super enhanced eyes. It didn't take much more than a thought to correct that, and by then he already had his claws drawn, ready to dismember any threat around him. After seeing nothing but trees, his razor sharp claws melted back into his hands and he instinctively rubbed his head.

He was wondering what happened. The possibility of being in a nuclear explosion and ending up in a... Forest? The odds of that were very small. Especially since he was pretty far out in the Atlantic Ocean. He was certain that he must have drifted back into New York or somewhere nearby, as there are bound to be forests nearby that looked like the thick one he was in. This obviously wasn't central park, as there were way too many trees around. He supposed he could jump in the air and look around.

Zeus crouched low and made to jump, but instead of soaring high and controlled like normal, but his legs were out of sync with the angle of the jump. Instead of going straight up, he made a forty five degree arched jump and landed pretty far from where he stood to begin with, and he even got a view of the surroundings. Trees, trees and more trees for miles. He crashed straight through a few trees, but he had worse, so it barely registered to him.

He looked to his legs to see if there was something physically wrong with them, like a huge piece of metal or something was inside of them. He couldn't feel anything large, but his legs did seem oddly bent. If it mattered, he could say they were broken. But that wasn't possible. Not entirely.

A quick mental command to fix his legs did the trick, but after seeing his leg writhe and twitch, nothing changed. Instead of just staring like an idiot, he just made the legs on his pants disappear. There was something in his leg. A large piece of metal that seemed melted into his leg was just sitting there. He had no idea how he didn't feel that til after he saw it, but it didn't matter. It was an easy fix. His leg melted down and all the metal in his leg slid out. He next repeated the process with the rest of his body to make sure there wasn't any more inside of him. Satisfied, he got up and prepared to jump once again.

He repeated the earlier action and made sure to look at every direction this time. It was late at night, probably after six or eight. He could hear the animals in the woods scurrying, pouncing, and chewing from where he was. Behind him, he could see unnatural lights, and a non forested area around it. He could feel himself falling, but that never mattered to him, and he still had a few seconds to look before he hit the ground.

The next thing he looked at was the sky. He could see plenty of stars, much more than he could see in New York, as the smog covered mostly everything worth seeing. While carving his name in the city with blood, it wasn't like he had much time to relax. Constantly moving, constantly evolving, constantly fighting, constantly protecting his family. That was really all he did. All because he had to, for Dana and, even if he wouldn't admit it, for the people he doomed to death.

He looked at the stars, trying to see one of many constellations travelers and lost people have used to find their ways for millennia. None. He saw not one single constellation that he, and by extension everyone he has consumed, were familiar with. No Ursa Major, Scorpius, or Orion. He did see constellations that looked more easily defined and full. He saw a dragon, a griffin, and various other creatures. The most common were equine. The sky looked amazing, and even he could say that.

Alex ignored the sky for now and decided to move in the direction of the unnatural lights. That was more likely to be a town than anything else over here. Running was the fastest option. He would just slow to a halt before he gets to the town so as not to attract attention.

Zeus switched his focus to thermal, looking to scope out anything that could be potentially watching him. He was almost satisfied until he saw a massive heat source. It was faint and hidden,  he would call it reptilian, as it seemed to blend in to the environment. It was undefinable from where he was, but he could tell one thing. It was watching him.

He couldn't see it well per say, but it was one of those feelings he learned never to ignore. It was as if a metaphorical yellow light flashed in his head when he was being watched by someone who could shoot him, or themselves if they knew he was after them. It changed to red once he was positive that he was going to be met with hostility.

The yellow light was flashing.

He knew something was going to happen, and that large lizard creature was going to do it. He didn't have much more than a split second of reaction time before it struck.

As if by lightning, the head of the monster was on him in the time it would take a human to blink. Zeus reached outwards with both his hands, and caught the creature by the jaws, since it tilted its head to snap at him.

He has never seen or heard of the creature before. It was one of the largest reptiles besides a dinosaur he had ever seen, memory or otherwise. The head was larger than his body by about two times, each tooth was about the size of his arm, and razor sharp. They looked like they could cut rocks. He allowed the creature to gain some leverage on the bite. Once its teeth were at his shoulders, he pushed out as far as his arms would allow. The creature's jaws were dislocated from the pressure suddenly inverting, and it slumped over. Zeus, seeing as he just came out if an explosion, decided to eat the creature.

Before doing so, he went around to get a good look at it. Slumped in pain, the single headed serpent was no longer obscured. He could make out a massive, bulky body on it, an extremely large neck, and medium sized, yet powerful looking legs. "Definitely something you don't see every day." Zeus mused.

He encased the monster in tendrils and reeled as much of it as he could into his body, devouring it alive. He couldn't eat all of it, but he could eat a substantial amount if it. Then again, the bomb did leave him low on biomass, but he didn't notice until he got some food in his body.

About sixty percent of the body was able to be reeled in, and the rest was useless to him for now. He did get some memories. He filtered the considerable lifespan of the beast into highlighted flashes of information that could be useful to him. The creature spent most of it's time hunting and lounging in solitude, a lifestyle that was pretty boring. Looking between useless memory and memories he wished he could unsee, he was starting to think this thing was a complete waste of time. Then he saw a horse.

At first, he thought it was a normal, oddly colored mini horse, then he saw it wearing a hat. Now, people in his head are or know people who can't help but dress up animals and make them do strange, non sexual things. He assumed this horse was one subjected to death by paint and embarrassment. Then it started screaming.

The scream was not a horse scream. Well, it was, as it came from a horse.  This was still a scream sounding of human origin. The oh-so familiar sound that he had grown so accustomed to in New York. The thing began to hide behind a tree and breathe heavily. The creature, commonly being referred to as a Hydra, could hear it talking in English. How? Zeus had no idea. He was however suspecting he was not in Kansas, or any part of the united states. Unless the government had a weird biology research going on.

But the stars. Not on earth. He wasn't on earth. The sky was just... Too amazing. This could be a strange dream, he supposed. Or he was dead. The afterlife and all that religion shit.

He really wasn't sure.

He did, however, know that he had some creatures to find. Be they horses or not, something knew where he was, and probably one of then knew how to get back to Dana. Assuming Blackwatch wouldn't leave her alone with him out of the picture. She wasn't confirmed infected, after all. There was a change...

First things first, he had an objective to fulfill. And he was going to start on it.

Then a wooden dog came out of the brush, cautiously went around him, and sniffed the 'hydra'. Then it howled. Within thirty seconds, a pack came out of the brush. Zeus didn't care what they did, and left.

One well placed jump later, Zeus was about two miles from town. He landed a fer meters from a trail that led in the direction of town. Now,  Zeus is a smart and logical person and likes to think about everything when he goes places. Ever since he infiltrated his first building, he made sure it was quiet until he got what he came for. The memories of the horse creature the Hydra saw were very recent, as Zeus found many older memories involving the creatures. That one was the most recent. Actually, the horse had been seen running towards this town, on this path, the last time the 'Hydra' saw it.

Zeus heard the heavy breathing, the hooves clipping, and the frantic heart pace from where he was. The creature was moving pretty fast. From the time Zeus heard it to the time he saw it, four seconds had passed. Given how semi quiet the forest area had been at that moment, Zeus deduced that the horse was pretty far from him when he heard it at first.

The mini horse, colored with a green coat and a two toned cream green and white mane, saw him almost instantly. It reared up and fell backwards on its ass. "Don't eat me!" the horse shrieked in a high pitched, female voice. It went into hysterics.

Zeus already knew the horse could talk, but seeing it with his own eyes validated it. He wasn't surprised or shocked, per say but he was feeling that indescribable feeling one felt when you see something that should be impossible, yet you knew it was true to begin with. 'What was the word?' He found himself thinking.

"Don't worry, I already ate." he said. The horse was shaking before this, but it slowed down a bit.

"Y-you did?!" she asked, still shaken. Zeus didn't really feel like killing the horse. Sure, he could, but he had no real reason to. The Hydra left him pretty full. Full enough to share with moving trees, for that matter.

"Yes." Zeus answered, leaning on a nearby tree. He knew the horse was pretty shaken up from the Hydra, so he guessed this would take a while. Best to end this right here. Get what he wanted and get out.

"What are you?" the horse asked.

"If it wasn't obvious, I would ask you the same question." Zeus said. The horse blinked a few times, and Zeus could see tears in its eyes. The stars above provided tons of light. He couldn't help but glance at the stars some.

"A-are you..." the horse gasped shakily, then covered it’s-her mouth with her... hoof. Zeus slightly tensed at the question out of habit. Those words were usually followed by bullets for him. "A human?!"

"Yes and no." Zeus said. He noticed the pony looked like she was shaking. A lot. He could tell this wasn't from fear, as the shit eating grin on her face told that perfectly. It was more joy. No... Excitement. She looked like she was about to explode. He wanted to see if she would, deep down.

She was right next to him in a moment, and he would have backed through the tree had he blinked. He found himself looking into hazel eyes that just oozed curiosity, amazement and the feared fangirl expression.

She began looking and checking all over him, his hands, his legs, his clothes and pretty much everywhere, while asking questions so fast he gave up on answering. "I am not answering anything unless you slow down. Honestly, you looked like you were about to pass out a minute ago."

The horse got off of it's new location, atop his head while dangling from his back, and moved in front of him and sat down. She blushed in embarrassment and looked down in shame. "I'm sorry..."

"I have a few questions. It would be beneficial to both of us if you answer." Zeus said, flatly. The horses ears drooped, likely because she thought she upset Zeus. "Do you understand?"

"Yes." she meekly said.

"Good. What is your name."

"Lyra." she answered. "Lyra Heartstrings."

"Do you live around here?"

"Yes." she answered. Zeus sighed again.

"You can ask questions too. That is how this works. This isn't an interrogation." He hoped it wasn't, at least. Believe it or not, Zeus would hate being on the interrogator side of an interrogation. Obviously, he wouldn't want to be interrogated. Not that he would find himself in that situation. It was easier to consume people. He would do it now, as this was getting irritating. Too bad he already started talking to her. Killing her now would just waste the time already spent talking.

"I can?" she perked up again.

"Yes, but one at a time." Zeus answered. This wasn't as tedious a process as he thought. Sure, there were other, faster ways to do this, but this wasn't gruesome. Not that he had a problem with gruesome.

"Are there any more of you?" Lyra asked.

"Probably not. Not here, anyway." Zeus said. "You?"

"Um, yeah!" she made a gesture with her hoof. "Like, all over the place!" Lyra got on her... hind legs and placed both forehooves in the air. "We are kinda the dominant species in Equestria." she said once she was on all fours again.

"So if I were to go out into the open, assuming there are no other humans around judging by your reaction, I would be the odd one out?"

"More than that!" she pretty much yelled. "You would be all over the news! Reporters, researchers, historians! You will be featured on Equestria Daily, even the princesses might show up!"

"Well, we can't have that." Zeus mused. "Maybe..." Zeus looked at Lyra very closely, thinking about whether or not his shapeshifting abilities would turn him into a horse Lyra's size. Maybe she weighed more than a normal human? It wouldn't matter. He can ditch some biomass without causing a Holocaust. No problem.

"Maybe what?" Lyra asked.

Without warning, Zeus reached out and plucked a hair from her mane.

"OW!" Lyra yelled. "What was that for!"

"Nothing." Zeus replied. He then looked behind her and appeared confused "Hey, what's that?" He asked.

"What?" She turned around and looked, but couldn't' see anything out of replace, "What are you talking abou...." She trailed off after she turned back to find the human missing, and a gray unicorn standing in it's place.

"What did you do to my human!" She yelled as she started to punch Zeus. She instantly regretted it. The guy felt like he was filled with lead. "Ah!" she fell over and clutched her hoof.

"Your human? Aren’t you being a tad possessive? We only met a couple of minutes ago.” Zeus laughed.

"Human!" Lyra called. "What happened to you?"

"Magic." He replied nonchalantly. "And I have a name, its Zeus."

"You can use magic?!" She almost tripped. "What other magic can you do?"

"Not much." He answered.

"Can you show me?"

"No."

"Why nooot?" Lyra whined.

"Its a secret." He said.

"Please?" She asked. "Cmon, I won't tell a soul." she put her hooves together and smiled.

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pleeeeease?"

"No." Zeus began walking down the path of the town. He was done with this conversation. If she wanted to ask further, she would not even get a reaction.

"Hey!" Lyra called after seeing him walk off. "Wait up!" she called as she ran after Zeus.