Author's Notes:

Sorry for the long wait everyone, got side tracked a bit with various stuff but I'm happy to grant this new chapter for everyone to see - alas it's filler though.

“We both know, without purpose, we would not exist.”
Agent Smith, The Matrix Reloaded.

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.”
Vince Lombardi

***

David Elliot continued on through the city of Los Perdidos, trying his best to not feel too freaked out by everything he had seen. In the space of a few hours, he had been forced to radically alter his worldview, and face things that frankly made no sense to him. The man with the Guan Dao was just the latest in a string of... wait.

…was that a payphone?

He strained his ears. He had definitely started to hear a ringing from a payphone nearby - a brief scan of the area identified the machine.

“What is this, the Matrix?” he asked himself rhetorically. Kung Fu crazies and payphones. He was half expecting a man in a black suit to show up and start talking about purpose. Hell, that would be an improvement.

He sighed and walked over to the phone, frowning at it and then, with a reluctant expression, picking it up.

“Hello?” he asked, speaking sarcastically. “You've reached a very confused David Elliot. If you'd like to explain the meaning of life, the universe and everything, please leave a message after the tone.”

“Well, pleasure to meet you too Mister ‘I Can Summon Swords From Out of Thin Air’, can you do the same with a shield?" the voice on the other end snarked, sounding like a young man. “Name’s Jesse, and I’ve got all the camera and crap here hacked so that I can see everything going on in this city… I take it you aren’t a part of the PER or Military or those Milita psychos?”

“I’m not part of anything you’d know about, mate,” Elliot said with a smirk. He frowned slightly. "Suppose you thought you'd gimme a ring, have a nice chat about the weather and the remote possibility of me meeting a bunch of crazies in this city, then?"

“What?" Jesse asked. "No - what does that have to do with anything?”

"Well, either you thought you'd ring to chat about the crazy people, or you're one of the crazy people and you thought you'd have a chat anyway," Elliot said, shrugging (despite the fact that he figured the man couldn't see him). "To be honest, either good, I'd just like to know which one it is."

“Actually, I was ringing to ask if you want to know where your friends are - 'cause, I’m willing to tell you, but only if you’re willing to do something for me," Jesse said. Elliot could hear some irritation in his voice. “And no, I’m not going to talk about those psychos or any crazy people - they’re not worth the time.”

Elliot paused, frowning slightly. "Then we might be able to come to some sort of arrangement. So you have seen my friends, then?"

“Yeah, I have - a guy with glasses and a girl in a hotel maid’s outfit being ‘escorted’ by the PER isn’t that hard to miss. They came through here a few hours back - PER must have ambushed you outside of the city with an assault vehicle,” Jesse explained. "It’s fortunate for the PER that they managed to get the window while it was open, unfortunate for your friends though… in fact, you better get inside somewhere - reset’s gonna happen soon.”

"Reset?" Elliot repeated. "What the hell's a 'reset'?"

“You do know why Los Perdidos is always in quarantine right?" the man on the phone said derisively. "Or did you just figure that the zombies were on a holiday?”

"I... don't really know much about where I am," Elliot replied, looking around. "I'm new to this place in the biggest way possible."

“Tourist,” Jesse muttered. “Okay, listen - Los Perdidos has a repeating cycle, no matter how many times the military comes to clean up, the zombies will ALWAYS reappear and the city will reset despite any damage or progress done; it’s how the PER managed to survive in this place so far, it hasn’t done a reset yet.”

“Ah hell,” Elliot said. He took a breath. "And... when is the next reset due?"

“Is the phrase, ‘get your ass in gear’, answer it for you?" Jesse asked.

"Apart from being incredibly evocative, not really," Elliot replied with a wry smile, "but I suppose it'll have to do. Do you know where I should go? I need to try and help my friends if I can.”

Jesse clucked his tongue. "Head over to the Quarantine Station - a guy called Hunter Thibodeaux will meet you there, he’s a local that’s been here for years. He should give you some know how while I track down your friends.”

"And who is he?" Elliot asked.

“He was a gang leader around here once, guy should still have connections.” Jesse explained, “He might know something we don’t.”

“Right,” Elliot said, looking around. “Want to point me in a specific direction?”

“Just head east, you’ll see it in two blocks - also, if you can get your hands on a cellphone that Hunter has; it’ll make me contacting you easer.” Jesse stated

“I’ll bear that in mind,” Elliot said drily. “Until then, you might want to keep an eye on me, make sure I don't get lost. Would also be nice to get warned if there's anything... nasty heading my way."

“I’ll try to give you a sign if that happens” the other man said.

With that Elliot hung up the phone and began his trek to the Quarantine Station, shaking his head slightly.

Today was weird. Today was really, really weird.

***

“Any specific ID?”

“She was a time card, works at the Hotel near the coast; Jimmy must have failed then.”

“Hrrrr. He had just one job to do - what an idiot.”

That was what Cameron heard when she woke up. She couldn’t see anything due to being blindfolded somehow, and she couldn’t move - they must have her restrained.

If she had to guess, she was in the captivity of the PER… which was bad. Since they called Jimmy an idiot… then they must have been even more horrible people (and ponies) than he had been.

Her leg was bugging her, her shoulder hurt too, but it didn’t matter; they were probably going to convert her into a pony… and yet there was an underlying question present - a feeling of… foreboding about it; why hadn’t they done so yet? Was this supposed to be some kind of torture? Make her crack and want to join them?

She gulped quietly. ‘Help had better get here soon… because I have a really bad feeling about all of this.’ Cameron thought

“I think she’s awake. Get the tools ready… it’s time to operate," the second voice ordered, a twisted glee present in its voice. Cameron's eyes widened - it seemed as though she had thought too soon. Whatever was going to happen to her...

Well, it couldn't be good.

***

After a few minutes of walking, Elliot found himself near what he assumed to be the Quarantine Station - the outside of the building was pretty bar, with it apparently being the sight of another battle, judging by the bloodstains and bullet holes. He was also certain that molotov cocktails and motorcycles had been used during the fighting: there were multiple, slightly melted glass bottles pieces present, as well as charred bodies, and… wrecked motorcycles, strewn all over the place in various states of what he believed could be termed "fucked up".

It was, all in all, a gruesome sight.

“Right,” he said to himself. “So, Militia… doesn’t sound that impressive, but best not to make any assumptions…”

He shook his head. He could tell he’d been on his own a fraction too long, he was already talking to himself.

He approached the station, trying to find a point of entry.

As he searched, he caught sight of a corpse, looked to be a Security Officer. He had been stabbed by a knife, currently still lodged in his chest… and though Elliot wasn't an expert, he didn't look to have been a zombie. There was a door near the corpse, and Elliot moved to knock.

The door slowly opened and one shotgun cock later, Elliot found himself facing an armed man. He had a serious expression presently on his face, with a mohawk and beard. In terms of clothing, he was wearing an old looking coat, jeans that looked like they could have seen better days with a pair of boots that looked like they could have used a nice cleaning - his shotgun was sawed off and a tad old looking.

If Elliot could guess, this was Hunter.

“What you want?” the armed man demanded. He had a Southern Anerican accent, and was keeping his weapon trained on Elliot.

“Looking for some people,” Elliot replied quietly, not reacting all that much. “Was hoping to find them round here.”

“Ah’m the only one here, only one left for that matter,” Hunter said, his aim still right at Elliot. “Are you some kind of Militia-Man or Horse Fucker? Cause ah swear to god ah will shoot your brains out right here and now!”

“I’m just passing through,” Elliot replied calmly. He'd dealt with aggressive types before, so getting agitated wasn't likely to help anyone. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen them?”

Before Hunter could answer, they both heard something nearby… someone (or something) was coming. The two men watch as a random man stumbled out from seemingly nowhere… but Elliot could tell that that whatever it was, was not human.

“Ah hell,” Hunter groaned, taking his focus off of Elliot and firing at the man - taking him down with one shot before another random person would appear… followed by another… and another… and another again.

“Wonderful,” Elliot said, whipping out his hand cannon. He fired off one round and took out one of the things, before whipping out ‘speed-killer’. “At least these guys aren’t fucking crazy ninjas.”

He charged at them, firing off another two rounds, each one taking out another target, before ramming into a fourth maddened human, knocking it to the ground and stabbing it.

“Come at me, you zombified loons!” he yelled.

Hunter fires again, before taking out the empty shotgun tube and reloading… although one of the pellets from his last shot nearby got Elliot’s left earlobe.

"Watch where you're shooting!" the Major snapped.

“Whatever!” Hunter snapped back, taking out an explosive of some kind and tossing at a small group of zombies - there would be a fiery explosion soon after with body parts raining down and still lit on fire.

Elliot raised an eyebrow. "Ok then."

He whipped out his other pistol, and in the space of a few seconds had shot five more of the oncoming things. After a moment, more came, and he grimaced - like every zombie movie in history, it seemed as though they would never stop coming.

“Get inside!” Hunter yelled to Elliot, “You ain’t gonna survive these things durin a reset!”

He fired again, taking another down.

Elliot growled, and holstered one pistol, before holding out a hand - a moment later, the form of Excalibur appeared, the blade glimmering. In a flash, Elliot brought it down in a smash and let out a shockwave that sent a good dozen of the zombies flying in every direction, their bodies smashed apart. He could see torsos still twitching as they tried to move.

"Jesus," he swore. "This is insane..."

Hunter was caught in a stupor for a moment, seeing… well… that. He shook his head, getting a hold on himself.

“Ah said get inside!” he yelled, “you bought yourself a minute!”

Elliot scowled - and then, staring at the blank faces, he had a sudden epiphany. Closing his eyes, he stood up, held out one hand, who glowed softly... and then the zombies stopped.

There was a long pause as the zombies seemed to simply be staring at the two men, their faces blank and empty. Suddenly, to Hunter's surprise, they turned around and began a shambolic walk in the opposite direction.

Elliot kept his hand up for a moment, and then dropped it, panting slightly.

"Jesus," he repeated. "Not fun. Not fun."

“...What the hell was that?” Hunter asked, amazed despite the confusion

"I believe... I just convinced them all... that there's something very tasty twenty miles in the other direction," Elliot said with a gasp. "Don't... tend to use the... magic... for other spells much... more tiring... than I expected..."

Hunter cautiously walked over to Elliot, his gun in hand and his eyes focused on the Major - he stopped before him, looking him over before asking, “You some kinda magic man or somethin’?”

"'Or something'," Elliot said, grinning wryly. He stood up straight. "Was told you could help."

“Get inside, and we’ll talk.” Hunter said simply, frowning, “And don’t try to use any of your ‘magic’ on me to have me go to them zombies - ah’ll end you if you do.”

He then began to go back inside of the Quarantine Station, his shotgun in hand.

Without anything else to do, Elliot followed him back in slowly.

***

“Okay, good - he’s going in; Hunter’s probably going to get him up and ready.” Jesse reported, a headset on while his eyes were focused on the feed of the security camera.

“And he was able to use magic? Like that?” his… employer asked on the other line.

“I’m telling you, he used some kind of hoodoo to redirect the zombies during a cycle rest and he summoned a sword when he fought that crazy old man,” the youth said, straining his eyes as he watched the horde stumble away from the Quarantine Station via the external Wells Fargo Camera. “The zombies are all still in a group - going at the same pace and in the same direction… if I could guess they’d probably keep going even if smelled fresh blood.”

“Are you sure he is as great an asset as you calm he is? He could very well be a fluke like the last ‘asset’ you identified.”

“Yes he is, and yes he could be,” Jesse responded simply, “but I’m fairly certain that this will be your money ticket Colonel - he’ll burn through the barrier and deliver Celestia’s head for you; he just needs to be pushed correctly since he’s the soldier type. Trust me.”

“...We shall see.” And then the line went dead, leaving Jesse alone in his ‘control’ center.

The young man sighed out of relief, those Military types always were so tight and hard; really did ruin his mood.

Focus back to the monitors, Jesse turned back to his focus on the Quarantine Station and waited.

“Well Dave,” the young man muttered to himself, watching, “show me what you got.”

***

“Make yourself comfortable magic man,” Hunter said dryly, putting his shotgun onto a hanger before heading into one of the rooms.

Elliot took a seat on a musty old couch inside of the Quarantine Station, he looked around and saw that the place wasn’t exactly clean as a whistle with beer cans, beer bottles, a rotting corpse’s feet sticking out of the door, and a table with different gun parts, tools and ammo on it while another table had a literal crate full of granola bars on it with a bunch of water bottles on it as well.

To be bluntly, this place was a mess. It made the outside look as sanitary as a hospital.

“So, whatcha want to know?” Hunter asked, having returned and with a beer bottle in hand and having taken a swig from it.

"For a start, how the hell did you survive all of the bloody zombies?" Elliot asked. "More importantly, why didn't you just leave?"

Hunter looked down for a moment, staring into his beer.

“Eh, that’s 'cause back then… wasn’t so bad. Ah had my gang with me, it was a simple thing - we had this entire city as our private island with not a single cop to stop us,” he explained, recalling the good times - back when it was so simple. “We’d kill the zombies - though for some reason it was… easier to find guns - and every week we’d be able to find some food.” He let out a sigh, shaking his head. “That was before things got so damn complicated with those horses coming and causing trouble - things… things just stopped for a time, zombies would stay dead and… ah dunno, things just got average again when their island arrived.” Hunter took a seat, leaning back in his chair. He looked to Elliot, “How’d you feel if a bunch of… colorful horses showed up somewhere in the ocean one day? That… that’d later change things again.”

Elliot fought the urge to smile at that comment. "Believe it or not, I know how you feel."

“Uh huh, yeah right - that little island of yours ain’t nowhere near their island,” Hunter snorted. “It’s really terrible in British land.”

Elliot looked up at him, giving him such a cold look that the former gang leader's smile actually faltered.

"You don't know, so I'll forgive you for that one," Elliot said slowly. "But where I'm from, life is a lot worse than you know. You mock me again, and you'll know exactly how bad."

“Fine then, might as well finish tellin’ my story,” Hunter said, looking back into his beer. “Them horses came, were curious about this place… military kept watch, people started coming in again thinkin’ that the zombies were actually dead this time… it got busy ah guess. Then… then things changed,” he said grimly. “Those Militia assholes caused trouble, tried to get control over the city - my gang we… we fought ‘em. Fought them blue in the face and kept them down… wasn’t so good. Lost some good boys because of that… and then, then the freaks start showin’ up. Them Converted and Horse Fuckers - thought that ‘being a horse was the greatest thing there was’... bunch of shit if you ask me… and ah was right, cause them Converted… they went rabid - some of them did at least - they wanted some meat from us and ah said no… and then, then the zombies came back… and here we are." He took a drink. “Ah’ve been here since then, hiding out with no one left of my gang but myself… and that’s about it. Just me, this place, and the freaks.”

Elliot nodded slowly. "So you've not seen anyone else around these parts?"

“Some folks should still be around here for some reason or ‘nother, Horse Fuckers have been doing some crap though…” Hunter looked to Elliot, “It's why you’re here ain’t it? They did somethin’ to you?”

"They kidnapped my friends," Elliot said quietly. “One of the reasons I’m still here myself. I've lost enough things in my life to want to lose anything else. If you can help me find my friends…”

Hunter sighed, “Ah can try - but, shouldn’t be too hard to find; ah mean, it's not like lookin’ for a needle in a haystack.”

Elliot sighed. “Any ideas where to start?”

“Well... shit," Hunter said, frowning. "You realise chances are they'll be Converted by now?"

"I have to try and help them somehow," Elliot said.

Hunter took a breath, thinking.

"If ah know anythin', you should check the Almuda Farms building,” he finally said. “It’s the best bet you got.”

"Anything I should know?" Elliot asked. "Crazies, those... charming ponies? Anything else?"

“Hmmm, maybe - Horse Fuckers be lying around… either that or those rabid freaks, zombies are obvious,” the biker said, before reaching into his pocket and tossing the Major a cell phone. “Use this to keep in touch; ah’ll be here if anythin’ happens.”

"Right," Elliot said, looking at the phone with a small smile. "Cheers."

He then got up and headed off, checking his weapons as he did so while Hunter watched; the former gang leader taking a drink as the Major exited the Quarantine Station.

***

At ninety degrees from space, time and dimension, four unique entities stood (or in the case of their third member, sat in his chair) having finished observing the scene.

“He managed to herd the undead away, an interesting matter don’t you think?” the woman from earlier asked her compatriots. “He might be able to finally bring end to the loop placed on this town.”

“He seems full of himself," an elderly voice replied with disgust. “Fighting foolish while his world is in shambles, the Equines are feasting themselves to Earth’s wealth like humanity has before yet with greener appendages… are there any major differences outside of that?”

“There is,” a voice interjected, an older north accent was present. “Unlike before, there’s some evil tyrant that seeks control over everything; free will is what he is fights for in his hopeless war - his valor is to be commended. Even though he doesn’t have a chance against the tyrant. He’d die if he fought her in his current state.”

“He would,” another voice said, sounding… cold and calm. “He would perish if he was not sent away, I already have him in my hand and soon… soon he will fall like his friends before him one day. It matters not how prolonged it is, he will die eventually by his own magic.”

“The question still remains, should we interfere?” the woman asked her fellow horsemen. “We all know his role, we all know what comes next… but should we change it?”

The seconded adjusted his hat and rolled his eyes. “You’ve already interfered by giving him your arrow, his path now will have us meet with him separately - it’s what he intended for us to do after all; if he didn’t, then he wouldn’t be in this city," he stated, gripping his black powder rifle. “He’s already fought Wraith, and soon he’ll take on each one - it’s only a matter of time.”

“It’s done then, the Avatar will fight each embodiment and will meet us as it has been written - we will grant him his boon against his world’s Solamina and lead him onto his way," the cold voice dicated. “Once he leaves this city and brings resolution, we shall leave as well - we’ve been here long enough and our persense has done enough.”

“Right," the others agreed.

“Wait, what about the sun alicorn of this world?” the woman asked. "Isn’t he going to slay her?”

“We’ll wait and see for that… he may surprise us.” The four and final said simply, already knowing what lies ahead, “and I do believe he is going to slay yours next Gregory - be ready.”

“Feh, no man can resist one’s Greed,” the second said bitterly, his eyes narrowing with a dim glow. “He will perish then - I swear it.”