//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 - A serious retreat // Story: Serious Sam: The equestrian encounter // by marielity //------------------------------// Chapter 6 - A serious retreat Sam was still delving in his computer-enhanced memories, when Twilight stepped in front of him. He just stared into the emptiness and didn't move at all. "Mr. Stone?", Twilight asked. But Sam didn't react. "Sam?", Twilight asked again. Still no reaction. She reached out with her hoof and waved in front of his eyes. "Are you okay?" Sam suddenly started blinking and rubbed his eyes, his vision focusing on Twilight."Yeah. I'm fine. Just lost in thoughts." "Wow. That looked scary," Twilight said,"as if your mind had left this world." Sam scratched his chin."It kinda did. What is it?" "The princesses summoned us to dicuss the matters at hoof", Twilight told him. Sam folded his arms."Hmpf. I don't feel like that right now. Tell them I'm busy." Twilight tilted her head."But...busy?" When Sam closed his eyes, Twilight raised her voice in desperation."Sam this is serious! We need you!" Sam felt an unusal anger rising up in him. He stared at Twilight with eyes that could kill."Leave me," he grumbled, intimitating Twilight,"it's not my business." Taken back Twilight stepped away from him."I thought you were our friend," she said in a low voice. Tears gathered in her eyes."I thought you were a hero." "I'm not a hero", Sam said gloomy. Twilight just choke her head in confusion, then galloped away, still crying. Sam was alone again, but he felt even worse then before."Man...I'm an idiot." "Yes, definetly", Netricsa exclaimed in Sam's head."You shouldn't have rejected her just like that!" "Ah, Com'on", Sam ansered annoyed," the last I need now are socializing tipps from a brain-computer." "Sam? What's your problem?", Netricsa asked."We went through so many things. Why are you such an asshole right now?" "Closing Netricsa.exe", Sam said."Security Code: N-SAMSS3384". He could hear her trying to speak but suddenly she went all silent. "She'll be mad at me later, I know it", Sam scolded himself. "But right now all I want is a moment for myself." And there he was. All for himself. The silence around him and inside his head was both conforting and unusal to him but he managed to get his thoughts back to his current problem. He lost. For the first time in his life he had to run away from an enemy. And it was all the ponies fault! He didn't care for reputation, but in his past he always managed to solve his problems straight forward and with all means. But this time was different. He knew he had no chance against this new enemy, but he kept on fighting nonetheless. Until the ponies forced him to retreat. He even lost most of his weapons. Sam took some nearby small stones from the underground floor and tossed them one by one against an opposing wall, each hit sending a loud echo through the deep tunnels. He just stared at them grimly in the bright torchlights. He didn't even notice the clopping sound of hooves coming closer. "Mr. Hero?", a young male voice asked next to Sam. Slowly Sam turned his head to see a young pony standing next to him, looking up at the human. The young colt was so small, that he couldn't even reach up to Sam's knees. He got several brown dots on his white fur, one around his left eye. "Mr. Hero is not at home," Sam replied,"but you can talk to mr. Stone here." He pointed at a big rock next to him. The little colt still glared up to him. "I...want to thank you," he replied, "for all you have done for us." Sam just stared at him with an raised eyebrown. The little colt continued: "If it weren't for you, I'm sure we would all have died back there. And you also saved my parents! You are our hero!" "Na...I'm not a hero," Sam answered coldly. "What kind of hero let the villain go unhindered and even runs away from him?" "But you saved us!", the young colt exclaimed. "You saved us from this big monster by fighting it bravely like...just like a hero would do!" Sam just sighted and turned away from him. When the young colt opened his mouth again a new voice called out. "Young man! What did we tell you about sneaking away from us?" Two older ponies, obviously the young colts parents, came into view. The stallion had brown fur and was rather chubby built, and the mare was all white and a bit smaller. "Mom. This is the hero I was talking about!" "Pipsqueak. It is dangerous to walk around alone", the mare scolded him. "We were worried sick." The young colt lowered his head."Sorry Mom. I just wanted to thank mr. hero for saving us." "Ah...com' here son", the stallion said with open arms. Pipsqueak jumped at his parents for a group hug and they stayed like this for a moment."I'm so glad we made it", the mare whispered with tears in her eyes. Sam couldn't help but scratching the back of his head in embaressment. "We owe you so much, mr. stone," the stallion adressed Sam, "we all thought we were doomed." Sam raised his head and glared into the dark tunnels. "It's not over yet. As long as these monsters wander through this world, you are all in danger." "But you will fight them, will you?", Pipsqueak asked. Sam looked at the pony family next to him and got up. Cracking his glove-covered fists and his usual mischievous smile he said: "I won't fight him. Hell, I'll seriously kick his ass!" Pipsqueak smiled broadly at him. "Wow. You are my favorite superhero!" "Com'on Squeaky," the father said, "let's get back to the others." "Ah...stop calling me that, dad", Pipsqueak whined. His father playfully rouffled through his mane and laughed. They turned to go back to the camp. "Thank you mr. Stone,"the mare called back,"be safe!" Then they were gone. Sam waited a moment to reflect what just had happened and made up his mind. With big steps he made his way back to the camp. Filled with new determination he said: "Activating Netricsa.exe." It didn't take long until the familar voice called in his head. "Sam! How dare you? You cannot simply..." "Netty!" Sam interupted, "there is no time for this now. We have an appointment with some four-legged grasseaters and I don't know the way." Netty just grunted a bit, scanned the sourroundings and showed him the way. "That is all we got?", princess Celestia asked with a low voice. The group of ponies, namely princess Celestia, princess Luna, Twilight Sparkle and her friends, had gone into the meeting chamber of an old underground complex that was nearby the camp. This complex was once built at the same time as Canterlot and was supposed to be a refuge in case of emergency, but was never used for thousands of years. Magically enforced it was still in good shape and was a small, but good haven for the surviving ponies. But it wasn't big enough to give shelter to all of them, so they had to make build up a camp nearby in the underground tunnels. Twilight Sparkle and her friends (including a bandaged Fluttershy) recalled on what happened during the battle on the plains. Not much of it was new and lots of questions were still unanswered about this new danger. "That's all we perceived, princess", Twilight answered. "We have to find a way to get rid of this monster, or we are all doomed!", Celestia exclaimed, her face filled with gloom."We need mr. Stone." "But he refused to come with us", Twilight answered. "He said he was busy and chased me away." Celestia sighted deeply. "In that case I'll go myself...and beg for his help." "But princess!", Twilight and her friends shouted at once. "I'll join you, sister", princess Luna added and stepped next to celestia. "But princessses!," Twilight and her friends shouted again. "I'll do anything to save my people, even if have to beg for a strangers help", Celestia said. "But you are our royal leaders. You cannot degrace yourself like that!", Twilight called desperately. "What use is pride when you are at the brink of demise, mr. Sparkle?", Luna asked. "We need to take any chance to save ponykind. I willingly sacrifice my royality for that." The royal sisters went to the closed, huge doors of the meeting halls, shared a look at each other and their horns started glowing to open the heavy doors. The huge doors bursted inwards as Sam pushed them open with ease. "Hi. Am I late for...?", he started but was interupted as two metallic doors slammed into him and send him back into the hall he just came from. The princesses' magic was about to open the door outwards, when Sam entered and his sudden appearance surprised them so they couldn't react fast enough. The princesses and Twilight's group looked in shook at the big human that lied in front of them. Sam raised his head in dizziness and mumbled."Hell, I love powerful women. But not THAT powerful." He could hear a laughter in his head. "Not funny, Netty!", Sam groaned. "Oh my...we are so sorry!", Celestia called and trotted next to Sam."Are you allright?" Sam scratched the back of his head and stood up."Nothing I can't deal with." A normal man would have suffered several broken ribs from this heavy impact, but Sam just shrugged it off and went on. "I heard you want to discuss the current situation. How can I help?" Twilight sighted in relief. "Oh thank you Sam. We were just reflecting on what happened today on the plains." "Just like I did before, "Sam said. He went over to Twilight and put a hand on her shoulder. "And hey. Um... I'm sorry. About...what happened before. I wasn't myself back there. How about we start from new? Deal?" "Deal!", Twilight answered with a smile. Twilight's friends suddenly gathered around them and cheered at Sam. "The hero is back!", Pinkie Pie called."This calls for a party!" "Ah don't think that this is the right time for that, sugarcube", Applejack said. "The word spreads fast what you have done for us," Rainbow Dash addressed Sam", I think you really might be cool." "Might be?", Sam asked with an raised eyebrown. "Okay. You are cool. You are awesome! Better?", Rainbow Dash asked with a cheeky grin. Sam just grinned back when he noticed Fluttershy next to him. The last time he has seen her, she was unconscious and badly injured. "Hey Fluttershy. You feel better already?". She shily backed away from him a bit before answering: "Yeah. It still hurts a bit, but the nurses said I'll be better soon." "I need to apologize to you as well", Sam continued. "For what I said before on the battlefield. Didn't thought you could become such an brave and crazy pony." "Th...Thank you mr. Stone", Fluttershy answered. "But if it weren't for you, we wouldn't be here at all." With a smile she added: "Apology accepted". "I don't want to be rude, but we have little time," Luna said,"there is much to discuss." "Right," Sam said. "What you want to know?" "Everything you remember from the battle," Celestia told him, "any detail might be important." Sam scratched his chin. "Hmph. I'm not a man of details." He tipped against his head. "That's more like Netricsa's part." The princesses looked at him in confusion. "Netricsa?", Luna asked. "He got a computer-mare in his head that talks to him and gives orders", Rainbow Dash snickered. Sam just glared daggers at her, which caused Rainbow Dash to roll on the floor, bursting in laughter. "About that I got an idea", Twilight exclaimed. "I would like to use a simple spell on you that might help us right now." "Spell?", Sam asked suspicious. "I'm not a fan of this mumbo jumbo stuff." Twilight winked with her purple eyes. "Please?" Sam gave in to the big puppy eyes. "Oh well, fine." "Thank you thank you thank you", Twilight answered hectically. "I always wanted to try this kind of spell. Just a moment. It won't hurt. Please close your eyes." Sam did as she told. He closed his eyes while Twilight concentrated, her horn engulfed with an purple aura. It slowly connected with Sams head. After a short moment the aura dissappeared. Instead a blue ray of light came from Sam's forehead. Just in front of him on a desk was a holografic figure of a woman dressed in simple linen clothes. The figure seemed like she was talking to someone and a voice echoed through the room. "Help us Obi Wan. You are our only hope". Then she looked back, kneeled down and pointed at something in front of her. Then the scene repeated. "Help us Obi Wan. You are our only hope." It repeated several times, perplexing the ponies. Sam had opened up his eyes already. "I know this from somewhere, but how is this supposed to help?" "Oh. I'm sorry", Twilight said confused. "Looks like I did it wrong. Let me try again." Twilight focused again, causing the hologram to dissappear. "Please talk to your computer. That should make it easier." Sam closed his eyes again. "Hey Netty? How about a new point of view?" "What do you mean?", Netty asked doubtfully. Again Twilight's horn and Sam's forehead glowed in a purple aura. A blue ray of light came from Sam's forehead, this time bigger. Before them suddenly appeared a tall human. She was a bit smaller than Sam and much less muscular, but her beautiful face and neck-long hair fitted perfectly to her modern clothing. She looked like a woman with style and great intellect. "Wow. You look hot Netty", Sam gasped. She turned around to him."Sam. I'm just a holografic vision, as it seems." Sam just stared at her."But you are hot." The ponies went closer and gazed at the blue figure before them. "Oh Darling", Rarity called theatrically."You look fabulous. Those clothes are AMAZING!" "Thank you miss Rarity," Netricsa said with a smile," that's how the programmers intented me to look like. It was a modern look at our time." Rarity was about to ask more questions, but Pinkie Pie was faster. "How is it living in someone's head?," she asked. "Is it dark in there? Can you see everything that he can see? Can he see what you see? Can you see, that he can see what you can see? Huh Huh Huh?" "Yes, I can", Netricsa answered calmly, "and there is a lot of nothing. Enough room for my self. OUCH!" She turned around to Sam, who just had snipped against his head, causing the holograph to flimmer for a split second. He just smiled at her cheekily. "Well, it's nice to meet you in person, mrs. Netricsa," Celestia adressed the hologram. "I'm sure you already know about our misery." "Of course, your highness", Netricsa answered. "I think the best will be to show you what happened back there. Maybe we find out more about this new enemy." "Khenubaal", Sam grunted deeply. "Exactly", Netricsa continued. "I'll try to show you what happened." She turned for a wall behind the great table of the room. "Let's see if that works." Netricsa raised her arms and a flimmer came from her hands. Like from Sam's head another rays came from her hand and formed a picture on the wall. It showed Khenubaal in his monstrous form and it started moving. Sam jumped into a nearby chair. "Wow. Wish I head a TV screen like that." Hello guys and sorry for this late update. Currently my work and some private duties keep me from doing my regular updates. The stories continue though. I'm already at work for the next Sam update as well for the promised 2 Chapters from Sthemata. I hope that I can finish them soon enough. I hate it to keep people waiting. I hope you like the story though. The updates may come more frequent again, but I cannot garantuee it. On the other hand this gives me more time, which brings more ideas and I'm practically explosing with ideas at the moment, but just got no time to write them down. But I'll seriously bring these stories to an end like I imagined it and after that write new ones. I hope you'll stay with me until then. See you again (hopefully) soon.