James was woken by the faint light of the sun peeking through the curtains, James sighed in relief that this was his last day in South Dakota and that he would be going home. He rolled over and saw Sweetie Bell and Apple Bloom crouched down on the other side of the bed watching him.
“Morning you two,” said James.
“You sound funny when you sleep,” said Sweetie Bell.
“How long have you been in here?” James asked.
“About five minutes,” said Apple Bloom.
“So are you getting up or not?” asked Sweetie Bell.
“Nah, I though I might just sleep this last day away,” James said sarcastically. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell looked at each other and nodded.
“We hoped you would say that,” said Apple Bloom. Sweetie Bell ran around the bed to James and started prodding him in the ribs, Apple Bloom joined in a few seconds later.
“Come on, get up,” said Sweetie Bell.
“No!” James said trying to be mad but failing because he was laughing too much.
“You’re gonna have to eventually,” said Apple Bloom.
“Okay okay,” James said sitting up, “I’m up, see?”
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell stepped back from him as James got out of the bed. Scootaloo then leaned into the room from behind the door.
“Is he up?” Scootaloo asked.
“Yeah, we did it,” said Sweetie Bell.
“We don’t have to use the backup plan,” said Apple Bloom.
“And the back up was to have Scootaloo jump on me?” James asked.
“Yeah pretty much,” said Scootaloo.
“Very funny,” said James. He stood up and dizziness took over, James sank back down on the bed.
“Are you okay?” Apple Bloom asked.
“I’m fine,” James said, “Just stood up too fast.”
“Well lets hope it doesn’t continue,” said Scootaloo, she then handed James the Winchester. James took it from Scootaloo and cocked it a couple of times to check if it was empty.
“Hey James,” Sweetie Bell said.
“Yes?” James replied looking up at her.
“Last night had I dream and you were in it,” said Sweetie Bell.
“That’s weird,” said Apple Bloom, “I dreamed about him as well, you and Scootaloo were in it.”
“Same here,” said Scootaloo, “But it was really weird.”
James looked at each of the girls and set the repeater against the wall.
“This is weird,” said James.
“Why?” asked Scootaloo.
“Because I was dreaming about you three last night,” replied James, “I dreamt about the day you went back home.”
“That’s what I was dreaming about,” said Apple Bloom.
“Me too,” said Sweetie Bell.
“I was dreaming about the same thing as well,” said Scootaloo.
“Stuff like this doesn’t happen often,” said James, “Something like this must mean something.”
“But like what?” Apple Bloom asked.
“We can only wait,” said James.
A few hours later James’ parents had taken James and the Crusaders to Hill City so they could pass the time before they headed out on the trail ride. James was in an old store that was stocked with weapons while the Crusaders and James’ parents wandered around the town.
“So this is a real Mauser C96?” James asked as he held the real gun.
“Sure is,” said the shop owner, “My brother got it in Normandy.”
“During the actual landings?” asked James.
“Omaha beach,” said the shop owner, “Said he found it in a bunker.”
“Nice find,” said James handing the gun back to the shop owner. James looked out the window and saw his parents waiting for him, he headed outside where the weather was about to take a turn for the worst.
“Find anything interesting?” Dave asked.
“Just some nice guns but nothing I could take,” replied James.
“We should head back to the ranch now,” said Katherine, “There’s a storm coming.”
“Good idea,” said James, “I don’t want to be caught in another downpour.”
“Does it rain that bad around here?” Apple Bloom asked.
“It floods every time it rains,” said James.
Back at the cabin, James sat in his room with his laptop watching one of the several DVDs he brought. Outside the rain had started and it was hammering the ranch, fortunately the trail ride wasn’t until later in the evening. As James switched between looking out of the window and watching the DVDs on his laptop the door opened.
“Bored are you?” asked James. The Crusaders then entered his room.
“There’s nothing to do around here,” said Apple Bloom.
“I had that same problem as well,” said James.
“The TV won’t work, the board games are all broken, there isn’t anything to read and we can’t go outside,” said Scootaloo.
“Lucky I have my laptop and several DVDs,” said James.
“Can we watch them with you?” Sweetie Bell asked.
“Well we won’t be going anywhere for the next few hours so yes, you can,” said James. The Crusaders gathered around James’ collection of DVDs, James said that they could pick one that they each liked and James would play it for them. Apple Bloom found Pirates of the Caribbean, Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo liked the look of it and James took out the DVD he was watching and replaced it with the movie.
“I will warn you,” he said, “It might be a little scary for you but I’m hoping that you’ll like it.”
“Nothing will scare us,” said Scootaloo.
“Yeah, we’re the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” said Sweetie Bell.
“We can deal with anything,” said Apple Bloom.
“Which reminds me,” said James, “You haven’t been doing a lot of crusading, why is that?”
The Crusaders looked at each other.
“Truth is we’ve been too occupied with the summer,” said Apple Bloom.
“You’ve kept us both entertained and safe so much we never have any time to find our special talents,” said Sweetie Bell.
“I don’t think you’re capable of getting Cutie Marks in this dimension,” said James.
“How do you get Cutie Marks then?” Scootaloo asked.
“Simple, you don’t,” said James, “The closest you can get is a tattoo but that’s painful and expensive.”
“Do you have a tattoo?” asked Sweetie Bell.
“No, and I don’t plan on getting one until I’m in the Enforcers,” said James hitting the play button on his laptop.
The rain outlasted the movie, James was beginning to get a little annoyed about the weather. If it didn’t stop then the trail ride would be called off, James had hoped that it stop raining by the time they had to leave. The Crusaders selected another movie and James put it on for them, he watched with them while he cleaned his repeater and practiced one-handed reloading. The rain did eventually stop, and James’ parents called him and the Crusaders to get ready before they left. James ushered the Crusaders out of his room so he could change into something that would keep him warm on the windy mountains. Once he was ready, James took the Winchester and went outside to wait for everyone else. Apple Bloom as the first to join him outside then followed by Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo, they had all chosen longer pants and thick jackets to wear. Dave and Katherine soon exited the house and started up the car. Within minutes they arrived at the stables, James was a little excited that he would be riding Remington again, the Crusaders couldn’t believe that they would be riding horses for the first time in their lives. James once again had to smother his laughs after listening to the girls talk about what they might be doing, where they could end up and how far they were going.
“So then,” James said once he got control of himself, “Who knows how to ride a pony?”
“Is it easy?” Apple Bloom asked.
“It’s sort of like riding a bike, it’s easy and you never forget,” James said.
“How long does this take?” Scootaloo asked.
“No more than an hour or two,” said James, “Depends if we watch the sunset or not.”
James led the Crusaders to the stables and waited for the trail guides to show up, Dave and Katherine were looking at a map of the trails on the wall. Soon Doc came out from behind the stables and directed a few other people to the back of the stable so they could get saddled up, once he saw James and the Crusaders Doc walked over to them.
“So you decided to come,” said Doc.
“We waited until the last day,” said James, “Thought it might bring better memories.”
“So then, who want’s to go first?” Doc asked.
“I might since I have to show the girls how to mount a horse,” said James.
“Alright,” said Doc, “Let me bring out Remington.”
James’ horse Remington was led out of a stable and brought to James. James and Remington trusted one another, James was able to hop up on Remington with little effort. James guided Remington over to the Crusaders, he looked down at them and pointed to the barn.
“You’re going to need helmets,” said James.
“He’s right,” said Doc, “It’s for your own safety.”
Scootaloo found a helmet in seconds and strapped it on and was given a black horse named Midnight, after Sweetie Bell found a helmet that fitted she went outside, her horse, named Blazer, had a sleek white stripe that cut through his brown coat. James realized that Apple Bloom was taking a long time in picking out a helmet.
“You okay in there?” James shouted through the open door of the barn.
“I’ll be out in a second,” said Apple Bloom. She came out of the barn a few seconds later wearing a helmet that looked a size too big for her and wrapping something up and putting it in her pocket.
“What took you so long?” Sweetie Bell asked.
“I had to take my bow out so the helmet would fit,” said Apple Bloom, “It’s smaller than it looks.”
“Well come on then,” said James, “Lets find a horse for you.”
Doc went into the back of the stables and brought out a white and brown horse that looked a lot like Remington.
“I’ve never seen this horse before,” said James.
“We’ve been keeping Springfield in the back mainly because we use him the most,” said Doc. Apple Bloom was helped up onto Springfield and led to the rest of the tour group, Remington backed up to Springfield and the two horses leaned against one another.
“I think these two are brothers,” said Apple Bloom.
“Makes sense in a way,” said James, “Looks like Remington and is named
Springfield.”
Dave and Katherine were on their horses talking to some of the other people who were going on the trail ride. James rode over to Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo and had them go in front of him. Doc then mounted up on a brown spotted white horse and led the trail riders out of the corral and onto the trails. The ride through the forest was rather uneventful and boring to the Crusaders, James however had his Winchester in hand and was looking everywhere in case a bear so something else jumped out from behind the bushes. They stopped in the middle of a burned forest on top of a large hill, James took out a pair of binoculars and looked toward the Black Hills, the Crusaders rode over to James as he looked across the landscape.
“James, we’re bored,” said Scootaloo.
“I thought you would like this,” said James.
“Yeah but there’s nothing here,” said Sweetie Bell.
“Well we’ll be back home by tomorrow,” said James, “There’s still stuff to do before the summer ends.”
“So what can we do now?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Look around, enjoy the scenery. If it didn’t rain so much we probably would have stopped to make camp for an hour or so.” said James, but rustling from behind him caught his attention. Doc heard it as well and he rode over to James with his revolver drawn. James aimed his Winchester toward the bushes and called out whatever was hiding in there.
“All right come out!” James said, “We know you’re back there!”
“Come out into the open!” said Doc. More rustling was heard and one person stepped out of the bushes, from the apparel James could tell that he was Native American. The native was holding a bow in one hand and a bone knife in the other. James kept his grip tight and his gun aimed at the native in case he turned hostile.
“What are you doing on our land?” The native asked.
“Your land?” Doc asked.
“We settled her a week ago and you’re already trespassing,” said the native.
“We’re just trail riding,” said James, “We had no idea that your tribe settled around here.”
“So if you’re being reasonable then why do you have the guns pointed at me?” the native asked.
“As a precaution,” said James.
“I think we can lower them now,” said Doc. He holstered his revolver and James slung his Winchester over his back.
“Well this is interesting,” said James, “I’ve always wanted to see a Native American tribesman.”
“You are not hostile?” the native asked.
“No,” replied Doc.
“Then why are you armed?” the native asked.
“Mainly it’s because I had a run-in with a bear,” said James.
“Since you are friends I want to invite you to join our tribe for something to eat,” said the native, “Come, follow me.”
“Well I don’t know about you lot but I’m going to be polite and accept,” said James as he followed the native, “You should come too.”
“Should we?” Sweetie Bell asked.
“I’m going so I can tell these guys that we come through here often,” said Doc.
“This might be interesting,” said Dave.
“Well lets go,” said Katherine.