//------------------------------//
// Crash 
// Story: The Final Crusade 
// by Enfield 
//------------------------------//

A few days later James decided to drive around his development in his buggy, reason why was because he was bored and he hadn’t got any new games for his Xbox 360 and his mother was taking the Crusaders shopping, but Scootaloo didn’t want to go.
“No, I’m not going,” she said.
“Come on Scoot,” Apple Bloom said. 
“We’re only clothes shopping, what so bad about it?” Sweetie Bell asked. 
“It’s boring and I don’t like it,” replied Scootaloo, “I want to stay here with James.” 
“Well if you want to stay you can,” said Katherine. 
“It’s okay Scootaloo,” said Apple Bloom, “We’ll try and bring you something.”
“Thanks you guys,” said Scootaloo. 
“Make sure you two take care of the dog,” Katherine said as she closed the front door behind her. 

Katherine, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell piled into the car and left, Scootaloo watched them out of the window until they turned the corner and disappeared from sight. She went to the garage where James was refitting the buggy’s seats and steering wheel. 
“Hi James,” Scootaloo said.
“Hey there Scootaloo,” James said cheerily. 
“So, what are you gonna do today?” Scootaloo asked.
“I’m going to drive this buggy around the neighborhood at full tilt,” said James.
“Oh okay,” said Scootaloo. James dropped his tools back into the toolbox and looked at Scootaloo.
“Seriously, what’s up with you? You don’t sound as happy as you usually are.” he said.
“Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell went shopping with your mother,” said Scootaloo, “I didn’t what to go at first but now I kind of do.” 
“Lonely?” James asked. Scootaloo nodded.
“Well no problem,” James said opening the garage door, “You can follow me around the development if you want.” 
“But aren’t we supposed to take care of Dart?” asked Scootaloo.
“That lazy bugger is still asleep on my bed,” said James, “We’ll be back by the time he wants to go out.” 
“Can I ride in the buggy with you?” Scootaloo asked.
“Sadly no,” said James, “I haven’t fitted the passenger seatbelts yet. You can ride behind me on one of my old bikes if you want.”
“What kind of bike?” asked Scootaloo. 

James went over to the mound of bicycles and plucked a small BMX bike out of the pile, it had a nice looking black frame and spokes that were attached to the wheels. It looked as if it hadn’t been used in years.
“This was mine when I was eleven,” James said setting down next to Scootaloo, “I haven’t used it since.”  
Scootaloo picked the bike up and held it.
“It’s real nice,” she said.
“Best part was that it was quite cheap,” said James, “I got it for only thirty dollars.” 
“So I’m just going to ride behind you?” Scootaloo asked.
“Yep, also I want you to wear these,” James said, he handed Scootaloo a helmet with elbow and knee pads. 
“I have some of these at home,” said Scootaloo. 
“Well then you know that you have to wear them,” said James. 

James climbed into the buggy and started it up, Scootaloo strapped the pads and helmet on and rode up next to James. James pulled on a helmet of his own and checked to see if Scootaloo had on her safety gear, he was pleased that Scootaloo had her helmet and pads on, but not really happy with her choice of footwear. 
“Scoot,” James said, “Why are you wearing those flip flops?”
James shuddered after saying the last two words, he hated the flip flop. He thought that it was the most useless type of shoe ever manufactured, and it made a noise he absolutely hated. James wished that his mother would stop wearing her flip flops and get some sneakers. 
“These?” said Scootaloo, “I’m just trying them out.”
“I hope for the last time,” James said. 
“Can we go now?” Scootaloo asked. 

James slowly drove the buggy out of the garage and onto the street, Scootaloo followed close behind. James then gunned it down the street and drifted to a halt at the end of the road, Scootaloo pedaled furiously in order to catch up. James drove around the development with Scootaloo behind him, he felt somewhat relaxed and at ease as he explored the development, James occasionally checked back to see if Scootaloo was still behind him. James circled around the development once more and stopped at the end of the street that led to his house, Scootaloo pulled up next to him.
“Scootaloo I’m going to see how fast this thing can go,” he said, “Keep up if you can.”
“Okay James,” Scootaloo replied. 

James revved the engine and shot off down the street. He came up to a turn and skidded around it, James was leaning with the buggy as it drifted around the corner. Then the buggy’s back wheel jolted and James skidded out of control.
“What the hell?” James said, he span the buggy around and shut off the engine. James got out and looked at the wheel that had received the blow of what ever was on the road. The back of the buggy sagged at the one wheel, James examined the suspension and saw that the spring had collapsed from impact. 

The buggy was still drivable but getting a replacement spring would cost dearly. James wondered what it was that he hit that caused the collapse of the suspension. He tried to lift the sagging part of the buggy up but gave up when it yielded no result. Irritated about the botched spring, James went to see what it was that he ran over. Just as James got into the buggy and start it, he heard a crash and cries of pain.
“Scootaloo!” he shouted. James started the buggy and span the buggy around to find Scootaloo. He screeched to a halt in front of the wreckage of Scootaloo ad the bike. Scootaloo was cut up badly and the bike was in pieces. James jumped out of the buggy and ran over to her.
“Scoot, are you okay?” he asked.
“No,” said Scootaloo. Her leg was trapped under a part of the bike and her poor choice of footwear had become tangled in the bike chain. 
“Lets get you up,” said James. He pulled the bike off of Scootaloo and tossed the frame off the road. 
“What did I hit?” Scootaloo asked. James looked behind her and saw a piece of metal piping laying in the street, he picked that up and tossed it off to the side as well.
“I’m going to get us back home and get you fixed up,” James said as he picked up Scootaloo and carried her to the buggy.
“What about the bike and my shoes?” Scootaloo asked. 
“Forget the bike,” said James, “You’re bleeding everywhere, just keep pressure on the worse cuts and I can patch you up.”
James set Scootaloo in the passenger seat of the buggy then he went back to the remains of the bike. He picked up the heap and tossed it onto a pile of trash on the side of the road.
“Now I see why it was so cheap,” James said.

He got back into the buggy and shot off down the street back to his house, once there, he carefully drove the buggy into the garage and stopped it. The he shut the doors and carried Scootaloo to the kitchen, James set Scootaloo down on the counter and retrieved the medical supplies out of the cupboard. He got out a mix of bandages, medical tape, gauze and antibiotics. James carefully took Scootaloo’s elbow and knee pads off and checked the cuts and scrapes she got from the fall. The left side of her was scraped up the most, there were cuts from her foot to her cheek, the right side of her wasn’t so bad but there were a few small cut from where she had landed on the bike. 
“Is it bad?” Scootaloo asked.
“Nothing major that I can’t fix,” James replied as he got a gauze pad and wiped some blood off her leg. He did this for some time before he applied the antibiotics.
“Hold still, this might sting a little,” James said.  
He rubbed a little on the cuts, Scootaloo gritted her teeth then relaxed as it went away. 
“How does this help?” Scootaloo asked. 
“Well it’ll stop an infection from forming,” said James.
Scootaloo sighed and let James place a bandage on her leg. As James patched up Scootaloo’s wounds, Dart came downstairs and looked up at Scootaloo and whined.
“What’s up with him?” Scootaloo asked.
“He offering sympathy,” said James, “He knows when you’re sick or injured and he’ll sit by you until you recover.” 
Dart went into the den and lay down on the floor. James then turned his attention to the small gash on the sole of Scootaloo’s right foot. 
“Good thing I carried you here,” he said, “This cut here could’ve turned nasty if you walked on it.” 
What happens when a cut gets infected?” Scootaloo asked.
“First off it starts to sting, then it changes to a rather nasty color, followed by something that I really don’t want to bring up,” James said. He picked out another strip of gauze and coated it with the antibiotic ointment. 
“It’s okay,” Scootaloo said, “You don’t have to do much to it.” 
“I’m not having you walk around the house and leaving a trail of blood,” said James, “Now hold your foot still.” 
James carefully wiped the blood that was dripping from the gash, no sooner had the gauze touched her foot, Scootaloo shifted a little.
“Yes it might sting a little,” James said. 
James then found some cotton to clean the ointment off with, he wiped some off of the sole of her foot and Scootaloo jolted and giggled a little.
“H-hey,” she said pulling her foot back toward her, “That tickles a little.” 
“It’s only natural,” said James.
“Yeah but it really tickles for me,” said Scootaloo.
“Well try not to move,” James said as he pinned her ankle to the counter, “I’ve still got to clean off the dried blood and wrap a bandage around your foot.” 
“Just don’t make it tickle again,” said Scootaloo. 
“No promises, I’m doing this so you don’t get sick,” said James. 

He went back to trying to clean off her foot, Scootaloo was laughing harder with every passing minute. James was starting to get a little irritated because Scootaloo was trying to escape his hold on her ankle, several minutes later James had the bandage around her foot, Scootaloo stopped laughing and looked at James’ medical expertise. He clearly knew what he was doing, every last scrape and cut was disinfected and covered with a bandage, James washed off his hands and helped Scootaloo down from the counter. 
“You took some time with that last cut,” said Scootaloo.
“I would have done it sooner if you hadn’t been kicking so much,” said James. 
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know that I was ticklish,” Scootaloo said. 
“What I’m glad about is that you’re okay,” said James.
“How long until all this heals?” asked Scootaloo.
“It might take a couple of days,” said James. 
“I hope you aren’t mad at me for breaking your bike,” Scootaloo said.
“I would be if you were okay,” said James giving Scootaloo a hug, “But you are much more important and I can’t stay mad at any of you.” 

Scootaloo smiled and sank down on the couch in the den, Dart almost instantly jumped up and lay down next to her. James sat down next to Scootaloo and held her close to him, he was somewhat proud of himself for patching up Scootaloo after her crash, Scootaloo cuddled up closer to James and handed him the remote. James and Scootaloo ended up watching Top Gear until Katherine, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell came home.
“Is that Top Gear I hear?” Sweetie Bell said. 
“Sure is,” said Scootaloo.
“You kids go and say hi then,” said Katherine. 

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell burst through the den doors and stopped instantly when they saw Scootaloo covered in bandages. 
“Whoa Scoot,” Apple Bloom said, “What happened to you?”
“She hit a pipe in the road and fell off her bike,” said James. 
“Is she okay?” Sweetie Bell asked.
“I’m fine now,” said Scootaloo, “James did a great job fixing me up.” 
“Who fell off a bike?” Katherine said as she walked into the den. 
“Scootaloo did, but she’s okay now,” said James. 
“Aw, poor thing,” Katherine said as she went over to Scootaloo and sat down.
“James did a good job with patching up my cuts,” said Scootaloo. 
“And he did do a very good job,” said Katherine, “I’m impressed James, where did you learn all this?”
“I take the time to read through the first aid books they have in school,” said James. 

Katherine gave Scootaloo a quick hug then departed to take inventory of her shopping, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell sat down on the couch and watched Top Gear with James and Scootaloo. 
“The patch up job you did here is much better than my sister,” said Apple Bloom. 
“You get hurt a lot on the farm?” James asked. Apple Bloom nodded, Sweetie Bell was poking a bit of gauze that stuck out from underneath some medical tape.
“I think my sister had some of this stuff,” said Sweetie Bell.
“Keep track of it in case you need it,” said James. 
“James,” Scootaloo said, “How long will I have these bandages on me?” 
“Like I said earlier, just a couple of days,” said James.