The Final Crusade

by Enfield

Summer Getaway

Another hour later Dave had the keys to the beach house they were staying at, as Dave and Katherine took a few bags up to the house James and Sweetie Bell formulated a plan.

“The volume’s all the way up,” Sweetie Bell said.

“I’m thinking track four will suffice,” James said as he readied himself, “You might want to stand back.”
James held his finger on the play button and waited for his parents to enter the house, once they did he pressed play and covered his ears. A few seconds of waiting paid off, the radio blasted out a heavy guitar solo which startled Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, they panicked for a second then stopped once they saw James sitting in the drivers seat facing them and waving. James then turned off the music.

“What was that for?” asked Apple Bloom.

“Revenge for this morning,” James replied, “I like to get even.”

“Yeah but that was louder than your alarm,” Scootaloo said. James shrugged in response.

“Sometimes I will admit I take it a little too far,” said James.

“Can we see the house now?” Sweetie Bell said as she pulled her bag out of the car.

“Yes, lets see it,” said James.

James and the Crusaders joined Katherine and Dave as they took a tour of the house. It was two floors and fairly new, Dave commented on there being no spiders in the cupboard and no ants under the grouting. Sweetie Bell asked James about the spiders and James replied with the story of how last year they had a house that was old, musty, infested with insects and arachnids, and above all, had no proper functioning shower. They were really fortunate to get this house, James was drawn to the pool table and plasma TV downstairs. Assigning the rooms was no problem, there were four bedrooms that everyone picked, Katherine and Dave got the largest of the four because it had a queen size double bed, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell chose to share a room the had two separate single beds, Scootaloo found a nice small bedroom that had it’s own bathroom, as for James, he took the second largest room in the house. After a little exploration, James found out that there was an outside shower and a storage shed stocked with boogie boards and a pile of beach chairs.

“We really hit the jackpot,” James thought shutting the door to the shed. He went back inside to his parents just going out of the door.

“Where are you going?” asked James.

“We’re going shopping for food and basic essentials,” said Dave.

“While were gone why not show the girls the beach?” Katherine said. James nodded and turned to the Crusaders, who were watching the weather news on TV.

“What’s a hurricane James?” Apple Bloom asked. James looked at the TV, a small hurricane was forming off the coast of Cuba and predicted to come up the east coast.

“It’s a massive storm,” replied James, “Don’t worry about that one, it’ll probably dissipate before it hits us.”

“Where have your parents gone?” Scootaloo asked.

“Shopping,” James said, “Hey, why don’t you come and take a look at the beach?”

“Beach?” Sweetie Bell asked.

“Have you never been on a beach before?” asked James.

“No,” said Apple Bloom.

“Well come on then,” James said going to the back door that led to the beach, “Also you won’t need any shoes or socks, you’ll just end up with sand in them.”
Sweetie Bell, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo pulled off their socks and followed James to the walkway that went over the dunes, once they reached sand James kneeled down and grabbed a handful.

“Not hot,” he said, “Perfect for today.”

“What is that?” Scootaloo pointed to the sky, James looked up and saw two F-18s cruising over the coast.

“Just some military jets guarding the coast,” James said walking onto the beach, “I’m going to see of the tide is out, you can come too.”
The Crusaders stood at the end of the walkway, barefoot and uneasy about this new environment. Scootaloo’s bravery overcame her shyness and she took a step into the sand, she stopped and looked down at the ground, she pushed a bit of the sand around with her toes and walked a few more feet in the sand.

“Hey, you have to try walking in this,” Scootaloo said to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell, “It feels weird but really nice at the same time.”
Sweetie Bell and Apple Bloom both stepped of the walkway and after overcoming the strange sensation joined Scootaloo.

“I feel like we’re going to have a good time here,” said Apple Bloom.

“Let’s find out more about this place,” Scootaloo said as she walked over next to James.
James was looking up and down the coast, as the Crusaders walked over to him he stopped and looked over his shoulder at them.

“It seems like we might have chosen a good house this time,” he said looking back out to the ocean, “No more splinters in my feet and no more rubbish in the sand.”

“What are you looking for?” asked Sweetie Bell.

“Riptides,” replied James, “A sort of effect of all the waves hitting the surf, if you’re not careful they can drag you out to sea. Lucky for us there appear to be none around here.”

“It’s really nice here,” Apple Bloom said inching closer to James.

“It always has been,” said James. James and the Crusaders stood at the end of the beach and let the water come up around their ankles and recede back, James saw after a while that the sun was slowly beginning to set. He pulled his feet free of the sand and helped out the Crusaders before leading them back to the house, later that night Katherine opened to the door to James' room and found the Crusaders sitting on his bed with him while they watched TV with him.

“Come on you three,” Katherine said, “You all get to bed.”
The Crusaders moaned a little but left James' room.

“Night James,” Scootaloo said as she left and shut the door behind her.

“They really like you,” said Katherine.

“It would be the flipside if they saved me,” James replied.

“You mean that you would have taken a liking into them if they took care of you?” asked Katherine.

“Yes,” said James. His mother left and James bedded down for the night, he was excited about the upcoming week. He wondered about what they were going to do for the next seven days, James hoped that they would take the jeep tours around the dunes.

The next morning Katherine had used Skype to contact the rest of the family over in England, they were impressed about James becoming an Enforcer and liked the house that James and his parents were using.

“And down here we have a pool table,” Katherine was taking the laptop around the house for a tour for the rest of the family to see.

“It looks better than the old one,” James' grandmother was saying.

“At least there are no spiders,” Katherine said as she reached for the door handle, she stopped and listened a little closer, there was music and conversation faintly drifting through the door.

“Is there someone in there?” James' uncle asked.

“It might be James playing pool,” Katherine said. She opened the door and saw James playing pool as Scootaloo watched, Apple Bloom was flicking through magazines and Sweetie Bell had control of the plasma TV. James was showing off his tricks until he saw his mother standing in the doorway.

“Hello,” James said, “What’s with the laptop?”

“I’ve Skyped uncle Isaac,” his mother replied spinning the laptop around.

“Hi James,” uncle Isaac said.

“Gosh, you’ve gotten bigger,” said James' grandmother.

“Hi Nan, uncle Isaac,” said James, “Where’s auntie Cher at?”

“She’s at the farm with the kids,” Uncle Isaac said.

“Farm?” Apple Bloom said looking up from the magazine.

“Who’s that there?” asked Nan, James looked back at Apple Bloom the back to the laptop.

“That’s Abigail,” said James, “She’s one of the kids I rescued when I was at work.”

“You rescued her?” Uncle Isaac asked, “And the other two were rescued by you as well?”

“Yep, Samantha and Susie,” said James, “What? Did mum not tell you?”

“No, I didn’t,” said Katherine.

“Well then,” James said “Girls, meet my family.”

“Hi there,” Apple Bloom said.

“Nice to meet you,” said Sweetie Bell.

“Are you all the way back in England?” Scootaloo asked.

“Yes we are,” said Nan.

“Why are you all the way over there?” asked Sweetie Bell.

“My dad was offered a job over here and he took it,” James replied, “They still live over there and we sometimes visit them.”

“Sounds like this is the only way you can see them,” said Apple Bloom.
The conversation with the rest of James' family continued for several more minutes, then James' cousin Kelly was seen in the back of frame.

“Is that Kelly back there I see?” James said.

“Hi James,” Kelly replied coming into focus, “Who are these kids?”

“Didn’t you hear? These are the kids I rescued,” said James.

“Aw, they’re so cute,” Kelly said.

“I know that,” said Sweetie Bell.

“Can’t get enough of the complements can you?” James said.

“I really love the purple haired one,” Kelly said, Scootaloo blushed a little.

“We do have names,” said Apple Bloom, “I’m Abigail.”

“I’m Samantha,” said Sweetie Bell.

“I’m Susie,” said Scootaloo.

“Nice names,” said Kelly, “So how are you liking James taking care of you?”

“We love it!” said Sweetie Bell.

“Yeah, James is going to take us to the beach later,” said Scootaloo.

“Well I hope you have fun,” said Kelly, “Bye James.”
James waved back and returned to his pool game. A few hours later James and the Crusaders were on the beach, for James, this was a new experience because there was no garbage in the sand or large jellyfish colonies that turned up in the waves. The Crusaders had their first encounter with the ocean as they played in it with James, they found it entertaining when a wave caught James off-guard and sent him sprawling to the ground. James would then pretend to not notice large waves until it was right behind him, he did this purely for the entertainment of the Crusaders.

The day sped by, they got back to the beach house late after eating out a restaurant. James was worn out and when he got to his room he collapsed on his bed and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes, the faces of Scootaloo, Sweetie Bell and Apple Bloom entered his view.

“Are you okay?” asked Sweetie Bell.

“Six hours on the beach and two hours eating out,” said James, “It couldn’t be better.”

“Better than last time you came?” Apple Bloom asked. James lifted his head up.

“Oh yeah,” he said, “Sure was better.”

Later that night everyone had gone to bed, everyone except for James. He stayed awake and looked through brochures looking for a place for them to got to while they stayed at North Carolina. James compiled a list in his head; it seemed like that they might be able to go to Kittyhawk tomorrow, followed up by Mini-Golfing and dining out again. As for the rest of the week, he’ll just have to make it up as he goes along.

Comments

[CrystalHero97]

this is really a great story. cant wait for it to get better. I will continue reading.
You, sir, have the stache of approval

[OnederMan]

“Six hours on the beach and two hours eating out,” said James, “It couldn’t be better.”
“Better than last time you came?” Apple Bloom asked. James lifted his head up.
“Oh yeah,” he said, “Sure was better.”

My god, I really need to get my head out of the gutter!
I feel really bad for interpreting that part that way

[lilstheawesome]

2407250

...
Dafuq...

I feel sick.

[no longer on]

2407250
You stole what I was going to say, and yea, mine is stuck in the gutter and impossible to get out.

[Fawkes]

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