The Final Crusade

by Enfield

A Classic Movie And Fattening Snacks

Darkness had fallen once they got back, James had enough of traveling and wanted to rest. Dave and Katherine left James and the Crusaders in the house as they went to the administration building to see a show that was put on every year. James couldn’t be bothered to go, he was too tired and just wanted to lie down for a little bit. The Crusaders noticed that the TV upstairs where Scootaloo and Sweetie Bell were sleeping had a DVD player attached and it was working.

“Can we watch a movie James?” Sweetie Bell asked.

“Can we, pleeease?” Scootaloo said.

“Sure,” said James, “I think there’re a few DVDs around here somewhere.”

“I’ll help you James,” said Apple Bloom. James and Apple Bloom looked for the DVDs downstairs while Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo did the same upstairs. After a few minutes looking Apple Bloom found a movie.

“What is it?” James asked.

“It’s called ‘Casablanca’,” said Apple Bloom, she looked up at James, “Ever heard of it?”

“This is a true classic,” said James, “I’ve always wanted to see this.”

“You find something?” Sweetie Bell asked leaning over the banister.

“Casablanca,” said James holding up the box.

“You wanna watch it?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Sounds good to me,” said Scootaloo. James ran up the stairs followed closely by Apple Bloom.

“So what’s the movie about?” Scootaloo asked.

“Not sure,” said James, “But I’ve heard it was really good, seems like this might still be in black and white.”

“Wait, there’s no color?” Sweetie Bell asked.

“It’s a really old movie,” said James.

“This should be interesting,” said Apple Bloom.

“Shouldn’t we have snacks or something?” Scootaloo asked. James looked at her then to the TV.

“Quick, to the refrigerator!” he said.

The Crusaders and James made headway for the food downstairs, once they were stock piled with food they carried it all back upstairs. James found a small table to put all the food on. James and the Crusaders took up the bed that lay opposite from the TV, as James started the movie the Crusaders started eating some of the food.

“Save it for later,” said James, “We’ve still got to start this.”

Two hours later the movie finished. James was biting his lip just to stop himself from shedding tears, it probably was the most amazing movie he ever saw. He drank a soda to keep himself stable and looked at the Crusaders, Sweetie Bell had fallen asleep on his shoulder, Scootaloo had curled up into a ball and was also sleeping, Apple Bloom was trying to stay awake but James could see that she was struggling.

“Neat movie huh?” James asked Apple Bloom.

“Really touching,” said Apple Bloom, “Should we clean up now?”

“I’ll do that, you get to bed,” James said as he gently moved Sweetie Bell off his arm.

“I’ll just take some stuff down,” said Apple Bloom.

“Just don’t drop anything,” said James. Apple Bloom took several empty bowls that were filled with garbage, James stayed upstairs and carried Scootaloo over to her bed and tucked her in. He then did the same for Sweetie Bell and then carried the rest of the rubbish downstairs, James dumped the trash and then saw Apple Bloom asleep on the couch.

“Couldn’t make it?” asked James.

“Carry me,” Apple Bloom said sleepily as she held her arms up to James. James chuckled and picked her up, he carried her to her room and set her down on the bed. James didn’t know why but he felt a presence of trust and acceptance after he tucked Apple Bloom in her bed. James chose to stay up until his parents came home, as he sat in his room waiting for their arrival James heard something coming from outside. James looked out of the window but saw only a dark field and head running water coming from the stream.

“Could of sworn I heard something creeping around the house,” James said going back to reading his book.

Several minutes later he heard another noise, this one sounded like footsteps wandering around the concrete barbecue patio at the side of the house. James grabbed his Winchester, loaded it with the steel bear hunting rounds and went to the front door. James carefully crept over to the side of the cabin with his repeater aimed and ready, he hoped to see what or who was sneaking around before he assumed the worst and fired. James came up to the patio, he never made a sound because his feet were bare and the grass was soft. James peeked around the corner and saw two silhouettes trying to look in the window to Apple Bloom’s room, James had to intervene. He rounded the corner with his weapon raised.

“Who goes there?” James said pointing the Winchester at the two figures. The two figures said something in a language that James couldn’t understand then backed away.

“Don’t bloody move,” said James, “All I want to know is what you’re up to.”
The two figures back away some more, threw down a bag filled with a powder then ran off into the darkness. James flew through the dust and tried to get a better look at the intruders, all he saw was their unusual looking clothes. James shook his head and went back inside the cabin, he unloaded the Winchester and went back into his room. James set the bullets down on the cabinet and placed the repeater back into the closet. Soon James’ parents came back from the show at the administration building.

“We’re back,” said Dave.

“Good, now keep quiet, the girls are sleeping.” said James.

“They fell asleep?” Katherine asked.

“They were after the movie finished,” said James.

“What movie did you watch?” Dave asked.

“Casablanca,” said James.
Dave and Katherine retired to their room but James stopped them before they could shut the door.

“One more thing,” James said, “Did you see anyone wandering around here when you were driving up?”

“No,” said his dad.

James huffed and shut the door to his room, he realized that in two days he would be going home. Lucky there was still a barrier between summer and the new school year, August was coming up and even though there were no more vacations planned there was still the air show and the Enforcer trials to look forward to. But before James and his family would leave they booked a trail ride on the horses with Doc, this is what Apple Bloom, Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo had been looking forward to, they had never ridden a horse before. James thought that this was a little ironic, the Crusaders in a way were ponies themselves and they were going to be riding pretty much their own species. James wondered if they remembered being ponies or if they forgot about everything about where they came from. He hoped that if the Crusaders did forget about their homes in Equsetria, that the trail rides would help them remember. James fell asleep and dreamed of the day when the Crusaders returned home, but something didn’t seem right with the dream. James looked at himself and saw nothing but blood covering every inch of his body, he also felt piercing pain searing across his chest. James was a little confused about why we had his Enfield carbine in hand. Several corpses of soldiers and spend bullet casings littered the floor of a forest. He then heard Scootaloo shouting for him to look out, James span around and saw a soldier with a shotgun pointed at his face, the soldier’s face melted and all was left was the skull. Before James could react the soldier fired and James woke up, sweating and breathing fast. He felt for the lamp switch and flicked it on, James looked at his hands and then felt around his face in case he was bleeding, he had no idea what the dream could be about or what it could mean but it did scare James a little. But he turned the lamp off and tried to get back to sleep.

Comments

[midnightshadow1]

foreshadow?

[Godiswithus3]

Premonition?

[Fa-18]

A vision of the future this must be