The Final Crusade

by Enfield

Total Victory

James has to admire the spirit of the Crusaders, they never gave up on their quest to get their Cutie Marks. He liked that about them, it reminded him of when he tried out for the school talent show by playing the guitar solo from The Beatles song “Let It Be”, he didn’t make it past the auditions. But after that he never gave up on his other personal goals. The biggest one by far was getting the Crusaders back home to Equestria.

“We’re here,” Katherine said.
James and the Crusaders looked out of the window. Dave and Busters was built in an old ship loading building, the sign for the place hung outside and an old fashion revolving door stood as the entrance. Once they parked James almost leapt from the car, he waited for his mother and the Crusaders to exit the car before he urged them to the door. They climbed the stairs and were standing before the front desk of the restaurant.

“Hello there and welcome to Dave and Busters,” the receptionist said.

“Table for five please,” said Katherine.

“I’m sorry but his outfit doesn’t match our dress code,” the receptionist said, she was referring to James’ Enforcer combat gear. James had been here several times and there was never a dress code in place before. But as he was trying to remember if there had been patrons with funky clothing that might have caused this dress code policy James hatched a plan, and his combat gear was perfect.

“What about this?” he asked.

“You have to leave,” said the receptionist.
James slammed his hands on the counter.

“Dammit I didn’t just risk my life for this country in order for a receptionist to tell me I can’t wear my combat gear in public!” he said.

“It’s not allowed in here,” the receptionist said.

“You see this scar?” James said pointing to the scar on his face, “That was caused by a methed up gangster who took a shot at me, this is what your tax dollars do for this country, keep people safe.”

“Fine,” the receptionist said, “Take any seat you want.”
She left through a door marked “staff only” and left a victorious James to pick a table. He found a booth under a small canopy and sat down, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom sat next to him while Sweetie Bell and Katherine sat opposite them. As they waited for the menus to arrive James couldn’t help laughing.

“What’s so funny?” Apple Bloom asked.

“That receptionist bought everything,” James replied, “Me risking my life in a mission against meth addicts, ha!”

“I never knew that there was a dress code in place,” said Katherine.

“Times change, mum,” James said taking off his helmet and setting it on the table, Scootaloo seized it and jammed it on her head, it was a bit big for her.

“I’m James Rogers,” she said in a deep voice.

“Very funny,” James chuckled, “It sort of suits you.”

“Can I try it on?” Apple Bloom asked. Scootaloo handed it to her, Apple Bloom put it on and it fell over her eyes, she pushed it out of her eyes and looked over to James.

“How do I look?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Like a true soldier,” said James.

A waiter with menus and water arrived at their table after Apple Bloom gave James his helmet back. Before the waiter passed the menus he took a long look at James.

“Active service?” the waiter asked.

“Yes,” replied James.

“Well then you guys get a thirty percent discount on the eat and play combo,” said the waiter.

“I like this system,” said James.

“So what can I get you to drink for a start?” the waiter asked.

James, his mother and the Crusaders ordered their food along with drinks and it arrived to them within a half hour. James was a little skeptical about the excellent service but remembered that he was wearing military attire which might have something to do with it.

“I’ve only just noticed the ceiling fans are all connected by belts,” Apple Bloom said.

“The most ingenuous idea ever,” said James, “One power box per twenty fans to save money.”

“Neat idea,” said Scootaloo.

“So where is the arcade you were telling us about?” Sweetie Bell asked.

“Right behind that wall,” James said pointing to a massive mirror.

“When can we go into the arcade?” Scootaloo asked.

“After we’ve had something to eat,” replied James.

“Has anyone seen this dessert menu?” Apple Bloom asked as she read the dessert menu.

“It looks good,” said Sweetie Bell, “I think I can wait for a little while longer.”

“I want the cake,” said Scootaloo.

“I think I’ve earned my share,” said James.

Once James and the Crusaders were finished eating James took them to the arcade. He led them to a hallway that was concealed behind the mirror wall, they then entered the arcade. The arcade was massive, well over fifty machines and games sat in the room being used by other people holding large cups that were overflowing with tickets. The Crusaders were so amazed from the sight they didn’t notice James take three cards out of his front pocket. He gave one to each of the Crusaders.

“Those are good for several uses on the token machines,” James said, “Stick together and don’t leave here without me. If you need me I’ll be over at the shooter games.”

“I think we’ll be able to find you,” said Apple Bloom.

“Okay then,” James said as he took out his own card, “Once you’re done come and find me and we can pool our tickets.”

“Why should we do that?” asked Scootaloo.

“Because we might be able to get something good that we can all use,” said James.

“Sounds like good plan,” said Apple Bloom.

“Let’s go over there first,” said Sweetie Bell, pointing to a set of strange looking games. James let them go enjoy themselves, he decided to go and try out the new arcade rail shooter that he saw on his way in.

James was enjoying himself, he had won several hundred tickets from playing a couple of games and beating the high score, he also won about two hundred tickets after he mastered the air combat simulator. As he was wandering around the arcade looking for more machines to run dry he bumped into Scootaloo.

“Hey there Susie,” said James.

“Hi James,” Scootaloo replied, she was clutching a large paper cup with tickets streaming out of it.

“When did you win all this?” James asked taking a stand of the tickets in his hand.

“Won it on some weird dancing game,” said Scootaloo, “I was actually coming to find you so I could show you.”

“Lead the way,” said James. Scootaloo lead James to the middle of the arcade where a large DDR machine had been set up, there were two kids using the machine dancing to the newly released song “Poker Face” and about six other kids watching. James had never seen this machine before.

“This is new,” said James.

“I was using it a few seconds ago,” said Scootaloo, “Abigail and Samantha are over there by the kids who taught me how to use it.”
James walked over to the kids, their age ranged from being the same age as the Crusaders to well into their early twenties. One of the kids, about James’ age, span around when James and Scootaloo approached.

“Scoot,” he said, “Who’s this kid?”

“Oh, this is James,” said Scootaloo, “He’s been taking care of me, Bell and Bloom for the past few months.”

“Alright then,” said the kid.
James pulled Scootaloo aside after the kid turned back to watch his friends on the machine.

“Did you girls tell them your real names?” James asked Scootaloo quietly.

“No, we’re not that forgetful,” said Scootaloo, “We had to use our real names so that we could tell where we were on the game scoreboards. Our real names were too long so we shortened them.”

“Bloody amazing plan,” said James. He went over to the kids, they were dressed up like they were from a “Step it Up” movie.

“So is the newbie dancing for us?” one kid asked.

“Don’t look like a dancer,” said another.

“What is he wearing?” a third asked.

“What never seen an Enforcer before?” James asked.

“Enforcer?” on of the kids asked.

“Shouldn’t have brought it up,” James thought to himself.

“Are you going to try this out James?” Scootaloo asked.

“Wait, what?” James said.

“Yeah,” said one kid, “Lets see if that army gear can stand up to our stuff.”

“I highly doubt your bandanna can block a bullet,” said James.

“He means that they want you to dance,” Scootaloo whispered to James.

James tried to refuse but was pushed up on the machine by a few of the older kids. It had been a long time since James had played DDR, he had done only one song for a full five days and he mastered it. But that was an older model of the game and James was pretty sure that this edition wouldn’t have his song. As James lightly stood on the arrows Scootaloo jumped on the platform next to him.

“So James,” Scootaloo asked, “What song do you want to do?”

“I can pick?” James asked as he used a joystick on the machine to cycle through the songs.

“Sure, I can do any of these.” Scootaloo said confidently.
James looked through the massive list of songs, he barely knew any of the songs or the artists. He ignored the dancing kids’ suggestions of songs. James then struck gold, he had found his song.

“They have it,” James said.

“What song?” Scootaloo asked.
James tossed his ticket cup to Apple Bloom and pointed to the song at the very bottom of the list, the kids gathered around the screen to see the song.

“Eiffel 65’s song ‘Blue’?” one of the older kids asked.

“Both a classic and one of my favorites,” said James.

“That’s expert level,” said another kid, “None of us have ever got above fifty percent before.”

“Bet I could pull it off,” said James.

“No one can,” said one of the kids.

“All I can do is try,” James said.

“Well good luck then,” said the older kid.
James nodded and turned to Scootaloo.

“You with me on this?” he asked.

“Like I said,” said Scootaloo, “I can beat any song here.”

“Time to put that to the test,” James said hitting the start button.

The song started out slow, nothing appeared on-screen for a few seconds. Just as James was starting to wonder if this was expert as a joke an onslaught of arrows shot up from the bottom of the screen.

“Here we go!” James shouted.
He and Scootaloo started stomping on the platform in order to get as many points as possible. Scootaloo surprised James in a way, she could dance. James focused on the screen and hit all the arrows that appeared, Scootaloo was doing just as good according to the score. About halfway through the song James had seen through a reflection that they had attracted quite a crowd of onlookers, one part of the song had no arrows and James had a real crowd pleasing move in mind.

“Scoot!” he shouted “Grab my arm!”
Scootaloo did so and James span themselves around and Scootaloo ended up standing on James’ platform and James was on Scootaloo’s platform. Then the arrows started up again. James and Scootaloo hammered the platform and kept scoring until the song was over and the game finished.

Cheers broke out, they had done it. James and Scootaloo had scored one hundred percent completion, James turned around and saw everyone cheering and clapping, there was one guy who had a camera and was recording. James pulled Scootaloo closer to himself.

“Take a bow,” he said, “They’ll love it.”
James and Scootaloo bowed and waved to the crowd. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell were cheering the loudest. James hopped down from the platform and retrieved his ticket cup from Sweetie Bell, who had taken it from Apple Bloom so Apple Bloom could cheer James and Scootaloo on.

“Don’t forget your tickets!” one onlooker shouted, James turned around and saw Scootaloo threading tickets through her hands.

“We’re rich!” she shouted.

“How many did we win?” James asked as he folded them up and tried to put them in his cup, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Bell came over to help. After they each had taken a part of the incredibly long strand of tickets the dancers lifted them up on their shoulders. All James and Scootaloo could do was wave in victory.

“I really think you’d earn your mark if you were back home,” James shouted over to Scootaloo.

“I know but this is awesome!” Scootaloo said.

Comments

[Commander Stelios]

The way I see it, dancing is definitely what will help Scootaloo earn her Cutie Mark. She just needs to fully realize it.

[no longer on]

I think that they will realize their special talents here, so by the time they get home their cutie marks will be there already.