The Final Crusade

by Enfield

Two Crushed Dreams

Two days had passed since Dave and Katherine told James about his birth, but they were still withholding the information regarding who the four birth parents were. James decided to not ask his parents about it anymore and decided to find out for himself. As he was sitting in the sunroom reading the DNA coding papers and trying to trace the results on the internet he heard the sunroom door open. James looked up and saw Scootaloo with a letter.

“I’m guessing that’s for me,” James said.

“It has your name on for a reason,” said Scootaloo.

James took the letter from Scootaloo and looked at the front. The letter was from the Enforcer HQ in Washington D.C., James had no idea what it was for but he hoped that it wasn’t a letter asking for all the stuff he got from his first mission back.
James tore it open and read it, he sank back into the wicker sofa and skimmed the letter. James then stopped and sat bolt upright.

“What the hell is this?” he said.

“Something wrong?” Scootaloo asked.

“Listen to this, ‘Because of the actions of operation “Air Raid” the Enforcer program had been disbanded,’” said James, “‘Had Team one of the Enforcers, led by Petty Officer Campbell Jones, not looted the bodies and the room of the suspected drug dealers then there would be no cause of termination for the whole Enforcer program. This includes the Reapers and the Vikings. As gratitude for your service you are hereby allowed to keep both your uniform and any medals, ribbons or rewards, weapons and vehicles however, are to be returned to the nearest military base.’ ”
James sank back into the sofa and lowered his face into his hands.

“I can’t believe this actually happened,” James said, “My dream, crushed before my eyes.”

“It’s okay James,” Scootaloo said sitting next to him.

“No,” James replied, “No it isn’t okay, I just spent six years of leaning and training myself for the intuition and then after I pass and succeed on my first mission, it get wiped from my life.”

“Why don’t you join the regular military? It’ll work out for you eventually,” said Scootaloo.

James sighed once again, he looked up and at Scootaloo. James knew that she was only just trying to keep him happy, Scootaloo leaned on James’ arm and James pulled her closer to him.

“Thanks,” he said, “I really need this.”

“You helped me out, I want to return the favor,” said Scootaloo.

James didn’t let his termination as an Enforcer keep him down. After a couple hours he was back to being himself, he was playing with Dart in the backyard with the Crusaders. The Crusaders were trying to keep a ball away from Dart. James stopped so he could fetch his ringing cell phone from the table, he saw that is was just another useless fake contest call. James dropped the phone into his pocket and saw his parents staring at him through the kitchen window. James gave a friendly, playful wave, his parents responded by shutting the window blind.

“Rather unfriendly of them,” James thought. He went back to playing keep-away with the dog.

Later that night, both Dart and Apple Bloom had chosen to stay in James’ room for the night. James was feeling a lot better after the Crusaders helped him get over the termination. As Dart leapt up onto his bed and rested his head on James’ leg, James felt much happier. He loved Dart a lot and Dart had become attached to James and the Crusaders. The dog had been James’ home company and friend to the Crusaders. Ever since they got him from a rescue home several months ago, Dart had slowly become a part of the family.
In the night James felt the dog stand up and walk around on the bed, Dart then jumped off the bed and walked over to the door. James saw the door open and the dog trotted out.

“Make sure you take him out back, mum,” James said wearily, he then fell asleep.

The next morning James rolled over and ended up crushing Sweetie Bell. She yelped and James sprang awake.

“Bloody hell Sweetie Bell,” he said, “What are you doing in here?”

“I had a bad dream,” Sweetie Bell said.

“Next time wake me up before you do something like that,” James said. He sat up and saw Scootaloo resting her head on his feet.

“Lemme guess, you had a nightmare too?” said James.

“Yep,” Scootaloo said.
James pulled his feet free and went downstairs with the Crusaders following him. He saw his parents’ door was shut and locked as usual. James slid down the banister and skidded to a halt in front of the front door. He jogged to the kitchen and found a fresh box of Belgian Waffles.

“Who want’s one of these?” James said.

“We do, we do!” the Crusaders shouted.

As James was toasting the waffles he noticed something outside, the bushes where Dart’s bathroom was hidden had been torn apart and the back gate was open. James’ parents came down a few minutes later.

“Good morning Mr. and Mrs. Rogers,” Sweetie Bell said.
Dave snorted in reply and Katherine didn’t respond.

“Say, did you take the dog out of my room last night?” James asked.

“Yes I did,” Katherine said.

“Where is Dart?” Scootaloo asked.

“I let him out and he managed to get past the fence,” said Katherine.
James almost choked on a piece of waffle, he swallowed it after he managed to gag it up.

“What!?” he said, “What do you mean he got out?!”

“The back gate wasn’t locked and Dart ran out, we couldn’t catch him,” Dave said.

“Dart is missing?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Yes,” said Dave.

“My god,” James said, “I’ve got to find him!”

James shimmied past Sweetie Bell and bolted upstairs. A half hour later he came downstairs fully dressed in hunting gear, James had his 1911 at his side and a small backpack on. He ran out of the front door and into the garage. James started up the buggy, opened the garage door and shot off down the street. The Crusaders watched him go.
Later that day it started to rain. The Crusaders were becoming worried for both Dart and James, they hoped that one would find the other and then they would both come home. The hours passed and still there was no sight of James or Dart, James’ parents really didn’t seem to care for some reason. Dave and Katherine left the house to go shopping, leaving the Crusaders alone in the house, this made them more worried.

“Where is James?” Scootaloo finally said after an hour of nothing.

“I don’t know but I hope he’s okay,” said Apple Bloom.

“Is this our fault?” Sweetie Bell asked.

“James won’t blame this on us,” Apple Bloom said fearfully, “Will he?”

The Crusaders looked at one another, they had no idea how James would react once he got home, hopefully he would have Dart with him. The noise of the garage opening signaled James’ arrival, the Crusaders rushed to the garage and saw the lights of the buggy roll into the garage. The rain had picked up since earlier. The buggy stopped and James got out. In the light of the garage they could see that James was sopping wet and shivering, the look on his face indicated that there was no luck in finding Dart.

“I tried,” James said through chattering teeth, “I drove around for almost four hours and I couldn’t find him.

“It’s okay James,” Sweetie Bell said. James tossed his soaked hunting jacket off to the side and shivered.

“I really should have fitted a roof an that thing,” James said.
He sat down on a cooler and pulled his boots off, he went to the open door and pored a large amount of water from them outside.

“I can’t believe he escaped,” James said sadly.

“We’re here for you,” said Apple Bloom.

“I know you are,” James said, “Thanks.”
He took a towel from the basket in the laundry room and dried himself off.

“Where’s mum and dad?” James asked.

“They left an hour ago,” said Scootaloo.

“Why did they do that?” James asked as he wringed out his socks.

“We don’t know,” said Sweetie Bell.

James was beginning to suspect that his parents might have something to do with Dart’s disappearance. He went upstairs to change into something dry, as he did he wondered if the discovery of his birth might have something to do with his parents’ changed moods. James was beginning to feel less of a son to them and more like a pawn for something much bigger than a test tube baby. He didn’t want to lose the family that loved him nor did he want a family that had lied to him for the past sixteen years. James hoped that he could fix everything somehow before school started.

Comments

[Godiswithus3]

That really sucks.

[theshinobistallion]

Uh oh I think I know what happened