The Final Crusade

by Enfield

A Chance To Live

Twilight stood at the foot of James’ bed with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. They had just seen James’ operation results; He had lost almost seventy percent of his blood, the buckshot that was extracted had shredded his left lung and his pancreas, the bullet in his right arm had hit a crack in the bone and made the bone split in half, he was suffering from a trace amount of blood poisoning and was currently in a coma. Twilight looked over to the heartbeat monitor, even though she couldn’t tell how many beats a minute a human heart did, she knew that James’ was too low. He was at least breathing, but the padding over what remained of his uniform hid most of the breaths.

“Why are we even here?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Because I want to see if there’s a way to help him,” Twilight responded.

“I wish I could get to know him more,” Pinkie Pie said, “He seems like a cool guy.”
Twilight looked back at Rainbow Dash, expecting her to say something but Rainbow Dash shot her a glance.

“This is no time for anything, I’m showing respect for this kid,” Rainbow Dash said. Twilight stood up and went over to the bedside table with the stuff that the doctors took from James before the operation. All that was on the table was James’ bloodstained 1911, his iPod, his peppered wallet and a pair of broken sunglasses.

“Funny,” Twilight said as she picked up the gun with her magic, “I’ve never seen something like this before.”

“Wonder how it works,” Pinkie Pie said as she joined Twilight.

“I don’t know, maybe James would,” Twilight said as she looked at James, small traces of blood seeped through the bed sheets.

The door to James’ room opened, Twilight put the gun back on the table and went over to the doctor.

“Well doctor, can you save him?” she asked.

“Well the good news is that I can stop the blood poisoning but sadly, he will die,” the doctor said.

“You can’t help him?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“He’s dying from blood loss,” the doctor said, “We can do a blood transfer but his blood type doesn’t exist here. If he was one of us we could help him, if we gave him any of our blood it will kill him.”
Rainbow Dash sighed and looked over to Twilight.

“Looks like all we can do now is make sure he dies the way he wants to,” she said.
Twilight lowered her head and sighed, Pinkie Pie gave her a comforting pat on the back.

“You still have to admire the Crusaders,” she said, “I’ll be surprised if they don’t get a Cutie Mark from trying to help James.”

The sound of running from the hallway made Twilight look up, Scootaloo and Fluttershy were at the door, Scootaloo ran in while Fluttershy walked over to Twilight.

“She wanted to see him, I-I couldn’t bear to see her so upset,” Fluttershy said.

“Scootaloo has every right to be upset,” Twilight said as she watched Scootaloo pull a stool over to the side of James’ bed.

Scootaloo stood on the edge of James bed and looked at him, she didn’t care if the others were watching what she does, she wanted to see James one last time to thank him. She took his hand and placed his 1911 in the palm of his hand, then she reached back and pulled something out from under her wing. It was a blue feather.

“I don’t know if you can hear me but I want you to have this,” Scootaloo said to James, “Rainbow Dash gave it to me and I’ve treasured it ever since. I want you to have this as thanks from me, Sweetie Bell and Apple Bloom for taking care of us. We really had a good time with you, I know if you were awake you would try and apologize for the last few weeks but you don’t have to, it was never your fault.”
Scootaloo sighed and wiped a few tears off her face.

“I’m sorry I lied to you about my life, but I didn’t want you to go overboard with trying to make me happy,” she continued, “You did a good enough job to keep us all happy, we really loved going on vacation with you. Me, I really was glad to be flying not once, but three times in three different aircraft. I hope you get what you want now, peace. Just make sure you tell your grandfather that we said hi.”

By now Twilight, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash had gathered up behind Scootaloo. She pretended to not notice them. She took the feather and placed it in James’ open hand and laid his hand on his chest, Scootaloo then leaned down and kissed James on the cheek.

“Who Dares Wins,” she whispered in his ear.

Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy stood in silence as Scootaloo stood next to James on the stool, tears dripped from her face and landed on the sheets. Rainbow Dash put her front leg around Scootaloo and held her close to her chest. Twilight shed a few tears as well, she was glad that she wasn’t alone. More footsteps from the hallway made her look to the door. She wasn’t expecting the next guest.

“Pri-Princess Celestia,” Twilight said.

“Hello there my fateful student,” the Princess said, “I got your letter yesterday about something that popped up, what was-…ohh.”
Princess Celestia saw James on the hospital bed with Scootaloo at his side. Celestia walked over to the group.

“What’s this?” she asked.

“This is what I was telling you about in the letter,” Twilight said, “I thought it would be better for you to see for yourself.”

“Well I’m glad you sent me that letter,” Princess Celestia said, she looked at the bandages that covered James, “What’s wrong with this creature? It looks as if he’s been attacked.”

“He was shot,” Scootaloo said, her voice cracking from trying to not cry, “He was trying to protect us and this is how he ended up.”

“He gave his life to protect you?” Princess Celestia asked.

“He was, in a way, protecting Equstria from invasion,” Twilight said.

“Yeah, the humans that were trying to get to us were all scary looking,” Rainbow Dash added.

Celestia looked at James then to the Enfield that was sitting on the wall next to his bed, the princess pulled it over to her with her magic and examined the weapon.

“What is this strange object?” she asked as she spun it around in the air.

“According to the Crusaders it’s called a Lee Enfield Jungle Carbine,” Twilight said, “From what I’ve seen, it’s made to kill.”

“How can this kill anypony?” Princess Celestia asked as she looked down the barrel.

“Don’t do that,” Scootaloo said, “James told us to never do that unless the bolt is back.”
Princess Celestia put the gun back against the wall and went to look at James up close.

“He seems rather unwell,” she said.

“The doctor said that he won’t make it,” Rainbow Dash said, “James is dying of blood loss.”

“The doc said that if he had our blood type he could be saved,” said Pinkie Pie. Princess Celestia cocked her head to one side and looked to Twilight.

“Twilight,” she said, “Is there such a spell?”

“There could be,” Twilight replied.

“Can you help him?” Scootaloo asked.

“We might be able to,” Princess Celestia said, “However, I think you should leave, you’ve done enough.”

Scootaloo nodded and left with Fluttershy, Fluttershy had been keeping Scootaloo calm with songs and stories while Rainbow Dash helped out with James.

“Should we use the Elements?” Twilight asked Celestia.

“No, this is more personal,” Celestia replied.
Twilight and Princess Celestia’s horns glowed as they focused their magic on one spell, one spell that could save James’ life and change it at the same time. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash both left, they didn’t want to disturb Celestia and Twilight with their spell.

“Ready Twilight Sparkle?” Celestia asked.

“Ready,” Twilight responded.
They leaned forward and then the room was bathed in a bright purple and green light.

Comments

[CrystalHero97]

OOOOOOOOOOH i think I know whats happening! Want my opinion? TOO BAD I'm reading the next chapter! STACHE!