Legends of Equestria: Night's Calling, 1

Not all stories of heroes...

start out golden...

Him and I stand on the brink of battle with hundreds of foes.

All the things we did on the way here, I try to remember everything.

Because that's the only thing we'll have left if we fall.

PRELUDE  =GRAND SLAM?=

It's the last inning of the game!  All that's left to be done is for somepony to get a home run and we will win!

A pony from our team approached the batter's plate holding their bat under their wing.  They grabbed it with their mouth and stood ready to hit the ball.  The cocky-looking stallion that was the pitcher just rubbed his hoof on his pelt and scoffed at the challenge.  He picked up the ball with his hoof and threw it up in the air, when it came down he smacked it with his tail toward the batter.  It caught our batter by surprise and they swung a little early.  They still hit it, but it took a moment for them to realize it and start running.

The runner only got to first base, but we still had other players on 1st and 2nd, so they made it to their next proceeding base.  The opportunity for a grand slam was now available, and if we got that, we would win!

"Blazed Hit, you're up." our coach said, the crimson-maned stallion next to me then stood up to the name.  He was our best batting pony.  He used to serve in the Lunar Guard, like me, but quickly resigned for... unknown reasons.  No pony asked him why, he changes it every time.

A few replies I heard the other team members say when they asked him were:  "They were too strict.", "We just walked around all night doing nothing.", "I've always wanted to play Baseball", "My brother called me here.", and his best one, "Sometimes a pony feels the need to hit balls in the air.".

Anyways, he's a bat pony, just like me, and everypony else on this team.  We're called the Bat Batters, and as cheesy as the name sounds, right now we're playing for a chance to go into the major leagues by beating the tournament we're in.  The team we're up against is Chinterwind High's own Chinter Ashes, and they were as determined as us to win the qualifiers.

Now, Chinterwind is a usual "hub" for unicorns, so naturally more than half of their team are unicorns.  To prevent any use of interfering magic, all unicorns are required to pass through a magic gate that disables the use of spells unless you step through the exit gate.  This does not apply to the players, because they are able to levitate their gloves (but only a few feet around them due to regulations.) making it easier to signal other teammates to do something, and not hold it in their mouths.

And of course, this sometimes causes suspicion of false wins because of interference with the ball while it's in the air, or if the somepony made the ball turn whilst it was thrown.  (And they refuse to change the rules.)

Blazed Hit, with his bat holstered under his bright red wing, sat up from the bench and walked up the two steps out of the dugout to go onto the field.  He turned and looked back to me, he then smiled and winked.  Blazed has a crush on me, it wasn't hard for everypony to see.  We were... close, but we never did go out to actually spend time together... alone.

Our team's prized player turned his head back to the field, and trotted brazenly toward the home plate.  With a smirk look on his face, he put his bat in his mouth and stood in position.  The pitcher looked tense, but Blazed seemed a little over-confident.  The stadium grew quiet, and all the ponies' focus was on the 2 individuals in the middle of the action.

The pitcher closed his eyes and breathed out slowly, he then opened them and stood on his hind legs.  Holding the baseball in his fore hooves, he threw his arms [Inferring that forelegs are arms, it's just weird to say foreleg.] behind him, then, turning the potential energy into kinetic, thrusted his right arm with the ball toward Blazed.

Blazed, ready to hit ball... took his bat out of his mouth, and spat on the ground.  The ball whizzed by him, and the catcher caught it and threw it back.

The umpire shouted, "STRIKE ONE!", and the crowd gasped at what he'd done

Everyone was shocked to see what happened, and the coach became furious, he shouted to Blazed, "What are you doing?!".

Blazed turned his head toward the coach, and said coolly, "That wasn't a good one..."

The coach raised his hoof in the air and shook it at Blazed.  He turned and went into the locker rooms muttering explicit words under his breathe.

Confused quarreling turned into yelling violence in the crowd, and all Blazed did was lean against his bat.  The pitcher distraught with Blazed's actions, threw the ball again at the same speed as his other one.  Once again, Blazed did not swing.

The umpire shouted, per regulation, "STRIKE TWO!" as the catcher throwing the ball back.  More revolt came from the spectators, demanding him to play better.  Blazed sighed and mouthed something to himself.  He then picked up his bat with his mouth again and stood to hit the ball.

The crowd settled down seeing Blazed's change, and now everything was silent.  (except for the crying foal somewhere in the East block)

Opposing to Blazed smirk and cocky pose, the pitcher was looking suspiciously at Blazed.  But something happened, I saw [Still here, sorry.] the pitcher look off to the side, appearing to communicate to somepony.  His eyes widened a bit and he nodded his head.  The pitcher cocked his head side to side, and repeated the same sequence to when he threw the ball in the first place, this time, he did it faster, throwing a shocking 90 MPH!

Blazed reaction is fast, he gives a satisfied smile, and swings his bat to counter the throw!

It's a hit!

The ball flew far and high in the air, it reached it's highest point in the middle of the field, and started losing altitude, but at a more steeper rate.  Down, and down, and down, and down.  It seemed like it wasn't going to make it into the stands.  It got closer to the ground, closer and closer... then...