It's Raining Sunlight

Chapter 3:

Man, so much rewriting on this chapter, and still not satisfied... Ooh, well... Enjoy

The courtyard was empty. Most of the colts and stallions were still sleeping, but Batter Up wasn't sleeping anymore. He was awake, following a Royal Guard. "I guess it's my time for the talk, right?" he asked. The Royal Guard looked at him with an angry expression. "Don't ask questions, just follow me...".

Batter Up figured he wasn't gonna get an answer, so he shutted his mouth, until he could get a clue what was going on. After a short walk, they arrived at the library. Batter Up looked at it, still amazed about it's size. And he remembered from yesterday, it's even larger on the inside. He foolowed the stallion into the library. Once inside, he felt an uneasy feeling creeping in his stomach. Not misplaced, as he saw Guards everywhere. His eyes widened with suprise, not even the 'incident' had this much Guards. "Welcome, young colt...". An familiar voice came from the corner of the room. The general stepped closer, looking at him with a sinister smile.

"It's good to see you here, please take a seat on that chair over there, so we can talk...". He pointed at a chair surrounded by Guards. Batter Up gulped at the sight of it, it reminded him too much of the 'incident'. "N-n-no that's alright, I-I'll will just stand, thank you!" he nearly yelled. The general stood in front of him now. He was way taller than he was, with almost twice the muscle. "What's that, do I hear fear in your voice, recruit...?" he asked, with again, the same sinister smile. Batter Up backed up a little trying to escape the gaze, but suddenly felt him hit something. Two Guards stopped him from moving any further. "What are you hiding, recruit?" the general asked him, but this time without the smile. He was serious now. "N-nothing, sir. It's just that.. ummm... I feel uneasy when many ponies are watching me." he tried to explain. A big lie, sure, but maybe he would take it. "Ooh, that would explain it..," the general said. I think it worked... Batter Up felt a little more confident now.

"But..,".

"B-but what? You don't believe me, sir?" Batter Up said, trying to sound as convincing as possible. "I don't think that's the case here. You have something about you that gives you away...". The steps towards him became bigger and bigger. "And that thing is... we know you".

Suddenly the two Guards behind Batter Up wrapped their hooves around him, keeping him in place. The suprise froze him for a second, but after that second, he started squirming wildly. "HEY, WHAT IS THIS-" he tried to yell, but before he could finish his sentence, a powerful hoof crashed into his stomach. He felt his insides getting smashed, causing him to lose the air from his longs. He gasped loudly as the flock of air escaped his mouth. "Don't think we are a bunch of idiots, recruit. We know more about you than you think..." the general said while cleaning the hoof he punched him with. Batter Up felt like he could throw up any moment. He gasped for air, coughing loudly under his heavy panting. "So, ready to talk about 'it', now?".

Batter Up looked up at the general, still gasping, panting and coughing loudly. His expression turned into a depressing face of not only physical, but mental pain as well. He fell to his knees.

Please, not anymore, I don't want to go back. I can't, I won't, I shouldn't...

Tears appeared at the sides of his eyes. The general tilted up his head to face his own. "What's that? Losing your 'cool' suddenly?" he mocked. "Please, sir, I want to talk, but not with all these Guards around. It... hurts." he said with his full honesty. The general looked him for a moment, then commanded with a flick of his head, that all Guards should leave. Many seemed suprised, but none disobeyed.

After all had left, the general helped him up. They both sat down. "Okay then, as I did my part of this 'deal', I expect you do the same.". Batter Up looked at him with a bit of anger, but they quickly turned into innocent eyes. "Thank you, sir. This really helps.".

"Cut the crap, I want to know why you are here." the general said emotionless. "I'm... I'm here to join the Royal Guards, sir.".

"I understand that, but why does someone like you want to become a Royal Guard?". Batter Up looked at him with sadness in his eyes. "I can't stand it anymore, I felt so horrible after what happened-". "Two years ago? I know all about it." he said crossing his front hooves together. "Ooh... then you know about our gang..." Batter Up replied, sinking into a deeper depression. The general stood up and looked through the windows of the library. "More than I wished for, but we Guards have our duties.".

"But after those two years, I began to reconsider my life, and after I heard about the recruitment, I thought I finally found a new life.". The general let out a sigh, then looked back at Batter Up. "This is way different than your usual life. And even though you proved yourself during the tests, I can't let you simply join, because of your background." he explained.

Batter Up quickly stood up and looked at him, tears flowing from his eyes. "NO, I CAN'T GO BACK ANYMORE! I WANT TO SHOW MYSELF! EVEN IF I'LL NEVER GET HIGH UP, I WANT TO START A NORMAL LIFE!" he yelled on the top of his longs. The general looked at him with suprising eyes. "I... want to raise my own family and live in peace..." he stammered over his own tears. "That's what's important to me...".

A painful silence fell over the library. After perhaps twinty minutes, the general spoke. "You... seem different than the others..," he began. "Not just in the tests, but in life as well. Truth to be told, I came from the streets.". Batter Up looked at him with a glimp of suprise. "Luckily, my father found a job as a Royal Guard, and thanks to him, I became what I am today." the general spoke. "I'm suprised to hear somepony who was just like me.".

"I'll give it some thought. Until then, I want you to train as hard as you can. I rather have a pony who's doing something useful than one who wastes all his days being nervous.". Batter Up started to smile with all amazement. "Thank you, sir! I won't turn you down!" he said, sounding way happier than when the talk started. "Yeah, yeah, leave now before I lose my patience...".

He galloped towards the library door. But before he left he quckly turned around and asked: "This talk, is just between us, right, sir?". The general gave him a little smile. "My lips are sealed".

Batter Up felt his body flowing with new energy. He truly had a new chance now. And again, the words of Pace Maker ringed in his head:
"Breath slowly for moment
It looks like it's raining like always
But it's raining, and it's raining sunlight".

He kept on galloping, but before he got back to the sleepingquarters, he stopped. He wasn't tired right now, in fact, he felt right awake. Quickly looking around the yard gave him some ideas. He quickly gathered what he needed. "Okay, time to get to work...".

He trained the whole night until the first few colts appeared. His muzzle was sweaty and his mane was completely ruined. Luckily, none of the colts and stallions cared at this point. Most of them searched a place to wake up a little. Some others were talking about things, but Batter Up didn't catch most of it.

A bell rang, it was time for breakfast. All ponies stormed inside, many were nearly starving to death. Batter Up followed them. They all got some sloppy food that didn't really look like food, more like something a madscientist would create in his spare time. He sat down on a table with some other ponies talking about their lives before joining the Royal Guards.

Some told about how they were lazy before they joined, others told about a special somepony that they lost and so on. At certain point some started to cry a little. Batter Up saw that the circle of ponies talking went straight towards him. At last it was at him who was suppose to talk. "I don't wanna talk about it." he simply replied. "Aaw, come on, just tell us why you are here. All of us did." they all said, sounding like a choir. He stood up, ready to bring the plate back. "Sorry, but I prefer to keep it to myself.".

As he walked away, he heard one of the ponies talking between his coughs. "*CoughCough* Egotist *CoughCough*". He stopped for a second, wanting to turn around and see who talked behind his back. But he knew he had to leave that life he lived and quickly continued to walk. After bringing his plate, he went outside. The morning sun started to shine brightly now, throwing beams of sunlight into the courtyard. Batter Up covered his eyes as a beam shone in his eyes. It felt warm, filling him with new energy. And as he looked, he could have sworn he got hit by the brightest of all sunlight.

An uneasy, little smile appeared on his face. He didn't knew if he was ready for all that was about to happen, but he knew he was gonna give it his best. Be ready, Royal Guard, because here comes the newest recruit!

Another bell meant the training was about to start. He didn't knew which training it was, but he took whatever they threw at him. He galloped after the other recruits. After a short sprint, all ponies got ordered to get in a line. A sergeant looked at the line, inspecting every pony in it. His eyes were cold and emotionless, something you would inspect from said sergeant. Sometimes he yelled at certain colts or stallions to straighten up or stop looking so retarded. Some of it was pretty funny, but Batter Up wasn't about to let his weird sense of humour get him in any trouble.

Finally, the training began. As expected, some of them were the same as the tests, only this time they continued on way longer than usual. Batter Up felt his body hurt more and more, after all, he had trained all night. After a long time, perhaps taking the whole morning, the training ended at the end of the afternoon. Most ponies were exhausted, but the drill sergeant didn't care one single bit. He bcame more and more fierce after each part of the training. "You mares are a lot tougher than you look. But that doesn't mean I'll let you off the hook. Time for the last part of the training for today.". "Thank Celestia, I don't know how much longer I can take it..." Batter Up whispered to himself. "The last training for today is something special. We don't usually do this, but sometimes it's entertaining for me." he chuckled at his own joke. Talking about malicious pleasure...

The drill sergeant show them a ring on the ground. "This, for all you idiots, is an old sparring ring. We don't use it all that much anymore, but because you all did so well, you're all gonna show what you're capable of.".
Batter Up looked at the ring in pure HORROR. The sweat starting dripping from his forehead. He didn't want to fight so quickly, he couldn't control it yet. "You, the dark green one with the baseballbats on his flank, you start first." the sergeant demanded. Just his luck. He slowly stepped into the ring, panicking more and more with each step. The drill sergeant named another pony to come forward. As he looked up, he looked straight into the eyes of a stallion. "Heh, afraid already? Come on, let's just get this over with so I can finally take a nap..." he said, standing taller with each word he said. "Alright, you may begin NOW!". The sparring session began.

To be continued.