The Ponyville Sluggers

by Master_Twig

Chapter 9: Summer Wrap-Up

Author's Note:

This is the final chapter. Thanks for reading this far. I appreciate you taking the time to read my story. Please let me know what you thought of it in the comments. I greatly appreciate any feedback. I had a lot of fun writing it, and I hope you had a lot of fun reading it.

The air was crisp and cool and a stiff breeze swirled through the park. Moonshot stood at the exit of the visitor’s dugout at Bell Park, the home of the Fillydelphia Fillies. She looked out at the sold out crowd, taking in the atmosphere.

She wanted to savor the moment, as this may be the last game of the season for the Tornadoes. It was game three of the best of three series. Five days ago they had been in this very park and were shut out in an embarrassing loss. Luckily, Applejack stepped up at home in game two and the Tornadoes were able to squeeze out an extra-innings win. Now, it was the rubber match to decide which team would move on to play the Cloudsdale Spartans for the championship.

The pre-game festivities were over and the Fillies took to the field. She saw their star pitcher Cliff Leaper take the mound. He had been awarded the regular season pitching award, having the best performance in both ERA and WHIP. Twilight had studied him extensively, but even she couldn’t find a pattern in his pitching. He was unpredictable, and more importantly he was accurate. He was a Pegasus with a fire red mane, which contrasted his nearly white fur. His dark grey eyes were piercing and intimidating, which was probably part of why he had so much success.

Moonshot knew she was going to have to match his performance on the mound tonight if the Tornadoes were going to win.

Rainbow Dash stepped up next to her. “Well, this is it. Go big or go home huh?”

Moonshot gave her a nod. “You got it. Let’s win this one.”

“Right on. Time to rock!” Dash charged out to the plate.

Dash readied herself, Cliff Leaper wound up.

One pitch was all it took. Rainbow Dash made sloppy contact and the ball popped up to shallow right. The first base stallion drifted easily over and made the catch. Rainbow Dash slammed the bat into the dirt in frustration before detaching it and trotting back to the dugout.

Thunderlane was up next. He took a few more pitches, but struck out on a 2-2 pitch.

Moonshot had put herself up third tonight. She stepped out onto the batter’s box and readied her bat. Cliff stared her down before letting his pitch fly. Moonshot swung and made light contact. The ball popped up backwards and hit the backstop. The second pitch was a curveball. It looked like it was going to clip the strike zone and Moonshot began to swing, but she pulled back at the last second as the ball sailed just outside.

The third pitch came in, an inside fastball, but still in the strike zone. Moonshot made a smooth swing and made good solid contact. The ball popped off her bat and made a nice arc over the third basemare’s head, landing gently in shallow left field. Moonshot took off towards first and trotted onto it with plenty of time to spare.

She felt good. He wasn’t going to no-hit the Tornadoes today. Now she just had to rely on Big Macintosh to bring her home.

Big Macintosh stepped up and secured his bat. Three pitches and three missed swings later, the strikeout was complete and Moonshot was stranded at first.

Moonshot trotted right over to the mound. Fluttershy came out and they exchanged equipment. Soon the Tornadoes were all in position and Moonshot was ready to pitch.

She stepped off the mound several minutes later with a bounce to her step. She had retired the first three batters with ease. She hadn’t been sure before the game how she was going to do tonight, but now that she had faced her first three opponents she knew she was in the zone.

The game continued on and the Tornadoes and Fillies were having a good old fashioned pitcher’s duel. Each team had a hit and a walk here or there, but no runs were scored. The crowd seemed to be showing disinterest, but Moonshot couldn’t have been more pumped up. Every time that Cliff Leaper shut her team down, it only drove her focus further to shut them down in return.

Finally, the 8th inning rolled around. Thunderlane lead off the inning, but he was put down just as he had been three times already. Moonshot had been watching Cliff Leaper closely the entire time. Twilight, standing right next to her, was doing the same.

Twilight turned to her. “Notice how his fastballs are dropping a bit more than they were at the start of the game? He also missed on those curveballs. I think he’s getting tired.”

“I think so too.” She sighed. “Unfortunately, so am I. Still, I think I can get a good hit off of him.”

“Well don’t push yourself too hard. We need you fresh for when we take on the Spartans next week.”

Moonshot smiled. “Of course!” She grabbed her bat and walked over to the box. She chocked up on her bat and put it into the ready position. Her eyes focused on the Pegasus on the mound.

Cliff Leaper started out with a curveball, but as he had been doing in the last couple innings, it missed outside for a ball. The second pitch came in just at the bottom of the strike zone. Moonshot took a swing and clipped the top of the ball causing it to bounce down and foul.

Cliff focused on Moonshot. He took a deep breath and focused hard on his pitch. He reared up and let it fly.

The pop echoed through the park. The ball sailed to the right, just over the first basemares head. It landed just on the foul line, staying in bounds. The ball rolled to the corner with the right fielder trailing behind it. He scooped it up and bucked it has hard as he could to second base.

Moonshot rounded first, sprinting as hard as she could. She glanced to the right and saw the ball incoming. She pushed herself hard and leapt into a slide.

Her front hooves hit the plate, and only a split second later she felt the tag from the basemare. She looked up at the umpire, hoping he would confirm what she already knew.

“Safe!”

Moonshot smirked and stood up. Her smirk quickly faded as she put weight onto her left front hoof and a twitch of pain shot through it. She took a deep breath, still winded, then turned to the umpire. “Time out. Making a substitution.”

The umpire nodded and called the time out. Moonshot trotted gingerly towards her dugout. “Blossomforth. Take the base. Big Macintosh, get her home.”

The two ponies nodded and took to the field. Moonshot stepped into the dugout and walked up to Fluttershy. “And Fluttershy… can you please get me some ice for my hoof?”

“Oh my? Are you okay?”

“Fine. Just a little strain. But I’m not going to be playing any more baseball today.” She turned to her fellow pitcher. “Applejack, it’s up to you to win this game.”

“I’ll do my best.” Applejack said with a nod.

“Well if you can do that, then we’re sure to win.”

Applejack turned to the field. “Well, let’s see if my big brother can get a run on the board first.”

Moonshot nodded and turned to watch.

Pitch one was outside for a ball. Pitch two went way low. The ball skipped past the catcher and to the backstop.

Blossomforth jumped into action and sprinted towards third. The catcher had no time to recover and Blossomforth trotted easily onto third.

Cliff Leaper stomped the ground in frustration, calling for the ball back. Once in position, he sent a fastball to Big Macintosh. The ball sailed into the air, high and far toward right field. The fielder moved back, getting underneath it. The ball was caught just short of the warning track.

Blossomforth had been watching carefully, staying on third base. The instant the fielder caught the ball she took off towards home. The relay was on, but it the ball was simply too far out. Blossomforth cleared the base and the Tornadoes took the lead.

“Yes! That’s what we want to see!” shouted Moonshot from the dugout.

“Hee haw! That’s my bro!” Applejack said, rearing up.

“Guess the pressure’s on you now eh Applejack?” said Rainbow Dash, nudging and elbow into her friend.

Applejack nudged her back. “No problem! But first I wanna see Maud go out there and get us an insurance run.”

Cliff Leaper called for the ball back and Maud stepped up to the plate. Unfortunately, she was not able to give Applejack what she wanted. Cliff Leaper got her to swing at a low curveball and she grounded out to second. The half inning was over and it was time for Applejack to take the mound.

Moonshot sat back and watched the rest of her team take the field. The season was entirely in their hands now. She knew they would win. They had to win.

Applejack stepped up and faced the first batter. It seemed Applejack wasn’t quite warmed up. The pitch count went up to 3-2, and on the sixth pitch, the ball missed outside and the batter took first.

The second batter was Cliff Leaper himself. He was a great pitcher, but his hitting skills were noticeably sub-par. Applejack wanted a grounder, and on the third pitch, she got just that. The ball rolled sharply towards Maud at third. She scooped it up and tossed it over to Caramel at second. He quickly tagged the base for the first out and bucked it over to Twilight, beating out Cliff Leaper by several strides. The double play was complete and the bases were empty once more.

“Nice work Applejack!” shouted Moonshot from the dugout.

Applejack gave her a little tip of the hat and turned to face the third pitcher. She got her out four pitches later on a weak pop-up to shortstop.

Applejack trotted back to the dugout. Moonshot gave her a firm pat on her back as she stepped in. “Great inning. Got one more in you?”

Applejack gave her a little shove back. “Heck, I got a lot more than that. But one more should do just fine I should think.”

The two stood at the dugout rail and watched the top of the ninth together. Cliff Leaper came out to pitch once more. Moonshot was hoping he was out of steam, but unfortunately he seemed to have gotten a second wind. The Tornadoes were shut down in quick succession.

Moonshot sighed. “Alright. No margin for error now. Shut em down Applejack.”

“Heh. No pressure right?”

Moonshot shook her head with a smile. “None at all. I’d give you some advice, but you know what to do. Get out there and do what you do best.”

“Buckin apples is what I do best.”

“Second best then! Get out there and get us to the championships!”

Applejack chuckled and trotted out to the mound. She dusted off her hooves and readied her first pitch. She managed to get a pop-up on the second pitch and Twilight moved over and made the catch.

“One down…” Applejack muttered to herself.

The second batter stepped up. She got the count to 3-2 after several foul ball pitches. Applejack reared up and sent out a curveball. The batter swung, going high as it dipped just out of reach. The batter slammed his bat down in frustration and moved back to the dugout.

“That’s two.” she said under her breath.

The third batter came up. He was a tall, muscular Pegasus. Applejack had faced him just two days prior. He had given her quite a bit of trouble in that game. Twilight had given her a tip to try to keep the pitches outside, as he was a much more solid hitter when the pitches were inside.

Applejack sent the first pitch his way. A high fastball. Unfortunately it was too high and a ball was called. Applejack tried to get the ball outside once more, but this time it was way outside and the count was quickly 2 – 0.

Applejack shook off her jitters and called for the ball back. “Alright Applejack, no more balls. Get this one in the zone.”

She reared up and sent the ball towards the plate. The ball hit the strike zone. The bat hit the ball. It sailed right over Applejacks head. Caramel made a leap to try to stop it, but it zipped right past him. Raibow Dash charged forward and made the cut-off, but it was too late. The batter was on first.

“Well that’s just dandy.” said Applejack with a huff. She called for the ball, watching the batter come up. The batter stepped up to the plate, readying his bat. He was a large grey, beast of a stallion, easily as big as Big Macintosh.

Applejack wiped the sweat from her brow. She looked to her brother, nodding that she was ready. The batter stepped up to the plate, readying his bat. She swallowed hard, trying to push aside the pressure of the situation.

The announcer’s voice boomed over the field. “This could be it! Bottom of the ninth inning and one out left to go! Unrelenting Force is up to bat and there’s a runner on first. A home run takes the Fillies to the championships! Can he do it!?”

Applejack focused and muttered quietly to herself. “No he can’t.” She reared up and let the ball fly, bucking it as hard as she could. It flew towards the plate at incredible speed. The batter took a mighty swing.

Applejack cringed as the sound of the bat making solid contact rang in her ears. The ball sailed high over her head. She turned and watched it fly towards center field. The whole place went quiet as the ball soared.

Rainbow Dash moved back, watching the ball carefully. She backed up onto the warning track, making quick note of the location of the wall behind her. The ball got ever closer. She couldn’t use her wings, but it was going to clear the fence. She had to jump. Dash bent her legs then leapt as high as she could into the air. She extended out her hoof, reaching as high as she could.

The ball hit the tip of Rainbow Dash’s glove. She crashed into the wall with great force and bounced off before rolling into the ground. She stood up and checked her glove, but found nothing. She looked around her to see if she had dropped it.

It was nowhere to be seen. Rainbow’s heart sank as she realized it had cleared the fence. The game was over. The Tornadoes had lost.

She began the slow walk back to the dugout. She watched as Unrelenting Force rounded third and greeted the mob of his team at home plate. The cheers of the crowd stung in her ears.

Applejack was feeling the same sinking feeling. She stepped into the dugout, walking right past Moonshot. “I’m sorry…”

Moonshot didn’t say anything. She just stared silently and solemnly at the field. One by one, the Tornadoes moved off of the field and through the back door of the dugout, into the visitor’s locker room.

She stood there quietly, watching the Fillies celebrating their win. Finally, she turned and left the field for the final time of the season.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“A little to the left… No, that’s too much. There! Perfect!.” Moonshot gave a quick hoof salute to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash flew back a little bit to check her work. The banner reading “Central Division Champions” was hung nicely over the main entrance to Ponyville Park. “Lookin good!”

Applejack gave an approving nod. “Definitely needed a banner up there. Just too bad it doesn’t say league champions.” She turns to Moonshot. “Sorry, I blew the game.”

Rainbow Dash landed next to her. “No, I’m sorry. I could have made that catch and I didn’t. It was my fault.”

Moonshot rolled her eyes. “Oh will you two stop it? All you’re at fault for is helping the Tornadoes have the best season they have ever had. I don’t want to forgive you, I want to thank you.”

“You’re really not mad?” asked Applejack.

Moonshot shook her head. “Well, anyone who plays in any league is disappointed to take anything but first place. So yeah… disappointed, but definitely not mad. I have to put it in perspective. If you told me in Spring we’d win the division I’d have been ecstatic.”

“Heck yeah. And next year we’ll do even better.” said Rainbow Dash while pumping a hoof into the air.

Moonshot smiled at the Pegasus. “You’re going to be back next year?”

“Well, probably. If I’m in the Wonderbolts by then I may not have time.”

Moonshot turned to Applejack. “What about you?”

Applejack shrugged. “Maybe. Not going to make a promise now.”

Moonshot gave a sad smile. “Well, the team wouldn’t be the same without you two. Still, I don’t think we’ll have trouble arranging a team next year. Attendance and merchandise sales were through the roof by the end of the season. The vote isn’t final, but I think it’s safe to say we’re off probation.”

“When will you know for sure?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Two days. Back to Canterlot for the post season meeting. Twilight and I will be heading out tomorrow.”

“So what are you going to do after that?” asked Applejack.

“Well, Clipper and I will get the park closed up for the season. After that I think I may go camping near Vanhoover. It gets really beautiful there this time of year. Either of you interested in coming?”

“Sorry hon. That’s right in the middle of Applebuck season. Rainbow Dash and I are going to be really busy around the farm.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes went wide. “Are you still going to hold me to that?”

Applejack furrowed her brow. “Of course. You thought I was going to forget about our little agreement?”

Rainbow Dash flopped back onto her haunches and crossed her front hooves. “I was kind of hoping you would.”

Moonshot chuckled. “Guess that means Twilight is out too.”

Rainbow’s eyes darted to the left quick. She then turned her head something having caught her attention. “Hey, you know those two?”

Applejack and Moonshot looked over. There were two ponies walking up, dressed in sport coats, but also wearing baseball caps with a green sock logo. One was a dark grey unicorn stallion with a purple mane, the other a magenta earth pony mare with blonde hair.

Moonshot cocked her head. “No. I don’t.”

The two approached the group. The mare stepped forward, looking at Moonshot. “Miss Moonshot Striker?”

Moonshot nodded. “Yes. What can I do for you?”

The mare smiled. “I’m Amaryllis Gem, the GM of the Fillydelphia Green Sox. This is our manager Nightshade. It’s nice to meet you.”

Moonshots heart skipped a beat. She did her best to stay calm. “You too. So uh… what brings a big league General Manager here?”

Amaryllis smiled. “You do. We’ve been watching you all season. Well, truth be told, we’ve been watching you for a long time.”

“Um. Thanks. I hope you like what you’ve seen?” Moonshot grinned.

Nightshade nodded. “We do. Both of us were at your games in Fillydelphia, plus our scouts have attended several games of yours through the season.”

Amaryllis gave Moonshot a smile. “And we’ve been impressed. We’d like to extend you an invitation to join our team for spring training. Do well enough there and we believe that there could be a place for you on our team.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s eyes went wide and they gave massive smiles. Moonshot did her best to stay calm, though her heart was racing at a million beats per second. “That’s quite a gracious invitation. Thank you.”

Nightshade’s horn lit up and a letter was pulled from his pocket. He floated it over to Moonshot. “The details are in the letter. They may change, as spring is a ways off, but we’ll let you know if they do.”

“This is a big opportunity for you Moonshot.” said Amaryllis. “You could be playing with the big ponies. Plus the salary and benefits are quite impressive.”

Moonshot nodded even faster than before. “I know what being a Green Sock would mean. This is what I’ve always wanted. I’ll be there.”

“Excellent. Feel free to contact us any time.” Amaryllis offered her hoof to shake. “We’ll see you in the spring.”

Moonshot returned the shake. “Yes we will. Feel free to stick around if you want.

Amaryllis shook her head. “Thank you for the offer, but we have to get to Cloudsdale. You’re not the only pony that’s drawn our attention you know.”

“Of course not. Have a good trip.” Moonshot gave them another smile as they turned to head out.

Amaryllis and Nightshade walked away, leaving Moonshot with Applejack and Rainbow Dash. She turned around to look at them. The two grinned wide, then tackled her in a big hug.

“You did it!” shouted Applejack.

Rainbow Dash beamed at her. “You’re gonna be a pro! That is SO AWESOME!”

Moonshot laughed. “I haven’t made the team yet. I just got an invitation to practice with them. I mean, yeah, just get invited to practice is huge. Guess I’m going to have to spend the entire off season practicing.”

Applejack hopped off of Moonshot. “Couldn’t be happier for you. But… you know I just thought of something.”

Moonshot stood up and brushed herself off. “Yeah? What’s that?”

Applejack’s smile faded. “If you join the Green Sox then what’s going to happen to the Tornadoes?”

Moonshot froze. “I… hadn’t thought of that.”

Applejack looked her in the eyes. “You’re the owner, manager, and star player. Who’s going to run the team if you’re not around?”

“I… don’t know. I suppose I’ll maintain ownership, but I’ll have to hire a manager. There’s got to be somepony out there who could assemble and manage a team for me. Huh… three of us may not play next year. Maud is definitely out. That’s all of our star players. If the others decide to stick around we’ll be decent, but certainly not as good.”

“Woah there. Don’t tell me you’re thinking of not going to the Sox.” said Rainbow Dash, almost threateningly.

“No no. I’m definitely going. Just you know… another complication in my life.” Moonshot sighed.

Rainbow Dash put a hoof over Moonshot’s shoulder. “Hey. Just take life as it comes to you. We’ve got your back.”

Moonshot leaned into her with a smile. “I know you do.”

-----------------------

Moonshot yawned and gave her neck a stretch as she walked across the plaza in front of Royal Field. “Ugh. I don’t know why Swift Impact decided to have the meeting so early.”

Twilight, looking bright as the morning sun shook her head with a smile. “Didn’t sleep well?”

“I slept great. Right until you woke me up.”

“Only because you told me to.”

“I know, I know.” Moonshot stretched. “Let’s get this over with.”

The two of them headed inside and up to the conference room of the league office. As soon as they stepped inside, Twilight’s face lit up and she quickly galloped over to give her brother a hug.

“Twilight! I was hoping you’d be here. How was your trip?” said Shining Armor, returning the hug.

She released her grip on him. “It was great. Especially since Moonshot was in a much better mood than the last time we came here for a meeting.”

Shining Armor turned to Moonshot, who had just gotten up to the two of them. “Hello Moonshot. Great to see you again. Congratulations on winning your division.”

Moonshot smiled at him. “Thanks. Couldn’t have done it without my top first basemare.”

“You couldn’t have done it without any of us. We all did it together.” said Twilight proudly.

Shining Armor sat down. “Well, I just hope my team plays just as well. I’m excited for next summer.”

Twilight sat next to him. “So what will your role be?”

He shrugged. “I won’t be the manager or a player. I’ll kind of be the owner. I’m going to help make the team and work on all the logistics. But I won’t be an owner like the others are. I won’t make any money doing it. All profits will go back to the community, mostly to fund a youth baseball program.”

“Sounds like a lot of work. You sure Cadance won’t mind?” asked Twilight.

Shining Armor chuckled. “It was her idea. Heck, after the Equestria games, this will be a breeze.”

They sat back and one by one, representatives from the other teams came into the room. They all arrived in pairs, a manager and an owner. All but one. The Royals Owner, Spring Prize, came in by himself.

Once everyone was seated, Swift Impact stood up and gave everypony a nod. “Good to see you all here. I know you all hate meetings as much as I do, so we’ll try to keep this brief. Let’s start by giving a hoof to the Fillydelphia Fillies for winning the championship this year.”

He, and the rest of the ponies in the room gave a short round of applause to the Fillies representatives. Once it died down he made a motion towards Shining Armor.

“Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire is here. I am happy to make the official announcement that the Crystal Empire will be joining the league next year. You all gave your votes and it has been decided to expand our league to ten teams. We will merge the current divisions into two halves, east and west. You’ll get a packet explaining the details. Welcome to the league Shining Armor.”

There was a short round of clapping. Shining Armor gave a wave to them. “Thanks. We’re really excited and we’ve already got some great ponies ready to play. I look forward to beating you all next year.”

After a few short laughs, Swift Impact turned his sheets to move to the next page. “As you all know, there was a cheating scandal near the end of the season involving the Royals. Obviously, this is a very serious charge and it will not be tolerated.”

Spring Prize stood. “It brings a great mark of shame to our team. Our investigation has found that she had been working on a performance enhancing spell, but only perfected it near the end of the season. As far as we can tell, she only used it on Breaking Blitz. No other member of the team has indicated any knowledge of what she was doing. Winning Streak has been fired and is banned from all future involvement with the league. As for Breaking Blitz, he did confess and without his cooperation we would have had no evidence at all.”

Swift Impact nodded. “Indeed. Due to the level of cooperation from him, and from you, the Royals as an organization will see no sanctions. Breaking Blitz on the other hand will receive a six game suspension at the start of next season. We will also be studying this new spell in an effort to learn how to detect it. Princess Twilight Sparkle has volunteered to help with this.” He turned to face her. “Thank you Twilight.”

She smiled. “Happy to help!”

Swift Impact turned his page once more. It was time to go over the financials. The meeting continued, and after about an hour, they finally wrapped things up.

“Lunch time!” said Shining Armor enthusiastically.

“Little early for lunch don’t you think?” said Twilight, rolling her eyes.

“I didn’t get a good breakfast. Moonshot, you’re hungry right?”

Moonshot shook her head. “Not really. I figured we could spend some time taking in the sights of Canterlot before lunch. We should take our time and enjoy the day. Train doesn’t leave until four.”

“Excuse me.” came a voice from behind them. It was Flint Bolt. “Sorry to barge in, but I was wondering if you guys wouldn’t mind if I tagged along. The boss has another meeting to attend to and I’m kind of stuck on my own until my train departs.”

Moonshot grinned. “Oh. Poor Flint. Sure, I think we can let you hang around.”

Twilight nodded enthusiastically. “Absolutely. I was going to suggest we head to the West Garden. The Summer sculpture garden is still up and I think it would be a great place to spend the rest of the morning. Plus, there’s plenty of restaurants nearby.”

Flint smiled. “That sounds great. Thanks.”

“Well let’s waste no time then.” said Moonshot, turning to the door.

The four of them headed out to the plaza. The West Garden wasn’t far and soon they found themselves at the front gate. Moonshot and Flint were a bit ahead of Twilight and Shining Armor. Twilight was watching the two of them carefully. She noticed they were walking just a little bit closer than two casual acquaintances would.

“Hold up.” Twilight said while making a dead stop.

The others also stopped and looked at her with puzzled looks on their faces.

“She looked over to Shining Armor.” I can’t believe I forgot. Celestia wanted to meet with me and Shining Armor after the meeting. We’re not late, but we better go right now so we’re not.”

Shining Armor cocked his head to the side. “We do? She didn’t tell me anyth…ow!” He was interrupted by a sharp elbow to his chest from his little sister.

She narrowed her eyebrows at him, then made a quick notion back towards Moonshot and Flint Bolt with her eyes and a subtle nod of the head. “You know. To talk about that gathering with Cadance and Luna?”

“Oh right.” His eyes shifted. “Yeah, we better get going.”

Moonshot took a little step towards them. “Wait, you two are just leaving?”

“Yep! I’ll see you later this afternoon. You two have fun! Bye now!” Twilight grabbed her brother and darted off quickly, leaving Moonshot and Flint Bolt alone.

Flint turned to Moonshot. “That was odd.”

“Yes. It was.” She turned to him and gave him a smile. “But I see no need to change the plans. Come on, let’s go look at some sculptures.”

-------------------------------------------------

Moonshot nestled herself into the seat on the train. She looked out the window at the beauty of Canterlot and let out a happy sigh.

Twilight sat down next to her. “So, how did it go?”

Moonshot turned and shook her head. “You devious little filly. You never had a meeting with Celestia, did you?”

Twilight grinned. “Of course not. Now answer my question.”

Moonshot’s face lit up. “It went well. Like… really well. We toured the garden, had lunch, and then just kept walking and talking. We both nearly lost track of time and missed our trains. So we made some more plans. Next week him and I are going to go camping in Vanhoover. After that… well who knows?”

Twilight leaned in, grinning from ear to ear. “Sounds like someone has a special somepony.”

Moonshot pushed her back gently. “Slow down. It’s not like that… yet. And don’t you go around telling anypony that it is. Especially Clipper.”

“I won’t. I’m just so happy for you. Everything has finally started going your way.”

“It really has. And you know, I think I owe it all to Rainbow Dash. If she hadn’t stopped by the park that day, none of this would have happened.”

Twilight gave her a gentle smile. “It’s funny how things work out, isn’t it?”

“It wasn’t just Rainbow Dash. If not for you, and Applejack. Heck, even Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy and Spike. They all helped. And none of you had to. You all put in so much work for me…” She wiped a tear from her eye, despite her smile.

“Because we’re friends. That’s what friends do.”

“I guess I had forgotten that. I got so swept up in just trying to win and be the best I could be, I never went anywhere. Then you all show up and suddenly we have our best season ever. Not just in games won, but in attendance and revenue. And I’ve never been happier. It’s… almost magical.”

Twilight sat back with a little chuckle. “Of course it is Moonshot. Friendship is magic.”

Comments

[Rox]

Okay, so first off. I was very happy to see a baseball related story. For obvious reasons of anatomy, not many authors do it, so thanks for that. The story is relatively short but sweet, and while there was rarely a moment where I was genuinely surprised, it was still an enjoyable read. Your ending was certainly very good, and I think you couldn't have wrapped it up any better.

I'm not sure what else to add. Your in-game drama was actually pretty good. I might wish that you had gone into more detail for more of the games, but that might be the lack-of-baseball-for-me-to-watch-right-now talking. Maybe I do have another suggestion. So you had some pretty good character drama too, and I liked how you kept the budding relationship with Moonshot and Flint Bolt very simple. It wasn't distracting and relatively realistic. But I kinda felt like the drama between Clipper and Moonshot was a little forced at times, or at the very least too over the top for this kind of story. It really wasn't bad, and I might be nitpicking on something not worth doing so for.

Overall, I enjoyed it. I wouldn't mind seeing you tackle the subject again. Perhaps a continuation of this story's universe following Moonshot in the Big Leagues running sidelong with some wacky story with the new Tornadoes in Ponyville.

[BlackCrystal]

I want a sequel mainly because there could be so much awesome stuff added to this story.

Does Moonshot make it into the big leagues? How does she do? What would happen to the 'Nadoes?

All those questions and more could be answered in an insane sequel. Overall, great job on this one.