//------------------------------// // Day 10 - Sea // Story: Summer Days // by Alex The Lone Wolf //------------------------------// Coco had managed to spend time with us every day since, and I especially liked it when the two of you were able to talk to each other. The conversation between the both of you wasn't perfect, but I could definitely feel and even see the love coming from both of you. I guess you could say things were starting to look up. You were pretty close in getting a girlfriend, and I know I was waiting to be absolutely ecstatic for when that time would come. However, neither one of us thought our luck would run short. It was as if a whole stack of bad luck dominos lined up to fall after teasing us with some good luck beforehoof. We had been in our room, but it was mostly because I was having so much fun using the materials Coco had given me for drawing. You just hung around, but I think you were too busy thinking about the one pony we had been waiting to see later on in the day. It was at this moment where everything began making a turn for the worst. "Get packed." An extremely stern and deep voice popped open my thought bubble. "Huh?" I turned away from the window I had been gazing out of to find our dad with one hoof past the door of our room. "We're leaving in five days, so start packing your things now." The tone of his voice sounded both annoyed yet dead. Nevertheless, I had grown extremely puzzled. He was just about to step out of the room before I stopped him. "Wait! What do you mean we're leaving?" "We're moving out of Fillydelphia. That's all you need to know." "What?!" I immediately stood up in shock. "Why?!" "None of your business." He appeared to be on the verge of shouting. "Now start packing!" The door to our room had been slammed shut, causing a few of Athena's hung drawings to fall from the wall. "Moving…?!" My mind grew blank. Athena surprisingly appeared to be a lot calmer than I was. She closed her sketchbook and approached me by my side. "You okay?" It was at this moment when I realized everything we'd be losing here, despite not having much to begin with. "What's going to happen with Coco?! And what about Miss Cadence?! If we leave Fillydelphia, then that means we aren't going to have her next year!" "Maybe it's just for a while…" Athena hoped. "Maybe just for the summer?" "That's true…" Athena's idea calmed me a little, but I still didn't feel great about the entire situation we had been pushed in. It didn't help that our dad wasn't giving us any more details on the sudden topic. However, I wanted to believe that it was going to be, at most, just for the summer. We still needed to finish school here, and this was our home for as long as we remembered after all. We began hearing voices outside our door. Athena glanced at me and then back at the door. She quietly signaled me to follow her, and we slowly crawled over to the door. Athena cautiously opened the door until we were given a sliver of space to look through. "Did you finally tell them?" Our mom had confronted our dad. "Yes. They already know, so quit worrying about it." "Did we really have to leave so soon?" "Filthy Rich needs my help with some things, and he's willing to pay a lot for it. I'm not missing that opportunity." Afterwards, our dad finished the conversation by walking away in an irritated kind of manner. Athena carefully closed the door shut and looked towards me. "Must be a lot of things if we're going to be moving wherever it is we're going." Athena mentioned. I heavily sighed, mostly with only one thing on my mind. "What are we going to tell Coco?" Athena thought to herself for a moment before she seemed to stretch out a short smile. "Maybe this isn't so bad?" "What do you mean?" I asked, finding her reaction unpleasant considering our situation. "We're going to be moving, so this might finally be the time to confess how you feel about her!" Athena pointed out suddenly, causing me to quickly stumble over my response. "W-w-what?!" I practically choked. "I can't do that! We've only been talking for a few days! You really think it's going to go so smoothly?!" "But you've known her for a lot longer, Alex!" Athena attempted to encourage. "You two were just too shy to talk to each other. After all, it's not like you're asking her to marry you. You just want her to know how you feel about her before you leave. Worst case scenario, she won't know how to answer, and she'll have for as long as we'll be gone to think about it. But I really think that's not going to happen! I even think that maybe you'll two kiss!" "Athena!" I was utterly shocked by the bombardment of surprises she was unloading towards me. I almost sounded like a parent who heard their child saying some pretty foul language. "What are you thinking?!" "Yeah, yeah." She brushed off. "I know you think I'm crazy, but I'm a girl, remember? Coco's also a girl. I know what a girl like Coco wants!" I shook my head and proceeded to climb on top of our bed. "I've got to think about this." I turned my head towards the window and felt myself zoning out again. "First, we're moving, and now, 'confessing how I feel' to Coco? Everything's happening way too fast…" "Well…" Athena joined me, pressing herself against me as our bed was pretty small to begin with. "Maybe it's all happening for a reason, you know?" I only heavily sighed before feeling myself become lost in my thoughts. "Who knows…" Time had passed, and the light from the sun was beginning to die out. I began worrying about Coco. She had shown up pretty late once or twice, but I don't believe she ever showed up in the middle of the night. At the rate things were going, she'd come by when it was already dark. That's if she was going to show up. I violently shook and sat up as soon as I heard a loud whip of thunder roar through the nearby skies. I had been asleep, and I had no idea when that had happened. I turned to my right to find Athena napping besides me. I sighed lightly and turned towards the window. Thoughts of the future began to plague my mind, and my mind would have completely wandered off until I realized what had been occuring outside our room. "A storm?" I noticed the dark clouds above us. At first, there was a light drizzle against the window, but the rain had suddenly escalated to a full-on assault. There was so much water that all that there was left was a blurry mess on the glass. I immediately began to feel a pinch inside me, and Coco was the first thing on my mind. "What if Coco's out there?!" I spoke quietly to myself. I tried to calm myself by believing that she wouldn't be out here in the rain in the first place, but I couldn't just brush it off. If she saw rain coming, would she still try to see us? Or would she just stay home? I began thinking of a bunch of reasons why Coco would obviously stay home, but my heart just wouldn't accept it. Finally, I stopped fidgeting around and accepted what I had to do. I decided I would go out and check. I wanted to make sure she was safely inside her home. I knew it seemed a little overboard, but my heart wouldn't accept anything less. Maybe it was the post trauma of almost seeing Athena drown before my very eyes. Either way, it was something I felt I needed to do. I jumped off the bed as softly as I could without waking Athena. Afterwards, I searched for my hoodie and quickly threw it on as soon as I had found it. Slipping the hood on, I took a glance towards Athena's sleeping face. "Don't worry. I'll be back." I whispered before I opened the door to our room and proceeded to make my way outside. My worry grew when I felt the semi-heavy winds brush against me. I trotted for a while, tugging at my hoodie as I moved. It had already been dark out, and there were only lights coming from the street lamps to guide me through. While keeping my eyes peeled out for Coco, the thoughts in my head continued to bother me. I constantly wondered if I was stupid to be looking out for Coco like this. If every pony wasn't out, then why would she be? Obviously, she's smart enough to know when to turn back! However, at the same time, it felt as if there was a leash around my heart, and it was forcefully pulling me out to do this search. At that point, I remembered something crucial. I believed that this wasn't the first time I had felt something like this. When I thought back to when Athena almost lost her life, I remembered that there was this exact pinching inside me that caused me to check up on her, even though I thought she wouldn't be in trouble. If that's the case this time, then I definitely need make sure Coco's alright! I had been following the path Athena and I would take to school since I had seen Coco on this path every now and then. If I couldn't find her this way, then I planned to find her at home, despite how weird that idea seemed. I reached the shops that Athena and I would stop by before getting to school. Obviously, they were closed, and I was just about to skip on ahead until something caught my eye. There had been something lying in front of Mr. Orange's shop underneath the storefront cover, and the rain was dangerously close to reaching it. I took a detour and brought myself underneath cover. Having a break from being pummeled with water, I took a closer look at this object on the ground. Some pony must have forgotten this here. However, after inspecting this item long enough, I realized that it had been a bag and not just any bag. "This is Coco's bag…!" I thought out loud. "…but…why is it...?!" "Heeeeeelp!" I heard an extremely loud cry nearby. I immediately turned towards the source and found the spot where all the water from the area had been rushing towards. It had been the water grate that was on the ground, but there was a major difference compared to the last time I saw it. As soon as I saw a broken space big enough for a pony to fall through, I gasped sharply. I galloped as fast as I could, occasionally losing my balance and slipping along the way. As soon as I arrived at the scene, I found a pony trembling greatly at the bottom of this enclosed space. Flashbacks surged through my head, and for a second, I almost saw Athena in Coco's place. When I was able to finally shake them off and snap out of it, I quickly pressed my body against the floor and stuck out my hoof. "Coco!" I shouted. "Alex!" Coco's face turned towards me, revealing her eyes which had been brimming with fearful tears. "Help me!" "Grab my hoof! Come on!" I instructed. She stretched out her foreleg as much as she could, but it pained me to see that it wasn't enough. Our hooves were still inches apart. I wanted to force myself to move inwards more, but I couldn't. If I did, I'd end up finding myself stuck inside with her! I retracted my hoof and growled, feeling the pressure and frustration of the situation begin to overwhelm me. I looked around my surroundings, but I couldn't find a single thing that could help us in this situation. One option was running out and calling for help, but who knew when I'd be able to make it back in time!? Graaaghh! If only I had wings or magic! When I turned towards Coco, she was only giving me a set of pleading and helpless eyes. She was almost ready to burst out in a frightened sob. I couldn't leave her alone. I was able to rescue Athena on my own, and I'm not going to give up until I do the same for Coco! I was about to return to Mr. Orange's shop to see if I could find something I could use, but Coco suddenly called my name out. "Alex, wait! Don't leave me!" She cried out. As much I didn't want to hurt her anymore, I needed to step away for just a few seconds to look for something to help get her out. "I'll be back, Coco!" I promised. "I just need to find something to get you out. I promise I won't leave you! I'm going to get you out, even if it's the last thing I do!" "H-h-hurry, please!" She begged, glancing towards the water that was slowly rising. I ran back towards the shop and immediately looked around. Since the shop was closed, I couldn't rummage around inside to see if anything useful was in there. I needed something ASAP. I remembered Coco's bag and turned over to it. I picked it up and inspected it one more time. Maybe I could lower this down to her, have her grab ahold of it, and then pick her up with it? However, the thought of the bag tearing apart or even having it slip away from my hooves caused me to shake off this option. I couldn't bear the thought of Coco falling and hurting herself even more than she possibly had already. I dropped the bag back on the ground and continued to look over any other possible options. Was it possible that I could just give her some extra ground, so she could actually reach my hoof?! I had been staring at the wooden walls of Mr. Orange's shop. There had been certain pieces that Mr. Orange had planned to replace, but he hadn't really gotten around to it for some reason. I pressed my hoof against a certain piece and noticed it had felt a little flimsy instead of a solid like the others parts of his wall. If I can get some of this wood out and over to Coco, I can get her to lay it at an angle, giving her enough of a boost to hold on to me so I could pull her up! However, I also realized what I would be doing because of this. Technically, I would be vandalizing, and it might have a negative impact on Mr. Orange's shop as well. I shook everything out of my mind that didn't pertain to saving Coco. She was counting on me, and I wasn't going to let her go! "Sorry, Mr. Orange…" I raised my hindlegs and aimed them towards this flimsy piece of wood. With all of my might, I kicked the wood as hard as I could. With each impact, I could hear the crunching and cracking, and chips and pieces of the dying lumber were being flung over to me. After a moment of endless kicking, I found that I had caused quite a bit of damage to his wall, and it definitely hurt me to see a victim of my destruction. Nevertheless, at that moment, I had to ignore it and proceed to break apart the rest of the wood. Once I was able to separate a good chunk of it out of the wall, I carried it with my teeth and brought it over to the open grate. It appeared Coco had been trying to sort of climb a high distance from the point she had been on, but due to the rain gushing down, every part of the grate walls had been absolutely slippery. "Coco!" I grabbed her attention. "Stand back!" She pushed herself towards the back end of the enclosure as much as she could, allowing me to throw in the chunk of wood I had. "Use that and place it at angle that you climb on top of!" It appeared she needed the majority of the interior of the grate to tilt the wood downwards enough to stand on. When she placed a hoof on it, she returned a hesitant whine. "W-w-what if it breaks?!" "You just gotta get on it long enough for your hoof to reach me!" I told her. "Come on, Coco! I wanna get you out of there as soon as I can!" I had already begun lying on the soaked floor and stretched out my hoof as far as I could. Despite looking absolutely terrified, she slowly began to climb on top of the wood. At first, she appeared to lose her balance for a moment, but as soon as she stabilized herself, she turned towards me. I assumed she noticed how closer she was to me, despite still being a little far, because she immediately began reaching towards me. At last, I was finally able to touch her hoof. I quickly grabbed her and tightened my grip. I began to pull her up, but I wasn't sure if I was strong enough to make any progress in getting her out. Growing aggressively frustrated, I brought my other hoof and signaled her to reach out with her free foreleg. When I had a better grip of her, I finally began pulling with everything I had. At that point, I didn't care if I threw out my back or even caused worse damage to myself. The more I saw Coco being raised up and away from her prison, the more motivated I felt. When she was finally halfway out, I grabbed her by her sides and gave one last forceful pull. Next thing I knew, I was lying on the ground, completely soaked and practically wheezing for air. My heart was still racing, but it eventually began to slow down. I began to push myself back up, but I had suddenly been tackled back down. "Alex!" She threw her forelegs around my neck and tightened her grip. "Thank you… Thank you!" "Coco…" I responded, still a little out of breath. "I'm just…glad you're safe…" I patted her lightly, causing her to release her grip on me and pull back. As I sat upwards, my eyes met with hers. She had been bawling, and the trembling expression on her face had been exaggerated by the rain that bombarded her. "Are you alright?" I asked her with the upmost care. "Did you hurt yourself anywhere?" She shook her head. "I'm fine…" We attempted to dry off under Mr. Orange's cover, but all it did was stop our coats from soaking up more of the rain. "What were you doing here, Coco?" I asked almost like a frantic parent. "I…" Coco seemed to hesitate. "…I wanted to see you…" She mentioned timidly. "By the time I finished at home, it was already getting late. My parents didn't want me to go out, but I…really wanted to see you." I could tell she was trying so hard not to cry, but her voice would break every now and then. "So… I snuck out…" "Coco…" I reacted in a soft yet surprised kind of manner. "I'm so cold…" She said as I began to notice her shivering. I glanced over my body. "I would give you my hoodie, but I'm afraid it wouldn't do you any good. I'm completely soaked too…" All of sudden, she threw herself against me and nestled her head on my chest as if I had been a warm pillow. I wasn't sure whether if she wanted comfort, body heat, or both from that embrace, but I didn't complain. There was a warmth coming from her side to me, and I believed this was the most intimate we've ever gotten with each other. We continued to hold each other for a long while until I felt her pull away. When she did, our eyes were soon drawn towards each other once again. I wasn't sure on how she felt, but I, for one, seemed to completely forget about the storm outside. Everything had grown deafened and mute except for our breathing. Before I knew it, her lips had grown closer to mine, and I wasn't sure which one of us had been pushing forward. Either way, at that point, I didn't care about anything else. I closed my eyes and patiently waited for our lips to meet. I could feel her hooves slightly tightening around my neck, and eventually, I felt a great wave of ecstasy surge throughout my body. However, it didn't last long. A loud roar of thunder caused Coco to jolt back and whimper into my chest. After witnessing a flash of lightning for myself, I decided it would be best to get her back home as soon as possible. Using what little I could remember about Coco's whereabouts, along with her murmured directions, I led her towards her doorstep. It saddened me that I couldn't at least keep her from getting soaked even more along the way. I almost wanted to bring her back home with Athena and me, seeing as she went through something really traumatic. I didn't want her to be alone here, but considering how both of our parents were, it's something that wouldn't work out. Before Coco opened her front door, she began to turn towards me. "I…" I shook my head. "You need to get inside. I don't want you to get sick. We'll talk tomorrow, okay?" She hesitantly nodded. "Okay…" She opened the door, and I was planning to watch her until she was completely inside. However, I was surprised to hear a couple of frantic voices. "Coco?! Just where in Equestria were you?!" A mare scolded inside. "Do you know how worried we were?!" A stallion followed. "What happened to you?!" I noticed, what must have been her mom, approach Coco closely and press her hooves caringly on her face and mane. "You look absolutely terrible! Just what were you doing out there?!" Her mother continued to bombard Coco with questions as her father brought over a towel for Coco. Before Coco could calmly answer any of them, her mother managed to catch me at her doorstep. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to leave or not, but I did want to make sure Coco would be alright. "What did you do to my daughter?!" She barked rather aggressively. "W-what?!" Speaking was suddenly hardly an option. My mind became blank, and my throat began to squeeze shut. "N-no, mom!" Coco cried out. "He help—" "You're the reason my daughter went out when she wasn't supposed to, and now she looks like a mess! You conniving hooligan! She would never disobey her parents!" "Mom!" Coco tried to explain. "He didn't do anything! It's my fau—!" "Go to your room, Coco!" Her father sternly ordered. Afterwards, he stepped by her mother's side and doubled the number of daggers that had been staring at me in the face. "If I ever catch you with my daughter again, I'll be sure to make your life a living Tartarus!" After beating me with an assault of swears and foul language, he ordered me to leave his property. I had no choice. Even if I could bring up any kind of words to explain their misunderstanding, they looked ready to physically assault me right then and there. All I could do was slowly turn around and walk away, feeling their cold glares from behind until I was no longer near their home. It didn't look like this would be something that needed time to heal. Whether it was my currently pessimistic mood or not, I didn't think I'd be able to see Coco again. At least, I wouldn't be able to see her for a very long time. Banishing me like some kind of criminal. Were her parents that protective of her? Or was I just that hated?