//------------------------------//
// Day 11 - Broken 
// Story: Summer Days 
// by Alex The Lone Wolf 
//------------------------------//

That night, when you went out to rescue Coco, that's when I began having these weird dreams. Dreams about ponies I've never even met before in my life. One of them revolved specifically around a couple of princesses. Princess Luna and Princess Celestia. However, I couldn't understand them at the time, and seeing as I couldn't remember all the details after waking up, I usually brushed them off as some random make-believe dreams. However, I didn't think they'd be so important until later on.

Our father caught wind of what happened that night with Coco. I assumed since the two of you had gone to school together, it wasn't that hard for her parents to eventually contact yours. Let me tell you. Our father was fuming. It also didn't take long for him to piece together that you were the one who "vandalized" Mr. Orange's shop. So, grabbing your coat by the neck, he practically dragged you over to his shop to make things right.



"Apologize right now!" My dad ordered. I could tell he was doing his best to keep his burning aggression from showing.

"Really! It's nothing!" Mr. Orange attempted to reason with him. "I'm sure it was an accident! I know he would never do anything like this on purpose."

"This boy has always been a troublemaker." My dad rebuked. "He took an innocent classmate of his and caused her to get into trouble." I could feel him subtly kick me from behind. "Apologize." He yelled through gritted teeth.

Before Mr. Orange could refuse any further, I decided to get it over with.

"I'm really sorry…" I announced. Even if I had no deviant intentions, I really meant every word I said. I didn't want to vandalize any part of Mr. Orange's shop, but I didn't know what else to do. Maybe there was a better way, but knowing that Coco was on the verge of drowning, I couldn't think clearly. If only I could go back in time and stop her from trying to see me to begin with…

"He's going to be working with you for the next few days." My dad strictly stated. "You don't pay him a single thing. He's going to be working off the damage he's caused to your shop."

"Don't you think that's a bit too much?" Mr. Orange tried to object. "There's really no need—"

My dad suddenly glanced over to his shoulder. Athena had accompanied us for my sake, and she had only been silently watching our discussion with a frown full of sorrow. "Athena's going to be working here too. Same thing with her. Don't pay her a bit."

"What?!" An outburst suddenly slipped out of me. "No! She didn't do anything! Leave her out of this!"

I noticed my dad had raised a hoof against me, but he stopped himself before he went off in public. "She should have stopped you from going out and causing trouble in the first place. She's just as guilty as you are."

"But—!"

"It's okay, Alex." Athena settled before I could argue any further. "I don't mind."

"Starting from now, the two of you are working here. You will not be given any special treatment, nor will you be given any kind of reward. You do not leave this place until it is closed, and I expect you to here as soon as it's open. I will be coming to check on you two, and you better not let me catch the two of you slacking off or missing from doing your work. Am I clear?"

We just wanted him gone, so we had to muster all of our strength to suck it up and agree to his demands. "Yes, sir." He continued glaring at us before he walked off without another word. We could hear Mr. Orange sigh behind us.

"It doesn't sound like I can convince your dad, huh?"

Athena shook her head. "No one can."

"I really don't want to make you two do this." He admitted. "But it sounds like your dad is going to give you a harder time if he catches you not doing any work here."

"It's okay…" I mentioned quite depressingly. "I don't want to cause any more trouble…for anyone anymore."

I eventually told Mr. Orange about what had really happened, and he was the only adult that seemed to completely understand. He told me that something like this was going to happen sooner or later, considering how the situation with the water grate was never fixed. Despite how much bad had fallen onto me, at the very least, the water grate had to be fixed sooner than expected now. There was bound to be a bunch of concerned parents calling about this after hearing what happened. In other words, if I wasn't already, I was probably going to become a pariah, but for good reasons at least.

Mr. Orange tried to take it easy on us, but he knew he couldn't safely have us not doing any kind of work because of the shark that patrolled around us every now and then. Personally, I wasn't against doing any kind of work. I did cause damage to his shop. Whether it was for good reasons or not, I still felt the need to pay him back for it.

Athena seemed to feel the same way, even though she never even took part in what happened last night. It seemed that she only wanted to be there for me through the bad times. Because I saw how much she was willing to sacrifice to be there for me when I secretly really needed her, my love for her grew even more.

In the end, Athena was the only pony I could really count on, and I couldn't bear the thought of losing the only source of love in my life.