Summer Days

by Alex The Lone Wolf

Day 15 - Goodbye Fillydelphia

We spent the remaining days working for Mr. Orange under a constant eye from our father. Eventually, the day we were to leave Fillydelphia for an unknown amount of time came. We didn't have much to pack to begin with, so we only needed the night before to grab our essentials and tuck them into our schoolbags.

I knew you weren't able to sleep that night, and I felt guilty for it. So much had happened in those past few days, and it didn't help that we were swarmed with a huge amount of bad luck just when we thought things were looking bright. I was at a point where I was willing to do anything to make you feel better, but in actuality, nothing I could offer to do seemed to help at all.

---

Once we heard the steam hiss and the train blow its horn, we knew it was time to walk aboard. However, I couldn't bring myself to move my legs so easily. I looked around the train station to find no one besides Athena by my side. I suppose I had been secretly hoping Coco would somehow show up, but she didn't.

I wasn't sure if she even knew we were leaving, especially since I didn't get to tell her. After all, I didn't think finding her that rainy night would be the last time I saw her. I was desperately hoping that the only reason we hadn't seen each other since then was because of her parents, but I felt my hopes dying. Unfortunately, those hopes were being replaced by the thought of Coco intentionally forgetting and ignoring me. Maybe I wasn't good enough for her after all.

"Alex, we should get on the train…" Athena placed a hoof on my back, subtly urging me to move forward.

At that moment, an unexpected thought crossed my head. For a second, I almost just wanted to grab Athena's hoof and run. I just wanted the two of us to be away from everything and everyone. However, thinking logically, such dramatic moves only really worked in fairytales.

"Yeah…" I agreed softly before stepping onto the train.

Athena and I had the opportunity to sit away from our family, which was the least bit of luck we could have after our exhausting week. We sat at a corner of the train and waited for our ride to start moving.

"Where do you think we're going?" Athena asked.

"Guess we'll find out when we get there." I muttered back, deeply unconcerned with our destination. Unless it was magically going to change our lives for the better, I wasn't interested at all.

As soon as the train started moving, I moved my eyes toward the window. I kept an eye on the ponies remaining on the station side. For a second, I almost believed that I saw Coco staring at me from a crowd surrounding her, but I knew it was too good to be true. I knew it was just my mind playing tricks on me and toying with my feelings. Once the train completely left the station, I knew I would have to let her go. I couldn't keep her in my mind any longer because it would only cloud up who's really the most important to me.

I noticed Athena had rested her head on my shoulder. It appeared that she hadn't really gotten any sleep either, and I knew I was the only one to blame for that. It was just another reason why I had to leave Coco behind.

"You okay, Athena?" I asked.

She lightly opened up her eyes and pulled away, so she could look at me properly. "I've been asking you that the entire time."

"I'm fine." I stated without really knowing for myself.

"You know, Alex…" Athena appeared hesitant over her next choice of words. "I don't think there's really anything to worry about. I know things seem bad now, but, to be honest, I think we can still work things out. Maybe a break from Fillydelphia is what we need. Maybe by the time we come back, Coco's parents will come to their senses, and then maybe we can try to convince them how everything that happened was just a misunderstanding…!"

Her excitement seemed to die out when she noticed no change in my mood. I only shook my head before coming up with something to respond with.

"From now on…you're the only pony I'll have close to me." I decided.

Athena lightly gasped. Her eyes slowly fell towards the floor, and, eventually, she turned her back against the seat and appeared to wordlessly think to herself. For the rest of the ride, silence seemed to take the seat between us.

---

There was a loud hiss before the train came to a complete stop. I had been keeping an eye outside for the entire time, but it seemed that I was so distracted by my thoughts that I hadn't even realized that we stopped moving.

"We're here." Athena said.

The train stated appeared to be much smaller than the one in Fillydelphia, and from what I could see past the station, there was a lot of green.

Athena decided to take my hoof and get me up and moving, later guiding me out of the train and onto the station. Outside, we had been lagging behind a bit to take in the scenery, but our dad was growing rather impatient.

"Move it." He sternly ordered, glancing back at us for only a second before he kept walking.

I suppose there wasn't much to look at anyway. Within a short amount of time, we found ourselves at our apparently new and temporary home. Once inside, we were pretty much shown to our given room. I couldn't tell if it was bigger or smaller than our room in Fillydelphia, but I could honestly care less. Right now, how big our room was didn't matter at all.

"Do you want to go out and explore the town?" Athena recommended after the two of us dropped our bags on the floor.

"Eh. I don't know…" I felt a little unmotivated to do anything.

"Come on, Alex." Athena approached me and began to slightly tug on my coat in encouragement. "What is it that you really want? Name it! Anything!"

I sighed and stared upwards towards the ceiling. It wasn't the first time Athena had asked me that question. However, despite how moody I had been feeling, I kind of felt a craving for something sweet.

"Actually…I think I could go for a big ol cake right about now…" I thought out loud.

"Done!" Athena surprisingly returned. "Let's go see if we can find a bakery around here!"

I turned to her and looked at her as if she was a little crazy. "Maybe you forgot…but we're broke?"

"Are we?" Athena turned to her bag and went through her things before she brought out a small pouch. I could hear coins jiggle inside, startling me.

"Where'd you get that?!" I almost shouted out loud.

Athena took a glance behind her, looking as if she was making sure the door was closed. "Mr. Orange gave it to me." She explained. "He said he felt bad for us working for him the way we did. I didn't want to take it, but he insisted. He also said we deserved it."

"He really did that…?" I turned my eyes away, beginning to feel a little depressed.

Athena shook her head at my reaction. "No time for moping. It's cake time. Let's go!" She grabbed my hoof and began leading me out of our room.

"Where are you two off to?" I could hear our dad demand the answer out of us.

"We're just going to look around this place!" Athena brightly responded.

"If I find you two causing trouble again…"

"We won't!" Athena cheerfully exclaimed back before we left through the front door and were finally met with the outside without any disturbances.

"Now…for the bakery…" Athena searched around with a hoof above her eyes.

Asking around a bit, we were pointed in the right direction and told we'd see it as soon as we hit Sugarcube Corner. It was pretty obvious that the ponies we asked were surprised to see us, considering our eyes, but thankfully, they didn't make such a big fuss about it.

"That's totally it!" Athena pointed towards a building that almost exactly resembled a gingerbread house. It seemed the sight of the decorative building excited Athena. I had to admit, I didn't really blame her. Bakeries in Fillydelphia were mostly plain and unexpressive. Athena began skipping in joy until she reached the door and swiftly opened it.

"Welcome to Sugarcube Corner!" A cheery greeting followed the chiming bell above the doorway. "What can I get for you today?"

Athena pranced over to the counter where the bubbly mare had greeted us from. "We want a—!"

"Hold on a second! Don't tell me!" The mare held out a hoof in front of Athena and thought to herself for a moment, murmuring incoherent sentences under her breath until she spoke loudly once more. "You want a cake, right?! Two slices of our grand three-layer chocolate-fudge supreme with a nice lotus flower hugging a sweet strawberry on top?!"

Athena was taken aback by this mare's prediction. We had decided on cake beforehoof, but we never stopped to think about the exact details of the cake. "I don't know what that is…but sign us up!" Athena fetched the money from her bag and dropped it onto the counter. The other mare happily hummed as she retrieved the coins and wrote down our order. She proceeded to rip the note out of her notepad and somehow hold it up with the tip of her hair. "Hey, cool eyes!" She complimented. "I knew I hadn't seen any of you around here before. Are you two new to Ponyville?!"

"Thanks!" Athena was fairly surprised to receive a compliment, seeing as others usually looked at us as if we were some strange aliens out of this world. "We are. We just dropped in this morning. I guess our dad is here on business or something, so I don't know how long we're going to be here."

"Super!" She returned. "My name is Pinkie Pie! Who might you two fine ponies be?"

"I'm Athena!" Athena excitedly introduced. "And this is my brother, Alex!" She went ahead and grabbed my hoof to pull me alongside her.

"Hi, Athena! Hi, Alex!" Pinkie Pie personally exchanged a warm greeting towards each of us. "I hope we can be friends! I'm friends with practically everyone in this town."

"Really?! That's so cool! Of course, we can be friends!" Athena agreed without any sign of hesitation whatsoever.

To be honest, I couldn't help but cheer up a bit from this bubbly pony's friendly behavior. She was so much like Athena, it was almost too good to be true. Nevertheless, the damage back from Fillydelphia still lingered within me. "Yeah…" I tried to present the same kind of attitude, but it was clearly miniscule compared to Athena and Pinkie Pie.

"Awesome! I've got to show you around town sometime! Lemme get your order in first, though." Pinkie Pie hurriedly raced into the kitchen.

"Holy smokes." Athena turned to me with an astonishing shimmer in her eyes. "She's amazing! I really like her already!"

"She is something alright." I responded.

After a few seconds, she hopped out and appeared back behind the counter. "Anything else I can help you with?"

Actually, there was something on my mind I had been wanting to ask around here. It was a new place, so I was hoping I'd have some luck.

"Do you know if any place is hiring around here?" I asked. "We could use some work."

"Hm…" Pinkie Pie poked her cheek with her hoof as she tilted her head and looked upwards. "Ooh! You should try Sweet Apple Acres! My friend Applejack and her family own this huge farm, and they're always working every day. I'm not sure if they're hiring anypony, but I, for one, think they could definitely use some help. They've only got like what, three ponies working with a bazillion acres of land? I don't know how they do it! Either way, you can go see if they could use the help!"

That doesn't sound too bad. After all, I guess we wouldn't have to really deal with too many ponies if we're working on a farm.

"Cool! We'll check it out!" Athena accepted.

"Why don't you go right now?" Pinkie suggested. "It's…that-away!" She stood still for a moment before her tail suddenly twitch and awkwardly pointed at a certain direction. "Your order should be finished by the time you come back."

"What do you think, Alex?" Athena turned to me for my answer.

"Sounds good." I responded, willing to check the place out.

"Let me know how it goes!" Pinkie smiled as brightly as she could while enthusiastically waving us goodbye.

---

Strangely using Pinkie Pie's tail as a guide, we eventually managed to find a farm a bit out of town. For a moment, all we could see were fields of mostly trees that grew apples. However, we reached a sign with the words Sweet Apple Acres, beyond that was a huge red barn.

We couldn't find any pony at all, and we had no idea if they might have been working in the fields. If that was the case, it would take forever to find them. Athena and I looked towards each other. We could only share a shrug, seeing as we had no idea on what to do at this point.

"Can I help ya'll with somethin'?"

Athena and I flinched and immediately spun around to find some pony standing by us with an empty wooden cart behind her. When she had a clear view of our faces, she, just like the majority of every pony else meeting us for the first time, had the same kind of stunned reaction when taking a good look at each of our eyes. Nevertheless, she didn't mention anything about them. Ironically, I couldn't help but notice her freckles. For some reason, I kind of felt relieved seeing some other pony who carried an uncommon facial feature.

"This is Sweet Apple Acres, right?" Athena spoke for me. "We were wondering if you might have any work for us." She ended with a sweet smile.

This mare observed us for a few seconds before rubbing her chin. "Strange. Don't think we've ever really had ponies lookin' to work here. You new?"

"Uh, yeah. We just came in from Fillydelphia this morning." Athena answered.

"Fillydelphia, huh?" She appeared to continue to observe us before she shook her head. "Where are my manners? Name's Applejack." She held out a hoof. "How bout ya'll?"

"Athena!" Athena was the first to respond and accept the hoofshake.

"Alex." I proceeded next.

"Nice to meet ya'll." Applejack continued. "About your work, I can't really say if we have anythin'. I mean, we got lots of work, but we've usually been fine without any more help."

"We'll take anything really." I decided to add in. "It doesn't have to be full-time. It can be a few days or something."

Applejack returned to rubbing her chin and looked downwards in thought. "You know… I think you two mighta just came at the right time. Do you know anythin' about Zap Apple Jam?"

Athena and I turned towards each other, but we only shared an expression of confusion. "Never heard of it." Athena responded.

"Well, you see, they're magic apples, and once they're ripe enough for pickin' we've only got a day to pick em all before they all vanish."

"Apples can do that?!" Athena inquired about as her jaw look dangerously close to hanging wide open.

"These apples can. If you two are looking for work, we might just love to have you aboard in picking these apples. Seeing as there's only two of us that do all the work, we always have a hard time pickin' every one of them."

"Well, we'd like any work you can give us." I felt myself grow a little more enthused.

"Great! I'll go talk to my Granny Smith. We're supposed to pick them apples tomorrow. Will you two be able to show up really early in the morning?"

I didn't exactly like the idea of showing up early, but the fact that we'd actually be making some money for the first time in a long while sounded motivating enough to get me up at practically anytime.

"Totally!" Athena accepted quickly.

"Alrighty then! I'll have to talk to Granny about this after I'm finished with my work, so why don't the two of you show up around dawn? I'll let ya know if Granny's okay with ya getting paid."

"We can do that." Athena sent me an exaggerated grin.

"See ya tomorrow then!" Applejack was just about to continue pulling the cart behind her past us until she suddenly stopped as if remembering something out of the blue. "Oh yeah. If you see a bunch of stormy rainy clouds on the way over here, don't fret! It's just a part of the Zap Apple Jam process."

"Got it…" I answered in a rather puzzled manner. Whether it was okay to get paid or not, I was still intrigued enough to come and see what exactly these Zap Apples were all about.

"Hey!" Athena bumped me with her leg after watching Applejack walk away towards the barn. "Let's go check on our order!"

---

We returned to Sugarcube Corner shortly after, and Pinkie Pie immediately recognized us as soon as we walked in.

"Hi! There you are!" She acknowledged as we approached the counter. "Your order is ready to go!"

Catching up with Pinkie's seemingly natural energetic rhythm, Athena licked her lips in anticipation. "I can't wait!"

"Is there anything else you want?" Pinkie asked. "We got loads of more sugary goodness to satisfy any sweet tooth!"

Athena turned to me with a bright smile. "You know what? Let's add some triple chocolate cookies! How about it?!"

Before I could tell Athena that her addition was a little unnecessary, Pinkie didn't hesitate to be on the move. "Got it! Coming up!"

"You're really splurging today, aren't you, Athena?" I asked, slightly concerned about her.

"Why shouldn't I?" She countered. "I don't want today to be a depressive one. We need to look at the brighter side of everyday, you know?"

I didn't necessarily disagree with her there, but I felt her goals were somewhat too much of a stretch to handle easily. "Geez… I know we're twins, but you and me are like the sun and the moon. Day and night."

"But~." Athena leaned in towards me as she stretched this in exaggeration. "They may be different, but they work so well together! You can't have one without the other. Remember that!"

"Since when did you get so philosophical?" I questioned the rare side of her I hardly saw.

"Here you go!" Pinkie Pie had unexpectedly intervened into our conversation and brought out our orders. "Will that be for here or to go?"

Athena shared another glance towards me as she responded with her answer. "Better be on the safe side and have it here. Don't want a certain someone finding out."

On the other hoof, Pinkie Pie took it rather lightheartedly. "Ooh! Are you guys planning a surprise party for somepony?! I can totally help! You see, I've been secretly building up files on every— Wait! I can't tell you that or it wouldn't be a secret! Anyway, I can totally help with parties! It's kind of my thing! I've got an arrangement of party plans like…"

I knew that Pinkie Pie had been a kind of free-spirited pony like Athena, based on her bubbly attitude, but I suppose I never guessed that she could be an extreme chatterbox at times too. It took a while before Pinkie had to stop her incoherent rambling to help another customer. When that happened, Athena and I were finally allowed to partake in our delicious meal of desserts.

Unfortunately, we didn't have any magic, so we couldn't properly use a fork to our advantage. Instead, Athena happily insisted on the idea of feeding each other. In other words, she would use her mouth to move the fork and feed me cake with it and vice versa. I found this extremely unnecessary and embarrassing to me, but seeing as the entirety of these sweets were her treat to cheer me up, I couldn't deny her gesture. Seriously, despite her quirks, she was honestly the best sister I could ever have.

---

We decided to return home after we were finished up at Sugarcube Corner. I had to admit that Pinkie Pie seemed like a really nice pony, and it was pretty amazing that she was so willing to be friends with us right off the bat. However, the thing that prevented me from getting too friendly with her was the fact that we'd be leaving back to Fillydelphia eventually. Athena and I didn't know when, since our dad never liked to let us in on "family decisions", but I, for one, didn't want to build up a relationship with Pinkie Pie only to have it shatter when we'd have to move back. I still didn't know what I was going to do with Coco, but I didn't want to think about it.

Athena and I were about to return to our room until our dad stopped us in the living room for some reason.

"Where were you two?" He asked in a controlling kind of manner, rather than a parent's natural concern.

"I told you, dad." Athena answered. "We were just out walking around town."

He seemed to eye Athena carefully. I didn't know what his deal was, but he was paying much more attention to Athena than to me for a change. After a moment of uncomfortable silence, he turned towards me. "You. Outside. I need to talk with your sister."

I suddenly felt my protective instincts switch on. "What? Why?" I felt my rebellious side kick in. I didn't like the idea of Athena being alone with him at all, knowing firsthoof about his anger.

"Go. Outside." He proceeded to push through his gritted teeth.

Athena quickly signaled me that she'd be okay.

In the end, I had to force myself to step outside. I wasn't sure if this expression was accurate, but I felt like a robot without any oil when it came to following my father's order.

I didn't know what he expected me to do, but I remained strictly by the door to the house. I tried keeping an ear open, but I suppose that that was the main reason why he wanted me outside. There were too many things, such as the outside noise and the thick wooden barrier between the interior and me, that kept me from hearing anything at all. I continued standing by the front door while tapping my hoof impatiently. I was worried that he might do something to her, given his violent nature against me. All I could do was wait, but should I feel the extreme need to, I wouldn't be able to stop myself from barging in.

Unexpectedly, there was this vigorous shake of my heart, and the next thing I knew, I was being tackled down to the ground by somepony. Before I could figure out who it was, all I could hear was wailing and sobbing.

"Alex!"

"Athena?!" I immediately recognized her voice and was extremely shocked to find her in the condition she was. "What happened?!"

"He-he-he was going to hit me…!" She cried. "I told him to stop, but-but it wasn't until—!"

As much as I wanted to comfort Athena, I let the rage that had awakened inside get the better of me. I stormed into the house looking straight for this despicable being. I caught him leaving our room with his infamous leather strap that held numerous tooth marks indented in.

"What do you think you're doing?!" I shouted out loud.

"You better shut your trap, boy." He muttered aggressively. "Where is she?!"

"You're not going anywhere near her!" I exclaimed and firmly planted myself in his way.

Of course, that was enough to charge headfirst into the lion's den.

---

I had lost track of time during the middle of it, and it didn't seem until he had tired himself out when he finally stopped. I could hear him fuming through his nostrils as he walked away, and I was left with my body aching all over.

Athena began treating me as much as she could in our room, but, in all honesty, there was nothing she could really do. I was going to have to sit through the pain until it finally stopped. However, I considered the pain worth it, as long as Athena was safe.

"I'm so sorry…" Athena apologized with a trembling voice. "This is all my fault…"

I tried my best not to groan or grunt as I spoke with her, but it was nearly impossible to keep myself from displaying my inflictions. "No, it isn't. It's that crazy old coot." I muttered with disdain.

Athena shook her head. "He found stupid frosting on my coat, and then he found out that we ate cake with the money Mr. Orange gave me. He got so mad. He got even more mad when I wouldn't give him the money. Then…something weird happened…!" Athena sounded like she was on the verge of shouting. "I—!" She suddenly cut herself off and sighed heavily. "When I saw you two at it, I didn't know what to do. I wanted to stop it, but I didn't know how. You were turning red again, and I don't like that side of you, Alex…"

"I wasn't going to let him touch you, Athena!" I felt a sudden burst of strength that allowed me to raise my voice and clearly expose my feelings for her. "It was my fault for letting him even get close like that."

"Alex…" Athena began to sniffle as her eyes twitched from the tears that formulated in her eyes.

"It's over." I told her before she could possibly continue to place the blame on herself. "It's in the past. Let's just try to get some sleep, so we can put this day behind us."

It seemed she didn't have anything else to say. She only nodded and wrapped her hooves caringly around me. Since I was sore, this motion added a bit towards the pile of pain I had already been enduring, but I gratefully accepted it for the simple reason that it was her.

"I love you, Alex." Athena seemed to feel the need to voice.

"I love you too, Athena." I returned evocatively.

That night, Athena stayed closer to me than usual, and I returned the exact favor. She wanted to be there to care for me, and I wanted to be there to watch over and protect her.

However, given our current state, I wasn't sure if that was a blessing or a curse.