Chapter four: Ghost Charm.
Ghost Charm, some would say, was a fussy filly given to temper tantrums and the use of quiet often potentially lethal feminine charm.
She wouldn’t put it like that. Whilst many would use the words ‘ruthless’, ‘manipulative’, ‘dangerous’ or ‘bad news’, Ghost would use things such as ‘Ladylike’, ‘Conscientious’, ‘Delegating’, ‘disarming’ and ‘graceful’. It’s true. Every word of it. From both sides.
Ghost Charm was a complicated little filly. She had a small group of friends and they deferred to her as the ultimate leader. She decided what the group did for fun, what they did in class, how they did things.
What Ghost charm said was law in her little circle.
Of course, outside that little tightly knit circle of friends, other foals looked on her with a mixture of awe, adoration and absolute terror. She had a very piercing voice and always seemed to know precisely what to say to make one feel an inch tall, weak or to leave you mentally broken. She conducted herself with just as much grace and poise as her mother, although her tendency to look down her nose at others had gotten her in trouble more than once, often earning scathing remarks from her mother. She’d been working on it though, and she was getting a little better.
She had a strict schedule every morning. She got up, showered, brushed and shined her coat, attempted vainly to brush her unruly mane and tail into a semblance of elegance, made sure there was nothing in her schoolbags as a prank from her elder sister, had a breakfast of muesli, milk and a mixture of fruits to an exact count, then took her lunch from her mother, kissed her goodbye and left the house with Clear Skies at seven fifteen sharp. She arrived at school, if Clear Skies didn’t deviate from the optimal path, at seven thirty-one on the dot. That left her with twenty-nine minutes to visit the library and prepare all of her things for the day.
One might almost say she’s as meticulous as Twilight Sparkle.
However she didn’t always get to follow this schedule, and she had no choice but to sigh and go with Clear Skies. Sometimes she thought have Clear Skies as an older sister was a bore, a drag or worse, but as much as she’d scathingly deny it, she loved her sisters, both of them, dearly.
This day, it seemed, was a day when the schedule just seemed so… pointless. She rose at her customary time, sure, but she didn’t have the will to get up to get ready. So she lay in bed and thought back on her mother’s story from the previous night. Ghost Charm had never had a nightmare before, and she hadn’t quite started now, although her dream had been disturbing.
Anyway.
Her mind clung to the idea of somepony going around wearing a mask made of bone and she felt her stomach do a flip.
What if it wasn’t paint? What if it really was..?
Her face went pale and she felt nauseous.
Maybe… maybe a shower will help me…
Getting out of bed with a moment to steady herself after a headspin, Ghost staggered to the bathroom and ran a hot shower. Stepping into it quickly, she sighed as the hot water ran down her back and through her mane. There weren’t many places Ghost believed she could relax, but this was definitely one of them. But for all the time she spent in there, she didn’t feel any better when she left. If anything, her queasy and nauseous stomach got worse. Her face was pale when she knocked on the door to her parent’s room. There was a long pause and Ghost was about to knock again when she heard her mother call out “Come in.”
Ghost pushed the door open and poked her head in. Skeleton smiled at her.
“Ghost? What is it dear?”
Ghost blinked once, trying to stave off a headache now coming on.
“Mummy, I don’t feel too good…”
Skeleton frowned. Another peculiar trait about Ghost was the fact she never, ever admitted to being sick. Unless Skeleton told her so, Ghost Charm would force herself to school and back each day even if she’d lost a limb or developed a debilitating disease. She was that stubborn about going to school she refused to acknowledge the fact that she was sick. The fact that she was now coming to her mother’s door and admitting to not feeling well would have to mean it was pretty serious.
“You’re sick?”
Ghost nodded slowly.
“I…I think so…”
Skeleton nodded.
“Okay dear, You go back to bed, I’ll let the school know you won’t be there okay?”
Ghost nodded and went immediately back to bed like her mother had asked of her. Her mother was her idol, her role model and her superhero. Needless to say, Ghost did anything her mother asked her to. In this case, it seemed like an excellent idea anyway. She fell into a quasi-sleep state almost as soon as her head hit the pillows, but she couldn’t really sleep. Bemused, she watched as her sisters woke up and left the room. She heard their voices; she heard her name, then her mother’s voice saying something. It went past in a blur before she finally fell into a deep sleep.
~*~
It’s a curious thing truly, the story of my mummy.
I always saw her as so graceful, so elegant, so poised, so perfect. Nopony was more perfect than my mummy, and I wanted to be just like her. I still want to be just like her but these stories… It’s strange. Mummy’s always been there, calmly fixing everything. It didn’t matter what went wrong, she seemed to know exactly how to fix it. When she couldn’t, daddy could. I knew mummy had scars, but I never really thought about how they got there in the first place. Mummy thinks that we’re old enough to ask, so we’re old enough to know.
But… as I look up at her with her wing hugging me so close, I can’t help but feel a little sad for mummy. She hides so much, but shows so much more. I think she’s still hurting, deep down inside and that’s not nice. Her memories are full of pain and it hurts her to think about them. Daddy is helping her I think but…
I still can’t believe mummy wasn’t always so graceful and so ladylike. To think that she was scared and stuff? I’ve never seen mummy scared before. Not for real. She pretends when Skies tries to scare her, but she’s never really scared. I think.
I wanna help her, but what can I do? Despite what I want to do, I’m just a filly, how could I help? Is it even my place? Why is everything so complicated… I hate this. But… at the same time… I’m so… I want to know more. Maybe… Maybe I should talk to Pepper and Skies about it. I’m sure that, if I explain to them about it, they’ll come around. If I can get Skies to sit down for ten seconds without flying off, or Pepper to not look at me as though I’m doing something forbidden. If I can get them to agree, maybe We can stop mummy from telling us any more and stop her hurting herself.
It’s worth a shot right? I mean…
~*~
“GHOST!”
Ghost jolted out of her reverie. It had been a day since she’d been too sick to attend school. The sickness had passed almost as quickly as it’d come on, although her mother had babied her outrageously through the entire time. She’d been thinking all lesson and, since it was the last period of the day, hadn’t even noticed that school had ended. The classroom was empty except for herself and the teacher. A large, burly Pegasus stallion, Chalk Duster was, true to his name, chalky white with a brown mane and tail. Despite his size, he was about as intimidating as a box full of affectionate puppies and was prone to worrying about his students incessantly. He did however have a very large, very commanding voice when he wanted to use it.
This was one of those times.
“I.. I’m sorry sir, I guess I just… I was thinking and stuff…”
A look of relief flooded the big stallion’s rugged features.
“Well, that’s certainly a relief. I thought you might have been hurt or sick.”
She forced a smile at him and shook her head.
“No sir. I was sick yesterday, but I’m alright now, I promise.”
He smiled back at her. Although he wouldn’t admit it to anypony, Ghost was one of his favourite students. Eager and willing to learn and she did make the other ponies work, whether they wanted to or not.
“I hope so. Can’t have you falling ill on me in my class can I? Terrible for the reputation your understand.”
She giggled and nodded.
“Yes sir, I understand. I really must be getting home now though, thank you.”
His smile softened and he nodded.
“Of course. Do tell your mother I said hello okay?”
“Will do sir.”
~*~
Ghost was still lost in thought, even on the walk home from school. On her left was Pepper Pot, on her right was the prancing Clear Skies. Ghost was considering how exactly to broach the subject of their mother’s apparent discomfort and pain with her sisters and it wasn’t going incredibly well.
What am I meant to say? ‘Hey girls, I think these stories are hurting mummy maybe we should ask her to stop?’ I mean, look at Skies!
She shot her prancing sister a look that went unheeded, or unseen.
She doesn’t look like she has a care in the world, let alone caring about mummy’s disposition. And as for Pepper…
She glanced at Pepper Pot who was in the process of stretching out her wings.
Well, She’s the one who asked the question in the first place. Whyever would she want mummy to stop? It’s hard to tell what she’s thinking.
She was contemplating some way to bring it up when a shadow passed over the trio and Soarin, Spitfire and Fleetfoot landed a short way in front of them, all smiling with wings open. Clear Skies practically squealed and bounded forward, throwing herself at Soarin. Ghost followed at a much more demure pace and Pepper Pot simply continued walking, unfazed, only to be stopped by Fleetfoot. Ghost found herself swept up into the arms of the ever playful Spitfire and hugged fiercely.
“Ooh look at you! So grown up now!”
She couldn’t help but giggle at the captain’s antics before finally relenting and hugging her back. Fleetfoot, it seemed, was having much more trouble with Pepper than the others were and eventually Pepper ignored her and continued on her way. Soarin sighed and whispered to Skies, who nodded and flew happily over to Fleetfoot. Ghost watched as her father followed her youngest sister, trying to talk to her and frowned.
Maybe she’s more affected than I thought…
~*~
Reaching home with three Wonderbolts early from practice rather than one later surprised Skeleton Grin, but she took it all in stride, greeting Spitfire and Fleetfoot with hugs and pecks to the cheek. However her attempt to gracefully greet her husband was met without success as he swept her up into a lingering kiss, making Spitfire laugh out loud and Fleetfoot look away. After slugging her spouse on the shoulder playfully, Skeleton insisted the pair of mares stay for dinner. Spitfire quite readily accepted, as though this was her plan the whole time. Fleetfoot made a few excuses, but finally gave in when Skeleton flat out told her she was staying for dinner and that was that.
Ghost was preoccupied the entire time. She was vaguely aware of Pepper Pot reading the afternoon away and Skies doing stuff with both of the female Wonderbolts. It took her a moment, therefore, to realise her father had approached her with a concerned look on his face.
“Ghost? Are you alright? You look a little glum.”
She almost automatically tried to smooth her mane down. It was something she’d developed over the years, almost like a nervous tick. Whenever she was nervous, stressed or something like that, her hoof seemed to automatically seek out her mane. It had something to do with hiding her face.
“I’m okay daddy… I just…”
She stopped and Soarin’s concern grew. Soarin was a very open stallion when it came to emotions. They showed clearly across his face, like somepony had written his current emotion across his forehead with a sharpie or some other form of permanent marker. This was no different.
“Just what Ghost?”
“I… I’m worried… about mummy.”
Soarin felt a frown crease his forehead.
“Worried? What for?”
Ghost sniffed back tears that threatened to pour down her face.
“It’s just… this story, or stories, she’s telling us are hurting her… I can see it every time she talks about her scars. And every time she tells more, she hurts more. I… I don’t know if I can take much more of it…”
Soarin’s brows rose in surprise. He knew that Ghost wasn’t stupid, far from it. But being this observant and clever, especially considering Skeleton’s ability to hide her emotions when she wasn’t tired was extraordinary to him. He smiled.
“I’ll tell you what Ghost. I’ll talk to her about it okay? I’ll see if I can get her to stop so she stops hurting herself and everypony else around her okay? Because it’s worrying me too.”
~*~
That night, when bed time came around, Skeleton, Soarin, Spitfire and Fleetfoot, who had decided to stay the night in the guest room, all crowded into the carefully sectioned off bedroom for the three fillies a Skeleton once again resumed her tale, giving skipped the previous night in favour of getting Ghost Charm to sleep as soon as possible.
“What you have to understand is that many of my scars are just from a pony throwing something at me. Be it rocks or other things. But… this one in particular… It’s something Soarin has seen and asked about before, but I’m not sure many others have.”