//------------------------------// // 8 - The Ghost // Story: Spring and Spanner // by CodenameOne //------------------------------// Chapter Eight The Ghost There was just thirty minutes left in the day, and Spring Blossom couldn't wait to go home. She sat on the floor next to Patchouli Rest, but found she couldn't focus on the project they were supposed to be working on together. "Come on, Spring! You can't even remember the main character's name?" Patchouli asked. "I remember! I just can't remember what she did or why she did any of it" Spring said. "Alright, look, the main character's name was Ishmare, and she was helping the captain of the boat she was on catch a whale" Patchouli explained. "So the book was about catching whales?" Spring asked. "No! The book was about how obsessed the captain pony was, and how she died because she couldn't let the whale go. It's supposed to be like...symbolic, or something." "So it was about catching whales." Patchouli facehoofed, which made Spring giggle. She was starting to remember the book a little better, and was remembering why she hadn't liked it so much: it was weird. It was long, and written weirdly, and plus Spring didn't like that the zebra character in the book was dumb and couldn't speak Equestrian. Spring felt that was mean because she knew from reading Morning Glisten's letters that zebras lived in Equestria and could speak Equestrian just fine. "I didn't like the book. I'm gonna write down how mean it was that the zebra couldn't speak Equestrian" Spring said, and scribbled that on her part of the book report. It was a dumb book about a pony who died because they were greedy and mean, that's all there was to it in Spring's mind. Before she knew it the final bell rang and Spring scrambled to put all of her things away in her desk. She was careful to keep everything organized the way she liked, and quickly got in line to leave the classroom. As all the colts and fillies got out into the hall the foals from the orphanage separated into their own line near the caretaker. Patchouli waved to Spring, who waved back. A few minutes later everypony was outside, and Spring couldn't wait to rush home. It was Friday and she didn't have any homework, so she was free to spend the weekend with her dad. The weather in spring was so pretty, and Spring loved it. She couldn't wait to get home and water her flowers, and was hoping that there was a letter from Morning waiting for her. She ran through the town, a few adults she recognized waving at her as she sped by. Very shortly she was outside her home and rushed up to the mailbox. There was a single envelope inside, and she carried it in. "Dad, I'm home!" Spring called, but there was no response. She looked over the envelope she'd pulled out from the mailbox and discovered it was from Morning. She rushed into her room, door already open, and hopped up onto her bed. She was just about to open it up when she was hit with a sudden urge. She quickly cantered out of her room and down the hall to the bathroom. The door was open, so she knew there was nopony inside. She rushed in and locked the door. As she did her business she heard the backdoor open, and was excited to tell Spanner all about her day. She heard a knock on the front door a few moments later, and wondered who it could be. She heard the door open, and Spanner say something to the pony who had knocked. Spring carefully washed her hooves in the sink and was about to go back out when she heard her dad talking to somepony, but he was talking really loud. She eased up to the door and gently cracked it open, peeking out through the gap. She saw Spanner standing in front of a stallion she didn't recognize, the two of them standing in the living room. Trouble was, she couldn't understand what they were saying. "Die kühnheit..." Spanner said. "Sie haben nerven hierher zu kommen." The stallion Spanner was talking to was big, taller than Spanner by a few inches, and more muscular. His coat was gray, his mane and tail black. He had a cutie mark of a spear jutting out from behind a shield, and he looked mean. "Ihre hilfe wird zu hause benötigt" the other stallion said. "Dass sie ein solches leben Ihrer pflicht gegenüber dem Vaterland vorziehen würden ist traurig." "Ich bin jetzt viel glücklicher als jemals zuvor zu hause" Spanner said, and Spring scrunched up her face. What were they saying, and who was this stallion?! The mysterious stallion scoffed. "Du lebst alleine und arbeitest einen schrecklichen job. Komm nach hause, zurück ins Vaterland. Wir brauchen deine hilfe, Spanner Wrench." Spanner took a step towards the stallion. "Nein. Ich werde nie zurückkehren. Du und alle anderen können in der Hölle brennen." The stallion nodded. "Ich verstehen. Ich habe etwas für dich. Vielleicht wird dich das interessieren" he said, and reached into a saddlebag on his left side that Spring hadn't noticed. He took out a large tin disc with an opening on it, and Spring recognized it as a film reel. He was giving her dad a movie? Maybe it was a gift, and he was friends with her dad! Suddenly Spanner smacked the film reel out of the stallion's hooves, and it clattered across the carpet, part of it breaking open and the film reel spilling out across the carpet. Spring gasped, unable to believe what she'd just seen. She'd never seen her dad hit another pony, or do anything violent at all. "Get. Out. Now." Spanner said, and the stallion trotted towards the front door. Spring held her breath and scooted back from the bathroom door, and listened as the stallion calmly left. She stayed in the bathroom, though, and peeked back out at her dad. He looked down at the film on the floor, and looked angry. Really angry, and Spring didn't know why. She was afraid, too. She'd never seen her dad like this before. Spanner just stood there for a few moments, breathing really hard, staring at the film. After several minutes he took a deep breath and blew it out, and looked calmer. He picked the reel back up, rolled the film back into the can, and carried it to his bedroom. Spring watched him calmly trot outside, and she gently pushed the door open. She slowly trotted out of the bathroom, and quickly locked the front door before she trotted to the kitchen. She looked out through one of the windows and saw her dad go into the shed. She watched as he brought out a ponyquin kind of thing, with a large burlap sack in the shape of a pony filled with straw and mounted on a stand. He set it up in the backyard, went back into the shed, and came back out holding a wood baton. Spanner stood in front of the ponyquin for a few moments before he started hitting it. Spring gasped, and put a hoof up to her mouth. What is happening... she wondered, and watched in horror as her father wailed on the straw pony. There was a sharp crack each time the baton hit the wood insides of the straw pony, audible even in the house. She watched, shaking, as Spanner relentlessly beat the straw pony. He hit it, and hit it, and hit it, and hit it, and hit it, and just wouldn't stop. Soon he started grunting each time he swung the baton, and the straw pony swayed on each hit. With tears in her eyes and butterflies in her stomach Spring got down and trotted to her room. She looked at Morning's letter, sitting on her desk, but decided not to read it. She crawled on to her bed and looked at the door, afraid and alone and confused. The rest of the day had been uncomfortable for Spring. She hadn't said anything about the stallion or the straw pony beating, and Spanner hadn't said anything about it to her either. Quite the opposite, he had spent the day being his usual self around her. Spring hadn't really wanted to play with him, so she spent most of the day in her room, reading. Only coming out to get a snack, eat dinner, and use the bathroom. The day was at its end, and Spring still had no idea what had happened or if she should ask Spanner about it. She had brushed her teeth and gone to bed almost an hour ago, and still hadn't managed to fall asleep. She was just so confused. She had never seen that stallion before, never heard that language before, and then her dad got angry and violent. None of it had been directed at her, but it was still alarming and scary. She still hadn't even read Morning's letter to her. She looked over at it on her desk, bathed in the glow of Luna's moon, and got out of bed. She flicked on the lamp on her desk, opened the envelope, and pulled the letter out. Dear Spring Blossom, I hope you are doing well! Me, Mom, Mama, and Ma are all doing real good. I finaly got my cutie mark, I was so happy! If you want I can send you a photo of it, if you wanna see it. School is goin good, i got an A- in my equestrian language class, and a B+ in all the other ones. I was worried that Mom would realy get on me about my grades, but she said she doesnt want to preshure me too hard. I heard Ma say that it was weerd that Mom wasn't being 'noorotic', but she wont tell me what that means, so i gues i'll ask miss Cheerily. My friends Pound and Pumpkin are doing good, too. I hope you are having fun with your new dad. I miss you Spring. Love, Mo Glow. Spring smiled, happy for her friend. She put the letter down and looked at her door, and opened it up. She snuck over to the door of her dad's room, and gently pushed it open. There was a flickering light in his room, and Spring pushed the door open further. Her dad was sitting on the floor, his back to the door, and the window in his room was covered by a big white tarp. The projector was set up, a film reel mounted in it. The movie was strange, and in black-and-white. There were ponies in dark uniforms marching together, a pony making a speech, and random footage of a bunch of craters in a field. The movie went back to the pony giving the speech, and she heard him say "Vor fünf Jahren wurden wir bedroht. Heute sind wir wieder bedroht! Diesmal von innen! Stell dich gegen die Verräter!!" The film then showed a rope being tied around a pony's neck, but it wasn't a normal pony. Their coat was a dark color and they had holes in their legs, and then the film showed a humongous crowd of ponies all clapping and cheering and saluting. "Wir lassen uns nicht von ihnen kontrollieren! Wir werden nicht zulassen, dass sie uns manipulieren! Das Vaterland hält, das Vaterland SCHÜTZT." A picture of a flag with an eagle on it came up, perched upon a bar and its wings spread, and then the movie ended. Spring watched her dad continue to just sit on the floor, staring at the blank screen. After a few minutes he got up, switched off the projector, and took the film off of it. He looked at it, set it down on his dresser, and started to disassemble the projector. Spring crept back from the door and went back into her room. She looked at the letter Morning had sent her and frowned. It was too late to write a reply, but she knew she had to ask somepony for help. She wanted to ask Spanner if he was OK, but she was still a little afraid of him. She knew he'd never hurt her, but it was still scary the way he'd acted. She'd just have to wait until tomorrow, and go ask Miss Ginger for help. Otherwise she'd have to wait until Monday when she went back to school to ask one of the teachers. Spring switched off her lamp, crawled back into bed, and closed her eyes. It took a long time to find her, but eventually sleep came, her dreams filled with images of Spanner in a dark uniform, beating ponies.