Chapter one: Enter the fog.
The morning. The most hated part of every day, in the small seaside town of Arkham. The morning it was the time of day, when the stirring of the locals would become audible and apparent. The sound of creaking, as doors slowly opened, and the crashes, of doors slamming, as the workforce of the small town rose from their beds, and moved on to get to work.
It was very routine, it happened every day, it was always the same series of events. Though, today seemed odd. It was much like the morning previous, something seemed...Off. Much like the previous day, it had a presence, but it was apparent with a greater intensity. Of course, it was the fog. On the way to their work, there was quite a stir. A few phrases were exchanged amongst those who commuted, which was quite unusual. The commonplace of their chatter, was usually one or two words about an event that happened a week or two ago.
There was not much to talk about in the small town of Arkham, making the conversations between the commuters even more unusual, breaking the chronic silence of the town. But what they spoke of, was the most interesting piece of the proverbial puzzle. "It's a bit foggy out." One would say to another, getting a nod for a response, or perhaps a grunt, if the other felt enthusiastic. It was frequently foggy in the town of Arkham, but of course this fog...was quite out of the ordinary. It had started two days previous, the fog rolled in, choking out the sun's light, casting a grotesque shadow upon the landscape.
The town's reaction was to ignore it, perhaps it would go away, like strangers, and the mysterious creatures that occasionally rose out of the ocean. Alas, it had been around for two days, so there was quite a fuss amongst the citizens of Arkham. Yet, it lingered. Even tentacled atrocities from the depths, bringing the scent of brine and chaos, seemed to pass through in a more reasonable amount of time. So the irritation of the town was justified, to themselves at least.
After some time, and the commute to work was finally in full flow, there would be another disturbance to the natural routine order of Arkham, though to most it would be a more abnormality, rather than a reason to express discomfort. It was humming, and the clicking of hooves against the cobbled streets. Out of from the fog would emerge a grey stallion, one of average height, wearing some purple-formal attire. It was of course the mayor. His oiled back mane met a pleasant expression, as he strolled towards the town square. But he did not travel alone. Hot on his heels, a small entourage of goons backed him up, their grizzled visage stood out behind the well-dressed town leader. Their presence would seem benign, as the almost empty cramped streets of Arkham seemed to lighten up with the mayor's presence.
Several minutes later, the word would quickly spread around the town, the mayor had arrived in the town square! Quiet conversation would blossom into open excitement. The mayor almost never left his abode, a large wooden house that overlooked the town, with a strange imposing image of authority and tyranny. But of course, the mayor's house did not reflect his personality. As far as the townees could tell, he was a real swell guy, after all, they had voted for him.
It was only a matter of time before everypony had arrived to the town square, gathered around the makeshift podium the mayor's goons had thrown together. The podium was but a pile of books and chairs, stacked on one-another until several feet tall, giving the grey official just enough height to address the gathered crowd. Not everypony had showed up, most preferred to work, than to admit that something might interfere with their daily lives.
The mayor would look around the crowd, his mouth moving as he pointed at every individual, taking some abbreviated headcount. In a few moments, the mayor would look down, clear his throat in a rather obnoxious manner, and return his attention to the crowd.
He spoke in a charismatic and pleasant tone.
"My fellow residents of Arkham, I have just received word, that the Drudge will surface, and soon..."
Chapter two: From sea too shore.
The crowd would gasp in shock, some would look around, wondering what to think about the situation, while others pranced with heated anxiety. Could the drudge return? Did anyone actually pay attention to the mayor? Under what horrendous circumstances could something so grotesque return? A gentle and optimistic voice would chime in amongst the chaos. "Now now! It's okay everyone!" Through the kind calming words, the crowd would continue to panic, scream, and shout, whilst flipping out in general. "Could everyone just take a moment to simmer down?" he calmly stated once more, being as reassuring as he could for such an out of place personality.
But instead of the crowd continuing their rambling entropic outburst, the cluster of gloomy ponies seemed to do as the mayor asked, calming down and returning to their better judgement. "Now who knows what the Drudge is? Go on, raise your hoof, no need to be shy everypony." After a pause, and some awkward glances, a good ten percent of the crowd would raise their hooves, mostly older ponies. A disheartened expression would creep across the face of the mayor, and he would shake it off quickly, trying to keep the crowd morale up as best as he could, for a stressed elected official. "Err, okay, good... very good...So, I guess as mayor of Arkham, the duty falls on me to explain the situation at hand." the well dressed optimist tapped his hooves on the cover of a book, that lay atop his pile in a nervous fashion, followed by the panicked grinding of teeth. "Well, it's a long story, delving deep into the past of Arkham, it's terribly long and complicated, but simply put, we're allowed to live here...as long as we keep dumping all of our waste products into the ocean, as long as we keep up our quota. But, with population at an all time low, and the rate of chemical disposal is at an all time low, and it wants to take a tour, to make sure we're not holding anything back." he said this in the most calming voice he could muster, in his attempt to keep the crowd from continuing their spree of shouting nonsensical phrases, and being way too silly to handle.
Yet, despite the mayor's very best attempts to explain in a calm demeanour, the dreary residents of Arkham began to spiral out of control, into a hectic scene of comedic flailing and confusion, before their voices grew louder with the realisation something they don't understand would have to walk in their midst. "First the fog, then this?!" yelled one of the old timers through the ensuing chaos. "What if he don eats our phillies?!" another elderly pony yelled at the mayor over a couple of panicking mares. A deep sigh would be heard from the makeshift podium, before hooves would make a gesture for the anxious crowd to calm down. "Now now, settle down everyone, it's all going to be okay! Look, all we have to is stay out of the streets, and as far as I can tell, it wont demand anything more than some of the town's important papers! Yes, a town sleepover! It'll be magnificent!" The gloomy crowd eyed one another, exchanging nervous glances.
One nervous, shaking hoof would be raised from the crowd. "Um...Maybe we can just stay indoors?" there was a resounding agreement from the crowd, a unanimous approval of the proposition made by the mysterious voice. Everypony seemed to express interest in the notion of a quiet afternoon, where everyone will lock themselves inside of their brick houses.
The mayor would clear his throat audibly one last time. "Ah! Okay! Starting in..." he looked up to the town clocktower, before diverting his attention back to the crowd. "Two hours, lock yourselves in your homes, and get ready for a calm work-free afternoon!" There was some murmuring amongst the townsfolk, and more approval. "Okay! Town meeting dismissed!" one of the goons would climb up the makeshift podium, and whisper in the mayor's ear. "Hurry everyone!" he chimed in as he turned his attention to his entourage, looking partially worried as he strolled off with his grunts.
