One gloomy afternoon.

  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..."