A grey earth pony was trying to find his way through the western neighborhoods of Baltimare. His fancy looking glasses and elegant red tie were a sign that he’s from central Baltimare, where the more wealthier ponies reside.
No taxi was willing to drive him trough this part of the city, not even with the promise of a generous tip. At first he took this as a sign that the area has gotten more dangerous since the last time he was here, but now that he was actually here again he could see why: The roads here have gotten so bad that no carriage would dare travel trough them. There were a few roads that look safe enough for vehicles, but only somepony that lives around here would know how to safely travel through them . To make matters worse, it rained a few days ago, so now the streets are proving to be a challenge to travel even on hoof.
As he was trying to find his way trough the muddy streets, he kept asking himself the same question: Why would anyone want to live here? Even if you ignore the harsh terrain, there’s nothing else around these parts but some simple shops. He just couldn’t see what the locals could do for fun.
He finally found the house he was looking for. He’s only been here once before, so it took more time than expected getting here. He looked at the mailbox, it said “Mist Residence” on it, so now he was sure this was the right place. After knocking on the door, a blue mare greeted him. She smiled as soon as she saw who it was.
“Foghorn, you made it!” she said as she gave him with a hug.
“Hello, mother” he hugged her back.
“We expected you hours ago. I was starting to think you weren’t going to come at all today”
“Sorry about that. I got a little lost on my way here”
“What’s important is that you’re here now. Come in. We were just about to sit down for dinner”
Once they arrived at the dinner table, Foghorn saw that Morning Mist was already seated and had started eating.
“Honey, look who’s here? It’s Foghorn” Misty said excitedly. Hoping that the visit from his only son might get a more positive reaction out of him. Lately, he’s been very indifferent about everything.
“Father” said Foghorn
“You’re late” was all his father said, as he continue to eat the salad he was having for dinner.
Foghorn said nothing else, but he was disappointed to see that the only thing that has change in his father since the last time he saw him was the beard he was growing.
This was going to be a long dinner…
**************************
“I see, so Yellow Star is going to be a father soon. Isn’t that nice, honey?”
“Mmm-hm” said Morning Mist.
The rest of the evening went by like that: Foghorn talked about how all their friends from the old neighborhood were doing. The conversation was mostly between himself and his mother, but she kept trying to include Morning in the conversation, despite his obvious disinterest in the topic.
“I’m so glad for Sunlight. His mother and I always worried that he would never settle down.”
“Speaking of families…” she said trying to sound as casual as possible “Is there any special somepony in your life?” she gave a very expecting smile.
Foghorn sighted. He knew where this conversation was heading.
“No, mother. I’m currently not dating anypony”
“I see…” she said with a very disappointed tone. “Have I ever told you about this lovely mare that lives at the end of the street? She’s about your age and…”
“Mother, please! I don’t need any help with those sorts of things”
“What? I’m just trying to help. When your father and I were Sunlight’s age you were already out of diapers.”
“Times have change, mother. These days not everyone marries and has kids by the time they’re 20.”
“Leave the boy alone, Misty. If he’s not interested in mares then you’re just gonna have to accept it.”
Foghorn shot his dad an angry look, knowing very well that he wouldn’t be able to see it. “That’s not what I said, father. I’m just too busy with other things to be dating anypony right now”
Ever since he began living on his own, they always end up having this conversation whenever they get together: Mother always worrying about finding him a nice mare companion, and his father jumping to crazy conclusions.
“I have good news for you, father” He was planning on finding the right moment to tell them, but anything is better than continuing with this conversation.
“I found the healer”
Silence filled the room
“Is this the same healer you were telling us about before?”
“Yes”
“I don’t want anything to do with him, or his kind” Morning stood and was ready to storm out of the room.
“father, please listen…” he put his hoof on his father’s shoulder.
“Forget it. You’ve heard what those savages do? They cut off the limbs of the wounded, and even kill the ones that they considered to be too sick!”
“Yes, I heard it all the stories. But I’m not inviting him over to chat about his lifestyle. He’s coming because he has cured cases like yours. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”
Morning said nothing, silently stroking his beard and thinking about his son’s words. “He’ll probably gouge my eyes out”
“So what? It’s not like he can leave you any blinder”
He then felt his mother smack him on the back of the head “That’s not funny!”
“By the way, father. I have to say that that beard does not suit you”
Morning stopped. The truth is he also hated the beard. But by now his eyesight has gotten so bad that he can’t even see himself in the mirror. He would love to shave it off, but what he hates even more than a beard is having to depend on others for something as simple as shaving.
“Very well. Bring over your healer”
**************************
Poppy heard a knock on the door
“Misty, how are you?”I was about to ask her to come in when I noticed her nervousness. “Is everything alright?”
“I need your help”
“What is it?”
“Please come with me” without waiting for an answer, she grab me by the hoof and almost dragged me out. I barely had time to close the door behind me as I tried to keep up with Misty.
“Misty, please slow down. What is this all about?”
She let go of my hoof, but she was still trying to lead me somewhere. “Our son brought over a doctor to see Morning about his condition”
“That’s great. Just because there’s no cure doesn’t mean that he should stop trying.” It all sounded like good news to me, but seeing Misty’s worried expression made me think otherwise.
“That’s what I thought too. I thought that this doctor would just examine Morning and would tell us what our options were. But after a brief checkup, he insisted on starting treatment right away.”
“Treat him! What is he going to do?”
“That’s what has me so worry, he didn’t tell us. I tried to stop it, to give us some time to think it over, but Foghorn said not to worry, that this is the way the doctor normally does things
“And Mr. Mist just agreed to this? The time I ask if he let me take a closer look at him, he threw one of your potted plants at me.”
“Foghorn talked him into it. He was always good at getting his way with his dad… and Morning already apologized for that thing with the plant!”
As we continue talking, I noticed that we were heading to Misty’s house. Witch was odd; since I thought we were suppose to go see this doctor she was telling me about. For the time being I limited myself to follow my friend.
We went to the backyard where we saw a grey stallion sitting on a chair, quietly reading a book. I had never actually met him before, but I recognize him from the photos Misty has shown me before. The stallion shifted his gaze from his book when he noticed us standing in front of him. Once he saw me, he gave Misty an angry look.
“Who’s your friend, mother?”
“This here is Poppy, its one of our neighbors”
I raised my hoof to greet him when, but I was swiftly cut off by Foghorn when he closed his book.
“Poppy, I'm sorry that my mother dragged you here for nothing. But right now we are in the middle of a family matter, so I would greatly appreciate it if you would come back another time”.
“But…Poppy is a doctor, so I thought she might be able to help somehow…”
“No local doctors can help Gill with what he’s doing now, mother”
“But still, she might…”
“Wait!” I said, I wasn't sure what was going on here, and honestly I didn't cared. I was here only because I'm interested in meting this other doctor Misty was talking about. “Where is Mist now? I thought we were going to see him?”
Misty and Foghorn shared a look, and then both shifted their gaze to the tent that was also in the backyard. I followed their line of sight and saw the tent; It was a big tent made for camping, Ive been there a couple of times with Misty during the sunny days…I gasped when I realized what they were implying.
“Are you telling me that Mr. Mist is there right now, in your backyard?”
"Now you see why im so worried. Whatever it is this doctor doing to my husband hes doing it there.
I took another look at the tent. It reminded me of the ones I saw in school text books that doctors used during the war, but today I don't see how anyone would willingly treat a patient in a place like that. There has to be a good reason for it, maybe whatever technique this doctor is using benefits from being outside, I doubt he did it just because its a nice day and he wanted some sun.
Foghorn sighted. “Fine, I wasn’t planning on telling you this, but what’s happening here right now isn’t exactly approved by Equestrian medicine.”
Misty began to panic. “It’s illegal!? How could you let someone like that experiment on you father?”
This is why he wanted to keep her mother out of the loop. She always tends to image the worse during bad situations. “Calm down mother, he’s not doing anything illegal. It’s just that if the police find out, that’s what they might think”
I interrupted the family squabble (again) to ask a question. “Why would the police think that, does he use some sort of black magic?”
He gave a quick glance to her mother. "You can ask him the details yourself later, but rest assure that hes not using any type of magic.”
No magic!? Now I really wanted to meet this Gill character. Foghorn doesn't strike me as a pony that would leave his father’s well-being in the hooves of a stranger without knowing exactly what they would do, so that vague answer he gave me must have been for the sake of his mother.
Moments later, I heard a stranger’s voice coming from behind her “You ponies are so noisy”
I turned around and saw a beast Ive never seen before. A creature that had the upper body of an eagle and the lower body of some other mammal.
The Mists quieted down when they saw him as well
“Gill, how is he?” Asked Foghorn.
Gill? So his is Gill?
“I’m all done”
All the ponies present remained silent, waiting for Gill to continue talking. But after it became evident that he wasn’t going to say anything else, Foghorn asked what we all wanted to know: “Well?”
“Well what?” Asked Gill, like he wasn’t sure what they were waiting for.
“How is my father?”
“Oh! That…we won’t know until he waked up”
“Can we see him?” asked a very concerned Misty
Gill just shrug his shoulders like it wasn’t his concern. Without wasting a second, Misty ran into the tent. She was relieve to see that her husband seem perfectly fine, aside from the bandages covering his eyes.
Since all the talking ended, Gill walked away to some other part of the backyard while I just stood there. A few moments ago I had a ton of questions in my head, but now all I could do was stare in fascination at the unknown creature.
“You’ve never seen a Griffon before, have you?” asked Foghorn
“A Griffon?” I shook my head.
"They're half eagle, half lion. I'm not surprise you haven't seen one before, they really ever come here to Equestria.