That Which Lurks in the Gloomwood

by Orkus

A Time of Uncertainty

Upon hearing the sound of heavy hoofsteps on a wooden floor passing by her door, Charybdis awoke from her sleep. Sitting up and pushing her covers over, she let out a loud yawn and brushed a tired, small hoof through her disheveled, silver mane as the warm, orange, morning sun shined over her through the nearby window. She was a somewhat odd-looking filly, to put it lightly. Her usual messy fur was of a sapphire blue coloring, she possessed a crooked horn on her head; permanently broken out of place after running into a wall, shortly upon learning to walk as a foal, and her eyes were of a golden color; lying on a face covered in white specks of freckles.

As she stepped out of bed, she quietly tiptoed by the snapdragon rose that rested in a clay pot on her drawer. Its head was still closed and sleeping silently; hiding the toothy, talkative mouth that lied inside of it. "Hesperus," as it was named, was a gift she received from last Hearth's Warming.

Finally getting to the door, she opened it up slightly, getting a look at what walked around outside of it. In the living area, Charybdis spotted the tall, black-furred shape of who she recognized immediately was her father, Longinus Eveningstar. He was wearing a vividly light blue cloak around himself, concealing his wings as he almost always did when he went out, and was currently looking outside of the small, square window next to the house's front door.

For an odd filly, Charybdis had almost equally odd parents as well. Her father was an alicorn with a complicated past, and he tried to hide his identity as what he was from most folk by always wearing a cloak, giving most the impression that he was just a taller-than-usual unicorn. Charybdis's mother Carol, on the other hoof, was a serpentine, water-loving kelpie with a hyperactive mindset that was passed down to her daughter in spades. She, however, was not present. As a matter of fact, Charybdis remembered with a heavy and worried heart that she was currently at the hospital all the way in Ponyville.

Not a week before, the filly's mother came down with something that left horrible symptoms. Severe chest pains, strained breath, and weakness in most of her joints were just to name a few. When it got bad enough that she could barely move, her father took her to Ponyville's hospital for treatment, and she had been there since.

"Charybdis, I know you're there," Longinus suddenly spoke, turning his head enough for one of his cyan eyes to peer behind himself. Charybdis nearly jumped back at his words and reaction, but swallowed her surprise before she could succumb to it.

"Oh, uh... good morning, Papa," she greeted, pushing the door open with a creak of its hinges, and walking out from her room fully. "Are you getting ready to leave?"

"Yes, I am," he mouthed dryly, walking from the window to her. "It's seven o'clock now. Your cousin will be here any minute."

Charybdis rushed forward and hugged his leg. "You're going to be back soon, right?"

"I will return as soon as I can," he replied, extending a long, dark wing hidden under his cloak, hugging back.

"You'll tell Mama I said hi, right?"

Longinus gave off a small smile as their embrace ended. "Of course I will."

A knocking on the door siddenly went out, sending out a small echo through the room. Quickly approaching it and opening it up, Longinus revealed a light-orange earth pony wearing a shoulder bag and bearing a very familiar set of glasses over her snout. Despite this look, Charybdis knew that this was her changeling cousin, Skia. What gave it away was the fact that her left hind leg still looked as scarred as it always did; damaged in an incident back when she was but a nymph.

"Good morning, Skia. I see you took my advice and disguised yourself," Longinus spoke to her.

"Well, you did say that the townsponies here are a bit superstitious, and probably wouldn't take kindly to having a changeling in their midst," Skia said. "I thought it'd be safer to take a precaution."

"You saw Carol before you left, correct?" he asked her as soon as she finished.

"Yes, I did," the changeling replied. "The doctors told me that she's still in a critical state, but she's awake and able to speak again. I was able to talk with her personally just before I came here."

Longinus sighed. "That is good news to hear. Thank you."

As Skia limped in, unable to walk too properly due to her scarred appendage, Longinus walked out into the doorway. Before departing fully, he turned around to say his goodbyes.

"Charybdis, I will hopefully be back by the end of the week," he spoke to his daughter. "Remember to stay out of trouble, and do everything that Skia tells you to do."

"I will, Papa. But... Mama's going to be fine, right?" Charybdis asked, looking to him with a questioning visage.

He returned with a small, troubled glance, having dreaded hearing this question for some time, before sighing. "I... I am not sure," he finally said. "Right now, we can only... we can only hope for the best. But I know she will pull through. Your mother's too stubborn to bested by something so small as a sickness."

He looked back at Skia. "Take care of my daughter. I will return shortly."

"Of course, uncle," Skia said back. With a final nod, he looked back to Charybdis, and then turned around and left. Skia closed the door for him, and then walked over to Charybdis, adjusting the glasses on her face.

"Well, it's just us now. Have you eaten yet?" she asked, putting her bag down on a nearby coffee table. Charybdis shook her head.

"No. I only woke up a few minutes ago," the filly responded. The changeling pursed her lips and thought for a moment, poking her chin with a hoof.

"Hmm..." she hummed. "What do think you might want? I could try to make you something. What do you like most for breakfast?"

"I was actually thinking... could we eat out?" Charybdis inquired. "My parents take me to a place in the middle of town whenever I feel sad on mornings like this. It's a nice little restaurant that serves the best hash browns around."

"Of course I can take you there," Skia smiled warmly. "What's it called?"

---

"Welcome to the Dry Dock!" a deep brown-furred earth pony waiter, wearing a black-peaked, white cap, and dressed in a red uniform, greeted to Skia and Charybdis as the entered the establishment. His clothing was positively crimson in color, and Skia, despite not really caring about fashion, couldn't help but notice how somewhat tacky his choice of headwear was. "My name's Rocky Road, and I'll be your waiter today! If you'll follow me, I can lead you to your table."

With a giddy grin from Charybdis, both she and Skia followed the pony deeper into the restaurant. Entering a large area, Skia saw there were many ponies sat in the dozens of tables there, talking, laughing, and generally having a good time with one another as they ate. The greasy, but appetizing smell of the establishment's food was thick through the air, like a musty, invisible cloud.

As they neared where the pony was leading them, Skia could see that in the back of the place lied a large, curtain-covered stage, not unlike what one would stand on to sing or recite a play. Upon reaching their destination, which was a round table made of dry wood, the waiter pulled their chairs out for them, and the two sat down.

"Would you like to order, or take a few minutes to look over the menu?" the waiter asked as he took a paper out; his cheery disposition unwavering. Skia looked to Charybdis as she gave her answer.

"I'd like to order. I want an egg sandwich on toast, with... hash browns!" she spoke. "With some chocolate milk. Please."

"One egg sandwich... toast, and... hash browns... with chocolate milk," the pony recited to himself as he wrote the order down on his paper with a pen placed firmly in his mouth. When he finished, he put his pen away and looked to Skia. "What do you wish for, ma'am?"

"Oh, I'm fine on the food," she responded. "But I guess I'll have a water."

"...And one... water..." Rocky Road said again as he took his pen back out, the sound of it scratching on the paper going out amidst the noise of the ponies dining around them. Finished, he closed his pen with a click and put it away once more, tipping his white hat to the two.

"Thank you for ordering. Your food will be with you shortly," he spoke, before trotting off. When the waiter left, Skia and Charybdis sat in mutual silence for a few seconds, until the filly decided to break it.

"Um... Skia..." she started in an uneasy tone. "My father hasn't told me too many details about it, but... do you know what my mom has? What kind of bug she caught? And please, tell me the truth. The entire truth. I want to know what's happening to her."

Skia remained quiet for a few seconds, allowing the surrounding voices to take over. Taking her glasses off with a hoof, she folded them up and placed them on the table before taking in a deep breath.

"Charybdis, I don't think you would really understand..."

"Please, tell me," she spoke again. "I snuck out of my room the other night, shortly after my mother had to go to the hospital, and heard my father sobbing in his. Sobbing. I've never heard him do that before, and I want to know what's so bad that's it caused him to do something like that."

Skia beamed at the filly with a long, surprised stare, and everything went quiet again.

"Your mother... what she has come down with is no ordinary disease," she spoke, slowly. "It's a terminal illness that... that the doctors scientifically call "cor arescet." It affects the heart directly and is... incurable. There have been very few cases like it, or so I've read."

Charybdis's golden eyes widened and looked fearful. "How "incurable" is it?" she asked, her tone rising.

"Well... medicine, no matter what kind it may be, doesn't work. The disease is resistant to healing magic for reasons still not known, and-"

"Okay, okay... I've... heard enough. I guess I shouldn't have asked," Charybdis interrupted in a perturbed and anxious voice, raising a hoof. "Let's just... focus on something else for now. How's Seren doing?"

"Serendipity's doing quite well," Skia replied, thinking to her sister back in her hometown, and happy to change the subject to something lighter. "She's still trying to crossbreed those ghost orchids of hers with some of her other specimens, and she's had help in the form of that Striga fellow."

"I still can't believe that pony decided to stay with her, and how she just... tolerates him. He's weird," the filly said, smirking slightly. Before she could go on, the sound of the curtains on the stage nearby were heard being drawn open, prompting to two to look in its direction.

There, on the once-empty stage, now stood a figure. He wore a wide-brimmed hat, was wrapped in shoddy, old clothing, exposing no flesh or fur whatsoever, and carried with him a violin over his back. Reaching for it and pulling it off, he stood up on his hind legs, placed the bow over the instrument, and started to play without a prompt.

The character's song began slow, and somber, catching Skia's full attention instantly at the atmosphere it changed. Gradually, the instrument's pace quickened over the next minute and went from murky and dismal, to loud and edgy. Shifting a quick glance at her surroundings, the disguised changeling could see the other customers were as distracted and enthralled in the music as she was.

As he sawed the bow to and fro, his movement seemed almost robotic, for lack of a better term. But despite all these strange features, his music was swift, fast, and loud. With a few, random high-strung chords and a sforzando of high pitched noise that cut through the tone like a burning knife, the song sounded almost suspenseful, if not terrifying in some parts.

Then, as soon as that bit had appeared, the song suddenly went soft as goose down and the musician's rapid twirling of his instrument became relaxed and slow once more. What was once the very definition of tension had mollified to a mere gentle melody. A few dozen seconds later, the song ended on a long, low chord, and all went silent.

Without even bowing, the figure returned his violin onto his back, fell back on all fours, and walked off of the stage. The curtains closed behind him, and the onlooking patrons, at first in silence, soon returned to eating and talking. After a few seconds , Skia realized that their food had been delivered as the violinist played his tune, and Charybdis was already eating the delectible-looking meal.

"Wow... Charybdis, do you know what that was?" she asked.

"This restaurant sometimes hires ponies to play music," she began, before swallowing the part of the hash brown that was in her mouth. "I don't know that pony's name, but I know he comes by once every weekend-or-two."

"He's pretty good," the disguised changeling shrugged. "And is it just me, or does somepony like him seem rather off playing music of that caliber in a place like this?"

"I've seen him come from the Gloomwood Forest," the filly spoke once more. "I think he lives in that place, which is very strange, considering how dangerous I've heard it is in there."

Skia lifted her glass, water-filled cup up with a hoof, and took a sip of it. "That sounds very strange indeed."

Comments

[Skye Mist]

Ooh, the connection is drawn and I am psyched!

[Guner]

This shod be FUN!!!