If you fiddle with something long enough, you'll eventually break it.

You know, I wasn’t really quite sure what to think of this place.

On one hoof, the alicorns of Empire all seemed fairly docile. While a few used their magic on King, most went about their own business. They seemed content to wander aimlessly, or sit in secluded places quietly. Even when Buck and I had sought a place to sit and wait for a while, the few around the old bench we found quickly relocated themselves without saying a single word.

On the other hoof, this place was still a graveyard. Though the alicorns had claimed it, they’d obviously made no attempts to clear the bodies or debris the ‘goddess’ left when she attacked. Plus, if what Magnolia had said was true, then at least a part of each of them originally lived here. I would think that I’d hate to walk around and live in a place where all my friends and family were left to rot on the pavement.

Then again, I’m not sure I’d want to clean things up and pretend it never happened. Especially when they became part of the very thing that destroyed Empire. No, I’m not sure I could ever comprehend what it must be like for them now.

“You alright, Night?” Buck asked as he carefully wrapped his paw around me.

“Yeah,” I nodded to him and leaned against his side. “just… letting my thoughts lead me to questions I’m not sure I want the answers for.”

The both of us perked up as Magnolia came trotting over to us. At least, I thought it was Magnolia. Then again, Happy had trotted off talking with her, and now he was nowhere to be seen…

“Hey, where’s Happy?” The words came shooting from my muzzle with just an ounce of unintended hostility. They were so sharp in fact that they almost made the towering blue alicorn stumble on her hooves.

“He wished to head out front to your transport,” She offered up a nervous smile that poorly hid the confusion she felt about it. “Something about draining some sort of reptile? He is a… peculiar mule we must say. A very interesting individual who reminds us much of Empire’s old leader.”

She let her words hang on that as she seemed to lose herself in thought for a moment.

“Is there something we can do for you?” Buck spoke up, kicking her attention back to the here and now.

“What?” Blinking a few times, she paused before looking up at us. “Oh, right! We wanted to say that whatever memory magic Mother performed on your friend, it is unlike any we’ve ever seen her use before. It is quite strong, which will make finding a fix for it… difficult to say the least.”

“So there’s nothing you can do for him?” I didn’t want to lose hope, but if coming here wasn’t enough, and even they couldn’t figure it out, then what was left?

“We didn’t say that…” She plopped herself down on the concrete with a sigh. “No arcana is impervious to attack, and while mother was an adept spellcaster, she was not above the rules governing arcane magic.” Her horn lit up softly, and one of the nearby rebar spears was wrapped in her magic. With a swift tug, she pulled it from the concrete and floated it over. “Strong magic is like steel. You can do many things to it, yet it will not snap or shear.” With a flash of her horn, the rebar spike twisted and looped itself around. It let out a metallic squeal as she all but turned it into a pretzel of rusted metal. “You could try brute force to break it, but that would be a chore. Instead, the stronger a spell’s hold, the more specific a weakness it has.” Her horn flared up once more, blasting a cone of icey air across the center of the twisted rebar. She lowered the steel pretzel to her hoof and gave it just the lightest of taps, shearing the whole thing straight in half. “Find that weakness, and it will break with minimal effort.”

“So you’re telling me there’s a chance you could find it?” I asked, feeling just the slightest bit of hope trying to claw its way up my throat. “Do you have any idea what the weakness could be?”

She shook her head.

“No, of course it wouldn’t be that easy.” I mumbled as I slumped against the old bench. “Still, there has to be something here that could help him. Otherwise, why did the other pony in him bring this place up?”

“Well, maybe it’s something to do with what happened here.” Buck shifted himself and brought a digit up to the end of his metal muzzle. Glancing at Magnolia, I could already see how little she wanted to answer what Buck was about to ask of her. “I know it may be difficult to talk about, but what was this place like before…” He gestured broadly at the graveyard around us, “you know, before all this?”

“Before Mother, Empire was a quiet wasteland settlement. You know, we were one of the first settlements in this end of the wastes to establish ourselves after the end of the war.” As she spoke, her eyes softened and drifted from Buck’s. She turned herself back to the settlement, taking a seat next to us. “We dealt with our fair share of raiders and creatures over the years, angry neighbors, and ambitious conquerors. But this community was the strongest in Vanhoover, we had been since the end of the war.” Tipping her gaze over, she smirked as she glanced down at me. “It helped that for generations, we were led by one whose family has always had the singular purpose of watching out for us. At least, up until they brought mother right to us.”

“So, Empire was more than an inherited name from the park, you were a monarchy.” Buck rubbed at his muzzle in thought. “Perhaps that is why he calls himself King? Maybe he was your king.”

While that made more than a fair amount of sense, I couldn’t help but worry what he would do if it was true.

“No, our leader never wanted us to use that title, as it had been abused by ponies of the past.” Magnolia shook her head with a frown. “And though it would be of great comfort to us, we know our leader was slain by his son’s wife, and the son was lost in killing her for bringing Mother to the settlement.” Her expression turned sour. Her slit-eyes narrowed, her muzzle curled into a fierce grimace, and she projected her words with a sharp, cold tone. “She was an outsider, a rejected raider who was only wed to his son because she bore him a granddaughter. From the moment she was accepted into their family, she pushed for more and more power, for our leader to abdicate his position to his son. But everypony knew that if that were to happen, it would really have been her in control. After three years of trying, she grew tired of waiting, and ran off to make a deal with Mother.”

“Yes, I’ve heard of that tactic before,” Buck nodded and let his eyes wander over the field of spikes and bodies, “where the goddess would promise things in exchange for settlements. Then, she’d take what she wanted before slaughtering the rest.

“Mother... she wasn’t always like that.” Magnolia’s expression shifted again. Her gaze fell to the ground at her hooves, and her voice shrank to nearly a whisper. “it wasn’t like Mother was as bad as the red eyed betrayer, she simply believed that she was helping ponies adapt to a better life in the wasteland.” That was hard to believe, given the bodies she left in her wake. “As misguided as it seems even now, I do believe mother started with good intentions.”

Then again, I don’t know what really happened. I can’t know what Magnolia has seen or been through, and I doubt anypony other than other alicorns will ever know. Even so, I know what a trap good intentions can be when wanting to help. And maybe the ‘Goddess’ did start things with the best of intentions, who knows. But with what she’d done, that’s not a legacy she would ever be remembered for, and like with everypony else I’ve seen die under the idea of good intentions, it’s a damn shame.

“Hey!” Happy’s voice caught our attention, and all three of us perked up and turned.

Happy was galloping in from over by the Remora, doing his best to dodge and weave through the field of spikes. Still, panting and heaving, he surprised me by managing to get over to our bench without so much as accidentally knocking into one.

“Woah, where’s the fire?” Buck chuckled as he pushed himself up onto his paws.

Happy’s response was simply him putting a hoof up as he was busy taking gasping breaths and looking like he was about to collapse onto the ground.

I glanced over to Buck with a worried look, and used my hoof to adjust my saddle before getting to my own hooves. Oh Celestia, I hope we weren’t in for a fight. Between the hospital and the marina this morning, I’d figured I’d had my fight quota filled for the day.

“Not something bad… I just found… a thing.” Happy panted and flailed his hoof back toward the entrance. “Get King. He’s gotta see this.”

Buck and I stood inside the cabin of the Remora as we waited for Happy and Magnolia to return with King.

“Hello, Night Flight?” Cora’s voice crackled into my head. From the way Buck seemed to perk up as well, I assume he also heard it too. “Is this thing even working?”

“Yeah, we can hear you Cora. Everything alright up there?” I thought back, turning to Buck with a shrug.

“Everything’s good here.” Cora came through again with a bit of a hesitant sigh. “Hey, so I wanted to bring this up to you before Hispano woke up from her nap, and before you got back. It’s important though, so listen up, got that?”

“Yeah?” Again, I shrugged to Buck, getting a shrug from him in return. Just what exactly was going on here?

“Seeing as we’re going to be headed back towards Seaddle, there is uh… some business I need to take care of to the southeast towards Mount Raindeer. At our old home in ‘Claw.”

“What sort of business?” Buck thought out before I managed to.

“Not your business, alright?” The firm tone and way he nearly bit Buck’s head off with his snappy response set all sorts of alarm bells off in my head. “I’m telling you because Hispano is going to have a problem with this. I don’t know how long it’ll take to finish things, so if I’m not back in a week, then she’s going to try to follow me. I need you to make sure she doesn’t. In fact, she never leaves your side, alright?”

“What is this about, Cora?” I got that he didn’t want to tell us any details, but come on! How could he realistically expect me to just sit here and go with that? “And before you say it’s not my business, Hispano is my business. So if what you’re doing affects her, it’s now our business.”

“The whole point of me reaching out was to politely inform Buck that I’m leaving, so that he knows the infirmary is solely in his paws. That, and of course, so I can tell you, Night, to keep my daughter from following me.” Again, he snapped back sharply enough that just through reflex I felt myself shrink down a bit. Geeze, what in the hell was his problem? “And before you demand to know, you haven’t paid me shit yet, so as your talon, I don’t owe you any explanation. So do as I say and take care of her, Night. I’m serious, and you don’t want to cross me on this.”

“Cora, can’t we just talk about this?” Buck thought back with a deep frown. To his question however, all we got back was silence. “Cora? Are you there?”

“Cora is currently on his way out of the Arcturus!” Eliza’s jubilant voice came through Buck and I’s minds so abruptly that we both jumped a bit from it. “Do you want me to seal all the hatches until you return, Captain?”

“No.” I sighed and sat down hard onto the remora’s cold cabin floor. “Let him go.” Great, this was all I needed today, more bullshit drama. “Couldn’t he have done this, I don’t know, tomorrow, or three days from now, or fucking next week?” What the hell was he even going off to do?

“I’m sure he has his reasons.” Buck’s paw came down on my back and pressed at it softly. Even through the numbing from my talisman, I could feel the muscles he touched relax with the pressure from his digits. “I’m sort of relieved, really. After all the critiquing and anger towards you, the fact that he trusts you to care for her in his absence means that he’s really warmed up to you! Well, that or…”

Buck paused on that as my mind came to the same conclusion.

“Or he’s not planning on coming back.” The words fell out of my muzzle as a tidal wave of panic filled my mind. Shit, shit! “Uh, Eliza? About locking those hatches for me…”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that, Captain!” Eliza’s perky tone was very much at odds with the peaking throws of anxiety wracking my body and mind right now. “You just missed him going out the top hatch. Should I set a pursuit course?”

“Fucking of course, yes!” I flailed my forehoof angrily and slammed it against the side of the Remora’s cabin by accident. The damaged metal panel let out a groan from the strike, and it forced me to remember that we already had other plans. Fuck! The Arcturus was in no shape to go running off after Cora now. “Damnit, nevermind. Keep the course to Seaddle set.”

“Night, but what about...?” Buck said as he almost took a step back from me.

“We need to think about this in a way that makes sense.” I sighed and facehooved myself hard. “I know going after Cora is important, but we can’t do that without fixing the Arcturus.”

I wanted to throw caution to the wind, to trust that with my family and friends, we’d be able to pull off whatever needed to be done. But I couldn’t think like that anymore, not after Delta. No, I was the one pulling everyone along, and that meant that right now, maybe I needed to act a little bit less like Bombay, and a little bit more like Delilah.

“Well, maybe… maybe we’re overthinking this.” Buck offered with a forced smile, but the both of us knew we couldn’t really believe it. “Plus, he did say a week. As long as we get to him before then, then I’m sure we’ll be able to help him out with whatever it is he feels he needs to do.”

“Sorry that took so long.” Happy called out as he trotted through Empire’s entrance. Without slowing down, he steered himself right around the Remora and just kept on walking. “But what I wanted to show you was just right across the street here.”

Stepping out from the Remora, my eyes followed him across the old four lane road we’d landed on, and over to a looming set of large ruins. At first glance, it looked like any number of other mostly collapsed buildings spread out all over the old world city. A mostly square building whose upper stories had crumbled inward, leaving just the first few floors somewhat intact.

Though, while it did look like most ruins, it’s faded yellow and pink exterior reminded me of the same colors that the Ministry of Peace used on all it’s buildings. The cracking paint barely hung to the old bricks, peeling away only to be held on by some of the wartime propaganda posters pasted onto it. Most of the posters were too faded or damaged by time to read, so I wasn’t sure what Happy saw in them to call us all over.

“Huh, wonder what that means?” Buck’s question stole my attention, and my eyes moved back to him, only to follow his gaze further up the road. Glancing at the edge of the building that met up at an intersection, a set of rusted letters were still loosely bolted to the place.

V.E.M.

My vision flickered, and a set of records pulled up.

“The Vanhoover office of Emergency Management.” I read the title of the file as pictures of the way this place used to look flashed up. Next to the images were what I’m guessing was the records of this place that the Factory had recovered at some point. It wasn’t much, just a mission statement and a few associated descriptions of their duties, but it was more than nothing.

“Everypony has a role to play.” Buck said softly as he too looked at the file being shown to him. “It seems like this building was a Ministry of Peace run organization that was supposed to be responsible for civil defense and evacuation procedures for the city.”

“That was its intended purpose, however it was never fulfilled.” Magnolia nodded as she turned herself to us. “The ponies who founded Empire used to work here during the war. On the last day, we were saved by our leader’s ancestors because they acted swiftly and gathered us all in the megaspell shelter installed in the sublevels of this building.”

“So your ancestors abandoned the city to save themselves?” I spoke up sharply and snorted as the thoughts of all the doctors' bodies in the hospital came flooding back to me. They had a job to do, and instead they chose to hide and save themselves? Why is it that every time I’ve learned something about the ponies of the old world, more and more it feels like they did deserve everything that happened to them?

Magnolia shook her head.

“We do not know the events that transpired at the end.” She hung her head and looked back over to Happy and King, who were just now walking up to the posters. “Only our leaders have ever known the truth of that day, knowledge hoofed down as the title has been passed from leader to leader. Because he wasn’t among those who the goddess saved, we are afraid that the truth of Empire’s beginnings has now been lost forever.”

“Happy found it!” King’s excited voice boomed with all the force his alicorn body could muster. The three of us turned in time to see him lunge forward and scoop up Happy into a hug. Even from here, I could see he was being squeezed tight enough to start turning him blue. With quick hoofsteps, we made our way over to see just what exactly Happy had uncovered.

This section of the wall was like most of the rest of the building. It too was still covered by cracked bits of flaking paint, as well as Ministry posters. However, not all of the posters were from the ministry, and looked to have been put up by normal ponies. A faded flier for a lost dog, an advertisement for a new juice bar somewhere else in the city, and a poster urging us to vote for Glossy Pine, a steely-eyed pink unicorn mare who had apparently been running for mayor.

But there was one more poster out of place, and from the look of the tattered scraps of other posters on the ground, it looked to have been covered up until now. It was surprisingly in far better condition than any still clinging to the old walls, and held more color to it than anywhere else in the ruins nearby.

It was a poster of a red pony standing on a tropical beach, wearing a red floral print shirt and holding a ukulele in his hooves. In bold gold letters along the bottom, two words were meant to catch your attention.

The King!

“I know this poster! This is where I know my name from!” King laughed and practically pranced in a circle around us like a giddy colt. It was strange to see an alicorn bounding about like that, but it certainly pulled a smile across my muzzle.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought!” Happy smugly huffed, sitting himself down proudly in the dirt. “I saw an exposed corner of it and I instantly knew it was a poster for the King. Got the same one in my room back at home too.” With a whip of his wooden leg, he brought his hoof up to his chin and rubbed at it as a sense of confusion looked to wash over him. “But since I just uncovered this one, where did you see the other poster?” The question outright forced King’s prancing to come to a stop, and the two locked eyes for a moment. “Maybe if we find the other one, it could give us a clue as to who you used to be.”

“You know, that’s not a bad idea, Happy.” I could tell that Buck was reluctant to give Happy the credit for stumbling on this poster, but… who could argue if it actually helped King out?

“There’s no need to look for it.” Magnolia stepped toward King with a frown and hung her head. “The only other place those posters are hung, are within the underground backstage of the amphitheater. Our leader’s home.” After a moment, she went even further, and knelt before him. “Few were allowed inside before Empire was attacked, and we ourselves only know because it was one of the first places we took shelter in when we returned. If you remember this from before, then… you must be Cozy Pine.”

“Cozy…” King blinked a few times before pausing. His muzzle clamped shut as his body seemed to give out on him. Tremors worked their way down his legs, and with a whimper, he clamped them tightly around his head.

“King!” I gasped and sprung over toward him. However, halfway through my first step, Buck caught and stopped me.

“Stay back!” The static filled growl from Buck’s muzzle caught me about as off guard as the sharp yank back his paw gave me. “Don’t get near him!”

“Buck, what are you doing? You don’t need to protect me!” I tried my best to wrestle out of his grasp, but it wasn’t an easy fight. “Come on, we need to help him!”

“I’m not protecting you, Night.” Buck’s grip tightened almost painfully for a moment. My augment fuzzed as I looked up at him and found his gaze trained on King’s writhing form. “This also happened with Violet when her memory chip was removed back in Destruction Bay. His brain is trying to understand what is happening, and for now, we can’t do anything but wait a few more moments for it to end.”

“We know you may fear for him, but Cozy was the strongest of all of us.” Magnolia tried her best to keep her eyes off of him as she spoke, but she was losing that battle. At the very least, his convulsions were becoming shorter and less severe with every second, though that didn’t make it any easier for any of us to watch. “While Mother took most of us, he continued to elude and fight her. He never stopped trying to save us, and we’d thought that Mother…”

“You thought she killed him.” Happy finished as he looked up into her eyes. “But if she didn’t, if he is Cozy like you say, then why remove his memories?”

“The orb…” King whined from the ground. His legs shook and protested as he got them under himself. ““I need to see it… to remember...”

While it was good that he was alright, it looked like it took all his strength just to try to get up.

“Woah, take it easy there.” Buck predictably let go of me and stepped forward. “You need to rest until we know that your seizures have passed.”

“No, we need to go under the amphitheater.” King turned an angry gaze up at Buck, pushing his mechanical paw away sharply. “The answers are there, I can feel them calling to me.”

The walk to the old outdoor theatre had been slow. At multiple points, King had nearly collapsed again. But every time, he simply grit his teeth and picked himself back up. It was a humbling stubbornness to keep going that took me a moment to know why it felt so familiar to me.

Glancing over to Buck, my mind was thrown back to that day in Cantercross. I had gone through so much that I wouldn’t stop until I dragged him to help. Pulling him on that sled even though every fiber of my being wanted to quit was not something I ever wanted to live through again. But seeing that sort of determination in King now at least helped me to know that finally, he was on the right path.

The group of us followed him toward the slightly raised and surprisingly overgrown concrete stage. The half dome that covered the back end of it was covered in a blanket of vines and sickly plants, the remains of old props and set pieces sat degraded and subsumed under them. Siting center stage and somewhat overgrown, was a bulky stone throne that I assume had been the seat of their leader. Just behind the bulky chair, sat a nearly obscured stairwell that disappeared down underground below the stage.

King stepped around the throne, stopping for only a moment at the top of the stairs with a look of apprehension. The hesitation slowly drained from his face, and his gaze tightened on whatever lay down below. With a sharp, almost aggressive snort, he stepped forward and disappeared down below.

I did my best to follow behind him, descending down into a cramped dark tunnel. My hoofsteps echoed slightly on the damp concrete floor, and the smell of mold we’d happily escaped this morning returned to my nose. The hallway itself was only just wide enough to handle somepony King’s size, which prompted me to look back. I cringed as while Happy was right behind me, it seemed Buck was having trouble fitting himself down here.

We passed by an open doorway, and a faint light met my eyes. Inside was what looked like a living room. Several molded couches and piles of pillows sat along the walls, with a line of mirrors sitting on the far end of the room. Dim yellow talismans inset around the mirrors glowed softly to give the room light, and a single still spinning fan above kept a cool breeze washing out through the door. Sitting on the wet floor was a fairly robust collection of old foal’s toys and now moldy books.

I almost stopped in my tracks however as a reflection in the mirror caught my eye. Lining the wall just inside the doorway, was copy after copy of the poster we’d seen outside. The impressive collection caught Happy off guard as well as he too spotted it and nearly tripped over his own hooves.

“Up ahead, I can feel it.” King’s voice echoed through the underground hall just as we passed a four way junction in the tunnels.

Each side seemed to run off a good distance, and was lit dimly by still weakly running old-style talisman lanterns. And while other open doorways sat at various points in the hall, all of them were dark inside, and just made this place seem even more uncomfortably empty.

I gasped as I nearly bumped into King’s flank as he abruptly came to a stop ahead of me. Happy nearly did the same as he came to a stop too, but at least he had the intersection to duck into momentarily. As I looked back to see that Magnolia and Buck were both making their way here, a sharp slam from King made me jump.

The tortured groan of metal was amplified by the confined concrete tunnel, and I had to sit down quickly so I could pin an ear shut. Hard, hammering strikes against whatever sat in front of King shook the air until it ended halfway through a hit. A final loud slam shifted the air around me in the tunnel, and King stepped forward through a corroded metal doorway into another weakly lit room.

Stepping forward onto the bent remains of the old door, I followed King into what had at some point been an office. Several comfy looking chairs still sat in fairly good condition on either side of a large table. Boxes full of old files, as well as various knick-knacks, assorted scraps, and binders filled with old photos sat well protected along each wall, and were presented neatly on the table. But King bypassed all of these, instead walking around to the far end of the table where a weird headband and small black box sat.

As I stepped forward, my forehoof kicked and sheared off something bolted to the rusted metal door. I looked down, finding a corroded, but still legible gold placard that had been screwed onto it that read Managers Only. Stepping forward, I picked it up, and instantly felt an odd texture on the back. Flipping it over, I found that somepony had painted something else across it.

“Our History.” I read it out loud, looking up to King to see if he knew what it meant. However, he was just getting himself sat down at the far end of the table.

Without saying anything, and without an ounce of hesitation, his hooves opened the small black box in front of him. Like he’d done it a million times before, he reached in and retrieved one of the three small spheres inside. At first I thought it might have been a memory orb, like I’d learned about back in school, but only half of it was clear. The other half looked like it was finely polished chrome, so polished in fact that it turned the dull lighting in here into a near glow in King’s hooves.

“What’s that?” Happy asked before I could. At the same time, he pushed me aside so he could fit through the busted doorway as well.

“Answers.” King’s unbandaged eye was locked on the orb in his hooves, and ever so slowly he pulled it up to the shattered horn on his head. He grunted, straining his gaze on the orb as he tensed up. A flicker from his horn sparked, and the magic he held arced itself like a bolt for the orb. The moment it connected, his unbandaged eye went wide, and he slumped forward against the table.

“King!” I spat out as I hobbled my way around the table. A bolt of fear ran through me as my eyes locked on his empty, emotionless gaze. “Let it go, King!” I pleaded with him, but he didn’t respond. Hell, it didn’t even look like he was breathing! Please, please don’t be dead...

“Wait!” Magnolia called out sharply as she reached the door. “Don’t touch him.” I tried to turn to see why she’d called out, but in my haste I tripped over one of the boxes near me. With a shift, the whole stack near the wall tilted and came down on me, burying me under a pile of seemingly random stuff. “He’s alright! He’s in our history now.”

“Does he look alright to you?” Happy huffed as I could feel him step over to me. Between his efforts and my own, I crawled out from under the mountain of things and back into the open.

“What does that mean, in your history?” Buck asked as he finally squeezed his way to just behind Magnolia.

“During the last day, our leader had a device with him that could record what was happening, but only from his perspective.” Magnolia sighed as her pain filled eyes sank from King’s frozen and blank expression. “The Pines family have used it ever since to record the progress of our settlement, letting each of their family add to it as they came of age. It was meant to keep a record so we’d know who we once were, and to help guide our future leaders on who we were trying to become.”

“So it’s a memory orb?” Buck asked softly, but paused for a moment as, if it was one, I’m sure he’d never seen a memory orb quite like it either. “While I’ve read many texts about them, I’ve never seen one before. I also know there had been many theories on the development of one that could be used to record multiple times on the same orb, but I didn’t think any orbs capable of it were actually made. How fascinating.”

“Like many things from the past, few things have remained intact this long.” Shaking her head, her eyes finally shifted from King, and lingered on the pile of things I’d scattered from their boxes. “That is why Rustic Pine, our original leader, had sought to protect what lies in this room. This is all that remains of our ancestors' belongings, picked out of the ruins of the old world as soon as they founded Empire.” See, now I just felt bad about knocking over what turned out to be priceless family heirlooms. But hey, how was I supposed to know!? “We do not understand how it is possible, but for him to be drawn to the orb, then our assumption must be correct.”

“You think King is this leader of yours?” Happy snorted as he stepped back from the pile of stuff. “I thought you’d said he’d died.”

“Not our leader, but his son. Mother told those of us that were taken that he shared his fate with that traitorous bitch that brought her to us.” Magnolia shook her head again and snarled as she closed her eyes. “But while so many things she said seemed to be falsehoods, many things still do not make sense. Why would she hide his memories? Why have they not returned on their own?”

“Maybe the other pony inside him is the key.” I spit out as my mind connected the two together. “She knows who he was, and would have rather seen me dead than have him remember.” Turning my gaze back to King, I wasn’t sure what we could do if that was the case. She’d been gone since Hispano broke King’s horn, but she might just be King’s best hope. “I’m not exactly excited at the prospect of asking her to come answer some more questions, but if this orb doesn’t work, then that might be our only option.”

Sparks of magic poured out from King’s horn. A glow overtook his eye, and a bolt of fear ran through me. Oh fuck, she’s got control again…

“I… I can remember now.” King spoke in his own voice as a smile crept over his muzzle. “My name was Cozy Pine… er, it is.” His muzzle quivered as tears started to stream down his cheeks. “I was afraid I was a monster, but I can remember everything now.”

Using his hoof, he lifted the horn and placed it into a center recess of the weird headband sitting on the table. With another few sparks, he shot a line of magic into it, which swirled with brilliant colors before it shot out again and lit up the wall across from me.

A somewhat fuzzy image of a pony in what looked like a wartime office building sat behind a paper covered desk. The room itself was painted in a boring beige tone, and the open door straight across from the room led out into an equally boring looking hallway. A squeaky laugh filled the air as a bubblegum pink earthpony foal was lifted into the air with magic.

“Daddy’s recording now, sweetie. Can you say hi to mommy for me?” The relaxed voice of a stallion came through as clear as if he was sitting right in front of us. The foal in front of us let out a babbling giggle of gibberish and kicked its forehooves through the air happily. “That’s very good, Timid! Soon enough you’ll be learning and using words, oh you are growing up so fast.”

A set of thumping built up over the recording, turning into multiple sets of quick hoofbeats. A few panicked looking ponies galloped past the doorway and down the hall.

“What in tartarus…?” The stallion muttered under his breath as he set his foal down on the desktop.

“Rustic!” The frantic voice of another stallion called out as a lithe blue unicorn slammed into his doorway. “The fucking stripes hit us with a surprise attack!”

“What!?” The stallion sprung up out of his seat and used his magic to bring his foal up close enough to grab. “Spring, slow down, are you sure? Why hasn’t the government put out a statement?”

“Cloudsdale, Manehatten, and Canterlot are all gone!” The blue stallion trotted nervously in place as another few ponies bolted by in the hallway. “We’ve got two minutes before we get hit here, maybe less! You need to issue the order for everypony at the VEM to get into the shelter! I’ll… I’ll go make sure it’s ready!”

“Wait, Spring!” The stallion called out as the blue unicorn disappeared from the doorway and bolted down the hall. “Shit, has anypony even activated the public warning system yet?” A hoof came up and covered the orb for a moment before a burst of static left all of us in silence.

The orb on the table shifted colors before projecting another image on the wall. This time it was of a tired looking stallion standing in a dim and cramped metal room and staring at himself in the mirror. He was a rusty red colored unicorn with bright blue eyes that were somewhat obscured by the fact that he looked like he’d been crying quite a lot recently.

“The city is gone, and… I’m not sure what to do now.” He spoke to himself. A weak smile tugged at his matted, tear stained cheeks as he shook his head. “I’m the guy they hired who planned for this, and I’m lost.” The recording fuzzed out for a moment as he took a minute to sob. “Glossy, I don’t know if you made it into the mayoral bunker in time, but… we’re safe here because of you.” He laughed again, rubbing away the tears from his eyes, allowing us to see again. “I’m sorry I was so hard on you for pushing for that stable-tec sponsorship, you saved nearly half of us at the VEM with it, including Timid. I know that you’re probably just as scared and lost as we are, but… I’ll keep us here together long enough for you to get things in order and arrange a government rescue response. I know you loaned me this expensive orb thing to test, but… I just wanted to keep this as a record for you, for us. I love you, Glossy, and both Timid and I hope to see you again soon.”

Again, the recording fuzzed out, coming back in what looked like the same room, but with a bubblegum pink earth pony stallion near my age now standing in front of the mirror. It wasn’t hard to figure out that he had been the foal we saw earlier, but what I wasn’t expecting was how gaunt and thin he’d looked. Still, he wore a soft smile on his muzzle as he looked into the mirror.

“Hey dad, it’s me, Timid. I’ve missed you these last six months, but… we finally finished securing Empire park. Next week we’ll begin moving everypony up there before getting a few teams together to go look for some supplies. I can’t tell you how excited everypony is to finally leave this place after twenty five years, but… it won’t be the same knowing we’re leaving without you.” He paused almost bashfully as he rubbed a forehoof up along his shoulder. “And… I know you’ve never really liked her that much, but Ginger thinks we might find some good supplies at town hall. If I see mom, I’ll… I’ll tell her you never stopped loving her… right to the end.”

I blinked as the recording cut out again. This is what Magnolia meant by his history… we were literally watching King’s family as they built up the settlement.

The image projected on the wall shifted both in color and definition. It came back into focus with yet another pony staring into a mirror, only this time it was a purple colored mare. That, and the mirror she looked into held glowing talismans around it, and a line of bright posters sat on the far wall. This… this was recorded from the other room.

“So, this is it then.” The purple mare was just as thin as Timid had been, but along with that, she was absolutely covered in scars of various sizes. “My name is Polished Pine, and after a vote from the residents of Empire, I’m the new leader! I know I was scared before you went, but everypony has been nothing but supportive and amazing.” She had not led an easy life until now, but you would have never known based on the excited smile beaming out from her muzzle. “Dad, mom? Wherever you two are, I hope that I can live up to the expectations you had of me. I’ll do my best to continue working together with everypony to make Empire the safest settlement in...!”

A sharp roar of static made all of us cringe as the magic in the orb flickered and cut out. King let out a groan before refocusing himself on the small sphere. His magic sparked, but poured back into it, bringing back the image on the wall.

The young, nearly charcoal black stallion that showed up in the mirror was younger than I was expecting. He was pretty much just a colt compared to the previous ponies. However, the elderly purple mare sitting behind him carried the same beaming smile as Polished. With a huff, the stallion crossed his forehooves and deadpanned at his reflection.

“This is stupid.” he snorted. “This… this was supposed to be mom’s job. Why do I have to do it?”

“Because your mother and father… well, they’re gone, sweetie.” Polished’s bright smile wavered for a only a moment before she forced it back across her muzzle. “You, my dear, are the future of Empire, and it’s time you learned who the Pine family is, and why it’s so important for you to listen to, and help those around us.”

“But why can’t you just do it, Granny?” The stallion whimpered and looked at her reflection.

“Because soon I won’t be around either.” Her smile dimmed slightly as she brought a hoof up to his shoulder and rubbed at it. “I know how afraid and alone you must feel, but you know the ponies here adore you, right? Why do you think that is?”

“Because Momma and Papa made me help them every day.” He responded as the recording dipped down and pointed at the floor, fuzzing from the tears welling up in the young stallion’s eyes. “I want to keep helping, but… I can’t do it alone, Gran. Why did they have to die and leave me alone?”

“I know it’s tough, child. But you are a Pine, and we never give up, no matter how tough things may get.” Her words were as stern as Delilah’s, but carried a certain feeling of love in them that I’ve only known to have come from Mom. “Alright, that’s good enough for today. You did great, sweetie.”

The image in the orb morphed again, coming back on yet another pair of ponies. This time, a well built lime green earth pony stallion with a trim black beard sat wearing the headpiece and orb. His amber eyes nearly matched those of the mare hanging off his shoulder. She was a mustard yellow unicorn with a short mud brown mane who smiled and softly gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“So this is what your father’s been hiding? How… interesting.” The mare spoke with words that sent a shiver down my spine. From the malice in her words, to the twisted grin, I’d seen too many mares like her to know that she was anything but trouble. “Seriously, if this is the prize in that collection of junk, Empire’s not sitting on much of a treasure if you ask me. I thought when you said you were going to lead this place, you’d be a real king, Cozy.”

Wait, was this… was this now King?

“This ‘junk’ is our history.” The stallion rolled his eyes before shooting her an exasperated glare in the mirror. “I know you didn’t have much of a… traditional family where you grew up, but Empire’s always remembered where they came from, who they used to be.” With a shift, the stallion reached up and grabbed the mare’s hoof, holding it softly. “It may seem weird, and I know some of the folks here don’t understand you, but give them time.” Shifting himself and the view of the orb, the stallion turned himself to face the mare, revealing that she was quite pregnant. Carefully, he ran his hoof along her bulging side and let out a giggle. “Plus, when my dad sees our little one, I think he’ll come around about you, my queen.”

“This? It’s your job to care for the little brat, not mine.” The mare sighed and pulled his hoof away. Instead, she sat down and pressed her forehead against his with a sultry laugh. Holy shit, this really was him, which, didn’t really click in my mind right away. Maybe it was because I’d only known him as an Alicorn, but… maybe it was also because how could anypony love a mare like her? “But if I’m really your queen like you keep saying, then some things are going to change around here.”

“I mean, it’s not so bad now, is it? I’m a simple stallion, with… simple needs.” Tilting his muzzle up, he gave her a kiss and nuzzled down along her neck. “I know Dad’s still got some years on him, but once I’m in charge, I promise that you’ll have everything you could ever want.” Slowly, Cozy glanced around her side and let his hoof slid over her flank. Okay, I know where this was going, but please don’t tell me he recorded it.

“Nah, not now.” The mare practically slapped his hoof away with a huff. Taking a step back, she winced and rubbed at her side with her hoof. “With Royal due any day now, you’re going to have to suffer alongside me. It’s only fair, dear.”

“Royal?” Cozy blinked a few times as he stared up at the crooked smile she still had plastered across her muzzle. “Hmm. Yeah, Royal Pine. I think that’s a good name.” His own muzzle turned into a beaming grin as he turned back to the mirror. “I can’t wait to meet you, little Royal...”

The orb cut out as King’s magic cut out again. This time he let out a cry as a line of smoke pushed up through the bandages covering his broken horn. He let out a few, heaving breaths as the magic that had lit up his eye faded, and he clenched it shut.

“Are you alright, King?” I asked him and took a step closer. As I did, I noticed that the orb itself was nearly all chromed now, and only a small section near the top of it resembled the orbs I’d seen examples of in the past.

“Yes… just… a little more!” He spat out as he tensed up again. With another fantastic set of sparks, the magic shot from his horn again. The orb flickered up, projecting another memory onto the wall.

This time, it was only King, er, Cozy sitting in front of the mirror. He was heaving softly, with tears streaming down around the old combat knife he held in his blood soaked muzzle. There were more than a few hastily bandaged wounds across his mud and blood covered form, but the fact that his foreleg still had a rebar spear punctured through it said all I needed to know about when this was recorded.

“It’s over… everypony else is gone.” Cozy whimpered as the knife slipped from his muzzle. “I couldn’t stop her from taking Empire.” The orb fuzzed as he took a minute to sob, crying out a few times as he flailed in anger. “If… if I hadn’t taken Royal to the doctors downtown behind your back, then… we would have been here. Maybe I could have helped...”

The orb shifted again as it sounded like he threw something across the room. Something wood splintered on the wall, and Cozy dipped back into another fit of crying. It was… hard to watch. I couldn’t imagine what that must have been like for him.

“Why! Why did you have to do it?” He screamed at the mirror. “You couldn’t wait for dad to die, so you went to the alicorns?” Of course, that’s what Magnolia had said happened, but if he’s here, then how…? “But I’m not going to fucking give up. No, I’m a Pine, and we don’t ever give up.” With a wipe of his forehoof, he cleared his eyes and stared right at himself in the mirror. “I’m going to leave this here for you, Royal. Maybe… maybe some day you’ll find this, and then you’ll know that your father did what he needed too to try to make this right. That I went to that so called ‘goddess’ to get the others back.” Pausing, he pulled up a weak smile. “No matter what happens, I’m just glad my little princess is safe with the others in Downtown. I love you, Royal.”

With that, the orb cut out, and King’s horn dimmed enough that we could see that the bandages over it had actually started to burn slightly. Smoke drifted up as he broke down and slumped back onto the table in tears.

“I failed you all!” King whimpered. He curled his fetlock around the mostly chrome orb, though strangely, there was still a memory left in the tip-top of it it seemed. With a surprisingly quick lunge, he slammed both his forehooves on the table with a roar. “I don’t… I don’t deserve to live!”

“No, that’s not true.” Magnolia offered to him softly as she took a step forward. A sharp electric crackle from King’s horn and a growl from him made her pause however. “Look, it wasn’t your fault. Empire fell because she brought Mother to us, not you.”

“It was my fault she was there!” King snapped at her and threw a few boxes off his end of the table. “That’s why mother hid my memories away, so she could contain all of my guilt and keep it from poisoning the others inside her. I don’t deserve, nor do I want your pity.” With that, he turned his angry eyes on the rest of us, lingering on me with a snarl. “Go, leave me alone!”

“Hey, I know this all must be so sudden and shocking, but…” Happy surprisingly tried to offer his best, calming tone. For his efforts, a bolt of lightning shot from King’s horn and scorched the roof above his head.

“I said leave me alone!” King’s magic crackled wildly as he heaved in heavy, labored breaths.

With a flash of magic, his eye started to glow again, and his breathing returned to normal.

“Are you happy now?” The voice of the mare in him spoke up. “Thanks to your incessant pushing, you’ve condemned him to a life of suffering and heartbreak that he doesn’t deserve. But what do you care? You’ve done what you came for, you helped him, so maybe now you’ll take the hint and go the hell away.”

“You tried to kill me, you tried to make me think he was a monster!” I snapped back at her. I know that right now none of us were ready for a fight if she wanted to start one, but I will not sit here and take that shit from her. “Life sucks, ponies die, and we get over it. That’s something I’ve had to learn and deal with again, and again, and again so far. This is what you wanted to protect him from?”

“Yeah, because the moment you brought him back here, now he’ll know nothing but pain and sorrow for what happened!” She snarled back and ground her hooves against the table. “He could have lived the rest of his life without knowing and he could at least have been happy!”

“That’s bullshit!” I spat at her. “I believed everything the Enclave told me about the ground, but that didn’t mean I was happy. Maybe he wouldn’t feel the pain of losing Empire, but who the fuck gets to be happy down here?”

“You don’t understand!” She fired back at me, wrapping her shattered horn in a ring of sparks that threatened to jump out at me at any moment.

“Night’s right, everypony regrets something they’ve done.” Happy stepped forward with a Delilah-level sharp tone. “Besides, you saw how determined he was to find out. If not Night, then somepony else would have helped him. At best, you would have bought him a few months, and then what? Would you take over full time? Don’t you think that him not knowing who he was would have started to hurt him just as much?”

Happy’s words hit me differently. I wasn’t listening to the brash, spoiled mule from earlier in this trip, nor was I listening to the Happy that had struggled to find his place in things since losing his mom and the others. He was here to try to help both King and this mare. Not for any reward or anything, but simply because he knew it was the right thing to do.

“Besides, even though I know it hurts him to find out what happened here, there is a silver lining to this.” As he spoke, we all watched as the mare in King took deep breaths and started to calm down. “He has a daughter out there, and she could be waiting for him right now. And that alone, might be worth everything he’s going through, don’t you think? So if you truly do want to help him feel happy again, why not do everything you can to help him find her?”

I stood in near disbelief that Happy could even have said anything close to that smart. Hell, I’m not sure even Delilah could have sounded so... sincere. I think Buck was exactly the same, because with a glance, I was sure I could see him trying to pick his jaw up off the floor.

With a reluctant whimper, the mare controlling King lowered her head. She stared down at the table in silence as her horn dimmed to a soft glow. Slowly, she turned her hoof over to reveal the memory orb again, and carefully worked her magic down into it.

Like before, the orb shimmered and glowed. The projection of the mirrored room returned, but with a fairly young turquoise blue unicorn filly standing in it. Like the earlier Pines, she was fairly emaciated, and had her fair share of scars. She looked to be about the same age as the black stallion from the earlier recordings, but the bright amber eyes she had were far too similar to Cozy’s to have been anyone other than his daughter.

“Alright, is this thing working? How am I supposed to know?” She said to herself before blinking and staring straight into the mirror. “Whatever,” She shook her head sharply, throwing the image around for a moment as she took a deep breath. “assuming this thing is working, I have some things to say. First of all, my name is Royal Pine. As of this week, I’m seven years old, and I came to find my real home. Well, this place used to be my real home five years ago before the goddess came. I know now that my family has always watched over Empire since the wasteland became a thing, and it’s my hope that one day, we can watch over and help it thrive once again. Once I find my father that is.”

Wait, so she’d come back already? And then she left to find King!? Fuck, that’s not great at it’s best. She could be anywhere out there looking for him! Or at it’s worst, she could be dead for all we know!

“Look, for the record, I know that June and August didn’t want me coming back here until I was older.” She continued, slumping slightly as she forced a nervous smile to her muzzle. “And they were right! I didn’t much like seeing the graveyard this place turned out to be, but… thanks to this orb, I know that you’re out there, Dad. I want you to know that I don’t hate you for what happened, not even June or August blame you. I just want you to come back, so whatever it takes, I’m going to find you.” With a tip forward, she looked down at the floor and hoofed up a rusted piece of metal. As she brought it up in front of her face, I realized it was the knife that Cozy had dropped on the floor before. “I know it’s risky, but I think I know exactly the pompous mare I need to see to start my search. So, with any luck, you’ll see me soon!”

No, she couldn’t have meant… then she was...

The orb fizzled out as the mare’s magic faded and dropped us all into silence again.

“I was such a naive idiot.” The mare sniffled as her horn dimmed. “I thought I could get her to tell me where he was, but I made the exact same mistake my father did in going to see the goddess.”

“You… you’re Royal Pine.” The words tumbled out of my muzzle. I couldn’t believe it, but at the very least now all of her hostility made sense. “That’s the real reason you wanted to keep him from remembering, so he wouldn’t know you’d left to find him.”

“It’s more than that.” She sobbed softly as she pulled her forehooves up over her face in shame. “Knowing I was alive and out there would give Dad hope to find me. But no matter where he looked, no matter how hard he tried, he would never find me. Mother stuck us in this stupid body together, but… I can never see him, and he’ll never see me!”

“That… isn’t true.” Magnolia spoke up with a soft frown. “There is a way to speak with the other souls we have trapped inside these bodies, but… few of us are able to do it. It takes time to learn, weeks even for the best of us. But most of us struggle because we only have fragments of souls inside, while you… you and Cozy are two whole souls.”

“So… you can teach me? You can help me talk with my Dad?” The first genuinely hopeful smile I’d seen from Royal spread across King’s muzzle, and in an instant I could see the same mare from the recording beaming it from inside the alicorn’s body.

“We would be honored to help you two reconnect.” Magnolia dipped her head and bowed herself lightly. “You are after all, your father’s daughter, and the Pine family is one family we will never give up on.” The moment she’d bowed, Royal sprung up from where she had and threw herself into a tight hug around the other alicorn.

“Oh thank you!” Royal offered with a smile. “You don’t know how much this means to me! To us!”

“Okay, okay.” Magnolia chuckled and let out a teary eyed sniffle of her own as she pat Royal on the back. “However, perhaps it should not be us that require your thanks.”

Royal stiffened up at that, and was slow to turn back towards Happy, Buck, and I. Another nervous grin pulled across her muzzle, and she seemed to struggle with finding the words to say. Which is of course where Happy stepped in.

“No thanks needed of course, we’re just happy to help those in need!” He beamed out a smile as he reached up and gave her a hard pat on the side. Of course, the side he aimed for was her wingless one, and she whimpered from the hit. “Oh shit, sorry!”

“Though I do hope this means you’re done trying to kill my family.” Buck offered with his own jagged smile, beaming it wider as she nodded happily in response.

She turned her attention to me.

“I know I’ve caused you and your family a lot of pain, but I’m truly sorry for all of it.” The hope in her eyes was quickly replaced with shame, and her muzzle drooped into a frown. She cupped her forehooves together and held them out to me pleadingly. “And please, tell your griffon friend that I’m sorry for impaling her, and that she had every right to act the way she did.”

“Oh, she ain’t sorry one bit for what she did.” Happy offered with a soft nudge against her. “If anything you got off easy, trust me on that!”

“Hey, I’m just glad that we could help your Dad get his memories back, and that you two will get a chance to see one another again.” I beamed my own smile to her. “Trust me when I say that I know how it feels to find out that someone you love is still alive when you thought they were gone forever.” While the memories of getting Dad back hopped into my mind without any effort at all, part of my thoughts decided to remind me that no matter how much I wanted it, Mom would never come back. Brushing aside those thoughts, I did my best to keep my grin and get back on track. “Actually, if you don’t mind… do you think we could talk to your Dad again?”

“Oh, yeah, no, please do!” Royal nodded King’s head frantically as she shook his hooves. “I’m sorry, I just got so excited at the thought of talking with and actually meeting him!”

With a few deep breaths, she pressed her forehooves together and closed her eye. Her horn hummed softly for a moment before it cut out abruptly. King’s eye fluttered open and looked around the room for a moment before a confused look fell across his face.

“Did I…?” He started, but then let out a gasp and planted his hooves on his head as soon as he looked at me. “I didn’t try to kill you again, did I!?”

“No no!” I waved my forehoof at him and did my best to force up a smile. “It’s nothing like that, we were just talking to…” I paused and forced my muzzle shut. The room fell into an awkward silence as King calmed a bit and I could collect myself. “Well, before we explain everything, there’s something you need to know… about just where Royal is right now...”

Author's Note

Of course, as always, I have to give a huge thanks to TheFurryRailFan for all his help in going over these chapters. It means a lot to have the help of an extra pair of eyes, and I can't thank him enough.

Lastly, thanks to Kkat for giving us this fantastic wasteland to mess around with!