The Hollow Kingdom of Big Macintosh

Exhibit T

The town was always quite noisy and busy. The castle town nestled in the trees looked quaint to any outsider, but it was no different from any of the other bustling cities in Equestria. There was, even then, ways to argue that it was the busiest. It's ponies were focused on their work. Fillies and colts took their schooling very seriously. All the noise came from them rushing from place to place and working day until night, but hardly a word passed between them.

The citizens did not smile often, but they would not have said they were unhappy. In fact, they were very happy. They knew only their life of hard work and fair reward, and that was enough. Yes, it was indeed enough.

One day, a red dot appeared in the sky. It didn't look like dirt or bark suspended in the air, but ponies could tell it was there. Nopony really said anything. One might say "What a curious thing to be in the sky" to which somepony would respond "Yes, for certain." On that first day, nopony paid it any mind.

Everyday, the dot got bigger. By the time one week had passed, the dot would cast a notable shadow throughout the day. Ponies may have looked up and puzzled over it, but they just kept on going about their business. They did not attempt to riddle out what the dot was, but instead they allowed it to simply become a part of the scenery.

After two weeks, the dot had become a mass that eclipsed the entire town, but nopony even gave it a second look. Nopony can say what was going through their minds. Perhaps they had forgotten about it completely. Perhaps they were convinced it was nothing to be concerned about. It is most likely, however, that they did not want to worry about it. If they worried, they would have to act. Acting could be a burden.

Whatever was keeping them unaware did not falter, even as the mass began to descend upon the town a little more every day. It spared the trees, but the tops of tall buildings were crushed and tumbled into the streets. Ponies simply picked up the broken pieces, swept them away, and continued on with their day, but they hadn't actually seen the sun in a month. They lit fires and torches so they could see, but they didn't pay any heed. Whether or not they had consciously done so, they had resigned to their fate.

The red mass flattened the town and it's citizens. When the other towns learned what had happened to the little kingdom in the forest, they were flabbergasted. It seemed ridiculous that everypony would simply allow themselves to be flattened. If it hadn't actually happened, the idea would be kind of funny. Who could watch the sky fall and not say a word? Who could stand by idly while calamity unfolds? Who would deny destruction even beyond the final moment?

I know, however, that those are the wrong questions. The one that haunts me is this: How could anyone convince themselves everything was fine?

"Why are you telling me this?" Macintosh asks at the end of the shade's speech. The figure frowns, perhaps put off by his guest's ungrateful attitude.

"I was hoping that you could answer my question," the shade said. It clears it's throat, or at least made a sound like it was. "If you know there is something amiss, why live in denial?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Big Macintosh says, with a grunt. His eyes dart to the side. When they rest on the shade, it is smiling again. He preferred the frown.

"Ponyville looks a lot like my lovely Kingdom nowadays, doesn't it?"

"How could you know that?" Big Macintosh asks, but then it dawns on him: this pony has been watching him. He's been watching for a while now. He must know something about the town's emptiness.

"The world you imagined was so vivid and alive, but now it's so dead," the shade said to him in a sort of coddling tone. "Why would you give into the illusion of emptiness? Why would you imagine that you're all alone again?"

"You're not making any sense." Big Macintosh can feel something crumbling. He looks about at the hollow trees, heavy with the weight of their own branches blotting out the sun. If there is nothing inside to support them, they will fall to the ground. If there is no truth holding something up, it will fall into the abyss. "I'm not alone; I have her."

"But she has you convinced you're alone."

Hippocampy promised to keep the secret. Hippocampy said nopony else could understand or help him. Hippocampy assured him nopony was around to see. Hippocampy consumed his mind. Hippocampy consumed his body. Hippocampy had spread like fire into every corner of his mind, but Big Macintosh had purposely denied himself water. Somehow, he had convinced himself he wanted to burn. He was happy to burn.

"Hippocampy would do that to me, would she?" he asks himself. "We're happy together."

"But something is wrong."

"What's wrong with being happy?" Big Macintosh yells, roaring into the dead forest. "Can't I just having something nice for once? Something that's special? Something that's mine? Something I haven't imagined? For once I'm genuinely happy, but everything keeps telling me it can't be this way. Can't I be happy? Why can't I just be happy?"

"The problem hangs over your head," the shade answers.

Big Macintosh still has no idea where Hippocampy lives. He hasn't told his sisters or his grandmother about his marefriend. He hasn't seen ponies for days on end, but Hippocampy has been there to assure him nopony is there. Even acknowledging these things, Big Macintosh knows he is dancing around the problem. He decides to speak it aloud, just to try on it. He decides to put it into words so he knows how it feels.

"Something isn't right."

The shade seems to smile wider.

"I can't put a hoof on it, but something about all this isn't right," Big Macintosh says to himself. It hurts to acknowledge, but now he stands at the ledge. He must jump now, no matter the cost. "I need to know the truth."

"Do you need to know the truth more than you need to be happy?"

Big Macintosh pauses. This is not a question he had asked himself. He considers it, but it's such a strange thought. He can't simply say "eeyup" or "nope" to this. He must answer with another question.

"Can't I have both? The truth and happiness?"

"Maybe," the shade answers. "But it's risky. Do you have something worth the risk?"

"Eeyup. The thing I've been fighting to protect this whole time," Big Macintosh says, casting his gaze down at the forest's soil. "I'd liked to keep my sanity."

If they citizens of the town had acknowledged the mass, the disaster could have been avoided. The town could be evacuated and everypony could stay elsewhere until the mess was sorted out. It would be hard to live away from their homes and livelihoods. It would be hard to rebuild their town. It would be hard, very hard. What calamity is not hard on a pony? Why pretend any calamity is easy?

Yes, they would have seen hardship, but what sense was there in clinging to the shreds of the easy, familiar way for a short while? Now they cannot rebuild. Now they will never walk the easy road again.

That is why this is The Hollow Kingdom. It is built upon a false notion that won nothing: that we can be happy by simply denying the ugly truth. Nopony pities the Hollow Kingdom; its is a fate that could have been avoided. There is no pity for fools, no matter how crazy they act. It takes only an ounce of sanity to see the writing on the wall, writing that clearly reads "trouble is coming."

Big Macintosh leaves the Hollow Kingdom, cantering at a brisk pace back towards Ponyville. His mind is swimming with questions and his gut is churning with uneasiness. He's afraid of what truth he'll uncover, but there is one thing he knows for sure now: nopony with a compromised sense of reality could hope to piece together was is real and what is fake. In an ironic twist of fate, his insistence on being able to sort it out on his own kept him from going mad. He didn't crumble before the maze of true lies and false truths, but he foolishly tried to get through it.

Even if his mind is still at large, he needs to sort some things out. Change is in the wind, he can feel it. He could stop and live in ignorant bliss again, but that would be irresponsible. If only for the want of being responsible, he sticks to his choice.

Big Macintosh is torn from his serious thoughts when he sees a mare coming down the path towards him. It doesn't strike him as odd at first, but then he realizes this mare is headed towards the Hollow Kingdom. He has trouble fathoming that. Despite how groundbreaking the whole experience was, Big Macintosh is certain he imagined the whole thing. When the two get close, they stop before each other.

The grey and black maned mare looks like she has seen better days. Her eyes are bloodshot and sunken while her bow tie hangs looks around her neck. Her mane is a mess and she has several bare patches of fur along her legs. Big Macintosh isn't sure what to make of her.

"Are you okay?" he asks out of courtesy. The mare folds her ears back as if his voice was too loud for her, a clear indication that she is not alright. Even so, Big Macintosh doesn't know what to make of her. He hated to admit it, but her disheveled appearance was making him antsy; he didn't want to linger around her.

"I'm just lost, that's it," she says so fast she stumbles over her simple words. "I thought I saw... somepony."

"Who?"

"I don't now just... somepony, I guess. You haven't..." She stops, but Big Macintosh can tell she wants to say more. Whatever it was, she abandons it. "Of course you haven't. I'm sorry for bothering you. I need to go." Big Macintosh doesn't say anything more, not eager to pursue this mare's troubles. He has problems of his own, big ones at that.

She does go, and Big Macintosh doesn't stop her. He turns to watch her go down the path, but is shocked to see nothing at his back. The path is gone and so is that mare. When he turns forward, he can clearly see Ponyville just beyond the treeline. He cannot explain this, but a voice carried on the wind causes every hair on his body to stand on end.

"You've turned your back for good on the Hollow Kingdom. There is no going back."

Big Macintosh breaks into a full gallop towards town. Whether or not he is able to have auditory hallucinations, disembodied voices frighten him. Even in the midst of his terror, part of him laughs at how normal he is.