The Hollow Kingdom of Big Macintosh

Exhibit V

"As a child, Hippocampy struggled with anterograde amnesia. The poor thing experienced a deal of trauma resulting in the loss of her parents, my daughter and her husband. After that, she didn't remember time passing her by. She hardly slept, so every day was the day after her parents died. It was enough heartbreak for me to lose her parents, but worrying over the poor thing's condition nearly put me in an early grave too.

"Back then, doctors couldn't do much for ponies with problems like her's. Magi-medical practice evolved, thank Celestia. Hippocampy was able to live a normal life, like any other mare. The doctors said everything was fine and Hippocampy seemed happy, but I was still afraid. She's was all the family I had left, so I protected her the best I could. She's adventurous and free-spirited, so I had plenty to worry about. She just couldn't do as she was told, but I loved her regardless. I just kept telling myself that she'd have to grow up eventually."

"Did she?" Big Macintosh asks, keeping pace with the elderly pony as they walk towards the center of town. He keeps quiet, deathly curious.

"It's hard to say," Grandpa replies. "She certainly grew into a fine young mare. She met a stallion, fell in love, and they got married faster than this old codger thought was appropriate. He's a good stallion, so I regret giving him such a hard time back then."

"Hippocampy is married?" Big Macintosh's tone betrays his inner panic. He swallows his nerves and waits for an answer, but Grandpa's face grows dour.

"Yes... she wouldn't have mentioned that to anyone she'd met recently," he says. "When two ponies get married, it's natural for them to start up a family of their own. A few months after she tied the knot, it looked like I was going to be a great-grandfather. It was fantastic news for me, bittersweet too. I couldn't help but think back to when my daughter became pregnant with Hippocampy. Naturally, I was nervous. Yes... I was nervous...

"There was nothing unusual about the first trimester. There was nothing out of the ordinary about the second trimester. The third trimester passed without incident. It wasn't until late one night that things went south. I wasn't there when it happened, so sometimes I don't believe it's real myself. I still wonder how it's even fair that somepony could go through so much pain in what isn't even half a lifetime.

"It was a stillbirth. The doctors didn't... don't know why or how. The shock was too much for Hippocampy, and she passed out. When she woke up, she didn't remember it. She didn't remember being pregnant. She didn't remember getting married, falling in love, meeting a stallion, or growing up. I remember; I've got a good memory for somepony as old as I am. I remember when she came to, when she looked me in the eyes and asked 'where's mom and dad?'"

Big Macintosh can't formulate a response. He could say he is sorry, but he isn't sure what he's apologizing for. He didn't want to say anything to hurt this old pony anymore. He can try empathizing, having lost both of his parents at a young age himself. He chooses, perhaps unconsciously, to just let Grandpa continue talking; just speaking about it seems therapeutic for him.

"I don't blame her for forgetting." He continues his story after a shaky sigh. "The doctors have tried helping her remember through medicine, but they say the drugs don't work where there is no will. Her husband and I tell her stories from her past, but she treats them like fiction. She doesn't believe it. All she accepts is that is has been a very long time and she's an adult now. Her personality is the same, exactly the same, but she's views her own life like a stranger's.

"We're getting her out of the hospital," Grandpa tells Big Macintosh, a hint of anger creeping into his voice. "We're going to do everything we can to bring her back to reality again. We are planning on holding the wedding exactly like we did before. We're hoping to trigger something inside her, and for all the convincing it took I hope it works. Aside from our ages, everything will be the same. I even got the dressmaker down at the boutique to work on her wedding dress so it'll sparkle just like the day she walked down the aisle the first time."

"Sounds like you've got quiet the trial ahead," Big Macintosh says to him. It's all he can think to say.

They stop at the entrance to the town square. Sitting next to the fountain is Hippocampy, staring idly up at the pegasi gathering gray clouds. She turns her head and sees the pair of stallions staring at her. She looks shocked at first, but the shock fades into just another blank stare. Without having to hear a single word, Big Macintosh knows it's over. She walks towards them, her face the very picture of composure.

"I see you two have met," she says.

"Yes, Mr. Macintosh was very helpful in finding where you've been running off to these days," Grandpa tells her. He holds out the umbrella, putting it over his granddaughter. "Now come along, it's past your curfew."

"Give me a second Grandpa." Hippocampy turns and looked up at Big Macintosh. "I'd like to have a word with Mr. Macintosh first."

The old stallion nods, but insisted on relinquishing the umbrella to Hippocampy before he would let the two young ponies alone. The air is heavy and silent between them. It feels like an eternity before Hippocampy finally speaks up.

"How much did he tell you?"

"Everything."

"How much did you tell him?"

"Nothing," he says to her. "He's had it hard enough."

"He'll get through it," Hippocampy says with a cold chuckle. "Not coming to the wedding, then?"

"I wouldn't want to mess with the accuracy. Your grandpa has worked hard to make everything just so," Big Macintosh tells her, but Hippocampy knows this. Hippocampy knows how hard the elderly stallion has been working. "You should try and remember, for his sake. For your husband's sake."

"Right. It's no skin off my bones if I refuse to remember everything, but Celestia forbid I inconvenience other ponies." The conversation gets cold and silent again in the stillness of Hippocampy's comment. Big Macintosh is startled that somepony could say something like that. He knows how he wants to respond. He knows what he has to say to sever his relationship with her. He knows the right thing to say.

"Eeyup, that's the idea." It isn't right to simply pretend something isn't wrong. He sees a difficult path for Hippocampy if she wants to return to the life she once knew, but she has at least two ponies who are willing to walk beside her the whole way. Even so, Big Macintosh could have spat out Hippocampy's response before she did.

"I thought you were on my side." Of course, she has missed the point. "Good-bye."

It isn't Big Macintosh's place to set her on the right path. All he can do now is watch her go up the path to the hospital, a path he can only hope is that right path. It's out of his hooves. He has his own, separate problems. Perhaps it's a weak excuse, but it's hard to put another's house in order when yours is in disarray.

A light drizzle kicks up before Hippocampy and her Grandpa get too far away to see. Big Macintosh can't be sure, but he swears he sees Hippocampy force the umbrella back on her Grandpa. If it is what he sees, he is not surprised. He is sure she is not a bad pony, just a mixed up one. He must believe this. He must believe that he is not a bad pony, just a mixed up one.

Separated from Hippocampy, Big Macintosh stands out in the rain to wonder. He wonders if he harmed or helped Hippocampy's chances of remembering. He finds it hard to believe that anypony could just up and forget such a large part of their life. Just to be forgotten like that, he thinks that would be painful. One day a pony is your closest confidant and companion, but the next moment you're just a face in the crowd to them. He doesn't want to know that pain, and he certainly does not want to cause that pain.

He turns around.

Rarity is standing behind him, rain streaked and fixed with a harsh gaze. Everypony else has gone inside to avoid the rain, but Rarity is going out of her way and getting drenched so she can just stare at Big Macintosh. For his part, Big Macintosh remembers that he failed to show up at Carousel Boutique for their last day. He wants to apologize, but his gut makes him hesitate. Rarity would not get so mad over the missed appointment; there is something else she's angry about. Big Macintosh wonders what it could be, but Rarity answers before he gets a chance to even ask.

"You forgot."