Shale walked through me like I was a ghost, trotting over towards Ma Pie. “Yes, Ma?” she inquired, looking up at the older mare.
“I need you to check on the west side of the field.” Ma Pie pointed towards an empty cart. “Put all the ripe ones in there and take them to the barn.”
“Yes’m,” Shale replied. She cast a glance back to me, gesturing for me to follow. I blink, walking over to her. “I know you have a lot of questions.” Shale hooked herself up to the cart, beginning her trot. “I’ll get the biggest one out of the way first: you are not me, and I am not you.”
A mix of relief and... sadness(?) washes over me. My sense of self certainly loves this news, I’m still just, you know, Floyd, but... I guess I liked the idea of having a family here. “That's... good?” I fall in beside her, putting my hands in my pockets. “So... what does that make us?”
Shale takes a moment to respond. “We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl, year after year~”
My face contorts into a scowl. “Stop that. I already have Pinkie and Luna poking around my head, I don’t need you doing it too.”
Shale flinches, as if struck. “Right... sorry.”
I sigh, realizing I was chastising a child. A spirit child, but still a child. “If I’m not you, then what the hell’s been going on?”
Shale slows to a crawl, coming to a rather empty plot of plain. Like any other farm, rows of crops are carved into the ground. These are just under the ground. Unhooking herself, she moves over to the start of the closet one, pawing at the dirt.
“It’s a little complicated.” Shale unearths a rock, tapping it softly. Apparently not pleased with the sound, she covers it back up. “See, when you died, Discord dragged you from your world.”
“Yeah, so what?”
“So.” Shale moves to another spot, doing the same procedure. “When he brought you here, you passed through this world's afterlife.” Oh. I think I know where this is going. “While you were going through there, your soul brushed against mine.”
I scratch my cheek, letting the information process while she works. After gathering my courage to dive into some heavy topics, I speak. “What's it like?”
Shale paused, wiping her forehead. “I can’t really say. Before you touched me, I was just... there...” At my stare, she explains further. “Newborn creatures are given blank souls. As they grow and learn, so do their souls. When something is stillborn or dies young...”
My eyes widen in realization. “Their souls stay like that.”
Smiling at me, Shale nods. “You’re getting it.” She resumes her task, a bit of pep in her actions. “When we connected, I was pulled back to the living world with you.” She tapped the rock in front of her, nodding at the sound. She scooped it up, placing it in the cart.
“It was you bonding with Pinkie that let me stay.” Shale stopped and looked at me, her eyes gleaming. “That part of your mind that merged with Pinkie’s allowed me to do well.” She swept her arm out. “I wasn’t conscious, not at first. I don’t know if this is actually how things would have been but...” She trails off, casting her gaze at the ground.
“You’ve been able to live out the life you would have had,” I finish for her. Shale gave me a nod, rubbing at her arm. “And you’ve been doing this without my permission, all this time?”
“I-I’m sorry.” Her ears pin to her head. “I didn’t think it would cause you any harm. I didn’t even know you were able to experience this...” She looks up at me, shame etched into her features. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, I just...” A whimper escapes her throat, eyes starting to moisten.
I kneel down, doing my best to give her a hug. “Don’t worry about it Shale, I’m more relieved than mad.” I flash her a smile. “It was kinda nice to think that I had family here, but, ya know. The idea of having been someone else terrified the hell out of me.”
Sniffling, Shale steps back, wiping at her eyes. “You know the Pies are still your family, Floyd.” Resuming her work, Shale elaborates. “Sure, you’re not me, but, Maud and Pinkie have already adopted you. There’s no way they’d abandon you. And even on the off chance they did, you have Jason with you.”
She makes sense. Considering how Maud is, I’m not sure why I’m worried she’ll leave me. Not to put too fine a point on it but, she’s my rock. I would have broken weeks ago if she wasn’t with me.
“And~ you got Blueblood!” Shale adds, a smile growing across her face. “You should ask him out. Maybe go on a few dates while you're in one of the big cities.”
I feel my cheeks warm up, and I look away from her. “We’re supposed to be talking about us, not my lack of a love life.” Not that I don’t like Blue, he’s actually really fun to hang out with. Besides, I gotta pay him back for that mess in Hollow Shades.
“So...” I watch Shale for a moment, sitting down on the dirt. “What happens now? I can’t just tell you not to do this. It wouldn’t be right.” It really wouldn’t. I’m not going to deny Shale a chance to live, even if it’s just in my dreams.
“You aren’t?” Her look of surprise quickly changes into one of joy. “Thank you so much, Floyd!” With some pep in her step, she bounced over to me, giving me a hug.
“And here I thought only one Pie bounced.” I chuckle, rubbing her head. Out of all the Pie siblings, Shale seems the most ‘normal’. She’s not insane like Pinkie, isn’t a bitch like Limestone, not shy like Marble, and not uh... Maud.
Pulling away, Shale resumes her rock checking. As it turns out, the Pie farm sits on a ley line. The rocks absorb the ambient magic and turn into magicite geodes. Just a little something I picked up from living with the Pies.
“I guess I’m just more well rounded than the other Pies.” Shale looks up at me, still smiling. “You should be waking up soon. Tell Pinkie and Maud I love them, won’t you?”
“Of course I will, Shale.” I sigh, closing my eyes again. “I’d like to talk like this some more, if that’s alright with you?”
Nodding, Shale digs up another rock, checking it. “I’m always here to talk, Floyd, if you ever need another set of ears.” With nothing else left to safe, we spend the rest of the day in silence, with only the sound of digging breaking the peaceful silence.
“I think she’s waking up!”
Blueblood jolted up in his seat, looking over at Floyd’s bed. He took a few sharp breaths, watching as the aforementioned mare stirred. “It’s about time. I’ll go get Maud and Cheese.” Standing up, he tore his eyes away from Floyd, hastily trotting out of the room.
Their merry little band had taken refuge in Hollow Shades’ former mayoral manor. The building had been turned into a makeshift hospital, though none of Luna’s Night Guard or the remaining cultists were seriously injured.
Floyd had been placed in the master bedroom, sporting a large bandage around her head. Pinkie had stayed by her side, with the others taking rotating shifts watching over her.
“God, why do pillars have to hit so hard...?” Floyd groaned as awareness came back to her. She took stock of her surroundings, noting the dreary decorations and macabre nicknacks. “At least this place has a consistent tone. I’d hate to see this place with a pleasant looking room.”
“Floyd!” Pinkie exclaimed, darting over to her adopted sister’s bed. “You’re awake! You’ve been sleeping for days! What happened!? Where you having another Shale dream!?”
Floyd groaned, pulling her pillow over her head. “Pinkie, my head is killing me. Please turn it down to about two, please” Curling up, she pressed the pillow to her ears, trying to drown out the excitable pony’s ramblings.
Pinkie took in a breath of air, letting it out slowly. “Sorry, Floyd. It’s just, I was so worried about you. We were afraid you were in a coma.”
“Thank god I wasn’t.” Floyd held the pillow to her head for a few more minutes. Once sure that Pinkie wasn’t going to burst into another tirade, she placed the pillow back under her head. “A few days huh? Well, besides the headache, I don’t feel too bad.”
“That’s good to hear,” Blueblood spoke as he trotted back into the room, Maud and Cheese following behind him. Levitating a plate off his back, he placed it on Floyd’s lap. “I imagine you’re starving, I thought I’d bring you some lunch.”
Grinning slightly, Floyd wasted no time in chowing down. The others let her eat her fill, taking seats around the room. “Ah~” Floyd leaned back, rubbing her belly. “Much better.” Taking a glance around the room, her mood dimmed. “Maud, where is Jason?”
Blueblood spoke up in Maud’s stead. “Ah, Jason is in a room down the hall. As you know, Equestria has strained relations with changelings. I promise Floyd, no harm has come to Jason. My aunt simply thought it would be best if he was confined to a room.”
Floyd sighed, grumbling something in a language none of them understood. “Fine, I’ll deal with it later.” Sitting up, she rested her back against her pillow. “Alright, so, I dunno about you guys, but I had a nice chat with Shale.”
“With Shale?” Maud asked, raising her eyebrow.
“Yes Maud, with Shale. And no I’m not talking about the Avatar thing,” Floyd replied, placing her plate on the nightstand. “As it turns out, Shale and I are two separate people.She’s been using my connection to Pinkie to live out her life in my dreams.” Floyd flinched slightly, closing an eye.
“Are you alright?” Maud rose up, walking over to the bed. Gently placing a hoof on Floyd’s head, Maud gazed down at her. “It doesn’t look like you have a fever.”
Floyd peered up at Maud, a frown etched on her muzzle. “That’s it? I tell you I’m not a reincarnation of your sister, and you’re afraid I have a fever?”
Moving her hoof down, Maud placed it on Floyd’s cheek. “Our sister,” she corrected, her voice carrying a firm edge. “Shale is your sister too. Just like I am, just like Pinkie, Marble and Limestone. You not being Shale doesn’t change that.”
“Yeah, Floyd!” Pinkie chimed in, glomping Floyd and phasing through the bed. “Once you’re a Pie, you’re a Pie for life!” Pinkie lifted her head up, wearing a bright smile. “You think we’re just gonna let our baby sister out to dry? No sir, Pies stick together!”
Floyd relaxed, returning Pinkie’s smile with a mild one of her own. “Thanks, both of you. I can’t imagine where I’d be if I had be put in anyone else. Like Rarity.” A shiver ran down her spine as she imagined that scenario. “I don’t think I would have lasted a week under her bitching. ‘Oh Floyd, don’t run so much, you’ll chip our hooves!’ ‘Don’t head bang, you’ll ruin our mane!’” Amused, Floyd giggled snorted, her smile deepening. “Oh right, Shale wanted me to tell you guys that she loves you.”
Maud leaned down, placing a kiss on Floyd’s head. “And we love you.”
Floyd sniffled a little, her expectations for the Pie sisters having been shattered again. It only hardened her resolve to get Pinkie her body back. ‘No matter what Pinkie, you’ll be you again. Even if it kills me’