“But... why are you leaving?” I ask, looking up at Pinkie with a frown. My big sister just got her cutie mark and... she’s going away. I don’t want her to go.
“Shale, I can’t practice my calling if I stay here.” Pinkie looks down at me, stuffing her saddlebag with her stuff. “I gotta get out there and make ponies smile!”
“What about us?” I ask, scraping the floor with a hoof.
“You’ll be okay, Shale.” Pinke moves over, wrapping an arm around me in a hug. “You’ll still have Ma, Pa, and the girls.”
“But...” I try to argue, only for her to ruffle my mane.
“No buts, Shaley.” She smiles down at me. She does that a lot now. Smile. Whenever she does, I just want to smile back. “Hey.” She kneels down, looking into my eyes. “Can you do something for me Shaley?”
“Anything Pinkie.” I smile at her then hug her tight, nuzzling her barrel.
“Keep smiling for me, okay?” she asks, nuzzling me back. “You gotta keep the family happy while I’m gone.”
“But... why me?” I ask, looking up at her. I don’t know if I can do that, I mean... Pinkie only just got her cutie mark and making ponies smile is what she’s supposed to do.
“Well, we both know Limestone can’t do it.” Pinkie made a face, getting me to giggle. “And Maud’s too... stoic. Yeah, stoic. And Mable is too shy.”
“Well...” I look down, rubbing my arm. “Okay Pinkie.” I smile again. “I can try...”
“That's my Shaley!” She grins, hugging me tight. She pulls away, letting out a long sigh. “I know it’s going to be different without me around, but everypony has to go their own way someday.” She giggles. “Hey! That rhymed!”
I giggle with her, my mood lightened immensely.
“Come on Shale, let's go eat some lunch.” She lifts me up, placing me on her back. It’s not as roomy as when Ma or Maud does it, but Pinkie is still the comfiest. I get comfy, listening to Pinkie hum as she walks down the stairs. I like this Pinkie, she’s always so happy and smiling, even Limestone’s stopped being so mean to everypony. She digs around in the icebox, leaving me to think.
“Hey Pinkie?” I ask, placing my hooves on the back of her head, peering over her head.
“Yeah Shaley?” she asks, not looking at me.
“What do you think my cutie mark will be?” She pauses, tapping her chin in thought.
“I dunno Shale.” She shrugs before going back to her searching. She pulls out some ingredients, dropping me off in my chair. Despite it being a work day, Pinkie and I were given the day off, since Pinkie was leaving and I was supposed to be helping her. “I didn’t think mine would be parties, so who knows what yours will be.”
“I hope mine is like yours.” I rear up, bracing my hooves against the back of the chair. “I wanna make ponies smile too.”
Pinkie giggles, getting the stove going. “There are a lot of ways to make ponies happy, not just partying.”
“Like what?”
“Well, I dunno.” She shrugs, getting some pans out of the cabinet. “But, I do know there's more than just parties.”
“I guess...” I mutter, laying my head on my hooves as I watch her cook. Pinkie is just so... fast. I’ve never seen anypony move like that before. It’s like watching a pink lightning bolt, just zipping from place to place.
“Oh don’t worry too much Shaley, you’ll get your cutie mark when you're ready,” Pinkie assures me, glancing back, her face covered in dough. “I bet it’ll be something really awesome!”
“Like a rock?” I ask, frowning. I don’t want a cutie mark in rocks, it sounds so... boring. My pout deepens as I envision myself working in the fields all day, every day, doing nothing but farming rocks until I’m old and grey. I shiver, not wanting to be cursed with that fate.
“Don’t worry too much about it Shale. You shouldn’t try to grow up too quickly.”
I give her a deadpan look. “Pinkie, you're only two years older than me.”
“Hey, I didn’t say I was a grown up, now did I?” she asks, licking some dough off her cheek.
“Well no...” I frown again, trying to think of a retort. “But, I mean...” I pause again, still stumped. “I don’t want to be like Limestone, she’s sixteen and she still doesn’t even have her cutie mark!”
“That just means she’s a late bloomer.” Pinkie waves her hoof dismissively. She turns the stove off, placing a plate of cupcakes in front of me.
I blink, sitting down. “How did... how did you make those so fast?” I ask, staring at the plate. Those are the most delicious looking cupcakes I have ever seen in my life.
“I dunno Shale. I just... did,” Pinkie states matter-of-factly. “Now let’s eat before they get cold!”
“Don’t they have to cool down first?”
“Oh yeah. Silly me.” She giggles, getting me to giggle as well. I just roll my eyes, getting myself something to drink.
“Where are you gonna go, Pinkie?” I ask, retaking my seat, grabbing a cupcake, and starting to munch on it.
“I don’t really know Shale, but I get these... feelings... all over when things happen.” She gestures to herself. “It’s been telling me I have to go out into Equestria and make ponies smile!”
“Is it really?” I ask, raising my eyebrow.
She shrugs. “I dunno, but if I just stay here, the feelings are never gonna go away.”
“I wish you didn’t have to leave...” I sigh, looking down. Pinkie grabs my chin, lifting my head so we can lock eyes.
“Shale, no matter where I am, we’ll always be sisters, okay?” Pinkie asks, pulling me into a hug.
“I love you Pinkie...” I mutter, nuzzling her chest..
“I love you too, Shale...” she whispers back, nuzzling my head. I blink, feeling Pinkie start to vibrate.
“Uh, Pinkie...?” I ask worriedly, looking up at her.
“Don’t worry about it Shaley, it’s nothing,” she assures me with a smile.
“If you say so...” I pull away, nodding. We eat our meal mostly in silence, with Pinkie doing her best to cheer me up, but... I don’t know if it’s really working.
“Are you sure you’re okay, Pinkie?” I ask, looking up at her. Through the day, mostly while setting up her party, Pinkie had... spasmed? Vibrated? A lot. She’s been playing it off, but I know it’s a problem.
“I’m fine Shale, don’t worry your little head about it,” she assures me, patting my head. I roll my eyes, taking a sip of my punch. I dunno how she does it but, she did everything herself. Filled up all the balloons, made the punch, did the decorating, did all the baking. Is getting your cutie mark like getting super powers? What powers do Ma and Pa have? To be boring?
“If you say so, Pinkie...” I mutter, glancing around. Ma and Pa are off in the corner reading, I think? Our parents are weird like that. Limestone is popping balloons and Maud is playing pin the tail on the dragon with Marble.
“Of course I do.” She blinked for a moment. “Oh! I want to give you something before I go!” She reached into her mane, rummaging around before pulling out a book. “Here!”
“What is it?” I set my cup down, taking it from her.
“It’s a journal, silly! I have one, Maud has one. I think Limestone has one but I dunno if anything can contain that level of concentrated jerkness.”
I giggle a little, examining the book. It’s got a rather nice cover, made of a felt like material. On the front it reads ‘The Journal of Shale Rebecca Pie.’ I open it up, seeing ‘To Shale, the best baby sister ever, from Pinkie Pie.’ written on the inside.
“Wow Pinkie, this is great.” I smile, placing it on the table.
“I’m glad you like it, Shaley.” She smiles back before vibrating again, this time for at least a minute straight. She staggers a little, shaking her head.
“Pinkie?” I ask, more worried than before.
She recovers, giving me a sad look. “Shale I’m sorry but... I have to go now.”
“But!” I jump out of my seat, my eyes wide. “You said you didn’t have to leave until tomorrow!”
“I know Shale but...” She glances back at her cutie mark. “My destiny is calling me.”
“I-I don’t want you to go!” I rush forward, hugging her tightly, feeling tears welling up in my eyes.
“I know Shale, but I have to.” She pulls me into a tight hug before pulling away. She calls out to the rest of the family, letting them know that she was cutting the party short. We help her pack up the rest of her things before taking her to the train station to catch the last train of the day.
“I’m gonna miss you all so much.” Pinkie smiles sadly, somehow pulling all of us into a hug.
“And we shall miss thee as well.” Father nuzzles her head and I can tell he’s trying not to cry.
“Thou will write to us?” Ma asks, pulling out of the hug.
“Of course I will, I couldn’t leave any of you out of touch!” Pinkie gasps. “That would be horrible! We’d all be strangers and forget about each other!” She rambles on for a bit, something I’ve noticed she does a lot now, not even noticing that the train whistle just blew.
“Um Pinkie.” I poke her, getting her attention. “The train’s about to leave.”
“OH MY GOSH!” She jumps a little, giving us each a quick hug. “I love you all so much but I gotta go!” She zips into the train just as it starts to move. I run along it, stopping at the edge of the platform.
“Goodbye Pinkie...” I call out softly, perking up a little when I see her sticking out of the window, waving at us. I wave back to her, staying there until she’s well out of sight.
“Come now, Shale,” Ma urges, nudging me a bit, “Tis time to return home.”
“Okay Ma.” I turn, looking at the ground, letting her place me on her back. Once we get home, I go up to Pinkie and Marble’s room... or rather Marble’s and my room now. I sit on Pinkie’s old bed, a long sigh escaping my lips. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice my new journal, sitting at the desk. I move over, taking a seat and flipping it open. After a few moments of silence, I grab a quill from the inkwell and start to write.
‘Once there was a rock farm, upon which lived a little grey filly...’
I blink the sleep from my eyes, sitting up, giving my head a shake. Once again, another one of those weird ‘Shale’ dreams. This is what... the fifth time this week?
“Sixth actually.” Pinkie materializes next to me, smile first like she’s the goddamn Chesire Cat. “What was this one about?” It was about you leaving the rock farm. “Oh, I remember that. I was so nervicted on the train to Ponyville, I thought I was gonna have a heart attack.”
“Yeah, well, Shale was really broken up about it.” I get out of bed, stretching out, sighing as I hear a satisfying pop from my spine. “Little filly really didn’t want you to leave.” I look at the clock, seeing it was only about five o’clock. Pinkie, you know the way to Maud’s room?
“Yupperoni! You can tell me all about the dream on the way!” She grins, trotting through the door. I follow after her, nodding to some night guards as we walk through the halls.
“Wow,” Pinkie says as I finish the story, “I remember spending that day with Maud.”
“And now I remember it as Shale.” I knock on Maud’s door, standing there for a few minutes. I go to knock again when she opens it, looking exactly the same as she does any other time, minus the frock.
She blinks a few times, looking me over. “You had the dream again?”
“Yup.” I nod, giving a sheepish grin. “This time it was Pinkie leaving the rock farm.” Maud stands to the side, gesturing for us to enter. I do so, taking a seat on the couch. Maud sits across from me, seeming to be lost in thought. “Maud, look, I know you know something. I could tell when I had the first dream.”
Maud looks down, letting out a long sigh. “Pinkie... Floyd, I...” She pauses, collecting her thoughts. “Pinkie and Marble were only two at the time. Limestone was nine and I was six.” I frown, seeing Maud actually starting to tremble. “Ma and Pa were so happy when they found out they were having another foal, I think Pa was hoping for a colt...” She trailed off, a tear streaking down her face. “Shale was born on Nightmare Night but...” Maud went quiet, not looking at us.
“I have another sister?” Pinkie asks, a look of utter shock on her face. “Where is she? Why can Floyd remember her but I can’t?” Her ears pinned back. “S-something bad happened... didn’t it?”
“Maud...?” I ask gently, reaching out and touching her arm.
“She was stillborn.”
“What?” I ask, pulling my arm back, holding it close to my chest.
“Shale was stillborn,” Maud chokes out, squeezing her eyes shut. “Our baby sister never even took a breath...” She broke down completely, pulling me into a nearly bone crushing hug. I hug her back, ignoring my oxygen deprived lungs. She cries into my shoulder, while Pinkie bursts into tears next to us. Maud eventually releases me, allowing me to breathe again.
“You okay Maud...?” I wheeze out, taking in a deep breath.
“Y-yeah... thanks Floyd.” Maud nods, slipping back under her stony mask.
“Hey, you do it for me all the time, I owe you one.” We share a small smile, though Pinkie’s, and by extension mine as well, mane has deflated.
“Why does Floyd keep dreaming about Shale?” Pinkie asks, sniffling a little.
“Yeah that is a good question.” I nod, placing a hoof on my chin. “Why exactly am I dreaming about the life of a person who never lived one?” Maud stares at me, tilting her head to the side.
“Floyd, how old are you?”
“Huh?” I ask, blinking at the strange shift in topic. “I’m twenty, why?”
“And when were you born?”
“I was born on Halloween, but I don’t get the relevancy...”
“Pinkie is twenty three,” Maud starts, a pensive look on her face, “And Shale would be twenty one this year.”
“So she’d be a year older than me so what?” I ask, getting a little weirded out.
“Wait...” Pinkie perks up, her visible eye moving from side to side as she works through whatever Maud is talking about. “Halloween and Nightmare Night are on the same day...and you were born a year after Shale died...”
“Again, the hell are you two talking about?” I ask, utterly lost at this point.
They both lock eyes on me, looking dead serious. “Reincarnation.” They spoke at the same time, the implication hitting me like the Juggernaut.
“What?” I ask dumbly, feeling my body going numb.
“Floyd.” Maud leans forward, looking into my eyes. “You might be Shale, reincarnated.”
I stare at her, barely aware anymore. “Oh shit...” I fall over, the blackness of unconsciousness taking me once more.
Dun dun dun? I honestly didn't think of that out of all the possibilities involving the Shale stuff...huh. Another great chapter.
What a twist!
Interesting. Kind of a weird sell that Shale would be reincarnated as a snarky dude seeing as she was a young sweet filly in the dream. Still this could lead to some interesting places.
SWEET JESUS-
um... what?
Whoa
40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdz4ixlG7X1qdsypao1_400.jpg
Hmmmmmmmm.... Well, I don't really like how they just accepted this reincarnation stuff, but eh. New chapter, I don't care.
Huh.
Cool.
Omg I did not see that coming floyd is Shale, but reincarnated.” God if that happened to me I would lose my mind I'm sorry for the pie family lost the daughter I hate baby's go stillborn it make the famley sad ???? Good chapter can't wait for more
That was...unexpected.
Huh, huh, huh, that's cool!
Huh, huh, huh, that's cool!
Huh, huh, huh, that's cool!
Huh, huh, huh, that's cool!
I will admit, I didn't see that coming.
Welp, I was getting that vibe when reading the beginning of the chapter. I just didn't expect it to be right.
Can't blame Floyd for fainting from that. But even if he is Shale reborn why would we have dreams of a life that never was?
Saw that a mile away, still liked how you executed it though. Good job on that.
The plot thickens!
Nice chapter, good work.
7028914 Not really. I mean, Aang and Kora are two different people.
This was an interesting chapter, and a great plot twist to think that Floyd might be the reincarnation of the Pies stillborn foal. I wander how this will affect the relation with the rest of the Pie family.
7029478 Magic.
More?
That's one heck of a bombshell to just drop on a guy.
whoa that's a damn pestilence of a thing to push onto someone
X3 story is still amazing
7028889 What were your other theories?
7067105 Well the normal part of me kept thinking it was just Floyd getting overly emotionally attached to pinkie, maud and all of them. While the other half of me was thinking it was some pseudo spirit-influencing stuff where shale wanted him to live the life she couldn't or something along those lines.
7070609 He's in Pinkie's body, he always has been.
I saw something coming but my running theory was that it was from Starlight's time travel. Loving this story, Thanks for Writing!
7071898 Trust me, I got something planned for the time travel.
That was awesome, and of course I had to force myself to read it in one go, now I have to start a new one again if I want something to read.
However I hope he doesn´t just change his personality to much or anything bad like that what could happen. I mean I sort of want him to still see and himself as Floyd, even if I actually really like his idea.
While I think normally his mental state would last a while longer if he should find out who he is, I can´t say he couldn´t get better instead.
I´m really into mental stuff, adoption and some nice romance storys at the moment, so I kind of hope that he more or less stays the way he is a while longer, pretty much normal but with weak moments. (Or with some of his freak outs.)
She is not Shale, she is Floyd damn it!
Don't call me Shirley.
Sorry, had to be done.
Might be the alternate timeline changing things, but given how she behaves in the early episodes, this seems like a bit of maturity that Pinkie just wouldn't have at that point. Didn't it take an encounter with that donkey for this to finally get through to her?
Nice touch. I like to imagine that all the Pies have this kind of weirdly normal out-of-place middle name. Just because it's silly.
Well, it was telegraphed pretty hard, so that doesn't really come as a surprise. It kinda doesn't actually explain anything, though - reincarnation doesn't usually come with fabricated memories. Considering Shale was already dead and too busy living to have stuck around as a ghost, all those dreams would kinda seem to come from nowhere. Clearly, there's some kind of other weirdness going on in the background there.
7119208
I would argue memories of a past life are absolutely fundamental to reincarnation. Obviously most people don't remember anything, but if nobody does, how's anyone supposed to know there's reincarnation at all? The primary (and possibly only) indication that you've been reincarnated is having memories or dreams of lives that you never lived.
However, she cannot be Shale reincarnated, because Shale never had these memories. Or any memories at all, for that matter. The ponies are right in thinking that her memories of a past life with them would mean she was reincarnated, but since they themselves can confirm those memories never happened, there's no way she could be the reincarnation of their dead sister.
What she could be is the reincarnation of a different version of Shale, in an alternate universe where she wasn't stillborn, grew up with a normal life, and then was a human ...somehow that hasn't been revealed. But a reincarnation of the stillborn Shale in this timeline... no.
7188499
I think the more sensible interpretation is that, reincarnation or dimensional alternate, something about Floyd has the magic of Equestria recognizing him as Shale and trying to reconcile "what is" with "what could/should have been" in some way or other.
Have you heard of Dragon Ball GT? Uub is a reincarnation of Kid Buu. It may happened on Earth, but let's call this fanfic a 'what if'. Something like from Equestria to Earth. If you don't like this story, then read other fanfics instead of post negative comments and I also talk to you Pinklestia.
My daughter was a still born so I know how much that hurts.
oh ok then
Well we were quite on the nose for most of that prediction. Huh...
That twist really made zero sense.
66.media.tumblr.com/3e1694c6513151bc0d5320161a38f59a/tumblr_o9j49iL5E91qlljgqo1_r1_250.gif
TAN TAN TAAAAN
Floyd is Shale? Eh, doesn't seem to really work. He doesn't seem like he quite fits into their family like that, plus how it seems to be giving him new memories seems unwholesome. He already has his own xhildhood memories and giving him new ones where his own upbringing and identity are replaced with those of a pony don't feel like its making him more of a part of their family. Plus Floyd having a Cutie Mark in making people smile like Pinkie feels too generic, like he's just Pinkie Pie #2.
Would be less unbelievable Floyd looking into another dimension where Shale was not stillborn instead of a reincarnation but doesn't matter, does it?