Brenda's Big Adventure

The sound of the alarm clock going off at 5:20 AM woke me from my slumber -- I had been dreaming about the ruined Ponyville and wondering what might have happened had I not transformed back into my human body after having been Twilight for a day. My dream focused on doing lots of repairs, helping everypony who was still alive out with their respective needs, and generally trying to be as helpful as possible. I figured it was something Twilight would have done in a similar circumstance. As I turned to get up out of bed to switch off the clock, I noticed my wife was missing.

"Brenda? You up already?" I asked. She usually sleeps until almost 6, but her side of the bed was cold, as if she had been gone for quite awhile. I got up and turned off the alarm clock and put on my house-coat. I went through the house looking for her, checking every room including the laundry room. I started to worry as I was unable to find her. She was supposed to go to work today, and missing a day for her would get her a write-up. I woke up her youngest daughter, Xaviera.

"Xavi, can you call around to see where your mama may have gone? She's not here in the house, I checked. I have to go to work today, but if she shows up, perhaps one of your sisters can take her to work."

"Okay, Mike, I'll check," she said as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Xaviera is 20 years old but doesn't have a license or a job. She has two daughters she is currently raising -- she has held jobs in various places but without dependable transportation and child-care, she has found it difficult to hold a job for any serious length of time.

I laid back down to sleep for about an hour or so -- usually, I drop Brenda off at her job, a trip which normally takes about 25 minutes from our house to her workplace -- my workplace is another hour's drive away from there, but it's also an hour's drive from our house as well. I set the secondary alarm for 6:45 and tossed and turned in bed, trying to figure out what happened. Sleep would not come for me, but I laid in bed until the second alarm went off. I turned it off and took my shower and got dressed to head off to my job.

"Mike, I called around and no one has seen her yet," Xaviera told me.

"All right, keep on checking back -- if you hear anything, please give me a call."

"Okay."

I fixed my sack lunch and headed out. The car greeted me as I got in and started it up.

"Good Morning, Michael Walker!" came the cheery voice from the speakers.

"TS, can you scan for Brenda Walker?" I asked.

"Where is she?" the car asked. "She's usually sitting next to you."

"I woke up this morning and she was not in the bed next to me," I said. "I have no idea where she is or what's happened to her -- or if she might have spent the night at someone else's house..." my voice trailed off at the thought of her cheating on me. I had my suspicions, but generally kept them to myself.

"I cannot do that, Michael, my scanning sensitivity is not programmed for that -- only for magic use."

"Okay, just a thought. Thanks anyway," I said, and turned on the CD player to listen to some of my favorite music. I stopped by a gas station on my way out of town to pick up a cup of soda -- I don't drink coffee, so it has to be Mountain Dew. The rest of the trip to work went uneventfully, as did the rest of the day. I received no phone calls from Xaviera, and found that Brenda still had not returned when I made it back home about 12 hours after leaving for work.

------------------------------- Brenda's Point of View

"What the hell happened?" I asked. I was sleeping next to my husband, and next thing I know, I'm laying in a bed somewhere else. I look to my right to see ... a lavender unicorn?

"Mike, you'd better not be pulling another prank on me!" I told her loudly. She woke up with a start.

"What? What? Who -- what are you? Where did you come from? Why are you in MY BED?" she asked in rapid-fire fashion. She retreated a bit, backing up against the door to her room, readying her magic.

"My name's Brenda Walker -- I thought you were my husband, who looked like you a few days ago -- but this bed is not mine. Where am I?" I asked, looking at the shelves and seeing lots of books on them and a reading desk in the corner. I looked down to see -- a baby dragon sleeping in a basket? I started backing towards the opposite wall to put as much distance between myself and this dragon-thing who was now waking up.

"Twilight, what is all that noise? I thought I heard someone else talking, what's going on?" asked the dragon-thing.

"What? You can talk? What are you?" I asked the dragon-thing.

"You ... what ... Twilight? Can you tell me what's going on?" the dragon addressed the lavender unicorn.

"Brenda, this is my assistant, Spike. I need to ask you some more questions." Spike eyed me warily, not sure as to what to make of me. "First of all, what exactly are you?"

"I'm a human," I said. "I came from Earth -- I was sleeping next to my husband and then found myself laying in your bed, which is too short for me."

"Okay, how did you get here, Brenda?"

"I don't know -- I thought you might be able to tell me."

"Who is your husband?"

"His name's Michael, and a few days ago, he looked like you! I thought he was pulling another prank on me."

"You said ... he looked like ... ME?"

"That's impossible!" Spike shouted. "How could that have happened?"

"He told me he had wished that for just one day, he could experience what it was like to be Twilight Sparkle," I said flatly.

Twilight and Spike stood in stunned silence, their mouths agape. It took a moment for Twilight to recover enough to ask her next question. Spike started chuckling, then broke out into full laughter.

"I can't believe he wanted to do that! What was he like when he was in her body?" Spike asked, wiping tears from his eyes, still chuckling.

"He fixed some stuff around the house, he fixed his car, and then he went with Princess Celestia somewhere -- he told me he went to Canterlot Castle to attend a party, then he came here with the Princess and the Elements, whatever that is, and sent Discord away, then went to Ponyville again with someone named Nick, but this time it was like "Nightmare Moon" had beaten the Elements, whatever that means, and managed to beat her somehow and..."

Twilight and Spike stood in stunned silence, mouths agape once again. This time, Spike was NOT laughing.

"Um, Brenda, how exactly did your husband do ALL THAT while in MY body?" Twilight asked with a great deal of incredulity. She still seemed to be in a bit of shock.

"He told me he came up with this "shimmer" spell of some sort, and said he called on about 20 copies of himself in your body to come out and dispatch this "Nightmare Moon" character," I said flatly. "I have been to Ponyville once earlier and met with Princess Celestia -- she and I had a short discussion --"

"What? You met with the Princess?" Twilight asked with surprise. "I've never seen you before!"

"Mike said something about alternate universes or something. I thought you were him again."

"Your husband sounds remarkably intelligent -- I definitely want to meet him! I would like to ask him about that shimmer spell as well. So you don't know how you came here --"

"He might be able to find a way to make it here when he finds out I'm not home. Princess Celestia might be able to send me back, though."

"Good idea, Brenda. Spike, take a letter!"

"Right on it, Twi, fire away!" he said with enthusiasm.

"Dear Princess Celestia ..."