Brenda's Big Adventure

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

I had asked Twilight to contact Princess Celestia for me to let her know I wanted to go home. It had only been four days, but I was already at the end of my rope. I desperately wanted to go home, and was crestfallen when the response from the Princess was that I should stay until Mike finally made it to Equestria, whenever that might be. The next week and a half I spent trying to keep myself busy and my mind occupied until the Grand Galloping Gala. I was determined not to go, but was dragged along by Twilight, who absolutely insisted I go with her and Spike to the Castle. Rarity had made a special outfit for me just for the occasion, and I will have to admit that I looked quite attractive in it. I helped out as much as I could with various tasks prior to the actual event, whether it was decorations, cooking, cleaning, or anything else that might have been needed that day. Some of the catering was being done by a new pizza company I had never heard of before -- carts with purple pizza boxes were being wheeled in, the boxes being placed in warming bags to keep the pizzas warm. I then saw a dark purple unicorn who stood a bit taller than the other ponies, her coat matching the purple of the pizza boxes. I made eye contact with her and she trotted over to me.

"Brenda? Is it really you? It's been so long!" she exclaimed in her excitement.

"Do I know you?" I asked quizzically. "How do you know me?"

"Well, once upon a time, I was a human -- married to YOU, no less!"

"How long ago was that?"

"My goodness, it has to have been at least seven years! I never thought I'd see you again!"

"What are you doing here?"

"I am helping with the catering, my pizza place was contracted for delivery of 50 pizzas for this event."

"Do you have any with sausage and pepperoni on them?"

She laughed. "No! Ponies don't eat meat, you know that, don't you?"

"So how long have you been like this? I thought you were in Twilight's body, Mike."

"Heh. I haven't been called Mike in more than six years! Only Princess Celestia called me that before I was transformed into the unicorn you see before you now. My new name is Amethyst Shadow, Brenda."

"If it's been so long, how do you explain the time difference? Mike was Twilight only three weeks ago!"

"To tell you the truth, I accidentally used a time-travel spell when Twilight showed me the Starswirl the Bearded collections in the Canterlot Archives. She warned me not to do it, but I was too enthusiastic to give it a try. I ended up here, having traveled back in time about six years or so, and I'm not exactly sure how much time it was."

"Does Princess Celestia know about this?"

"That happened nearly a year ago, so yes, she does know! She admonished me severely for it, but was kind enough to let me get a fresh start here in Canterlot. I started up a pizza company, and business is overwhelming! I contribute a great deal of tax revenue to the Royal Coffers -- and I still manage to live a very comfortable life-style here!"

"Can I try a slice of the pizza?"

"Sure, most of them are just cheese pizzas, so help yourself to a slice. Fair warning, Brenda, you'll get spoiled on it!"

I took one of the boxes out a bag -- PD7 Pizza? Odd name, that. I took a slice and started eating it. I couldn't believe just how tasty it was! "Mike, this is some of the best tasting pizza I have ever had! Why did you give it the name you did?"

"Heh. I originally wanted to call myself Purple Dix-sept, but Twilight told me that was kind of a dumb name -- the nickname I came up with was PD7, which I figured would be a catchier name for my pizza company. I had no idea just how easy that company name is to remember -- competing pizza restaurants didn't have such catchy names -- and my food quality is better than all the others, I made sure of that!"

"Can I have another slice?"

"Sure, help yourself. Is there anything else? I have more preparations to do," she said.

"I'm trying to find my human husband, have you heard anything about him?"

"No -- did you ask Princess Celestia or Twilight?"

"They've told me I should wait until he shows up."

"How long have you been waiting?"

"About two weeks -- I'm going crazy around here, I really miss Mike!"

"Has Princess Celestia said anything about sending you back home?"

"I should probably ask her, but my patience has run out. I really wanna go back home!"

"I suppose he's looking for you, but hasn't found this particular universe yet. Maybe there's another possibility."

"Like what?"

"There might be a universe where he hasn't left Earth and is waiting for you to return. I could send you to one of those universes," she offered.

"Is that even possible?"

"I have quite a bit of magic at my disposal, some of which I can't even explain logically. However, I should be able to send you back home if that's what you wish -- I can open a window to alternate universe Earth and find a suitable one for you. I might get in trouble with the Princess if I do that, though."

"What would she do?"

"It depends on her mood. I believe it might be a good idea to ask her permission first, so I will take this opportunity to seek an audience with her. If you're going to be here for the full event, I should be able to make it back before too much longer so I can help you." She trots over to Twilight at this point.

"Twilight, I need to ask a favor of you."

"What is it , Ammy?"

"Brenda wants to go home, and I need to talk to Princess Celestia to get possible approval for sending her home."

"Okay, Ammy, I'll go check with her for you." Twilight teleports away for a moment and returns a few minutes later. "Ammy, she wants to talk to you personally." The two of them teleport away again to meet with Princess Celestia.

"Amethyst Shadow, you have met with your former wife, I take it?"

"Yes, Princess Celestia. She desires a return to her home."

"Can you send her to the right one?"

"I believe I can do that, your Majesty. I just wanted to get your permission first."

"Very well then, Amethyst. You have my permission to send her home. She has suffered long enough."

"Thank you, your Majesty. I shall return to the Royal Ball Room to meet up with her again."

"Thank you, Amethyst. That's one less headache for me to worry about."

The tall dark purple unicorn teleports back to the ball room and meets up with me again. "Okay, Brenda, the Princess has given me her blessing to send you home. Give me a moment to open a scrying window to Earth -- we'll be checking several of them to find the right one for you."

Amethyst then allows her horn to glow bright purple and a magic window appears. It shows my home from above, then the interior of my home, specifically my bedroom. The window flashes each time we view another alternate universe. It takes several tries before the bed just shows Mike sleeping alone in it -- in a few cases, it's Twilight in that spot, in another one, it's a blue unicorn, in quite a few it's both Mike and me in the bed. We return to a universe with Mike sleeping alone in our bed.

"Is that the right one, Brenda?"

"Looks like it, Mike."

"I'll put up with you calling me that for now, Brenda, but I'm going to send you to this particular universe. I hope it turns out to be the right one. Fare well, and good luck, Brenda." Her horn glows even brighter now, enveloping me in a bright purple aura, then my vision is obscured by a blinding whiteness. I feel my stomach drop and then I feel myself standing on the floor between the TV and the bed in our room. Mike wakes up from the popping noise my arrival makes.

"Hey, Brenda, what's up? I was wondering where you've been for the past two weeks or so."

"Mike, you have no idea just how happy I am to see you!" I exclaim, hugging him tightly.

"Where've you been?"

"I found myself waking up in Twilight's bed about two weeks ago."

"Wow, you got to see Ponyville by yourself? Did you like it?"

"It was okay, I guess. At least I got this nice outfit from Rarity."

"Whoa! Very nice! She does good work, doesn't she?"

"Yeah, I plan on wearing this on very special occasions."

"How'd you make it home?"

"Some dark purple unicorn named Amethyst Shadow sent me back."

"Never heard of her."

"She told me she was you several years ago."

"Must be an alternate universe then. Let's get some sleep, we can talk more about this tomorrow."

"Good idea, Mike." I got into the bed after removing the outfit Rarity made for me and let myself fall asleep. It was good to have my old bed back!

FIN