Brenda's Big Adventure

------------------------------------ Michael's point of view

I had to stop by Brenda's friend's place to see if she was there. I drove around checking all her friends' places and wasn't having any luck. It was getting late and I needed to get some sleep, so I went back home.

"Xaviera, have you heard anything?"

"No, not yet. I have tried calling everyone I know, but no one has seen her today."

"Okay, keep on trying tomorrow. Got a big day ahead. I might have to stop by the police station on my way home to file a missing persons report -- I hope it doesn't come to that. Good night." I set up my clothes for the following day and went to bed in an attempt to get some sleep, a task which proved to be quite difficult as I couldn't help but think about what had happened to Brenda. I wondered aloud where she could be before drifting off. My sleep came fitfully, a series of short naps and quite a lot of tossing and turning.

I woke up feeling almost as tired as I had last night, but had to plow through the day. My job is hectic enough as it is without having to worry about my wife's whereabouts as well. I even asked my car if she knew, but told me there had been no sign. I asked the car to teleport me from work on my way home and drove to the police station to file the report.

"Sir, generally this report requires that the individual in question be missing for at least three days," an officer told me.

"I understand, but the matter is urgent -- I need to know where she is -- I have tried calling everyone she knows, I've even stopped by her job and her friends' houses -- I've even been to all her relatives' houses as well. I am very worried for her safety."

"We will get on it if you don't receive any word from her tomorrow. We will need to question you as well just to be on the safe side. We're not accusing you of anything, we just need to conduct a thorough investigation."

"Very well then. I'll head home, I have another busy day ahead of me tomorrow."

--------------------------------- Brenda's point of view

"A slumber party? I haven't been to one of those since I was a little girl," I said. "I hope things don't get too far out of hand."

"It's all harmless fun, you'll have a good time!" Twilight assured me. "We have these little get-togethers every few weeks or so, and we always enjoy ourselves. I think you'll enjoy it as well -- everypony will want to ask you lots of questions."

Twilight opened the door to her tree-house -- I was expecting a slumber party, but was met with a very large surprise welcome party. When we entered, it was dark inside, then the lights came on and Pinkie Pie was there to greet me.

"Surprise!" she shouted as confetti and streamers went flying everywhere. "I decided to make a slight change because of your arrival! Whaddaya think?"

"I'm a bit overwhelmed by this, but I can deal with it. So do you do this for every new arrival?"

"But of course! Why wouldn't I? It's just part of who I am, and I just love to throw parties of just about any kind! But because you're new here, I wanna know everything about you! Where do you come from? What's it like in your world? What sort of games do you like? What kind of food do you eat?"

"Pinkie Pie, can you hold off on the questions a bit? This might be a bit much for Brenda," Twilight said.

"Your hyperactivity reminds me of one of my grandchildren," I said, returning Pinkie's grin.

"Hyperactive? I suppose I am, a bit ... but you know, it's in a good way! So ya wanna tell me a little about yourself?"

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything!"

I started by telling her my name, the fact that I was married for nearly 20 years, but when I mentioned my husband's recent feats while he was in Twilight's body, her mouth fell open and her eyes went wide. Twilight chuckled at this, but Pinkie wanted to know quite a bit more. Twilight interrupted momentarily, though.

"Brenda, did Mike tell you anything about that shimmer spell? What did he say?"

"He mentioned something about alternate universes -- his words seemed to confuse me as I'm not all that knowledgeable about such things. He said something about an electro magnetic spectrum or something like that, and shimmering lights and sounds. I think he mentioned creating a rift in the fabric of space or something." I saw Twilight's face brighten quite a bit.

"It sounds to me as though he created a rift in the fabric of the space-time continuum using the electro-magnetic spectrum to call copies of himself through that rift causing a shimmering effect. Did he say something about his vision going blurry or his body appearing to shimmer as well?" she asked eagerly. It looked like she was getting an idea.

"Yeah, he said his vision went all blurry and his body went all wavy -- he said that Nightmare Moon tried attacking him while his body was all wavy and her attacks failed to hurt him."

"Brenda, you have given me a very interesting idea. I think I have all the information I need in order to cast that spell! I would like to try it to see if it works."

"He said something about the need to be careful when casting it as there might be some evil versions that come forward from those alternate universes."

"Oh. That could be a problem. Perhaps I should reconsider this experiment and save it for a better time. Thanks for letting me know, Brenda."

"I can't believe your husband did that! He did it while he was in Twilight's body? How did he do that?"

"He woke up in her body a few days ago -- I don't know how -- just that he said something about a wish."

"Well, I'm glad he was able to help out somewhere," Twilight said smiling. "He enjoyed being me?"

"He said it was more fun than a human should be legally allowed to have." Twilight beamed at this mention.

"I would really like to meet him -- he sounds utterly fascinating."

"He sounds like the kind of guy who'd love to be at a party!" Pinkie exclaimed.

"He doesn't go to parties -- he hates them."

"What? Really? I can't believe somepony who can do all that in Twilight's body would hate parties!" Pinkie said with exasperation. "Do you know why he hates parties?"

"He's told me he doesn't feel comfortable at parties -- I don't know why exactly, just that when I've invited him to come along with me to a party, he simply refuses to attend."

"Well, I guess that's okay ... I guess I would have to meet him to understand him a little better. Maybe he needs to open up and live it up a little! I'm sure I could break him out of his shell!" Pinkie said with great enthusiasm.

"Don't think I haven't tried. I've given up on trying -- he's very stubborn like that."

"Does he take himself very seriously?" Twilight asked.

"Far more so than is necessary, I think," I replied.

"Does he like books?"

"He used to work in a library," I said. I immediately regretted having told Twilight this. She started asking all kinds of questions about the library he worked in, how many books they had, how big it was and a lot more questions. I had to tune her out for a minute until she ran out of breath. "Twilight, all I know is that he worked in a library. I don't know which one it was, just that it was with a university, that it was a big library and had lots of books. He stopped working there shortly after we got married." Twilight's face fell.

"Why'd he do that? He must have liked working there," she said with some sadness in her voice.

"He was working two jobs and the other one paid more, so he quit his job at the library so he could spend more time at his better paying job."

"I find that hard to believe," Twilight mused. "Perhaps if he makes it here to take you home, I can ask him about his employment with the library."

"Twilight, there are some questions that are better left unanswered -- his past is probably better left unknown. He doesn't like talking about those things, and doesn't want others to know his business."

"He sounds very mysterious," Twilight mused. "This makes him even more fascinating."

"Oooh, a man of mystery!" Pinkie chimed in. "I wanna meet him too!"

"I'm hoping you'll get your chance soon -- I don't really want to lose MY job." I saw a white unicorn come trotting over to talk to me.

"Darling, I need to know what sort of clothing that is you're wearing."

"Mike told me your name is Rarity -- and I'm wearing my sleeping clothes -- I was wearing these last night when I went to bed." Rarity gasped when she heard me call her name -- I had seen her on my previous trip to Ponyville, but that was a different version of Ponyville.

"Darling, you haven't even told me YOUR name! And who is Mike?"

"Rarity, my name is Brenda Walker, and Mike is my husband. He was in Twilight's body a few days ago, and the two of them pulled a prank on you to see how you'd react upon seeing two Twilights."

"What a horrible thing to do! Twilight, if there were a second you, would you do that to me?"

"Well ... I would be curious to see your reaction," Twilight giggled. "I'll bet your expression of shock would be priceless!"

"That's not very nice, Twilight, darling," Rarity pouted. "Brenda, I would like to invite you to my shop so I can provide you with something more presentable than what you're currently wearing. Does everypony where you come from wear clothes?"

"The world I come from has about seven billion people living on it, and yes, we all have to wear clothes." Rarity's face brightened quite a bit at this.

"Ooh, just think! I could make a serious living designing clothes for everypony in your world!"

"There are lots of fashion designers -- some of them are very wealthy and their names are very well known."

"Can you name some of them?"

"Versace, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Giorgio Armani --"

"Do you think I could have my name mentioned along with those?" Rarity asked optimistically.

"I don't know -- I have never seen the inside of your shop. Depending on what you can do, I have no idea of how well your designs would compare to the best in my world."

"Tell you what, Brenda, darling. You come to my boutique tomorrow! I'll clear out my schedule just for YOU!"

"Um, I don't know where that is, exactly."

"Brenda, I'll have Spike take you there tomorrow. He knows where her boutique is. Please try to keep him in line, Rarity."

"Thank you Twilight! I'll make sure Spikey-Wikey behaves himself!" Rarity smiled.

"You like him quite a bit, Rarity?" I asked her.

"If he wasn't Twilight's assistant, I'd have him stay with me! He's simply adorable, darling!"

"He's quite taken with Rarity as well. He fell in love with her when he first saw her," Twilight said. Spike blushed at this and Rarity smiled, a light blush coloring her cheeks.

"I'd love to escort Brenda over to Rarity's boutique tomorrow!" Spike exclaimed almost too eagerly. Three other ponies came up to me at this point -- Fluttershy, whom I had met earlier, Rainbow Dash, whom I had met on my previous visit to Ponyville, and an orange pony with a blonde mane wearing a cowboy hat of some sort or other. She addressed me first.

"So what exactly are ya?" she asked. Her expression was one of puzzlement. I told her I was a human. "A human? What's that?"

"It's a different species," Twilight said. "She comes from a different world!"

"How'd ya get here?"

"I have no idea, I woke up in Twilight's bed this morning with no clue of where I was or how I got here."

"It's true -- she woke up in my bed and scared me quite a bit, but having talked to her for awhile, she's actually pretty nice," Twilight said. "It's her husband I want to meet."

"Twilight, if everyone here keeps asking me the same questions over and over again, I think I'm going to lose my patience."

"So what's your world like?" Rainbow asked.

"It's crowded, it's noisy and it's full of people who don't like each other very much," I said with some contempt.

"So if it's so awful, why not stay here with us?" Pinkie asked. "This place ought to be a lot better than the world you came from!"

"I haven't been here long enough to make a choice like that -- I have friends back home I would miss and I would also miss my husband, unless he finds a way to make it here. Princess Celestia suggested I wait for his arrival -- but it seems as though his "resourcefulness" is something that was much easier for him when he was in Twilight's body." This drew gasps from the ponies who hadn't already heard it. "I don't even know the orange pony's name, although she sounds like she comes from Alabama or Mississippi," I observed.

"Alabama? Mississippi? What's that? My name's Applejack, ma'am, and I've never heard of those places you named."

"I'm originally from Louisiana myself, and Alabama and Mississippi are states that are close to my home state."

"States?" Twilight asked. "What exactly are those?"

"They are part of the country I came from, the United States of America."

"Are they smaller governmental constructs in your country?"

"Well, they have their own governments, but the federal government has more power than the state governments."

More questions about this sort of thing were asked, but I grew bored with questions about politics and told them as much. The party itself was going on around us and I didn't really get too involved with it as I was too busy answering other questions from these ponies who wanted to know everything about me. I had to get something to drink as my voice was getting sore from all this talking.

The hour started getting late and pretty soon all the ponies left Twilight's house, leaving me and her and Spike still standing in the main room.

"I'll set up a pad for you in the guest room, you'll probably want to sleep by yourself tonight. I'm sorry I can't do anything more for you so far. I'll see if I can get better sleeping arrangements for you as I can. Spike, I'll help clean up this mess."

"I'll help you clean it up," I offered. "It might take my mind off where Mike is right now."