//------------------------------// // Brenda's 3rd Day // Story: Brenda's Big Adventure // by Mike the Red //------------------------------// I woke up in the middle of the night with a start -- a bed had been brought into the guest room to ease my sleep somewhat, but missing Mike made me feel quite lonely. I had dreamt about being fired from my job, and I was sweating even though it was rather cold in the room. The bed was still a little too short for me, but better than sleeping on a pad on the floor. I had no idea what time it was and laid back down to sleep. I was hoping I would be returned to my bed on Earth and wondered how much longer it was going to be before Mike finally made it here. I resolved to ask Princess Celestia to send me home before the Grand Galloping Gala, regardless of whether he made it here or not. I didn't want to be around all these ponies -- it made me feel very uncomfortable -- even though many of them tried their best to make me feel happy, I was starting to get homesick. As bad as things had been back home, at least it was still home. I had no idea of how much time had passed when I laid back down and found my face being nuzzled in the morning. "I heard you crying last night, what's wrong?" Twilight asked worriedly. "I miss Mike," I said. "I want to go home before the Grand Galloping Gala." Twilight's face fell. "Are you sure you want to leave before then? I would have figured you would want to attend the biggest event of the year!" "I was telling Rarity yesterday that I don't want to be the center of attention -- I'm pretty sure I'd be stared at by all the ponies attending the Gala. I heard their whispers and felt their eyes on me when Spike and I went to the boutique." "I'll have a talk with the Mayor and see if I can get everypony to treat you with more respect, Brenda. I'm disappointed by everypony's reaction to your presence, but maybe I might be able to get them to change their attitude towards you." "I'd really appreciate that, Twilight, but I miss my home and I miss my job -- I need to do something to take my mind off what's been happening to me since I got here." "Perhaps you could stop by Sweet Apple Acres and help Applejack on her farm -- there's always plenty of work to do there, and I'm sure they'd appreciate whatever help you'd be able to offer them." "My dad used to work on a farm -- that sounds like a good idea, I think I'll check it out." I got up and took a shower and got dressed in a fresh set of clothes -- I commented on the softness of the material and made a mental note to thank Rarity once again -- ate breakfast, helped with the clean-up and headed off towards Applejack's farm. "Okay, Brenda, have fun, but don't work too hard!" Twilight called after me. "All right, see you later, Twilight, you too, Spike!" I said as I continued on my way. I silently hoped Twilight would talk to the Mayor today as I kept on hearing whispers. I caught glimpses of three smaller ponies out of the corner of my eye before I was tackled to the ground by shouts of "Cutie Mark Crusader Monster Catchers go!" and then felt one of them on my legs, another one on my chest and the third one in my face, glaring at me. "GET OFF OF ME!" I yelled. They fled in terror, each one going off in a different direction. I chased after the yellow one who seemed to gallop even faster when she turned to look behind her. I saw her head to the farm and slowed my pace -- this was where I was supposed to be headed, and chasing after one who lived there might get me in trouble. It took me several more minutes to reach the outskirts of the farm, the house sitting a little ways back from the dirt road running parallel to the fence line. A red stallion with a blonde shock of a mane and tail strode lazily up to meet me, a wheat stalk in his mouth. "You the one chasin' after mah baby sis?" he growled, glaring at me. "She and a couple of her friends knocked me to the ground and ruined my clothes," I stated flatly, a hint of anger in my voice. "They started jumping on me!" "Apple Bloom! Come out here now!" he shouted. The yellow one peeked from behind the front door and slammed it shut. He shouted again. "Don't make me come in there and get ya!" The front door opened and the yellow filly very timidly approached me. She hung her head as she slowly trotted up to her big brother. "Sorry, Mac. Sorry, whoever you are," she offered shyly. "My name's Brenda -- Twilight told me I might be able to help out around here to take my mind off being here instead of my home." "Ah'm Big MacIntosh, pleased ta meet ya, Brenda. Ah'm afraid there's not much work today." Applejack came out the front door to see what was going on. She saw me and smiled, and trotted over to meet me. "Brenda! Nice ta see ya! What brings ya by these parts?" she asked. She saw my clothes had been dirtied up. "What happened to ya?" "Well, your little Apple Bloom and a couple of her friends tackled me on my way here," I said. "I need something to do before I go crazy since I can't go home yet." "Apple Bloom! You and your friends should know better! She's not a monster! Apple season's over, so there's not much work around here now -- why not check with Pinkie Pie? I'm sure she could find somethin' for ya ta do," Applejack said optimistically. "Okay, I guess I can do that, if nothing else," I said and made my way back towards the town's bakery, a walk which was going to take another half hour. On my way there, I was knocked to the ground by a cyan pegasus with a rainbow colored mane and tail. "You're the one who scared Scootaloo!" she shouted at me. "Who's that? And this is the second time I've been knocked down today!" I exclaimed. "She's one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders -- she told me this dark-skinned monster scared her witless!" "I heard three small ponies shout something like that before they jumped me and knocked me down and started jumping on me! They ruined the clothes Rarity made for me yesterday!" "Oh. I'll have a talk with Scoots to straighten this out. What was your name again? I saw you at the party, but didn't get a chance to talk much." "My name's Brenda! I was on my way to Sugarcube Corner to help Pinkie Pie out, but now I'm gonna have to go back to Rarity's boutique and see about getting this set of clothes repaired!" "Brenda, I'm sorry about Scoots' behavior, I'm gonna have a long talk with her. Catch ya later!" she smiled and flew off somewhere. I continued towards Carousel Boutique, my mood substantially fouled by the day's events. Suddenly I was knocked down again, this time by a bouncing pink earth pony. "Hey, Brenda! Did you like that party the other night? Can we have another party? Hey, you wanna help me make some cupcakes? What's up? You don't look too happy, what's wrong?" "Pinkie Pie. Please get off of me! This is the third time I've been knocked down today! I'm on my way to Rarity's to get these clothes fixed! She only made them for me yesterday!" "Oh. I'm sorry Brenda. I guess I'll just go back to the bakery and make some fresh cupcakes for you to make up for what you've been through. Seeya later!" she said almost too cheerfully before bouncing back to the bakery. I grumbled something in response and continued on my way. A certain grey pegasus flew past me, narrowly missing me and nearly flying into a tree. She managed to right herself in mid-air and flew off in the opposite direction. She appeared to be carrying a mailbag and a letter fell out. I picked it up and noticed it was addressed to Rarity. "What a coincidence," I thought. I made it to Carousel Boutique without further incident. I put the letter into the mailbox and knocked on the front door. Rarity peeped from her upstairs window. "Brenda, darling, why did you frighten my sister?" she asked and then saw the state of my clothes. "What happened? Your new clothing has been destroyed!" "Is your sister one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders?" I asked, almost a little too angrily. "Why yes, Brenda! How do you know of them?" "She and a couple of her friends knocked me to the ground earlier today when I was on my way to Applejack's farm. They jumped on me and ruined my clothes! The rainbow one knocked me down! Pinkie knocked me down too!" "Brenda, darling, please come in! I'll take care of your clothes for you -- and I'll make you another set as well. Sweetie Belle! Come here at once!" I went inside the boutique, noticing a much cleaner appearance this time. I sat down on one of the couches. Rarity trotted downstairs and gasped as she saw just how badly my clothes had suffered. Rarity scolded Sweetie Belle, who apologized to me for her earlier actions. She was still somewhat scared by my appearance, but she assured me that she and her friends would not repeat what they had done earlier. Rarity allowed me to wash off and while I was doing that, she had fashioned another outfit for me. I toweled off and got dressed in the new set of clothes, admiring her handiwork. "I'm amazed at how good you are at this," I smiled. "I'm sorry about what happened to the clothes I was wearing earlier." "Not your fault, darling -- how's things going over at the library?" "Could be better -- I'm getting worried about Mike, and I'm starting to have bad dreams about my job back home." "Would you like some tea to calm your nerves?" "I'd love some, Rarity -- I need something to do to keep me from going absolutely crazy around here!" "You said you tried the farm -- are they sure they don't have any work for you? They should always be busy there!" "Big MacIntosh told me there wasn't much to do -- they said apple season's over -- but Pinkie Pie did offer me an opportunity to help her make some cupcakes, so maybe I should head over to the bakery." "Okay, dear, but be more careful with the clothes! I'll fix these for you and have Spike take them back to the library the next time he comes here. I'm happy you appreciate my work, it means a lot to me, darling! Take care now!" I waved good-bye and headed off to the bakery which was just a relatively short walk from the boutique. I knocked on the door of the ginger-bread house and Pinkie poked her head out from behind the door. "Oh, hi, Brenda! You here to help me make some cupcakes? You're just in time! Please, come inside! We can make another batch of 'em!" I went inside and was overwhelmed by the scent of all the sweets being made. The front counter had a large display of all the baked goods that had been made earlier, many of which made my mouth water just looking at them. Generally, I don't eat sweets much, but these looked very tempting. Pinkie caught me eyeing the display and popped a cupcake in my mouth. "Hey, next time let me eat it slowly," I mumbled through bites of the cupcake. "These don't have hay in them, do they?" "Oopsie!" she said apologetically. "I have allergies!" I shouted. "Oh no! I've gotta take you to the hospital before you die!" she shouted and put me on her back, running as fast as she could to the hospital. She banged through the front door and deposited me in front of the emergency desk. A nurse shot her a side-long glance before looking at me. She was rather shocked by my appearance as she probably had never seen a human before. I was thoroughly checked out, certain medications were given to me, and I was pretty much sent on my way from there. Pinkie heaved a sigh of relief that I was okay and promised me never to pop a cupcake in my mouth again -- I witnessed her make a cross sign against her chest and place a hoof over her left eye. I asked her the significance of this act and she told me it was a Pinkie Promise, whatever that meant. She told me nopony ever breaks a Pinkie Promise unless they want some serious trouble. I told her I was feeling tired and wanted to make my way back to the library -- she begged me to come back the following day to help in the bakery again. I told her I would give it some thought as I was not feeling too well. She cheerfully said okie-dokie-loki and went back into the bakery, leaving me to make my way back to the library. "What happened?" Twilight asked somewhat surprised by my new clothes. I told her about the day's events and asked to go to bed early. I was feeling very tired at this point and quite depressed by Mike's inability to find me. I went upstairs and got into my bed and fell asleep fairly quickly.