Duplo watched every thing on Earth was being destroyed by nuclear warfare, literally. He would know this because he lived all over the planet. Duplo could feel all the copies of him being killed by the war. He knew this was the end of the line for him. All of those thousands of years wasted. He tried to stop this day from coming, but it was all in vain. He watched his world burn, then felt himself slip away into the hands of death. But then another felling came over him. He felt death lose it's grip as he was torn apart, screaming like he was too on fire. The pain increased to an unbearable level, until everything went black.
"Gah!" Duplo suddenly shot straight up expecting pain. There was none. He looked around him to see that he was in the middle of a rather colorful, but still gloomy looking, forest. He stood up, feeling very woozy, and light headed. The wooziness left, but the light feeling didn't. He didn't feel sick, but it didn't feel right. He looked down at his black sleeveless T-shirt and blue jeans. He didn't know how he got here, or where here was for that matter, so he did the only thing he could think of, he wandered the forest for a shelter.
He notice that it was really easy to move, he still felt really light, but he had a nagging suspicion in the back of his head that he hoped wasn't true. He walked under one of the taller looking trees, and jumped to reach the branch the was about one foot above his finger tips when he extended his arm up to it, only to jump at a high speed, head first into the branch with a loud CRACK! breaking the branch off of the tree, and proceed to fall face first into the dirt.
Duplo got up with a groan, looking up at the broken branch, which confirmed his suspicions. Were ever he was, it wasn't Earth. It was obviously a different planet, because judging by how high he could jump, this planet was at least three times smaller than Earth, if not more. "Great." Duplo grumbled, "Just great."
Now knowing he was no where near home, he once again began to search the forest for a good shelter. Duplo heard his stomach rumble and decided that it would be a good idea to find some food along the way. He found a small pear tree and hastily devoured the fruit, smiling to himself as he felt the molecules in the fruit, slowly but surely, being converted into human cells.
After a full belly of pears, he continued his search. He came across a small hut, in the middle of the forest, 'So this planet is inhabited, that's always good news.' Duplo thought to himself. He crept over to get a closer look at the hut. He looked in through a window and saw a bunch of shelves with different colored potions, tiki masks lining the walls and a great big pot of something green in the center, but there was no one home. He then went to the door to get a better look inside, when he heard what sounded like a horse's hooves hitting the forest ground.
He ran a little distance away, and hid behind a tree. As he waited, he watched a zebra, with golden rings around its neck, and golden ear rings, and what looked like a saddle bag on its back, walking up the path and through the front door of the hut. What he saw confused him, why would such a zebra be going into the hut? Only one way to find out. He crept back up to the window, and took a peek inside. He saw the zebra putting all kinds of potions in the pot, this only left Duplo even more confused. Could it be that the inhabitants of this planet were zebras? 'No, that's not possible' he thought, 'and yet I see it in front of me...weird.'
He went back into the forest, and not a moment too soon, because as soon as he left, the zebra snapped her head over to look out the window with her eyes narrowed.
"I feel something in this world with great might, something here is certainly not right" Zecora mumbled to herself as she focused back on her brew.
Duplo found a good spot to start his mission to duplicate. He came across a rickety old rope bridge that led to an abandoned castle. When he made it in the castle, he gazed at its sheer size, it was huge. He pushed open the old oak doors, but to his surprise they made no noise. Duplo walked inside with a smile on his face, taking a good looked around at the interior. "Perfect." he said with a smile. He wandered through the castle looking at different room. He walked through a hallway that puzzled him. There were hooves lining either wall. He looked at the hooves skeptically, but moved on.
After roaming the castle a little while longer, he walked into a room with a huge pipe organ. He smiled out of excitement, remembering when he used to play the piano as a boy, also bringing back memories of his planet burning. He quickly pushed those thoughts aside as he sat down at the organ as an huge smile spread across his face. He put his fingers on the keys, knowing exactly what song to play.
After the song was over, he realized that someone might have heard. 'Whatever, it won't really matter soon.' He got up to look for a place to sleep later. Down a few corridors, he found what looked to actually be a very big bedroom. 'Well there we go.' Duplo thought to himself. He left the castle, making sure he knew where it was, and ventured off to find more food.
Fluttershy was in a hut of her own, when she heard an organ playing a creepy tune in the distance. She didn't know what to make of it, but it scared her. "Oh, I wonder what that could be." She said in a worried voice, as she headed off to tell Twilight.
Duplo heard voices, a lot of voices, and he turned to see a small town, with colorful buildings, and...'Ponies?' He thought to himself baffled. 'As if that weird zebra wasn't enough, and now, technicolored ponies?' he was utterly confused, but if there was a town, there were supplies, which is what he needed right now. So he crept up into an alleyway by a building that looked like a clothes shop to him. He tried to take a peek out into the center of the town, then he heard a scream right next to him. He snapped his head to see a white pony with a purple mane screaming at him, and saw several other ponies looking in his direction. 'Crap.' he thought as he sprinted back into the forest, his heart pounding.
"Well, that couldn't have been worse." he said allowed as he looked for more food. He found many different kinds of fruit trees, to eat from: Mango, Pear, Apple, Peach, he was quite surprised to see so many different kinds of trees in one place. As he ate, he could feel more cells being produce. He figured that if he ate at this rate every day, he would have a duplicate in a week. His train of thought was halted as he heard voices in the woods. He hid up in a near by tree, and stayed there hoping not to be found considering the way several of those ponies reacted to him earlier.
He watch from up in the tree at six ponies walking through the forest, one was lavender with a purple mane and tail, both of which had a pink streak in it, a unicorn horn, and a star on her flank. One was orange with a blond mane and tail, a cowboy hat, and had apples on her flank. One was completely pink, with bouncy hair, and balloons on her flank, she also seemed to be hopping along with her friends without using any energy . One was a pale yellow with a pink mane and tail, wings, and butterflies on her flank. One was blue with a rainbow main and tail, she also had wings, and she had a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt coming out of it. The last one he recognized. She was white ,with a horn as well, purple mane and tail, and diamonds on her flank. He only assumed that they were all female by the way they walked and...talked? 'Yeah, sure, why not, different planet after all. So we got, regular, unicorn, and pegasus huh?' he though amazed.
<~>-------------
"It went this way, I'm quite certain of it." Rarity said in her usual dramatic voice.
"We believe you Rarity, we just need to keep looking." Twilight said to her friend, turning Rarity's frown in to a smile.
"By Rarity's description, it sounds like a very strange critter, don't ya think?" said Applejack
"It's odd alright, but I'm sure I beat it down in ten seconds flat!" Rainbow Dash said with a giggle, making some air punches.
"Well, I don't think that would be really necessary, Rainbow Dash, it might just be scared and lonely." said Fluttershy in a caring voice.
"I now you like new creatures and all, but don't you think you should be a little more careful around things like this Fluttershy." replied Twilight.
"I suppose Twilight, but you can't really be sure." said Fluttershy with a smile.
Pinkie started to do a series of twitches and jitters. "Pinkie Pie? Are you alright?" Twilight asked in concern.
"I can feel there's somepony near by, but it's somepony I don't know." she said with a hoof one her chin
<~>-------------
The rest of the conversation Duplo couldn't hear, because they were too far away. Although, he wasn't sure if he could take on one of these ponies by himself. From past experience, he had learned that fighting any kind of stubborn equine, was usually a losing battle, because they were stronger. 'Shoot, I need to get back to the castle.' he thought to himself, as he ran to the castle, but was stopped by a wolf that appeared to be made out of lumber. It was about four feet high...and it smelled terrible. He of course had fought normal wolves before with five or six bodies, but now he only had one, and was fight something he'd never fought before. But he didn't run, instead he used a technique that his father taught him as a boy. Duplo stood tall, and firm, glaring down into the wolf's eyes, then letting a soft, yet meaningful growl pass through his lips. The wolf obviously got the message, and cowered a little bit. This was what Duplo was looking for. With a wicked smile, he brought a savage drop kick to the wolf's head while it let out a loud yelp. Duplo smiled, but the wolf gathered its wits and let out a nasty growl of its own.
The wolf tried to jump him, but Duplo side stepped to dodge the wolf. The wolf landed on its feet and whipped around, only to get a round house to the face, which was immediately followed by an open palm straight to the nose, sending the wolf backwards into a tree and shattered into splinters.
"That was easier than expected." he said aloud to himself, "But I suppose being stronger on this planet helped a bit." He headed back to the castle faster than before, because, from what he learned, where there was one wolf, there were likely to be more.
He made it back to the castle without another incident. He decided that that rope bridge needed to be fixed, it was so unstable he feared he would fall off and finally end his life in one of the most pitiful ways he could think of. He knew he couldn't fix it now, but maybe sometime later. So for the time being, he went back to the big bedroom in the castle and lay down to rest, and fell asleep.
Duplo woke up to the sound of screaming. His eyes flew open, and he jumped up off the bed, (which had conveniently been left there). He ran out of the castle in big bounds as he did so, covering about twelve feet with each step. He followed the screaming to a small clearing, where he saw three little fillies backed up against a large tree, cowering from two of those wooden wolves.
Sure he didn't now them, and the last group of locals to spot him freaked out, but he hated to see anyone get hurt, particularly if they were just children. So without thinking about what he was doing, he charged the closest wolf, knocking it to the ground. The wolf's partner looked over at Duplo with angry eyes. Duplo kicked the wolf off of him and stood back up, and just barely preformed a front flip over the second wolf as it charged him.
Duplo spun around as the two wolves circled him. It was only then that Duplo noticed that he had an extra right arm. He smiled as he noted that the duplication process was working. The wolves noticed his distraction, and used that split second to jump him at the same time from either side. Duplo looked up a moment too late, and he was tackled to the ground as one wolf sunk its fangs into his left shoulder, while the other tore at his right leg. Duplo cried out in pain, and used both right arms to smack the wolf off of his shoulder. He then grabbed the one on his leg with all his arms by the neck, and slammed the wolf into his partner.
Duplo heard a loud CRACK!, and a yelp, from the wolf he threw. He gave a savage smile, and an angry growl at his two opponents. The first wolf tried to jump Duplo once again, only to get a double open palm to the forehead, shattering it to splinters. Duplo glared down at the other wolf, who quickly ran off with its tail between its legs.
As soon as it was out of sight, Duplo fell to his knees, and yelled, "Gaaah! Oh, that really hurt." while clutching his left shoulder and gritting his teeth. He looked over at the three fillies, who looked at up at the bear sized man with more awe filled eyes rather than fear.
He saw that the closest one was a regular pony, with a yellow coat, red mane and tail, and a red ribbon in her hair. There was also an orange pegasus with a purple mane and tail. The last one was a white unicorn with a white and lavender striped mane and tail.
"W-what are you?" the yellow one asked.
"Go home." was Duplos response as started to limp away, when the yellow one said, "Hey! Wait!"
Duplo stopped and turned around to see the three fillies run up to him, " Since ya ain't gonna tell us who you are, Ah suppose we should introduce our selves first." the yellow one states with a smile. "Ah'm Applebloom."said the yellow one, "I'm Scootaloo", said the orange one, "I'm Sweetie Belle." said the white one, "And we're...THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!" the all shouted at once.
Duplo stared at them for a moment. 'Wow, are all of these ponies names so girly?' he thought to himself
"Well, since you didn't run away at the sight of me," he said looking down at his three arms, "my name is Duplo. Now go home."
"How did you beat those timber wolves? That...was...AWESOME!" Scootaloo, shouted with a smile to big for her face. "You were all like, whoo, then you went, haya!" she said with lots of air marshal art, and giggling.
"So...what are you any way?" asked Sweetie Belle.
Duplo though a moment before answering, not sure he could trust them, 'It's not that big of a deal.' he thought before he said, "I'm a human."
All he gained were some confused looks, "Now if your done talking, I've got a question of my own. What are you three doing here, you just about got yourselves killed."
They all looked down at their hooves in shame. "Well," said Applebloom, "bein' the Cutie Mark Crusaders and all, we were tryin' to get our cuitie marks for Timberwolf huntin'." she looked up at him with a guilty smile.
Duplo looked at them with wide eyes and furrowed eye brows, "Ok, first of all...what were thinking! coming out here to catch wolves! And second, what's a cutie mark?" Gosh, just saying that made him feel like a little girl.
"Cutie marks, are was appeared on somepony's flank when they discover their special talent." said Scootaloo, "as for why we were out here, its just what Applebloom said, we were gonna get our cutie marks in Timberwolf hunting, but it didn't turn out the way we planned."
'Jeez, someone's got to pay attention to their kids.'Duplo thought, "Ok, you kids are crazy and should really go home now." Duplo said, and once again began to walk away.
"Wait a minute!" yelled Applebloom, "We just met. Ya can't just leave!"
"Well, I'm leaving."
"Then we're comin' with ya."
'Stubborn kids' "Fine just don't die."
"Yipee!" shouted Applebloom, "So...where are we goin'?"
"To find food."
"Well, if ya really need food maybe ya could stay with me and mah family."
"No"
"Why not?"
"Last time I ran into your kind, they kinda freaked out."
"Ah'm sure mah family would be understanding."
"I said no."
"Come on, you're just gonna love Applejack!"
Duplo stopped dead in his tracks and looked down at Applebloom. "You know Applejack?" he asked her remembering the six ponies looking for him the day before.
"Well sure, she's mah sister." she said with a smile, "Granny Smith might have a little heart attack, but other than that, there shouldn't be a problem." she then frowned and asked, " How do you know Applejack?"
"Never mind. Look, I'll consider your offer, but for now you need to get home."
"Fine, but we, will see you again right?" asked Scootaloo.
"If you go home now, you might. On second thought, I'm going with you. No telling what you three'll get into."
As the group reached the edge of the forest, Duplo asked, "Hey, Applebloom? Do you think you could tell your sister about me. I tried to go into town the other day, and latter she and some others seemed to be hunting me. I don't to give the wrong impression."
"Sure thing." Applebloom replied with a smile, before she ran off with her friends.
"Man, I hope this works out." Duplo mumbled to himself.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders, had come back three days later to tell Duplo that Applebloom's family would except him in their house and that Applejack would tell the other Elements of Duplo, (they of course left out there talking to). They also noticed that he had four arms this time, and an extra head. The almost screamed at the sight of him until they recognized him.
They, of course, were confused at his extra body part, to which he explained his powers to the three,and told them he would come to the farm once the first duplication process was over.
"So, you're saying that you can duplicate yourself so that you can be in hundreds of places at once?" asked Sweetie Belle
"Well, yeah." answered Duplo
"That's so cool!" shouted Scootaloo
"That...weird." stated Applebloom, causing Duplo to chuckle.
"Well, we'd better get back, see you later." Sweetie Belle said with smile as the group headed for the edge of the woods.
Two days later, Duplo woke up to see him sleeping with himself. Jeez, he would never get used to that. His other body woke up and got out off bed to go the fruit tree paradise section of the woods, with he prepared his other self to come out of hiding, and give a good...second impression. As his other self gobbled down on fruit for more Duplos, his original self headed towards the edge of the forest.
Duplo easily spotted Sweet Apple Acres in the distance. He decided to creep around the edge of the forest so as to not be seen.
He had finally made it to Sweet Apple Acres, where he saw the one known as Applejack bucking apples off the trees.
"Hello?" Duplo more or less asked to get her attention
Applejack looked in the direction of the voice with a start. She knew from Rarity's description that he looked strong, but she had no idea just how strong this black bearded creature could really be until she saw him. He was about seven feet tall and three and a half feet wide, with a scruffy, black beard and short, black mane atop his head, and muscle that would put Big Mac to shame. So, to put it in perspective, he looked like the average Grizzly Bear with less fur.
After getting over the initial shock of seeing the man, Applejack finally offered him a hoof and said with the same thick, southern accent that Applebloom had, " Howdy, Ah'm Applejack. You must Duplo. Pleasure to meet ya."
"Wow, you're awfully excepting." Duplo chuckled.
"Well, ya did save mah sister and all, and for that I can't thank ya enough." Applejack said with gratitude in her eyes.
"Well then, you're very welcome." Duplo replied, smiling.
"So, how did ya survive out there in the Everfree Forest anyway." Applejack asked with a raised eye brow.
"I just so happened to stumble across and old castle." Duplo said with a shrug.
"So, that would explain the organ that Fluttershy heard."
'Someone did hear that, huh?' "You've been there?"
"Yes, but only once. Ah don't mean to sound rude, but, what are ya."
"I'm a human." Duplo stated simply.
"Fer some reason, that sounds familiar. Anyway, you just go on inside, Ah need to get the rest of the family together." Applejack said as she ran off.
Duplo went inside and seated himself across the room from a snoring, old, green mare in a rocking chair. Only a few minutes later, Applejack came in with Applebloom, and a big red stallion, who looked up at Duplo with wide eyes.
Applejack chuckled at his reaction, the decided to introduce everyone, " This is Applebloom, who you've already met, this is Big Mac, and this is Granny Smith." Applejack said, pointing at Granny Smith.
Applebloom walked over to Granny Smith, and shook her awake. "Granny, wake up, we've got a guest."
Granny Smith looked around the room with tired until they rested on Duplo. Her eyes lit up, and she put on a smile, and said, "Well hello there mister Duplo. Applebloom has told us so much about ya. Ah thank ya so very much fer savin' mah grand daughter's life." she said, all the while shaking his hand.
"Uh, yeah, you're welcome."
"I've arranged a meetin' with Twilight this afternoon in the library. Sorry if you're feelin' a bit pushed, but it's real important to her.", said Applejack.
"Oh, no problem, it's fine." replied Duplo, thinking of just how excepting these ponies were.
