Chapter 1 - Accidents Happen... Unfortunately
It seems like forever since I built that portal into Equestria. Even though it was a week ago. I remember everyone's reaction. Freaking out because I was some life form they had never seen. It took Twilight to calm them down, saying I was harmless and that she "knew my kind." Whatever the hell that meant. I didn't care. I was just happy no one was freaking out anymore. Just proves everyone listens to royalty.
I got to meet 3 princesses, made 7 friends, and millions were interested in me. Particularly Twilight, who did all these experiments on me. I didn't even know what half of the machines were, which kind of freaked me out. Now that I think about it, all these events happened in just a week. And I'm already the most popular (and only) human in Equestria.
I was heading to Fluttershy's house today. Not because of the animals (the bunny's a pain in the ass), but because she said she wanted to show me something special. I knocked on the door. Fluttershy opened the door. "Oh! You came! Come inside!" she said.
"I've prepared my special tea for this special occasion." She was using the word "special" so much it almost made me uncomfortable. I wasn't really fond of the tea, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings, so I drank it. As I took a sip, she pulled out a chest. It didn't take me long to figure out was what in there. "Is there money in there? Gold? Bits? Whatever you call them in this world?"
"No." she said. "Something better." I tried to think of what could be better than money. All I could think of was Sour Patch. She slowly opened it to reveal.... five necklaces and a crown.
"You wanted me to see some jewelry?" I asked. "My mom's got stuff like this at HER house."
"These aren't just jewelry." she said. "These are the ELEMENTS OF HARMONY!"
"Say what?"
"We use these to defeat villains and spread friendship all around the world." That was probably the most cheesy thing I've ever heard anyone say. And I've spent 12 years with my mom.
She held up one of the necklaces. "This one's mine! The Element of Kindness."
"That makes sense. And I'm in a world filled with talking ponies." I said. Fluttershy chuckled at that.
"Can I see it?" I said.
"Sure!" She handed the butterfly shaped element to me. It was shiny, had words inscribed on the back... Wait. Words inscribed on the back? I turned it over and found some weird ancient spell on the back. Great. Now this world had an ancient language no one would probably be able to pronounce even if they tried. Me, being the curious idiot I was, decided to read it.
"Siht si eht tseb cifnaf ni ecnetsixe dna fi uoy tnod kniht taht uoy era a daehpoop dna ylbaborp evah on efil."
"What's with the alien talk?" Fluttershy asked. I forgot I was reading it out loud. "I found some inscriptions on the back of your element. Some weird ancient language or something."
"Huh? Give me that." She took the element from my hand and saw the inscriptions. She then had a horrified look on her face. "It says 'DON'T READ' on the bottom!"
What? I didn't see that there before. Sure enough it was there. I didn't know if A.) It really wasn't there before, or B.) I was to focused on reading the chicken-scratch I barely noticed. I'm guessing it was B.
The Element then whirled and twirled and swirled and had a bunch of sparkly stuff surround it. I didn't know what was going on, and I could tell Fluttershy didn't either. "Has this happened before?" I asked, starting to fear for my life.
"N-no..." she responded, even more worried than I was. The element then blinded us in a flash of light, and when we could see again, I saw... Fluttershy?
"Fluttershy? Was this all just a prank?"
"Um, Caleb..." Fluttershy said... without her lips moving. That was odd. Then again, seeing what I just witnessed, I'm guessing odd was just the norm here. Did she have psychokinesis?
"I'm over here..." I turned to see... ANOTHER Fluttershy??? "Wait... I... Just... WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON?!" My brain was starting to hurt.
"I think the element just created a duplicate of me." said Fluttershy.
"Sure. I can add that to the list of things that have been downright insane today."
The duplicate then stood there for a couple of seconds, and flew out of the cottage. I was starting to get a huge headache. A clear sign I was thinking too much.
Fluttershy was scared out of her mind. She started to get anxious. "Oh my gosh! We need to tell the rest of my friends!"
I just stood there... In a daze... Thinking about pancakes...
"CALEB!!!" That snapped me out of zombie mode. "Come on, let's get my friends!"
"Do we have to now? It's getting late anyway. We should be off to bed. We can just tell them tomorrow." I said. At that point my goal was to get some sleep. I'd need it after what I just went through.
"But... but..." She started to calm down a little. "I guess you're right. I am a little exhausted." We said our goodbyes, and she prepared for bed. I left the cottage and went into the portal that transported me to a place where things made sense... my house. I buried myself in my blanket and went to sleep.
I kept having weird dreams about Fluttershy's duplicate. One of them involved a tutu. It wasn't pretty.
I woke up the next morning and returned to the place of insanity. After all, I figured things couldn't get any worse (or more mind screwy).
... I was wrong...
Chapter 2 - Misunderstandings
I went to Sugarcube Corner where I found the Mane 6 and Fluttershy chatting. From what they were saying, I'm guessing she told them about the duplicate. I had volunteered to go on a hunt for the duplicate. Me, Fluttershy , and the rest of the Mane 6. However, what I was concerned about right now was getting some food. "What can I getcha darling?" asked Mrs. Cake.
"A bag of vanilla cupcakes with rainbow sprinkles and blueberry frosting." I didn't eat breakfast, so you could expect I was as hungry as a warthog combined with a hippo. Now that I think about it, that sounds really terrifying. "Here ya go." Mrs. Cake handed me my bag of delicious diabetes. The Mane 6 were still chatting, so I decided to get a head start on the search for the duplicate.
As soon as I stepped outside, a bright flash of yellow charged into me. I regained vision (somehow) and saw before me... the duplicate. That was easy. "Huh, didn't think I'd find you that fast. Or at all." The duplicate turned to me. "What are you talking about? I'm the real Fluttershy."
"Wait, WHAT? But I just saw you in their with the-..." Then suddenly it hit me. "YOU CAN TELEPORT?!"
"Of course not." said Fluttershy in a "no duh" sort of way. "And did you mention you saw me in Sugarcube Corner?" Then it REALLY hit me. "OH MY GOD! THE YOU I SAW WASN'T REALLY YOU BECAUSE YOU'RE OUTSIDE!!! I SAW THE DUPLICATE!!!!!" Woops. Probably shouldn't have said that so loud, as almost the entire town stared at us. "I'm officially embarrassed." I said.
The Mane 6 then came out with the duplicate. There they saw me and Fluttershy. They exchanged very sinister looks. "I see you've caught the duplicate, Caleb." said Twilight. Wait. Was she wearing a crown? And the rest were wearing NECKLACES? Oh no... The Elements of Harmony.
"Uhh, Twilight. What are you doing with the elements?" I asked.
"We're going to see that this duplicate doesn't see another light of day!" said Applejack.
"Fluttershy came in and told us the duplicate was out for world domination!" said Rainbow.
"Yeah! And we're gonna kick her butt!" said Pinkie Pie.
So the duplicate told them the real Fluttershy was hellbent on taking over Equestria? Why would it do that? Unless... it was trying to REPLACE her! "Caleb, get out of the way. We're going to turn this imposter to stone!" said Rarity.
I immediately jumped to her defense. "WAIT! She's not the duplicate! Don't turn her to stone!" I pointed toward the REAL duplicate. "SHE is!"
"What are you talking about?" said Applejack. "If SHE'S the real Fluttershy, then let's prove it." Twilight pulled out some flashcards. "What a coincidence! I prepared some questions just for this occasion!"
"How did you know we were gonna-?" Twilight interrupted me. "I created a spell that could see the future!" How convenient.
Twilight began asking the questions. "What is your favorite animal in your cottage." The duplicate immediately answered. "Angel."
"Correct. What's your element?"
"Kindness."
"Correct again. Who's your crush?"
"I don't have one."
"THAT'S CORRECT!"
The duplicate answered them faster than Fluttershy could flinch. She didn't even get a chance to say a word! Much less open her mouth! "Hold on! Wait! I declare a rematch!"
"Caleb, out of the way!" Twilight said. Then came the sparkly stuff. A beam came straight toward us! "FLUTTERSHY! DUCK!!!" Luckily we both dodged it. "Why are you trying to help the duplicate! Didn't you get she wants to take over Equestria?" screamed Rainbow Dash.
"Oh, I got that! But THIS is the real Fluttershy! And all of you are too stupid to figure it out!!!" The six ponies were shocked. I was shocked myself. I didn't even know that came out of my mouth until 5 seconds later. "COME ON, FLUTTERSHY!" we both ran as fast as we could. Where to? I didn't know. I just wanted to get away from them. We hid in a mattress store, where we discussed a place to hide while we came up with a plan to unmask the duplicate.
"I think the only option is the Everfree Forest." Fluttershy gave me a scared look. "What? We can't that place is scary. There's no telling what could happen. We could get hunted by Timberwolves! Or-..."
"But there's more area in there. It could take months for them to find us." I said. "Plus, there are more places to hide there than any other place in Equestria. The way I see it, I don't think we have a choice."
"But-..."
"No buts! We need to leave now!"
Fluttershy began to calm down. "Okay..."
"There you are!" We turned around to see the Mane 6 right next to us. "Now would probably be a good time to run." I whispered to Fluttershy.
"Oh no you don't!" Another beam came towards us. "RUN!!!" We both dodged it... again, and ran towards the forest. I've never feared more for my life more than now. And I've had to kiss my grandma on the lips! That was NOT a pretty Thanksgiving.
"Come back, you faker!" shouted Applejack. I turned to Fluttershy, who looked like she wanted to cry. We ran into the forest and kept running for 15 minutes. We stopped when we thought we lost them. I could hear Fluttershy cry. "They called me a faker..."
"We best start thinking of a plan." At that moment, I realized something.
I was being more smarter than I usually was today.
