Twilight - or one of her many clones, at least - stopped when she felt she’d traveled a good enough distance away from where all the clones had dispersed. Ascertaining her current position, she found herself down the base of the mountain from an undetermined side and far off into a plain, but a lovely meadow with a few stray trees scattered throughout.
It wasn't hard for her to remember that she had a mission rather than be distracted by the scenery surrounding her, but it was hard for her to be dedicated to travel so far without any sign of potential prisoners like her original counterpart and her friends. An annoyed grunt escaped her lips as she continued trotting along the meadow.
"One would think that finding one out of an indeterminate amount of captured individuals in a dimension similar to Equestria would be easy, especially if they would be close by!" she complained to herself aloud. Twilight looked left and right while traveling forward and let out a sigh when there was still neither hide nor hair of any intelligent life.
Oh, how she prayed that she would find somebody intelligent.
Suddenly, Twilight's left ear twitched as she caught the sound of snoring farther up ahead. She squinted her eyes to catch a tree larger than the ones she saw in the distance, with a shaded silhouette propped next to it. The clone beamed at the thought of finally succeeding in her mission as she used her energy to gallop forward towards the source of the sound.
Twilight felt a sense of accomplishment as she drew closer, but it slowly vanished along with her energy when she got a better look at what she was running towards. She slowed to a stop upon finding a rather large human sitting on the ground with their back resting against the left side of the tree.
Upon closer inspection, the human appeared to be male, and a rather old one, to boot. He was seen with tan skin and gray hair, complete with a beard. A scar was seen over his left eye. His attire consisted of a white tuxedo with a blue shirt and green tie, covered by a large white coat with red and black shoulder pads and sleeves that was worn like a cape. The old man was snoring loudly, and was seen with a nose bubble that inflated and deflated with each snore, much to Twilight's disgust.
While the thought of finally meeting another individual was rewarding, Twilight remembered to proceed with caution. She couldn't be sure if the elderly human could possibly be a threat despite being asleep. Making note of the distance between herself and the human, Twilight lit up her horn and focused on a small branch above her, prying it out before using to gently prod the human's cheek.
"Hello?" the clone whispered, feeling slightly anxious with anticipation. "Wakey wakey." When the human didn’t wake up, Twilight added a little more force to her prodding. Surprisingly, there was still no progress then, prompting her to hit the human's forehead with the stick. "Come on. Wake up already, no one should be able to sleep for that lo-"
As quick as a flash, the human unconsciously grabbed the stick with his left hand, startling Twilight with the new development. With a deep grunt, the human quickly swung his left hand towards the tree. The area that was struck shattered into splinters as the tree fell over, causing Twilight to yelp as she scampered back towards a safer distance.
She watched the human slowly rise from his sitting position, dwarfing Twilight with ease while dropping her prodding stick as he stirred from his slumber. The human then covered his mouth with his right hand as he let out a loud yawn, then stretched his arms upward. Meanwhile, Twilight stared wide-eyed at the awakened human as her body tensed from the display of strength. After the human rubbed his eyes he opened them, baring his teeth in an irritated expression.
"Hey, who had the gall to wake me up?" he asked in a deep tone that was rasped with age. The elderly human looked around and took in his surroundings as his expression turned blank. To his left, grass and trees; to his right, even more grass and trees. He paused for a moment before he tilted his head with a confused expression on his face as he scratched his temple with a finger. "Am I dreaming or something?"
So far, the human seemed harmless to Twilight. She decided to swallow her anxiety and take initiative to properly introduce herself, clearing her throat to grab the human's attention.
"Excuse me, sir, but is it okay if we talk?" she asked in the kindest way possible. Twilight flinched when the human paused before looking down at her.
"Huh?" was all the human could say. He stared at the pony below him and noticed the change in her expression, but paid it no mind as he pulled up his left sleeve. Ignoring the look of fear on the pony's face, he proceeded to pinch his left arm with his right hand. After a brief grunt of pain, the human paused again.
Twilight's fear faded when she took in the human's gesture, and wondered if he seemed like an eccentric old man. She went to go speak further...
"EEEEEEHHHHHHHHHH~!?!?" the human bellowed in shock as his eyes widened, once again taking Twilight by surprise as she reeled backward on her hindlegs.
"I'm not dreaming… I'm not back at Marineford," the human said in dreadful realization, then clenched his fists as he darted his head left and right. "Where… Where the hell am I!? What is this place?" He then focused his sight on the pony in front of him, and his eyes narrowed as he pointed a finger at her. "You there! Pony! What is this place!? Did you kidnap me!?" he barked angrily.
"N-No! I swear, I was not responsible for your relocation! In fact, you're one of many that have been abducted from their homes!" Twilight instantly replied, as if her life depended on it. "I was just sent here to find you and gather you up with them!"
The human growled at the explanation, but then noticed the sincerity in the pony's eyes that was coupled with her fear. Perhaps she was telling the truth, since she didn't seem so threatening in appearance. But he had to be on his toes now that he was in No Man's Land. He decided to calm down for now and crossed his arms as he looked down at the trembling pony.
"You said I was one of many, right? How exactly do you know this?" he interrogated calmly. Twilight dropped down to all fours before taking a deep breath and looking up at the human.
"Because I am, too. Or, more technically, my original. There's plenty of me to go around at the moment, and we're on a scouting mission, per se," Twilight explained, trying to appear as friendly as she could. "There are others with her, all of which staying in a group, and… well..." Twilight sighed in frustration before she held up a hoof, gesturing for the human to come down to her level. "I'd like to give you the whole story in a flash, if you're willing to trust me."
The human raised an eyebrow with a questioning grunt before kneeling down and bending his body forward so that his head was close to Twilight's. Her horn began to light up, much to the human's wonder.
"Just bear with me; this will only take a second." Twilight brought her horn toward the human's temple and just like that, memories poured into his mind in a metaphysical cascade. His eyes widened as he took them all in, then reeled himself back when Twilight was finished, holding his head with his right hand.
"Whoa… That was too weird, and I've seen all sorts of weird stuff in my day," the human uttered before shaking his head and looking down at Twilight. "So, you're a clone, huh?" he said before he clenched his fists and grinned, his eyes full of wonder. "And a pool did this? That's amazing!" Twilight was taken aback by the human's change of behavior, but considered him friendly, since he didn't attack at all.
"That's the Mirror Pool for you." Twilight chuckled before righting herself, her fear having faded. "I'm sorry for the rude awakening, not to mention introducing myself earlier. My name is Twilight Sparkle; one of her clones, as you know. What's your name?" The human stood up correctly and crossed his arms again.
"Bwahahaha! You have nice manners for a pony." He pointed a thumb at himself with a gruff, but friendly expression on his face. "The name's Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp, but you can just call me Garp."
"Oh, you're a figure of authority?" Twilight asked, somewhat curious about his background.
"Yeah. I just got back to headquarters after I failed to catch my grandson." Garp chuckled to himself. "Wonder what the little troublemaker's up to right now..."
"Wait, your grandson? Why are you pursuing your own family?" Twilight asked, befuddled at the aspect of a family that fights amongst themselves.
"Simply put, he's a pirate; a captain, no less. He's already got a good bounty on his head after catching the attention of the Navy. I'd even show you a wanted poster if I had one on me," Garp explained nonchalantly before scoffing. "If only that bastard Shanks hadn't corrupted his mind, he would've made an excellent marine like me." He shrugged as he grinned. "But, I shouldn't be too bitter about that. I'm glad that I raised him to be strong enough."
‘He really is eccentric’, Twilight thought. ‘First Garp curses the fact that his own grandson is a fearsome pirate, then says he’s proud of how strong he became... I guess he still cares about his grandson despite the supposed bad blood they share between each other.’ Deciding to digress from the matter, Twilight forced a smile.
"Well, now that we've gotten to know each other, perhaps you'd like to follow me back to the others so they can get to know you as well?" She noticed Garp looking away with a frown on his face.
"Alright, but I gotta say, I still need time to adjust to this whole thing. This Aza fellow picked the wrong time to just swoop me off my feet and away from my home..." The vice admiral bared his teeth before raising a shaking fist towards the sky. "And my job! I was in the middle of some very serious work back at HQ, you jerk! Come out and fight like a man!" Twilight stared blankly at Garp's outrage.
'But you were just sleeping when I met you...' she thought to herself before shaking off her confusion. "I know I shouldn't say this, especially since I feel your pain, but there's no point in shouting at Aza right now. I really gotta get you back to everyone else so I know I've filled my quota." Garp's fist trembled before he calmed down again.
"Alright. Might as well get acquainted with my fellow prisoners," Garp said before a dry chuckle escaped his lips. "This is kind of ironic, when I look at it."
"Don't worry, you'll be with friends soon enough," Twilight said with a smile. "Just follow me, and we'll try our best to sort this whole thing out with the others." She looked over at the large mountain in the distance and hummed to herself. Squinting her eyes up at the higher areas, she noticed a thicket of trees and perked up. "Oh yeah! I came from the forest up there. Maybe everyone's still up there."
Garp followed Twilight's gaze and nodded to himself before he began to stretch his legs. The clone took notice and tilted her head before blinking.
"Wait a minute. You're not actually thinking of running up the mountain, are you? Wouldn't it take too much of a toll on your body?" Twilight asked in concern, only to be rewarded with a small fit of laughter as Garp continued to stretch.
"Come now, Twilight. I might be old, but that doesn't mean I'm helpless." He finished stretching and approached Twilight, kneeling down to pick her up in his arms before he rose up and grinned at the elevated destination. "Just hold on tight and leave this to me."
Before Twilight could question Garp's confidence, she felt her body press hard against his chest as the vice admiral started moving incredibly fast with a look of hardened determination on his face. All she could do was scream as Garp moved across the meadow and onto the mountain like a blur.
The only good thing about her mission ending was that at least Garp wasn't trying to kill her intentionally.