Magikarp: Cream of the Crop

Chapter 5: What is Magikarp?

The door opened to a mere phantom, nothing at the mare's eyesight, for it was Angel Bunny who opened the door. The furry white critter gave her an annoyed look, but his eyes went wide when Spike finally arrived with Magikarp in tow.

Giving the small bunny her best winning smile, Twilight said, "Hello there. You know if Fluttershy is home? We have a couple of questions."

"Also, some water would be appreciated!" Spike shot in, wiping some sweat from his brow with his long, snake like tongue sticking out while he panted. "You know, for the fish."

Magikarp simply floundered on the ground, repeating his own name over and over again. His feeble tone was becoming an annoyance for the three of them in only a short amount of time.

The bunny hopped back into to cottage, giving no clear indication what Twilight and Spike should do, so they followed right in along with him. Fluttershy's cottage had a plethora of animals inside, which wasn't much of a surprise since the pegasus was known for her care of the forest critters.

And there was Fluttershy, the yellow pegasus currently feeding a group of squirrels. "Fluttershy, can you help us?" Twilight called out, causing the pegasus to squeak in surprise and nearly jump out of her fur.

Turning back to the pair, she stopped her cowering and blinked, realizing it was her friends. Giving a sheepish and embarrassed smile, she said, "Sorry about that, Twilight. You need my help with something?"

"Remember that comet crash not too long ago?" Twilight asked.

"Oh yeah. It was so scary. All my animal friends started to freak out a little, but we're all better now." Fluttershy arched an eyebrow at the unicorn, finally noticing that Spike was also present behind Twilight. "Why do you ask?"

Twilight moved out of the way, revealing a near exhausted Spike carrying a strange, red floundering fish by the tail. "This guy caused the crash. We were hoping you might know what type of fish he is?"

"Um... shouldn't we put him in some water first?" she asked, uneasy how the fish flayed on the ground.

"Nah. He went over thirty minutes without. Plus, he just came from space," Spike pointed out. "Either he doesn't have to breathe, or he can breathe air."

"Okay then... let me see him closer." Fluttershy approached Magikarp, but he paid her no mind and just went on and on about repeated his own name. "Is 'Magikarp' the only thing he can say?"

"Pretty much. So, know how he survived a crash from the upper atmosphere?" Spike asked, poking Magikarp with his foot.

Fluttershy shook her head. "No creature should have been able to do that. It's not possible..."

"Fluttershy has a point," Twilight agreed. "If the no air didn't kill him, him reentering the atmosphere would've burned him to a crisp. Not to mention that crash should've flattened him like a pancake. Really, he's an anomaly stranger than Pinkie."

"Not to mention I have no idea what fish he could be," Fluttershy added, tugging lightly at one of Magikarp's whiskers. "He could belong to the carp family, because of his name and whiskers, but his body anomaly and shape are all wrong. Plus, his colors are way too strange."

"What about him not blinking?" Spike asked, unnerved by the fact the fish hasn't closed his eyes once since they met him "V-vampire?!"

"Well, fish don't normally blink," Fluttershy explained, also slightly creeped out by the Magikarp's unblinking eyes. "But I've never seen one with eyes this large or strange before."

The three remained silent for some time, until Twilight blurted out, "So you have no idea what type of fish he is?"

Fluttershy sadly shook her head, hiding her face behind her mane as she averted her gaze. "I'm really sorry, but I'm just not sure. Maybe he's some type of alien or something?"

"But how did he arrive here in the first place? Some type of flying saucer?" Twilight scoffed. "He's a mindless fish by the looks of things. So far the only sign of his intellect is him repeating his own name over and over again. Which is getting really annoying, by the way. So he isn't exactly part of some advanced alien species."

"Hey, maybe he is magic!" Spike suggested, snapping his fingers at this revelation. "That could explain how he managed to survive the fall and breathe on land. Hey Twi, can you check if he has any?"

"Well... I can try," Twilight replied, her horn glowing in preparation for her magic finder spell. It was a simple spell, able to locate any type of magic. It worked in the traditional way of 'hot' and 'cold' game. When her horn glows blue, she's 'cold', meaning there's no magic, and red means 'hot', which indicates she's close to magic.

Her horn glowed a light tone of blue. Carefully, she placed it closer towards Magikarp. All that got was her horn to glow deeper shades of blue, until it was nearly black. Which was a pretty good sign Magikarp was anything but magical. Casting off her magic, she said, "Well, he isn't magical, that's for sure. Any other suggestions?"

The three returned to silence, quietly watching Magikarp as it floundered about without a care in the world. Eventually, when one of them was sure to crack just staring at him, Spike asked, "Maybe we should feed him something?"