//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Epic Evolution // Story: Magikarp Is The Best Pokemon // by RainbowBob //------------------------------// “Guys, I don’t think Magikarp is gonna stop!” Spike shouted to Twilight and Fluttershy. The luminescence from Magikarp was only growing brighter and brighter, blinding the group. “Spike, you’re his owner, tell him to stop!” Twilight commanded, shielding her eyes with her hoof. “He’s evolving. What do you want me to do, stop natural selection?” “Hey, is it just me, or is Magikarp getting… bigger?” Fluttershy asked, pointing to the brightly glowing creature. Magikarp floundered about, in his typical way, but there was definitely a noticeable size increase. In only a few short seconds he had nearly doubled in size, and didn’t appear to be stopping anytime soon. “What do we do? What do we do?” Spike asked, waving his arms frantically while running around in circles. “Ooh, I know!” Twilight teleported a quill and paper from out of thin air. “I’ll just write a letter to Celestia asking or her assistance! She’ll be sure to know what’s the matter with Magikarp.” Finishing her letter with a final dot, Twilight tugged at Spike’s tail, causing him to produce a flame. Throwing her letter into the green fire spurting from Spike’s mouth, Twilight dusted off her hooves and said, “There, our problems will be solved in no time.” Spike looked up, a great shadow blocking out the sun over the group. “Um, Twilight, can that time be right now?” Spike asked, pointing a shaking finger up above. “Because I don’t think we’ll have much time left!” Where Magikarp once floundered in his strange white glow from before stood a creature of unimaginably epic proportions. A humongous blue, snake-like creature was the end result of Magikarp’s apparent evolution on steroids. His mouth was agape with fangs that were larger than lamp posts. Along with this was a three-pointed crest atop his head, with fins as well as whiskers on either side of his head while spikes ran down his back. Congratulations! Your Magikarp evolved into a Gyarados! “How do you even pronounce that?” Spike asked the other two. “Gy-ra-dos? Gya-ra-dos? Gy-ara-dos?” “Spike, I think we might have bigger problems than proper pronunciation of its name!” Twilight reminded him. Returning his attention back to Gyarados, Spike nodded his head in agreement. “Oh yeah, nearly forgot about that.” Spike ducked to the side and narrowly dodged a tail-whip that flattened the ground where he stood mere seconds before into rubble. “Run for it!” Twilight and Fluttershy were quick to join in Spike’s escape as they quickly made their way into town, Gyarados hot on their trail. Down the streets they ran, dodging past attacks and chomps from the furious behemoth of a former pet. “Why is Gyarados so mad?” Twilight asked, avoiding her head being bitten off by a fraction of a second. “Oh, I dunno, maybe it has to do with that fact you threw him against the wall like a rolled up newspaper!” Spike reminded her, turning a corner just in time to miss being trampled upon by Gyarados. “You dragged him across town like a piece of trash!” “You didn’t let him eat your hair!” “You let him eat my hair?” Spike skipped to a stop. “Wait a second… why isn’t he chasing us anymore?” Ignoring Twilight’s harsh glares towards him, Spike turned around and noticed Gyarados standing in the middle of the street, not doing anything. “Actually… where’s Fluttershy?” Twilight asked. “Better yet, what happened to every other pony in town?” Soon, the answer made itself clear enough. Opening his jaws, Gyarados threw up a spitball filled with ponies he had attempted to consume on the trip to get Spike and Twilight. Now all the ponies were unconscious and stuck together in sticky saliva, Fluttershy easy to see among the crowd of spittle covered townponies. “Oh great, what’s he going to do now?” Twilight asked, already taking a step backward. “Well, for everyone pony he makes faint means he levels up…” Spike quickened his backstep pace as the implications dawned on him. “That means we should run away right now! Like, really run for it!” Gyarados used Hyper Beam! “Run, run, run, run, run!” It’s super effective! “Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun!” Spike and Twilight entered a world of a pure, destructive white force that consumed their vision in an instant. They had barely taken a step before they were knocked forward to roll over their bodies in a painful tumble, heaped up upon one another. Shaking his head to clear his vision, Spike blinked his eyes and rubbed them frantically. But no matter what, he still couldn’t believe his eyes. Gyarados’ eyes glowed a fiendishly white while from his jaws came out a laser of pure energy that destroyed all in its path, quickly turned half the town into rubble in an instant. The beam of light continued without end, destroying and turning to dust all that it touched. “Ponyville isn’t going to survive much longer like this,” Spike noted, rubbing his bruised skull. Pushing Spike off of herself, Twilight said, “We’re not going to survive much longer like this.” Already, Gyarados was returning his attention back to the two of them, the trail of the hyper beam cutting a path of pure annihilation towards them. “For the love of Celestia, what do we do?” Spike covered both his eyes with his claws, shivering under the resolution of his fate, Peeking out from his claws, Spike recognized a figure fast approaching over the horizon. “It’s Celestia!” Spike cheered. The sun princess had arrived just in the nick of time, blocking the path of Gyarados from the pair. “She’ll save us!” Celestia formed a ball of intense flames on the tip of her horn. “Come no further, creature!” she bellowed, firing the miniature inferno in front of Gyarados’ path. “Or else face my wrath for harming my little ponies!” Gyarados closed his jaws, his hyper beam coming to a close. Looking down at the smoldering, ember scorch mark before him, Gyarados manages to shrug without shoulders and crosses the makeshift deterrent without a lick of trouble. Gritting her teeth, Celestia’s mane exploded in a fiery expanse of fire and hair that blinded all those who stared directly at it for too long. “That’s it, I warned you!” With a cry of a warrior princess, Celestia let loose a torrent of fire that reached the extreme heat territory, melting the road even before reaching Gyarados. However, the large, fish creature… thing, didn’t even flinch from the flames. Not very effective! Celestia’s attack did almost nothing to Gyarados, while he in turn waited patiently for her to finish. Just as she exhausted the last bit of her magic, Gyarados flicked his tail upward and successfully managed to send her flying through the sky in one hit. “Looks like I’m blasting off agaaaaaaaaaaaain!” Celestia screamed, disappearing in a twinkle of a star in the sky. Staring down at both Spike and Twilight, Gyarados opened his mouth and charged up his next hyper beam that would surely destroy both of them. “Well, this is how it ends,” Twilight whispered, bitterness clear in every one of her words. “Definitely didn’t seem it coming, that’s for sure.” Spike’s eyes searched frantically for a solution, but none could be seen. The only definite thing he knew about Magikarp was that he liked Twilight’s mane a lot… which could also be the same for his evolved form!” Grabbing the end of Twilight’s mane, Spike said, “Sorry, Twilight, the next barber visit is on me.” Then, with a powerful bite, Spike cut Twilight’s mane in two with just his teeth and jaws. Spitting hair out from his mouth, Spike waved the hairy prize in front of Gyarados, standing directly underneath the immense power of his soon to be hyper beam. However, this attack never came, for Gyarados immediately stopped as his attention drew itself to the big bundle of hairs Spike held in his fist. Gyarados’ tongue stuck out like one would expect a dog to, with the tail wagging and drool the size of foals dripping from his mouth. “Hey, Gyarados, want the hair?” Spike asked, waving his treat. Gyarados only nodded his head and made a weird noise similar to his name in response. Spitting out a flameball, Spike threw the airs inside it, then pointed up to where Celestia disappeared before. “Well, go get it!” Looking up, Gyarados leaped into the air, flying towards the heavens in search of that bundle of hair he seemed to enjoy that was sure to pop up wherever Celestia was at currently, after being sent into the upper atmosphere of the planet in the first place thanks to Gyarados. Staring to the new twinkle of Gyarados willingly blasting off, Twilight said, “Huh… I had no idea he could fly.” “Me neither. Sure looked like an impossibility.” “So, you think Celestia will be okay?” Spike waved his hand passively. “Ah, I’m sure she’s fine… sorta. Kinda. Pretty sure...” Touching the split ends of her hastily cut mane, Twilight hummed under her breath. “Actually, I should be thanking you right now. I’ve been meaning to get a manecut, and you managed to give me one with the benefit of saving Ponyville as well.” “All in a hard’s day work,” Spike said, dusting himself off. Giving one last glance to the sky, he asked, “Do you think Gyarados will be happy without us around?” Twilight shrugged, already dreading the wide expanse of cleanup requiring her attention. “Well, here’s hoping he’s happier with just Celestia.” “Stop munching on my mane at once!” Celestia demanded, still flying—or rather, falling in an opposite direction—in the sky. Gyarados ignored her, still happily chewing on her mane like a puppy with a toy. “Wait, no! No! I just exfoliated there! Noooooooooooooo!”