Chapter 16

Author's Note: Why, hello, everyone! I'm back to bring you all another chapter of Visitors of Equestria! This chapter will give you another character from the MLP roster, but it may include a friendly duel between this character and Pika. I'll try to make this as exciting as possible, but feel free to let me know what you think of it and your recommendations, if you have any. I hope you all enjoy today's chapter, and I'll see you at the bottom of this page.

WARNING: This chapter, unlike the rest which had blood and piercing, will be a bit gory at the end of this. You'll see the cause and damage of this, but if any one of you is squeamish of gore, then you shouldn't read this part, or have someone else with you for stability. :) Warning out of the way, I, again, hope you all have a good time with this chapter.

Friendly Magic Dueling

Three days.

I've been here in Equestria for three days, and I've gained so much progress and information about this world and its inhabitants. From meeting the Elements of Harmony, to stopping Fendra and his plan, to becoming a hero of Ponyville for any similar events towards today. After my announcement of my new status, Pinkie Pie shot confetti from her cannon and said, "Woohoo! Pika became the new hero of Ponyville! Let's celebrate, everypony!"

From there, we all enjoyed a huge party organized purely by Pinkie, without my help whatsoever. Thinking back, I wouldn't doubt if she had ideas for this party since I first met her, so I simply smiled and enjoyed myself. I had a blast altogether, with the games hosted, to the food made by the pink pony, especially with all my new friends with me. At first, I had a fear that they would have grilled me and/or Spike into what happened, but they respected our privacy by not mentioning it. I know that I'll have to reveal the truth someday, but for now, I should have fun for a job well done!

After around two hours, we all went our separate ways, with me, Twi, and Spike heading back towards the Castle of Friendship. From there, we simply headed towards the throne room, and simply hanged out. Me and Twilight were each reading a separate book, with mine being about creatures and plants inhabiting this land. Spike, on the other hand, was reading some sort of comic book that seemed to be about superhero ponies, but I'll ask him about it later.

After a while, the young dragon asks us, "Man, wasn't that party simply amazing?"

Looking back at him, Twilight nods with a smile and says, "Yep! I personally had a lot of fun chatting with our friends, and the games were pretty fun to play as well, wouldn't you say, Pika?"

Smiling, I nod and say, "They sure were! I was a little worried that I wasn't gonna do well, but I surprised myself, haha!"

Giggling, Spike mentions, "You'd certainly have a trait to adapt pretty quickly, Pika."

Nodding towards his statement, I explain, "When you focus on dedication towards improvement, adaptation arrives at your doorstep no less than a few seconds."

Laughing towards my claim, Twilight tells me, "That's definitely true, sweetie. I'm sure you'll be able to handle whatever request the residents ask of you."

I smile, only to look at my book and inquire, "I'm excited to have this role for this town, but I'm still confused on one thing." Looking back towards the both of them, I ask, "When will I be notified of those who need my help if I'm not here?"

Placing a wing on my back, Twilight smiles at me and says, "I'm sure somepony will arrive at this castle, and ask either me or Spike to give you the details for what problem occurred. Does that sound good, Pika?"

Sighing in relief, I nuzzle Twilight and answer with, "That would help immensely if you or Spike asked me what happened with that resident. Thanks, Twi!"

Giggling, she nuzzles my head and says, "Anytime, sweetie." I look over at Spike, who grins and raises his thumb up, signifying that he's got my back. Smiling at his antic, I give him a wink as thanks for his support.

Suddenly, we all hear the door open as we look over and see another pony enter the throne room. This pony has a moderate purple mane with lighter purple and pale light, grayish aquamarine highlights. Their coat was colored a pale, light grayish heliotrope as their eyes were colored a moderate persian blue. They also had a horn, but no wings, as they appeared to have a Cutie Mark as well! This Cutie Mark consisted of a purple and white star with two two-toned blue glimmering streams. This new pony smiles wide upon seeing Twilight and Spike, and runs up to them, ignoring me in the process. Hugging them tightly, she says, "Twilight! Spike! It's so good to see you two again!"

Even though they're being squeezed, they couldn't help but smile as they hug the newcomer, with Twilight saying, "It's good to see you too, Starlight, though can you please let us go? You're kind of choking us."

Realizing what she was doing, the pony, now identified as Starlight, lets them both go, and rubs the back of her mane, telling them, "Whoops! Sorry."

Twilight smiles, hugs her, and says, "Hey, it's fine, Starlight. I'm happy to see you too! Though, if I may ask, what are you doing here?"

Smiling big, Starlight says, "Well, I wanted to talk to you about those results on the tests you performed, remember?"

Twilight gasps and inquires, "Of course! You wanted to know about that creature you've been hearing about from me and the CMC, right?" Upon nodding her head furiously, she giggles and says, "Well, what if I told you the creature you wanted to meet so bad is right here in this room?"

Starlight's smile widens as she exclaims, "Really?! Where is it? I really want to meet them!"

Silently giggling to this pony's enthusiasm, I walk behind her and say, "Right behind you."

I could see Starlight get spooked towards the voice as she obeys the command and turns around, only to notice me. Getting shocked, she leans down towards my level and says, "Wow! Are you the creature that Twilight was mentioning about?" Upon me nodding my head, she squeals a bit before levitating me with magic, as a light turquoise aura surrounds my small body.

She examines me intensely as she mentions, "Who knew a small mouse such as you can use so much magic without a sweat! Call me impressed!" After that, she lets me go, only to offer her hoof at me, saying while smiling, "My name is Starlight Glimmer. What's your name, you cute yet cool creature?"

Giggling, I shake Starlight's hoof as I state, "My name is Pika, Starlight. It's nice to meet you!"

Grinning widely, she says to me, "I may have not been to your testing, Pika, but I heard from Twilight your outstanding results and I couldn't help but anticipate when I would meet you for the first time! Oh, and I heard of your deed at Ponyville, and that set me into pure glee over meeting you, small hero! Now, tell me, do you like magic?"

Smiling widely, I nod my head yes as she smiles wide as well. "Sweet! I was thinking about how I could introduce myself towards you, only to have a great idea, if you're ok with it?" Sighing in relief upon seeing me nod, she smiles and asks, "How about we have a friendly magic duel, just me and you, to test each other's magic?"

I smile and nod, before reassuring Twilight and Spike, whom seemed to be scared of this idea, with a thumbs-up signifying I'll be ok.

Squealing once more, Starlight wraps me in for a hug as she says, "Yes! Thank you so much, Pika! You wouldn't regret this decision whatsoever! Here, let me take you towards this arena I prepared!" Looking over at Twilight and Spike, she asks, "Um, is it ok if I take Pika towards the arena?"

They look at each other, before giving Starlight a smile and a nod towards her plan. Smiling, she quickly hugs them and says, "Thanks, you two! I promise to bring him back after our friendly duel, ok? I swear it."

Using her magic, she teleports us towards an open field of grass with a few medium-sized rocks here and there. Starlight casts a protection barrier around us, expanding a lot until stopping at a point, making our arena really big!

Looking at me with a big smile, she explains, "Ok, Pika. For this duel, we'll be using magic to fight each other. This is a friendly duel, though I will say don't hold back against me! First one to go down in defeat wins this duel! You ready to do this?"

Smiling, I accept Starlight's request, telling her, "Ok! I'm down for this! I won't hold back, but you better not hold back against me too!"

She nods with a smile as we both declare, "Let the friendly duel commence!"

Declaring the start, we both teleport to opposite sides as Starlight starts off by shooting a couple of magic blasts towards me. Quick on my feet, I run around, dodging her blasts one by one until, after the last magic blast, I launch multiple small Thunderbolt spells towards Starlight. She effortlessly dodges the blasts, but I have a trick up my tail. Using Psychic, I point my paw onto the ground where Starlight is at right now. Seeing her confused as she dodges my spells, I smirk as I lift my paw up, causing the ground beneath her to rise up, taking her with them. With that, I cause the pieces to stop, trapping Starlight within them, only to channel my aura and launch an Aura Sphere towards her. Expecting her to be hit, I get surprised upon seeing her vanish within the chunks of the ground, so the Aura Sphere just breaks the ground pieces without her in them.

I immediately act calm as I try to pinpoint her new location. She doesn't seem to be anywhere in front of me, and I don't know how long she can stay invulnerable with her teleportation. However, if there's one thing for certain, it'll be that she'll try to strike me while I'm distracted, so I should remain vigilant and use my aura. Suddenly, thanks to said aura, I could detect a presence behind me, ready to strike me with a magic blast. Reacting quickly, I slice behind using Iron Tail just as Starlight launches the blast. A small explosion occurs between us as me and Starlight get sent a few feet away from each other. We both had a few patches of burns and dirt from the blast on our fur/coat, but we'll still standing proud.

Speaking of proud, Starlight looks at me with a proud glance as she comments, "Wow! I didn't expect you to counter that blast so easily!"

I smirk and reply with, "Heheh! I didn't expect you to teleport from my attack inside the chunks of ground!"

Laughing a bit while rubbing the dirt off, she explains, "Well, when you study magic for years as well as experience battles with some villains, you definitely gain a sense of learning new tactics!"

Smiling wide, I agree and mention, "Oh, that is definitely true! I've experienced many upon many battles, as well as train a lot, so I can react to attacks easily!"

Smirking, Starlight exclaims, "Well, can you react to this then?"

With that said, she uses magic to lift herself off the ground as she casts duplicates of herself around me. She first starts off by flying around me, teasing me by saying, "Try to find me, Pika! I bet you can't find out who's the real me!"

Trying a tactic, I use Discharge to obliterate the Starlight copies, only to find that there was no sign of her whatsoever. Remaining calm, I rationalize where Starlight might be, either above or below me or… oh, I see what's she's doing! Smirking, I close my eyes as I try to sense where Starlight is with my aura.

Detecting the spirit of Starlight beside me to the right, I open my eyes and look only to see nothing. Smiling to myself, I walk forward and sarcastically say, "Oh, boy! I can't tell where you are, Starlight! I wonder where you're at right now, making fun of me for being so clueless!"

Smirking to hearing her chuckling, I suddenly jump up to the air and turn my body around, facing where Starlight is at, and launch Elemental Barrage, sending multiple colored blasts of different elemental types towards her spot. I smile upon hearing her gasp as she cast a barrier around herself, making my attack bounce off her shield, but I don't stop there. Using Teleport, I stand to the side of Starlight as I sweep her off the ground, only to strike her using a light blast from my left paw, sending her flying a couple of feet away from me.

Sliding against the ground revealed, she gets up and shakes off the dirt, only to look at me with excitement and say, "Gosh! Not only did you detect where I was at, but you also surprised me with that combo of yours! You are slowly starting to impress me more and more, Pika!"

Smiling at her compliment, I respond with, "Thanks, Starlight! You sure are impressing me a lot too! Not only can you fly and summon duplicates, but you can also go invisible too! That sure is pretty cool, if I say so myself!"

Looking at me with a proud glance, she says, "Well, how about I show you one more trick, huh?"

Giving her a excited gaze, I tell her, "Sure, but only if I show you one more trick of mine!"

Laughing a bit, she says, "Deal! We'll both use our tricks!"

With that said, Starlight uses her magic to create a big orb on her horn, while moving her hooves quite a bit, preparing herself for what she was about to do. Smiling, I perform my Light Spell once more, with me raising my arms and levitating off the ground once more. The circle engraves itself onto the ground once more as particles of light emit from both me and the circle. Starlight see this and says, "That looks neat there, Pika! But let's see if that's gonna help you against this!"

She suddenly rushes up to me at a great speed, stopping in front of me and planting her hooves onto the ground. Her body glows turquoise as she faces her horn at me, ready to blast me with her magic! However, before she could fire, I push my arms in front of me as I shout out my Light Spell for her to hear!

"Oblivion!"

With that, we both take each other's magic spells as Starlight and I get launched. We both land on the ground and slide against it hard, eventually stopping at the edge of the barrier. I could feel my body soaked in pain from Starlight's spell as I could see Starlight covered in bruises and burns everywhere. Moving my left arm a bit, which was pretty painful, I pat my body around for injuries, which were everywhere around me. I check a bit from my chest and stomach, to my right arm, head, and eventually legs… only to feel no traces of my right leg everywhere.

Looking at it, I sharply gasp upon seeing that my right leg was gone, with blood spreading onto the ground at a fast pace. Surprisingly, even though I lost my right leg, and I should be screaming in pain, I don't feel any pain towards my leg being gone. Only thing I could see aside from my lost leg was, as expected, cracks again.

I could hear a really loud gasp as I look at Starlight, who was standing with only three hooves on the ground. Her left forehoof was hovering off the ground a bit in a crooked way, showing that it must be either sprained or fractured. Either way, she was staring at me and my right leg, which was restoring itself back to its original state, only to have cracks on it like the rest of my body.

"Pika. What just happened to you? My spell blasted your leg off, but now, it's all back to normal now! Also, you have cracks all over your body and you didn't scream when you lost your leg and-"

Before she could continue, I place my paw on Starlight's mouth as a way of saying let me talk. Seeing my gesture, she shuts her mouth as I explain, "You're probably wondering what you just witnessed, huh?"

Upon seeing her nod and wince in pain, I softly smile and say, "Well, before I explain, can you show me your hanging hoof?" Seeing her confused face, she nods and lends her hoof towards me as I carefully place my paws on her hoof before my paws glow a light green and pink.

While she was wincing a lot, she appears to be slowing wincing less and less, until all she could do was look at me in pure shock as I heal her of all her wounds and injuries. Once she catches her voice, she tells me, "What did you do? How am I feeling back to normal now? And how is my hoof not sprained anymore?"

With a smile, I tell her, "I healed you back up using Heal Pulse, a move of mine. I didn't want you to have to suffer through pain as I explain the recent events of our duel, ok?" Upon seeing her nod, I smile and say, "Well, you better sit back, Starlight, cause this is gonna be a pretty long explanation."

With my warning given, I tell Starlight of my identity as a Child of Light. Seeing her obviously confused, I explain to her how I can harness the power of light, like what she saw earlier during our duel. I also described my skills to her, from the power of me using moves a Pikachu can't use, to being able to regenerate at a really fast pace! She looks at me with shock, yet respect as I mentioned how these cracks are a consequence of me using light energy. From telling her my fate if I use up too much light energy, she looks at me with a teary expression as she pulls me in for a big, yet comfortable embrace.

Hugging her back, she shakily says, "T-T-This is a-all m-my fault! If I hadn't l-let my desire to i-impress you strengthen, then you wouldn't h-have had to be h-hurt!"

Almost feeling tears on my eyes too, I nuzzle Starlight as I say, "No! It isn't your fault whatsoever! I'm glad we had our magic duel, Starlight. You want to know why?"

Pulling me back a bit while still hugging me, she asks while sniffling, "Why?"

With a smile, I tell her, "Because we had our magic duel, I got to see just how powerful and awesome you really are, Starlight! When somepony impresses me a lot, I look at them with so much respect I want to get to know them personally! And, from seeing you fight, I can definitely go one step further as to say you're somepony I really respect, Starlight. Just like with Twilight and her friends, I want to get to know you better as you get to know me too! Want to hang out sometimes and become friends?"

Starlight looks at me in shock as she asks, "You… forgive me for blasting away your leg and the duel?"

I laugh a bit before saying, "Absolutely! To be honest, that whole me losing my leg thing happens a lot, and as you saw, I can easily regenerate my limbs back to their original state, so there's no harm done to me!"

She then says, "But… what about those cracks on your body?" Smiling a bit, I explain, "They'll be there for a bit, but as long as I don't use my light spells, then they'll disappear."

With that said, my cracks slowly start to disappear as I let out a huge yawn. "To be honest with you, Starlight, I feel really tired now, so if you don't mind, can I sleep on you? Feel free to move my body around if you want…" I slowly let my eyes close as Starlight wraps me in for another hug. She places my head on her chest, her fur brushing against mine. I lazily thought to myself, 'Yep. She sure is a pony I can't wait to understand and bond with.'

She smiles warmly at me and says, "Thank you for forgiving me and becoming my friend, Pika." I smile back as I close my eyes for a deep sleep, with her saying in a low voice, "Goodnight…"

Author's Note: And that's a wrap for this chapter! Like before, I want to apologize for those who did felt squeamish over the end of that duel between Starlight and Pika. I want to make this story a bit light-hearted and sweet, but not so much to make this a story only kids will like. If you all didn't like today's chapter, then that's alright. But I promise that next chapter wouldn't be as gruesome as this one. Anyways, I hope that today's chapter suited you well, and have a great day!