Chapter 17

Author's Note: Welcome back, everyone. Today, we'll be heading into the next chapter of Visitors of Equestria. This will introduce one of the princesses of Equestria aside from Twilight, as well as some pieces of lineage about Pika as a Child of Light. This will be pretty important for those who want to learn more about this world I've created and envisioned. Anyways, I don't have anything else to say, so relax and enjoy today's chapter.

Corruptophobia

Having a nice rest from my duel with Starlight, I awoke, only to be in the middle of darkness. Confusion written on my face, I think to myself, 'Wait? Why am I surrounded in darkness?'

Looking back through my mind the recent events, I recalled me sleeping in Starlight's embrace after we had our duel. I felt my head lying on her chest and her grateful gaze towards me as I entered dreamland. Either I was secretly moved by her towards this room, or there's some sort of plain I can apparently enter in my sleep. Most possibly like a dream or vision I'm experiencing right now.

Suddenly, the darkness transforms into what appears to be a small forest clearing. Looking around, I could see that the trees didn't appear to look creepy, so I couldn't be in the Everfree Forest. Also, I look up, only to see the sun fully shining up in the air. Feeling a wave of confusion, I walk around, trying to see what was going on. Last I remembered, the sky was shining a bright orange, signifying the end of the day and the start of the night.

Suddenly, after a while of walking around, I noticed from faraway the silhouettes of Twilight and Spike. Smiling in relief, I run up to them and ask, "Twilight! Spike! There you are! What's going on?"

However, they appeared to have not noticed me speaking as their backs were turned. Confused, yet for some odd reason scared, I prepared myself for this gut feeling as I touch them and inquire, "Um… are you guys ok?"

Suddenly, they turn to me, but their front sides were all shadowed up. Getting slowly creeped out, I tell them, "Ok, you're scaring and creeping me out. Is something wrong?"

From there, I could see their faces finally rise from the shadows, only to send shivers down my spine. Their faces were covered in scratches and burns, with a bit of blood running down beneath them. Their eyes were all covered in shadowed purple as bright, red eyes glowed beneath them. What creeped me out more, aside from their wounds and eyes, were their mouths. Both Twilight and Spike seemed to be smiling… with their teeth looking severely sharp, like blades ready to chop and slice limbs from creatures.

Giggling, Twilight asks me in a sinister voice, "What's wrong, Pika? Don't you recognize us? It's me, Twilight, and Spike's here as well."

Nodding to Twilight's statement, Spike adds in a sinister voice as well, "Yeah! Can't you see it's only just us, your good friends with whom you bonded with?"

Not believing them, I question, "If you are my friends, then why are you smiling so weird at me?"

Laughing out loud, they say in full sync, "Why, we're just here to protect you from a dangerous enemy!"

Still on guard from my "friends", I ask them, "What danger?"

To that question, Spike points his finger, which had sharp claws as well, to me and declares, "The danger we're protecting you from… is YOURSELF!"

Cackling, he shoots a fire breath at me, to which I quickly dodge, shocked at how they're just attacking me. Unless… no, it couldn't be… I thought we got rid of them in our world!

I remember that me, Quire, and Mander were sent on a mission in our world for something like this. There were cases of Pokémon turning hostile and going berserk over other Pokémon, causing harm upon them. Seeing darkened aura radiating from them, we referred to them as Shadow Pokémon, as they had an aura of shadow, ready to strike at anyone and cause harm. Mander and Quire, with their powers, knocked out the Shadow Pokémon, with me purifying them of their darkened aura, turning them back to normal. These shadows may have been created by the Nebulous Spectres to cause torment across universes, but we haven't found out yet. Did these shadows escaped towards other worlds and corrupted my friends too?

Shaking my head off as I dodge Spike's swipe at me, I think out my possible actions for what I should do next. I could go and attack them, but they could be injured awfully from me. I couldn't stall with using Protect a lot, due to its increasing chance of failing. I then thought, 'What if there were more ponies possessed by the shadows too?' Realizing that scenario, I finally thought out what my course of action would be!

Just as Spike prepares to attack me again, I use my cheeks to summon Flash to blind both him and Twilight. Looking at them, I could tell they were stunned by that quick shine of light from my cheeks. Using this distraction to my advantage, I run towards the bushes, going through them and not looking back. At this point, I could tell those two will be on high heels over me once they recover from the light. All I have to do is just run and find out if other ponies are corrupted by the shadows as well.

While running through the bushes, I could see a clearing once more, which led me towards a dirt pathway within the forest. Using the path to my benefit, I run left to not only look for some ponies, but to also evade Twilight and Spike if they find me again. As I kept on running, I could see the bushes to the right of me rustling. Getting scared, I ran faster, worried that either my "friends" found me, or that I'm in even more trouble than before.

To my shock, instead of finding them, I could see pony mannequins emerge from the bushes. These mannequins had their eyes and mouth drawn in to look like what I saw from Twilight and Spike earlier. Purple eyes with red dots, as well as white, sharp teeth. Also, they had dark auras emanating from themselves, signifying that they were corrupted too, And judging by the way they were chasing me, I could tell that they had the same goal as Twilight and Spike.

Groaning, I use Quick Attack to increase my speed, slowly leaving the mannequins behind, but I don't stop there. While using Quick Attack, I use Psychic to grab a nearby tree a few feet to the right. With effortless mental strength, I push the tree to the left and as I go under it, it crashes at the bottom of the road. Seeing no mannequins behind me, I speculate that tactic I performed must have slowed them down, giving me more time to escape. Sighing in relief, while running, I stop using Quick Attack, but I'm still running. I know for sure that while I may have slowed them down, they'll find me in no time if I start slowing myself down.

Also wanting to confuse them more, I run towards the right, going through the bushes once more. Now running through bushes, I carefully traverse my way through the trees, being mindful of crashing or tripping into them. But, with this, I should be confusing my pursuers more, granting me even more time to find out what's going on. However, fate just so happens to oppose me once more.

As I continue running through the bushes, I pass through and enter another clearing, but this one happens to have a lake. However, near the lake, to my horror, were a pack of timberwolves, laying down and/or drinking the water from the lake. I could see and hear them sniff the air, detecting a new presence, before turning towards me and opening their eyes, which weren't red, but they held hostility.

'Geez. I just can't seem to have a break, huh?' Thinking that thought, I run once more towards the bushes, this time using Agility to increase my speed to escape these timberwolves. Seeing how they're hot on my trail, I zigzag between bush after bush, while the wolves try to follow me, but I could see that they were struggling over me moving like crazy. Smirking to myself, I go towards the right bush, only to run right once more. The wolves get a bit confused, stopping to see where I've gone to, before heading upwards once more.

Seeing them run up instead of right, I sigh in relief as I continue running towards the right. At this point, I'm running not only from Twilight and Spike, but also the mannequins and the timberwolves as well. If lady luck were to look at me right now, she would be laughing extremely hard at my predicament.

Once again seeing a clearing, I run towards it, only to get a big surprise! In front of me was a giant cliff, which was too high for me to jump towards. Looking at the rocks, I could see that they were flat, making climbing up this basically impossible without a rope, which I don't have. I could use magic to boost myself up, but then I'll be wasting energy for if I have to fight my pursuers at some point. Speaking of them, I suddenly hear a voice behind me, saying, "Found you!"

Scared, I look back, only to see Twilight and Spike right there, smiling wide at my position. I look to the left to see the same mannequins from before, and the right was the same timberwolves as well. Unfortunately, with the cliff wall behind me, I was officially trapped.

Spike laughs before saying, "Looks like your luck has run out, Pika! Hope you're ready to be obliterated!"

Growling towards them, I yell angrily, "Look, you stupid shadows! You may have cornered me, but if you all think that I'm going down without a fight, then you've got another thing heading towards you!"

Laughter all around, Twilight asks, "Oh yeah? What are you going to do?"

Electricity emitting from my cheeks, I shout, "This!" as I launch a Discharge towards every being. Reacting quickly, Twilight uses her magic, which was colored black, to summon a barrier, protecting her, Spike, and the others as the electricity bounces off.

Laughing once more, Twilight says, "Give up, Pika! You're surrounded, with all of us against you. You can't do anything and no pony is gonna save you now, hahaha!"

She may be right, but I know for certain that I can't give up now. Twilight starts charging up a dark beam, ready to attack me as she says, "Time to end you, you little punk!" Preparing myself, I prepare to use Protect, ready to think of a counterplan to fight off every being. However, I never had to have thought of one as something shocking occurred.

As Twilight was about to launch her spell, a moderate cobalt blue magic blast hits Twilight, causing her to get knocked back. Before I could analyze what happened, the rest of my pursuers get the same treatment as Twilight, being knocked towards her, creating a pile of bodies. Looking at the direction of the blast, I could see that what saved me was another pony.

This pony, unlike Twilight and her friends, appears to be a bit taller than them, though not by a lot. Their coat was colored a dark blue and their mane was a moderate sapphire blue color with a grayish persian blue outline. Plus, they appeared to be wearing a black collar, showcasing a crescent moon. They had a Cutie Mark which consisted of a crescent moon again, but on a dark purple background. This pony also had wings flapping as well as a long horn, making them an alicorn just like Twilight. One last detail to note was their feminine eyes which were colored a moderate cyan and had light sapphire blue eyeshadow as well.

This alicorn looks at the pile of bodies in anger and shouts in a feminine, but angry and loud tone, "Begone, thou wretched shadows!" With that, she charges and fires a blue magic beam at them, dissolving their appearances until they were all gone.

Looking at their defeat in shock, I turn towards the alicorn, who looks at me with a concerned gaze rather than an angry one. She asks in a much quieter tone than before, "Are you ok, little one?" Upon seeing me nod my head, she smiles in relief and says, "Good. I'm glad to have protected you from your nightmare."

When she says nightmare, I sigh in relief, happy that all of this was just one bad dream. Sure, I had a feeling that I was in one when I ended up here, but I wanted to be sure. After handling a bunch of illusions thanks to Zouras and Dittos, you grow a sense of what's real and what's not. Looking at her with gratification, I smile and tell her, "Thank you so much for protecting me! I appreciate your help with those meanies."

Giggling, she says, "You're quite welcome, Pika. I'm happy to see you're alright."

I giggle with her, only to stop and look at the pony in shock. I ask, "Wait a second. You know my name?"

Nodding her head, she explains, "Princess Twilight Sparkle sent me and my sister a letter discussing about you and your powers. Plus, I also heard of your deeds at Ponyville, defending it from invaders. My name is Princess Luna, guardian of the night. It's a pleasure to meet you, Pika."

With that, she extends her hoof, to which I shake with happiness, only after for me to kneel in front of her and declare, "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Princess Luna. I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble."

Hearing her giggle again, I look up only to see her rubbing my head with her hoof. Still smiling, she tells me, "Twilight Sparkle's letter also mentioned how humble and kind you are as well. Your nightmare wasn't any trouble for me to get rid of, Pika."

Feeling a bit better, I tell her, "Good. I'm glad to see that I didn't cause any trouble."

Giggling once more, Princess Luna says, "You know, Twilight Sparkle mentioned how you were just nothing but helpful towards her and the Elements of Harmony as well. It makes me happy to see your cooperation with them going extremely well."

Laughing a bit, I explain to the princess, "Whenever I meet important ponies like them and you, Princess Luna, I always have mad respect towards them."

Gasping at what I said, she asks, "You see me with respect, just like with Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends?" Seeing me nod, she smiles and says, "Thank you, Pika. I'm glad to hear that you respect me, though may I ask you a question?"

Upon seeing me nod, she points at my left eye as she says, "I want to talk about that symbol in your eye."

Touching under my left eye, I ask, "What about it?"

Tilting her head, she questions, "Well, if my knowledge of other worlds are correct, then does that symbol mean you're a Child of Light?"

I experience a huge deal of shock upon hearing Princess Luna mention the Children of Light. I think to myself, 'How does she know about the Children of Light?'

Still shocked, yet growing a happy expression, I nod my head towards Princess Luna's statement about my identity. She looks at me with a happy expression as she says, "I knew it! You showed signs that you were a part of them, so I had to ask you that. It's an honor to meet you, o Child of Light."

I smile wide and tell her, "It's an honor to meet you as well, Princess Luna, but is it alright if I ask you a question?" Upon seeing her nod, I ask, "How do you know about the Children of Light? I'm really curious as to you understanding that concept."

Smiling, she explains to me, "Well, Pika, me and my sister met a fellow Child of Light a long time ago. He had a similar symbol compared to yours on his flank, but it had eight wings instead of nine. He was a Pokémon just like you, but his species was different. Last time we saw him, he had yellow fur with spiky fringes around his tail and a white ruff around his neck. His ears were large and point with black interiors, and his eyes and small nose were colored black. He also has slender legs and small paws, with three toes and a pink paw pad."

Nodding while having a certain suspicion of who Princess Luna is describing, I tell her, "Huh. I think I know this Pokémon, but I have to be certain. Can you tell me his name, Princess Luna? Please?"

Giggling, she says, "Of course, Pika. I will tell you his name. Do you happen to know the Child of Light known as Jolt?"

Shock. I felt nothing but pure shock as Princess Luna mentions Jolt. With a big smile, I nod my head and shock her by declaring, "Of course I know him! He's my father!"

I could see Princess Luna gasp sharply as she raises one of her hooves to her mouth. With shock in her voice, she asks, "You're Jolt's son?!" Upon seeing me nod happily, she lowers her hoof to the ground before lowering her face towards mine, examining me.

"Hmm. I do see the resemblance between you two. You both harness the power of electricity, as well as the power of light. But, in your case, your light is more brighter than his. Yes, I can tell you're definitely the son of Jolt. Though…"

Stopping her sentence for a bit, she smiles wide as she nuzzles my head, to which I giggle at as I nuzzle her back. She continues saying, "Who knew that he could have a son who's both so adorable and powerful like him."

Smiling, I tell her, "Heheh. That's my father for you. He likes to keep things a secret until he's ready to reveal it. So, how was my father like with you, Princess Luna?"

Looking at me with a proud smile, she explains, "Pika, your father was truly a hero for all of us, just like you. He fought alongside us against multiple villains across Equestria with his light spells and strategic tactics. I'm pretty sure we have a book about his deeds in our library, but it's located within a hidden section." I feel myself look at my father with more newfound respect, seeing how he was a hero among Princess Luna and her sister.

Seeing my excited face, she smiles and tells me, "I can foresee you becoming just like your father, Pika. A beacon of light for everypony to see and feel protected by. And not just you, but with your brothers as well."

Hearing Princess Luna mention my brothers, I ask her, "Um, Princess Luna? By any chance, have you met my brothers Quire and Mander?"

Looking at me with a sad gaze, she shakes her head and says, "Unfortunately, I have no signs of where your brothers may be. However, I know that someday, you'll reunite with them and experience double the fun here in Equestria."

Hearing that makes me smile warmly as I tell her, "It's ok, Princess Luna. While I may be worried for their safety, I know that they can take care of themselves. If I managed to have this much fun here in Equestria, then they'll have a lot of fun at wherever they are!"

Princess Luna looks at me in shock at how I have that much trust over my brothers, but once the shock passes, she smiles and brings me in for a hug. Placing my head on her collar, she says, "I'm glad you have that much love and trust towards them. It reminds me of my relationship with me and my sister. While we may argue now and then, we always love and trust each other with ruling Equestria. I hope that someday, you meet my sister. You and her are gonna get along so well, just like me!"

Laughing at her statement, I reassure the princess by saying, "I look forward to meeting your sister one day, Princess Lu-"

Before I continue, she stops me from saying her name by tapping my head. Looking up, she was smiling as she says, "Call me Luna, Pika. Since I'm calling you just as Pika, you can refer to me as Luna, just like with my sister, Twilight, and her friends."

Smiling towards her, I say, "Ok then, Luna."

Looking up, Luna says, "Well, I better go and set the moon down, for my sister to raise up the sun."

With that, she reveals her wings and flies up, ready to take off. Before she could, though, I tell her, "Wait, Luna! I want to tell you something."

Looking back at me, I smile up at her as I say, "It was really nice to have met you, Luna. I can't wait for when we meet again!"

Smiling at me as well, she says, "It was a pleasure to have met you too, Pika. I also can't wait to see each other one day."

With that, we both wave at each other as she flies off, ready to lower the moon for the sun. Smiling at the new friend I've made, I close my eyes, prepared to officially wake up to a new day. My wish indeed comes true as I could feel myself enter the realm of awakening…

Author's Note: And that's the end of this chapter today! I apologize for a bit of a delay for this one. I'm currently experiencing some illness going on, so I'm afraid that caused me to publish this a bit late. Hopefully, by next chapter, I'll be feeling a bit better by then. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter of Visitors of Equestria, and have a great and safe day!