A cold wind blew through the area. Twilight Sparkle gathered her thoughts, and stood up on her hooves. Her head was spinning and her stomach was turning. "Ugh... my head." She groaned, shaking her head to stop the spinning. She no longer was in the Royal Throne Room. Instead, a rough grassy hillside, dotted with bare trees and patches of grass. The sky was a dull gray, where rumbles of thunder shook the air.
"Alright. New world. Tons of monsters that you don't know how to fight." Twilight reminded herself. "How bad could this be?"
"Aha! Twilight Sparkle! Just the pony to start off this little survival challenge!" Discord's voice chuckled through Twilight's mind.
"What do you want from me, Discord?" She asked, nervous.
"Simple. You're going to fight monsters for my amusement! Let's get started, shall we?" Discord said. There was a deafening roar behind Twilight, and the unicorn quickly swiveled around. Standing on top of a tall rock, was a lion-like beast, much bigger than Twilight. It had a shaggy black mane that took up its front paws and head, along with a spot near its back. It's face and hind legs were blue, and the creature had a thin tail with a yellow star-like spike at the end. The beast had wide cat ears and eyes colored yellow and red.
"See that?" Discord asked. "That is what the locals call a 'Luxray'. Don't bother hiding from it. Those eyes it has can see through anything." He explained. "Oh, and one more thing. Kill or be killed. That is the rule here. Every creature you will fight will not stop until you die or it dies. Have fun."
As Discord's voice vanished, the Luxray pounced of it's rock, with it's claws drawn.
"Discord! Wait! NO!" Twilight cried, as the beast was too fast for her. The Luxray landed on Twilight, with a sharp claw raised above her.
Twilight closed her eyes as she let out a random burst of magic from her horn, which hit the Luxray right in the face. This sent the monster stumbling back, and letting Twilight get back on her hooves.
The two stood, waiting for the other to make a move. "Come on, Twilight. Think. How do you... kill this thing?" She thought, shuddering at the thought of purposely killing something. This wouldn't be easy. "Alright... everything has a weakness. A weak spot. I just have to find out what."
The cease-fire between them was broken as a metallic taste filled the air. Twilight knew this all too well. With two of her best friends being pegasi, she's familiar with weather control. There was a rumble of thunder, and the Luxray's mane began to stiffen. There was a spark in the clouds, and a tremendous bolt of lightning shot straight down, hitting the Luxray. For a split second, Twilight thought she had won. Lightning would be enough to kill most things, so why not this?
The answer being that the Luxray roared, and an electric aura appeared around it. Then, as if on it's command, it fired a surge of electricity, which Twilight couldn't dodge. The shock made every fiber of her body burn, and she could feel herself nearly fainting from the pain. Her body was nearly numb, and she wasn't sure if she could take another blast like that. "Okay... Lightning. Not off to a good start." Twilight thought. She charged up her own magical energy, and fired off a few shots of magic from her horn. A few hit the Luxray, but it wouldn't be enough.
At this point, Twilight decided to run. She galloped at high speed dodging rocks and fallen trees, despite being injured from the thunder. She looked back to see the Luxray right behind her. She knew she couldn't hide, since she remember what Discord told her about it's eyes. Wait a minute... it's eyes! That was it's weak point, just like anything else. "But how am I going to disable it?" Twilight asked. She then looked down at her hooves, which were leaving trail in the dirt.
A devious smirk appeared on Twilight's face as she planted her front hooves into the ground, stopping her run. She reared up her hind legs, and as the Luxray got close enough, arced her hooves downward, kicking up dirt, mud and sand right into the Luxray's face. The creature snarled in pain. Being a quadruped, the Luxray had no way to rub or wipe it's eyes. It began turning it's head and sniffing the air, blind of Twilight's position.
"Don't like dirt, huh?" Twilight chuckled to herself. She began flinging more piles of dirt at the monster, keeping it off balance. Twilight shot a few bolts of magic, which seemed to be doing more damage against the Luxray.
The beast's mane, however, began to crackle with static once more. Twilight was smarter this time around. She used her magic to bore a hole in the ground, digging deeper. The bolt hit where Twilight was standing, but her earthy shelter easily absorbed the blast. Dirt didn't conduct electricity, after all.
"Alright. Things are getting too hot here. I gotta get this over with." Twilight dreaded. She kept digging and digging until she could feel the Luxray above her. She charged up one final burst of magic, the one to end it. A purple ball of energy welled up at the tip of her horn, and as she released it, the ground gave way.
There was a burst of magic and dirt, and a veil of dust. Twilight sat in a crater, where she sent the magic. Slowly, she stood back up, and looked around. The dust had settled, and there was a heavy breathing and a fallen shape ahead of her. The Luxray. Twilight walked up to it, limping, stood beside it, and looked down. It was too weak to even stand up, let alone kill her. It's chest was slightly caved in, and so was it's front leg. The dirt was cleared away from it's red and yellow eyes, but Twilight could see the life fleeing from them.
"Kill or be killed. That is the rule here." Discord's voice echoed once more. Twilight swallowed, and closed her eyes.
"May Celestia be kind to you." Twilight said, and fired one last burst of magic.
Silence. Thunder continued to rumble overhead, and Discord's voice returned once more.
"Hahahaha! Wonderful show, Miss Sparkle! That was quite a battle!" Discord cackled.
"It's... dead." Twilight said, shaking.
"Of course. How else are you to move on to the next fight?"
"You made me kill it."
"On the contrary, you didn't have to. You could've died yourself, so it may live."
Twilight could say no more, and buried her face in her hooves, sobbing.
"Oh, cheer up kid. Tell you what. I'll fix you up before your next fight."
As if on cue, Twilight's injuries faded away. Her singed mane grew back, her limp was gone, and the pain slowly dulled away.
"Now, I'll give you some time to recover. I'm going to go check on your friends." Discord said.
"My friends? Are they alright?" She asked. But there was no answer.
All Twilight had at the moment was herself, an empty hillside, and a dead Luxray.