A Witch in Equestria

Twilight observed Willow curled up on the couch sleeping with a peaceful expression. Princess Luna entered the room, her stoic mask softening slightly as she caught sight of the slumbering alicorn. Twilight captured Luna's attention and motioned her to follow as she left the room. Once they reached the next room over, Twilight turned and addressed the expectant Luna.

"What do you think of her, Princess?"

Luna glanced at the room they had just vacated. "I think she's suffered."

Twilight raised her eyebrows in curiosity. "Really? What makes you say that?"

Luna's gaze was far-off as she responded, "The kind of imbalance she has; it can only come from intense suffering. She seems to be persevering regardless, however."

Twilight contemplated in the ensuing silence. "I didn't really notice anything like that.. but I trust you, Princess. How can we help her?"

Luna smiled fondly down at Twilight. "What you do best. Befriend her. She needs reasons to keep living, and living well. I think that will help heal the wound in her soul. I will dedicate my time to finding a method of dimensional travel that will allow her to return home."

Twilight nodded her assent. "Yes, Princess."

--

Willow groggily straightened up from her nap. A glance at the window showed it was nighttime. She was still sleepy, but she managed to trudge her way to the kitchen to fix herself a midnight snack.

On the way, she was distracted by a faint glimmer on the edge of her mystical senses. On a whim, she started homing in on its source until it led her to Twilight's desk. She opened the top drawer, and saw what had drawn her from her quest for food. It was the Element of Magic Twilight had been experimenting on.

An inner voice deep within was screaming at her to close the drawer and go back to bed, but she ignored it. Her impulse control at the best of times was rather spotty, and she wasn't up to resisting the temptations of magic when she didn't think there was much at stake. Tara was gone, anyways; did it really matter anymore if she held back?

With that last thought in mind, she gripped the tiara in her hooves, her eyes tracing every contour of its surface, her mind etching every inch of its beauty into her memory. A trickle of magical energy began to flow from the artifact into her. The sensation was nothing short of pure bliss, and Willow grabbed at the feeling insistently, willing it to give her more. Her body gave an orgasmic shudder as the drain intensified. Dark tendrils of energy flowed around her, and her mane took on a pitch black hue. "This is.. the Element of Magic.." she breathed.

Twilight took that moment to walk into the room, woken from her sleep by a sharp pain in her heart. "Willow? Are you awake? What are you-" She took in the spectacle before her with muted shock. She shook herself out of her daze. "Willow, stop!"

Willow turned to look at her, but Twilight hardly recognized the look on her face. It was a look of pure contempt and vicious glee. "Why,.?" She murmured, her eyes still alight in the afterglow of her magic. "With this kind of power, what do I need you idiots for?"

Twilight's eyes widened and she stammered, "W-what..?" Willow's horn glowed, and Twilight was encased in the grip of Willow's magic and thrown headlong into the wall. Twilight moaned in pain and shakily tried to rise from the floor. The collision had scrambled her thoughts and robbed her of the clarity required to attempt a spell. Before she could regain her footing, she was tossed again into the opposite wall. A horrible cracking noise filled the air and Twilight cried out. "Ah..!"

Twilight screwed her eyes shut, trying desperately to regain her focus through the haze of agony. She heard hoofsteps slowly approaching her, and Willow's bored voice. "Is that it? You're nothing without your crutch, aren't you? Bearer of Magic, really.. you're pathetic." She formed a blazing ball of fire to end Twilight's life, but before she could fire it off, the room was enveloped in an icy chill.

Luna stood at the entrance of the room, a tangible aura of frost permeating her form. Power radiated from her in waves, and she looked every bit an avenging goddess. "You..!" Luna's eyes blazed with rage. To think she had trusted this pony.. she was such a foal. How could she have let her guard down so? "We will end your miserable existence!"

Willow snuffed out her dwindling fireball and a genuine smile crossed her face as she took in the sight of Princess Luna in her full glory. "This should be fun. I hope you live up to your status, Princess Luna. Though.. this cramped library isn't much of a battlefield. Why don't you follow me? If you're not afraid, anyway." She didn't wait for a response as she flared her wings and darted outside.

Luna gauged her probable destination and concentrated, teleporting outside opposite Willow, savoring her briefly surprised expression. She snorted haughtily and pawed the ground threateningly. "Thou art a few centuries too soon to defeat me!"

Willow examined their battlefield, a wide clearing with no cover and Ponyville visible in the distance. She stretched languidly and cloaked herself in a magical barrier. With a savage grin she said, "Let's do this."

--

Back at the library, Spike came across Twilight crumpled on the floor, trying to stand but wincing in pain any time weight was put on one of her back hooves. Spike overflowed with concern as he raced to her side.

"Twi'! What happened to you?"

Twilight's voice was weak. "Spike, we need to get the other Elements. There's something wrong with Willow, she did something with the Element of Magic and her personality completely changed."

Spike's expression of concern morphed into a scowl. "She did this to you?!"

"Yes, she did Spike.. but I don't think that was really her.. at least, I hope not. Anyway, Luna's probably more than enough to deal with her, but we should have the Elements on hand just in case."

Spike protested, "There's no way you can fight with a broken leg, Twi'! You should let Princess Luna handle it."

Even weak and injured on the floor, Twilight managed a withering glare at Spike. "I welcomed her here as a guest Spike. I won't shirk my responsibility to her, one way or the other. Now hurry! There's no telling what could happen while we're wasting time here arguing!"

Spike relented and nodded, quickly running off to find Twilight's friends. Twilight let out a sigh and began meditating silently, trying to conserve her energy to teleport everyone to the Princess when they arrived.

--

"Hyah-!" Luna gave a grunt of exertion as she let loose another magical barrage. The two alicorns had been trading volleys at range for the past couple minutes, and neither side was showing any sign at all of strain, though Luna privately thought she was running dry more quickly than Willow. Willow must have received an insane stamina boost with her momentary absorption of the Element of Magic; her magical reserves were not nearly this impressive before.

"I think that's enough of the warm-ups, don't you?" Willow called mockingly. She began manifesting her darkness power more heavily, and the atmosphere became tinged with a tangible sense of malevolence. Black lightning arced from Willow's horn, and she exalted in her newfound power. She was planning to simply dominate Luna through overwhelming force.

It was a sign of Luna's mental fortitude, honed over a thousand years in exile with Nightmare Moon, that she wasn't at all shaken by the aura of dread Willow was exuding. "Agreed." She enhanced her already incredible speed magically, dodging between the discharges of magical lightning aimed her way, making a beeline straight toward Willow.

"Stay STILL!" WIllow roared, reciting a latin incantation for a slowing spell designed to atrophe her opponent's muscles. It manifested as a small green ball of energy that slammed straight into the Princess, who visibly slowed. Willow smirked victoriously as she fired a heavy tempest straight at her enfeebled foe, but Luna blurred out of the way and advanced even closer to Willow, her speed rocketing back to its previous state. She was just faking being slowed!

Willow hastily threw up a more powerful deflection spell, a black shield that caused Luna's powerful hoof-strike to glance off to the side. WIllow tried to gain some distance, but Luna's assault was relentless, a constant whirl of strikes trying to find a way past her guard.

Luna grinned at Willow. "Your hoof-to-hoof skills seem to be rather lacking!" While she prevented Willow from taking offensive action, she worked on figuring on a counter-spell to Willow's shield. She paused her attack and focused her arcane energies. "Break."

The ebon shield shattered like glass, and Luna charged in and smacked Willow across her muzzle, sending her crashing across the clearing. Willow recovered quickly and levitated a small group of rocks at high speed to deflect Luna from following up on her advantage. She looked perplexed. "How..? My shield shouldn't break so easily.."

Luna shook her head negatively. "You should have thought twice before challenging a true master of magic. Deciphering your work was challenging, I'll admit, but your defeat is inevitable."

Willow's face darkened with rage and she searched deeper into her corrupt well of power, recognizing that she was outclassed in skill and seeking to compensate with force. She wasn't having fun anymore.

"Why don't you just die!" she shrieked.

An enormous torrent of negative energy shaped into a giant tidal wave formed in front of Willow and rushed onward to crush Luna. Not only that, but her position was such that if she dodged, the wave would advance onto Ponyville behind her. The town would be utterly obliterated by such a high-powered spell.

Luna firmed her resolve and formed the most powerful barrier she could, hoping it would be enough to allow her to survive the oncoming spell. She was saved having to test her defenses by the appearance of Twilight and the rest of the Elements of Harmony teleporting in near Luna. Twilight quickly grasped the situation in front of her and directed her friends. "Girls, we have to stop it! It's heading straight for Ponyville!"

Fortunately, she had the foresight to bring the rest of the Elements (she was enormously thankful Willow had not, for whatever reason, detected their presence in the Library), and the six of them channeled their friendship and their desire to save the town into their magical foci. A brilliant chromatic beam formed and, directed by Twilight, collided with the onrushing tide of evil. It held fast for a moment, before being overtaken and pushed back to the source. Willow had a look of acceptance right before the rainbow beam overtook her. "Oh well.. at least it wasn't boring.."

There was silence in the clearing as the dust settled and Willow lay unconscious, her chest rising and falling gently, her coloration returned to normal. Luna's face was unreadable, but Twilight looked worried, and her friends were looking to her for guidance. As Twilight limped slowly over to Willow, the sleeping alicorn started rousing.

Willow blinked sleepily and saw Twilight standing over her. She looked inquisitively up at the intensely worried face of Twilight and asked, "What's wrong, Twilight?"