//------------------------------//
// Research 
// Story: Starlight's Magic 
// by Moonlight Twinkle 
//------------------------------//

Twilight paced in a circle, starting to wear out the floor. Occasionally, she levitated a book from the shelves and flipped through it, then shaking her head and tossing it away. Starlight sat on a pile of books, her head in her hooves, both tired and guilty. "Twilight?" Starlight asked. 
"Not now, Starlight," Twilight said. Starlight felt a fair bit of frustration boiling up inside. Twilight shouldn't ignore her like this!
"Twilight!" she yelled. Her magic stopped Twilight in her tracks. Starlight took a breath, and released Twilight.
"What was that?!" Twilight said, raising her voice.
Starlight shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "My magic just responded!"
Twilight nodded. "Part of the Magnify Stone's power makes your magic obey your every wish, even the subconscious ones."
Starlight's mind had wandered after Twilight said that her magic would make her every wish come true. That sounds good, Starlight thought. I could be the most powerful unicorn in Equestria! Starlight started to smile. Her new body might be less than satisfactory, but maybe, just maybe, it was worth it.


A few hours later, Twilight had gone through all her books, and she was starting to go into one of her freak-outs. Her mane was getting frazzled, and she had developed a tick in her eye. Starlight watched this without emotion. She was tired. "Why don't you ask Princess Celestia what to do?"
"Why didn't I think of that?" Twilight exclaimed, her eye tick subsiding. She fixed her mane with her magic and levitated Starlight over her shoulder as she prepared to spread her wings.
Starlight sighed. She had hoped to work with her new powers by herself while Twilight was in Canterlot. But she could still do that. Starlight broke out of Twilight's levitation and levitated herself. "I'll be right behind you," Starlight said, and meant it.
"Okey-doke," Twilight said, and flew out of the castle towards Canterlot.
Starlight stayed behind for a bit and looked at the Flight Rope and the Strength Shoe in the library. She smiled. Those artifacts had the power to turn an Earth pony into a pegasus. They had the power to give a unicorn wings. Together, they could make Starlight an Alicorn. Maybe even an Alicorn Princess, once Twilight cooled down about it. But Starlight barely cared. This was the opportunity of a lifetime. Starlight Glimmer closed her eyes and used her new, super-strong magic to draw the power out of the artifacts and into herself. The magic surrounded her, making a cocoon of magic around her. She felt the rooted strength of Earth ponies drawing into her hooves. She felt the airy flight magic of the Pegasi push into her shoulder blades, and with them, she felt feathered wings appear on her back. After a minute or two, the cocoon subsided, and Alicorn Starlight Glimmer floated to the ground, her new wings spread wide. Starlight risked a glance at the Flight Rope and the Strength Shoe. The magic had left them just an ordinary rope and shoe. Starlight didn't care. She was an Alicorn now. Maybe even a princess.
Starlight spread her wings and started flapping them. She wobbled through the air, never going where she wished. She crashed into a bookcase, shaking the Strength Shoe and the Flight Rope, or now just a shoe and a rope from the artifact shelf, but the shelf was empty of books. Twilight had thrown them to the corner of the room. She was never going where she wanted. Or wished... Starlight lit up her horn, and cast a spell of steadiness on her indigo wings, ones that now matched her coat. She flapped with purpose out of a window in the castle library. She could see Twilight in the distance, and she glided in her direction.
"What!?" A voice called. Starlight looked down at Rainbow Dash, soaring beneath her. "Are you an Alicorn? Why have I never heard of you? Who are you anyway?"
"You know me," said Starlight, confused. Then she remembered she didn't look the same. "It's me, Starlight."
"You're not Starlight," Rainbow said.
"Yes, I am," Starlight said, and showed Rainbow her cutie mark. "My colors were changed magically, but it's still me."
Rainbow still looked suspicious. "Starlight is a unicorn," Rainbow said. "She doesn't have wings."
"I, um, earned them," Starlight lied. She doubted anypony would appreciate the fact that she had made herself an Alicorn.
"I still don't think you're Starlight," Rainbow said. "Can you prove it?"
Starlight smiled. "That I can do," she said and conjured an image of herself, her old colors, enchanting Rainbow, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie to do whatever she asked.
"Okay," Rainbow admitted, wincing a little with the recollection of being put under that huge spell. "I believe it. Where are you going?"
"To Canterlot," Starlight said. "Twilight's going to ask Princess Celestia if there's a way to get my normal colors back."
"Good," Rainbow said. "This new scheme doesn't suit you."
Starlight winced. She knew Rainbow meant her color scheme, not her stealing the Magnify Stone, and turning herself into an Alicorn, but it seemed she still harbored guilt about all of that. Even though she could help so many ponies with her new power. Everyone might even forget what she had done in the past! And Trixie! Trixie would love this. But she knew talking to Rainbow Dash wouldn't help her guilt. "I've got to go," Starlight said, and zoomed a bit faster towards the speck that was Twilight. But then she remembered that Rainbow might be the fastest pony in Equestria. She lit up her horn and teleported where Twilight was.
Rainbow was left behind, a bit confused. "Goodbye?" she said to where Starlight must be.
Starlight did a few loops, to really get the joy of flying. She understood fully why Rainbow Dash loved it so much. "I can explain," she said to Twilight. She was sure her friend would understand. 
That was when Starlight looked at Twilight.
Starlight gasped.
It wasn't Twilight.
Starlight was face to face with a bugbear.