Title:           Twilight reached for the switch, but hesitated. Perhaps she should say something
Author:          Anonymous
Pastebin link:   http://pastebin.com/Y6N1cNWK
First Edit:      Monday 18th of July 2016 03:09:18 PM CDT
Last Edit:       Monday 18th of July 2016 03:09:18 PM CDT

Twilight reached for the switch, but hesitated. Perhaps she should say something momentous and appropriate for the occasion. After all, if this worked it would be the dawn of a new age for mankind every bit as impactful-- though far less lethal-- than the entry into the atomic age. With a simple flip of a switch, she was about to harness one of the previously undiscovered fundamental forces of the universe: magic.
 
The old standby would be some proclamation to the tune of, ‘some called me mad! But what do they know of madness… certainly a little annoyed at how I get so little respect, but certainly not mad! What are they, psychiatrists?’ But of course that wouldn’t be accurate.
 
Certainly Twilight’s friends had expressed some concern about her returning to her lab-rat ways, but she’d managed to placate them by hitting the local spa with Rarity and Fluttershy a few times a month. Well, once a month.
 
Truth to be told it was a little humiliating being nearly naked around friends whose bodies showed every bit of development one would expect from college sophomores. Well, except for Rainbow Dash, obviously. Meanwhile, Twilight’s cheeks still burned with embarrassment every time she remembered one of the new spa employees asking Rarity whether Twilight was her younger sister. The young prodigy frowned. Well, never mind that. She had more important things to worry about. She had… The Fifth Fundamental Force.
 
Sunset Shimmer's and "Princess" Sparkle's protestations aside, the Fifth Fundamental Force was a much better name than 'magic'. 'Magic' was ridiculous. Magic was how you explained something complex without the inconvenience of switching on your brain. Sure, it seemed to be highly unpredictable and things hadn't worked out so well the last time she'd fiddled with the Fifth Fundamental Force, but, well... that had been in high school and she'd been under immense pressure to provide practical results before her experimentation was properly complete. And she hadn't been able to consult with experts in the field. Now she had, and with sufficiently advanced technology... Aha. Perfect. Some Arthur C. Clarke should do the trick.
 
Glancing down at the simple machine-- well, simple to Twilight-- the young woman reached for the switch again. If this worked, the results would be simple. No fireworks. No flying. No holes in reality. Just the glow of a light bulb lit by a fifth fundamental force, something previously undiscovered by man. Here went nothing.
 
"Ahem... 'Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.'" Nice. With a nod, Twilight Sparkle flipped the switch. And winced as a purple spark leaped from the switch into her hand, sending tingling numbness up her arm.
 
The explosion threw pieces of the machine everywhere, suddenly making Twilight very glad she'd put on her lab goggles. As it was, the blast knocked her goggles askew and laid out the lab-coated lavender lady, knocking her to the floor. Considering the colorful words coming out of her mouth as she lay half-senseless on the floor, Twilight was suddenly very glad she hadn't used her voice recorder for fear of causing electromagnetic interference.
 
“Ugghhh… stupid machine. Note to self, include breakers or fuses in version12…” Twilight grumbled and sat up, her body feeling sore and heavy after this mistreatment it had suffered at the hands of yet another spectacular failure. She did a quick check to make sure everything was still attached. Legs, two. Check. Arms, two, check. Face, feeling a little swollen. Chest felt a bit tight, too, although that was probably just the adrenaline. Perhaps she should get checked out at the on-campus clinic later. Horn… Horn?
 
The young woman’s eyes crossed slightly as she looked up at the slight protrusion from her forehead. It was the same color as her skin, a nice light purple. Following basic human scientific procedure and lacking any sticks to use for safety’s sake, Twilight raised one hesitant finger and poked at the tip. It sparked slightly, and the feeling of tightness in her body seemed to increase. But Twilight was too busy considering this latest development to consider that.
 
Half of Twilight’s brain was busy cataloging observations about the growing horn spiraling slowly out of her forehead. It felt reasonably warm to the touch, but not fully equal to her body temperature despite the obvious point of attachment. Was it hard keratin? Or… what was the word, ‘alicorn’?
 
The other half of Miss Sparkle’s brain was too busy freaking out. Horn. Horn! Horn? Horn. What in the name of Gregor Mendel was she doing with a horn coming out of her forehead?! And oh geeze it was STILL GROWING! The be-horned girl’s stretching ears flicked slightly as they lengthened, betraying a roiling confusion not fully betrayed by the gaping mouth that was slowly pushing out into a cute equine muzzle.
 
This… couldn’t be some kind of unicorn horn, could it? Some kind of magical unicorn horn? Half-remembered experiences of Twilight’s time as the self-styled ‘Midnight’ called to her. Without thinking of the consequences, she pulled reflexively at mental muscles that had lain dormant for years. Reddish-purple light sparkled around her horn as the transforming young woman tapped directly into the Fifth Force.
 
“O-oh,” Twilight groaned. The tingling feeling barely at the edge of her consciousness was suddenly placed front and center. Even as her sparkling horn grew further, her body expanded— and her admittedly-past-its-prime wardrobe struggled to keep up. Each breath snapped more threads, bringing her shirt closer to its demise. A simple shift of her legs seemed ready to tear frumpy purple slacks asunder.
 
Maybe Twilight should have listened to Rarity about updating her style— but as her body was suffused by the glow from her horn, Twilight concluded that it was probably for the best that she hadn’t. The magic-wrought changes didn’t seem to care one whit for the quality or durability of her clothing.
 
With a desperation born from the realization that she was at least half a mile away from the nearest change of clothes and certainly didn’t want to have to explain herself to the campus police— again— Twilight flailed mentally. She’d managed to turn her new horn on, but surely it had an ‘off’ switch as well! She just… had to… find it!
 
A final psychic pull on a promising neural lever finally yielded the desired results. Twilight’s horn flickered out, and she sighed in relief. Which proved to be a mistake. It was as if a few thousand cotton threads cried out in anguish, and were suddenly silenced.
 
The unicorn hybrid gaped as her curvy body bounced and jiggled with every movement, blessedly unrestrained by the remnants of her clothing. A few tattered rags around her neck and wrists were all that remained of her once-beloved shirt, which had abandoned its duty in the face of pressure from her ridiculously enhanced breasts. The ex-human started to draw up her legs to cover herself, only to have what little remained of her trousers tear away under the relentless assault of muscular yet shapely thighs.
 
In the midst of Twilight Sparkle’s mute staring contest with her unfamiliar new form, the door to the lab opened to admit the cultured, excited tones of a certain fashionista. “Darling~! Are you ready for our monthly spa—wahahah! Oh my goodness!”
 
Crap. Was that today? Twilight grinned sheepishly— well, horse-ily— up at her friend. “Uh… heh heh… Hello Rarity. Uh, can we take a rain check on the spa date? I’m, uh… not feeling myself…”
 
“Hmm, perhaps not. Although are you sure it’s not perhaps because you’re feeling a bit… horny?” Rarity chuckled demurely into her hand, then yelped when an annoyed Twilight zapped her with a quick pulse from her horn. “I’m sorry darling, that was a bit Rainbow Dash of me. Here, let me help you up.”
 
Twilight winced as she stood— and then winced again when she caught sight of something. Apparently inexperienced spell casting under the influence of emotion was not perhaps the best idea. “Uh, Rarity?”
 
“We simply must get you out of those horrible rags and into something that will, well, not compliment your figure so much as prevent an arrest by the campus police. Again. Ahem… I think I saw some larger lab coats back at— uhm, Twilight?” Rarity trailed off and followed Twilight’s nervous gaze up to the center of Rarity’s forehead. A horn was spiraling gently out from under the fashionista’s purple hair. “…Call Sunset Shimmer?”
 
“Call Sunset Shimmer,” agreed Twilight. “Now, about those lab coats…”