The Manetown Chronicles: A Hidden Heritage

by LincolnShanna

Chapter 9

I watched as the purple and gold flames licked at my skin. Strangely enough, the fire didn’t burn me. If anything, the flames felt comforting to me. I looked down and saw all of the kids staring up at me. Up at me. I looked around and realized that I was floating, surrounded by a pillar of magical flames. It somehow felt natural. I spread my arms out wide like I had seen Kalissa do in the closet and enjoyed the expression of terror pasted on Kristyn’s face.

All of a sudden, the flames surrounding me dissipated and I was left floating in the air. I felt a sharp tug on the middle of my forehead and felt the muscles in my back flex. I raised my right hand to my forehead and tapped it with my pointer finger. It felt normal, until I felt the long, bumpy rod sticking out of the middle of my forehead. I pulled my hand away from the bump and looked at my index finger. It was bleeding. I flew toward the nearest window and looked at my reflection. I didn’t even recognize myself. My blue, reptilian eyes had a slight silver glow to them, and my upper fangs had grown so long that they now stuck out over my lower lip. My skin was now black, pitch black. My pony ears had stayed the same, but my claws had grown a half-inch. The bump I had seen earlier that morning in the bathroom had changed. It was now eighteen to twenty-four inches long and it was now black like my skin. It was as sharp as a two-edged sword. It was also glowing electric blue.
So that’s what Aunt Celestia meant by “horn,” I thought.

The strangest changes were the wings and hair. During my transformation, I had grown black wings that matched the ones I had seen Nightmare Moon having in the Google pictures. That would explain the flexing back muscles. My single blue streak of hair had become a whole head of sparkling, flowing, midnight blue hair. Sitting on my head was the crown. It was glowing.

“Haah!” I sighed loudly. I glared at Celestia and Kristyn. “Ssso, Krissstyn?”

“I… what… huh?” Kristyn stuttered. She still cowered behind her mom, who was staring at Kristyn’s purple gem necklace.

“Nothing to sssay, for once? Well, cousssin, looksss like it’sss the end of the line for you!” With that, I looked toward the moon and smiled. “Nightmare Moon! If you’re ready…”

The moon began to glow, but it wasn’t the normal “beautiful moon” kind of glow. It was more like an evil, dark magic kind of glow. A beam of gold and silver light flowed from the moon and shone right on me. I screamed. The light burned me. It burned my skin, hair and even my will. I felt all of my fun, sweet memories disappear. My sixth birthday party? Gone. Learning to ride a bike? Forgotten. My thirteenth birthday? Nada. Starting driver’s education? Nope. The only thing I remembered was Kristyn and how much I hated her and the sun. I felt tears of anger, betrayal, and pain flow down my cheeks. My eyes flew open and beams of white light shot out of them. Everyone remembered that they could scream, and they made use of that ability. I was positive that the people of Timbuktu could here the other kids screaming! I was fine with that. Among the chaos, I saw Kalissa pull out her iPhone and start dialing someone. Now that was a disorganized princess! I laughed and looked up at the moon again. A shadow was starting to flow down, out of the moon and headed straight for me. I spread out my arms even wider, as if I knew who or what was coming. And it turns out, I did.

“FREE! FREE! FREE!” the shadow screamed.

When the shadow reached me, it screeched to a stop and hovered in front of her.

“Nightmare Moon,” I breathed.

The shadow dipped its head in a nod.

"So, can you help me?” I pointed to Kristyn, Celestia, Susie, and Hannah and Dan. They were all cowering on the ground, except for Celestia. She stood up, glaring at me and the shadow.

“Ah, yes,” the shadow sighed, baring its pearly white fangs. “Revenge. A dish best served with darkness!” With that, Shadow Nightmare Moon reared up in the air and blasted me with a bolt of blue energy. I arched my back and screamed again. Shadow Nightmare Moon kept infusing me with power for about five minutes. I was so sore that I barely heard Kalissa yell into her cell phone.

“Luna! Bring it!”

I stretched and arched my back. I looked at my hands and feet. I felt my head. I ran my tongue over my teeth. Everything was the same, so what had happened? Did Nightmare Moon’s magic do anything? I stared questioningly at Shadow Nightmare Moon.

“Use your horn!” Nightmare Moon told me.

“Horn?”

Shadow Nightmare Moon sighed and rested her head on her hoof. “Must I do everything? Summon the magic inside of you. Think of your evil goal and channel that goal into dark magic!”

I shut my eyes tightly and thought of Kristyn throughout our lifetimes. I remembered how at my tenth birthday, Kristyn had done a song and dance routine that had attracted everyone away from me. Everyone thought that Kristyn was the greatest, including Sam Gronico, the guy I had been crushing on for six years. I recalled the day Kristyn and I had set up a lemonade stand and everyone gave Kristyn extra coins just for being cute! Kristyn made fifty bucks that day, but I only earned twenty. Those two memories were enough to give me a headache. With a heart-wrenching shriek, I clasped my hands and then opened them again. Floating between my palms was a ball of silver and blue light. The ball sparkled with small bolts of lightning. Shadow Nightmare Moon smiled, for shimmering inside the globe of light was an image of a moon. Inside that image was an image of a unicorn. I recognized this as the “Mare On the Moon.” I was just about to throw the power-ball onto my “enemies” when something caught my eye. It was my mom.

“Jicxie! Stop!” Luna cried. She stood below me. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, and the wind created by mine and Nightmare Moon’s wings whipped her hair. Her four blue streaks of hair stood out; they were glowing. It was at that moment that I realized something: Mom had four blue streaks. One for each Equestrian princess.

“NO!” I replied with Nightmare Moon’s voice. I looked over at Nightmare Moon. As I spoke, Nightmare Moon’s mouth moved, but no sound came out. She was speaking through me again. Now that was creepy. “You of all people should know what I am feeling!”

“Yes, Jicxie! I do know!” Luna stared up at me. “But I also know that this magic will get out of hand.”

“NO!” Nightmare Moon and I repeated.

Mom sighed. How I heard my mom sigh over the sound of the wind and screams was beyond my comprehension.

“I did not want to do this, Jicxie, but you leave me with no choice!” With that, she ran up the giant staircase and met up with her sister. I flew toward the two princesses and softened the blow of my wing beats so that I could hear what they said.

“Where is it, Tia?” Luna asked.
Despite the dire danger, Kalissa smiled. “You haven’t called me that in over a hundred years.”

“The gem?” Luna said.

“Oh, yes! Kristyn,” Celestia said, turning to her daughter. “Give me the necklace!”

Kristyn looked up at her mom. Her mascara was running and her lipstick was smudged. “What? Why?”

“If you don’t, Jicxie will destroy us all!” Luna cried out.

Kristyn jumped up, yanked the chain from her neck, and handed it to her mom. Then, she resumed her place, curled up on the front porch with the rest of the guests.

Luna and Celestia looked at the gem. Luna reached for her neck and pulled out a silver chain from under her dress collar. Hanging on it was the other half of the purple gem. Celestia held her half of the gem between two fingers. Luna did the same thing. They began to join the two halves to make one gem.

“Princess Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia began, “if you can hear this, give us our needed magic!” The two gems connected. Nothing happened.

“Ha!” I yelled, pointing at my mom and her aunt. “Your gem is defective! Maybe you need to change the batteries,” I mocked.

The gem still did nothing.

“Princess Twilight! Princess Twilight Sparkle!” Celestia cried over the wind. Still nothing. “Dearest Twilight?”

Luna looked longingly at her sister. “Together,” she said.

“Together,” Celestia replied. They held hands as they thrust the jewel into the air. The two chains twisted together in the wind. The gold and silver chains intertwined and braided themselves together. But that was the only thing that happened.

“Twilight!” Celestia and Luna screamed into the wind.