Nightmare Night. Fluttershy hated Nightmare Night. With furtive glances, she moved from window to window inside her cottage, looking out onto the fog choked gloom. The harvest moon rode low on the horizon, washing the scene in a ruddy orange glow. With it’s light dying slowly by the second, the stars winked and shimmered as they grew brighter with each passing moment. Their twinkling presence piercing the misty darkness like so many sparkling knives, offering little comfort to the apprehensive pegasus. Fluttershy could hear the distant laughter and screams floating just above the music drifting from Ponyville, but she wanted no part of these celebrations. Oh, the little bats and black cats were cute enough. She didn’t even mind the tiny spiders. Even though she refused to carve one herself, she actually thought the jack-o-lanterns were more goofy than sinister. Those were all fine, but even so, ever since she was a little pegasus filly she had spent Nightmare Night quaking in terror.

It didn’t help that, growing up in Cloudsdale, the predominant decoration in her fillyhood had been wreaths of lightning and peals of thunder. It didn’t help that she was such a poor flier that she couldn’t keep up with the other pegasi children as they had flit back and forth collecting treats across the inky sky. She always ended up on her own, cold and in the dark, with only sudden flashes of lightning and ringing thunder for company. What was worse was that, on Nightmare Night more than any other night of the year, the darkness between those flashes were pregnant with far more disturbing terrors! Especially if you had a friend named Rainbow Dash who loved the trick part of ‘trick or treat’ more than any amount of treats.

It wasn’t entirely Dash’s fault though, nor was she the only pony that seemed to delight in Fluttershy’s terror when she was little. The yellow pegasus just seemed to be an easy target for spooky tricks. She couldn’t help that she’d jump at the slightest sound or cringe from the silliest mask. It was just who she was. The fact her screams were thought of as adorable didn’t help matters in the slightest. So Fluttershy locked herself away on Nightmare Night. No decorations, no fellowship, no candy, and certainly no visitors if she could help it.
This was well known in Ponyville. Over the years her friends had learned to give her privacy on Nightmare Night, but that didn’t stop the occasional mischievous filly or colt from coming out to her cottage to torment her. Fluttershy really didn’t hold it against them. It was in the spirit of the holiday after all. She just hated the holiday and wished everypony would leave her alone.

There were, of course, the occasional unavoidable visitors who didn’t know about Fluttershy’s reticence. Last year her friend Twilight had come out to see her. The shy pegasus wouldn’t have minded that so much, but she had brought Nightmare Moon with her! Even if it was only Princess Luna, Fluttershy had thought for sure her heart would burst in her chest. It had been one of the scariest Nightmare Night’s in her adult life. Thankfully nothing all that bad had really happened in the end, but that just made Fluttershy feel the need to be all the more vigilant. Tonight for example, tonight had been the quietest Nightmare Night that the troubled pegasus had seen in years. The peace was welcome. She was loath to admit it, but so far the night had been perfect.

Even so, Fluttershy couldn't relax. The soothing sounds of the forest around her home in a late autumn evening should’ve been enough to lull anypony into peaceful repose. However, the usual chirp of crickets and distant calls of owls were absent tonight. There was only one kind punctuation to every sighing breeze, infrequent but still present, the sharp screams of the ponyfolk down in Ponyville. It occurred to the pensive pony that the music of the town's traditional costumed dance had long since died away. Thinking about it, it was late enough in the evening now that the dance should have been long over and most of the town should have been winding down their frightening frivolity. The young trick or treaters heading home for their beds to get up for school in the morning, and those who had work doing likewise. It should have only been the very dedicated to the holiday or, privately Fluttershy thought, the very stupid who would be up this late.

So Fluttershy remained prowling in her cottage, long after she should have been asleep, trying to figure out why the night's activities didn’t seem to be ending. Why was it that the screams, that sounded more bone chilling by the moment, were echoed by childish giggling? Surely most of the children should be asleep by now. Thus lost in thought, Fluttershy never saw anypony walk up the little path that led to her door. The knock echoed like a clap of thunder in Fluttershy’s ears, causing her to leap straight up in the air and give a tiny squeak. She thought for sure the noise must have been enough to wake the dead, but it couldn’t have been that loud as her bunny, Angel, was still sound asleep on the living room rug. The knock sounded again at her front door, and this time the frightened pony could identify that this was all the noise was.

Carefully, she brought herself to the door and gave her traditional holiday greeting, “GO AWAY! NO CANDY HERE! VISITORS NOT WELCOME ON NIGHTMARE NIGHT!” She listened intently, hoping to hear the sound of hooves clip-clopping away. Instead there was only silence. Still afraid, but mildly curious, Fluttershy crept toward one of the windows that looked out on the path leading from her home. There was too much fog to see anything clearly, but she could just make out a silhouette standing perfectly still. Then the knock came again. “Please go away!” tried Fluttershy, “I just want to be left alone! Can’t you just leave me alone!?” But there was no answer. Fluttershy pressed her ear to the door, hoping to hear some tell-tale sound that would let her know if her uninvited guest was going away or still haunting her doorstep. She couldn’t hear anything. Then the thought occurred to her, what if the pony on the other side of the door was hurt? What if she had come to her for help but couldn’t speak? Her curiosity momentarily overwhelming her fear, Fluttershy tentatively opened her front door, just a crack... Just enough to see whoever it might be who was out there.

No pony stood on Fluttershy’s doorstep. Confused, she opened the door a little wider, letting a few tendrils of fog drift into her home. There was no sign anypony had been there. It must have just been the fragile pony's own over active imagination, Fluttershy reasoned. She breathed a sigh of relief.

However, her respite would be short lived, as it was shattered by a sudden high pitched squeal from behind her that made her whirl and slam the door. Fluttershy’s pale eyes darted around the room, trying to find the source of that high, keening sound. She didn’t know what she was expecting, but it wasn’t this. She found that it was Angel, laying as flat as possible against the rug. Every hair of his normally soft bunny coat bristling, looking for all intents and purposes like a little ball of pure primal fear. He was squealing like mad between teeth gnashing in what she could only assume was terror. Fluttershy had never seen him so afraid. “What’s wrong Angel? You’ve never been fazed by Nightmare Night before.” She tried to comfort him, reaching with one hoof to try and smooth his fur. As her foreleg came close though, Angel suddenly lunged up and bit Fluttershy hard enough to draw blood. With quick little leaps, he bolted up the stairs that led to Fluttershy’s room. Shocked more than hurt, the tender-hearted pegasus almost didn’t hear the knock as it echoed against her door once again.

It wasn’t terror that sat inside Fluttershy’s heart at the sound of the uninvited strangers return, but a new emotion that smoldered and burned. Angel had never bit her before. Whomever it was that was out there, they had scared Angel very badly, and it seemed like they wanted to do the same to her. One night out of the year, all she wanted was to be left alone. Was that too much to ask? She hated Nightmare Night. She hated the scary costumes, the frightening decorations, the noisy children, and the irresponsible adults. She hated that children were encouraged to go around menacing adults for treats. She didn’t even like candy that much! Well she wasn’t going to stand for it. Whoever was at her door was about to get a piece of her mind. Fluttershy threw open her front door and filled her lungs so she could tell everypony, anypony, exactly where they could go. The words died on her lips.

Pumpkins.

It was as if a pumpkin patch had sprouted in her front yard like magic. Jack-o-lanterns, as far as the eye could see, their soft glow lighting the fog as the moon had done before it set. It took a moment for Fluttershy’s mind to register what she was seeing. Somehow, in the space of time it took her to check on Angel, her entire front yard had been filled with grinning, grimacing, ghoulish, and ghastly jack-o-lanterns. They smiled up at her from her front stoop. They glowered down from the nearest trees. A few even bobbed along in the brook that ran beside her cottage, eyes glowing despite the water that must surely be able to quench their candle flames. Just on the edge of hearing, Fluttershy could hear hushed giggling moving around the side of her house. This had to be some kind of prank.

“R-Rainbow Dash?” tried Fluttershy, “P-Pinkie Pie? Come out! This is a... Very impressive trick. But it’s, um, not very funny. Please come out. You’ve frightened poor Angel and... And you’re scaring me too! Hello?” The pegasus shivered. The glowing faces seemed to be mocking her as the last sparks of bravery brought on by Angels bite winked out of existence. The laughter was no longer distant now. It crept and crawled, just out of sight. There were no screams either. The town was dead quiet. Had the screams... Had they been sharper than last year? Had they always been as loud as that? Why were they silent now? Why was there no sound at all but a few menacing chuckles? There was something wrong about all this, especially these mysterious pumpkins. Very, very wrong.

Fluttershy squeaked and shut the door as gently as possible, before locking and barring it and turning to flee. She couldn’t stand it, she had to get away! At each window there was a glowing grin peeking inside, their burning eyes easily visible through Fluttershy’s thin curtains. She retreated upstairs, hoping to find an escape from the jack-o-lantern’s blazing glares beneath the blankets on her bed. Instead, as she entered the one place she thought she would be safe from those horrible smiles, she beheld a sight that stopped her in her tracks and chilled her to the bone.

It was a cool night and Fluttershy often left one window open to let a breeze into her bedroom while she slept. She’d left the window open tonight as well, and the room was filled almost to overflowing with sneering, snarling, and screaming jack-o-lanterns wreathed in fog. This close, each face was almost familiar, though twisted by agony and fear. But that wasn’t what froze the blood in Fluttershy’s veins. There was a red smear across her bed that was almost black in the pumpkin light. A few scraps of white fur, scattered about, washed the same hue. Fluttershy might not have noticed it in the gloom, were it not for the ponies gathered around the stain, heads low, the urgent sounds of their chewing and swallowing filling the room. One pony arched back it's head, something stringy and red caught between its teeth ripping slowly, before snapping and sending a spray of scarlet liquid across Fluttershy's face. She squeaked in alarm. The liquid was still warm, and a little salty, as it dribbled down her face and into her mouth. Blood. The creatures stood among the jack-o-lanterns, tendrils of fog from the open window spilling about their hooves. One by one they turned from their meal. They raised their heads in unison and stared at Fluttershy, mouths set in bloody grins, eyes unblinking. They laughed as their eyes moved over her, the rest of their body's motionless... Then they started to sing.

“Nightmare Night...” They started to move toward her, slowly at first. Twitching and jerking like marionettes. Growing slightly more fluid as they went, but only slightly. Their bodies making a strange rustling noise, like dead leaves, as they spread out from Angel's shredded body. His little eyes looked up at Fluttershy, glassy and dead.

“What a fright...” Fluttershy was petrified. She could feel her heart thundering in her chest, her blood coursing through her veins. She couldn’t move. There was something wrong with these ponies. As they moved slowly towards her, bits and pieces of them seemed to fall off, rolling away or landing with a wet plop. They crushed the glowing pumpkins beneath callous hooves as they drew nearer, and Fluttershy couldn’t help but think of them as her friends skulls. Flames began to creep over her bedroom carpet from the exposed candles.

“Give us something...” She felt herself sinking to the floor, every muscle in her body shivering, shaking. Her mind was as blank as their unblinking eyes. Fluttershy’s vision began to fade as panic seized her in unrelenting jaws, yet she could still make out their razor sharp smiles as they drew within inches of her trembling face. Their breath was oddly sweet, the taint of blood only slightly stung her nostrils.

“Sweet...to...bite...” As the nearest pony loomed over the prostrate pegasus, something inside her snapped. With a shout full of guttural anguish and despair, Fluttershy lunged at the distorted pony with a snarl and took a bite out of its nose. The creature flinched, a bizarre, warbling shriek rising from it's throat as it backed away. With a howl bordering on madness, Fluttershy plunged through the thickening flames and shattered pumpkins. She spread her wings wide as she surged over two grinning ponies and out through the open window, flying free into the chill night air.

Fluttershy’s wings ate up the night sky as they never had before, trailing smoke from a few smouldering feathers as she left her house far behind. Her cottage glowed from the inside, much like a jack-o-lantern, as the fire spread through its timbers. Even so, she could have sworn she still heard the laughter of hungry mouths turning back to their feast. She flew blindly for a time, the stars of little use in lighting the thick fog. She had to find help. She couldn’t handle something like this on her own. Nopony could. She darted through the mist, doing her best to make her way to the home of the one pony she thought might be able to help.

As she neared the library, the fog only seemed to grow thicker. The town was silent and still, an effect of the dense fog or because everypony was... Gone... Fluttershy didn’t know. She knocked as loud as she dared on Twilight’s door, her eyes closed tight in prayer, in terror, and more than a little anxiety. When there was no response, she began to beat loudly against the door, her fear of being discovered dwarfed by the realization that she might truly be alone. That was when she heard the sound of giggling behind her. She whirled expecting one of the horrible, monstrous ponies to be right behind her. She wasn’t entirely wrong. The figure was tiny, no larger than a foal, and it still wore the remnants of a Nightmare Night Costume. The end of a pillowcase was held tight in its mouth. Though the makeshift sack clearly held candy, there were other things that caused red stains to cover the otherwise white linen. Half the things face was missing, but that didn’t stop it from grinning wide as it lay eyes on Fluttershy.

Fluttershy launched herself into the air without hesitation, rising high into the sky once more. For a moment she completely lost her bearings. Fortunately it wasn’t long before the mist started to melt away, letting Fluttershy see what had become of Ponyville. It was a nightmare brought to life. Down below, the horrified pegasus could see the twisted forms of more ponies like the ones that had been in her bedroom. They moved among tattered Nightmare Night decorations and spilled candy. Some houses were burning bright, as fire spread over thatched roofs, while other homes stood dark save for glowing jack-o-lantern smiles. The worst part were the bodies. So many tiny bodies, still in their costumes. Some were dragging themselves around like the little creature Fluttershy met at Twilight’s door, others painfully still. What was worse was when she found clusters of them eating and laughing. The strange ponies were thickest near the center of town, but they were spreading in all directions. They ate as they went, parading through the streets by the light of jack-o-lanterns. Their laughter carried on the wind, as well as their child-like song “Nightmare Night, what a fright! Give us something sweet to bite!” Fluttershy shivered uncontrollably. The shock of what she had been through, what she now witnessed, was finally setting in. Her wings felt like they were about to give out. She needed to land.

Fluttershy had no idea where to go. No matter where she flew, the jerky, stop motion movements of these terrifying ponies greeted her. Or worse, the half eaten remains of somepony Fluttershy once knew, somepony she had talked to or avoided talking to. Somepony she’d never have the opportunity to get to know. This was worse than a nightmare. With no other choice, she fled for the cover of the Everfree Forest. Instinct told her to hide and hope that whatever was happening, somepony else could fix it. It wasn’t until she was shivering in the dark beneath the trees, her heart still thundering in her chest, that she realized she had a sweet taste in her mouth. Of all the odd things to happen tonight, this might have been the oddest, though not the most horrible. Not once in the entire, terrible escapade had Fluttershy eaten a single piece of candy. She had no way of explaining, yet the sweetness was there in her mouth, making her stomach roil in displeasure. The only thing she had taken a bite out of recently had been...

Fluttershy just knew she was going to be sick.

Please stop mister. No more. I can’t take anymore!

Subject has expressed a desire to cease for the day. Suspending this cycle while the testing chamber is cleansed and the subject is prepared for the next round.

N-no... Not again. I’ll be good. Please I’ll do whatever you want, just stop making me eat for a little while.

Preparing subject for manual evacuation.

Not again...oh Mum...Da. Anypony, please! Please help me! Make him stop! I can’t bear the pain, the humiliation!

*wet noises*

Regurgitation and defecation complete. Continuing with notation while test chamber is cleansed. Batch five three three six: cocoa butter, salt, sugar, habanero pepper, a dash of a warming spell. Subject's response: pained and gagging, begging for water. Describes flavor as ‘like eating fire’. Suggest a different type of pepper, a milder spell, or increasing the amount of cocoa butter in the next round of testing.

W-why are you doin’ this to me mister? Wh-what did I ever do ta you?

Batch five three three seven: chocolate (cocoa butter, milk and sugar) layered over live grasshopper with a variant on the preservation spell to maintain freshness and technically keep the insect alive. Subject's response: positive until informed what she had been eating. Result: profuse vomiting. Suggestion, market confection as mystery crunch or as a delicacy to the aristocracy.

Why won’t you answer me?

Batch five three three eight: boiled sugar layered into a hard ball with the aid of a pressure spell. Subject's response: drew succulently upon said candy. When forced to chew for experimental purposes, some of the subjects teeth were broken. Blood and tooth chips spat from subject's mouth along with confection. Confection itself seemed unfazed. Suggestion, market candy as a ‘jaw breaker’ with warning about possible hazard. Supplementary note. Subject's teeth are deteriorating much quicker than previous Subjects. Suggest either reducing sugar content of remaining tests or Liquidation and acquirement of the next Subject.

L-liquidation? What are you talking about mister? Mister...please. When can I see my daddy? When can I go home? I’m sick of candy...I hate candy. I just want to go home to my momma. I promise I won’t tell a soul what you’re doing here...what you did to me. Just let me go...my teeth hurt, my tongue and throat burn, my stomach is killing me. If...if you won't let me go, at least feed me something other than candy!

Hmm...something other than candy? I may have just the thing. It’s possible it could stave off the need for liquidation. Yes...and it might just be worth observing. Batch five three three nine. Enjoy, Subject.

*Cough gag* what is this? It tastes spoiled. I mean...thank you mister, I’m really happy this isn’t more candy but...mmm...its so tough to chew.

Batch five three three nine. Subject indicates that the meat has a spoiled flavor and is difficult to chew. May have to allow for further aging to break down connective tissues. Application of heat might help with this, as well as the flavor, but advise avoiding this until a method of disguising the stench of cooking pony flesh can be devised.

P-pony flesh? W-what did you feed me?

Subjects parental unit.

...What?

Or what was left of him. Most of him is in the midden heap by now, but I thought I’d keep a few scraps to try aging techniques on his meat. It’s chewy, you say? I’d hoped it would be fairly tender by now. Oh dear, retching again? I’ll have to reactivate the cleansing spells all over again.

Wh-why? Why would you do this to me? Daddy...daddy no...no...*sob*

We have many more tests to get through today and your mouth is for eating, not crying. So please, do shut up.