“Well jeez, you don’t have to be so rude about it Scootaloo, I was just seeing how you girls were doing.” Pinkie Pie put on a hurt face, though it was hard to take it seriously while she was balancing a cake on her head.

“I’m sorry Pinkie, I didn’t mean to snap,” apologized the pegasus filly as she stirred the contents of a large bowl with a wooden spoon. “Thanks again for letting us use the kitchen while you're working. It’s just that making candy is a lot harder than somepony made it out to be.” Sweetie Belle smiled guiltily as Scootaloo glared at her. The pegasus hadn’t known it was possible to burn taffy, but the brittle black substance congealing at the bottom of a pan soaking in the kitchen sink was proof that if it could burn, Sweetie Belle would find a way.

“It’s okay,” smiled Pinkie Pie, her sunny disposition quickly melting away her cloudy expression, “I’ll be back here in a little while to help you out. I just have a few more orders to fill and a couple of customers to clean up after and then we can really get this candy making experiment underway!” Pinkie Pie darted out of the kitchen, the cake on her head doing a slight pirouette in the air thanks to the suddenness of her exit.

Sweetie Belle arched an eyebrow, “You told her we were doing experiments with candy?”

Scootaloo sighed heavily and tipped the contents of her bowl onto a sheet of greased paper. “No, I told her we needed to make candy for school. She got it in her head that it was some kind of science project. She thinks if we were going to get a good grade we should experiment with different flavors and additives to see if we could come up with some ‘stupenderific’ new flavors. Honestly I don’t care what it tastes like, so long as it looks like candy. It’s not like we have to eat what we make.”

“That’s... Probably a good thing,” Sweetie Belle blushed. She hadn’t only managed to burn the toffee to a crisp, but somehow she had turned the chocolate into a bubbling tar like mess as well. “I’m sorry that I haven’t been more help.” For once she could admit she didn’t know the first thing about cooking. That didn’t stop her from trying, but even her boundless optimism was threatened by their situation. It had been nearly a week since they had made their bet with Diamond Tiara and Nightmare Night was tomorrow. Despite having had a week to prepare, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had not managed to make much candy. They tried, it was just that it felt like there was something actively trying to hold them back.

Scootaloo sighed heavily. “It’s not your fault. Applebloom has more work to do at home than at school, so tonight will be the first and only time she’s going to contribute anything. I’m glad she’ll have a chance to make sweets with her sister Applejack, but those two were already going to make caramel apples for tomorrows festival. I hope she has time to make extra treats on the side." Scootaloo shook her head in doubt and frustration. "Even if she does, I can’t help but think Applebloom’s help is going to be too little too late.” She took the bowl and spoon she had been using to the sink and ran warm water over both.

“And I know you tried Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo continued as the water filled the bowl. "But your attempts to make candy with Rarity were pretty much doomed from the start. With her being so busy selling dresses and costumes for Nightmare Night, you were lucky to make the few pieces you did," she turned off the water and went back to the counter she was working at, wiping a bit of perspiration from her brow. "Pity that Rarity insisted they be made with only fresh, gourmet ingredients and primped and shaped and molded into something that no pony will ever believe came from our trick or treating.” It was true. The treats Sweetie Belle had managed to make looked more like wedding cakes than candy. So really it was down to Scootaloo. Fortunately, though she had the least experience with trying to prepare food, it seemed the pegasus had a knack for it.

”I know, but I’m here to help you now,” rallied Sweetie Belle, “Between you and Pinkie Pie, you’ve already made a small mound of candy. We should have enough in no time!” The truth of the matter was that since Scootaloo was essentially having to take up the slack for her other two friends, the pegasus filly was getting a little testy, and perhaps rightfully so. She was, however, getting the job done. Though this had all been Sweetie Belle’s idea, and now she was doing the lion’s share of the work, Scootaloo was actually enjoying herself. Working with Pinkie Pie making treats was actually a lot of fun. That was one of the only things that seemed to be going their way. Pinkie Pie was completely oblivious to what they were actually doing, and even if she did find out, Scootaloo wasn’t sure the mischievous pink pony would care. Just to be on the safe side, they’d kept her from seeing the book pages that Scootaloo was using for most of her recipes. It was going to be a close thing, but if Scootaloo kept at it, they should have enough candy to win the bet and finally put Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara in their place.

“Yeah, well, hand me that bag of granulated sugar, would ya?” asked Scootaloo as the two fillies continued making one semi-edible treat after the other.

Meanwhile Pinkie Pie bustled about her business, working the front counter of Sugarcube Corner. The entire bakery had been transformed into something of a haunted house. Cobwebs hung here and there, along with ghosts and bats, and more than one fake skeleton was posed humorously on extra chairs. It was unclear if anypony but Pinkie really appreciated the holiday decor, but it hadn't hurt business. Most of the dine in customers that came in for afternoon snacks had left so now she was just gathering up any dirty plates and restocking the display case. There would be a few take-out customers later, the bakery did brisk trade after all, but things always seemed to wind down in the afternoon. Pinkie Pie was just putting more bat and pumpkin shaped cookies into a skull shaped jar on the counter top when she heard the bell to the shop door ring. It was odd to get a customer at this time of day but Pinkie Pie was ready to greet them with her biggest, most cheeriest smile. As soon as she saw who it was, however, her face fell. “Oh, hello Twilight. Shall I go get Mrs. Cake so she can take your order?"

“No, I’m not here for treats.” said the unicorn, a little gruffly. “Though I’m sure they’re delicious and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with them! And before you say anything else, I’m not here to fight with you either Pinkie!” Pinkie Pie lowered her hoof. Twilight had preempted everything she was about to say, so for once, the pink pony was speechless. Celestia’s favorite student smiled sheepishly and started to pull something out of her saddle bag. “I came to apologize Pinkie. We haven’t really been on proper speaking terms this past week and I realize now that was mostly my fault.” She set the book “Ye Olde Tricks and Treats” on the counter between them. It still looked old and beat up, but it was clear most of the pages had been rebound to the weathered spine.

“Mostly your fault, huh?” Pinkie Pie eyed her suspiciously, ”Did you read it?” she nudged the book with one hoof as if she expected it to jump up and skitter away like a living thing.

Twilight frowned. “Yes I did. I’ve got to say Pinkie, I can see why you’d be so upset now. A lot of these old myths and legends are down right blood curdling. The horror stories of today have nothing on these old folk legends. Some of them I’ve come across before, but never in such graphic detail. The one about the Headless Horse...” Twilight Sparkle’s words trailed off and she visibly shivered. “I don’t think I’ll be able to tell that story at slumber parties anymore. I just wanted to say I’m sorry I got so mad at you Pinkie Pie.”

A sappy smile spread over Pinkie’s face as she said, “Don’t worry about it, Twilight. We were both kind of at fault. I certainly didn’t mean to tear the book apart between us.” Without warning, Pinkie vaulted over the counter and hugged her friend tightly. Twilight was surprised at first, but then reciprocated the gesture of affection, bringing a happy end to an unhappy feud. They parted and the party pony’s face grew uncharacteristically serious. “I hope you can see why I’m worried about the girls now though. Even if it is all just stories, there’s bound to be a grain of truth in at least one of them. Just like the story of the Mare in the Moon. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“I’m not one for believing in superstitions Pinkie, but when it comes to you, I’m willing to put logic aside and accept certain things on a little faith.” Twilight smiled and nudged her friend playfully. “Just don’t push it. We’ll work together and make sure everypony has a fun and safe Nightmare Night. Where have the girls been by the way? I haven’t seen the ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’ since they were helping you put up decorations.”

“Oh, they’ve been super busy, just like me! They’ve been making candy for a school project or something and I’ve been helping out when I can. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle are in the kitchen right now. I promised I’d give them a helping hoof once I finished out here.” A thought seemed to occur to her. “Oh, hey, do you want to help out too Twilight?”

“Uh, I don’t really know the first thing about cooking Pinkie. I know how to conjure a few mana strudels and that’s about it,” said Twilight doubtfully.

“Oh come on , it’ll be fun!”

“I don’t know-”

“Pleeaasee~?”

Twilight looked into her friends huge pleading eyes and sighed. She just finished making up with her, and already her friend was trying to get her to do things that would throw off her daily schedule. Still, she didn’t want to threaten that fledgling peace by denying her friends request, even if she really didn’t have the time for something as silly as making candy for a school project. Actually, come to that, why would Cheerilee possibly want her students making candy right before Nightmare Night? Wouldn’t there be plenty of candy after everypony went trick or treating? Something here didn’t exactly add up. “Sure Pinkie, why not? Lead the way.”

Scootaloo was just finishing up her last batch of peppermint swirls when Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle came into the kitchen. This would have been fine but Sweetie Belle was looking over the torn pages from the book Twilight Sparkle had just finished mending. This was not the bets time to see if there was anything she thought she could make that might not burn. Things kind of got a bit out of control from there.

“What are you two doing!?” bellowed Twilight.

Sweetie Belle hastily tried to hide the pages as Scootaloo smiled as innocently as she could manage. “Hi Twilight! Fancy seeing you with Pinkie Pie! I guess this means you two made up?” Twilight Sparkle glared at the pegasus filly as Sweetie Belle fell off the stool she was sitting on and the torn pages went everywhere. “Oh and what are we doing? Um...just, making candy for a school project. Right, Pinkie Pie?” One of the pages landed gently in front of the pink pony’s hooves. Pinkie Pie was not smiling.

“Is that what you’re doing Scootaloo? Because to me it looks more like you’re using up Mr. and Mrs. Cake’s supplies to win the bet you made with Diamond Tiara.”

“And using stolen property from the Ponyville Library to do it!” finished Twilight Sparkle as she used her magic to gather up the torn pages from “Ye Olde Tricks and Treats”. “I knew that there were some pages missing, but I had thought it they had either crumbled to dust or had gotten lost in the library. How could you girls take these pages without permission?”

The pair of fillies looked down guiltily. “We’re sorry Twilight, but Diamond Tiara always cheats at these sorts of things. We just thought we’d even things up. We didn’t mean to hurt anypony. I promise we were gonna give the pages back,” said Sweetie Belle. “Just...not before Nightmare Night.”

“You lied to me Scootaloo?” asked Pinkie, the slight twitch of her lower lip showing she was clearly hurt.

“Well...all I ever said was that we were making candy for school. Which was true, we thought Diamond Tiara might finally stop bullying us if we could beat her just one time.” Even as she said it, she could see that this answer was not good enough for the pouting pony. “I’m sorry Pinkie Pie. We should’ve been honest from the start. I guess we just weren’t thinking straight.”

“I’ll say you weren’t! When your teacher hears about this I’ll bet she’ll-” Pinkie Pie put up one hoof over Twilight's mouth before she could finish speaking. She seemed to be staring at the pages as they floated in Twilight’s magical grasp. Her eyes narrowed.

“Did you make all the candy this week from the recipes on these pages?” asked Pinkie, seriously.

“Well, most of it, yeah. Why?” asked Scootaloo perplexed. She had expected the two older ponies to be chewing them out, not asking questions with obvious answers.

"Twilight, we need to gather up all of this candy and take it to Nightmare Moon’s statue, NOW!” said Pinkie Pie, suddenly alarmed.

Twilight looked as confused as the girls did. “I don’t really think that matters right now Pinkie.”

“It’s the only thing that does matter Twilight, because I think I know what story these recipes come from.” The pink pony quickly moved into action. She tipped the unfinished treats Scootaloo had been working on into the wastebasket and started going around the kitchen, gathering up other sugary candies and snacks from the pantry. “What’s the title, on the first of those three pages?”

It took a moment for Twilight Sparkle to sort through the pages. She knit her brow as she read, clearly thinking this was all more of Pinkie Pie’s silliness. However, when she found the page in question, her face paled. “The Candy Mare,” she whispered. Twilight dropped the ancient pages carelessly and scrambled to help Pinkie Pie. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle sat where they had this entire time, watching the two older ponies freak out as they gathered up all their hard work. They were used to seeing Pinkie do strange things with frantic energy, but watching Twilight snatch up every last piece of candy corn as if the fate of the world depended on it was a disturbing sight to say the least.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo shared a glance. The white unicorn shrugged. She was as clueless as Scootaloo. “Uh...who or what exactly is the Candymare?” The two older ponies paused in their frenzy long enough to glance at one another. A silent question passed between the two. Pinkie Pie nodded, and continued gathering treats. Twilight cleared her throat, a bit nervously, and began to tell a story.

"Once upon a time..."

Once upon a time, in the land where ponies lived and played before the founding of Equestria, there was a filly who dreamed of nothing more than seeing the castle where the noble unicorns lived.

But the filly was the daughter of poor earth ponies, and their lot was to farm the land even as the enchanted winter of the Windego’s withered their harvest and choked their fruits on the vine.

Despite their hardship, the tiny family was happy, for the filly blessed her mother and father with smiles and love that helped them bear their burdens.

The filly’s father, knowing of his daughters wish to see the castle, made arrangements with a business partner to allow her into the city for one day, and one day only. (For in those day, earth ponies could only be in the city on business.)

The filly was delighted when her father told her the news. She was even more delighted when she beheld the castle town! She wanted to see everything, to take it all in, but her father still had business to do, so they met with his partner.

Now Lemon Drop, the unicorn, was the owner of the candy shop in the castle town. Though the children loved him, they didn’t know that he had a twisted heart.

Lemon Drop didn’t understand children, and he couldn’t taste anything sweet, only sour. He made his living on recipes his grandmother had written down, but he could never get the flavors quite right. Slowly, he was losing money. Soon he would lose his shop.

But Lemon Drop had a twisted heart, as I said, and he had formed a twisted plan. In those days nopony cared if a pony from one of the other tribes disappeared, and it wasn’t hard to entice earth ponies to bring their children to see the city.

He would let them come into his shop and eat his sweets. Then he would kill their parents and spirit the fillies and colts away, forcing them to eat all of his strange and twisted attempts at making better candy.

A similar fate was to befall the happy filly of our story, and her father, when they visited Lemon Drop’s shop. A similar, horrible fate, yet different in ways too terrible to imagine.

For those children whom Lemon Drop often stole away would shortly die, unable to live on candy alone. But this little filly, with her heart so full of love for life, did not. She lived. And lived. And lived.

A breakthrough! It’s astonishing to say the least, but I think, no I know, that all my hard work has finally paid off! The current Subject's body grew stiff and still after introducing new batches of confections laced with preservative spells and trace elements of alchemy. I’d thought to have run into another failure, another brick wall, but shortly the Subject awoke with the most delightful fit of laughter.

*thump*

While it was true she was babbling something about having a bad dream, the Subject was absolutely begging to try various batches of candy, both new and old. The Subject has been eating non-stop for hours with every sign of relishing my candy craft! I will need to research why the other Subjects failed to survive this round of testing while the current Subject seems to be thriving, but for now it’s all I can do to keep her hunger satisfied.

*Thump*

That sound in the background of this recording is the Subject throwing herself at the walls repeatedly. I was worried at first she might injure herself as some of the other Subjects had attempted before her, but she seems to calm whenever she is fed. All she wants is to eat my candy. I’ve never seen such an appetite for what I have to offer! I think for the first time I understand why my family was so dedicated to this business!

*THUMP**CRASH*

Hold on, what’s this? Somepony is in the main shop. Who’s there? I warn you, I will call the castle guard if you try to steal any of my creations. What? Little miss...what are you doing out of the testing chamber?

...hungry...

Hungry? Of course, of course, I’m working on another batch of confections for you right now. Just go back to the testing chamber...there’s a good girl.

...but it's Nightmare Night...heh...

Nightmare night. You said that before...hmm...perhaps my experiment isn’t quite the success I’d hoped. Still, come along, we’ll see what we can do in the next phase of testing.

...but it’s Nightmare Night...oh what a fright...I hunger...I need...I want...Oh, please, please, pleasepleaseplease...give me something sweet to bite bite BITE!...heheheh...

What are you doing? No...no, no!

Heheheheheh...so sweet...fresh meat.

Lemon Drop was found, but his twisted heart, and much of his twisted body was not. Not all at once, at least. That night an entire castle of ponies vanished. In those days, nopony cared if a pony from another tribe were to disappear. It wasn’t until the next day when the earth ponies came to make their daily deliveries, and one particular mother came looking for her daughter and husband, that the grizzly discoveries were made.

There was no real explanation, but whispers began to spread through the various tribes of a monster that begged for treats, but was more than happy to feast on the flesh of ponykind. The creature haunted the edges of society, hiding in the depths of dark forests and bogs. It was said it would lure children away if it had the chance, never to return.

It was worse one night out of every year, the anniversary of the unicorns disappearance. Soon the tribes came to call it the Nightmare Night. Parents would disguise their children and themselves in costumes on that night and leave piles of treats outside of their doors, hoping and praying to fool or please the monster. Many stayed up all night, waiting for the first rays of daylight to drive away the darkness that preyed upon their lives. For it was found strong light could drive the beast back, but not away...not for long. Only sunlight seemed to lay the creature to rest, only for her to rise again come the night.

Over the years this monster that had been a little girl seemed to delight in punishing all of ponykind. Those she could not devour, she tormented with mean spirited tricks and traps, often as deadly as an encounter with the monster itself.

Those houses that left out treats seemed to fare better, but none were spared her wrath. Perhaps she was merely playing with her food...as she was quick to follow ponykind to Equestria after it’s founding.

It wasn’t until the rise of the Pony Sisters that this creature was at last driven back permanently into the darkness. Luna, the Mare of the Moon, tracked down the beast and purified it with moonlight, making it fall dormant, in the dark of night just as it would in daylight. Thus, it was that the Candy Mare, as she was known, was rendered naught but candy. This Luna further purified and scattered.

So it is that we honor Luna on Nightmare Night by gathering treats in her name and offering them as tribute to she who saved us from the Night Mare, the Candy Mare. May this story be tribute to her throughout the ages. Leave you a few treats to be purified by the image of the Mare of the Moon. And may the Candy Mare never rise again.

“So the recipes-” began Scootaloo.

“Are a list of the different confections that Lemon Drop force fed his victims,” Twilight finished for her. “The story was vague on why the list was included, only to say that the creation of such treats are expressly forbidden. Apparently a large part of the reason for the tributes paid to Nightmare Moon were actually part of a purification ritual to render candy, all candy in Equestria, safe to eat.”

“Um...that’s not what Cheerilee taught us in school,” said Sweetie Belle, breaking the silence that followed the last of Twilight Sparkle’s words.
“That was one wild story Twilight. Do you really think the candy we made is...what...a recipe to make a monster?” said Scootaloo nervously, a disbelieving chuckle in her voice.

“I don’t know what I believe girls, but I know you’re in a lot of trouble, and we may be in even more trouble if we don’t do what the story suggests. There is a bit of residual magic around the statues of Nightmare Moo- I mean Luna. If it is some kind of purification spell from ancient times that clings to her image, then it won’t hurt to leave this ill gotten candy out there as tribute.” This was all that Twilight said before continuing to help Pinkie gather up all the treats Scootaloo had worked so hard to make.

For her part, Pinkie Pie already had on her scarf and two bulging burlap sacks strapped across her back. With a stern look, she was heading out the back door and towards the edge of the Ever Free Forest. Neither filly had ever seen such a severe look on the usually chipper ponies face. For the first time they grasped just how much trouble they were really in. There was no way they could possibly win their bet now.

“Have you noticed that its always kind of dark here?” asked Pinkie Pie in hushed tones as she and Twilight drew near the statue of Nightmare Moon. The trees seemed to shift back and forth against the purple hues of the oncoming twilight. Leaves danced gently between the two ponies, the harsh skittering sound of the playful wind putting the pair on edge.

“It’s just because the Ever Free Forest has such dense foliage. It absorbs much of the light from above, even though we’re only at its edge,” responded Twilight Sparkle, though a little less confidently than she normally would.

It was true that the forest was thick, even in autumn, but the sky above the statue always seemed to be choked with dark, forbidding clouds even when the rest of Equestria was enjoying a sunny day. There was an air of magic and gloom here that always seemed slightly out of place, save during the darkest of nights. Twilight Sparkle hadn’t thought about it before, but it did seem odd that there would be a statue to Nightmare Moon here. She was a creature whom many ponies had feared in the past, even when she was locked away as the Mare in the Moon. One would have thought such an image would have been torn down or replaced, not left to brood out in the middle of nowhere. And for such an old statue, there was no moss or vines growing on its surface. Indeed, the entire thing seemed to shimmer slightly in the dying rays of the setting sun.

“I dunno about all that Twilight. All I know is I want to get rid of this creepy candy and get back home. This place is giving me a bad case of the twitch’a’twitches.” Pinkie set down her bags of candy before the statue of Nightmare Moon and retreated out of the way so Twilight could do the same. It wasn’t until the unicorn had set her bag before the image of the Princess of the Night that the pink pony breathed a sigh of relief.

“Well...uh...I guess we better go give Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo a lecture,” said Twilight, a bit uncertainly. A slight shift in one of the sacks of candy caught her eye. It almost looked like something was moving inside the bag, but that was a silly idea. She was about to mention it to Pinkie when a sudden peal of thunder rumbled nearby. Looking up the pair of ponies noticed the sky was turning pitch black over the Ever Free Forest. The forest often had its own wild weather patterns, untamed by pegasi as the rest of Equestria’s weather was. It seemed that while Ponyville behind them was settling into a calm, if foggy night, the Ever Free Forest was in for a downpour. The wind began to howl mournfully around the statue of Nightmare Moon as forks of brilliant lightning licked over the sky in long, skeletal branches. The wind turned bitterly cold.

Pinkie Pie’s teeth started chattering like mad. “Uh, yeah, great idea Twilight! Lets get to lecturing!” The pink pony grabbed her friend suddenly and ran so fast from the small clearing that they were little more than a streak of pink and purple. Behind them the contents of the bags of candy shifted again.

Perhaps it was fortunate that the only ears present were made of stone, for the sound of childish laughter might have frozen the blood and stopped the heart of a more fleshly creature. A pale mist rose from the ground, and as it enveloped the clearing, the statue to Nightmare Moon was struck by a thick bolt of orange lightning. The statue was completely destroyed. Yet as the dust cleared, something stood motionless in the smoking crater that was left behind, surrounded by empty bags. Something that smiled.

"...hungry...."