“I can’t believe we have to tell Applebloom that we’ve been forbidden from trick or treating!” shouted Scootaloo in exasperation.

"Calm down Scootaloo, it's not so bad," comforted Sweetie Belle.

“It’s bad enough we have to help Spike pass out candy at the library, but I don't think I can handle seeing the look on Applebloom’s face when we tell her we can’t even collect a single piece of candy for ourselves.” Scootaloo propelled herself along the dirt road half halfheartedly on her scooter, the dejected look on her face mirrored by Sweetie Belle as she walked beside her. It was a strange picture on so sunny a day, especially as the pair were wearing costumes. Scootaloo was dressed up as Mare-Do-Well, though she wasn’t wearing the mask right now. Sweetie Belle was wearing a robot costume made out of the cardboard boxes Rarity’s material had come in. She’d made it herself and she would have worn it proudly if it weren’t for their current circumstances.

“At least we’ll be able to spend Nightmare Night together,” said the unicorn filly, trying to cheer up both herself and Scootaloo, unsuccessfully. Rarity had been pretty mad when she found out that the decorative delicacies she had crafted were not only made for the purposes of cheating on a bet, but were also from the recipe book of an apparent filly-napping murderer. “Look on the bright side. If we don’t collect any candy, then that means Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon won’t get any extra from us when they win the bet. We won’t have any candy of our own, but it’s only a couple of months until Hearths Warming. Then there will be loads of sweets and a nice long break from school so we don’t have to look at their smug faces!”

“I guess so,” said Scootaloo sulkily as they turned up the drive to Sweet Apple Acres. It was weird, after looking forward to this day for weeks with a mixture of anticipation and apprehension, to suddenly have Nightmare Night just be another school night. Thinking about it, she had to admit that she ought to be thankful they were still being allowed to participate in Nightmare Night at all. Neither Pinkie nor Twilight seemed to think that they needed to be that severely punished, but there was no way they were going to let them do anything that might let them win the bet now. They’d just have to sit back and take the teasing from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon yet again and enjoy what little of their Nightmare Night they could without trick or treating.

As they drew closer to the house, moving among the apple trees that were now stripped bare of their leaves, a wave of apprehension washed over the pair. Neither of them noticed it at first, but there were no birds singing, nor any squirrels darting about among the fallen leaves. Everything was still and there wasn’t even a breath of wind. The pair silently walked up to the front porch, neither realizing that they were holding their breath as they knocked at the front door. They stood there for a moment, fidgeting, their costumes suddenly hot and uncomfortable despite standing in the shade.

Finally Scootaloo lost her patience, “Applebloom! Applejack! Are you home!? We got something we need to tell you!” She pressed her ear to the slightly peeling wood, hoping to hear the sound of somepony coming to answer the door. She didn’t know why, but she’d even be happy if Granny Smith answered them at this point. “Where is everypony?”

“Maybe they’re all already in town?” thought Sweetie Belle aloud. A door slammed, causing the pair of fillies to jump as one. They whirled in time to see the door of the barn, not far from where they stood, swing inward on broken hinges. “Or maybe they’re in the barn?” The pair walked the short distance to the big building. A pile of ashes stood in front of the barn door. As they drew nearer to the dark portal of the open barn door, both fillies slowed. Bits of wood were scattered all around the threshold, and it was clear that something had severely damaged the barn. Neither filly seemed too thrilled with the idea of going inside.

“Hello?” tried Scootaloo. “Is anypony there?” All was silence for a moment. Just for a moment. Then a soft giggle, barely more than a whisper, seemed to drift from the darkness.

“Oh, hi girls, it's so good to see y’all! Whut brings y’all out this way?” The voice was Applejack’s. She sounded friendly, but the farm ponies voice was also distant and hollow. Almost as if she were at the back of a cave, not inside a barn. Something moved towards them from the shadows, but they couldn’t quite make out what.

“We were just coming to pick up Applebloom,” said Sweetie Belle. Something made her hold back from telling Applejack why.

“Well that’s alright. We were just finishing up with these delicious caramel apples! You two want to come inside and try a couple? I’d sure as shootin’ appreciate yer feedback on how they turned out!” There was an echo to Applejack’s voice as she moved closer. She was still just inside the barn and all they clearly make out was a pony in a hat.

“Nah that's okay,” Scootaloo said, edging away from the broken door. “We just want to grab Applebloom and get back to Ponyville. Where did you say she was?”

“Well like Ah said little missy, she’s in here with me. Here Ah’ll get her for ya! Applebloom, yer friends are here ta see ya!” Applejack turned and faded into the darkness. A few moments passed and another, much quieter voice drifted from the shadows.

“Hey girls, what’s up?” A filly’s face floated like a tiny moon, just barely moving into the light. The red bow in her hair was a dead give away though, even in the shadows

Sweetie Belle didn’t understand why, but both she and Scootaloo sighed with relief. “Not much Applebloom. But we’ve got some bad news. Pinkie Pie and Twilight figured out what we were doing.”

“They took away all the candy I made,” added Scootaloo.

“And they said as punishment we’re not allowed to go trick or treating tonight to get any candy for the bet,” finished Sweetie Belle.

“Yeah, we have to pass out candy with Spike at the library instead,” said Scootaloo making a face. “I hope your not too upset.”

“Why would Ah be upset?” asked the voice of their friend “We’ll get to hang out together all the same. So what if’n we can’t go trick or treatin’, we can fill up on some delicious caramel apples now and then eat up some more tasty treats later. Come on inside! The apples are absolutely delicious!”

Neither Scootaloo nor Sweetie Belle had expected this kind of reaction. Of the three of them, it was Applebloom that often took Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon’s teasing the most to heart. The candy had never really mattered to her, it was beating those two snobs that was her first priority. “Uh...that’s okay Applebloom,” said Sweetie Belle. “We really ought to get going. It’ll be sundown soon and we had best be at Twilight’s before it starts getting dark. She’ll be really mad if she thinks we’re trying to skip out on our punishment. Are you ready to go?”

Silence descended again, and for a moment neither of the girls knew if their friend was still there. Then Applebloom replied, “No, Ah’m not ready.” She paused again, and then quickly added, “Ah need help putting on my costume. Can you girls come in here and give me a helpin’ hoof? Then we can grab a few candy apples and be on our way.”

“Why don’t you just get Applejack to help you?” asked Scootaloo suddenly suspicious. Both she and Sweetie Belle had backed far away from the barn by now. “And why does your voice sound so weird?”

"What do you mean?” asked Applebloom, her voice barely more than a whisper. An echo of an echo.

“Why do you and your sister want us to come in there and eat candy apples?” whispered Sweetie Belle, her eyes locked on Applebloom’s face. Slowly that face rose, inch by inch, until it hovered high over the pair. It’s mouth hung open as it moved forward into the sunlight, exposing empty eye sockets and one flesh-less cheek. Dried blood was matted around its mouth and eyes, and something else. Something brown and shiny. Caramel.

“What’s the matter with you girls!? Don’t ya like apples!?” said Applebloom’s voice as her grotesque, severed head mimed the words. Piercing childlike laughter echoed inside the barn as the head shot out of the darkness and rolled at the fillies hooves. Both girls screamed, backing away from the horrible sight. “It doesn’t matter! It’s NIGHTMARE NIGHT! WHAT A FRIGHT!” howled many voices. They swiftly faded to a child’s whisper, the hushed tones of a promise, “Soon there will be so many...sweets...to...bite.”

The laughter and the image of Applebloom’s eyeless skull filled the fillies minds as they stumbled over their own hooves to get to Scootaloo’s scooter. They had to tell somepony. This horror was completely beyond them. There had to be an adult who would know what to do. Scootaloo might not have been much of a flier, but she could burn rubber, even with a friend holding tight to her waist. Tiny wings humming, she and Sweetie Belle were a blur as they roared down the road back to Ponyville, trying to outrun the setting sun and the memory of what they had just seen.

Twilight was squeezing into her Nightmare Night costume as the first trick or treaters knocked at her door. After her Star Swirl the Bearded costume fiasco last year, she’d decided to go for a more subdued outfit. With a pair of glasses she’d borrowed a few weeks ago from Granny Smith and a white lab coat, she had made herself a Mad Scientist with little trouble. It wasn’t an especially original costume, but it was better than wearing the frilly thing Rarity had tried to get her into. As she clipped her hair back into a conservative bun, the sound of the fillies and colts singing for treats downstairs almost broke her heart.

Yes, she and the others had decided that the Cutie Mark Crusaders would have to give up trick or treating for Nightmare Night as punishment for essentially stealing from her and Pinkie Pie both. Still, part of her thought it was a shame to take away such a fun activity, even from naughty fillies that deserved it. Maybe she would let them collect just a little candy, so long as they weren’t foalish enough to try and win the silly bet they had made. Everypony should have a little candy at Nightmare Night, after all. A commotion from downstairs almost made Twilight stab herself in the ear with a hair pin. She leaned over the railing to see Spike, dressed as a knight in shining armor, struggling with a hairy beast for possession of the candy dish.

“Pinkie Pie, are you crazy!?” yelled Twilight, when she realized the monster had a smiling pink face sitting in the middle of it’s mouth.

“Nah, I’m a puppy! Well, technically I guess I’m also hungry.” Pinkie, in her dog costume, looked down at the dazed and confused Spike who was sitting with a half empty candy dish. “Sorry Spike, I guess I got a little carried away. Just trying to stay in character! Ruff ruff!”

“The character of a dog?” asked Twilight.

“No, a puppy!” grinned Pinkie Pie wagging her tail back and forth as if for emphasis. “Hey, great Dentist costume Twilight! That will scare a few candy chomping trick or treaters for sure!”

“I’m a Mad Scientist.” said Twilight, putting a hoof to her forehead. Her plan to go for a simpler costume had backfired on her already.

“Oh no! Why are you mad? Is it because you’ve got a headache?” asked the Pinkie Puppy, tilting her head to one side. Just then, a screech filled the night followed by a cloud of dust that washed into the library. Spike, Twilight, Pinkie, and the other trick or treaters all descended into coughing fits.

“Wh-what’s going on?” demanded Twilight between coughs. Before she knew it, two fillies were hugging her tight. She almost broke loose of their grasp, but stopped when she realized it was Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Both of them were shivering as if it were the middle of winter. Something had scared the daylights out of them.

“Oh Twilight, it was horrible!” said Sweetie Belle between sobs, starting and stopping. Pinkie Pie and Twilight did their best to calm the girls down as the other children decided now might be a good time to move on to other houses. It took awhile, but slowly what remained of the Cutie Mark Crusaders related what had happened at Sweet Apple Acres to Pinkie and Twilight. Neither pony understood what the fillies were talking about...until Scootaloo told them about Applebloom’s half eaten head being hurled from inside the barn. Twilight couldn’t help but have flashbacks to the story of the Headless Horse. Pinkie Pie, on the other hoof, seemed to grasp what was going on right away.

“I thought the book said that if we took the candy to Nightmare Moon’s statue it would be purified? I mean that's what the tradition is all about right!?” All the puppyish playfulness had fled from the pink pony as she grabbed Twilight by her lab coat, desperate for some kind of confirmation.

“I don’t know! That's what it sounded like the story meant to me. Ancient pony purification rituals aren't exactly something I'm well versed in!” Part of her thought this must be some elaborate prank, or some kind of trick for the trio to get out of their punishment. However, the look on the terrified filly's faces told her otherwise. “I just don’t know Pinkie! I’ve studied magic, history, and science, but I never bothered with superstitions. I thought it was just stories, made up by ponies trying to scare each other or explain phenomena they didn’t understand. I didn’t think any of it was real!”

“Why did you help me take the candy to the statue if you didn’t think it would do anything!?” demanded Pinkie, starting to panic.

“I...thought it would make you feel better," Twilight offered lamely. "And it was a good excuse to confiscate the candy.” She admitted, blushing as she said it.

“Uh...guys...what’s going on?” asked Spike, completely lost as to what was going on.

“What’s going on? What’s going on!? I’ll tell you what’s going on! The thousand year old spirit of Nightmare Night is alive and its coming to gobble us up!” screamed Pinkie Pie, rising slightly into the air before landing, huffing and puffing from how bad she was worked up.
Spike just stared at her. then he started to laugh. “Hah! Good one Pinkie, you almost had me going!” Spike wiped a tear of laughter from his eyes, “Hey Twilight, I’m going to get some more candy from the kitchen. Somepony just cleaned me out.”

“Calm down Pinkie, you’re scaring the girls!” Twilight hugged Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle tight to try and reassure them. She wished someone could reassure her. “There’s got to be a logical explanation for this.”

“Sure Twilight, somepony chopped off Applebloom’s head and did a ventriloquist act with it for laughs.” Pinkie Pie said bitterly. She shook her head at how stubborn her friend was being. “I’m sorry, but we don’t have time to sit here while you try to come up with an explanation that makes sense to you. We’ve got to warn everypony to get off the streets and lock their doors. Nightmare Night is back, for real, and we’re the only ponies who can stop it!” Pinkie Pie turned and ran out the library, yelling at the top of her lungs for everypony to run for their lives. Everypony she ran past paused just long enough to laugh and then went right back to whatever they were doing. It wasn’t unusual to see Pinkie Pie running and screaming on Nightmare Night.

“What do we do Twilight? Should we try to warn everypony like Pinkie?” asked Scootaloo, looking up at the unicorn with soulful eyes.

"No, nopony would believe us given what night it is,” said Twilight, despairing. “But...maybe if we could convince somepony in authority. Like Mayor Mare! I bet she could get the word out. Once everypony knows what’s going on, I’m sure we can fix this!” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo smiled slightly. “Somehow...”

“Oh...my...Celestia! I can’t believe daddy dropped us off here to trick or treat!” Diamond Tiara was furious. It was bad enough daddy was actually making her collect her own candy this year, (Always before he’d have one of his underlings to do it for her.) but tonight he was making her go door to door at shops he did business with! These stupid little mom and pop shops were so cheap. They didn’t even have real candy on offer. If they had anything at all, it was the little lollipops or mints that they had year round for ponies who were shopping with their foals! She almost felt like ripping off her fairy princess costume, wings and all, and marching home.

“Calm down DeeTee. It’s only for a few hours and then we can head back to our side of town, like last year,” said Silver Spoon, trying to calm her down. She was also dressed as a fairy princess, however Diamond Tiara had convinced her to leave her wings at home. (They had been larger than Diamond Tiara's, and if she had to put up with trick or treating, she wasn’t about to have her friend strutting around in a better costume than her.) She let her keep her crown though, otherwise how would anypony know they were both princesses? “Then we can get all the candy we want and put those three little blank flanks in their place.”

“This is so tedious.” The furious filly wasn’t willing to be comforted just yet. "I mean, what was the point in getting daddy to buy all that candy for us if we still have to go door to door!?"

“Lets just get this over with,” Silver Spoon knocked at the door to Rarity’s Boutique. Many of the shops they’d been forced to visit so far had either been closed, or had somepony out front in a bad costume with a candy dish full of coupons. This was the first shop they’d actually had to knock at. They were about to turn to leave when a voice drifted from behind the door ~"Just one moment!"~ Diamond Tiara stamped her hooves and gave a little groan and Silver Spoon just shrugged; they waited.

A chill breeze swirled a few wisps of fog along the mostly deserted street. It had been so empty before, it was mildly surprising when they noticed another filly skipping toward them, dodging and weaving between the pools of light from the street lamps. There was the sound of the laughter of children on the wind. “Oh great,” thought the snobby fillies as one, “Company.” The other trick or treater drew closer, giggling the entire way as she skipped up the drive towards them. As she came into the half-light spilling from the windows of Rarity’s Boutique, both fillies took an involuntary step backwards. The newcomer was covered in candy, from her head to her hooves. Every last part of her had a shimmering shining wrapper or sparkly sugar coating. Even her mane and tail looked like they were made from red and black licorice. She came to a stop just inches from Silver Spoon and stared at her with wide eyes that were hidden behind some kind of lollipop swirl lenses.
“Nice costume,” said Diamond Tiara sarcastically, expertly turning fear into unreasonable hatred in an instant. “What are you supposed to be, a walking pile of garbage?” The strange filly grinned, baring long sharp teeth. Each tooth had the yellow, orange, and white pattern of a candy corn. As her grin grew her body seemed to grow to match her smile. She wasn’t a filly, she was a full grown pony. No, she was even bigger than that! She reared back on her hind hooves and suddenly reached out to grab them with front limbs that had magically sprouted claws! The long sharp shards, of what looked like peanut brittle, snatched them up and dug deep into Silver Spoon’s tender flesh as she was lifted into the air. Blood spurted all over her dress, ruining it as she shrieked from the pain. The wires of Diamond Tiara’s wings spared her this initial agony, at least. Unfortunately that just meant that, as Silver Spoon cut herself deeper and deeper writhing like a trapped animal, Diamond Tiara had an excellent view of what came next.

The Candy Mare’s grin grew so wide, it looked like it would split off the top of her head. With a snicker that slithered over her face, her maw shifted, flowing from her head. The orifice traveled down her neck and over the length of the forelimb that held Silver Spoon’s blood drenched form. The teeth slid over Silver Spoon's skin like a band saw, gouging deep bloody rivulets into what little flesh remained undamaged, sending up a pink mist as bits of meat fell in chips and pieces. The filly howled in pain and terror as she was literally eaten alive, the 'mouth' opening and closing around her body as it gobbled her down a bit at a time. Finally, the Candy Mare's hoof swelled into a giant grin and swallowed Silver Spoon's torso and still screaming head. It sent a gush of blood dribbling over the beasts candy form when the mouth shrunk back down and crushed the half eaten filly like a grape. The mouth burped and grinned wide as the empty hoof was turned toward Diamond Tiara. Then, in the fillies own voice, the mouth said, “Nice costume, nice costume, nice costume!” over and over, bloody claws twitching around the gore soaked maw.

Diamond Tiara tried to break the monsters grasp, tried with all her might, knowing in her heart she was too young and rich to die. Laughing, a second mouth opened in the palm of the hoof that held her, taking several bites out of the filly's back as she struggled and squealed, blood gushing from her as it had from her friend. Something gave way, at last, and she dropped from the monsters grasp! She thought she had done it, gotten away, managing to slip out of the blood soaked wire that had become her fairy wings. She was about to run as fast as her hooves could carry her when she noticed she wasn't standing on solid ground, but soft, spongy liquorice. The tendrils of candy wrapped around her like living things, and coiled tightly around her little body. She could feel the ends probing the bite wounds in her back, the tendrils forcing their way under her skin. She could feel as each strand painfully slithered back and forth inside her flesh, moving deep inside her, through muscle and down to bone. In the last moment before she was ripped to pieces, she couldn’t help but think, Thanks daddy. The Candy Mare only laughed harder, dancing in the shower of viscera as she tore the filly apart above her head, gobbling up the goblets of pony gore with many candy mouths opening and closing all over her body.

“Sorry that took so long,” said Rarity as she opened the door. “I just couldn’t let myself be seen without the proper accessories, and my spider silk chiffon wrap is just so hard to see once you’ve set it down.” Rarity looked around at the scene on her front stoop. The spider ornament clipped in her expertly styled mane was particularly fetching. “Oh my...I guess they lost interest. Too bad, I’ve got an entire bowl of marshmallow bats and so far nopony has had the patience to take one.” Rarity frowned slightly. She noticed a single, beautifully wrapped piece of candy sitting on her stoop. Usually trick or treaters took candy, they didn’t leave it. Still, it would be a shame to let it go to waste.

Looking back and forth up the road, she grabbed the candy with her magic, then turned and went back inside. She couldn’t see the lone trick or treater skipping merrily away in the thickening fog, nor the blood stains that trailed behind her as the street lamps flickered off one by one.

"Oh Mayor Mare, at last! I need to speak with you!” Twilight Sparkle had to yell to be heard over the thumping bass. The Ponyville costumed dance contest was in full swing, and the Mayor was sitting on stage watching everypony dance. Twilight wished they hadn’t gotten Vinyl Scratch, the famous DJ Pon-3, to MC for the celebration. The music was rattling the teeth in her skull, not to mention making it difficult to be heard.

“Good evening Miss Sparkle! What a lovely dentist costume!” said the mayor. She was dressed in the same clown outfit she wore last year. The rainbow wig hiding her hair, though her spectacles were still perched on her red clown nose.

“I’m not a...never mind! I have to speak with you, it’s extremely urgent!” Twilight leaned in as close as she could, both so she could be more easily heard and to keep anyone nearby from overhearing. Not that there was much risk of that. “There’s a killer on the loose and everypony needs to go home!”

“What!?” hollered back the Mayor, clearly not understanding. Perhaps not even really hearing. Was her wig covering up her ears?

“I said...” the unicorn took a deep breath and screamed, “THERE’S A KILLER ON THE LOOSE AND EVERYPONY NEEDS TO GO HOME NOW!” The music chose that precise moment to end. Everypony on the dance floor stopped in mid-step and stared up at the stage where the Mayor and Twilight stood. The ponies who’d been playing festival games, even the ones bobbing for apples, faces still dripping, stared as well. DJ Pon-3 herself pushed her glasses up, a stunned look in her crimson eyes. For her part, Mayor Mare looked completely dumbfounded. That was until the first wave of laughter started in the audience. Then more laughter, nervous at first, followed quickly by the Mayor’s own heartfelt guffaws.

“Twilight, what a marvelous Nightmare Night prank!” exclaimed the clown Mayor between heartfelt laughs, “It wouldn’t be funny otherwise, but I don’t think anypony expected it from you! Lets have a round of applause for Miss Sparkle!” The sound of stomping and laughter was thunderous as Twilight whirled back and forth, trying to make somepony listen. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo both were with her, shouting how it was true, how everypony had to listen. But the music had already restarted and their voices, as well as Twilight’s, were drowned out once more. They had missed their chance and ended up being dismissed just as Pinkie Pie had.

It might have ended there. Twilight could have given up and gone home with her head hung low. Or perhaps she could have had a stroke of genius and sent word to the Palace, to Celestia or Luna, to inform them about the terrible danger she feared they were in. Before any of those possibilities could come to pass, fog spilled into the center of town, dampening the light of the stars and choking the harvest moon. It crept in slowly at first, its tendrils muffling the distant delighted screams of trick or treaters. As the mist sleeted through the crowd, every electric light on the string of pumpkin lights that decorated the dance floor died, one by one. When the music suddenly cut off, the silence was immediately filled by the sound of a disappointed and confused crowd. The full moon rode fat in the sky above, its glow suffusing the scene in orange light. Nopony heard the laughter at first. Nopony, that is, but Twilight and the two fillies that had heard it before. It was quiet, but it had a way of worming into your soul.

At last, there she was, standing just inside the thickest part of the mists. Death smiling so happily, she seemed fit to burst! The Candy Mare grinned like a skull stripped of its flesh, her candy body glistening in the moonlight, already soaked from head to hoof in blood. Her mane, licorice whips, writhed like a nest of serpents. Sharp, jagged chunks of candy unsheathed all over her body like curling horns and claws. Tiny mouths opened and closed all over her form, issuing the sounds of childish mirth in a ceaseless babbel. As the the laughter seeped into every heart like ice water, it suddenly changed. Music returned to the town square as each tiny mouth sang in many voice: “Nightmare Night! Oh what a fright! Give us something sweet to bite! Poison, drowning, claw, or knife. So many ways to take your life!”
By this point even the dullest of the crowd had a good look at the mare made of candy. They took in the multiple mouths singing all over the creatures body, the blood stained teeth and claws, and the look of pure madness in her candy eyes. It was almost enough to start a panic, but there were still those waiting for the joke. Nightmare Night had never been this frightening. Surely this was just some magic trick at play.

A single tendril of liquorice reached out and snatched up a cute little colt. Was his name Pipsqueak? With a flick of a candy claw it was impossible to tell. His flesh was unzipped from his belly to his throat and in a single swift motion, his hide was torn from his flesh, leaving only meat on his tiny bones as his guts splattered on the dance floor. He twitched and squealed in agony, feeling the cold autumn air stabbing him from all sides like knives. The brain inside his fragile skull went into blessed shock rather than deal with the pain. Fortunate, as the Candy Mare chose that moment to hold his dripping form over her eager mouth. She began by slowly sucking the meat off his bones, showing every sign of relishing the taste, before worrying the tiny coil of intestines that spilled from his abdomen.

At a certain point, a sufficiently large gathering stops being a group of individuals and becomes a single, complex organism. Crowds are like that. A perfectly calm, rational being in other circumstances, can become a frothing hate monger in the wrong company, without ever really realizing it. Other times an individual who would otherwise be outgoing, and the life of a party, can become somber and morose in a gathering of mourning individuals. This effect varies in strength of course. Sometimes the organism is lethargic, others it is almost painfully alert. A crowd can be slow to action, and then there are other times when the mood can switch in an instant. In this instance, the panic was immediate. An ancient fear gripped the crowd in talons of pure terror, and more than a little madness entered every eye, as the crowd began to stampede.

Ponies ran in every direction, trying futilely to get as far away from the monster that had come into their midst as possible. They trampled one another in their attempts to flee. As the decorations and festival stands were knocked over, more and more ponies became tangled up in the wreckage, or were literally crushed beneath the hooves of those who were trying to clamber over their prone forms. More and more of them became easy prey. From up on the stage, Twilight could see that many citizens were stomping one another to death in their struggle to escape from a fate they had never imagined. They killed one another in their eagerness to stay alive.

It was a scene out of a nightmare as the creature with the candy corn grin went to work. A group of ponies found their heads forced down into the tubs for the apple bobbing, licorice whips wrapped tight around their necks. Their bodies spasmed and thrashed as they drowned, their hooves still on dry land. Others, less fortunate, were being corralled into mouths that gaped all over the Candy Mare by long arms of living candy covered in snapping and flashing claws. Some ponies were torn to pieces before being gobbled, while others were swallowed whole. The least fortunate were those who found themselves at the mercy of whirring saw like structures of candy corn teeth. Bit's and pieces of their bodies littered the dance floor as they tried desperately to drag themselves away, abandoning their amputated limbs, some having only their torso's for locomotion. It wasn’t long until blood didn't just smear the dance floor, but actively began to puddle, then to flood. All was confusion as ponies slipped and slid in the darkness and fog. Twilight turned to the Mayor. Mayor Mare’s face had gone pale beneath her makeup and her eyes held the distant look of somepony in a trance. Perhaps she had been driven mad. There would be no help there.

They didn’t deserve this, the citizens of Ponyville. Somepony had to stop this now. Twilight leapt from the stage, her horn blazing with magic that lit the scene from hell in violet hues. “Stop right there you monster!” She yelled. “I won’t let you harm another pony!” Her rage and desperation were tempered by shock. To her surprise, the Candy Mare had indeed ceased her slaughter upon hearing her words. Her living candy mane slithered back to hang lifelessly from her skull. Her claws retracted and she visibly seemed to shrink. Even her mouth behaved, slithering back into place on her face, though it remained locked in a manic grin. Many ponies took advantage of the lull in the chaos to make their escape, while others were either too badly injured, stunned, or dead to move.

“A unicorn.” The monster whispered in a single tiny voice, sharp teeth clipping each word. “I used to love unicorns, ever so much. They were glorious...they could do anything! I wanted to see them. I wanted to know them. I wanted to be like them!” Was that remorse in that tiny voice? "And now I am!" With a gush of blood and madness from hundreds of tiny mouths, the Candy Mare's entire body morphed into a wall of claw covered candy tendrils that surged toward Twilight Sparkle.

Without a moment to spare, Twilight used her magic to fling a table in the oncoming creatures path. Smashed to splinters, the Candy Mare barely paused as she destroyed the impediment. However, Twilight had bought herself a few precious seconds to mount a better defense. The wave of death crashed against a magical bubble Twilight had hastily erected, the barrier blowing the questing tentacles into individual pieces of candy. A single clawed arm pierced the magic shell, slicing open Twilight’s cheek, but that was the extent of her injury before the arm exploded within the magical field. The monster roared in pain and outrage. Twilight merely lowered her horn and began to pick the creature apart, bit by bit, tearing huge hunks of candy from the beast. The Candy Mare reeled from the attack, staggering back, trying to move out of range of the unicorn's spells. Twilight paused when she realized the monster was sobbing. Wings and tendrils sprouted from her form, ripping not at pony flesh but at the air and earth. The injured candy pony was actually trying to flee!

“Don’t let it escape! If we don’t stop it here, it will haunt the dark places of Equestria, growing stronger, and come back again next year! Somepony, anypony, use your magic to help me end her now!” Vinyl Scratch was the first unicorn to join in the attack, her horn gleaming. Lyra, and a few other unicorns who were in the crowd, quickly followed suit. The Candy Mare rallied, sending out another clawed appendage that flayed open one of Lyra's legs, but didn't have enough force behind it to do any real damage. The unicorns focused their magic and began to blast and rip masses of sweets away. They were literally taking the candy pony apart, piece by piece, weakening her until all she could manage was to writhe in an angry ball. By the time it was over, there was almost nothing left of the once terrifying monster. As the fog began to clear and the stars once again graced the night sky, a small, still form shivered and pulsed amid the scattered candy and pools of blood.

“This is the second time a unicorn has tried to killed me," croaked a voice just on the edge of hearing. The shriveled creature, filly sized, chunks of candy falling from her body, rose to its hooves. "He smelled a lot like you.” This seemed to be addressed to Twilight herself. The Candy Mare's words quivered, but not with anger as one would expect. Rather her voice had the real fear of a child at their core. One who should have been dead a long time ago. “He had so much power! I'm not sure there was anything he couldn't do. But he didn’t know how to use it. He didn’t know how to make friends. All he knew how to do was take. So he took what he needed from others." The Candy Mare really did look just like a filly now, one that was nothing but skin and bones, it's face in shadow. "Their friendship, their families, their lives. He just took and took and took. He never gave.” The candy filly moved in a series of jerks, as if she couldn’t make her limbs obey her anymore. The tenor of her voice changed. “But I learned to take as well, I did...and the first thing I took was his wretched life! I’ve been taking life, after life, after life, for thousands of years. So many sweets, even your Princess of the Night could only put me to sleep. She couldn’t stop me. You think you can do better? I have a question for you...all of you!” What was left of her continued to shrivel and peel away, collapsing on itself. The Candy Mare lifted her face to Twilight Sparkle, little more than an empty eyed skull, and grinned hugely as she hissed, “Trick or Treat?”

At the question, a wave of darkness lifted up the skull and sent it screaming through the air, trailing wisps of greenish fog behind it, aimed straight for Twilight’s face. She had no time to dodge or craft a counter spell. Closing her eyes against the maw of teeth that filled her vision, she braced herself for the pain of their bite. It was a pain that never came. A sound like a flower pot being smashed to pieces echoed in her ears. As she opened her eyes, she found Pinkie Pie standing over the shattered skull. Apparently, at the last moment, she had leaped out and smashed the howling skull into the earth. Pinkie ground one part beneath her hooves, gummy brains splattering her legs.

“So that part was made of sugar too,” mused the pink pony absently. “She’s kind of like a pinata. Well, if a pinata could haunt the darkness for thousands of years and prey on the flesh of the living.” She smiled grimly at Twilight. “It’s not over you know.” As she said this, Twilight could see that her friend spoke the truth. Bits of candy were rolling around the dance floor, trying to reform. A hoof was taking shape here, an ear over there. Even the sugar skull was trying to piece itself back together, one fragment at a time. Pinkie Pie took a deep breath, and then exhaled before saying, “There’s only one way to get rid of candy on Nightmare Night.”

To Twilight’s horror, Pinkie Pie put her head down into the mud and blood...and started to eat. The candy crunched loudly between her teeth, but once she’d swallowed it down, the other bits of living candy seemed to slow. Other ponies joined in, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle especially, eating up as much candy as they could find. Twilight felt a wave of revulsion as ponies ate sweets that still had bits of their friends stuck to them. Everypony seemed to understand that even the most contaminated pieces had to be eaten if they were going to put a stop to the Candy Mare. Swallowing her gorge, Twilight found a piece of slightly less blood soaked candy and did her best not to vomit as she joined in. The taste of blood and chocolate mixed disgustingly on her palate.

As the fog cleared completely and the moon started to sink toward the horizon, the town square was filled with the sounds of ponies sobbing...and eating.