“Just do it, don’t be such a wimp!”

“I’m not sure if I can, though!”

Scootaloo facehoofed. “Look. Don’t you really want it? It’s not like you have enough bits to get it yourself. Just run in there, grab the goods, and run out.”

Sweetie Belle was wringing her hooves. “But I don’t want to be a crook! I can’t steal anything, even if it’s only a candy bar.”

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Look, Sweetie, you’re not gonna get caught. Besides, it’s just one little candy bar, no harm to it. Bon Bon won’t even miss it.”

Sweetie Belle gave her pegasus friend a reproachful look. Scootaloo slid up to her, and whispered in the unicorn’s ear, “Who’s the chicken now, huh?”

Sweetie Belle gave her friend a bit of an angry look, and slowly entered Bon Bon’s Candy Emporium. Walking in, she took a look around at all the hard candies and chocolates that were on display, before her young eyes fell on the candy she desired so much: a chocolate bar.

But this was no ordinary chocolate bar! This was, in fact, a bar of chocolate, completely ordinary and made of 100% chocolate. Yet, that was what made it so extraordinary! Most chocolates were around 78% chocolate, with the other 22% comprising of a mixture of earwig wax and bean paste.

Sweetie Belle could already feel herself salivating in anticipation just by looking at the delicious chocolate. Slowly walking over, she made sure that Bon Bon was busy before she carried out the heist. Seeing that the candy maker’s back was indeed turned, Sweetie Belle slid in and went to her prize. The chocolate bar sat there, like some sort of inanimate object. This was good; it wouldn’t try and make a break for it.

Grabbing it in her mouth, Sweetie Belle skedaddled her little rump out of the shop as fast as she could, chocolate bar in mouth. Scootaloo, who was waiting on the other side of the street, cheered her on as she shot out of the candy shop with the stollen goods. Her orange friend continued to cheer her on, until Sweetie Belle was hit by a runaway carriage that was careening down the road, where at that point the cheer turned to gasps of terror.

Sweetie Belle was catapulted off the ground, achieving sick air that Scootaloo would never get with her shrimpy, deformed wings. The unicorn flew gracefully for a ful four seconds before smashing into a very hard wall.

Scootaloo scampered to Sweetie’s side. “Are you okay?” she asked frantically at the pile of rubble.

There was a groan, and Sweetie slowly emerged, the bar of chocolate somehow unharmed. Scootaloo’s face broke out into a smile. “Oh, thank Celestia you’re okay! For a second there, I thought you were a goner for sure!”

Sweetie rubbed her pounding head. “Yeah, I think I’m okay... and look! My chocolate’s fine too!”

As the two friends celebrated, neither of them noticed that Sweetie’s impact had knocked a rather large brick loose from the wall. By rather large, I mean rather large. This thing was almost as big as Sweetie Belle’s body. So it was only to be expected when it slid loose, fell gracefully through the air, and crushed Sweetie Belle’s head, pulverizing it completely.

The brick did a good job of the pulverization, too. It clonked the poor unicorn right in the back of her noggin, forcing her face to the floor. From there, the weight and velocity of the brick crushed her head open like an overripe melon, causing blood, bits of gore, and chunks of brain to fly out in several direction from the force of impact. Scootaloo herself was covered in the splatter.

“IT GOT IN MY MOUTH!” Scootaloo screamed in horror. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH— hey, this tastes kinda good!” Scootaloo chewed on the bit of brain that had ended up on her tongue. It tasted a bit irony (most likely from the blood), but it was chewy and somewhat sweet, like taffy. She scooped up a bit more of the brain/gore mixture and chewed some more, a content smile on her face.

Looking down, she came to her senses and resumed freaking out about her friend’s death. “Oh gosh, oh gosh, what do I do...” she stuttered in panic, stopping to take another bite of the brain. Quickly dropping it, she spit out the bits in her mouth and started rubbing her tongue against the dirt to get any more remnants out.

She couldn’t stay away for long though, and was soon eating up the pieces she had spit out. After carefully gathering as much of the gore as she could, she began to think about what needed to happen next.

“Okay... how I do I explain this... how do I explain this...” the little pegasus fretted, trotting back and forth, occasionally stopping to nibble on some brain. “Who do I go to? Rarity? Twilight? The mayor? The hospital? Oh, I just don’t—” she took another bite of brain, enjoying the savory taste. “Oh wow. That’s good.”

Scootaloo well beside her headless friend. “Oh, crap... I’m sorry, Sweetie. If I had never pressured you into stealing this candy bar, this would have never happened!” In her remorse, she almost stopped eating the brain pieces.

“Then again...” Scootaloo pondered for a moment. “If you hadn’t died, I would have never discovered this tasty treat!” She gobbled up another piece, and licked some of the blood from her hooves. Eyes widening in disgust and sorrow, she began to sob.

“I’m so sorry, Sweetie! Your brain is just so delicious I can’t help myself...” Slumping over the brick that had done her in, she let loose a little whimper. “At least you're in a better place...”

“WHAT IS THIS NIGHTMARISH PLACE‽” Sweetie screamed in fear, looking around at her new surroundings. She was in a large system of caverns, with dull black-red rocks comprising of the walls, ceilings, and ground. A smell of brimstone and sulfur pervaded the air, and Slayer’s Greatest Songs To Fall Asleep To played jovially in the background.

“You’re in hell, my little filly!” came a evil, high pitched voice. Sweetie Belle turned around to see a unicorn made of lava and obsidian walking towards her. Shrinking back in fear, Sweetie Belle fell to the cave floor and curled up in a ball. “Or rather, you ponies call it Tartarus. Not that it matters, you’re in a bad place all the same.”

Sweetie shot looks all around her, still shaking in fear. “W-why am I here?”

The lavacorn laughed a hideous laugh, sounding of steam and rocks being crushed together. “Why, because you died of course! And you’ve ben a bad little filly, so they shipped you off straight to hell! They being the eternal judges of life and death, of course.”

Sweetie Belle was now even more confused. “Eternal judges of life and death? What?”

“Right, they blanked your memory after that, but once you die, you’re sent to a courtroom to be judged. If you were sinful, you get sent to hell, or ‘Tartarus’. Since you sinned, you’re here!” the obsidian pony recounted in hellish glee.

“But I’ve always been as good as I could be! I’ve never sinned, at least, not that I can... oh, was it the time we were trying to be Cutie Mark Crusader Bible Burners?”

The lavacorn shook his head. “No, but you were pushing the envelope with that one. What really set you over was... stealing that bar of chocolate!”

Sweetie Belle’s mouth dropped open. “What?”

The hell guardian nodded. “Yes indeed. Doesn’t matter if you steal a candy bar or murder your way through a class of first graders, a sin’s a sin.” Trotting over to a nearby rock leaning against the wall, he shoved it out of the way. A blast of hot air washed over the two of them, and the screams of the tortured soon followed. Sweetie recoiled in fear once more.

“I’m Mephistopheles, by the way,” the lavacorn extended a hoof to Sweetie Belle, who shook it. It was very warm, but not burning.

“I’m Sweetie Belle.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Mephistopheles said, before picking her up and chucking her into the gateway. “Enjoy your eternity in hell!"