Something Sweet to Bite: A New Generation

"And the music fills and fills; Terrifies, horrifies, forever scares. The children of the night, what music we make!" - Roky Erickson

An ear-piercing shriek shattered the relative silence of the Crystal Brighthouse, rattling the windows in their frames and causing the very floor to shake! Sunny, Izzy, and Pipp all hugged each other tightly and screamed again before the echoes of their prior terror truly had the chance to entirely fade away. From the way they were acting, one could be forgiven for thinking they were watching the scariest horror movie ever committed to film. However, the movie being projected onto the wall of their bedroom really wasn't all that frightening as far as Zipp could tell, but the girls were hamming it up and playing along with each other, making a bonding experience out of pretending to be scared.

Zipp couldn't help rolling her eyes. The elder Pegasus princess lay across her bed, her head propped up by one hoof while she ate another hoof-full of ponycorn with the other, clearly bored and less than impressed with the other mare's shenanigans. Her three friends were too engrossed to notice the young mare's apathy, eyes glued to the screen in anticipation of the next jump-scare to react to. Or more precisely the next opportunity to scream as loud as they could. It had been like this for the past half hour or so and Zipp was starting to get a headache.

They were at a scene where a little colt carrying a pumpkin was coming home from school when three older fillies suddenly tripped him. They started chanting “She’s gonna get you, she’s gonna get you, she’s gonna get you!” The biggest and snottiest bully then added in a sing song voice, “~The Candy Mare is coming!~”

The colt defiantly shouted back, “No she’s not! She's not even real! Leave me alone!” Before trying to salvage the now somewhat squashed remains of his tiny pumpkin.

“He doesn’t believe us. Don’t you know what happens on Nightmare Night?” asked one of the children, snidely.

“Yeah, we get candy!” The kid shot back, although now he sounded a little doubtful.

That just made his trio of tormentors dissolve into a fit of cruel giggles as they chanted ‘The Candy Mare, the Candy Mare, the Candy Mare’ over and over again as if it was the most entertaining thing in the world.

As the poor little colt finally got to his hooves and was able to scramble away from the triad of persecutors there was a dramatic sting in the movies musical score just as he bumped into who, the audience is supposed to think, is the killer. Sunny, Izzy, and Pipp all shrieked again, but nothing much else really happened in the film. It was one of those slow burn, atmospheric type affairs, where it was mostly dramatic first person shots from the killers perspective as they stalked their victims. If maybe Zipp was watching it alone she might even have been drawn in by the cinematography, but with her friends wailing like banshees at every jump-scare she found it increasingly hard to maintain any kind of focus.

To be fair it wasm't just her friends melodramatic over-acting, but the actors as well. Even that Zipp might have forgiven if the effects weren't so cheap and obviously fake. Normally a run of the mill slasher being on the cheap side wouldn't be a deal breaker, but it was hard to take some random pony in a spooky mask seriously as some sort of quasi-supernatural entity. Maybe that was the point? It was probably going to turn out the slasher’s true identity was just an ex-coltfriend or a filly-hood enemy that had inexplicably ‘gone crazy’ after some ridiculously contrived childhood trauma. That was usually how these things went.

Zipp tended to go for more psychological thrillers or cerebral' who-dun-it?' style pictures, so she got very little out of these sort of more pedestrian plot-lines. But Sunny liked these simple films because they were predictable. It made them feel safer, almost comfortable, as opposed to something with a more complicated script. Being so over-the-top was also a plus since that made them less realistic. If somepony made the argument that something in a horror movie like this 'couldn't really happen' to Sunny, she'd just enthusiastically agree and say how great she thought that was. Which she did kind of have a point. Even if something similar were to happen in real life, you'd never be so dumb as to make all of the awful decisions and obvious mistakes as the cast of hapless victims had. Ponies were a lot smarter than that, even teen-aged ones. Zipp didn't mind indulging Sunny's guilty pleasure but, when she was the only one not enjoying herself, she felt a little put out.

Noticing her bowl of pony-corn was down to a few un-popped kernels, Zipp gave a long luxurious stretch and said, "Hey, I'm going on a snack run, any pony-else want anything?" Yeah, play it cool, but it was definitely time for a break from all the screaming.

Izzy paused the movie, "Nah, I'm good, I've got everything I need right here!" Izzy wrapped her arms around a pile of trick or treat candy that was nearly as tall as she was.

"I don't see how you two can eat all that junk," glowered Pipp, taking advantage of the break in the movie to update her PonyGram with a quick selfie of her making a shocked face and pointing a hoof at the still frame of the film - '#Candymare #Terrifying #screamqueen #PippSqueaksWatchAlongandReviewComingSoon'. "You know it's all just going to go to your flanks. It's not like you won't have plenty of fattening foods to look forward to during Harvest & Hugs Day and Winter Wishday."

"There's something special about Nightmare Night treats though, right?" asked Sunny rhetorically, tossing a piece of taffy into the air and catching between her teeth before gobbling it down. " Like there's something almost magical about it! All the running around you have to do, going from door to door to collect it all, it makes it feel like a prize! Besides, with all that trotting through the streets I bet we burned more calories than Izzy and Zipp could pack on eating a few snacks before bed."

"Well, when you put it that way, could you bring me back a slice of carrot cake Zipp? I wouldn't mind something sweet but I'm burnt out on candy," asked Pipp, although before her sister could respond she got a mischievous look in her eyes, "That is, if you don't get lost in Hitch's eyes on your way back."

"What's that supposed to mean?" challenged Zipp, defensively. Leave it to Pipp to guess that she might have an ulterior motive for checking out of the horror movie. It would be nice if Hitch changed his mind and joined them so she could maybe have someone to pick the thing apart with, but that didn't make her little sister's implications justified."You know we're just friends. We're all just friends!"

"Uh-huh. I saw you two dancing at Mane Melody tonight," replied the younger Pegasus suggestively, fluffing her wings up with a grin. "Seemed like you were being very friendly to me."

"We were all dancing with him!" cried out the Zipp, exasperated. "You were dancing too!"

"Suuure," retorted Pipp, either not buying it or pretending not to so as to get under Zipp's skin. "A little sister can tell, you know."

"Pfft! Yeah right! Shut up!"exclaimed Zipp blushing ever so slightly, finally catching on that Pipp was just trying to wind her up. She playfully tossed her remaining ponycorn at her sibling in retaliation, before taking to her wings and heading downstairs. She called back "Just for that, no cake for you. If you want it, you can get off your flanks and come get it yourself!"

"Ugh, but that would mean getting off the floor, and getting on my hooves, and going down all those stairs," whined the pudgy pink Pegasus, flailing her limbs pathetically, trying fruitlessly to appeal for sympathy.

"Couldn't you just fly down there, like Zipp?" asked Izzy, tilting her head to the side quizzically.

"It's the principle of the thing," responded Pipp, folding her forelimbs against her chest and pouting.

"Well, if we're taking a break then I think I'm going to take the opportunity to visit the little filly's room," informed Sunny, standing up and stretching her limbs as she excused herself to take advantage of the facilities. "Don't restart the film without me. It's getting to the good part and I can't wait to see how you girls react!"

"Okie-dokie, hurry back!" replied Izzy cheerfully.

Once Sunny was out of the room, silence reigned.

It wasn't that Izzy and Pipp didn't get along, but rather that they were very rarely left alone with just each other for company. While they were both very similar in that they were both artistic ponies, in their own way, they contrasted in that Izzy often had her head in the clouds while Pipp tended had her eyes glued to her smart phone. The two got along just fine so long as they were on the same page but starting a conversation could be a little tough, especially since growing up in Bridlewood verses growing up in Zephyr Heights left them without many shared interests.

"So... What's your favorite Nightmare Night candy?" asked Izzy nonchalantly as she ate a hoof-full of gum drops, trying to break the ice. It wasn't that the Unicorn didn't care, she was actually super excited to hear Pipp's reply, but she was learning that sometimes if she was too enthusiastic about seemingly mundane things it made other ponies uncomfortable. Izzy didn't want to be off-putting. She needn't have worried.

"Oh my gosh! I don't think I could pick just one, you know? I mean I love all things chocolate, but then fruit flavored gummies are really good too!" was the he Pegasus pop-stars avid reply, Pipp exhibiting plenty of ardor for the subject. "Yeah, I can't decide. How about you, what's your favorite?

"Rock candy," answered Izzy slightly before her friend was finished asking. "I just love looking at it and touching it and the way it crunches up between your teeth! They don't seem to really pass it out for Nightmare Night all that much in Maretime Bay though. It's mostly toffee apples and caramelized carrots around here. Which is fine, but..."

"But you kind of miss the treats you got when you were trick or treating in Bridlewood." finished Pipp for her, understanding all too well how she felt. "I know what you mean. I guess they've never heard of candy corn outside of Zephyr Heights."

"Oh no, we have that, but it's not my favorite," admitted Izzy, making a face. "It tastes like earwax."

"How do you know what earwax tastes like?" asked Pipp, intrigued.

"Uh, actually it's not just the candy that's different," the Unicorn quickly changed the subject. She glanced around the room, making sure a certain somepony hadn't come back yet. "The decorations are sort of... Creepy? But creepy for the wrong reasons? Not 'spooky' creepy, more kind of 'insensitive' creepy. It makes me a little uncomfortable."

Pipp arced an eyebrow and point blank asked, "You're talking about the spooky Pegasus and Unicorn silhouettes aren't you?" Izzy just silently nodded. Pipp and Zipp had noticed them too, but just put them down to old habits dying hard. It wasn't that long ago that each of the three tribes had feared the others to some extent. There was bound to be some leftover rough edges to polish. Even so... "I get that they're traditional for Maretime Bay, and that a lot of Earth Ponies are still a little nervous about the idea of Pegasi and Unicorn's having our magic back, but you'd think they'd realize it's kind of in poor taste. I mean with us living here together with them and everything now, you'd think they'd realize we're not scary monsters out to melt their brains or whatever."

"I don't mind the ones in town so much, but..." Izzy trailed off. Then she pointed to one of the windows where two such spooky silhouettes still hung. To be fair, they were alongside a traditional silhouette of an ancient Alicorn known as Nightmare Moon that Sunny had put up, but that didn't make them any less unnerving. "Sleeping in the same room with them has been kind of rough."

"I totally understand. You know... Nightmare Night is almost over," Pipp said thoughtfully. She quickly spread her wings and rose from the floor to fly over to the window and the offending decorations. "Why don't we just go ahead and get rid of these? There's really no point having them hung up anymore anyways. Who, aside from us, will even see them way out here?"

"No don't!" exclaimed Izzy suddenly, loud enough to startle Pipp and stop her in the mid-peel of one of the decals. Her friend sounded truly panicked.

"Why not?" asked Pipp, confused. "I don't like them anymore than you do and I don't think Sunny will really care so long as we explain to her that they were bothering us."

"But that would be jinxy!" declared Izzy, as if the answer were obvious. "Nightmare Night has rules! Old rules meant to protect us ponies! There are things that can creep and crawl out of the dark on the spookiest night of the year, so we keep to the traditions passed down by our ancestors."

Understanding dawned on the young Pegasus Princess, "Oh, you mean like wear a costume, pass out candy, and never blow out a jack-o-lantern, right?"

"Yes, those are some of the rules. You should also always check your candy, always respect the dead, never intentionally hurt the innocent, and..." the Unicorn stood for emphasis, her horn lighting up as she used her sparkle to smooth the half peeled decal back against the pane of glass, "Never take down your decorations early!"

"It's just one decoration though! It's not like we're going to take down all of them. After all, these things are hardly traditional Nightmare Night decorations anyways! They're just painful reminders of the past when Earth Ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns were still divided. Besides" Pipp put her hooves against the glass once more and peeled both the decals off in one single swift motion. "What's the worst that can happen?"

Somepony hurtled into the wall right beside Pipp, impacting right in the middle of the horror film projection! Blood splattered everywhere as both Pipp and Izzy screamed in shock and surprise! The pony had hit the wall with such force that cracks radiated outwards across the surface. While such an impact would probably have shattered every bone in their body, on top of that they had also already been severely mutilated. Gashes crisscrossed all over their body rendering them almost entirely unrecognizable as they slowly slid down, leaving a bloody smear down the wall, and landed on the floor with a sickening thud.

It was with deepening fright that Izzy and Pipp realized that this pony's flesh had been picked apart and partially eaten. Each limb, including their wings, were left hanging in useless crippled tatters. Thin bloody strips of meat and sinew just barely hid the exposed bone that gleamed white and yellow beneath. The victim's back looked like it had been broken and twisted around on itself like a pretzel. There were multiple shallow, oozing wounds all over their chest and abdomen as well. The ruin spread all the way from her throat down between her legs to their tail, which had been ripped out at the root! The flesh on the pony's head, which had been neatly peeled back, as if with a slow and steady knife exposing the raw red skull underneath, had only a few scraps of blue and pink mane still attached. The eye lids were left undisturbed and were closed tight, making the faceless abomination look almost peaceful, as if they were sleeping rather than lying broken and dead.

But that wasn't what caused Pipp's stomach to churn and open into a pit of horror. No, as severe as the damage was and as heartbreaking as it might have been to see such carnage wrought on some unknown pony, there was worse to come. For it was when the ghoulish cadaver of a pony opened her eyes and started to weakly move her unusable limbs that Pipp and Izzy both realized that they were not looking at a corpse at all!

This pony was still alive!

"Pipp... Pipp is that you?" the apparition asked weakly in a feminine voice that was ill matched to her blood dripping features.

In that moment, Pipp's terror truly blossomed, for she realized this grizzly marionette that only barely resembled a pony anymore was in fact her own sister. The pop-star opened her mouth to scream, but no sound would come. Her throat constricted shut on he vocal cords preventing more than a high hissing sound like steam escaping a tea kettle to escape from her mouth. Even with her voice gone she still tried to scream over and over again as her wings gave out and she fell to the floor beside her sister, bent double with grief and horror as she stared at the ruin that had been made of Zephyrina Storm.

Izzy bent double as well, although hers was more from hysterical nausea than grief. The Unicorn's gagging and dry heaving were the only sounds for the moment as she reeled and swayed, hooves trembling. At last she puked, a gout of vomit erupting from Izzy's throat which splattered the bedroom with a putrid mix of half digested gum drops, fruit, and yellow bile. The sour smelling stomach acid pooled in a watery little puddle that stretched towards Zipp's flayed body. It met and mixed into the blood that slowly oozed from the young mare's many injuries, forming a strange swirled pattern of filth on the floor. Another heave from Izzy and a fresh spray of throw-up doused both Pipp and Zipp before Izzy could turn her head away. Pipp groaned and desperately tore the sheets from her bed in a attempt to wipe the filth off of her big sister. All she succeeded in doing was smearing the mess even more, ruining her sheets and rubbing the vomit into Zipp's wounds. This just caused the already clearly agonized Pegasus to cry out in fresh pain at the touch of the cotton sheets and the burning bile.

"Don't... Don't bother with me." pleaded Zipp feebly. She tried to lift her forelimbs in protest but the tendons had been severed in multiple places, so all she could manage was to awkwardly wiggle them against Pipp's chest. "I'm done for... You have to run! Get out! Get help..."

"H-help...? Help? I need to get help?" Pipp croaked as her voice shakily returned to her, hot tears rolling down her chubby cheeks. She stared blankly at Zipp for a moment as if she were having a hard time processing her sister's words. Then something finally clicked and the younger Pegasi's eyes darted from her Zipp to her smart phone. "You're right, I need to get help! I have to call for help!"

Scooping up her fallen phone, Pipp tapped away frantically, trying to remember the number for 9-1-1 (it was nine-one-one). In that moment it did not occur to her that Hitch was the only law enforcement officer in Maretime Bay. She didn't think about how moments ago they were thinking that he might still be in the Brighthouse, just one floor below. She also had no way to know that trying to contact him would be a fruitless endeavor, given he lay very much dead in the kitchen bellow. Even were none of that the case, it wouldn't have mattered anyways. Once Pipp hit send the ringtone of the outgoing call only rang twice before it was suddenly cut off and replaced by the dial tone of a disconnected call.

"What? Did they hang up on me!?" the Pegasus princess cried out in disbelief, immediately trying the number again. This time the call went straight to what sounded like a pre-recorded message.

"The number you have dialed has been disconnected... Permanently! If you have reached this number in error, then hang up and wait to die. I'll be with you shortly." An ear-piercing giggle then erupted from the phone as the screen flashed rapidly through various pictures of Zipp being torn to shreds, photos taken with Zipp's phone by some horrifying candy coated mare that posed in several for a selfie that Pipp had never laid eyes on before. Then the screen went dark and unresponsive. There was a pop and a puff of smoke rose from the device.

Pipp's phone had died. Somehow her cell phone dying was even more dread inducing than what had befallen her sister.

"Izzy," Pipp looked her friend dead in the eye. "We have to get out of here! Now!"

But before either mare could act, they heard strange sounds rising from down stairs. It started quietly at first, but soon grew louder and clearer. It was a voice, a child like voice, singing, "♪~Nightmare Night, what a fright, give us something sweet to bite!~♪" The phrase was repeated over and over, getting closer and louder as something slowly walked up the steps from below. Izzy and Pipp's ears pricked up as new voices joined in. "♪~Nightmare Night, what a fright, give us something sweet to bite!~♪" That was Jazz! And Pipp could have sworn Rocky was singing with her too! "♪~Nightmare Night, what a fright, give us something sweet to bite!~♪" and that was Posey! And Hitch! And Izzy could have sworn that other voice was Misty! What was going on!? "♪~Nightmare Night, what a fright, give us something sweet to bite!~♪"

The dissolved into a roar composed of thousands of voices just as it reached its crescendo. Then a single, lone filly that was covered all in candy reached the top of the steps and grinned at the pair of speechless mares as she said in her own comparatively quiet voice "Trick or Treat!"

Saying that, the filly suddenly swelled in size, looming so tall that her writhing licorice mane brushed against the rafters! Mouths erupted all over her body, laughing and baring gnashing candy corn fangs! A particularly large mouth opened wide in the monstrosities belly to expose the half digested bones of chewed up ponies the monster had apparently already devoured earlier that evening. Sharp peppermint claws and peanut brittle blades erupted all over the terrors body as tendrils and tongues of half melted candy wriggled and writhed in the air. Sizzling saliva drizzled from the many slavering mouths as dozens of new eyes split open the creature's flesh and turned their baleful gaze towards Pipp Petals.

"-Eep-" A pathetic squeak was all that the Pegasus could manage as the wall of candied flesh rushed towards her, an unstoppable avalanche of sugar frosted agony.

Flesh ripped and bone twisted as Pipp was caught up by the abomination. Somehow she instinctively realized that she was about to be put through the exact same treatment that Zipp had received. This innate knowledge only caused her to wail in despair as tiny hooked claws, fangs, and needle like tendrils punctured her flesh over and over. Blood rained down from her ravaged body to splash over her ruined phone and the frozen upturned face of Izzy Moonbow. Her friend seemed to be transfixed, frozen with fear. The writhing pop-star tried to tell the Unicorn to run, to take the opportunity while this horrid thing was distracted with her, to get away. But then Pipp felt her spine crackle and pop like fireworks at one of her concerts as the fiend broke her back in multiple places and everything at last went black.

Izzy watched it all in mute terror, trembling like a leaf. The young mare tried to close her eyes against the ceaseless tide of terror, to spare herself the horrific image of her friend being flayed alive, however she was too afraid to look away. All she could do instead was mutter "Bing-bong-bing! Bing-bong! Bing-bong!"

The Unicorn twitched, trying to do the ritual that would ward off 'The Jinxies', but her limbs felt like pool noodles. It was like pins and needles were running up and down her legs and into the fear that gnawed away inside her belly. The young mare squinted her eyes tight shut at last and managed to block out the sounds of Pipp being eaten. Now Izzy started to dance, hopping from one hoof to the other.

"Bing-bong-bing! Bing-bong! Bing-bong!" Izzy cried out, louder and louder.

Now Izzy tried her best to focus. Tried to get her sparkle right. More than anything she wanted to use her Unicorn Magic to whisk herself and her friends away from this nightmare. There were stories of ancient Unicorn's that could use their sparkle to travel long distances in a blink of an eye. If ever there was a time to find out that were true, now was the time for Izzy to find out!

Suddenly there was silence.

Had she done it? Had the legends been true? Had Izzy used her magic to teleport them all away from this awful monster that had come out of the night to devour them all?

Hope flared and immediately died as Izzy opened her eyes. She was still inside the Crystal Brighthouse. Zipp still lay dying in a puddle of filth on the bedroom floor. What was left of Pipp hung upside down from the beasts massive jaws as it absentmindedly chewed on the Pegasi's spine, half her body already swallowed down the cannibal corpse's candied maw.

The monster was clearly confused by how Izzy had reacted to what was happening. It had killed many a mare and stallion this night and seen many ponies break down and lose their mind at the horror of their last moments, but the creature had never seen a pony lose their sanity quite in the same manner that this Unicorn clearly had. Letting her keep living like this would be cruel. With a thoughtful look the abomination considered it, then spat Pipp's remains out on the floor and moved towards Izzy, the baffled interest that had momentarily bloomed in its many glowing eyes swiftly replaced with malevolence and madness. More than that the thing exuded an unrelenting hunger, that surpassed even its hatred, as it gazed down on the last remaining morsel in the room.

"But I didn't break the rules!" Izzy protested, tears of both fear and frustration pouring from her eyes. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

That did not seem to matter in the least to the ferocious fiend as two clawed appendages grabbed Izzy and it shoved a long black and orange tongue down the Unicorn's throat. The gore slick appendage snaked down deep, and took hold of something far inside the Unicorn, then proceeded to pull Izzy's insides out! The young mare felt something huge coming up her throat, popping the bones in her neck one vertebrae at a time as the putrid sweet taste of the monsters cold slippery tongue was replaced with the warm copper tang of her own blood flooding her mouth. Her tear-stained cheeks bulged as rope after rope of pink entrails stretched between her lips like taffy, followed by the wet quivering sack that was her inside-out stomach, its contents long since purged. Last was the trailing tail of her esophagus which tore free with a painful rip from the meat at the back of throat.

Izzy’s tormentor was not done with her, however, as sharp hooked spider like appendages exploded from the things body and rammed themselves down the Unicorn's throat. There were so many of the long chitinous things that they broke Izzy's jaw with a loud crack as they forced her mouth open unnaturally wide. Each hook came back out dragging her other organs; Izzy's liver, kidneys, lungs, and her still beating heart all came into the light one by one. Crumpled into a hollowed out-pile of meat and bones, the neuron’s of Izzy’s brain miraculously still fired as she stared up at her killer. The amorphous candy beast held up the mare's glistening insides as if they were each a prized trophy. Then, with the contempt of a grubby child devouring sweetmeats, the fiend slurped the offal down with her many maws. Filthy juices sprayed everywhere as the organs burst between candy corn fangs and were rolled like a savory treat over taffy tongues. Blood and other viscera dripped from the monstrous mare’s mouths as she leered down at Izzy.

Even still, the monster was not yet satisfied.

Thick black and red licorice cords whipped down from the creature's head to invade Izzy's mouth one last time, opening her dislocated jaws almost comically wide. As the last of Izzy’s awareness began to fade, she could feel the tendrils slithering beneath her skin, through her meat, and down deep into her bones. She felt her legs snap as the iron grip of the tentacles tightened around them, then they crackled and popped so many times she lost count as her bones were pulverized into a fine powder. Izzy more heard than felt her body being folded up into itself, wadded into a ball of pain and suffering that was slowly being pulled forward through a mouth she could no longer close, even if she had enough awareness to want to. At last, mercifully, Izzy felt the cold embrace of death. It happened right as the wet wadded up mess that had been her body lodged itself between her teeth. Fortunately all her senses had long since shut down. All except her hearing.

As even that finally faded away, the last thing she heard was the mocking laughter of the Candy Mare.