Something Sweet to Bite

Part 3

It was a bright autumnal day, about a week before the nightmare would begin. The breeze was crisp and sent leaves dancing and tumbling playfully in the streets, even as the sun still shone merrily. Though it was sad to see summer end, the ponies of Equestria knew the necessity of all four seasons, so most of the town of Ponyville walked with a spring in their step despite the chill that hung in the air. None were perhaps as chipper as Pinkie Pie though. The self proclaimed friend of everypony, the pink mare was a ball of energy as she went about putting up decorations for the coming Nightmare Night celebrations. There was so much to do, even with help, she had to start a week in advance to get it all done in time. This was no chore for Pinkie though, she loved decorating like this and watching the town transform before her eyes from its usual quaint self to one just a little bit scary, but fun.
Since it was afternoon and school had let out, a few of the town's children were helping her spread fake spider webbing around the post office. They had to clear away a few very real cobwebs before they started. Not many ponies visited the post office themselves these days. "Ugh...this is a waste of time. I don't know why daddy insists we help with these decorations when nopony is ever going to see them," moaned Diamond Tiara. "The only ponies that bother with the post office are practically Nightmare Night decorations themselves!" The pampered filly sneered at a pair of near-sighted, elderly ponies who were busy trying to figure out how many bits it would cost to send a package to Baltimare.
"Totally," agreed Silver Spoon, as usual, "It's a waste of time when their eyesight is so bad they can't even actually see the decorations anyway." Silver Spoon turned up her nose and walked over to the box of decorations, inspecting them. "Besides, if they did, it might give them a heart attack," she said with fake concern. "We should really move on to somewhere more interesting like the mall or the bowling alley. At least then we could do a little shopping or have some fun...after we finished decorating of course." She feigned a look of innocence, knowing from experience that her silver tongue and good looks were the key to getting her way.
"Now girls, the Mayor has trusted us to decorate the whole, entire town!" exclaimed Pinkie, spreading her hooves in the air as if to encompass all of Ponyville. "It wouldn't be the whole town if we only hung spider webs and pumpkin lights in storefronts and shopping malls." Pinkie Pie bubbled as she went about festooning the quiet post office with black and purple streamers. "Besides, it's way more fun to transform an old boring post office into someplace exciting than it would be to make an already interesting place more exciting!" She smiled awkwardly as the postmaster gave her a look from behind the counter. "No offense!" Just then, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo tumbled in front of Pinkie Pie all at once. They were supposed to be spreading the webbing in the rafters, but had somehow managed to get themselves hopelessly tangled up with one another. Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara led the other children in laughing at their misfortune. It didn't take Pinkie long to extract the trio of friends, though she almost got herself just as badly tangled in the process, "What happened?"
"Ah'm sorry Pinkie Pie, it was all mah fault. Me an' mah friends got to talkin' about all the candy we was gonna get come Nightmare Night and Ah must have gotten a little distracted." Applebloom grinned sheepishly.
"Yeah," chimed in Scootaloo. "We had a ball last year going around with you and collecting candy!"
"Even after we left half of it for Nightmare Moon, we still had plenty to share," added Sweetie Belle cheerfully. "I'm sure we'll have lots again this year, even after we leave our tribute!"
"Ugh, leave it to you blank flanks to still be giving up your candy to 'Nightmare Moon'. Everypony knows it's just Celestia's sister. She's not going to gobble you up if you don't give her some of your candy!" Diamond Tiara exclaimed, rolling her eyes.
"We kept all our candy last year," added Silver Spoon," and as you can see, we're doing just fine. It was truly amazing too. You know the neighborhood where I live, they give out full sized candy bars by the hoof full. We were still eating Nightmare Night candy at Hearth's Warming!" The spoiled fillies smiled, drinking in their peers jealousy, both real and imagined.
"But I'm sure it won't matter if you do decide to leave a few 'fun size' treats in the dirt," grinned Diamond Tiara in a predatory fashion, "So the big bad princess won't gobble you up!" At that the pair laughed uproariously. Applebloom and her friends just looked at each other. Sometimes Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's sense of humor just didn't seem all that funny. Even so, Applebloom wasn't one to back down from a challenge.
"Well, we ain't gonna leave any of our candy then, either. In fact, Ah bet we can collect more candy than you two, even with yer fancy full size candy bars!" said the fiery haired filly.
"Oh really? Care to make that a bet then? Whoever has the most candy wins. Let say, the losers have to give up all their candy?" said Silver Spoon, a grin playing at the corner of her mouth.
"You're on!" cried Scootaloo.
"Now hold on girls, you can't go crazy hoarding candy like that! Leaving an offering for Nightmare Moon is an important Nightmare Night tradition," said Pinkie Pie."I mean sure, it's tempting to hold onto all of those gummy bears, and candy apples, and candy bars, and...and pixie sticks, and lollipops and gumdrops and...what were we talking about?" The pink pony fanned herself with a rubber bat, clearly flustered. "Oh right! But you couldn't really keep them all for yourself! That's not what Nightmare Night is about! Right?"
"I...guess you're right Pinkie Pie," said Sweetie Belle, looking down sadly at her hooves.
"Backing out of our wager already then?" asked Diamond Tiara with a snide look on her face. "I guess it would be difficult for you blank flanks to compete with us if you're going to fall for all this 'tradition' nonsense. Looks like we win by default. We'll expect your candy at the end of Nightmare Night. Don't go throwing too much of it away at the foot of some statue in the woods now!"
"Now hold on!" cried Applebloom, "We ain't going ta be throwin' away any candy and we ain't gonna be welchin' on no bet. You have your candy ready to fork over to us by the end of Nightmare Night! And may the best filly win!"
"Uh...maybe we should move on girls." tried Pinkie Pie, a little nervous at how serious things had gotten between the young friends. "Who wants to help me decorate the library?"