Something Sweet to Bite

Part 4

"PINKIE PIE!" exclaimed Twilight Sparkle in bafflement, " What are you doing!?" A gaggle of fillies and colts had invaded Twilight Sparkle's home and were clambering clumsily over her neatly arranged shelves. She and Spike had worked the better part of the afternoon taking the autumn audit of what books were checked out, what books were checked in, and what books were in need of repair before they could be returned to the shelves. Now entire stacks of books were slipping, sliding, and plain being knocked over by careless little hooves. And in the middle of it all, Pinkie Pie stood cheerfully, half covered in fake spiderwebs and streamers.
"Oh, hey Twilight!" said the pink pony, clearly delighted to see her friend. In the background Snips and Snails tripped over one another in their efforts to hang bat winged streamers along the stairs leading up to Twilight's room. They landed in a clumsy, laughing heap that nearly toppled an entire shelf of books. "I was hoping you'd be home soon," said Pinkie Pie, "Mayor Mare is having me decorate all the public buildings in Ponyville this year for Nightmare Night, but it wouldn't be half as much fun getting the library ready if I didn't have your input as well!" Pinkie Pie draped a forelimb over Twilight's shoulder and guided her through the barely controlled chaos of laughing and shouting children. "I was thinking 'Bats! Bats everywhere!' hanging from the ceiling and the stairs. Something to really catch everypony's eye when they walk in!"
Twilight couldn't help being distracted as fillies ran back and forth, some trailing decorations in their wake while others just seemed to be playing some kind of game. "But Pinkie, this is my home! We didn't decorate the library last year, inside or out."
"I know! And I got to thinking, that was a real shame. It's unfair that folks can only enjoy the fun of Nightmare Night downtown or in the big shops and not in other places like boring old post offices and libraries." Twilight glared at her friend, "No offense! I just wanted to make sure that no matter where a pony goes in Ponyville that the spirit of Nightmare Night will be with them, you know?"
Twilight stared into Pinkie Pie's sincere grinning face. For all the bedlam, it was tough to face that hopeful, well meaning smile and not cave just a little. "I...guess Pinkie Pie, if the Mayor approves." The party pony gave a happy little leap, pounding one hoof in the air before Twilight quickly added, "but please don't go overboard! And do your work quietly! This is still a library and other ponies have a right to expect peace and quiet when they come here." Pinkie Pie gave a little salute and seemed as though she was about to say something in reply when a loud crash came from the back of the room. With all the close calls, it was only a matter of time before an entire shelf of books would be knocked to the floor. Far from anypony being hurt, however, the perpetrators were shouting at one another amid the wreckage of scattered books. Diamond Tiara and Applebloom's animated argument threatened to damage the books further as each filly seemed to be stomping mad.
"Will not!"
"Will so!"
"Will not!"
"Will so!"
"Girls, girls, what's all this about?" cried Twilight, using her magic to separate the two fillies.
"She started it. She keeps saying we're going to chicken out, but Ah won't stand for her talkin' 'bout us that way!" cried a very agitated Applebloom.
"Oh please, Appleblank," sneered Diamond Tiara. "Like there's anything you can do about it!" Twilight settled the pair back to the floor but still held them back from each other.
Twilight turned to Pinkie Pie as she struggled to keep the fillies from hurting themselves or anypony else. "What in Equestria are they talking about?" she demanded.
"Oh, you know how kids are," mumbled the pink pony, smiling nervously. "They...kind of have a bet going about who can collect the most candy." Pinkie quickly added to the fillies, "But they're just going to have to collect that much more after they leave some for Nightmare Moon, right girls?"
"As if," replied Silver Spoon flippantly, standing with her nose in the air next to her friend.
"No way!" retorted Scootaloo, jumping in the air and fluttering her little wings in irritation.
"But leaving a tithe of candy for Nightmare Moon is one of the oldest traditions of Nightmare Night!" said Twilight Sparkle, shocked. "No bet can be worth breaking from tradition like that. I mean remember last year? Wasn't it fun to leave a little candy so Nightmare Moon wouldn't get you?"
"Geez, listen to her," said Diamond Tiara dismissively, sharing a glance with Silver Spoon, "You'd think she was just some common pony and not Celestia's student. Did you leave any candy for your teacher's sister?"
"Well...no," admitted Twilight, "However, I did when I was younger. Every Nightmare Night my brother and I would leave a little pile next to the statue in Canterlot. Though that was just a statue of Luna, not really Nightmare Moon. Celestia didn't seem to like the image of her sister as a monster. I remember when..."
Twilight's eyes grew misty with memory, but Silver Spoon sighed heavily, interrupting her. "I'm sure you have many wonderful memories of the good old days, but do you really think Luna is going to 'get' anypony that doesn't leave her candy? She didn't get you, after all," she pointed out disdainfully.
"Well of course not silly, Twilight isn't a filly!" laughed Pinkie Pie, trying to diffuse the situation.
Twilight for her part, however, seemed to grow thoughtful. "No...I guess she's right Pinkie Pie. There's no point in lying. Princess Luna may be a little strange, but she's not dangerous. Nightmare Night is fun pretend, but honestly I don't see any harm from them not giving up a bit of their candy. Even if it is against tradition."
Pinkie seemed genuinely shocked by her friend's words. "Don't listen to her girls," said Pinkie urgently. "We have these traditions for a reason. The decorations, the costumes, the jack-o-lanterns, the offerings to Nightmare Moon; they were started to protect us! There's no good reason to turn your back on all that now! Not so close to Nightmare Night," the usually jovial pony pleaded, her deep blue eyes wide with worry. The girls and Twilight gave Pinkie a funny look, not really understanding what all the fuss was about. "Here, I'll show you, I know it's around here somewhere..."
Pinkie Pie started rummaging through the fallen books. It always amazed Twilight that, regardless of how disorganized the library might become, Pinkie Pie could always turn up just the book she was looking for. She wouldn't normally have suspected it to have something to do with the party ponies 'pinkie sense', but the alternative was that Pinkie Pie might have a better grasp of the libraries organization than Twilight, Spike, and Owlowiscious combined. Somehow that was a more unsettling conclusion than Pinkie's sixth sense. "Here it is!" Pinkie Pie cried triumphantly as she lifted an old, dark book from one of the piles that were bound for the repair room. It didn't look like much, or even as if it had anything to do with Nightmare Night. Instead of the Mare in the Moon, a Crescent Eye, or some other Nightmare Night symbol, there was only a woodcut of a few pieces of candy carved into the cover
"Ye olde Tricks and Treats? Wow Pinkie, that book looks like it's seen better days." Twilight examined the book closely. It was hard to tell if it had been damaged in the fall from the shelves or if it had already been in such poor shape. "You should put it back so Spike can fix it up before it falls apart." Twilight's magic enveloped the book, but Pinkie Pie held onto it firmly.
"No, seriously Twilight!" the party pony urged. "You and the girls should really read what this book has to say! There's more to Nightmare Night than just getting as much candy as possible." Pinkie looked shocked at her own words but struggled all the harder against the pull of Twilight's magic. "And this is me saying that! You know how much I love sweets!"
"Let...go...Pinkie!" Twilight strained, her magic insufficient to shake off her friends oddly adamant grasp.
By now Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had wandered away to make some other ponies life miserable, but the Cutie Mark Crusaders watched the struggle between Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie go back and forth. All three winced as a loud rip echoed throughout the library and a cascade of book pages fluttered through the air. Between the two of them, Twilight and Pinkie had managed to break the books fragile spine, sending its delicate pages in all directions. Both ponies seemed shocked at what had happened.
"Uh..." started Applebloom. "We'll just, head on now Pinkie. Ah got chores Ah need ta get ta doin' back home."
"Yeah, and I promised Rainbow Dash I'd pick up her dry cleaning," added Scootaloo as she nudged a distracted Sweetie Belle.
"Oh...oh yeah, and I need to go make sure that uh...Rarity's order of new material for her Nightmare Night costume came in!" managed Sweetie Belle, her eyes glued firmly to the floor.
The trio scurried away before what would surely be an explosive argument between the two friends, but Sweetie Belle hung back a moment. Her eyes had lit on a few of the pages that had fallen from the old tattered book. No pony was looking as she discretely stuffed the pages into her school bag and trotted quickly after her friends.

{If you liked this please do vote or comment if you want more. Please comment on my page on what fic you would want to see next. I'll see you in the next update. Bye! Steal-Streak out!}