This story is a sequel to Something Sweet To Bite
A gruesome holiday tale with a peppermint twist. In the ancient lands where the three pony tribes once lived the Windigo's magic has locked the weather in an eternal winter storm. Two little foals, who have lost their way, seek to find food and shelter in the deep dark woods. What they take for their only hope for survival may in fact spell their doom.
Meanwhile, it's the first official Hearth's Warming Eve in Canterlot, but something is wrong in the fledgling capital of Equestria. Can Starswirl the Bearded come up with a plan to set things right?
This candy coated horror will warm your heart and chill your spine.
Candymare Cover Art by kvernikovskiy
Chapters (6)
So this is a prequel to Something Sweet to Bite?
5504654 Mostly. The last chapter is a peak at things to come. A lot of the story was originally part of Something Sweet to Bite Too but was cut for length.
5506806
Oh, I see....wait...wouldn't that make this story somewhat confusing to those who haven't read the first two stories though?
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Sadly, which is why I went to some pains to mention the Candy Mare in the title. Hopefully if someone finds the story a bit confusing they'll look at the rest of my body of work and put the pieces together themselves. (That or read my blog entries that are tagged related to this story.)
5510963
Well, yes....one could only hope for that.
Aw man I hope you write more of this. I just hope the Candy Mare gets it's ass kicked one day.
It wouldn't hurt if these paragraphs were a bit shorter. They really grate on the eyes after a while.
So we're back in the past! When the legend began.
Twisted. Those poor siblings. What a monster that Candy Mare is.
Probably should have read this before reading The Last Something Sweet to Bite, oh well. Once again it was really good. Not much to say really. I understand why it was shorter than the others but it would have been nice if it had one or two more chapters. Keep up the great writing.
Yeeeeee~<3
Stories written in this manner intrigue me. They jump around at first from one time period to the next. It can be confusing but eventually the different plots merge and its it all makes sense. Kind of how you would move from the past to the present and back again in the first story.
Here, we see the fate of the Candy Mare's mother, not to mention that of Hans and Gretel, whose origin was later revealed. It all comes together nicely during the play. It amazed me how casual Luna and Celestia were about the death of Private Pansy and nothing seemed to bother them. Being ailerons, they must have thought themselves above all foes. Not the Candy Mare, though. She's more like a force of nature itself, not a corporeal beast to be vanquished so easily.
I loved the origin of Nightmare Night and Starswirl contemplating the eventual doom the Candy Mare would play if she wasn't dealt with sooner. That world he was referring to, I wonder where it was. Hmm?
This story was definitely better than the previous one, returning to the dark roots that made SSTB and horror classic. I'd love to know how you came about developing this monstrous character as I believe she should be the official mascot of Nightmare Night...if she isn't already.
Guess she succeeded in wiping out the life on the planet, I think that was her main goal after all. Based on what I read anyways.
6599262 Or so it's implied anyways. Honestly that last chapter is meant to set up 'The Last Something Sweet to Bite' more than anything else.
6599521 Yeah got to those and I'm finishing up the last one now. Honestly I think Candy Mare is the most creative horror character I've EVER read about and I've read quite a few.
Hurricane, what did you do?
god the mom dying was actually kinda sad
7057041 It's always tough when you lose a loved one... Even when you're not on the best of terms with them.
In fact especially then.
how did imiss this im gonna read it after i read part 3
Best version of Hansel and Gretel ever!
*sigh* Alas...that is a true, sorrowful tale of how Hansel and Gretel were consumed. Maybe Gingerbread Hansel reconstructed by Candy Mare's willing magic. Even so, I fear she's not done with her surprises, yet I didn't say they were something to be scared about...I find them interesting.
*try's to role play as Candy Mare on a MLP Role play* *gets ignored* *Messing around time, runs around typing Gobble gobble om num num.* Best messing around in role play I have ever done.
Wait...I started reading this a while ago and never finished. I don't remember how far I got or why I stopped but I guess I have to finish it now and while I'm at it I may as well read the third one like you suggested. Who knows, maybe It'll fix what the second one did, or make it worse. Either way, I doubt that I'll be disappointed.
Wow, this was great as expected and I am definitely going to give the last one a chance now. Though I still feel that these extra stories take away from the original, even if they make the candy mare even more original and Interesting, part of what made the first one so good was the lack of information.
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same except people ask or try to eat me as i explain why thatd be a bad idea
Hi would love it if you got a story on lemondrop and the patch parents
Oh no, could the candy mare make her way to the other universe?
Haven't read this yet, but for future reference for when I do: is this actually part of the same universe, or does it just happen to feature the Candy-Mare? The description leads me to think the latter, so I was wondering.
Granted, with the end of book two, it could be both.
8624310
Same universe. Most of the events of the story take place immediately after Pumpkin Patch first escapes Lemon Drop.
i think the candy mare is very sweet. she still loves and cares for her mother. The one pony in the world she never killed. It shows she still has a bit of humanity left in her twisted mind. i wonder what turned her into the monster to begin with though. the candy surely couldnt have been that magical
You can has review!
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO END THIS FOR GOOD?!?! DAMN IT, JUST FUCKING DIE!!!!!! WHY!?!?!
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It would be weird if I ended everything in the prequel.
[S C RE E C H I NG] I added this to my to-read ages ago and I somehow completely fucking forgot about it!??!?!? d;aksljd;falkjdsf;s
Yeah, the little equinity left of Pumpkin Patch was lost as soon as Strawberry Patch died... All the strings detached, all the bridges burned, leaves the Candy Mare alone but free to roam.
Also, what is up with Celestia and Luna's reactions to Private Pansy's plight? I guess that stoicism may play a part in their rather neutral or quite level-headed reaction, but I still feel that they were detached...
Huh, actually, that makes sense now.
10349853
Yeah, the idea there is this is when Celestia and Luna are first starting out in their rule and their personalities are based on how they acted in The Journal Of The Two Sisters. They take their duty to protect Equestria seriously, but they behave far more childishly than you would expect and had only recently gotten their cutie marks. Think of them basically as teenagers with hero complexes from Starswirl conditioning them to rule Equestria.
Even though they realized they had just screwed up and something bad had happened as a result, they still think of themselves as having done basically the right thing since no one else could handle the situation and their training to deal with the fallout takes over. (Besides, there was some question, at least in Celestia’s mind, if that was even the pony her friends thought she was anymore and not just some ghastly, unnatural thing that deserved to be put out of its misery.)
I’m not saying their detachment isn’t kind of odd but it is meant to be, to try and illustrate their inexperience and relatively underdeveloped empathy having only just begun their rule.
Well it is done. I read ALL of the Candy Mare stories and I really enjoyed this.
I'm guessing that this last chapter took place after "Something Sweet to Bite Too"?
Also this explains how she has Starswirl's powers.
10526138
Right. At the time I was sort of writing both stories, as I was always planning on doing a sequel to Something Sweet to Bite but thought a prequel might be fun too.
Then why the heck are you eating earth ponies as well? By that logic should you only go after Unicorns and Pegasi? So why eat earth ponies too? Heck you know that your about your grandmother being rape by a Unicorn, which gave birth to your mother and understood why she hated Unicorns.
And yet you eat all ponies just the same; and no i'm not counting when Lemon Drop made you eat your father, thats different.
Seriously F**K Lemon Drop!!!!!
You can't seriously be that blinded by your hatred of how the Unicorns and Pegasi treated earth ponies and then eat the earth ponies as well. That makes no gosh dang sense.
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It’s not supposed to make logical sense. The idea here is that she has a persecution complex and has externalized her own self hatred and loathing and applied it even to ponies who clearly want to help, like Private Pansy.
The ‘ponies like you’ line doesn’t just refer to pegasi and unicorns which she hates the most, but all ponies that she perceives as thinking they are better than her which also includes earth ponies that she thinks must have looked the other way when she was suffering. Obviously it’s more likely that no one other than Lemon Drop knew about what happened to her, but since her sanity has eroded she has ascribed his negative qualities (such as his arrogance and racism) to ponies as a whole.
Thus pegasi and unicorns are not the only races held in contempt but also anyone else that might have ‘looked the other way’ which would be everyone else in the Candy Mare’s delusion. To her all are guilty and worthy of punishment and that is not meant to be a logical conclusion.
10597605
Well crap
I fully understand now
Alright, ngl, after listening to the narration of Something Sweet to Bite, I just sorta dismissed any other sequels, after seeing how many spin offs you wrote. Like how horror sequels are often garbage trying to live of the fame of their predecessor. I can't express how idiotic I feel.
After finishing listening to Scribbler's narration of this story here, my mind is somewhat blown. Imo this was better than the original. Like this was beautiful. Your writing style and story structure are just superb. Now I must actually read all your other stories. But yeah, extremely groovy. Marry Christmas!
10618027
Well, just make me blush why don't you?
Thank you for all your kind praise, and I'm happy that you've been able to find some enjoyment in my stories. I'm sure you'll be seeing more of your favorite candy coated mare in the future.
OKAY BUT THAT'S FASCINATING
So, in the same way that real-world Pagan celebrations were eventually co-opted by Christians, the original Nightmare Night festivities would have been rolled into the celebration of Nightmare Moon's defeat, some unknown number of years later, leading to the modern holiday. That explains the weird candy offering ritual so well. Amazing world-building! This off to a great start. :D
I like how Celestia's kind of a jackass. It's clear neither of them is ready to rule yet.
Well! :O Quite the unexpected ending!
And quite the unexpected improvement over its sequel. :D Not bad!
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Literally Hitler.
No but seriously its a well known fact by now that Hitler and his Mother had a bond stronger than normal. In fact his doctor even said
"While Hitler was not a mother's boy in the usual sense, I never witnessed a closer attachment. Their love had been mutual. Klara Hitler adored her son. She allowed him his own way whenever possible. For example, she admired his watercolor paintings and drawings and supported his artistic ambitions in opposition to his father at what cost to herself one may guess."
In fact Hitler loves his mother so much that the doctor in the passage before (a Jew) after being terrorized by the Nazis sent out a personal letter to Hitler after being run out of business. Hitler knowing that the doctor was a Jew but still took care of his mother sent him some cash and gave him special protection by the gestapo themselves, he even let the guy leave the country and sell his house at market value. So just like the Candy Mare, Hitler's love for his mother made him forget about being racist to Jews, just like how the Candy Mare decides to forget about killing and spared her mother. Am I the only one seeing the similarities here? I just cannot feel bad for the Candy Mare like I am sorry but Murder is bad mmkay.
Source: Eduard Bloch - Wikipedia
Literally the entire worlds response to Climate change.
aren't private pansy and commander hurricane both mares? (No hate, just asking :)!)
Edit:I was looking at the wrong wiki, my bad!