//------------------------------//
// What a Fright, Give Me Something Sweet to Bite 
// Story: The Word is Fear 
// by BronyWriter 
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A small bell above a store door chimed as the door opened, and a dull green unicorn mare stepped inside the shop. The owner, a tan unicorn mare, looked up at the new arrival and smiled. "Good evening, and happy Nightmare Night."

Blossom returned the mare's smile and tilted her head in greeting. "Happy Nightmare Night." Blossom shook her body to get some feeling back inside her legs. "It's cold out there."

The mare tisked and nodded. "I heard it's supposed to get a bit warmer in case any trick 'r treaters come out tonight." The mare's smile faded and her gaze fell to the floor. "Something unlikely with this "New Nightmare" business."

Blossom ran a hoof through her mane to flatten some of the wilder parts and nodded. "Yeah, I was just turned away at a restaurant because of my horn." Blossom put her hoof down and glanced back at the door with a glower. "It's like they thought that I was going to butcher the entire restaurant! There were at least three dozen fully grown pegasi and earth ponies having a meal in there, how was I supposed to kill them all?"

"Oh, did you go to Coyas place?" The mare scoffed. "I know about them. They turned me down there last week. I was supposed to meet a nice stallion there for a date!" 

"I mean really, The New Nightmare can't be that powerful!" Blossom let out a frustrated grunt and glanced over at her aunt who was covering her mouth with her hoof to prevent herself from laughing.

"Well, if you want to know what I've heard..." The mare beckoned Blossom closer and leaned next to her conspiratorially. "I heard from a friend of mine that The New Nightmare is so powerful, and so good with a knife, that she can kill an entire room of fully trained guards in fifteen seconds and not even break a sweat."

Blossom cocked her head. "Has she done that yet? I didn't think that she killed more than two or three ponies at a time."

The mare shrugged. "Well, if she's managed to evade capture so far then it's pretty likely that if she did get in a showdown with a platoon of guards she'd win. I mean, she's killed a few already, hasn't she?"

Blossom nodded. "Yeah, I heard she even got some special ops guard that was designed specifically to catch her."

"Yeah! That was the same night that she slaughtered her grandparents!"

At the mention of her grandparents, Blossom flinched back and flickered an ear. The effect was hardly noticeable, so the mare didn't notice, but Blossom needed a moment to regain her composure. "Oh... uh, yeah, her grandparents. Terrible that that h-happened." Blossom cleared her throat and shook her head. "S-So... yeah."

"I know, it's terrible , isn't it?" The mare looked sadly out of her store window. "I suspect that few foals will be out trick 'r treating tonight, if any." The mare motioned over to a newspaper sitting on the store counter. "The papers even warned us not to."

"I heard that a few cities are doing their trick 'r treating tomorrow afternoon so everypony feels safer," said Blossom. "That way the foals feel safer and they don't have to miss out." 

The mare raised an eyebrow. "Really? That sounds like a great idea! I'll have to spread it around, Miss..." The mare spun her hoof, prompting a response from Blossom. 

"Oh, Bright Sparks. My name is Bright Sparks. I'm here from Trottingham visiting relatives." 

The mare cocked her head. "Isn't that where The New Nightmare hit last?"

Blossom nodded. "Yeah, that's why I'm here. My aunt and cousins want to know that I'm safe, so they told me to come to Fillydelphia."

"Even though The New Nightmare hasn't hit here yet?"

"That's the other reason. I want to make sure they're safe too." Blossom broke eye contact with the mare and looked around the shop. As it was Nightmare Night, there were rows and rows of costumes of every shape and size. Tons of cheap rubber masks, both of the scary and humorous kind, lined the walls and windows, and there were baskets full of accessories dotted around the store. "Had much good business with this whole New Nightmare affair?" 

The mare sighed and poked at a plastic replica of Princess Celestia's tiara. "Better than I expected, though not as good as years past. Parents don't want their foals to be too scared, so they still let them dress up for Nightmare Night. Normalcy is important for them."

"That's part of the reason I'm here too," said Blossom. "I'm looking for a good Nightmare Night costume of my own."

The mare smiled and motioned around the store. "Well you've come to the right place. I have just about anything that you could possibly want here."

Blossom tapped her lower jaw with her hoof. "Well, I don't really get to dress up that much Do you have some princess costumes or anything like that?"

The mare nodded and beckoned Blossom onwards. "Right back here is where I have the adult costumes. I'm sure I can find something that looks good on you." The mare chuckled. "Heck, I even have some dresses that used to be high-society and now are bargain bin nonsense."

Blossom giggled and stepped inside the back area with her host. "No kidding?" 

The mare shook her head. "No kidding." 

As the two entered, Blossom saw that the back room was full of cheap, knockoff dresses and tuxedos hung on wire hangars. Most of the colors one them were faded, or at the very least, clearly artificial, and they had all clearly seen better days. 

Blossom walked up and down the two short rows of outfits, occasionally pulling out a dress that caught her eye without really finding anything interesting. "Is this all?"

"I'm afraid so," said the mare. "Most of my best stuff is usually long gone before this point, so you have the leftovers in front of you."

"It's okay," said Blossom with a wave of her hoof. "I'm sure I can find something."

Blossom put a dark blue dress back on the rack, and was about to turn around to go back down the rows again when something caught her eye. It was a back room of the store, almost like a sort of workshop. Inside was one of the most beautiful dresses that Blossom had ever seen. It was a purplish pink dress with subtle, darker purple frills accenting it. The back end was lined with gold fabric and was dotted with small gemstones. To complete the ensemble, a golden tiara rested on the ponyequin's head. 

Blossom's eyes widened and she raised a hoof to shakily point at the outfit. "What is that?" she whispered.

The mare looked over to where Blossom was pointing and smiled while at the same time flattening her ears. "That, is one of my finest possessions, but greatest shames." The mare motioned for Blossom to join her in the room, and she flipped on a light to better accent the dress. "Dresses like this were all the rage about thirty years back. My mother got ahold of this just after it happened." The mare bowed her head. "Murderabilia, that's what they called dresses like this." 

"What is it?" Blossom questioned. 

"If what the few ponies who have seen it are telling me is true, this is one of the dresses designed by The Ponyville Butcher herself." The mare reached up and straightened the tiara. "What's more, this is the one that she wore to The Grand Galloping Gala."

Blossom inhaled sharply and her jaw dropped. "Rarity?"

The mare nodded. "I don't know where my mother got it. She never told me and I was only foolish enough to ask once, but she told me that there was a mad rush to collect these dresses. In the few years after her death anything she had ever touched became more valuable than gold." The mare chuckled sadly. "We're too young to understand, I suppose, but from what my mom told me, the less civilized ponies were in a mad rush to get everything of hers. The deadliest serial killer ever and an Element of Harmony to boot? It was fascinating to a lot of ponies. My mom scoured Equestria for anything of hers. By the time she got enough cash to get some of her stuff, there wasn't much left." The mare motioned over to the dress. "It's a miracle she found this."

"She collected Ponyville Butcher murderabilia?" said Blossom breathlessly.

The mare nodded. "This wasn't the only thing of hers she got." She sighed and shook her head. "I don't know why I'm telling you about all of this, but I'm a talkative mare and I can't talk about this stuff with most ponies. I think that I just want to get rid of it so I can be done with it all."

"What else of The Butcher's did she get?" Blossom asked. 

The mare glanced over at a sewing station and pawed at the ground with her hoof. "I don't know if I should show you, but..." The mare groaned and fired up her horn. A small drawer opened up, and a polished wooden box floated out of the drawer. It moved over to the two mares and stopped in front of the owner. "If my mother was adamant about not telling me where the dress came from, she was even more tight-lipped about telling me where this came from."

Slowly the mare unhitched the latch and opened up the box. The small light inside the room reflected off of the metal inside, making it glisten as if it was brand new. Blossom's jaw dropped slightly, and she took a shaky step backwards at what she saw. 

"One of her knives," Blossom whispered. 

The mare nodded. "Griffonian butcher knife. It was specially imported if what my mother told me is true." She sighed. "The guard collected all of them at her arrest. I don't know how my mother managed to get her hooves on one of them." The mare grunted in disgust and snapped the box closed. "Whatever, I don't want to think about my mom doing anything illegal."

"I'll take them," Blossom said quietly. "I... I'll take them."

The mare frowned and cocked her head. "What?" 

"Th-the box with the knife and the dress. I-I'll take them both!"

The mare's frown deepened, yet held a hint of unease as she glanced down at the box in her magical glow. "Well... I guess..." The mare blinked three times and looked up at Blossom. "Why?"

"Can I have them or not?" 

The mare flinched back at Blossom's harsh tone, but she moved the box closer to Blossom, allowing her to take it in her own magical grasp. "Ten bits apiece, I guess."

Rarity stepped next to Blossom, glaring at the mare as she did. "Humph. I never would have sold anything of mine for ten bits, much less my personal items." 

Blossom ignored both her aunt and the shop owner. She put the box carefully on the ground and gently opened the lid. The knife was just as sharp and well-kept as it had been when she had seen it last. A shaky hoof reached out to it, and Blossom hooked her foreleg over the handle. The second her skin made contact, Blossom felt a jolt go through her foreleg. It would have caused her to drop the knife under normal circumstances, but here it was almost pleasant. 

"It's like claiming your birthright, isn't it?" Rarity giggled. 

Blossom slowly nodded and raised the knife into the air. "It's..." She exhaled a breath she hadn't known she had been holding in. "It's almost unreal."

"I know," said the mare sadly. "Can you believe that that knife was used to end the lives of Celestia knows how many ponies?" She shook her head. "I'm glad to be rid of it, honestly." 

"It was one of my favorites when I was alive," Rarity cooed. She smiled fondly at the knife and reached out a hoof to touch the blade. "For her to give it to you like that... well, it's almost enough to spare her from death."

Blossom's mouth twitched into a small smile. "Almost."

The mare cocked her head. "Almost what?"

Blossom let out a small chuckle, and before the mare could do anything other than raise her hoof to take a step back, Blossom swung the knife horizontally across the mare's neck. The mare gasped as her blood began draining from her throat. She reached a hoof up to grasp at the wound, but her ebbing strength led her to collapse onto the floor. 

Blossom stared down at the drained body of the mare. It had been so simple. Far simpler than it was normally with her own knife. "It cut so cleanly."

Rarity giggled again and motioned to a washcloth. "Yes, griffon knives are meant for cutting meat, not vegetables. It's amazing, isn't it?"

"It doesn't even compare." Blossom levitated the cloth over to her and wiped the blood off of the knife. When it was cleaned, she gently placed it back inside the box, which she then levitated into her saddlebag. "I might as well have been using a plastic fork compared to that."

"Why did she have to die?" a tiny voice behind Blossom whimpered.

Blossom gasped and spun around, nearly knocking over the dress as she did. There she was again. That little gray filly. Every kill since the pregnant mare, there she was. Always crying about why they had to die. Blossom growled at her, causing the foal to take a small step backwards. 

"I thought I told you to get out of here!" Blossom snarled. "I said I was sorry! Just leave me alone!"

The filly's ears flattened, and she slowly moved past Blossom to the mare's body. "She only showed you that stuff because she was sad that her mommy had it. She just wanted it to go away." The filly sniffled and wiped her eyes with her foreleg. "Why did she have to die?"

Blossom groaned and began sliding the dress off of the dress form. "You know why. Just leave me alone!" 

"She probably has family. They're going to be very sad when they find out she died like this." 

The dress came off, allowing Blossom to fold it neatly over a padded wooden hangar. "Stop following me!"

"I bet my family was sad when they found out you killed me while I was in Mommy's tummy. It hurt me a lot when you killed her." The filly sniffled again and began shaking the slain mare on the ground. "It hurt me when I died in Mommy's tummy like that."

With one final snarl of anger and pain, Blossom wheeled around and glared daggers at the filly. "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!!"

The filly flinched back and began softly crying, wrapping her tiny forelegs around the mare's left foreleg and burying her face in her mane. Blossom groaned and ran out of the shop, slamming the door to the workroom behind her. 


*  *  *  * 


Night had fallen upon the city of Fillydelphia. 

Nightmare Night. 

One of Blossom's favorite nights of the year when she was a filly was Nightmare Night. The ones with the Apples were always really cool because she got to help make treats like caramel apples for the townsponies, but trick 'r treating with her mother had always been a wonderful experience too. She would hope around her mother, dresses like a veterinarian like Aunt Fluttershy, or a Wonderbolt like Aunt Scootaloo and Aunt Rainbow Dash. Her mother would be dressed up too, and the two of them would go down the streets of Ponyville, gathering candy from the happy townsponies. All of the other foals would be out too, dressed as something scary or funny. Auntie Pinkie Pie would often chaperone a group. The streets would be filled with ponies eating candy, dancing, playing games, and just having a generally good time. Once Princess Luna had shown up to the festivities, but Sweetie Belle had taken Blossom home when they had seen her chariot in the sky. 

This was nothing like that. 

Fillydelphia was a city of two million ponies. One would never know just by looking down even the busiest street in the entire city. Not a single soul was walking down the street. No ponies were taking their foals trick 'r treating. All of the doors were locked tight, the curtains were pulled over the windows, and there were no lights on save for the occasional street lamp. 

It was as if everypony had just gotten up and left.

The only evidence that anypony existed on the planet at all was a single white mare with a purple mane and a regal purple dress walking down the street all alone. The only sounds in the night were those of her hooves clopping on the pavement. For all intents and purposes, the city was dead.

Blossom trudged down the streets of Fillydelphia, aimlessly looking for... something. She sighed and scanned the rows of houses that lined the street. Not a single pony stirred in any of them. 

Blossom stopped in her tracks and turned her head to the left. The house that entered her vision was a small, one-story building. Just the kind of place that was prevalent in Fillydelphia. Like the others around it, there were no lights on in the whole place and the curtains were closed. Ponies likely hid in their rooms, shivering under blankets in the hope that she wouldn't find them there. 

She shrugged and began walking towards it. If there were ponies there then she would have her kills. If not, there was likely some food she could use for a quick meal.

As she walked up towards the house, she noticed an unusually shaped lump on the front porch. It looked like...

Candy?

Blossom frowned and stepped onto the porch. Yes, there was no mistaking it. The mound was a few hooffulls of small, brightly colored candies. What was more, there seemed to be a piece of parchment on top of the pile. Blossom frowned and took the note in her magical aura, expending a little more energy to increase the light emulating from her horn. 

To The New Nightmare,
My name is Spinning Cog. I live here with my wife Pure Meadow and my two fillies, Bright Sky and Morning Dew. I am writing this to ask you that you spare my family and me tonight, and all nights going forward when you come to Fillydelphia. If you do come to us, please just take me and leave my family alone. My wife is the kindest, sweetest pony you'll ever meet, and my two daughters are full of such joy and life. Bright Sky just got her cutie mark a few weeks ago. You should have seen how happy she was. Morning Dew is trying to be like her big sister by getting her cutie mark too. I know that Equestria sees you as a monster, but I believe that there is good in all ponies. I beg you to find it in you to spare my family. I know this offering isn't much, but it's my way of begging for your mercy. Please, spare my family.

Yours humbly,
Spinning Cog.

Blossom slowly let the note drift from her magical grasp. She stared blankly down at the small pile of candy and reached out to grab a small piece of candy corn. She lifted the treat into the air, and popped it in her mouth. "Hope Morning Dew finds her cutie mark," she whispered. 

As Blossom stepped off of the porch, she began to feel the first traces of tears in her eyes. Nightmare Night was supposed to be scary, not terrifying. She had ruined that for little Bright Sky and Morning Dew. Maybe... maybe one was enough for Fillydelphia. Just this once. 

She once again began her trek down the streets of Fillydelphia, but this time she noticed that Spinning Cog was far from the only house to leave her a candy offering. In fact, dozens upon dozens of houses had such offerings. Most had left small notes to her as well. 

It was official. In Fillydelphia at least, Princess Luna was no longer The Nightmare that they were appeasing. It was her. 

"M-maybe tonight isn't the right night for another two kills," Blossom muttered. "Uh... th-there will be other nights for this."

Blossom exhaled deeply and straightened the golden tiara on her head. "Yeah. Not tonight."

Just as Blossom was about to turn around to begin her journey back to her hideout, a few quiet noises entered her ears. She frowned and swiveled them in the direction of the noise. They sounded like... voices. Blossom slowly turned around and the source of the voices became quickly apparent. 

A mare was quickly herding her two fillies down the street. She was hissing whispered commands at them and looking wildly around for any possible source of danger. 

Her. 

"Excuse me, ma'am?"

The mare gasped and hugged her foals close to her with her wings. Her head rotations became more rapid as she looked around to see who had spoken. Blossom used it as her opportunity to trot closer to the mare. "I'd like to talk to you."

The mare's eyes locked on to Blossom, and she began rapidly taking steps backwards. "Please just leave me alone!" she begged. "I just want to get my foals home safe!"

"I know you do. That's why you're going to stay right where you are and let me talk to you." Blossom began taking faster steps and was quickly only a few hooves away from the three of them. "If you try to run, if you try to scream, if you try to draw any attention to us, I'll kill all three of you, is that understood?"

The mare squeaked in fear, but screeched to a halt, hugging her fillies even closer. She locked eyes with Blossom as tears began pouring down her face. "You don't have to do this," she whispered. 

Blossom scoffed and used her magic to pull her aunt's knife out of a pocket of the dress and stroked the mare's mane with the flat of the blade. "Why do you think that I would?"

The mare flinched back at the feeling of the cold steel on her head. "Huh?"

"You asked me not to kill you. Why do you think that I would?"

"Because you've killed so many ponies!" The mare shakily sat on her haunches and wrapped her forelegs around her foals. "Please don't hurt them!"

Blossom exhaled and shook her head. "Why do you think that I do what I do? Be honest. I won't get mad no matter what you say."

"Because you're evil!" the mare snarled. "You have the same black hole for a heart that your evil aunt did!"

"Is that truly what you believe, or are you only saying that because everypony else is?" Blossom took another step forwards. "Be honest."

The mare let out a sniffle and lowered her head to nuzzle the fillies in her forelegs. "What other kind of mare would do this?" 

"I think a truly evil and heartless mare would have killed you and your foals already."

A small gasp escaped from the mare's throat, and she slowly raised her head. Blossom gave her a small, sad smile before looking down at one of her children. The filly flinched away when she saw Blossom looking at her. "Do you know who I am?" Blossom questioned. 

The filly slowly shook her head and held her mother tighter. "Don't hurt Mommy," she whimpered. 

Blossom reached out a hoof and gently placed it on the filly's head. "Why do you think that I will?" The filly shrugged. "I suppose you're right to be scared. I am a bad pony who does hurt other ponies, just like my aunt did a long time ago. I..." Blossom stopped talking when she saw how much the filly was shaking. She sighed and sat down on her haunches. "Don't scream. Please don't scream or I might have to do something that I regret."

With that, Blossom fired up her horn. Her magical aura encased the filly, tearing her out of her mother's forelegs. The mother whimpered and the filly began sobbing, but neither of them screamed. Blossom slowly reached out to the sobbing filly and wrapped her in her forelegs. "I'm sorry."

The tears that had been welling up in Blossom's eyes started spilling over and dripping down her face. She gently nuzzled the crying foal. "It's going to be okay. I'm not going to hurt you or your mother or your sister. You're going to be fine." Blossom began gently stroking the filly's mane. "I have a sister just like you, did you know that? Her name is Comet Blitz, but everypony just calls her Comet. I... I really miss her." 

"I wanna go back to my mommy!" the filly whimpered. 

"I know. I just wanted..." Blossom sighed and shook her head. "No, I can't have stuff like this." 

Blossom loosened her grip on the filly, who immediately wormed her way out of Blossom's grasp, running straight back to her mother. Blossom slowly pushed herself to her hooves and put the knife away. "Go." Blossom pointed towards the street behind the cowering family. "Get out of here."

The mare shot to her hooves and tossed her foals onto her back. She then turned around and shot in the opposite direction. Blossom watched her until she was only a speck in the distance, then fired up her horn. She used her magic to remove the dress and tiara, folding them neatly and stashing them inside her saddlebag. With one more burst of energy, she changed her saddlebag's color from green to dark red, then shifted her own appearance until she resembled a dark blue mare. 

"Happy Nightmare Night."