"Granny!" cried Applejack joyfully, "Thank goodness yer alright!"
"Not for a lack of that 'Dazzlin' whippersnapper tryin'! She pert near did me in!" exclaimed Granny Smith turning her head so the others could see the blood that matted the grey hairs on the back of her head. "Ah let her take left over grub fer months, and how does that gal repay me? Smacks me in the back of the head and leaves me trussed up in the freezer like a thanksgiving turkey! Fortunately old Granny knows her way around a knot or two."
"Hungry..." came a hushed whisper and urgent pounding from above. A fist thrust through the stage floor, followed swiftly by a dozen others. Arms reaching, clawing for anything they might snatch, as the candy ghouls ripped up the floorboards that served as the understage's ceiling.
"Though Ah s'pose that's a story best left to tell til later," smiled Granny Smith despite her missing teeth. "Lets skedaddle!"
She didn't have to tell the girls twice. As they thundered up the stairs that lead back out to the main hall, they slammed the door behind them just as the stage must have collapsed. A cloud of dust rose up the stairs, but that wasn't the only thing that made the hallways hazy. A thick, unnatural fog seemed to have enveloped the building, lending the school an almost dreamlike quality. It reminded Sunset Shimmer of the nightmares she had experienced yesterday. She only wished now that she had realized sooner what she had experienced was no mere dream, but rather a vision of what was soon to come. In the hallway there were students, or pieces of them, who hadn't even been present when the Candy Mare had slaughtered most of the school. Bits of their exploded torsos splashed across lockers and light fixtures on the ceiling made the scene just as grizzly in a way that was almost worse than the chaos they had left behind.
Neither the girls nor Granny Smith slowed as they ran by, however. There was no point checking to see if any of them were still alive, after all. Yet as they dashed past the slain, a head turned here, an arm raised there. Fingers twitched and bodies jerked as childish laughter hounded their every step, "Nightmare Night, what a fright..." came the incessant whispers as a candy ghoul staggered out of the nurses office. Miss Redheart's body had taken on a white, almost porcelain appearance, dark cracks ran from her joints as well as the corners of her eyes and mouth like thick dark veins. Her hard sugared features turned hungrily towards the fleeing group.
Without a moments hesitation, Granny Smith raised her fire ax and smashed through the former nurses neck. Her head fell, shattering on the tiled floor while her body reached sightlessly after the Rainbooms. Other candy ghouls were rising now, some small and half formed, while others were hulking and slick with a thick and noxious ooze. All met the business end of Granny Smith's ax as she blazed a trail for the girls to follow. Even so, there seemed to always be more students who had been converted to candy ghouls just around the next corner. It was clear that they were encountering some that had previously been in the gym now. Try as they might, it seemed they couldn't shake the ravenous candied dead for long.
It wasn't until they reached an intersection in the halls that they finally stopped to catch their breath. They paused, less from fatigue and more to try and figure out which way would lead the quickest out of the school... and which way might they hope to encounter the least resistance in the attempt. Their legs ached and they were out of breath, while Granny Smith seemed cool and composed, vigilant for any new threats. "Wow Granny, Ah have ta say, Ah'm surprised ain't none of this phasing you," said Applejack sidling up to her grandmother "Ah'm right impressed!"
"Why'd ya have ta go and say somethin' like that?" muttered Granny Smith as her fire ax fell from her hands, clattering on the tiles. She clutched her chest with one hand as her arm shot out, trying to steady herself with her other arm by leaning against the wall. She needn't have bothered, as her legs swiftly gave out beneath her. If Applejack wasn't nearby to catch her, she would've smashed her head open on the tiles, then and there.
"Oh no, Granny what's the matter!? Is it your heart!?" cried Applejack in panicked distress as the other girls gathered around to see what was happening. "Y'all stand back, give her some air!" commanded the country girl. She frantically started rifling through her grandmother pockets, but her search came up empty. "Granny, where are yer pills? You know ya need to keep em nearby! Are they in the cafeteria? The nurses office maybe? Ah'll go an fetch em alright? You just hang on you hear? You just hang on!"
"No!" croaked Granny Smith, before continuing weakly "No... don't go runnin' off by yerself sweetie. Leave me. Ah'm old... Ah've had mah life. It's up ta you... you've gotta take care of little Apple Bloom and... and yer brother..." her eye lids were drooping heavily and her wrinkled face was twisted in anguish. It seemed like she was having a harder and harder time just getting words to pass her lips.
There were tears in Applejack's eyes as she squeezed the hand of the woman who had taken care of her all her life, "You can't die Granny! Don't die. They're waitin' for us... Big Mac and Apple Bloom, and the rest of the Apple clan. They're waitin' for us to come home! It can't end like this!"
"You're right," came a child's taunting voice, "It can't." Without warning, Granny Smith's stomach exploded in a shower of gore, spraying blood everywhere and drenching Applejack in her grandmothers innards. The other girls jumped back, but Applejack could only stare, dumbfounded and still holding Granny Smith's hand as the Candy Mare rose from her innards. "I got tired of counting," the killer said simply and without fanfare. "Ready or not, here I come!"
Belatedly realizing her danger, Applejack tried to back away, scooting across the suddenly filth drenched floor by kicking with her legs on the palms of her hands. She tried to turn over on her hands and knees in a vain attempt to get back on her feet, but she didn't make it far before the Candy Mare hooked cruel talons into her ankles. Laughing the whole time, Candy began to drag Applejack towards her... Or more accurately, towards the gaping hole in Granny Smith's stomach as the killer slid smoothly inside of the old woman's body. Teeth erupted around the ragged hole, turning the open wound into a massive maw.
"No!" screamed Applejack, her finger nails scrabbling across the gore slicked tiles. It was only mere moments before her own blood mixed with that of her dead grandmothers, her fingernails breaking and popping off as she struggled to drag herself away from the death that held her in unforgiving talons. Her friends rushed to her aid, grabbing hold of her arms, but even their strength wasn't enough to stop the inexorable pull of the Candy Mare. Besides, they slipped and slid in the growing crimson puddle, unable to get any traction on the gore drenched floor. All they could truly do is share in Applejack's fear, joining in her panicked screams as first her feet, and then her legs slowly disappeared inside of Granny Smith's torso. A crunching, gnashing sound filled the halls as her lower body was devoured.
"What's the matter deary?" asked Candy, from inside the corpse, using Granny Smith's voice, "I thought you loved being close to your kin?" She cackled before continuing in Apple Bloom's voice, "Now we get to be together forever!" she cried cheerfully. The fight almost went out of Applejack there and then. The pain of being slowly eaten alive was bad enough, but thinking this monster had already gotten to little Apple Bloom was somehow so much worse. That's when sharp, candied fangs started chewing through her bowels, bringing fresh screams and desperate struggling. "Eeyup," came Big Mac's voice, "won't be long now."
"Don't listen to her Applejack! You have to fight!" cried Sunset, tears streaming down her face. "You're the strongest person I know! You can beat her, but you have to fight!"
"There's only one way to stop this," said Rainbow Dash darkly, picking up the forgotten fire ax. She hefted it high, her eyes locked on Applejack's tortured face. Before she could bring it down, Granny Smith's carcass came alive. The candy fangs in her stomach chomped down and swallowed up Applejack in a single gulp. The ax embedded in the tiled floor where Applejack's head had been moments ago. As the candied ghoul that had been Granny Smith rose on four seemingly boneless limbs, her head hung loosely from a broken neck like a clubbed tail. Her face was still lifeless, slack in death, but her stomach roared a challenge as turned to face the other girls.
"Fine," muttered Dash, prying the ax from the tiles, "This works too." Her friends watched in horror as she started chopping and hacking at the quadrupedal monstrosity, taking off arms and legs before splattering the bloated creatures snapping stomach. The pieces of Applejack were indistinguishable from her grandmother, everything was mixed in an ugly explosion of bile and stomach acid, but at least AJ's screaming had finally stopped.
"Wh...what d-d-did you do?" asked Pinkie Pie, the first to break the heavy silence that had descended upon the five remaining girls after the slaughter had ended.
"What needed to be done," said Rainbow Dash bluntly, removing the gore smeared ax from the ghouls innards with a sickening pop. "The same thing I hope you girls will do for me if it comes to it. Applejack was suffering... so was Granny Smith. They needed to be put out of their misery."
"I... I can't accept that," said Sunset, staring at the disjointed body parts that had so recently been their friends. "This isn't like you Rainbow Dash. This isn't like us. You can't expect us to do this kind of thing. You shouldn't have done this!"
"Then what should I have done, huh!?" screamed Rainbow Dash, full of a fury none of the other girls had ever seen before. The ax in her hands dripping sour smelling fluids, "Just watch her suffer? Just watch her die!? Let the Candy Mare have her sick jolly's tormenting her to death? I don't think so. If you were willing to stand by and watch that happen... I wonder exactly what kind of friends you all are. I'm not about to let any one of you go through that. Not while I'm around."
"That's not your choice to make!" screamed back Sunset, surprised at her own anger.
"Please stop it, just stop it! Stop fighting!" yelled Rarity. "Applejack is dead! There's some horrible little girl after us and a horde of candied corpses! We don't have time for this!"
"I can't take this. I just can't," sobbed Fluttershy. Without another word she ran down the left hallway, sprinting faster than any of her friends had ever seen her run before.
"No, Fluttershy, come back! We have to stay together!" shouted Sunset after her. She was already fading in the distance. Sunset turned to Rainbow Dash, "You have to stop her! You're the only one that's fast enough."
For a moment, it seemed like Dash hadn't heard her. Or worse, was thinking about continuing their fight. Instead she just nodded, and started down the same hallway that Fluttershy had run. The other girls padding behind her, doing their best to keep up.
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Fluttershy couldn't believe what was happening. This was worse than her darkest nightmares. She had seen so much death in such a short amount of time, it was hard for her to process. She knew it was stupid to run away from her friends like this, but she couldn't stand what she was seeing. She had known Rainbow Dash almost her entire life, and she had never thought she would be capable of doing what she had seen her do to that monstrous version of Granny Smith... or Applejack.
She wanted to believe that it was like Dash had said, that she was just putting them out of their misery, that she was only trying to be loyal to her friend in her moment of direst need. But the callous way she talked about it, almost without any emotion, and the way she'd mechanically swung that ax as if all she was doing was... was chopping down a tree or something... those things disturbed Fluttershy deeply. The Candy Mare, or perhaps just this whole situation, had unearthed a darkness inside Rainbow Dash that Fluttershy had never suspected. In many ways, it was more disturbing and unsettling than the candy ghouls she was almost sure she was running headlong into.
She'd been lucky so far. Any dead students that had been in this hallway had appeared to stay that way, slumped against lockers or sprawled on the floor. It was so dark here, even if her vision wasn't blurred by tears it would have been hard to see. Everything was engulfed in a flickering gloom that would've normally sent waves of apprehension through Fluttershy. But even though a storm of emotions raged in her heart, and filled her mind with conflicting thoughts, she could see something wasn't quite right.
It was becoming harder and harder to run. At first she thought she was just growing tired. Perhaps, a small part of her hoped, she was coming to her senses and getting ready to go back to the others. But when she tried to turn around, she found that doing that was just as difficult as trying to run forward. It was only now that she noticed the long thin wisps of pink thread that seemed to be strewn across the hall. Forward or back, left or right, it didn't matter how she tried to move, she seemed to touch a fresh strand of pink candy floss. The strands seemed to clump especially around her ankles and wrists. Without warning, the strands tightened, lifting Fluttershy off the ground and suspending her in the air. Belated she realized she had run into the heart of a giant pink spider web.
She was trapped!
"Little Miss Fluttershy, ran away to have a cry, weeping she lost her way," came a sing song voice that was all too familiar at this point. From the ceiling, Candy crawled down on long thin spider like limbs. A wide grin stretched the features of her face wide. Extra sets of eyes roved over Fluttershy's helpless body as she came closer. "When along came a spider, to burrow inside her, and eat all her flesh away!" Candy snickered as tiny candy critters started to swarm over the invisible strands of web. Fluttershy struggled, trying to break the threads that bound her, her chest heaving as she drew panicked breaths.
Her every instinct told her to cry out, to scream, but if she opened her mouth she knew exactly what would happen. Just like the Candy Mare's rhyme, the candy spiderlings would swarm down her throat and burst from inside her, just as they'd done to all of her friends in the gymnasium. But if she didn't cry out, how would her friends find her? Her heart hammered so hard she could hear her own pulse over the skittering creatures as they drew closer. Why had she run off on her own? Why hadn't she realized she was running headlong into a trap? Why was it, in this moment, she wished fervently that Rainbow Dash was by her side?
"Not so fast bitch!" roared an angry voice from the dark. An ax swung from the shadows, chopping Candy's head neatly in two. The monstrous girl let out an ear piercing screech and climbed back up into the ceiling. Rainbow Dash worked quickly, cutting the pink strands of cotton candy, freeing Fluttershy and sending the candy critters falling to the tiled floor. Working together the pair of girls stomped the tiny abominations into puddles of smooshed sugary goo. Once that was done, Rainbow Dash turned angry eyes on her friend, "What were you thinking running off like that!? You had to have known something like this would happen! Do you want to die!?"
"N-no, of course not," said the meek girl, melting under her friends angry glare. "I just... I just..." a look Dash had never seen before crossed Fluttershy's face. It was a look, perhaps, of resignation "No maybe I did want to die. So you... so you wouldn't have to kill me."
That knocked the anger right out of Rainbow Dash, "W-what do you mean? I'd never kill you!" cried Rainbow Dash. Even as she said it she realized she didn't sound very convincing, even to herself.
"Of course you would," said Fluttershy simply. "You care so much about your friends. I know you cared about Applejack or you couldn't have done what you did. But I can't stand to think about what that must have done to you. What it would mean if you had to do that again... with me, or any of our other friends." Fluttershy reached out to Rainbow Dash, but her friend flinched away from her touch. She wouldn't look at Fluttershy, she couldn't look at her. "Dash, you have to see that the Candy Mare is focusing on you for some reason, some purpose. She might want to kill us but she seems intent on torturing you most of all."
"You're wrong!" yelled Rainbow Dash, before locking eyes with Fluttershy. The look Dash gave Fluttershy made her heart skip a beat. There was so much pain and anger there, but behind that there was such deep boundless sorrow she was surprised that her friend could stand. "You're wrong. I don't matter to that... that thing! She did worse to so many, and yeah, she made me watch... But she also made it clear that the only reason I was still alive was because she wanted me to be. There's no higher purpose to what she's doing, there's no grand plan." She tightened her grip on the fire ax, "She'll do worse than kill each and every one of us if we let her. All she cares about is inflicting pain on others and eating them alive. All she cares about is reveling in our misery. So don't think for a moment you're doing me a favor by going off and dying on your own! That does nothing but give this fucked up thing exactly what it wants."
Fluttershy didn't say anything about the tears streaming down her friends face. All she did was wrap her arms around her and hold her tight as she shuddered silently, crying into her shoulder.