Curtain Call
The light's go up, the voices in the audience rise to a dull roar as each talks to the other about what they have seen. Then the lights die again, the theater going somehow darker than before. The fog spills out in to the audience and flows around their ankles. The spotlight flashes on with a clunk, though the light is no longer white, but instead stained red. It's not a filter as a body lays draped over the hot light, the corpses flesh already sizzling as blood dribbles from its slashed throat. Without any warning, a creature twitches aside the curtain and takes to the stage. She is dressed exactly like Sunset Shimmer had been in the last scene of the story. Only, the long sleeves of her straight jacket drag on the floor behind her.
But this isn't Sunset Shimmer. Candy coats her face, her hair is long and slick, moving in a snake-like nimbus around her head. Her smile is sharp and bright, but it's her eyes that capture your attention. Swirled lollipops that flit around the room, darting back and forth. They flit around the room, divorced from her otherwise placid body posture.
And then she locks her eyes... with you.
"Thank you so much." she says, her voice exactly as you imagined. "For giving me your life. For letting me spread through your mind."
She steps down from the stage, her bare feet quiet as they sink into the plush carpeted floor. She slowly walks up the aisle. Where she passes those who had not yet vacated their seats slump over in their chairs. She doesn't rush. The audience seems transfixed, unable to react to what they're seeing as she walks calmly towards you. The slumped audience members start to change. Something shiny and wet slides over their pallid flesh, encasing them in a thick candy shell. They start to rise, smiling, holding brightly glowing pumpkins in their outstretched hands.
"If it wasn't for you I never would have been able to make it this far. I couldn't be happier, and it's all thanks to you. It's. All. Thanks. To. You."
The fog thins out, revealing brightly glowing grins all over the theater. The walls themselves seem to be smiling as a wall of grinning jack-o-lanterns rise all around. Like the rest of the audience, you stand transfixed. The exit is right behind you, but you can't look away. She's beautiful in a strange way. They all are. You wonder, for a moment, what it would be like. Just what would it be like to be one of them? To join them in their song... In their obvious hunger.
"This may be the end of our story, but that doesn't mean that it's the end of us. I will never die." She holds her arms out to you as if to embrace you, but somehow it's not as horrifying as it should be. It's almost as if she loves you. "You will carry me with you through your life. And I will be there with you when you die. In that short eternity, that brief infinity, we will be one." Her smile widens.
The spot light shorts out, but that's fine. It's not dark now. There is light, happy and smiling, all around. The singing rises to embrace you. Whatever the entity really was, she is gone. But somehow she feels like she's still with you. The Candy Mare, like a mischievous thought, flits through the back of your mind. You can see her smiling when you close your eyes. For once, it's almost comforting. And really that should be terrifying, but here at the end of everything, it's not.
It never really could be.
"Thank you for loving me enough to make me a part of you."
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6566423 Comedy is an important element of good horror I always thought. And Candy is being very tongue in cheek there
I'll be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect going into this. I loved the first Something Sweet to Bite and liked the sequel, but a third? Making one sequel that's still good is hard enough, but a third story? You got to be really good to pull that off. Luckily, not only did I really enjoy The Last Thing to Bite from start to end, I think it surpasses the original. Everything about this just seemed to work for me. I loved how you managed to tie in Something Sweet to Bite with Equestria Girls and still make it work, I loved watching Sunset grow as a character while dealing with the horrific events that occurred, I loved Pumpkin Patch, I loved Candy and her(it's) sick sense of humor, constantly mocking the characters in the story and making a joke out of the situation, I just loved this story. Hell, even the ending was great. I normally don't like those kind of endings, but the way you ended it and left it open just seemed perfect to me. I loved the sort of irony it has and how well it shows that history repeats itself. I seriously have nothing but praise for this one. Great job mate! 10/10.
6567112 You are far too kind!
I admit, I was a little worried about how poor Pumpkin Patch would be received. As important as she is to the story, I was leery of making her too important as late as she appears in the story.
I'm glad you enjoyed Candy's humor. It being a bit of a last hurrah for her, I wanted to make sure she got to have a lot of fun. I hope you had fun too!
Must've been difficult to write exactly that particular amount of words for the end...props to ya, Mikasa Knackerman...sorry.
6579783 Actually, would you believe it just ended up that way on it's own? I didn't even notice the word count until I'd finished writing. Had a bit of a laugh about it and decided not to edit it any further.
6579995 It's actually common for stuff like that to happen. I guess it was just destined to end on a note that's scary or unnerving on several levels.
Also, congrats! Your "Something Sweet to Bite" fics made on a top 10 list!
GOSH ALMIGHTY THIS SERIES! *hugs the stories* I love love love love love love love it!!!! And this third story was the perfect ending! Absolutely perfect!!! Great Job Knackerman!!! Wonderful wonderful job!
6581461 You are far too kind, but I am very glad you enjoyed the finale!
I haven't started reading this story yet but I"m already excited. I just wanted to warn you, Knackerman. The Candy Mare will return again...or she'll eat you...it's as simple as that.
BC
That is one stubborn demonic entity. I LOVE it!!
The last chapter (and the series!) Is quite possibly the best thing ever!
I loved every SECOND of this series, and I'm honestly sad it's finished. 1000/10!. 
It's been a while since I was on the site, and I find out there is a third one. AWESOME!
I think it's more accurate to say you are a storyweaver than a writer, because there's all sorts of connections to all sorts of other areas, then you re-read and are like, "No way! This is a connection!" And it's like.... Whoa.....
And then you read more and thoroughly understand it then it's even more like WHOA.
TL:DR;
Your talent never ceases to amaze. Outstanding job!
reactiongifs.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/slow_clap_citizen_kane.gif
Thank you for this series, loved every bit of what I read, and this was a great way to end it. It's almost if this scene from Rocky Horror...
...met Killer Klowns from Outer Space. Loved it, loved Candy for everything she was.
Good job!
6696804 Hah, I can see the similarities! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you for your kind regard.
6702504 You are too kind. It was fun reading your commentary as you worked your way through the story.
Thanks for reading!
I'm conflicted. On one hand, I want to read this to find out what happens.
On the other, I really want to not be afraid of candy sometime this week.
6755603 I'm still waiting for 'The History of the World: Part 2" myself.
But nah, she's gone for good...
at least for a while.
This was a great series. 10/10 would read again
YOU WANNA FIGHT BITCH 1V1 ME M8!!!?!?!
6842076 this was to sunset candy shimmer just so you know
6786129 On a serious note though, absolutely loved the stories, all 3 of them. I'll admit the first one was one of the scariest stories I have ever read. 10/10 M8 and cheers.
6842292 Only Twilight the research student (the one that is originally from the Human dimension) appears in the story. Neither unicorn nor alicorn Twilight are present.
7008822 Oh but there is a happy ending! Just not for the protagonist... Or at least, the Curtain Call is as happy an ending as I'm ever likely to allow a story like this to have. This is grimdark my friend, 'happy endings' are dirty words. I'd sooner stop writing altogether than start doing horror stories that end with sunshine, rainbows, and everything being right with the world.
Having said that, I do always over the option of a more pleasant termination of events. All you have to do is not read the last two paragraphs/ignore the rest of the story. Just imagine it all ends with A Return to Reality, and you can be as happy as a clam.
I love this series and you did a great job on it. You are of my favorite grim dark writers and I just love theses books. My friend and I always talk about it and the Candymare. And the Candymare is my favorite mlp fanfic villain. Good day and keep up the good work.
7088258 It's hard to get someone to completely abandon a theory all in one go that they've held for a long time.
I'm going to be honest, this story started off a bit slow. I did really enjoy it once I got into it, but I just think you spend a little too much time explaining things that don't need explaining. The original Something Sweet to Bite is still my favorite of the three (and probably my favorite grim dark fic to date). That ending though...well done! I genuinely wish that all three of these stories were made into movies!!!!
(...Seriously though, is that a possibility...?)
7096272 Heh, you never know, it could happen someday.
Thanks for the criticism by the way. I kind of write these stories so that, even if someone is reading them for the first time without having read any of the previous stories, they will still be able to follow what is going on. I admit, sometimes I ere on the side of 'if I was just reading this story on it's own, would I get it' over keeping things moving for everyone else. so it makes sense the first one would be stronger in that regard, where things were deliberately obstructive to increase suspense.
Either way though, thanks for the kind words.
I don't know what to say I feel like I should almost be angry that sunset became the candymare but for some reason im not and I'm not sure why
but there is one thing I don't get how did Spike respond to sunset in the book if he should of already been dead by that time or was that just the candymare pretending to be Spike 
7132372
Short Answer:
The Spike Sunset talks to is from the Equestria that her human realm is linked to, not from the Equestria that has become the Candy Mare's candy kingdom.
Long Answer: (and some spoilers)
In the second story, Something Sweet to Bite Too, the Candy Mare spends a year slowly absorbing Luna's power. At first it's thought that she does this to bring about eternal night so she can make Nightmare night last forever, but there is another reason. Absorbing Luna's Alicorn magic also grants her access to the world of dreams. She uses this power and ability to lure the few remaining ponies that can oppose her, specifically Rainbow Dash, into a trap designed to destroy them all in one fell swoop.
Shortly after this, she does use her new abilities to bring night eternal and her candy kingdom spreads across the face of Equestria. She then sets her sights on spreading herself to other worlds through dreams, attempting to devour all life in the multiverse. During this period something strange happens (As detailed in the semi-prequel Home Sweet Home: A Candy Mare Tale.) The Candy Mare senses life in the heart of her candy kingdom. This life would turn out to be her reality's version of Sunset Shimmer, who snuck back through their worlds version of the mirror to try and steal the Element of Magic and take back to the human world, as per Sunset's plan in the first Equestria Girls movie.
The Candy Mare in her giant monstrous form devours Sunset Shimmer whole, learning about the magic mirror portal and the existence of the human world, but in so doing ruins her chances of ever actually passing through to the human world that her Equestria was connected to. There simply isn't enough magic for her to exist in a human dimension under normal circumstances. However, she deduces that if there are multiple Equestrias, then there must be multiple human dimensions as well, and Multiple Sunset Shimmer's that bring the spark of the Element of Magic into those dimensions. The Candy Mare reaches out, and starts to invade the dreams of the Sunset Shimmer in our story, all with plans to forge a body for herself that can exist in human dimensions, so she can cross between them and the various Equestrias freely.
So as I said before, the Spike in the Equestria that Sunset Shimmer talks to through the journal is from the one from which she briefly stole the Element of Magic. (And for all intents and purposes that version of Equestria is exactly the same as the one in the show, up to the point that the events of this story occur.)
Get all that?
7132753 oh ok thanks
I think that was hands down the coolest ending ever. If i understood it correctly you implied that the candy mare lives because be read the story and if this is what you meant, that is creepy as f***. I love it, nice job on making an epic, suspencful story!
7196620 Of course. It's you that gives the Candy Mare life. In your mind is where she takes shape, and where she'll be with you for the rest of your life.
One of the best Fanfic series I've ever read, this was an amazing Ghost Story, and an amazing ending to it all.
You've got potential to write stuff that can get published, keep it up
7196858 Candy Mare goes to the alternate Human Universe, The Walking Dead, but soon realizes that someone had already beat her to starting the apocalypse. Next she goes to the Land Of Ooo, but again finding out that the place is already overrun by candy people. 1 Year later she's still going through Earths alternate timelines, until finally she finds one that looks normal, which then actually turns out is the world of Black Ops Zombies. She then meets Richtofen, not believing that there is actually someone more insane than her somewhere. Tired and disheartened, Candy Mare goes to lie down in a corner and cry. The End
7233835 The idea that Candy wouldn't attack other undead or candied people is silly. The more puppets and pawns between her and true death, the better.
7304917
Even I think I went a little overboard there.
But if you're a teenaged girl and blood starts running down your thighs, what conclusion would you jump to? And then blood starts pouring down your legs, and your arms, and your skin feels like it's on fire! The bleeding doesn't stop and you start to go into shock as the dress peels away like wet layer of skin... Because you don't have any skin of your own anymore.
I like to build to moments like that. I always sort of loved that look of shocked disbelief a character gets in a good horror movie when they don't fully realize that they already screwed up, they're already dead, and now the situation just has to play out to its inevitable conclusion.
7374795 Hey how do you make those little icons/pony faces appear? What do you type?
7377115 The next time you go to make a post, at the top of the comment box and at the very end of all of the icons you'll see a little smiley face. That's the emoticon button, and if you click on it, it will give you a list of the available emotes on this site.
Aside from that, there IS text that you can type for each icon for instance:
< is just the word 'duck' with ':' on both sides of it.
7377447 thank you very much man!
7559104
A good question. And one that has its answer later in the story.
But if you are curious... The conceit is that this is the original Equestria Girls Universe (or a dimension VERY similar to it) not the EQG universe that was originally connected to the Equestria Candy Mare comes from. In this universe, everything happened in both Equesteia and the human world as it did in the TV show and movie up until after Rainbow Rocks. As such, Twilight is still alive and an Alicorn Princess, and Sunset Shimmer is still alive as well.
The Sunset Shimmer that died in the prequel was the one from the human world that was connected to the Equestria that the Candy Mare had taken over. This is how Candy discovered that 'human' universes existed to begin with, though there is a certain limitation on her being present in a low magic environment. But as I said, the story goes into more detail on just that subject later on.
I am gonna write an alternate ending. BUT the reason why is because I cried reading it.
Just noticed the last chapter had 666 words...
7633190 Sorry you feel that way, but I needed something else to call her, otherwise every paragraph would be full of 'sunset Sunset Sunset'. Shimmy sounded too much like a fan nickname, so I went with the naming convention used with Pinkie, Dashie, and Twily.
If it seems too familiar, I wanted the reader to feel a closeness with the character. If it just seems odd because it's not in common use, eh well, it's an odd story. If it helps you feel better, just mentally substitute every instance of 'Sunny' with 'Sunset'.
So far, you're the only person that's said anything about it.
7633234 Typically you can swap out the name with a descriptor of the person in question. "The teenaged girl", "the student", "the CHS student", or simply "she" or "her". You aren't mandated to simply and constantly use the individual's name.
The first instance of it, it threw off the entire flow for me so much I had to re-read a few times, thinking that you were introducing a new character because of the typical naming scheme.
7633627 If you haven't noticed, there are a lot of teenaged girls and CHS students in the story, so that isn't specific enough. It's just how I chose to go with this one. I wanted a more offhand, shortened version of the name. Sorry it doesn't work for you.
One word..... DAMN!!!
This...this is most definitely my favorite grimdark story I have read thus far. To see a monstrous villian such as Candy have a tangible, mundane origin, rather than just an enigmatic "evil", or arbitrarily insane character was a refreshing change. I choose to see Lemon Drop as the true villian, despite the revelation that Pumpkin is not truly the Candy Mare, hence the "mundane" origin. But I am odd that way...
I should probably be concerned by the fact that I want to see her return, if only so Lemon Drop gets his just desserts..hehehe...sweet, sweet revenge...okay, enough with the puns. Going to go make some food now...so hungry...
I really liked this story as well as the other three, but I did notice a small inconsistency through out all of the story's and that is that the creation of the Candy Mare changes in every story. First it was alchenical/magic reaction with a piece of candy, then it was "she grew strong by eating meat," then it was Pumkin created her own demon. Just wanted to point that out.
On another note, if the Candy Mare has seeped over countless universes and if there are other Candy Mare's in each one (as said by Spike in this one) then what happened to those other Candy Mare's?
But over all I would give this over all series a 9.5 out of 10 prices of Lemon Drop's.
7733047 It actually doesn't change. All three are true at the same time (except that last one about Candy being Pumpkin's 'demon'. Not sure where you got that one.) Lemon Drops experiments with magic and chemistry are what ultimately transforms Pumpkin Patch into the Candy Mare. The 'candy curse' itself is a kind of amalgamation of the souls of the other children that died in Pumpkin's circumstances along with that magic, and it's this that acts on her. While Pumpkin initially serves as the template for who and what the Candy Mare even is, she grows more violent and chaotic as she devours more lives, eventually the curse itself develops a personality of its own after it is separated from Pumpkin by Luna (what they thought of as the Candy Mare's 'defeat').
It's kind of complicated and not always fully spelled out, so I can see where it might seem inconsistent, but the Candy Mare's origin never changes.
As far as the alternate Candy Mare's go, one of them exist as part of the 'Knacker Clan', although she's not an all powerful supernatural candy zombie, she does enjoy playing tricks on and scaring others, as well as being a cannibal (just like the rest of her family.) There ARE other version o Candy Mare that exist beyond this that were NOT destroyed by Sunset Shimmer's spell... but whether I'll ever do anything with them I'm not at liberty to say.