His initial plan was to round up his gang of friends – whichever ones that were left, but something caught him off-track. It smelled so good, so good! His favourite food… Almost instinctively, he swerved towards the left and teetered into the bushes. Sweet, sweet candy… thistles. Whirlms. Sniffing the air fervently with his eyes closed, he was not paying much attention to where he was walking and tripped, to which he fell face-first to the floor, snapping him right out of his trance. Upon coughing up dirt, he noticed where the smell was coming from.

But it wasn't sweet, pastel-coloured candy like he was expecting. Or thistles, or Whirlms. That putrid red-and-black colour scheme of the small wrapped objects that littered the ground before him told him all he needed to know.
Sour candy.
The sour taste was masked by an unusual odour that recalled pleasant memories and thus also favourite food, in an attempt to lure unsuspecting piñatas into eating it.
Somewhere in the far distance, behind another bush, just under the shade of a Monkeynut tree, was a fearful creature whose colour pattern closely resembled the disgusting candy he just saw scattered across the floor. It hacked and coughed, and the black-and-red candy created a pitter-patter as they fell upon the sandy ground.
Fergy scrambled to his feet as quickly as he made the discovery and attempted to flatten himself against a big, robust tree, in the hope he wouldn't be seen – or smelled.
The creature appeared to have smelled him nonetheless – or maybe just his fear. Nonetheless, it wasn't exactly useful in this situation.
The Fudgehog's heart – or whatever it was piñatas had instead of one – was beating rapidly and he drew in air with quick, unsteady breaths and an occasional gulp. He could almost feel the creature's hot breath as it had snuck up on him and scraped its stout body against the tree bark.
But it seemed to become distracted by something and ran off again. Relieved, Fergy sighed and wiped his forehead. Looking at the creature's departure, he noticed it was almost like a tank. A tank, with an absurdly large horn on its head.
The beast was a sour Limeocerous – creatures as rare as they were dangerous. Rumours were that even Professor Pester had trouble with them. They had the nasty habit of bulldozering everything that came on their path, and coughing up sour candy as they went. And every piñata with their mind at full power knew that sour candy meant trouble. But its sweet smell would usually catch them off-guard…
Fergy slid to the ground, clutching his chest and looking around nervously.
"What are you doing now?"
The voice had come from nowhere and it made the papery hedgehog yelp in surprise. It was his friend – no, ex-friend – Paulie. Paulie Pretztail.
"What are you going to do? Laugh at me because that – that thing didn't eat me!?" Fergy whined in a scratchy voice, gesturing towards where the Limeocerous ran off to.
The Pretztail was hunched over and an evil glimmer was in his eyes. "Something like that," he said. "Pity that beast didn't eat you."
He chuckled remorselessly. Fergy was about to burst out into tears again because of that mean comment when he noticed something… off, about his ex-friend.
His teeth, instead of being straight and pearly white, appeared to be slightly sharper now, and crooked, especially in his lower jaw. That long, bushy tail that waved just above his head was discoloured – the tip was black instead of white, and an alarming shade of red.
Fergy's eyes widened and his mouth fell open after he realized that maybe his friend had fallen victim to these terrible, terrible candies.
"What are you looking at, Cluckle-lips?" Paulie growled. "Ya act like ya'd never seen a Pretztail before."
"I…" Fergy stuttered. He squinted and flattened himself slightly against the ground in a defensive manner. "Paulie! I know you're in there somewhere… answer me!"
The other piñata blinked a few times. An evil chuckle escaped him and he grabbed the Fudgehog by his neck with both paws, lifting him up in the air to confront him face-to-face.
"You're good for nothin', you are! A low-down, irresponsible slacker!" he shouted into the poor piñata's face. But suddenly, there was a twitch in his face and his voice lowered – to the voice Fergy and everyone else were much more familiar with, but it was just for an instant. His eyes changed from a sickly green to normal white, and they looked forlorn and helpless. Just for a moment. "Fergs… save me, buddy."
Quickly after that, his sour thoughts were getting back at him and he dropped his befuddled friend. With another snarl, he ran off into the distance, his long black-and-red-tipped tail waving behind him.
"Paulie…" Fergy sniffled. But instead of doing anything, he lingered for a while, unsure what to think or do.