He had to make a choice, and he had to be fast. Hitting his friend-turned-sour was no option. But running away, trying to shake him off like he did to Langston all the time, would make it rampage across wherever he went. That left only one option. Fergy's whole body twitched.
"Dude, what's he doing?"
"I think he's… ah, gross! I can't watch!"

The Fudgehog hacked and coughed and stuck out his tongue. On his tongue was a piece of candy, with the same vibrant colours as himself. He picked it up and held it on his paw, closing his mouth again and giving a weak grin instead. The piece of candy throbbed and pulsed, almost like a heart.
"Life candy," Hudson muttered, peeking through his hooves he was using to cover up his eyes. "Fergy's offering his life candy!"
"Oh, I can't look!" Franklin said, to which he turned around, covering his face as well. All others just observed the scene, flabbergasted, disturbed and frightened.
Life candy was, plainly put, the single piece of candy that gave a piñata their personality, their colour, and, well, their life. It was usually in their head, a place where they usually wouldn't lose it.
Usually.
The sour Pretztail stopped growling and biting for a mere moment as its green eyes seemed to double in size curiously, and its pointy nose sniffed at the offered candy.
Chomp! And so it was gone, as well as Fergy's hand – if he hadn't pulled it back in time, at least.
Gulp. The Pretztail cocooned almost instantly. At the same time, Fergy appeared to be losing his colour, as well as his consciousness. His bright greens, purples, pinks, blues, and yellows faded to monochrome black and white, but he smiled.
Paulie shook his head, freeing himself from the cocoon and revealing that he was back to normal again – with the long, non-threatening snout and long ears that looked like candy corn. He was looking at a Fudgehog not unlike his best friend, except with one difference – the slowly fading colours.
"F-Fergy…?" Paulie muttered. His expression showed guilt, somehow – as well as a hint of desperation, and a whole lot of concern. "You alright, buddy?"
Quickly reverting from his antagonistic stance, Paulie freed himself from whatever remained of the cocoon and quickly scooped his forepaws under his friend's body to keep him from falling to the floor.
But it was too late.
Paulie was at a loss of words. Everybody else around him closed their eyes and faced downwards out of respect. The Pretztail laid his now monochrome friend upon the grassy greens of his own garden, to which he lay there peacefully, almost as if he was sleeping. For he had done well. Everybody now knew to be wary of sour candy, and his friend was back to normal. For the first time in his life, he had finally showed selflessness.
"Fergy," Paulie stuttered, his voice cracking from incoming tears. "Get up, buddy. You saved us. You saved us all. You're…" He remembered the vile things he said to him when he had just eaten those wretched black-and-red candies. The memory stung, and he felt as guilty as he ever did. "I'm… I'm sorry about what I said yesterday. You're my friend. You're the best friend I ever had."
He looked around from left to right, to back to the empty husk of his friend's body. No reply. He reached out to hold his friend close – which he managed for an instant.
He wanted it to last so much longer. It was another, more silent way to say 'thank you', or 'I'm sorry', but it wasn't meant to be this way. The body gave a few dry cracks and the shards of black-and-white papier-maché that formed the brave Fudgehog's body fell to the floor. Paulie's expression was a fearful one.
"No," he gasped. He knew it was happening, but he didn't want it to. "Oh, great mother of Piñathor… no!"
Suddenly, a bright light enveloped the shards. Paulie took a few steps back, almost stumbling over the leftovers from his former husk, and all his friends followed the bright beams with their gazes. And so the parts of the Fudgehog's body ascended into the sky, where they drifted away over the treetops, and he was reduced to a mere memory.
It seemed as if a big storm had just passed. From every corner of the small village came piñatas of all shapes and sizes. Some of them began crushing the sour candies that were littered around the place like small, red-and-black coloured pebbles. Some others looked around to see if everything was safe to come out, and followed the Pretztail cocoon leftovers to find the culprit.
An elderly Cinnamonkey lady prodded Paulie's shoulder. He turned around and gave an annoyed groan. "What?"
"You should be ashamed of yourself," she lisped before shuffling off, resting her weary frame on a supporting device. "Kids these days."
Everyone looked at her a bit confusedly. Those old piñatas never knew what they were dealing with. Langston Lickatoad emerged from the crowd and was the first one to come close enough to the group to see what was going on.
"Paulie! You're back! I'd, er…" the frog looked around, standing on his tiptoes again. He was certain he was missing someone… "Hey, where's Fergy?"
All the piñatas sadly turned their heads to the ground with closed eyes.
"Brave Fergy was the one who saved us from Paulie's sour rampage," Teddington muttered as he prodded Tina with his snout to show Langston the sour Pretztail page. "And he offered himself up."
"Oh… oh dear," Langston said. His throat stung from the sudden tears he was trying really hard to hold back. Even though Fergy was mostly an annoyance towards the Lickatoad because of his tendency to slack off and not go to parties, he would still miss the guy. They could almost be considered friends, even with all the rough-housing that commonly occurred between the two.
"If you all… excuse me, I'll – I'll need to go back to my job," Langston said with a heavy voice. "See you later, everyone."
He quickly hopped out of sight, not wanting to show his more sensitive side for now.
Solemnly, everyone made their way back to their homes, while Paulie's friends comfortingly patted him on the back and offered to let him stay at their places for a while, but he refused. He just stayed there, in Fergy's garden, gazing to the floor, thoughts clouding his mind like the clouds did for the sky up above.
From somewhere in the distance in one of the few gardens that were still intact, Leafos was there, looking at the sullen Pretztail with a heavy heart. She had observed what was happening all along.
"It's the cruel doughnut of life," she mumbled, shaking her head woefully. Nobody except herself was around to hear it. "Brave Fudgehog… brave Fergy."