//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2: Shadows of an Old Friend 
// Story: Shadows of the Revenants 
// by MegaCartmanX 
//------------------------------//

    The Young Six were truly in for it now. All of them found themselves in the dark, shadow covered lushness that was the Everfree Forest. It would be false to say that they weren't even a bit scared, but they stayed determined to find this creature. Of course, Sandbar, Yona and Ocellus didn't exactly want to do this by choice, but they were loyal to the others, so they followed closely behind wherever they went.
    Gallus led the others through the forest, sometimes having to push away the leaves hanging down from the trees. The feeling the six creatures felt while they walked through the forest, while varying to some degree, all correlated with one main sense: fear.
    The sunset that began to fade behind the horizon created less light for the six friends to work with, thus making the forest seem darker and creepier than it already was. The sounds of the timberwolves howling in the distance could be heard echoing all throughout the Everfree, sending chills down each of their spines. The wind had also picked up speed, making the branches on the trees rustle and shake, creating a very eerie atmosphere for the Young Six to work with. And to top it all off, some of them could've sworn they saw the face of the notorious Nightmare Moon stalking them in the shadows.
    "S-S-Sandbar… Y-Y-Yona know friends will keep Yona s-s-safe, right?" Yona inquired. The poor yak had been consumed with fear, making her slowly drift off into insanity.
    "Don't fret, Yona. There is nothing to be afraid of." Sandbar said with courage, hoping to share some of it with Yona. But even after saying that, the earth pony wasn't completely convinced. There was always the feeling that something was out to get them, it was after all what made the Everfree Forest so notoriously spooky in the first place. "Besides… the sooner we find this thing, the sooner we can get to Ponyville."
    "Why are we even looking for this thing?" Ocellus asked, her teeth chattering as she spoke. "I don't suppose you have thought about the possibility that it is hungry. If that's the case then we might be next on the menu!"
    "Would you guys grow a spine and toughen up!?" Gallus snapped at the others, annoyed by their premature attitudes.
    "Woah, settle down. We don't need to start turning on each other." Smolder said, trying to calm the griffon before he turned what could be a simple conversation into a giant argument.
    "Well why are they here anyway?" Gallus asked, glaring at Sandbar. "I didn't ask for backup!"
    "No, Gallus, you didn't." Sandbar stood tall and defiant, standing up against the stubborn griffon. "But we are your friends, and you must understand that we are only here because we care about you and we don't want you to get hurt."
    "It's true, Gallus." Ocellus stepped in to back up Sandbar. "We don't want you doing something you might regret. Let's just leave this place. The sooner we get to Ponyville and pick our costumes the sooner we can start getting candy!"
    "Oh… I get it now." Gallus snickered, holding his paw up to his mouth. "You guys are scared!"
    "A little-" Sandbar pressed his hoof against Ocellus' mouth before she could finish.
    "No, we aren't. There is nothing to be afraid of." said Sandbar.
    "Man, this is cute." Gallus said with a mocking tone. "We take a couple steps in the forest and you are all acting like a bunch of little ponies. Ah, the shame that you must feel when we come out completely safe and unharmed. Don't worry, I won't run it in too much."
    "Watch it, Gallus." Sandbar muttered angrily behind his clenched teeth. The two creatures stared down upon each other, a slight anger and annoyance toward the other bubbling up inside them. While Sandbar and Gallus glared at each other with anger, the others could tell that something was watching them, and they all felt it at the same time.
    "Okay, boys. Enough of your fight for dominance." Smolder said nervously.
    "Y-Y-Yeah, come on. Let's get out of here before someone gets hurt." Silverstream pitched in.
    "Ah, come on, not you too!" Gallus shouted. "Girls, there is nothing to be afraid of, nothing will… uh…" The griffon stopped in place, tensing up as fear gripped him by the scruff of his neck. While he got carried away, he felt himself bump into something strange. Something… metallic. While he tried guessing what it could be, the looks on the others' faces only filled his soul with horror. Swallowing nervously, Gallus gingerly turned around to meet face to face with the one he made contact with.
    The fear portrayed on Gallus' face was insurmountable.
    Standing tall above the little, blue griffon was a robot made up of wires and metallic covers. Its red and black body glowed in the darkness, striking fear into all six of the young creatures. Its eyes stared into their souls without mercy, and its narrow, long, metallic fingers seemed to almost reach out and grab them, as if to claim another victim.
    It was as if the legends of the Everfree Forest were coming true. The Young Six stared at the robot for what felt like an eternity, feeling too scared to decide whether to run away or fight it. Nothing happened for a moment, silence falling over the forest… that is until Sandbar found himself recognizing the robot. He soon gained enough courage to confront it.
    "H-H-Hi there, mister." He said, unknowing where to take the conversation from there. "Do you… remember us?"
    Those words alone changed the feeling of the scene. The robot cocked its head to the side, as if it were thinking to itself. The rest of the Young Six all looked at the robot, the fear embedded within each of them slowly fading away. They too came to realize that they had met it before, as its physical appearance rang a few bells in their heads. The robot then placed its hands together like that of an evil being. An ominous, frightening laughter came from the robot's voice module, sending another chill down the Young Six's spine.
    "Ah yes, the Young Six. Or what I like to name you, the delicate skin suits." The robot let out a terrifying sigh of relief, placing its hands on its hips. "I remember you all too well."
    “Revenant, is it?” Silverstream asked, lowering her guard once she realized that the malicious simulacrum was being rather compliant with them and their questions.
    “The one and only.” Revenant knelt down to meet Gallus at eye level. He lifted his metallic hand and planted it firmly on top of the blue griffon’s head. Gallus barely held in a whimper as Revenant began to frighteningly pet his head, which only brought back the fear he managed to cover up. “It has been a while since our last adventure. Remember when I almost snatched you up?” Revenant cackled once more. “Ah, the memories.”
    Gallus could not find the courage to speak to the simulacrum. They all knew who he was and what he did to those unfortunate enough to cross paths with him.
    “What are y-y-you doing h-h-here in Equestria?” Ocellus inquired.
    “What am I, a lifeless robot with the soul purpose to take the souls of the deserving, doing here in this loving, heart-warming world of yours?” Revenant spoke with a soft tone. “I am afraid that is none of your concern.”
    “You plan on hurting somepony, don’t you!” Sandbar shouted, realizing Revenant’s foul intent. He struck a fighting pose and stood his ground. “I won’t let you hurt anypony, Revenant. Not now, not ever.” Revenant laughed out loud, mocking the earth pony for his foolishness.
    “Calm down, skin suit. I am not here to hurt any… pony.” Revenant said, patting Gallus on his check a couple times before standing up. Gallus immediately took that chance to get away from Revenant and regroup with the rest of his friends. “Believe me, if I was then you’d already be dead.”
    “Then why have you come here?” Silverstream asked, confronting the simulacrum. “And why are you in the Everfree Forest of all places?”
    “I would tell you, girlie girl, but again… none of your business.” The ignoble robot turned away from the Young Six, clearing a path further into the forest. But before he continued his journey, Revenant glanced over his shoulder. “You skin suits should leave right now. There is evil nearby, and as much as I like seeing death, I don’t want any of you to suffer because of what I have brought upon your peaceful world.”
    “Evil? Revenant, what are you talking about? What did you bring to Equestria!?” Smolder shouted, throwing out rapid fire questions at the simulacrum.
    “None. Of. Your. Business. Leave this place now!” Revenant stormed off through the nearby bushes and into the shadows that consumed the forest, the only sounds left to be heard being the wind paired with Revenant’s metallic footsteps diminishing as time went on.
    The abrupt absence of Revenant left the Young Six once again by themselves in the middle of the Everfree Forest, only this time they were stuck with even more questions than before they arrived.
    “So… is no one gonna say anything about what just happened?” Silverstream said, her voice fluctuating wildly between a whisper and a scream.
    “What is there to say?” Ocellus replied. “Revenant is loose in the Everfree Forest. I don’t think that there is much we can do about that.”
    “But what if he plans to hurt somepony?” Smolder inquired.
    “I don’t think that is his intent.” Sandbar stated. “I think he is telling the truth.”
    “What!? You believe that crazy robot!?” Gallus exclaimed, baffled by the earth pony’s crazy statement. “Did you even see how he was treating me!? He stared at me like he was gonna eat me!”
    “You are right, Gallus. I know how he can get at times.” Sandbar paused mid-sentence, making sure he chose his following words wisely. “But Revenant did have a point. If he really did want to hurt us then I don’t think that we would still be standing here unharmed.”
    “True.” said Ocellus.
    “Revenant also said that there was evil lurking around Equestria.” Smolder stated, recalling the words of the simulacrum. “What do you think he meant by that?”
    “Yona have no clue. Yona just as confused as friends.”
    “Well then, what are we gonna do about Revenant. Are we really just gonna let him run around like that?” Silverstream asked.
    “Maybe he is right.” Sandbar stated. “This isn’t our business. Let’s just go to Ponyville and start looking for costumes. If anything else happens involving Revenant then just tell somepony about it. Princess Twilight will be sure to take it into her own hooves if need be.”
    “Sandbar’s got a point. The princess can do a whole lot more than we ever could.” said Ocellus.
    “Okay then, let’s get going.” Smolder added, beckoning for the others to join her as she led them towards Ponyville.
    Their journey was soon put to a halt.
    Standing in front of them was another creature similar in size and shape to Revenant, but overall looked completely different compared to the simulacrum. The creature was dressed in a large, black cloak that traveled all the way down to its feet. Upon its face was a pair of red goggles and a mask with the symbol of a spartan, a symbol which the Young Six were unaware of.
    The Young Six were immediately compelled by fear to freeze in place, as the mere sight of this new creature made him seem a lot more threatening than Revenant.
    “You know of Revenant?” The man asked, standing tall and intimidatingly over the young group of creatures. He stared directly at the earth pony, who was standing in front of the rest of them. Even though the man’s eyes were covered by the red lenses on the goggles, Sandbar could feel the man’s pupils figuratively penetrating into his flesh with his intense stare. Sandbar looked back at him with a fearful expression swept over his face.
    “Uh… I… Oh, I mean, uh…” Sandbar couldn’t find the right words to speak.
    The man slowly approached the earth pony with each step emitting a sense of malevolent intent. After some time to go over things, it was obvious that this man was the one thing Revenant was talking about when he spoke of “evil in Equestria.”
    “I will ask you one more time, young pony.” The man spoke with a dark and cruel tone. “Do you know who Revenant is?”
    Whether it was all of the fear being expelled from within him, a strong sense of courage demanding to battle against this threat, or perhaps just simple idiocy, Sandbar glared straight back at the man with a stern and stermined look, on his face. And with one big breath…
    “I won’t let you hurt him.”
    The man chuckled to himself, surprised by the amount of bravery that the young earth pony had just displayed. However, this only made things worse for them, and they all knew it.
    “Well then, I am afraid I have no choice.” The man pulled his hands out from behind the cover of his cloak and revealed two daggers held tightly in his grasp. The Young Six all trembled before the human the second they caught eye of his weaponry.
    “Woah, wait a second! We can talk about this!” Smolder shouted, hoping she could get the man to cooperate and bargain for something besides their lives.
    “You wouldn’t hurt a couple kids would you?” Silverstream inquired, wanting nothing less than the same for herself.
    “I am sorry-” The man said, holding the daggers out towards them. “-but anyone who is a friend of Revenant is an enemy to me, and as such, you must be eliminated.”
    “Please, d-d-don’t do this to us. We don’t w-w-want any trouble.” Gallus said, stumbling over his words as he spoke.
    “Nothing personal… just policy.”
    The man raised his weapons above his heads, ready to attack the Young Six. The group of creatures all gathered together, unable to determine whether they should run away or fight this beast. Their senses were in overdrive, unable to come to a conclusion due to the insurmountable fear their minds were going through. As the blade of each dagger glimmered in the newly found moonlight, each of the six turned their heads and closed their eyes, waiting for their imminent demise.
    “Get away from them, Gladiator!!!”
    The Young Six opened their eyes, looking over to their right to find the man tackled to the ground. Revenant was on top of him, pinning his arms behind his back in order to give the young creatures enough time to escape.
    “Go now, skin suits! I can’t hold him off for much longer!” Revenant shouted, motioning for the others to flee the scene before the man could break free. The Young Six all nodded hesitantly before running away like their lives depended on it… which it did.
    Stepping over fallen trees and broken branches, the group of six ran as far as they could away from Revenant’s location in order to ensure their safety. At one point Yona tripped over a lonely vine, but easily recovered with Sandbar’s help.
    The group soon came across a dark and gloomy cave, which they thought would be perfect to at least get some time to breathe, if not hide from the killer. They all entered the cave one by one and took shelter from the forest’s malevolent elements. Once safely within its walls, the Young Six sat around each other in a circular formation, giving themselves a break from all the running.
    “Who was *pant* *pant* that guy?” Smolder said, mostly to herself, as she knew that the others were just as oblivious as she was.
    “Why did he try to hurt us?” Gallus said, catching his breath. “You know what’s a better question, why did Revenant save us?”
    “I don’t *pant* I don’t think Revenant and the other guy are exactly best friends.” Silverstream assumed based on her limited observations.
    “Whatever he is, we have to tell Princess Twilight! She would know what to do.” Sandbar stated.
    “Guys, quiet.” whispered Ocellus, but none of the others could hear her.
    “What!? We can’t leave this place! We might meet up with him yet again, and I know for sure that we won’t have Revenant save us a second time!” Gallus exclaimed.
    “Guys, please stop talking.” Ocellus said, this time a little louder. But alas, her desperate pleads were still not enough to capture their attention.
    “Oh, and what, let him hurt somepony else?” Sandbar shouted.
    “Shut it!!!” Ocellus exclaimed, her voice cracking a bit as she hit a new level of volume. The others immediately shut their mouths and glanced over at the enraged changeling who had been trying to warn them about strange footsteps that came from just behind the cave walls. The others soon heard it and sat still in their respective spots, preventing themselves from making any kind of sounds.
    The footsteps echoed all around the cave, and sounds only got louder and louder, notifying the Young Six that whoever was the cause of such noises was only getting closer. Ocellus and Yona let a small whimper escape from their mouths, to which the others exchanged angry glances towards them.
    A shadow soon swept over each of them, the origin coming from the cave entrance. Paralyzed with fear, they gingerly turned their heads in the direction of the shadow, hoping and praying that the killer hadn’t found them. The silhouette of a tall human stood in front of them, nearly making them all scream and panic. But thankfully they gave themselves enough time to realize that it was only Revenant.
    “Oh, thank goodness!” Gallus exclaimed. A collective sigh of relief was heard from the Young Six. The red simulacrum entered the cave and sat down beside the other various creatures.
    “You skin bags just don’t know how to stay out of trouble, do you?” Revenant said, holding his finger out in front of him and pointing to each individual as he spoke. “I warned you about Gladiator, and now look what happened.”
    “It’s all Sandbar’s fault!” Gallus shouted, pointing the blame at the innocent earth pony. “If he didn’t force me to enter this accursed forest in the first place then none of this would’ve happened!”
    “Hey, you were the one who quite literally jumped into the forest! We only followed you to help protect you!” Sandbar said in defense of himself and the others.
    “Well, if you didn’t tell us that you saw something strange in the Everfree Forest then none of this would’ve happened!” Gallus replied, flaring his nostrils and furrowing his brow. The griffon and pony pressed their foreheads against each other, staring down one another in anger.
    “Ugh, and I thought humans were the idiots.” Revenant said, chuckling under his synthetic breath.
    “Well you aren’t exactly helping the situation, Revenant.” Gallus said, backing away from the pony, the two exchanging dirty looks before completely getting over the argument.
    “I saved your life, thank you very much.” Revenant stated. “Not even a simple thank you? Wow, maybe I should’ve left you to die.”
    “No, not at all. He doesn’t mean that!” Sliverstream said in a panicked tone, not wanting to anger the murderous bot. “We all very much thank you for what you did for us.”
    “There we go. See griffon, gratitude isn’t that difficult to give.” Revenant said, leaning his metallic back up against the rock wall behind him. “So I take it that you skin suits are gonna stay here for the night?”
    “No way, we are planning on heading over to Ponyville to get some costumes before the start of Nightmare Night.” Smolder explained.
    “Heh… you really want to step foot in a forest with a bounty hunter on the loose? And all for what, candy?” Revenant said.
    “Well, no… but yes…?” Silverstream said.
    “You skin suits won’t even last a second against Gladiator, believe me.”
    “But we can’t stay in the forest forever!” Ocellus whined.
    “Yeah, Yona and friends must leave Everfree at some point.” Yona added.
    “Who is this Gladiator guy, anyway?” Gallus asked.
    “I’m on a mission.”
    Revenant and the Young Six all turned around to find Gladiator standing just outside the cave entrance. He held a detonation device in his hand, his thumb levitating over the big red button in the middle of it.
    “Gladiator, you don’t plan on getting rid of us so soon, do you?” Revenant said, taunting the bounty hunter. “We were having so much fun. To let it all go right now is such a waste.”
    “Oh, I don’t plan on destroying you just yet, Revenant. Not until I get my hands on the medallion. Only then will I truly be able to stop you and your plans.” said Gladiator.
    “Then what do you intend to do with that?” Revenant asked, pointing towards the detonation remote.
    “Oh this?” Behind the mask, Revenant and the Young Six could see the image of an evil grin on Gladiator’s face as he spoke. “This will just give me enough time to find it.” The man pressed the red button. “See you soon, Revenant.”
    The walls of the cave began to shake, bits and pieces of rocks and dirt crumbling to the floor. With one last victory laugh, Gladiator watched as the cave entrance was closed off by the debris of the explosion, trapping the simulacrum and the poor creatures inside the cave.
    “Don’t worry, Revenant. I will be back, but this time I will not be so nice.” Gladiator walked away from the collapsed cave, proceeding towards the marked destination on his radar.
    In the cave, Revenant and Gallus attempted to move away the large rocks that blocked their way out, but the weight and size of said rocks were just too much for them to overcome. Revenant punched the wall of rocks in anger, his metal fist clinking against the stone.
    “Oh no, we are trapped!” Silverstream exclaimed.
    “No… really?” Revenant said sarcastically, glaring over at the hippogriff. “You didn’t realize until now!?”
    “How do we get out of here?” Sandbar questioned.
    “Do I look like I have any ideas?” Revenant replied, crossing his arms as he stared at the rock clump with disappointment. “I don’t know how we are going to get out of here.”
    “You’re a robot, aren’t you?” Gallus said. “Can’t you just use your hands to mine a way out?”
    “Heheheh… were it so simple.” Revenant lowered himself to the ground and sat up against the pile of rocks.
    “We can’t give up! There has to be another way out of here.” Ocellus said, hoping that she was actually right.
    “You are free to look around, no one is stopping you.” Revenant said, picking up a rock and throwing it across the way.
    The Young Six all split up and looked for a way out, but there was nothing that could prove to be of help, just one big dead end. They were trapped, and they knew it. With nothing else to do, the Young Six all regrouped with Revenant and sat in a circular formation, staring at the floor as they thought about all the fun things they were gonna miss out on because of their misfortune and arrogance.
    “Hey Revenant.” said Sandbar.
    “... What do you want, skin bag?” Revenant replied with a sigh.
    “Can you tell us about why you are here and why Gladiator wants to harm you?” Revenant perked up and stared at the earth pony. “I know, I know you said that it isn’t our business… but what else do we have to lose?” The simulacrum pondered the thought in his synthetic head. The pony was right, he really had nothing to lose with telling them the truth behind the matter.
    “... Very well, skin suits.” Revenant beckoned for the Young Six to gather around him. “I suppose that you deserve the truth.”