Shadows of the Revenants

by MegaCartmanX

Chapter 1: Nightmare Night

10-31-2734, School of Friendship - Equestria

Friendship School was finally over, and just in time. The festivities of the evening were just around the corner and all the young fillies and colts had a lot to do before the moon arose to mark the start of Nightmare Night! With the students exiting the school, they all made their way back home to get themselves ready for the big night.

The Young Six had made their way through the Everfree Forest to get back to their treehouse. Though the forest was usually a very scary place on its own, the annual holiday always made the place seem even more horrific and frightening. Yet even through all of that, the group of younglings made it safely inside the treehouse, giving themselves plenty of time to prepare before they went to Ponyville in search for all the best sugary delectables.

While most of them began to hang up decorations that fit the spooky theme that Nightmare Night brought with it, Yona had not been feeling like herself. Throughout the whole day she had been very easily startled and shaken up about little things. She sat by herself for a while, hoping to bring herself out of this fearful mindset. Though the others had noticed long before now, Sandbar finally took the time to try and help Yona. The earth pony made his way to the yak’s side and sat down beside her. Yona saw Sandbar approach him and she frantically turned away from him. Sandbar flinched away, concerned by Yona’s odd behavior.

“Yona, what’s wrong?” Sandbar asked, giving off a friendly smile as he spoke.

“Yona don’t know what Sanbar talking about. Yona just fine.” The yak replied, keeping her face turned away from him.

“Yona, you and I both know that you aren’t yourself. You have been so frantic all day, and you aren't usually this scared during Nightmare Night.” Sandbar said.

“Yeah, you are usually never scared.” Gallus added. The blue griffon dropped everything he was doing and joined in on their conversation.

“You’re like a stone brick.” Smolder said. Soon all of the Young Six were joining in on the conversation.

“Guys, give her some space to process this!” Sandbar said defensively, placing one hoof on Yona’s shoulder while using the other to tell the others to back away from her. The rest of the Young Six complied, taking a few steps back in order for Yona to process her emotions. He could tell that Yona was beginning to feel overwhelmed with so many pairs of eyes looking at her all at once.

“Yona… *sniffle* Yona sorry. Yona know friends are just trying to help Yona.” Yona said, turning her head back to look upon her friends. They all showed great sympathy for the yak, enough to where Yona began to feel brave enough to tell them the truth behind her strange acts.

“You can tell us anything, Yona. We are always here to help.” Silverstream said.

“Ok, Yona tell friends everything.” Yona took a deep breath before continuing. “Yona had nightmare. Yona was in water, but water kept filling up. Yona was scared that Yona would drown. Right before nightmare ended, Yona wake up to see Yona ok. Yona could not get over bad dream, so Yona stay quiet all day. But… Yona still get glimpse of nightmare, which scares Yona. That is reason why Yona so jumpy.”

“Really? All of this for a lousy-” Gallus let out a distressed wheeze, unable to finish his sentence after getting punched in the gut by Smolder. The orange dragon glared down at the griffon, silently signaling for him to keep his beak shut. Gallus nodded with a fake smile, gasping for air once his lungs allowed it.

“We are very sorry to hear that, Yona.” Ocellus said, feeling sorry for the poor yak. “But it is just a bad dream, nothing you should dwell on too much.”

“She’s right, Yona.” Sandbar said, comforting her with a pat on her back. “And don’t forget, we are your best friends! We are always here to stand by your side and help you when you feel down.” The yak turned to Sandbar and gave him a loving hug, thanking him for his kindness and compassion.

“Yona feeling better now. Yona make sure not to ruin friends’ fun night out.” said Yona, giggling to herself.

“There we go, Yona. Just took a bit of courage!” Silverstream shouted with joy.

“Alright, now with that out of the way, what are you guys gonna dress up as?” Gallus asked. Everypony cheered in excitement, ready to start the night off right. But there was one thing that passed by everypony's agenda. The entire group of young friends felt their hearts drop all at once. Their faces said it all.

“We forgot to get costumes!!!’ Silverstream exclaimed.

“What are we gonna do? We can’t go up to ponies and ask for candy looking like… ourselves!” Ocellus shouted.

“Guys, girls, calm down!” Sandbar shouted, gaining the attention of the others. “It’s not all that bad. We just need to go somewhere that sells costumes and get a few of them.”

“But can we do it before Nightmare Night starts?” Smolder inquired.

“The moon isn’t even close to rising yet. We have plenty of time to go get some costumes.” Sandbar explained.

“Well then, what are we waiting for!? Let’s get a move on!” Gallus shouted, pushing everypony else out of his way and exiting the tree house. The others, all giddy with excitement, followed closely behind the griffon as he took flight. “Last one with a costume is a rotten apple!”

The Young Six all ran to town in search of a costume that would make them look absolutely terrifying in order to ensure that they all got the best and most candy they could. But before they could even step foot outside the Everfree Forest, Yona and Sandbar heard some twigs snapping from their right. They froze in place and flicked their heads in that direction, looking for the one responsible for such ominous sounds.

“Hello? Anypony there?” Sandbar said, continuing his search. The two kept their eyes peeled for anything that moved; wherever Sandbar wasn’t looking, Yona made it her mission to check there. The others caught note of their absence and quickly turned around to go find them. They soon saw them staring off into the distance.

“Uh, guys! Ponyville is that way!” Smolder shouted, pointing a finger towards their destination. “What are you even doing?”

“Yona and I could’ve sworn that we heard something or someone walking through the Everfree Forest.” Sandbar explained.

“It’s probably just a timberwolf.” Gallus suggested. “Now unless you want to be its next meal, I insist that you follow us to Ponyville. We are looking for costumes, which by the way was your idea, remember?”

“Right… yeah, I know.” Sandbar said, shaking his head and following the others to town. Yet even as he walked, he never took his sight off of the forest. He knew something was lurking in there, he just didn’t know what.

Then there was another snap.

Everypony heard it that time, but they thought the same thing. Just another timberwolf. But their journey soon came to another halt once Silverstream was heard screaming. The others turned to her and ran to her aid.

“What’s up with you?” Smolder asked.

“T-T-There really is something in the forest! Look over there!” The hippogriff pointed towards a shadowy figure. It didn’t look like any pony they’d seen before, but it did look scary nonetheless.

The creature was tall and lanky compared to a pony, and its intent for traveling through the forest was… unknown. The Young Six all panicked and got down to the floor when they saw the creature flick its head towards them. They all hid behind the cover of the nearby bushed, praying to Celestia that the creature didn’t see them. For all they knew, it saw that they were watching it, but if so it wasn't enough for it to approach them. Soon they all heard the creature walk away, giving them the clear to stand up. Once they got up on their hooves, paws and whatnot, they all glanced over at each other, finding it difficult to process the recent events.

“What was that?” Ocellus inquired.

“I don’t know… but it looked familiar.” Sandbar admitted, recognizing the shape of the creature, but unable to relate to anypony he knew.

“We can’t have Nightmare Night with a strange creature in the forest!” Gallus said.

“What are you gonna do, Gallus? It’s the Everfree Forest for crying out loud. Anything could be in there. Just let it go in peace and leave it to its own way of life.” Smolder said, crossing her arms and shaking her head.

“And just let it prowl around in the forest? I don’t think so. I am gonna get to the bottom of this!” With that, Gallus jumped over the bushes and ran into the forest in the same direction as the unknown creature.

“Gallus, are you crazy!?” Smolder shouted, running after the griffon.

“Wait for me, guys!” Silverstream exclaimed, not even thinking twice about going into the Everfree Forest and regrouping with the rest of her friends. Leaving only Sandbar, Yona and Ocellus, the three friends all flicked confused and fearful expressions to each other.

“What do we do?” Ocellus asked.

“We go after them.” Sandbar said.

“What!? Is Sandbar crazy?” Yona exclaimed, going against the earth pony’s choices.

“We have to. They are our friends, we can’t just let them walk in all by themselves.” Sandbar said.

“But what if we get hurt in there… or worse?” Ocellus said.

“What if they get hurt.” Sandbar replied. “We have to go help them. It may be dangerous, I know, but those fools got in this mess, so we have to help them get out of it.” Sandbar hopped over the bushes and landed in the tall grass on the other side. “Follow me if you wish, but I am gonna get them out of there.”

“Wait for Yona!” The yak hopped the bushes and chased after Sandbar, wanting desperately to get this whole thing over with. Ocellus shuddered where she stood and whined.

“Ugh, you guys are a bunch of idiots!” The timid changeling went into the forest to join up with the rest of her friends. All six of them were now in the Everfree, chasing after this unknown creature. The forest was already known for having such a plethora of scary monsters, and pairing that with Nightmare Night, they were just asking for trouble.

But hey, what’s the worst that could happen?