It was only three o'clock in the morning. I still had time to enjoy sleep. But I heard a timid, yet clear voice call out to me.
"Daddy?"
I got up and went to the girls' room. I looked to see Night Runner shivering under the covers. I walked over there and knelt down to look at my daughter. "Yes?" I said.
"I'm scared..."
"What happened?"
"...Bad dream..."
"How bad was it?"
"It was all scary, like you and Mom and Scootaloo were all dead and there was a creepy voice. Then at the end a creepy girl blew something up."
I had to hold back my shock. She had a dream similar to mine? I put on a smile, "Well, that's never going to happen. Not while I'm around, okay?"
She nodded. I sat on the floor and leaned on my daughter's bed.
"Can we still sleep?" she asked
"Of course."
"Well, good night again, Daddy."
"Same to you..."
As soon as I heard her light snore, I was able to doze off.
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Another week passed. Scootaloo and Runner were about to leave the house. I told them to only go to Uncle Brian's, (Brian is Darkside) If they wanted to go to someone's house. And not to buy any crazy things. They nodded in agreement. They left.
I remembered I needed something from them. I jumped out of the cloud house. Rainbow wouldn't be home from the Weather Factory for another three hours. So I searched for them. I stopped in Sugar Cube corner to talk to Pinkie for a little. We chatted about random things (My random tendencies fit right in). Finally, I looked to my right to see Scootaloo and Night Runner talking to a tall man and a girl. I focused in their direction.
John and Katherine.
I pulled my sword out and ran at top speed, jumping as high as I could before coming down on him, hard. He had caught the blade in his right hand.
"Sloppy, Brandon. Raising children has had its toll on your fighting..."
I jumped back. "Why are you even here?"
"To get some fresh meat... You?"
I growled, "Don't play games! You want me dead, let's end this."
"Not yet..."
He disappeared, and a second later, he was holding Night Runner in one arm and Scootaloo in the other. I ran at him with full speed. He began to teleport.
"See you, Brandon..." He left right when I got to where he was.
I slammed my fist on the ground. The fucker showed up, took my kids, and left.
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I needed help. I went to visit Darkside and Fluttershy at their cottage.
Darkside answered the door, "Hey, Brandon! What's up?"
"I need to talk to you. It's serious, real serious."
His smile faded, "Come in."
I walked in. Then I was welcomed with a loud, "UNCLE!!!"
I looked to see a boy around Night Runner's age. He wore a red T-Shirt, and some clean blue jeans. I picked him up, "Hey big guy! How ya been?"
Darkside's son, Dark Storm grinned, "Good! Dad just helped me fly!"
I looked at Darkside, "Already?"
"Training him. Keeps me in shape as well." Darkside replied.
He beckoned me to the couch, "Storm, me and Uncle have to talk about something. Go to your room, okay?"
Storm nodded in reply and ran back upstairs.
I looked at Darkside, "You're not gonna like this..."
"What is it?" He replied.
"John, he's still alive..."
"Don't tell me..."
"And he's kidnapped my kids... "
"Aw, shit!" He swung at the air. "That damned bastard should'a stayed dead. God damn it..."
"Well, we gotta do something..."
He looked at me, "We're gonna go get 'em... but not yet."
"Well, when are we?"
"We're gonna go as soon as I can let 'Shy know."
"Speaking of which, where is she?"
"Buying groceries..."
"Whatever, anyways, so we meet up here at six o'clock, OK?"
"Gotcha."
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I dreaded this more than any thing. I flew back to the cloud house. I saw Rainbow sitting on the couch reading, like an 'egghead'.
"Listen, Rainbow... Something bad happened..."
She looked at me, "What happened?"
"Well, this guy, one of my enemies from where I came from, he showed up out of the blue and kidnapped Night Runner and Scootaloo..."
Rainbow stared at me, "Well? Aren't you gonna go get them?"
"Not yet, me and Darkside are going together to look for him."
She nodded. She was, oddly, calm. "Well, just make sure you do what you can..."
I nodded in reply.
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Night Runner woke up next to Scootaloo. The two girls looked at each other, then at their surroundings. They were in a room with dark grey walls. The floor was cold and wet. It smelled of rotting flesh. Then Night Runner felt a stab in her heart. Scootaloo disappeared. The walls around the young girl began to soak a sickening crimson. In fact, it seemed that the walls were bleeding. There were incomprehensible whispers all around her. She sat on the floor and hugged her knees to her chest and buried her face in her arms. She cried silently and rocked back and forth. "Mommy, Daddy, I'm scared..."
Meanwhile, Scootaloo was trying to talk to Night Runner. Then suddenly Night Runner grabbed at her face and let out a demonic scream. Her eyes and hair turned a deep black. The eyes and mouth began to bleed. In that same demonic voice Night Runner, or whatever possessed her, said, "Help me...The day is upon us...Keep her away...."
Scootaloo covered her mouth to keep her from screaming, "What... The... Fuck...?" She stammered.
The Demon-Night Runner straightened up almost as sudden as her spasm. She stopped bleeding and her eyes turned normal again. The one thing was that her hair was black and her eyes were blood red.
The only thought that went through Scootaloo's mind was, What the hell is going on?