Taken

"Name?"

A therapist was interrogating a police officer. Feeling his pains being massaged while sitting on the couch in the room, the officer told the therapist his name.

"Nick. Nick Stiles. I'm here because of my wife Julie's death."

"Can you tell me how she died?"

Nick let out a sigh. "She overdosed on drugs. Heroin, alcohol, weed, you name it."

"I see how drugs affected your relationship with her."

"I've taken her to rehab, she's been in the hospital a whole lot, I just couldn't get her off drugs."

"And do you blame yourself for her death?"

"It's not about me. It's my son." Nick groaned. "He and I grew apart after Julie died. I think he blames himself for Julie's death."

Nick's son Peter was enjoying a happy life with his father....

Some of the time. At most during his childhood, he could hear Julie screaming cuss words under the influence of heroin while Nick tried to calm her down. One time, Julie held Peter against a wall yelling insulting words such as fat and ugly. Peter wasn't having it. He pushed Julie back with the latter falling into a large box. She couldn't get out of the box due to her small height and weight. He would remember wanting to eat the frozen dinners they had in the freezer but his mom wouldn't let him as they were hers. As his mother and father fought each other like they always would, Peter turned to one thing that distracted him from their battles...

Video Games. He turned his gaming PC on and booted up Cyberpunk 2077. He turned on live streaming for the game to chat with his audience watching the whole thing.

"Today my fellow viewers, we are playing Cyberpunk 2077! I like to thank all my viewers including thelegend27, RT-FC, and 8008S. We are traveling through the city of California to find whatever dangerous criminal gangs, corrupt police officers, and robots."

Peter then shot down trucks chasing his vehicle.

"Oh yeah, knock em out! Take it suckers!"

More comments were left with the audience members amazed by Peter's gaming skills. Peter completed the main quests while choosing the correct choices, saved lives, completed the side quests to earn more loot. Towards the end of the stream, he prepared to fight with a large boss character.

"And BOOM! Great job, everybody! We did it!"

Comments congratulating Peter were left on his social media.

"Thank you for coming today on Ninjart. Make sure to like and subscribe and I'll see you next time."

At the end of Peter's stream, he noticed that it was time for school. He packed his things and hurried on his bike.

As Peter walked into another day of school, his best friend Chloe Parker saved him a seat in the gym.

"What are they announcing today?" Peter asked.

"Don't know." Chloe said. "Yet."

Chloe and Peter first met each other at the age of 4. For most, they were inseparable. Both of them attended the same school, enjoyed video games, and often sat together. The two would enjoy killing zombies in Resident Evil, with Chloe fawning over Leon Kennedy a bit too much. They raced against each other in Mario Kart, fought mythical creatures in Diablo, and escaped prison in A Way Out. The two would often grow close to one another with Chloe placing her hand bashfully on Peter some of the times.

"Come on, hurry up!" A student said, getting impatient.

The principal of Peter's school walked in. She was with two other people. One of them was holding a t-shirt cannon.

"Yeah-hoo!" She yelled as she shot a t-shirt that someone caught in the crowd.

"Hello, my fellow students. I hope you had a great day. Today we have some very exciting news. Here with me right now is two voice actors, Tara Strong and Nicole Oliver."

"Hello, everybody!" Tara said.

"Hello!" replied the audience but Peter.

"You might want to look at the shirt we shot at you." Nicole said.

The students noticed a strange horse-like creature thank was fully pink. It had a pink coat, pink mane, and wild bushy hair.

"What is this? Something from My Little Pony?"

"Yes! It is!" Nicole said.

"Our school will be holding a special event known as BronyCon next month. It's a three-day event in which students will attend a fan-convention about the show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I have selected a student who will be charge of decorating for the convention. Please come down, Chloe Parker!"

Chloe got out of seat and squealed when she was standing with Tara and Nicole.

"Hi! I'm so happy to be here! As a brony myself, I allowed my inner creativity get the best of me! I may take questions if you are asking."

One student raised his hand. "What's a brony?"

"Oh, it refers to people like myself who are fans of MLP. This term usually applies to grown men, but I prefer that over the term for female fans known as pegasisters. I don't know, I don't like the word pegasister so don't call me that."

More announcements were given on how to enter, what to expect from Bronycon, and who will be attending. As the students were dismissed, Chloe ran up to Peter with news.

"I was able to get you a free pass." Chloe said.

"Um... thanks?" Peter said. "I'll be there. If I can."

After school, Peter went home. Seeing no one there, he expected the usual. His mom passed out and his dad needed to call the hospital. The ambulance arrived to pick her body up. He went back to his computer to livestream Cyberpunk 2077 again.

*Ring* *Ring*

Peter got a call from his phone.

"Hello?"

"Peter, they can't save your mother."

"Huh?"

"You need to head to the hospital. It's time to say goodbye."

Peter ended his livestream early and headed to the hospital.

Dodging patients and doctors in the hallway, Peter arrived in the room his mother was in. The first time Peter saw his mother, she looked like some grotesque monster. Her liver was dead, her kidneys were no more, and her pancreas met its end. Her body was swelled up like a sponge, she was no longer his mother. The doctor took one look at Julie then one look at Peter.

"We have to take her off life support."

Everyone agreed as Peter pulled the plug.

"It's about a month since Julie died. Peter hasn't talked to me since." Nick said. "He just sits alone, plays video games."

"So you're interested in mending the relationship with your son?"

"Yes."

"Do what every parent does. Take him on a father and son trip."

"I can't. The thing that really brought us together was video games. I would often tell him that bullets in video game guns don't rotate when loaded. I would buy him video games as a present for Christmas and his birthday."

"Why don't you play with him?"

"I'm not very good at them. I just want to be a good father."

Chloe was over ecstatic at the big day. Bronycon was today. Many students who attended wore fur suits of the Mane Six and other characters. It didn't just attract the students of the school, it also attracted grown men and women. They lined up to get autographs from the voice actors of MLP. Stands lined up in the hallways selling pony-related merch. Audio Dramas of MLP were being shown as presentations in classrooms. Fanfictions were being sold as actual books.

"This is it, Peter. The greatest Bronycon yet!" Chloe assured to Peter at an empty classroom.

Peter remained silent.

"I know you'd be so excited!"

Chloe held her hands onto Peter. She made the puppy eyes at him as Peter kept to himself.

"I know this is usually a boy thing, but Peter, will you be my boyfriend?"

"Uh...." Peter said with his cheeks blushing.

The two heard loud wind noises that interrupted their conversation. The two went to the direction of the noise. A small bright sphere sparked in the middle of the empty hallway. It started to grow, it was the size of a baseball, no, the size of basketball, no, the size of a yoga ball!

"What is that thing?" Peter said, pointing at it.

"I don't know." Chloe said.

The sphere grew bigger and bigger. An equine-like figure walked out of the portal as Peter readied himself. The figure was followed by another equine-like figure.

"Who are they?" Chloe whispered.

"Don't know."

The two figures were now looking at them. They ran at full speed, tackling both of them down.

"Hey! Let go of me!" Chloe shouted.

Both Peter and Chloe tried to fight back, but the figures' grasps were too firm.

"Where are they taking us?" Chloe said.

"I don't know!" Peter said.

The two figures who captured them then went back to the bright sphere, now the size of the hallway itself. The four disappeared as they walked through the sphere. The size of the sphere then grew smaller until it was a speck of nothingness.