//------------------------------//
// Prologue - The Key  
// Story: Never Be The Same 
// by Kickback 
//------------------------------//

I will never be the same.
I'm caught inside the memories, the promises of yesterday.
And I belong to you.
I just can't walk away. 
Cause after lovin' you.
I will never be the same.  
Never Be The Same by Scarlet Brony.
The tale of a lad who heads down a road in life many may consider a burden, few may think the contrary.

*DISCLAIMER* The following is a non-profit fan-based story, My Little Pony: Frienship is Magic is owned by Hasbro and the various songs and music used throughout the fic belong to their rightul publishers. 

Rated "Teen"...though, it REALLY pushes it. 

Here we go. 




If you had asked me in the year of 2011 “What do you think about My little Pony?” I probably would've said something along lines of “How would I know, I don’t watch that girly shit” 

Yet, my knowledge on the subject was severely lacking compared to now. Perhaps in my youth, I may have caught a glimpse of the third generation in all it’s horror. Also, if you told me that I’d be imbued into a culture focused solely around a show about animated equines, I would’ve called you insane. Yet here I am.

My story is a bit more complicated and not all around proud but I’m glad that part of my life had begun, it may have been the only thing that lead me to my current situation. I’m getting ahead of myself, perhaps I should start with who I am. My name is Kyle. Jonathon. Garner, I initially was a year 9 high School student, living in Western Australia, I suppose by now, I’d be graduated…or not, I wasn’t the smartest student nor the hardest worker. I don’t remember too much about what life was like before the show, all I remember are events, I don’t quite recall my personality or even my social life traits. I really should stop there, I’m rambling and it’s hard to think about my friends, who perhaps have long forgotten me. 

However, I do remember what life was like in the last nine months. I was initially happy with my life, I had respect, a little too much actually but I wasn’t like a story character, let alone some Gary-Stu OC used in fan fiction but I guess I kinda am to you all at the moment. I wasn’t the perfect human being, I was lazy, bitter, scrawny, the list goes on. It was only when I was around others though, friends, family, you know, people. Alone, with the house to myself, I was in sanctuary. Mainly because I could brony out without ridicule. I’d write fiction, listen to Mandopony at full volume or even just watch the show itself.

Now that I’ve indulged myself long enough, I think it’s about high time I get to the point of this little story of mine, the tale of how my life changed forever. I’ll never forget the date it happened, November 9th 2013. 

You know that annoying groggy feeling your in between waking up and still asleep, well that’s the state my damn alarm got me into. My eyes slowly opened to see a hazy darkness due to my long black hair that lazily draped over face at some moments, mum hated it. I took a glance at the clock upon my drawers, noticing it was 6:30 in the morning. It rung the most irritating tune but that was the point, I thought if I used the most annoying one, I’d get up faster to turn it off. However, having your alarming phone ring loudly right next to your pillow, it’s easy to just hit the snooze button from your current, comfortable position. That’s what I did even though I knew it was a school day. 

As much as I wanted to just stay there all day, a sense of begrudging responsibility hit me, I didn’t like it hence I wanted it to go away. I’m sure you all know what’s it like first thing in the morning to get dressed into a loathed uniform and then head on out before grabbing breakfast, right? My parents always left for work earlier, I knew not of what they did but I didn’t full-on care either. I hated the navy blue we were forced to don but you get kind of used to it. I’ll never forget what happened next. Before heading off, I grabbed my spare key, walked out into the backyard to see my loyal companion, Spencer, my faithful Labrador. What I saw what nothing out of the ordinary, there he was, his thick black pelt, of which had turned grey around portions of his fur, shining in the morning sun-light, he appeared to be sleeping, if not simply resting. I had known, fed, kept and loved this little quadruped for as long as I can remember. I smiled as I approached him, I wasn’t expecting him to get up at the sound of my foot steps, he was an old puppy…but I was expecting his torso to rise and fall with each breath. 

My smile faltered at that, I carefully approached my dog, a look of concern in my eyes. Soon I was hovering above him, oddly enough, he didn’t look up at me and instead didn’t look at all, his eyes were clamped shut but were relaxed. I knelt down near his muzzle and gave a slow, gentle stroke of the fur on his neck. 

No response.

Strange, he had become a heavy sleeper in his age but normally a slight pat would wake him up, I just wanted to say goodbye to him, you know? I gave another stroke, curling my fingers in his soft pelt. 

No response. 

“Spencer?” I asked, worried. 

No response, he didn’t move…at all. 

Scared, I crouched down to his side and placed my right ear on his fur where his heart should be, hoping to hear or feel a pulse. 

Nothing. 

I had just noticed he was abnormally cold that morning, I looked behind me to see the food I had given him last night, he hadn’t touched it. I glanced back at my dog, instantly, tears began to form in my eyes, I began to choke up sobs as I cradled my arms underneath and around him. I lifted his head to meet mine, he looked so calm, so peaceful yet I was in tragedy. Wordlessly, I began to cry, I felt the bitter droplets drip down my face before I buried my head into his neck and cried even more so, dampening his dark fur.

I don’t know how long I stayed there, just waving side to side with Spencer as I continued to wale and sob in the grass behind my house. I shot back to look at him again, I lifted a hand to his muzzle and petted him one last time before I eased forward and kissed his forehead. 

I relaxed a bit after that, my muscles eased, Spencer’s body was limp in my arms. In respect, I carefully lifted him, my arms cradled his small but heavy body as I stood up, not looking at him. I rested my hands on his flank and neck before walking towards the already opened back door. I was gentle with him, making sure his head didn’t bump into the sides of the multiple archways I passed through. I carefully eased him onto my bed and stared for a moment longer. It was a long moment before a headed for the phone that rested just above the computer that I used to write. I picked it up and dialed my mother’s cell number, it rang before she quickly answered. 

“Hello?” she inquired. My voice was anything but coherent.

“M-mum?” I began shakily. 

“Yes, hun?” she asked in her typical concerned tone, she knew my voice.

“H-he’s…he’s gone, mum” I said, she seemed confused. 

“What?” 

“Spencer…he’s gone” at that, she fell silent as I felt another wave of tears threaten to burst from eyes. I took her silence as a cue to continue. “I…I found’em outside and-uhhhh he wasn’t breathing” 

“It’ll be okay, son, why don’t you…take the day off?” she said, hoping her words would ease me. 

“O-okay” I replied. Mum was like that, she was very lay-back about school sometimes and when she was offering, I took the opportunity every time. 

“Alright, I’m sorry sweetheart, I’ll be home at three, kay?” 

“Kay” with that, I placed the phone back on it’s holster.

I don’t remember how long I was outside with the shovel I found but I knew it had to have been a while. My friend’s corpse laid next to a heaping pile of soil and dirt that excavated with gusto. After what felt like hours, I stood up and looked at my work, a fair sized hole in the ground surrounded me. I threw the shovel back up before climbing out of it in exhaustion. I looked back to my fallen companion and tensed up. I rose to my feet and wrapped my arms around him again. His fur became dirty from my body as I lifted him into the hole and carefully eased him on his side onto the hard ground. I gave one final look at my best friend before I grabbed the shovel, took a heap of dirt from the pile and poured it into the grave.

I sat in my room for what felt like an eternity after that. I was distraught to say the least, I never thought it end this way for him. Nowadays, I still miss him, I wish I had a faithful dog again but that’s all in the past, my past but still you can’t just feel remorse at those times. Even now, I remember the happy look on his face when I petted him, when I took him out, fed him, the way he licked my face in joy and love, it was heart-warming to say the least.

That was, however only the morning of the most eventful day in my life though…at least, the most eventful so far. By eleven o’clock, I had already changed into what I considered ‘My style’. Black track pants, striped in white and red down the sides, they clutched comfortably to my legs, the touch was almost silky. Never one to dress up formally, I wore a black singlet, those things run in the family, you see, my father and step-mother were black clothing enthusiasts, my dad was a heralding musician from the Mercer clan. I would’ve preferred to live with them rather than my damnable step-father. My entire father’s side were musos, you see. My Grandfather, my aunty and my uncle, both of which were siblings to my dad. However, despite possessing the Mercer’s traits in my blood stream, musical talent seems to skip a generation, granted I wasn’t tone deaf but I couldn’t play anything…other than videogames. I’m rambling again, aren’t I? You don’t care about me, you care about what happened to me, where I’m going with this, right? 

Finally, I draped myself in a white hooded jacket, originally owned by my mother in her college days. It was comfy and rather light to wear and provided warmth in the late Spring yet cold day that was that day. 

Oh, that day.

I didn’t do much after that, I retired to my bedroom and just laid there for a while, I don’t remember what I was thinking nor do I recall picking up my tablet but I do remember what I watched. It was located in the favourites of my Youtube account, it was one of the first things that made me proud to be what I was, to be what I am in fact.

It was that BGM reading of My Little Dashie by Mic the Microphone. I had watched it several times, the effect of the story had never worn out on me though. It had been a couple of months since I saw it, I couldn’t think of anything better to do, I had already paid my respects to Spencer and I had the house to myself for a few hours. I hit play and the video started. The first time I ever heard of this was in my very first days of becoming a brony, I had watched that Day Aria re-write and I heard the quote but didn’t know what it was. The first time I heard it was the reading by Azekahh, I cried more than I had in a while that day. This “Robcakeran53” character is a literary god in my eyes, my teary, teary eyes. 

The sudden dosage of ponies cheered me up a little bit as the video came to a close, my sadness was capped with a feeling of joy at that moment. All I could think about then was Jaxblade07’s reaction to this, I chuckled at the thought. Now a little bit livened up, I stood to my feet with a teary smile on my face. 

I don’t know what exactly happened at that moment but I do remember not moving…at all. I knew I had planned to go somewhere in the house, maybe fetch a snack or watch TV, no, I never watched Television all that much but I was going to stretch my legs, I can tell you that much. Although, despite that, I just stood there, blank, emotionless from what I can gather. My tears quickly ceased as I stared into the wall of my room or was it nothing I was looking into. In that very second, I felt something, something wrong. I felt friction in the air, the house was dead silent, not even floorboards creaking or the house settling became audible in the devouring quiet atmosphere. I just stood there, dazed almost but I felt my brow furrow and my mouth tighten, nearly intimidating the wall. 

Curious or rather uneasy, I spun around to see the kitchen, just on the other side of the narrow hall of which my room was adjacent. I peered out into the kitchen and into the house, there was nothing, it was dark outside so everything was slightly dimmer than I’d like. After a few seconds, I calmed down a little, smirked to myself and began to relax back on my bed. 

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* 

Three firm and hard knocks radiated from the front door. Every black hair on my body stood to full attention at the sound, after everything I had just experienced, I wasn’t about to tend to some stranger knocking at the door on a school day I might add. I waited for the second series of knocks, typical human behaviour, right? Yet they never came, just three, just three knocks then silence once more, almost maddening silence took hold again. I was a logical child but I had an imagination, one of which I wish I could trade in. I’ve seen enough horror films, games and creepy pastas to think of terrible things that could spawn in the darkness…or from around a corner in complete silence. More than once, I’d look at a corner and picture a large and grotesque necromorph, of which on most accounts was my mother, turned by the marker, slowly sauntering towards me from around it, jaw wide and her bladed and bloody arms raised. 

While I was thinking of all this, I must’ve walked to the door. I came back to reality to see the knob about to be cupped by my hand and twisted. That’s also what just happened. A faint pop sound emanated as the door unlocked from the inside. I opened it all the way to be greeted by nothingness. Apparently, it had been raining and I wasn’t too sure for how long nor did I care too much. I glanced around to find nothing but water gushing from the black clouds, down pouring onto the earth that was my front yard. I snickered to myself as a joke popped in my head. 

“Ya pay a pegasus twenty-five dollars to keep the skies clear and look where it gets ya” I remarked with a grin. I fully well knew that my sentence meant nothing since I also knew and regretted the fact that such things in this world weren’t real. There were no pegasi, no unicorns, no ponies of any kind that I wished to bother with. Sometimes when I got thinking, I imagined and hoped of a life in that glorious paradise I had come to dream about; Equestria. I’m sure every brony has toyed with the notion of living there, I was one of them that thought of just trading this life away and just enduring my existence in Utopia.  

However, as I stood in the doorway, staring at nothing but the fresh water falling and pelting down to the ground, many, many thoughts ran through my head on the subject. I was indeed nothing more than an Australian early teen with a high intelligence that sometimes made me unsociable but I couldn’t help but wish for that life. The crime free environment, the colourful and joyous faces of the ponies, the magic, the friendship, I so badly wanted that. Perhaps it was all the fanfiction I had read over the months but there was something about the idea that made the likes of Heaven look pitiful. I had been a strong-hearted atheist for as long as I can remember but relevance is key when it comes to just how much the thought seemed appealing. 

As much as the idea was beautiful, there was a dark side, I had a family, I had friends and a life on Earth was beckoning my young mind and body to come forth and experience the world that we knew and practically ruled. There were so many ways it could go down, I might be accepted or captured, experimented on or I might become an infamous monster, living in the Everfree. 

Why was I thinking about this? It could never happen, there was no fathomable way it could despite my theory of the Universe that I clutched onto with passion. I might as well rattle that off while I’m at it. 

Every decision we make, every thought we process, every idea we have becomes something far more substantial than simple mental procedure. The decisions we make are miraculously pointless, I know how that sounds, cynical and dark but hear me out. The multi-verse is consisted of thousands upon billions of alternate Earths…probably magnitudes of every other planet with life on it or possibly not even that. Somewhere on a distant Earth, I’m sure there’s a female me, named “Kylie” thinking the same thing. I say this because, even though it’s a cartoon, it was an idea, Lauren Faust’s idea. Just think about that for a second, would you?

Once again, I’m carrying on. With nothing at the open door, I began to shut it, my eyes drifted down as I did so. The large, wooden object stopped in my grasp as I locked eyes with a single, small…thing. Standing on the doormat was a regular sized cardboard box, nothing special was immediately seen about it at first. I opened the door slightly and knelt down to reach for it, I took it in my arms and quickly stole a glance towards my street, it was still raining with nobody around. I looked at the box again before walking back inside, my foot nudging the wood for it to close on it’s own weight. 

With the initial “package” in my hands, I walked to the lounge room, gently placed the box down on the coffee table and sat down on the master couch. I stared at it for a long moment, I hadn’t ordered anything, neither of my parents had told me to look out for a delivery, they usually did that. However, from what I could feel, there was definitely something inside, it wasn’t stable as I gave a quick shake of it, I heard a rolling sound before whatever it was bumped against the inner walls of the cardboard. I continued to stare at it, rotating it around in my grasp only to find a single sentence scribbled on the side of it. The words were almost unnerving as much as they were intriguing, making me all the more curious as to what this strange phenomenon was and why it was I in possession of it. 

Saying that now makes me all the more nostalgic these days. I read the words aloud to myself. 

“Make your peace and live the dream” 

Confused and very interested now, I pried open the folds of cardboard to reveal…something spherical and glowing. Inside the brown confines of the box was a small ball, it looked almost metallic and radiated a slight golden aura. I was baffled, my eyes widened and my jaw dropped, I swiped the black locks, draping across my face from my eyes before continuing to stare at the object. With hesitation, I reached for it with my right hand and grabbed it. It almost felt it was moulding into my grip but at the same time, stayed the same size, it just simply fitted into the palm of my hand like it was made for that exact reason. I began to think more on that, if it was small enough to fit into my hand, it must have not been for someone older or younger but rather for someone my age. 

My mind raced with questions, some of which I was able to answer myself with rationalization but only so much. Already, my mind was associating what this sphere was, almost instantaneously, I related it’s shape and characteristics to “The Apple of Eden“. Just something to make the image of what I saw more vivid to you all as I presume you have all played Assassin’s Creed.

Oh, I wish I could play videogames again just like good ol’ times.

The world fell silent at that moment, no chirping birds, rain or anything or perhaps that was just how it seemed to me as my full attention was focused on “The Sphere” as I had come to call it before recent events. 

The silence was then replaced by a faint noise radiating throughout the room, it was like a faint humming noise that pierced and soothed my ears all at the same time. The glow of the ball became brighter, engulfing my hand in it’s beauteous golden aura, my eyes widened as I cupped it in both hands and stared more intently, wonder driving through my brain. 

“What is this? What are you?” I let out to myself, not truly caring if I got an answer fore if I did, I would have to deal with a talking metal orb. Not something I wanted to be a part of, truthfully. 

It wasn’t long before I noticed a second light source suddenly reveal itself in the dark living room. I looked up from the glowing globe to see the television that my family practically glued themselves to randomly switch on by itself. Bewildered, my attention drew to it, a sense of fear taking hold of my mind, my imagination ran wild but luckily rationalization stepped in again and I shrugged it off. I was about to look back at the orb when it too started making that strange humming noise, only louder than the sphere. 

By then however, I actually couldn’t tell what was making the sound anymore, maybe it was just me coming down with a sudden hearing complication. I could care less though in that instant. The TV was just turned on to a white screen, which was odd, I had never seen it like that before, both the globe and the screen started to glow brighter. The white and gold auras that made up my surroundings became almost blinding to the point of me having to shield my eyes. 

The room became slightly dimmer after a few seconds, I opened my eyes to see the globe emanating a…song to me. The humming it made was still there but it was far more purposeful, coherent, driven and most of all, tranquil. I say it sang to me because the sweet “voice” of it was beautiful, to say the least but it was also almost hypnotic, which probably explains my next course of action. Dragging my dazed eyes upwards, I saw that the screen that the television beheld portrayed a scene. It was a small town, bordered by a peering forest, trees lined the small window I looked through to see the town. Green. That’s what I saw mostly with a touch of blue, which I could only assume was the sky. The screen was bright but less so than before as was the orb, still in my hand. 

I don’t know what I was thinking as I rounded the table and began shuffling my knees to ease myself closer to the screen. As I drew closer, I could feel the immense energy of the situation, suspense gripped me in a torturous hold as did fear, anticipation and curiosity. There I sat, merely a metre from the TV, the globe raised in my hand to my side. I looked at it then back at the screen, a sense of adventure suddenly took my mind and some days I wished it hadn’t. I noticed something as I brought the orb closer to my eye, I raised towards the television and instantly got a strange reaction, it hummed loudly and I could’ve sworn I saw a surge of what looked like lightning connect the two objects in a quick second. Bewildered, I recoiled and paused. 

It wasn’t long before I eased the orb closer to the screen, I was right, the humming became much louder and both objects started glowing brighter in addition. It happened again, the spark that shot between both objects occurred once more but this time, I didn’t pull back and continued easing in towards the screen. The blinding lights ensued once more yet I kept my eyes open and I remember saying something, I’m not too sure what but I believe it was…

“I think I know what you are” 

Truthfully, I probably had no idea what it was, actually, as these days, I know exactly what it was, what it is and it’s true name. 

What happened next is a blur. I was engulfed in white, I felt friction in my arm yet I continued to push forward towards the TV. When my arm outstretched to it’s full length, I thought for sure that I’d hear a metallic clank as the two objects came into contact but it never happened. Instead, I heard a blaring “shining” noise and the white void I was in changed as streams of gold began to spark out from the screen. It wasn’t long before I felt the sphere being released from my grip, I had lost it, it didn’t feel like I dropped it, my hand was always clenched down on it’s round form. It also didn’t feel like something took either, it almost felt like it simply disintegrated from my hand. 

My hand…My hand…

“My hand!!” I yelled in surprise. Before I knew it, I could see clearly again only to find that half my arm was seeping into the televison, calling it a TV nowadays seems unfitting fore I can never look at it that way again. Outlining my engulfed limb was a bright gold aura, streaming out into the lounge room, I reached my left arm to grab something as I felt myself being pull into the screen. I yelled and grunted in fear and frustration as it took my whole arm then part of my shoulder and soon my entire side was taken by the golden tethers bringing me into itself. 

“No! Let me go!!” I yelled at the TV as it reeled inch by inch of my body with every passing second. I continued to struggle in my bonds fruitlessly until I felt the glow seep up onto my neck. In a shocking realization, I knew that there was no point anymore, I closed my eyes and a single tear escaped it’s confines. In my willing, calm yet frightened state, I remembered what the box said; “Make your peace and live the dream”. I decided to heed those words and relax a little. As I did, the aura felt warmer on my body and quickened it’s pace. I felt my head become engulfed in it’s glow before darkness took hold.