Zapped Through The Heart
Prologue
Jeremy walked quickly down the backstreets of his hometown. It was a typical day after school. Heavy backpack. Extra homework. The works. He was never particularly bothered by any of this, but the backpack could be an inconvenience at times. The homework was usually a breeze for him. He hummed a happy tune as he walked home. He'd had the song in his head all day, but could never say the words out loud or tell anyone about it without ridicule. He didn't have any brony friends. He didn't have any friends at all really. Everybody that knew he was a brony would make fun of him for it, and those who didn't were let in on it eventually...adding to the hate pool. Jeremy wasn't the kind of guy to let these things get him down. He didn't care all too much what others thought of him, but one problem did arise from it all. Everybody thinks he's gay. Life gets hard when you can't find companionship because anybody you try and talk to assumes that "you don't swing that way...", but its not like romance is easy in any circumstance. He was a nerd anyways. He was slightly dark from childhood beach trips, wore glasses, and had no muscle mass whatsoever. This added to love life problems he faced on a regular basis.
"It's true some days are dark and lonely..." He sang softly to himself. If anyone would get to know him they'd learn he actually had quite a nice voice, but usually most just ignored him. He stopped singing when a certain line came up.
"Heheh...Pinkie I wish you could be here." He continued walking in relative silence besides the occasional dog barking at him as he passed some of the houses.
He was about to take the turn to his street when something caught his eye. A faint light in an alleyway that he usually avoided due to the cats and his cat allergies. When his sense of curiosity got the best of him, he decided that it was at least worth a peek.
"Curiosity killed the cat...good for me...no allergies." He chuckled at his own joke. He approached the alleyway cautiously for two reasons. One: So not to get mauled by a rabid devil. Two. For fear of the unknown. When he shot a glance around the corner he saw what looked like a portal that seemed to be connected to the far end of the alleyway. He couldn't tell what was on the other side, but as soon as he went to get a closer look it vanished.
"I should stop with the coffee." He returned to walking home. He began another cheery tune. "Make a Wish" was always one of his favorite songs. Too bad his birthday was months away. He made it home without any other weird occurrences.
"Mom! I'm home!" He shouted cheerily into his home. He was happy to be home most days...it meant that the day was near over. He would be happy until the next morning where school would start again.
"Shuh up!!!" The reply was short and heavily slurred. Jeremy already knew what was happening. His mom was drunk...again. This was the one thing that could ruin his mood on any day of the week. What made it worse was that it was an extremely common occurrence. It was guaranteed to happen at least once a week if not more. With a huff Jeremy did the only thing he could ever do when this happened. He made himself dinner and locked himself in his room. His dinner was a simple sandwich made of what they had in the fridge, but it could have been better if the person meant to get more groceries wasn't drunk the day she was supposed to get them. Jeremy's mind wandered back to the portal he had seen.
"There's no way it could've been a portal...right?" He asked himself aloud. "If it was where did it go? Another planet? A different dimension?"
He munched on his sandwich as he thought about all the possibilities if he had seen a real portal. Too bad he hadn't gotten a chance to see it up close or what was on the other side. Life is full of missed opportunities.
After School the Next Day...
Jeremy was once again walking home singing to his favorite tunes. He stopped when he neared the alleyway that he had seen the "portal" in yesterday. It was glowing faintly like it had the day before.
"No way...it's there again." He didn't know if it was possible. He didn't it was possible in the first place, but to see it twice it had to be real. When he peeked around the corner and saw the same object on the far wall. This time he didn't hesitate to approach it. When he got closer there was no mistaking it was a portal. He saw what looked to be trees on the other side, but he couldn't place where he'd seen them. He ran out of time to examine it as the portal disappeared once more without a sound.
"Damn...I know I've seen those trees before, but where?" He asked himself as he turned around to continue walking home. When he arrived he didn't bother happily announcing it as he saw an empty bottle on the floor in the living room.
"Jeez...two in a row..." He went into the kitchen and made another sandwich. "I hate PB&J now." He huffed as he walked down the hallway to his room. He locked the door and set his stuff down on the bed. He finished his sandwich quickly and began doing his Calculus homework. He finished in half an hour or so...leaving him with nothing to do, but think.
"Wait...no...impossible...could that have been the...Everfree?" He immediately dismissed the thought. He'd have to look further into it...that was if he got the chance to do so.
He did get his chance. The next two days went by with the portal being there like clockwork and disappearing like clockwork. Everyday it would be there when he arrived and disappear at approximately 4:12, and after comparing it to a screenshot of the Everfree from an episode there was no mistaking it. He had also come to another decision...he would step through it. His mother had been drunk everyday of the week so far, and showed no signs of stopping. He knew they couldn't have enough money from her fast-food job to pay for so much alcohol. She had stopped caring about him at all. He had near run out of peanut butter, and had ran out of grape jelly Wednesday. It was Friday. He had dumped his backpack's unimportant contents onto his bed. His homework, two textbooks, and a manga. He had put some "provisions" into his bag just in case, as well as his two portable chargers both fully charged and three sets of extra clothes. He didn't know why he wanted his phone, but he was going to take it anyways. School had released early today, so he had some extra time to get back to the alley before the portal opened. He was about to walk out the door when his mother who had just gotten home no more than ten minutes before came out of her room blind drunk.
"Where do you think you're goin'?" Her speech was extremely slurred and one would need full military grade hazmat suit to be able to breathe the air around her.
"To a friend's house." Jeremy replied, doing his best not to breathe the toxic fumes that were diffusing into the entire hallway.
"Ha! Friends? You don't have any! Who gave you permission anyways?" She got painfully close to him. He could practically get drunk of the fumes radiating off of her at this distance.
"I did. I believe asking the drunken idiot for permission for anything would be the most pointless thing I have ever done." He backed away to try and escape the Biochemical weapon that stood in front of him.
"You show some respect, you little runt!" She clutched the empty bottle she had tighter than before.
"Respect towards what? The horrible train wreck that I'm looking at or the dog that pisses on our lawn daily? I think I'll go congratulate that dog on being more worthy of respect than the animal that I live with everyday." He turned and walked towards the door. He ducked as he heard his mother grunt as she threw the bottle at the back of his head. It would've missed even if he hadn't ducked. It impacted on the door and shattered. He looked back at her with a "Really? WTF was that face?". He turned once more and walked to the door. He opened it and stepped over the shattered glass and outside onto the doormat. He started walking, but stopped when he saw the dog. He looked back and saw his mother staring out the window at him. He, because why not, walked up to the dog as it was doing its business and said,
"Congratulations. You've beat my "mother" in a respectability contest." He looked at the window and smiled. He then turned and walked down the street towards the alleyway. When he arrived it was 3:55. His school would normally release at about this time. He walked up and as if he was a cue the portal silently opened and glowed faintly.
"Should I really do this?" He hesitated for a few moments. "There's not much I'd miss here really..." He took a few steps towards the portal. Another few. A little shuffle. He was within arms-length of the portal.
"What do I have to lose..." He said slowly. He stared and stepped through. As soon as he was on the other side he fell flat on his face.
"That's gonna leave a mark." He said painfully as he tried to stand.
"I coulda been worse...there could have been a tree there." He said to himself as he walked to a nearby tree. As he leaned against it he heard a few familiar voices.
"Ah don't like this Twilight." The country voice said.
"Come on Applejack! What if it's a giant CAKE!!!" A high-pitched voice replied.
"Shhh...we don't know what it is...we can't risk startling it. It should be right up here." Twilight's voice was distinct compared to the other two.
He saw them enter the clearing he was dropped into.
"Hello." Jeremy couldn't make true sentences at this point.
"What is it?" Applejack asked.
"It's a new friend!!!" Pinkie shouted before invading Jeremy's personal space and coming inches from his face every two seconds. If it wasn't for her having to bounce to be eye level with him she would probably stay inches from his face.
"He looks like my human friends, but his skin color is different than most I've seen." Twilight said as she tilted her head.
"What's your name!?!?!" Pinkie shouted still staying inches from his face. He smelled cake radiating off her...it was much more pleasing than the smell that had previously assaulted his nostrils.
"Jeremy. Hi Pinkie." Pinkie stopped in mid-air.
"Hey how did you know my name? ARE YOU PSYCHIC!?!?!?" She shouted directly in his face. The smell of cake was even more prominent.
"Now that's a long story..."