The Key: Equestria
Disclaimer
This story was made while I lived inside a hospital, cut out from everything. It was pure boredom, and I had this idea. I would start playing a story inside my head that would be based on a dream I had a few years ago, and turned it into a full-fledged story where all of the wishes I’ve had since I was a kid up to today would happen. This fanfic is basically that story, but cleaner. I have not much intention to post this fanfic online; I’m only making it for my own pleasure while I’m stuck here. It’s something to make me happy for once.
Introduction
They say that the mind and soul is as free as you want it to be. Well I don’t truly believe that. I know how it is to feel trapped, alone, helpless. I’ve been through it before. And as my personal motto goes, if I did it once, I can do it again. I came up with that saying while I was playing my many video games, like when I know there is a difficult part coming up. I should say the same for difficult times in life too. I like to believe there are other worlds out there, like those in my games. The question is how do you get to them? No one truly knows. But I believe I do. I’ve been to them, but it’s all just a story, a memory, or a fantasy. Here is my story on how I’ve been to those worlds, how I’ve done things that no one was able to do. I’ve done the impossible. My name is Mathieu (should be Matthew because I’m French), or Matt if you like. I am just 21 years old, but I still look like a child, damn this curse. I am 5’6”, have brown short hair and blue eyes. I also wear square blue glasses because my vision sucks. I am from Alberta, Canada. I am also what you may call a “Brony”, a person who loves watching the show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Equestria… It’s every Brony’s dream to go there some day. It was mine too. And like they say, be careful of what you wish for, because you just might get it. My life was pretty pathetic since… That time… This is the story of how I’ve changed from being a lonely guy, to the most important person of all worlds.
Prologue
It all started when I was at home, outside, just enjoying the evening, looking at the beautiful stars, the moon, and the tranquility of night. I do love the night, so peaceful, so relaxing. It puts my mind at ease. At ease from all the stresses I go through each day. All the houses in my neighbourhood were quiet, everyone was asleep. I didn’t like being the only one enjoying this rare moment of peace.
But there was something different about that night, an odd feeling in the air. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. Then I saw it, a strange turquoise glow in the sky, like a small explosion of light and a small object falling from that blast of light. It fell somewhere in the woods near my house. I stood there, looking at the sky where the light blast was, but it was gone. Was I dreaming? I couldn’t have been. Snapping myself back, I ran towards the destination of the fallen object to see what it was. I thought it was a meteor of some sort when I finally found it, but it was not stone. It emitted a glow of turquoise color. Upon closer inspection, it was an orb, about the size of my fist. There was something else about that strange orb, it looked like there was a symbol on it, it was white. It looked like several dots shaped into a circle around a rind that surrounded another dot, and the surrounding dots were separated by spiked coming out of the ring. I slowly picked it up and felt something strange from it as I touched it, like heat of some sort. It didn’t hurt, and it wasn’t radioactive, at least I didn’t think so.
I ran back home with it in my hands before someone else saw it. I locked the door when I got inside to make sure that no one would come in. I set it on the table so that I could inspect it some more. The orb did nothing, it just glowed. I’ve seen strange things before, but only in video games. I wasn’t sure what to do with it, or why it fell near here. Feeling pretty tired, I went to bed, thinking I would find out about it on the Internet the next day.
Actually, before I go on, let me ask you this. Have you ever had a dream that felt so real that you thought you were actually there? Well the dream I had that night felt that way.
I was lying on the ground, but not just any ground; a pure white floor that felt smooth on my fingertips. Everything felt so strange. Normally you don’t truly “feel” something in a dream, because it’s not real… But this was different. I stood up and looked around. Everything was white, like a void. I started walking forward, not knowing where I was going. Then I saw it, that same orb I found earlier. This time the glow coming from it was pulsating. As I walked closer to it, I heard voices, saw images flash before my eyes, I recognized it all; it was all from my different video games and TV shows I played and watched. Without knowing it, I’ve picked up the orb. It glowed very bright as things started taking shape around me.
When things stopped moving and the glow from the orb diminished, I looked up and saw that I was in a small circular room. There was several white glowing doors around the wall of the room. I started walking towards one of the doors, not knowing where it could take me, but a force pulled me back, like someone was grabbing my shoulders. I turned around, but saw no one. I noticed that there was a bright white light coming from the ceiling of the small room. I could have sworn I saw eyes looking at me from the light.
Then I heard a voice, like a God.
“Hello there, Mathieu. I have waited a long time to finally meet you” the voice said.
“Wait… You know me? Hold on, this is only a dream, this must be fake” I said.
“This dream can be whatever you wish it to be. But right now, I need to tell you something” the voice said.
“This is a dream, I will most likely forget what you said once I wake up” I said. Although if it was related to the orb I’ve found, it would probably be important for me to hear. “Well anyways. What do you need to tell me?”
“You have been chosen as the guardian of this World Gate. But you must have the powers of a proper guardian to defend it from anyone who would want to do evil with it.” The voice said.
It took me a bit to realize what the voice just said.
“What!? Why me!? What have I done to be named such? And… World Gate?” I asked, completely puzzled and wondering if this was still just a regular dream.
“You have a pure heart, you are different then the rest, I see good in you.” The voice said.
“But I’ve done bad things before; surely I can’t have a pure heart because of my past.” Remembering some of the things I’ve done, but I would rather not mention them.
“Everyone does mistakes in their lives, no one is perfect. But I can see that you have gone through them and learned from your mistakes, that is what makes a person pure.” The voice said. I noticed how it was definitely male.
“You mentioned power. What do you mean by that? Something like magic?” feeling kind of excited, I’ve always wanted magical powers.
“Yes, in order to protect the orb from falling in the wrong hands. I shall give you a choice. Are you familiar with Elemental magic?”
“Of course. Manipulating the natural elements of the Earth, right?” I said feeling kind of proud. I’ve learned that from some video games, of course.
“Right, but what I’m referring to is those that have the ability to harm. To be used to defend and such. I hope you know what I mean.” I started remembering all those magical spells found in video games like Tales of Symphonia and such. “In order to make you the proper guardian, you must be able to control one of those elements. You can choose one, and I’ll give it to you next time you touch the orb. But remember, once you make your decision, there is no turning back.” He said. I still wasn’t sure who he could be. He sounded familiar though.
I started feeling really excited. Since I was a kid, I always wanted to control the element of electricity. Pretending electric bolts shot out of my hands, how I could make a blast of electricity around me like in the Game Boy Advance Kirby games. And that lightning type magic from Tales of Symphonia, that Indignation move is fricking powerful and awesome.
“If I would choose just one, I would go with electricity, if it’s possible.” I said, shaking.
“Then so be it. Now wake up, and be the guardian of the World Gate from this world.” He said, and everything started fading.
“Wait, so there is more worlds out there? How can I reach them?” I was asking with a bit of worry and excitement.
“You’ll know.” He finished with a small chuckle. Then I woke up.
I was sweating. This wasn’t a normal dream. Normally you can’t fully control what you do or what happens in a dream, or remember them much. But this was the total opposite. I like to believe that dreams have meaning behind them, maybe this time it was true.
I ran back to the living room where I left the orb, and it was still there. So this wasn’t a dream, it was real. I hesitated for a while, wondering if what I heard in my dream was true. Would it truly send me to other worlds? Could it give me the power of lightning? All my childhood dreams would become reality. And some dreams that are a bit more recent too. I got closer to the orb; feeling scared of what would happen if I touched it. Would it hurt? Would it do nothing because I’m just hallucinating? But I am a curious type of person, I want to know everything.
So I went ahead and touched it. And what happened after was hard to describe. Like heat coming from the orb going up and around my body. And like static going through my fingers like when you touch metal after rubbing yourself on something. I felt different, stronger, in a way. When I stopped feeling those sensations, I noticed that the orb was gone. But I noticed a bracelet on my left wrist. It glowed turquoise like the orb. It was shaped like a band of rubber on my wrist, about an inch wide all around my wrist.
Everything felt so strange. And it go even stranger when I suddenly felt myself enveloped in light and suddenly reappear in that same white circular room I was in my dream the night before.
I remembered about the light that spoke to me in my dream and looked up at the ceiling, and there it was, but there was no eyes looking at me. Instead, I looked at it for a bit, then noticed that it was getting bigger and started descending to the floor. It moved in front of me, then started taking shape. It took a humanoid shape, just a bit taller than me. And it spoke.
“Fear not, young Mathieu, you are safe here” the light said, I recognized the voice right away, it was the same one as the one in my dream. For a second, I thought that I was facing God Himself, but my next thought was how that sounded ridiculous. But I wanted to be sure.
“Who are you? And what is this place?” was the first words out of my mouth, coming out shaky.
“I have no name, but I have a title, the one I gave you in your dream” he said. I figured it was a man of some sort. My head exploded with different thoughts. Who was he? WHAT was he? Was I dead? Was I still dreaming? I couldn’t figure it out at all. After a few seconds of him staring at me with his head that had no eyes or mouth, I put in my head what he just said, and making it connect with my previous dream.
“So… You must be this… Guardian of the… What again?” I was stressing out, and the fact that I forgot things easily didn’t help.
“The World Gate, and yes, I am its current guardian but not for much longer. I am passing that title and honour to you now” he said. I still couldn’t get it through my mind right away. But a question did surface in my mind, the smartest one so far.
“Can you PLEASE explain to me what this World Gate thing is?” Didn’t come out as I expected…
“That is a good question. It’s a bit hard to explain, but I’ll try to explain it in a way you can understand.” I suddenly thought of Futurama. “Imagination can be a very powerful thing, powerful enough to create entire universes. Humans have created countless worlds for their… video games and such. What they weren’t aware of is that those worlds truly exist! Thanks to them. The question is ‘how do you reach them?’ Well I thought of a way. Imagination. It’s in everyone, but not strong enough to make it real. However, you are different. You are like me. Our imagination is powerful enough to create a gateway between those worlds. I was looking for you for a long time, you see. And now that I found you, I can give you this gift. But you must know, with great powers…”
“Comes great responsibility…” I said out loud automatically. My heart was racing so fast that if it was in a marathon, it would win first place by a giant leap. Was that all true? Was it truly possible to enter all those different video game and TV worlds? That would be the ultimate gift for so many. Excitement was showing all over my face, there was no point in hiding it. There were so many questions I wanted to ask this… person?
“How am I like you?” I surprised myself with that question.
“Like I said in your dream, you have a good heart. And there is a lot more in you that you aren’t even aware of. Like me before. This gift will help you discover so much more about yourself that you didn’t know before, like the ability to use magic.” That last statement struck me. He mentioned in my dream about using elemental magic. Was I able to now? I felt like trying. He kept talking.
“This place is sort of like a Hob, a haven. A safe place for you, a place in the center of everything. It goes under many names, but it has no particular name. You may call it whatever you want. It’s also a safe place to… practice anything.” It’s like he read my mind.
“Did the orb give me powers? I felt something strange before I came here. If what you said in my dream is true, then I should be able to use lightning-type magic, right? If so, how?” I’ll never have any more questions.
“What you heard was true. But here’s a brief history lesson. Long ago, there was a time when humans had the ability to use magic. It was simple things like flying, levitating, using the elements, etc.” I kinda knew that. “But over the years, humans started to forget how to do those things. And it eventually all got lost. Many centuries passed, and it was still lost in the passage of time. But then one day, I showed up. No one knew me, I was just like you. I was different from the rest, with more imagination than anyone else. I had this idea in my head, what if… All these things you hear in books were possible? The magic that was lost, could it come back? For a long time I did research, but didn’t find anything. But one night, I looked up at the sky and a star fell, or at least what looked like a star. It was an orb, the orb you are holding now. After touching it, it brought me here, but it didn’t look like this at first. It was emptiness, darkness. But I heard a voice that told me that I could do anything with this orb now. But I wasn’t sure what at that time. When I came back from this dream-like place, it was as though nothing happened. Like time stopped when I was gone. I figured as such. As the years passed, more strange things happened with this orb. As the human imagination grew, the orb became more powerful, things were taking shape in this emptiness that was inside the orb. Doors were appearing. Upon going through them, well, let’s just say that I discovered more about myself that I never would have thought of. The humans didn’t know, but they were creating worlds themselves. This orb only made it possible to go to them for real. The worlds are different between me and you. The doors you see here around you lead to the worlds that you already know. As you discover more, more doors will appear. That’s why imagination is such a great thing. It also gave me powers that I never knew I had. That magic that humans had so long ago, it brought it back, but only to me. As for the Elemental magic, that’s my own doing. How could such an artefact exist and not get people who would want to do something selfish and bad with it? It needed to be protected by something powerful, something that humans created: magic. The orb made it possible. It can’t protect itself. It needed someone with powerful imagination. So anyways. I learned it all by myself over time, like you will too.”
I do like stories. I listened to this one carefully to get every detail. It interested me. But after a bit, I started getting impatient, wanting to know how to use my new magical abilities. “So this orb…” pointing at the glowing band on my left wrist “is the thing that is giving me magic?
“Not just give it to you, it unlocks all the potentials that humans once had. But you need to earn it. Over time, you will get stronger, like me, and you will discover more about yourself and your powers as you go on. That much I can tell you. The rest, I’ll let you figure it out. Just know to tap deep into yourself to find what powers you, your life. I always thought of this as the key to everything. So I decided to call it The Key.” He chuckled. “I don’t have much time left. I will leave this gift to you. But remember, I will always keep an eye on you. I’ve discovered much about myself, but what I can learn from others is infinite. If you have more questions, the orb can help you. I discovered it sort of has a life of its own. This place is now yours to protect, make sure no evil falls in it, which was my job. And one last thing, there is more out there that is capable of being the World Gate keeper. Make alliances out there, you may need it. If you feel a good candidate can be a World Gate keeper from their world, they must come through me first, like you. I am done with you, but I will always be around.”
And just like that, I had no more questions, at least for now. “Thank you for this gift. I will cherish it and protect it with my life, my new life. I will be the keeper of the World Gate and keep the balance of life.” I was good at making speeches on the spot and being polite when it came to it.
“Good. Now farewell, Matt. And good luck. May we meet again someday.” And just like that, he vanished in a short blast of light. I couldn’t help but feel sad about all this. I wasn’t sure why…
There I was, all alone, in a mysterious place that is said to be the center of it all. Heh. As a Brony, I knew exactly where I wanted to go first. But all the doors looked the same. I couldn’t tell which one went where. Then I remembered how the glowing figure told me how the orb could help me. But I really wasn’t sure how to ask it what door I should take.
I tapped the band on my wrist. It felt smooth like glass. “Uh… Excuse me… Can you hear me?”
“Yes, Guardian. What do you wish to do?” The voice was definitely female. Which I found odd.
“I wish to go to a world named Equestria. But I don’t know which door leads to it. Can you tell me which one?” I was starting to shake it was so exciting.
“I don’t know which doors go where. You must concentrate on what you want in order to find it.” I figured that was a good life lesson. To concentrate? Would be tough with my ADD problem…
I closed my eyes and focused. I thought about the place I wanted to go. The place where all of the Bronies wanted to go someday. I thought about what I would find there. All the ponies that I could meet. Their voices, their songs. Their looks, although that didn’t help since I saw too much R34 in my time…
I opened my eyes and saw that all of the doors had vanished, except for one. I was shaking even more at that point. I walked close to it, trying not to fall, and heard voices, but I couldn’t tell what they were saying. But I could tell that it was the ponies that I knew. As I got closer, images started flashing in front of my eyes. The land, the ponies, everything was passing in my vision at a fast pace. I jumped through the door, not even thinking of what would happen.
There was a bright light, and a sensation that I was falling. I started feeling scared; I closed my eyes, thinking I would die. I heard a booming sound, and I felt wind whipping my face. I still didn’t open my eyes; I was to scared to see what was going on.
I must have fainted because I didn’t remember hitting the ground, if it was ground I fell on. When I finally came to, which probably was not very long, I felt grass between my fingers, and a gentle breeze passing through my hair. I opened my eyes finally, and saw a tree. I started getting back up, looking in all directions, and then I saw it…
Ponyville in the distance…