if site name does not have REQUEST URI then index.php should come
else if URL is example.com/key the file pages.php?tkey=key should come.
When I set this way images in subfolders are not loading
RewriteRule ^/?$ index.php [L]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ pages.php?page_keytkey=$1 [L]
Please advice
Try preventing the recursive loop that Peter Szymkowski pointed out.
Also consider not redirecting existing files as Michael Berkowski said.
You can read more at http://wiki.apache.org/httpd/RewriteCond for example.