Chapter 1
Ted sat in front of his computer, clicking the forward button after scanning his eyes over each frame of the animation. "There have to be secrets in here," he grumbled to himself as he went along, picking through the introduction of the newest episode of MLP. The camera was zooming hard in on the mane six and most of the screen was a blur. Click, blur, click, bl-- "Huh?" He hit the back arrow and squinted at his monitor, "No way! Hey, Derek!"
"Yo Ted, whatcha want?" asked his bigger roommate from across the room at his own computer. "I'm in the middle of a match over here."
Ted pointed at his monitor, "Cut that LoL crap a second and come check this out! Tell me that ain't Jake."
Derek sighed loudly and pushed to his feet, "Look, man, I know you miss the guy." He wobbled a hand, "But looking up pictures of him is kinda creepy, a'ight?" He approached on large legs, always the stronger of the two, easily done compared to the thin twig that was Ted. "Go ahead and show me."
Ted frowned, "Hey, it ain't like that! This is MLP, not his Facebook page or nothing."
Derek's derision only intensified, "Fucking ponies? Shit man, I don't want to deal with that." Still, he looked at the screen at where Ted was pointing. There was a portion of what could be taken for Jake, if one took liberties, "Too thin, and, more important, it's a damn cartoon show, for little girls, about ponies. Why the hell would they just toss a person in there anyway?"
Ted clicked the forward button, "It's only there for one frame! Tell me that isn't spooky as hell. I mean, the guy's been missing for a while now, and boom, here he is."
Derek shook his head, "You're grasping for straws. That doesn't even look like Jake. Jake's a lot fatter. Like me, without the muscle. What do you think happened, he ran off to work for whoever makes this show?"
"Hasbro," offered Ted.
"Yeah, those people," Derek shrugged as he returned to his seat with a grunt, "Miracles do happen, the match isn't lost yet." He was soon lost to his gaming, leaving Ted to puzzle over the portion of Jake.
Ted pulled up Google and began searching around, though he wasn't sure who he would be searching for. A soft chime alerted him to new email and he checked it. No from, no to, no subject. Obviously spam. Ted wondered why Gmail hadn't caught it on its own and clicked it to get rid of it, but ended up opening it instead.
Do you want to find him?
Ted went pale, which wasn't much difference from his usual pale self. He hit reply.
Yes. Who are you?
Unimportant. You may bring one thing with you. Select quickly.
This was getting insane. Ted glanced up at Derek, who was focused on his screen intensely, paying him no mind. Whatever, he could handle this! He hit reply.
Spending money and a ticket home.
Everything went dark. Ted woke up abruptly in time to roll out of the way of an oncoming cart, bumping into something that cursed at him. He scrambled to his feet and looked around, realizing he was on a crowded city sidewalk with... ponies? They milled around him, ignoring him almost pointedly. "I did it!" he cried, getting a few stares, but most of the ponies seemed more interested in getting where they had to go.
One mare spat on the ground, "Good on you, now shut up."
Ted moved out of the way of the pony traffic with a big grin on his face. He snapped his fingers, "Spending money, ticket home." He dug through his pockets and found exactly as much cash as he remembered there being in his checking account, and an old plane ticket to his house. Ted frowned, "I... don't think ponies take American cash." He held up the ticket and read the date, "Or expired plane tickets. Damn it!" He threw the ticket to the ground and angrily stuffed his pockets with the likely-worthless money.
Ted put his hands on his hips and surveyed the area. It looked like... Manehattan. He approached a passing stallion, "Hey, where's the train station?"
The pony directed with a hoof down a street, "Right side." He then moved on, muttering something about tourists. Ted began to sprint that way, eyes wandering to take in the colorful sights that the pony world had to offer. He could see pegasi in the air, and all the others on the ground, all trying to get around the crowded city. He nudged his way through the crowd and made his way to the train station. He stood in a line impatiently until he arrived at the front, looking at a short earth pony with large glasses peering up at him.
"Hey man, hook me up with a ticket to Ponyville," said Ted, giving a thumbs up.
The pony tilted his head, "Alright." He looked down at a chart, "Five bits."
Ted fished out his cash and slapped it on the counter, "How many dollars is a bit?"
The pony pulled a few of the dollars under the glass and peered at them, "I have no idea what these are. We can't take foreign money." He pushed the money back through the slot, "Sorry."
Ted grunted and collected up his money, getting out of the way of the line. He took stock of his situation. World of alien ponies. They didn't seem outright hostile, but not outright sympathetic either. He was going to have to figure out how to survive, then how to find Jake, then how to get home. He could handle this... He hoped.
With a deep breath, he moved to scout out the city and its possibilities, determined to make the best of the situation, or maybe have a good cry. Both could work...