“The what?” Fluttershy asked, putting her fork down, a piece of waffle still attached.
“The Internet.” Mark replied, pausing to take a bite of his own waffle, “It’s the way most of the 8 billion of us connect.”
“Sounds daunting.” She commented.
“Not if you have the right guide.” He responded, “It’ll be quite the adventure, seeing all the kinds of stuff humans have created.”
Despite the outward optimism, Mark was internally debating over what exactly to show her. There were definitely things he wanted to avoid at all costs, but he didn’t want to seem like he was hiding anything. That element of trust was still cultivating, and he didn’t want to put it in jeopardy. That said, he also wanted to show her a wide range of things humans had created; he hoped to do away with the notions from her recent experience by contrasting it with things of beauty and wonder.
The two finished breakfast then retired to his bedroom. He had a small gaming computer hooked up to a flat-screen TV, accompanied by an Xbox controller and a wireless mouse and keyboard. He turned on the computer and TV and logged in.
“Alright,” he began, putting on his best tour guide voice, “welcome to your first day on the Internet. I’m Mark Wright, and I’ll be your guide.”
His change in voice elicited a small chuckle from the pegasus. She’d brought the clipboard and pen with her from the living room, and had already scribbled a few notes from what Mark had told her.
“So I guess the best place to begin is the place most people go to find things: Google.” Mark opened Chrome to the Google search page. “So here, you can search for, well, anything. What’s something you want to see or learn about?”
Fluttershy thought for a moment, “Um, maybe something about those ‘wildlife preserves’ you mentioned?”
“Saw that coming.” Mark thought with a smile, “Alright, let’s see here…”
He searched ‘local wildlife preserve’ and was linked to one about 15 minutes away. The location had plenty of pictures, which he spent some time scrolling through.
“So I actually haven't been here before,” he admitted, “but they have lots of different animals here. Look, they got bears, wolves, birds, frogs - all kinds of stuff!”
“And all those animals are protected from being hunted?” she asked.
“Correct.” Mark replied, “That’s why they call them ‘preserves’.”
“But...the fences, aren’t the animals just trapped there?” she asked warily.
“Not so.” he said with a reassuring smile, “The idea of a sanctuary is that the animals inside couldn’t survive naturally on their own, for whatever reason. They’re just watching out for them, kind of like what you do.”
She seemed satisfied with his response, so he continued with another search: “famous paintings”. He took some time to show off the different artists on display, giving brief descriptions of the ones he recognized. The search also turned up several parodies of the paintings, which he couldn’t help but laugh at.
“You probably don’t get why those are funny,” he admitted, “but just know they are.”
He then gave a small demo of both Google Docs and Slides, showing different options and writing up a brief comedic story, much to the pony’s amusement. He went on to explain that both pieces of software were often used by students, even at a university level.
“Now, the same company that made all this stuff also owns a site called ‘YouTube’,” he continued, “that’s a place where you can put any videos you want to share with the world, and lots of people make content on a regular basis.”
He pulled up the site and paused, thinking once more on what to start with. Scanning through his extensive “Watch Later” playlist, he saw a small group of videos about parkour, and decided that would be a good place to start.
Fluttershy's jaw hung open as the people on screen performed dangerous acts with seeming ease. Her notepad sounded off with a flurry of scribbles as she sat watching the videos, never taking her eyes off the TV, yet seemingly still taking coherent notes.
The two spent a good length of time watching various videos, ranging from clean skits (some of which he needed to explain parts of), to performances of music, to a small selection of fandom videos.
It was only when a small growling noise sounded that the two broke from their watching trance. The source was quickly identified as the two viewers' stomachs.
"Hungry?" Mark asked.
After taking a break and eating a once-frozen cheese pizza, Mark decided to show her some of his video game collection. He scrolled through the Steam library, muttering the titles to himself until he found one that seemed appropriate for her. It was E for everyone, after all.
Unfortunately, of all games he could have chosen, Mark soon realized he probably shouldn't have picked Cuphead. The game experience consisted of him dying consistently, while desperately trying to avoid teaching the innocent pegasus about the many different vulgarities in the English language. Meanwhile, Fluttershy watched on as he tried not to get frustrated, despite this being a so-called "rage game".
Finally though, all the effort paid off.
"Knockout!" the game sounded off, with Mark breathing a sigh of relief while setting the controller down.
"So yeah," he finally spoke, "maybe you can see why I recommended you not try it."
Fluttershy chuckled. "Did you not enjoy it?"
"Well yes and no." he replied, and was about to offer up a humorous response when Fluttershy's eyes suddenly shot open, her gaze stuck in a distant stare.
"I just had an idea." she whispered.
"Care to share?" Mark asked.
"We need to look up those wildlife preserves again." Fluttershy explained, slowly breaking from her momentary stupor, "If we can find where I arrived, maybe we can find where the portal was between our worlds."
Mark placed his hand under his chin in thought. "Not a bad idea, 'Shy."
He once again searched "wildlife preserves near me" into the taskbar, and began looking through all the nearby locations. He patiently clicked one at a time, allowing Fluttershy to see the photos from each before moving onto the next one. It was only after the 8th option had been selected - and his hopes for this idea were wearing thin - that the pegasus gasped and pointed at the television.
"That's it!" she yelled, then continued much quieter, "I knew I saw that sign before…everything happened."
She shook her head as if trying to rid her mind of the experience.
"And you think that if we go over there we could find some sort of clue, right?" Mark asked.
The pegasus nodded, leading his train of thought to wonder how they could safely get a look at the location without fear of the poachers - or someone else.
"Well, nighttime would be good for avoiding being seen." He suggested, "Though we need to make sure neither of us get stuck in a trap. Also, there’s a good chance we’d not be able to see anything unless we used a flashlight…which obviously would give us away. Maybe late evening is better."
The two thought for some time, neither sure of a good answer.
"I don't think you should go out there." Mark finally spoke, "It's still too dangerous out there. But I think I can easily head out there without raising suspicion."
He then found himself stumped in thought. "Wait, what exactly am I going to be looking for?"
"You should start to feel a presence of transdimensional energy when near. The magic forces have probably died down by now, but you could potentially find some material bound between worlds, or even the portal which may let us communicate with Equestria."
"And these 'forces'," Mark replied, "they work similar to magnets? You can't see the forces but you can feel them?"
"Sort of." Fluttershy answered, before engaging in a brief lecture explaining the nature of magic and the sensations one may feel from them.
What little Mark understood from the lecture he vocalized shortly after it had ended:
"So…not like magnets."