Luna stepped onto the balcony, followed by her hoofmaid. Standing and watching the bustle of Canterlot below was Princess Celestia. She turned to face the pair and dismissed the servant.
"You wanted to see me, dear sister." Luna said, noticing with confusion that sky was already well into the night.
"Yes Luna. I wanted to discuss your new love for video games," Celestia replied hesitantly. "It seems to already have interfered with your duties as princess."
"It was thee who raised the moon?" Luna asked, walking to the railing of the balcony.
"Do you know what time it is, Luna?" Celestia continued. After Luna remained silent, she explained, "It's after midnight. When you didn't raise the moon after I waited a generous time, I had to do it for you. I assume that entire time you were on your PlayStable?"
Taken aback, Luna said, "It only felt like a short time, Tia. I had only played one game with Echo, or was it three or four?"
"Echo?" Celestia queried. Luna told how she and the others met Test4Echo and how he invited her to meet at an electronics store. "Luna," Celestia said concernedly. "You need to be more careful when making friends over a game like Mares of Duty."
"But he seemed a kind soul and true in his intentions." Luna explained.
"Then he would be a rare case." Celestia came up to Luna and wrapped a wing around her, "I just want to watch out for my little sister. You've been gone for so long and still need to learn much about modern society."
"I can watch out for myself, Tia," Luna pulled away from her sister's embrace. "I don't need you to look out for me every day." She stormed off the balcony, and made her way back to her bedroom.
She entered and flopped on her bed which had just been remade by her hoofmaid, the mare sighing in resignation as she left the princess for the night.
***
"Are you sure about this, your majesty?" one of the two night guards asked Luna as she climbed onto her personal chariot.
"Yea. My mind is made." she replied as she sat down on the chariot.
As Luna was about to order the guards to take off, her hoofmaid that told her of Celestia's summoning the night before dashed towards the chariot. "Wait! Wait for me!" she called, running up to the side of the chariot, gasping for air.
Luna sighed, glancing at the maroon-colored mare, "Why dost thou want to come with us?"
"I--*gasp*-- want to make sure--*wheeze*-- you don't do anything drastic." the hoofmaid answered, still winded.
Saying nothing, Luna turned her gaze back to the two guards, and gestured for her hoofmaid to climb up. After her hoofmaid clambered up, Luna told the guards to take off. She turned back to face the other mare, "What is thy true reason for coming?" she asked.
Wincing slightly, her hoofmaid asked, "Was it that obvious?" She continued, "Your sister wanted me to protect you and watch over you; she doesn't approve of your meeting somepony you only met last night on a video game."
"Dost she not know that I have learned much about modern society?" Luna huffed, glaring at her hoofmaid. "I am cautious myself."
"Bringing the guards was this 'Test4Echo's' idea she told me," the hoofmaid replied, brushing her dark purple mane out of her face. "She felt that if he didn't suggest that, you wouldn't have taken any."
Luna didn't reply. She merely glared ahead. After a moment, she asked, "What is thy name?"
Surprised, her hoofmaid answered, "Nightshine, your majesty."
"Well, Nightshine, I am not amused by my sister's actions, but I am not surprised. We shall see how this meeting proceeds." Luna stated as the guards began their descent towards the store that she was meeting her new acquaintance.
Ponies stared in awe and shock as Luna and her entourage descended to the street below, the dark-colored ponies an unusual sight to the Canterlot citizens.
As Luna stepped off the chariot, a bright tan stallion began running towards her. "Princess Luna!" he called, stopping short and taking a step back as Luna's two guards defensively stood in front of her. Giving a nervous bow, the stallion said, "It's me, your majesty: Test4Echo."
Luna ordered her guards to stand down, and walked up to the still prostrate Echo, "Rise, fair Echo. Thou needest not be so formal."
Echo shakily rose to his hooves, a few beads of sweat forming on his face as he avoided her gaze, "T-thank you, your majesty. But, I suppose I should say that me real name is Resonance."
"You may just call us--me, Lu--" Luna began before Nightshine burst in front of her to glower at Resonance.
"Look buster, I've got my eye on you. If you make one move on her, Celestia help you." she threatened, her brown eyes shooting daggers.
Resonance cringed, "Some way to greet a pony."
Luna pushed Nightshine to side with an annoyed hoof, the latter still glaring at the dark-maned stallion, "I am sorry for Nightshine. My sister has made her point that she doesn't fully trust ponies I might meet on video games."
Gulping slightly, he replied, "Um. O-okay. No problem." He shifted his gaze back and forth between the two guards and Nightshine. "H-how about we go inside?" he suggested.
"Very well." Luna agreed and stationed her guards outside the entrance to the electronics store. Inside, Luna stopped at the sight. Everywhere there was some kind of electronic. Rows and rows of different appliances, televisions, video games, and many other things that she had never seen, filled the majority of the space in the building.
"--Luna!" Luna shook her head. Looking over at Resonance, she asked, "What?"
"I wouldn't recommend getting drool on the entrance." he stated, pointing to the growing pool on the floor.
Luna realized that her mouth was open with her tongue hanging out. Meeting a few odd gazes from customers, she returned her mouth to its proper position, and slowly began to search the store.
"Cleanup at the main entrance: bring a mop." a tired voice said over the PA system.
The two other ponies followed Luna as she inspected the different aisles, Resonance trying to keep stride with the longer legged princess. "Unless you're in the market for a new washing machine, princess," he said, "you won't find anything of use in this aisle."
"Then direct me to where they keep their... computers." Luna answered, meeting his blue eyes.
"Then follow me." he stated, breaking away and trotting towards an aisle with many rectangular cases and small TV screens.
Luna followed, Nightshine warily in tow. Resonance was in conversation with a salespony, who took one look at Luna and fainted. She wasn't sure if it was from fear or surprise.
"You need to stop doing that to ponies," he sighed, shaking his head. "Luckily I have an idea with what would suit a first time gamer."
The statement fell on deaf ears. Luna was currently staring, enraptured by one of the computers. She read the piece of paper that was beside it, listing its hardware specifications with such terms that she had never heard of like RAM or CPU. Turning back to the pair, she elatedly cried, "We desire this one."
As Resonance inspected it, he almost fell to the floor, a shocked expression on his face. "This machine is five thousand bits!" he yelled in surprise.
Luna only stared in awe at the computer. She was mesmerized by its shiny, black exterior, its blue glow as it ran, and its sharp, crystal-clear screen. Continuing to block out both Nightshine's and Resonance's protests and argument, Luna began trying to figure out how the computer worked.
"--It wasn't my fault!" Resonance was protesting to Nightshine. "How was I supposed to know that Princess Luna would go straight for the most expensive computer currently on the market?"
"It was your suggestion that she come here instead of her royal duties." the other accused.
"And that's my fault? I didn't know that she was only introduced to video games, and perhaps has a slight addiction to them!" he shot back.
"Really? Beca--"
"Enough!" Luna cried, snapping the two bickering ponies out of their argument. "WE ARE BUYING THIS MACHINE! AND THAT IS FINAL!" she boomed, the nearby shelves shaking with the sound waves.
Resonance blinked. "Yes, your majesty. I suppose we shall."
A nervous attendant stepped up to the group, "M-may I help y-you ponies with anything?"
"Yes, citizen," Luna answered. "We are buying this wonderful piece of equipment--" she pointed to the pricey electronic, "--and will putting it on hold. We have yet to fully peruse your fine establishment."
Swallowing slightly, the salespony levitated down a box, and walked towards one of the checkout counters at the front of the store.
"Well," Resonance quipped. "That went swimmingly."
Nightshine only glared at him while Luna said, "Continue, fair Resonance, to show us the way around this store."
Without replying, he started off towards an aisle not far from where the computers were. This new aisle was cluttered with ponies looking at boxes of many different video games, more than Luna could have imagined.
Making sure that her jaw wasn't hanging open, Luna followed Resonance as he pushed through the ponies in the aisle, stopping at the far end and grabbing a box with his mouth. Luna looked at the box art: it was a bust of a mutated mare, her mane changed to that of insect-like tentacles. Its title read: Ponycraft 2: Mind of the Horde.
Resonance brought out a similar styled box, this time the bust of a stallion in a robotic suit, the title of which was Pegasi of Liberty. Putting down the two boxes, Resonance explained, "This is probably one of the best RTS games on the market. Once you start, you won't want to stop."
Nightshine huffed. Luna surmised that her maid wasn't overly impressed by the latter statement. "RTS?" she asked.
"Real-Time Strategy?" Resonance probed. At the blank look from Luna, he said flatly, "It's like chess."
"Oh!" Luna nodded her head in understanding, before another video game caught her eye.
The box in question said that its title was Pony Wars: Republic in Turmoil. She recognized one of the figures on the box art: it was she as Nightmare Moon; her alter-ego's ominous visage in a maniacal sneer, offset by its background position as massive quadruped walkers marched on a poorly defended trench of ponies with flying wedge-shaped vehicles raced against the walkers, the battle under a similar one in space.
Barely noticing that Resonance had walked up beside her with a slightly concerned look on his face, Luna was slowly beginning to work into a fury at the cover's use of Nightmare Moon's image after her final freedom from that monster.
Before she could launch into a tirade, Resonance said, "You shouldn't get riled up by that. It's based off a movie series that started well before you returned.
"In fact," he continued, "you could say that the final of the first three films put you in a good light. I could show you them."
"Not a chance, bub," Nightshine interrupted, knocking him back from Luna slightly. "You're lucky enough you got her to come with you to get all this stuff already."
"Okay, okay," he retorted. "It was just a suggestion."
Sufficiently calmed down, Luna floated out a copy of Republic in Turmoil over to Nightshine who grudgingly floated it herself into the hamper that was already holding the two game boxes. "We shall give the game the benefit of the doubt." she stated, and started to make her way to the checkout counter.
Running to catch up with Luna, Resonance asked, "Three games? That's it? Are you sure you don't want more?"
Luna shot a look at Resonance, who brushed part of his short, spiky mane back in nervousness, "At this moment, I only need a small portion of games. I will meet you online in this... Ponycraft later.
"Wait!" he called back. "Do you, or anypony for that matter, know how to set up a computer?"
Staring back, she said, "Surely thou aren't implying that it would be much hassle?"
He nodded. "It can be a bit of a pain, I could help, but..." he shrugged and gestured towards Nightshine. "Another way I could help is that you could call me on the phone when you're ready to set up and I could walk you through it."
"Phone? As in a telephone?" Luna asked, slightly confused.
After Resonance facehoofed, he said, "You do have a telephone?"
Luna didn't answer.
"Come on," he beckoned. "Let's get you a phone then."
***
Luna and Nightshine finally left the electronic store after a time of Luna trying to decide of which phone she should get. Resonance bid farewell and parted from the group.
Ordering her guards to carry the box containing her computer and peripheral equipment for it, Luna stepped onto the chariot and secured the box with her magic.
They took off, the gathered ponies gawking at their departure. Resonance shook his head and trotted off, muttering to himself, "I can't believe that she didn't even know how those phones worked."
***
A short time later, Luna and her escort landed outside Canterlot Castle. Luna observed that Celestia was waiting outside the main gate, watching the guards finalize their landing. She grabbed her computer's container with her magic and hopped off the chariot, followed closely by Nightshine who was levitating the bag that held her new telephone.
"Luna," Celestia began as her sister pushed past her towards the courtyard.
"We do not want to hear thy excuses, sister." Luna curtly replied, avoiding her sister's gaze.
"Luna. I just want to say that I'm sorry. I was being too harsh with you about your acquaintances from the internet." Celestia paused, thinking on what to say next. "Perhaps I too, am just as needing to learn about modern Equestria."
Luna sighed and turned towards Celestia, "We accept your apology. However, the use of one of our hoofmaids to spy on our doings was most aggravating."
Celestia winced. "You found out about that?"
"Tis not hard when we have the verbal presence."
"I regret that I had to do that, Luna. But I had to make sure, and... I still need to make sure. At the moment Nightshine will still watch over your meetings with other ponies you meet on the internet." Celestia said, staring at the ground. "Perhaps it is because of foul encounters before."
Jumping back slightly, Luna asked, "You have met others on the internet?"
"I do have a connection don't I?" Celestia replied. "Yes, I have tried meeting other ponies via the internet before. You must have had better luck than I: mine never went well."
For a moment, Luna was silent. Finally she said, "We-- I did not know that, Tia. I suppose I should not have been so defensive last night. Will you forgive me also?"
Embracing her sister with her wings, Celestia replied, "Yes, Luna. I will."
***
Luna entered her quarters, Nightshine in tow. The latter began unpacking Luna's new telephone from its box, and began installing it on Luna's bedstead. Luna started to unpack her new computer, taking out the sleek frame, and setting it beside her PlayStable and TV.
Nightshine sighed, "There. It's installed. Now all we need to do get an actual number."
Luna asked innocently, "Doth it not already come with its number?"
"No, your majesty. It needs to be hooked into a phone company's phone plan. You did get somepony to come by and activate it and give you a phone number, right?"
At Luna's silence, Nightshine groaned, "This is going to be a long night."
***
"Well," the operator on the other line said to Luna. "You should be all set up. Would you like to upgrade to an advanced package?"
"Nay, we haven't even tried the service you gave us," Luna deadpanned. "Why would we need to upgrade?"
"Um..." the operator mumbled in thought.
"Farewell." Luna said as she lowered Celestia's phone. Inconvenient for a pony to come and set up her phone, she had merely found the number of the company most of the castle used for their telephones and had set it up with the help of a service operator.
Walking back to her room, Luna grabbed her phone with her magic, the dial tone being a welcome sound to her ears. She put the phone back on its cradle, dismissed Nightshine for the evening, and continued to unpack her computer. She dug out the monitor that was bundled with it, along with speakers and cables.
She also grabbed another box from the bag from the electronic store. Apparently her headset that came with her PlayStable was incompatible with computers, so Resonance found one that he recommended while she was deciding on which phone she would buy.
Taking one look at the bundle of wires, she grabbed the phone again and whipped out a piece of paper that Nightshine had left with Resonance's own phone number. She dialed the number and waited for him to pick up.
"Hello," she heard him say. Before she could speak, he cut her off, "You have reached Resonance, gamer extraordinaire. If you have called for my autograph please leave your name and number and I will get back to you as soon as my busy schedule allows." A shrill beep exploded in her ear. Afterwards she snapped into the phone, "Resonance, this is thy ruler, Princess Lu--"
"Luna?" Resonance asked rather sheepishly. "Um... Sorry about that. I never really get called by anypony, I guess I made that recording a while ago when I wasn't in the best of moods. Are you calling for help with your computer?"
"Yes," she huffed. "The many cables are confusing."
"Okay. Now just follow what I say: find the cable that is marked as the power cord. It should be separate."
Luna found said cord, and levitated it up, waiting for what he would say next.
"Now," he continued. "Plug it into the socket on your computer that looks like it would snugly fit the non-pointed end. You might need to use your mouth for this, just make sure--" He was cut off by a shrill yelp and a loud buzz as Luna jumped in the air from the large electric shock she received. "You don't have it plugged into the power socket first and that the power supply is turned off on your computer." he finished quietly. "Hoo boy. This is going to take a while."