It was day two of the mane six's exploration journey and most of them had finished settling down. Loose items were strewn across the ground and a plastic bag full of groceries was rotting on the table. Pinkiepie was only just finishing the apartment's check up, scanning the back room for interesting 'tid bits' while the other five sat on the couch starving to death. Finally, Rainbow Dash groaned. "Isn't somep- someone going to get the groceries?" She coughed.
"We've tried, Rainbow Dash." Twilight confessed. "But its hard enough to push the teeny buttons on a remote control let alone undo the knot they tied it up with."
Applejack slapped her knee. "Darn' tootin! They went and tied that bag up tighter then a snake chasing its end in a pretzel fashion. Even I couldn't get that thing open."
"This would be so much easier if you lot hadn't made such a mess." Rarity complained. "Aren't there any scissors amongst this unorganized clutter?"
"Oh, that's it!" Rainbow Dash yelled. She grabbed the bag with two hands and tore into it with her teeth, ripping it apart like a rabid mongrel. Bits of plastic fluttered down everywhere, making Fluttershy flinch.
"Couldn't you have just used your hands?" Applejack asked.
"Are you kidding me? what was I supposed to hold the bag with?" Rainbow Dash snapped. "Its not like I'm a unicorn!"
"Hey guys!" Pinkie's energetic voice rang out from the back. "I found something cool. Its like the magic-picture-showing-box-of-colorful-awesomeness, except its smaller and has some weird lettery-thingy-of-letteryness attached to it! And a clicky-thingy-of-clickyness! And theres a bunch of wires coming out of the back which are attached to a wired lit up box-of-boxiness!"
There was a loud crash as Pinkiepie smashed the object down on the bench, making everyone flinch. "Pinkie!" Twilight yelled. "For your information, thats a computer. And it happens to be very fragile!"
"Com...poo-tar??"
"Yes! Which means no smashing it down on the bench like that, okay?" Twilight scolded.
"Okee-Dokee!" Pinkiepie chirupped, seemingly unphased.
"Hey, thats cool!" Rainbow Dash said. "How do we turn it on?"
Twilight waltzed up to the computer. "Here," she said proudly. "I'll show you. All you have to do... is press this button, here."
Nothing.
"I said, all you have to do, is press this button, here!" Twilight tried again. Still nothing. "Why isn't anything working?" She screamed, about to bring her fists down on the keyboard.
"You need to plug it in, silly filly!" Pinkiepie pointed out. Seemingly oblivious to the increasingly red Twilight, she popped the plug into an electric adapter and hit the same button Twilight had. Almost instantly, the screen flickered to life and at about the same time, steam escaped through Twilight's ears.
"There!" Pinkiepie announced loudly. Her smile fell. "Now... if I can just work out how to use this clicky thing..."
"Give me that!" Twilight snapped. She snatched it from pinkie. "And its called a mouse!"
"A mouse? But it doesn't look anything like a mouse." Pinkiepie faltered. She appeared to shrug.
"I learnt about all this when I first went to the human world." Twilight explained. "There's this amazing thing called the internet. Its pretty much magic, you see?" She double clicked on the 'e' icon.
"Twilight should use Chrome!" Pinkiepie blurted.
"What are you talking about sugar cube?" Applejack frowned. "Whats chrome?"
"Oh... nothing." Pinkiepie said slyly. "Nothing at all..."
Twilight rolled her eyes, passing it off as nothing more then pinkie logic. "Anyway, this is google home page. You can look for anything."
"So... like... its a machine that can answer all your questions?" Rainbow asked. "Awesome!"
"Thats not all! Its so wonderfully organized, too. People make things called 'sites' which have little piles of information on them. And just watch this, see?" Twilight said. "I press a key on this magical 'key board' and the letter comes up in the search bar! Also, you can share anything. People put videos and stories and even artworks on the internet, and that's not all. Theres games too, and music! You can even buy things."
"Sounds like you can do about anything on it." Applejack said. "I'm quite curious, though- how would you play games on the internet? Or for that matter, how would you buy stuff? Mind if I ask that whatchamacallit of yours?"
"Not at all," Twilight said. She offered Applejack the seat. "Here."
Applejack sat down uncertainly. She hovered her hands over the magical 'key-board'. "I find it hard to believe that this thing can really make letters." She said. "Are you sure about this?"
"Sure am," Twilight said. "Go ahead, give it a shot."
Applejack frowned, hesitating. Suddenly, as if it were a shark, she punched one of the keys down. "Well, I'll be," she chuckled as a little squiggly letter appeared on the screen. "This is kinda' fun!" Out of the blue she began to smack the keyboard, guffawing manically. Each pound made Twilights ears shake, the force of her punches making the couch she was on quake violently.
"It is?" Rainbow Dash's ears picked up.
"Applejack!" Twilight snapped. "Stop it!' She grabbed Applejack's wrist.
Applejack blushed and scratched the back of her head. "Oh, uh... Sorry." She said.
Twilight sighed. "Maybe its best if I do the typing from now on?"
"M-
Rainbow Dash crashed into the two of them, throwing them to the ground. "No way, Twi! I'm taking over from here!" She put her hands to the keyboard, her look of confidence slowly fading. "Um... How do I...?" She made an attempt to hold the 'mouse' but kept fumbling. "Uh... Twilight? A little help here?"
Applejack got up and shoved Rainbow Dash. "Move it!" Applejack growled. Rainbow Dash let out a frantic cry and crashed to the ground, legs flailing.
Twilight sat down. "Thank you, Applejack."
"Hey!" Rainbow Dash scowled. She began waving her arms and legs in the air, her annoyed look turning to one of fear. "Help! I don't know how to get up! These legs are evil, I tell you! Evil!"
Pinkiepie flopped down next to RainbowDash and started to imitate her. "Go dashy! Do the turtle! Weeee! This is kinda fun!" Pinkiepie yelled.
Twilight rolled her eyes and clicked on the search bar again. "So, Applejack, tell me." She said. "What would you like to search for?"
Applejack thought for a moment. "Uh... Try, 'apple contest'. Yeah, that's right- I'd love to know when the next one is in Equestria."
Twilight smiled. "I don't think I can look for results in Equestria, but I'll give it a shot. Next apple contest... Equestria." She muttered. She pressed the enter bar matter-of-factly. "There we go." She said. "Now we just need to wait for it to load."
"Looooaddd? But I want to see it nooooow!" Rainbow Dash groaned from the floor, still waving her arms and legs.
Twilight sighed. "Be patient, Rainbow."
"Do the turtle! Do the turtle!" Pinkiepie sung. "Then again, its not really like a turtle. Turtles can't fly... Oooh, I know! Do the cockroach! Do the cockroach!"
"Not the cockroach!" Rainbowdash groaned. "I don't wanna be a cockroach!"
"Awww, sorry Dashie!" Pinkiepie said sympathetically. She freed one hoof and used it to pat Dashie on the shoulder. "There there, you can be a turtle if you want."
"Thanks, Pinkiepie." Rainbow Dash smiled. "You're a good friend."
"Oh, brother.." Twilight rolled her eyes at the two. She turned back to the screen. "Ah, here we go! All loaded."
"Those are some confusing words, sugarcube." Applejack said. "What in the world is a 'fanfiction'?"
Twilight frowned. "I don't know. Lets have a look, shall we?" She clicked on the link. As she was waiting for it to load, however, she heard a gasp from Pinkiepie and suddenly felt the mouse jerk out from under her hand. "What the hell Pinkie?" She snapped as Pinkiepie clicked on the X. "What did you do that for?"
Pinkiepie's eyes darkened. "You must never know what a fanfiction is. If you do, it will suck the very life out of you and rip apart the fabric of space time!" She screamed. She began to violently shake a confused Twilight by her shoulders. "There are horrible, EVIL fanfictions out there, do you hear me? People WILL write about your private life Twilight! They will, and you don't want to put up with that! Even as we speak, somebody could be writing a fanfiction about this very moment, and you don't want to put up with that, do you understand?"
"Um... Pinkie...' Twilight murmured.
"Do you understand?" Pinkiepie pressed.
"Yes! Yes, I understand." Twilight said.
"Okay!" Pinkiepie said happily. Twilight and Applejack watched in sheer confusion as she merrily bounced back over to Rainbow Dash and started turtling in the air again as if nothing had ever happened.
"Sometimes I think that there is something horribly wrong with that pony." Applejack shook her head, sitting down on the couch next to Twilight. "I guess we can't look at whatever fanfiction is then."
"Yeah." Twilight said, secretly curious. She told herself to have a look at whatever it was whenever Pinkiepie was away. "How about I show you a really cool site I found?" She said, going off topic.
"Sure, whats it like?" Applejack asked.
"Oh, its really good." Twilight said, typing an address into the bar at the top of the page. "You know how we watched all those moving pictures a little while ago? Well, its pretty much a giant site dedicated to moving pictures. Po- people can even take their own moving pictures with things called 'cameras' and 'upload' them! Isn't it great?" She pressed enter. "Its called, 'youtube'."
"Wow," Applejack said. "Impressive."
"I know, right?" Twilight fan-girled. "I want to show you one I found recently. There's just something... mesmerizing about it. I don't know what it is but... I just can't look away. Its called, 'Badger, Badger, Badger."
"Well, that's stupid." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Who'd call anything Badger, Badger, Badger? Also, could I get some help here please? I'm still stuck here!"
The whole room, including Fluttershy continued to ignore her and faced the screen, take for Pinkiepie who continued to turtle next to her. "Shh," Twilight whispered. "Its starting."
Nobody could speak or even so much as blink as the badgers began to dance around the screen in angelic harmony, the mushrooms blending in perfectly to create a melodic heaven of sounds and pictures that were beautiful enough to make even the manliest of men cry. Finally, the video ended, leaving the room in total awe.
"That was..."
"Beautiful." Rainbow Dash sniffled. "That was the most beautiful thing I've ever... I mean, when the snake came I was just..."
Rainbow dash sniffled as Pinkiepie patted her on the shoulder. "There, there Dashie... there there..."
"Well, I was going to say, 'creepy', but I guess that would do too." Rarity snorted. "I hope not all of the magical pictures on this watcha-ma-callit... Sit... Cite... Silk..."
"Site?" Twilight said.
"Thank you Twilight- site aren't that weird." Rarity said. "Personally, I'd go for some more elegant tastes- lets say... art?" She batted her eyelids hopefully.
Twilight frowned. "Well, okay, but I'm not sure if I know of any good art site- wait a second, I found one a few days ago as a matter of fact... I think it was called Deviantart? Yeah, yeah, that was it." She began to type it into the address bar.
Rarity rolled her eyes. "Well, okay... I was hoping we could go to the gallery down town but I guess this will have to do." She muttered under her breath. "I swear, I'm too generous sometimes..."
"Here we go." Twilight said. "All the art you could want." She offered the seat to Rarity. Rarity sat down, looking at the screen curiously.
"Hm. Interesting." She said. She looked at Twilight. "Twilight..." She began. "Just how would one draw on a com...pootar?"
"Hm? Oh, I suppose you'd have to get a drawing program. I'm sure you could install one online if you wished." Twilight said. "Do you want me to see if I can find one for you?"
"No!" Rarity hissed. "I want to do it myself!"
Twilight was taken back. "Well... okay, I guess." She said. She said down on the couch next to the Applejack.
"Now, lets see..." Rarity murmured. "I'll just press this key here... and... um... Oh dear, how do I do this? Twiiiliiiiight?" She whined.
"What?" Twilight snapped.
"There are too many butttoooooooons! Come heeeelppp meeeeeee!"
Twilight groaned, facepalming. She walked over to Rarity and took the keyboard from her, typing in the simple phrase; good drawing software? She pressed enter only to have her diaphragm crushed by Rarity's giant hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you Twilight! You're a life saver!"
Twilight felt her face turning blue. "No... problem..." She choked. Rarity let her go and she took a huge gulp of air. She promised never to take oxygen for granted again, especially when faced with Rarity's perfume. "So, Rarity- should I download one of these for you?" She asked patiently.
"Oh, I wasn't actually going to download one. Don't be ridiculous Twilight. No, I don't know the first thing about drawing." As Rarity made her way back to her seat, Twilight had to use every ounce of will-power within her not to tear Rarity to shreds.
"Deep breaths, Twilight." She said to herself. "Deep breaths. So, who else wants to do something?" She called out.
"Oh! Me! Mememememe!" RainbowDash yelled, waving a hand frantically in the air.
Twilight sighed. "Anybody else want a go?"
The whole room was quite except for Rainbow Dash who was still frantically waving her hand.
"Fine," Twilight muttered. "Come here Rainbow Dash."
As if her spell had suddenly been broken, Rainbow leapt to her feet and stood beside the computer. Everyone looked at her in disbelief. "So... you could get up?" Twilight asked.
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Well, duuuh. How else would I be standing here?"
Twilight felt her teeth grind in her mouth. "So... Rainbow..." She said slowly. "What do you want to do on the internet?"
"You said there were games, right? Well, I want to play some games. Do you know any sites like that?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Suddenly, Twilight snapped. She picked up the computer and threw it at Rainbow Dash. "You know what?" She shouted as it slammed into the ground next to Rainbow. "Do it yourself. I'm going to take a nap."
She stormed off to the bedroom, slamming the door behind her. "And she told me not to slam the computer down." Pinkiepie said. "Thats sorta hypocritical Twilight!" She yelled after her.