//------------------------------//
// Enter Equestria 
// Story: Truly Alive 
// by To Define Life 
//------------------------------//

I walked inside and took a look around.

It was a beautiful place to call home.

There were pictures everywhere, a nice fireplace, and a few beds. It was a small from the outside, so I was kind of supprised when I saw how roomy it was.

Derpy opened up a fridge in a corner of the house and pulled out a huge tray of muffins.

Dinky bouncing around, going "Can I have one? Can I have one? Can I have one?"

Derpy gave an amused sigh and handed Dinky a muffin. She made it levitate as her horn began to glow again, and hopped out of the kitchen, muffin floating just behind her.

I looked towards Derpy again just in time to duck as she almost shoved a muffin in my mouth.

She remarked, "Wow. I usually catch them off guard. Guess your somethin' else huh?" she said a wink. She took a massive bite out of the muffin in her hoof. She then handed me another muffin, quite not so much force behind it thankfully. I hesitated and took a bite.

"My. God." I said through a mouthful of food. "This is, AMAZING! What's in it?"

She thought, then said "Grains, milk, eggs, and apples fresh from sweet apple acres." I was blown away. Speechless, more like it. All I could do was chew slowly and enjoy the flavor.

All of a sudden, Dinky ran in and asked "Mom, can I use the computer?".

As beautiful as it was, I nearly spat out my muffin.

'They have computers?!'

I was overjoyed! I could figure out where I was and what exactly was going on here!

Finishing the last bits of muffin in my mouth, I asked, "Could I use your computer for, I don't know, maybe 5 minutes? I know you don't know me that well just yet, but could you?".

Derpy looked up from her food in her hoof (or what was left of it) and replied "Sure, I don't see why not."

She led me to the computer and offered me a seat.

I declined, "I do this better standing up"

"Huh?" Derpy was confused, but did nothing.

I left the HoloCube in my pack, not wanting to reveal it just yet, yet put a solid hoof on it. I then started to transfer all the Earthly information to the cube, and began a partial download of the internet.

I started with the basics: The land was called Equestria and was ruled by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. When there was trouble, six ponies joined together through something called the elements of harmony.

As cool as this was, I felt the need to go deeper. I kept digging through files. Thousands and thousands of files flew past my consciousness. I got so far as to classified data such as basic nuclear energy and high powered weapons. Their dimensions were nothing like I had ever seen before though, and seemed... almost useless to common knowledge. But I let it slide and continued.

When I finished, I felt the HoloCube's glow and my mane was drenched with sweat. Derpy and Dinky were staring at me, wide eyed. 

Apparently each and every document I downloaded had flashed on the screen at some 350 pages per second.

Dinky finally said something, "What was that?"

I didn't know how to respond. Here I was trying to lay low, and I just blew it. So my brain worked overtime and said, "Hey Derpy, can I talk to you for just a second? Alone?"

She looked at me, and I saw the confusion. Here I was, a new house guest doing freaky things to the family computer.

Derpy must have realized part of what I was getting at, as she turned to her daughter and asked "Dinky, could you be amazing and go to Sugarcube Corner to get some blueberry muffins?".

Dinky being young and innocent, happily agreed.

Derpy waited a good five minutes before saying anything.

"So what they hay was that?" she finally said.

Having had a moment to think, I knew exactly how to word what I wanted to say.

"Derpy, before I can tell you, i need to know something: Can you keep a secret? A huge secret?"

She nodded but her face was still in total confusion. "Okay, here goes nothing." I breathed. "I'm not, well, from around here. I'm from... elsewhere. Never mind that. Any way, about what happened, I have this weird... ability, I guess you could call it. I talk with computers, basically."

Derpy shook her head. "Wait, so you can just tell a computer or ask it ask it something?"

I looked at her and continued "Sorry, I know it sounds insane but I really need you to-".

She cut me off with a, "What are you talking about? It's AWESOME! Why can't you tell anypony though?".
I answered her with silence, and she replied "No, you don't have to tell me Drive, I was just being curious.".

" Thanks for understanding, not many peop- er, ponies would."

She smiled, then walked trotted back into the living room. Derpy then,called out "Well you gotta sleep somewhere, let's find someplace for ya."

I walked over and saw that Derpy had already pulled out a small mattress, maybe 4ft by 1ft.

Derpy looked up at me and said, "Well, I know it's not much, but it's something."

"Thanks..." I finally replied, "For all you've done."

She grinned and said 'No problem. Hey, maybe I can take you to Ponyville tomorrow, how does that sound?"

The sheer thought of hearing about others made me worried, and excited at they same time. "Sounds good to me." I said. "I can hardly wait."

I went into a self preservation mode instinctively, backing myself away from a sudden noise. I arched my back against the wall, almost ready to pounce before I heard "Mom! I'm hoooome!"

It was Dinky.

Luckily, Derpy hadn't noticed the whole ordeal. Her eyes closed and her nostrils enjoying the scent of freshly baked muffins. I closed my eyes as well and began to wander aimlessly toward the smell. My eyes being closed, I tripped on a few things, hearing Dinky and Derpy muffle giggles as I did so. When I finally opened my eyes, I saw the two of them walking backwards slowly, the muffin bag still in Dinky's mouth. When I became aware, they bust out on the floor laughing their guts out. After over-viewing the situation, I started laughing too.

After a while of fooling around and eating this beautiful food, Derpy looked outside. With the sun beginning to set, said "Well, best be getting to bed, g'night Drive.".

I yawned, not truly grasping how tired I was. "Sounds like a plan. G'night Derpy. G'night Dinky."

We all went our separate ways and the two of them,almost immediately passed out. I for one, however, was not so lucky. I kept thinking about what used to be home. I shook my head at the thought and drifted off.

I had a dream again.

This time, I was back with my family. Mom, dad, sister, and two brothers. They were all there. We were all sitting at this big, circular wooden table. No one was talking. No one was eating. We were all just looking at the big pile of food in front of me. No one else had so much as a fork, so I asked "What's with the food? You guys must be starving, take some!" They looked at me with no expression whatsoever. No happiness, no sadness, no pain, no fear, no ANYTHING. Then my mom spoke, "Dean, you've been given an amazing opportunity. Don't waste it." I was kept saying "Come! There is still time! Come on!" but to no avail, the horrid image replaced the wish.

I thought I deleted the file.

The image of my family on the ground. Dead. Half- eaten.

I had to follow procedure.

A bullet through the brain.

Each.

I woke up sobbing, just thinking.

15 minutes, just 15 minutes earlier could have saved them. But then, I thought: I did what I could; I followed protocol.

After that I was restless, so I went outside and sat on the porch. Finally, the sun came up to a strong and willing new member of it's society.

His name: Dean Styner

His home: no longer important

His talents: stealth, weapons knowledge, and download-ability

His goal: a new start.

He was the old, is the present, and will be his future.

His new name: Flash Drive.