Daienu

by Tatsurou

Safer Search

Safer Search

Yaazi was bored. Dad was off with some of his human friends doing something she wasn't allowed to join in on yet, and had left her with Mom in his lab. Then Mom had to go off to handle an animal emergency which involved something called 'surgery' out near the Everfree Forest, and had asked Pinkie Pie to watch her. That had been fun, but eventually Pinkie had collapsed in exhaustion, snoring loudly. Yaazi, however, could not rest, as the love she had fed off of the pink pony filled her with energy like a sugar rush. However, with her foalsitter unconscious, she was left with nothing to do. Then she saw it.

The glorious object shone, a faint blue light that emanated from the large screen and illuminated the board before it, covered with letters, numbers, and buttons. She climbed into the chair before the heavenly device and stared at it, wide eyed in fascination. Carefully, she poked one of the buttons.

The light left the screen, and a window into a new world appeared full of icons and various other things. She didn't know what this was, but she knew she wanted to explore this new world. She saw an icon labeled 'Explorer', and poked it. Nothing happened. Glaring, she kept poking at it. A message appeared on the screen.

Touch Screen not enabled, Yaazi. Use the mouse.

She gasped. How did this wondrous device know her name? Also, where was the mouse, and how was she supposed to use it? Mom wouldn't like her mistreating animals. She poked the screen again.

Look down. Look right. It has buttons.

Yaazi did as instructed, and saw a strange, roundish object next to the board filled with buttons. She picked it up, examining it...and then promptly dropped it onto the floor, where it bounced deep into the recesses beneath the wardrobe. She looked after it sadly, then turned back to the screen and poked it again.

...you dropped it, didn't you? Y/N

Two buttons on the board glowed, and she stared in fascination. Each one bore the design of letters, that of Y and N. She tried to think what it could mean. The screen beeped, and she looked up.

Yes/No

Ah. She knew what that meant. She pushed the Y. Just to be sure, she kept pushing it. A lot. After a time, the screen beeped.

...touch screen enabled. Click an icon...Touch an icon to select it.

Smiling, Yaazi touched the icon that said Explorer. She wanted to explore...although she wasn't sure what an 'Ethernet' was. Probably had something to do with magical spiders. The screen turned white, and other images appeared. Another message appeared.

Multi-universal net link enabled. Safe Search activated.

Yaazi stared at the part described as 'Safe Search'. She didn't have to be protected. She was a big pony! Mommy said she looked five years old. She could handle anything. She poked the 'Safe Search'.

Safe Search enabled. Error: Safe Search may only be disabled by user Twow. Current user is unfamiliar with system functions. Ergo, current user is not Twow. Current user does not have Sys.Admin authority to disable Safe Search.

Yaazi recognized what it was saying. It said only Daddy could turn this 'Safe Search' off. Frowning, she whacked the screen in frustration.

Error: this system is not programmed to respond to percussive maintenance.

Yaazi frowned, glowering at the screen. She gave it another, harder whack.

Error: further mistreatment of unit will result in system time out.

Yaazi let out a quiet "Eep!" Not Time Out! She didn't want to be in trouble. Lowering her head and looking up at the screen wide eyed, she leaned forward and planted an apologetic kiss on it.

Core Processing Error: So cute...

Yaazi giggled quietly. 'Works every time,' she thought to herself. Reaching up, she poked the 'Safe Search' again.

Present user still does not have Sys.Admin priveleges to disengage safe search.

"Cupcakes," Yaazi said with a pout, glowering at the screen. Noticing a button that looked like Pinkie Pie and was labeled 'Random Search', she poked it.

The screen shifted. A new image came up, and a screen within the screen displayed the words 'Fluttershy's Bunny Rescue' and an image of Mom. Smiling, Yaazi poked at it. Nothing happened. She poked repeatedly.

Content analyzed. Content is flash game. Control character with arrow keys. Press Enter key to start.

Yaazi looked down at the keyboard. Five keys glowed helpfully. She began to play the game. The plot was relatively simple. Three troublesome fillies had scared Mom's bunnies into the Everfree Forest, and Mom went to recover them. It took Yaazi some time to figure out how to play the game, and a bit more to get used to the idea of controlling her Mom with buttons. For some reason, she felt only Dad should be pushing Mom's buttons. She didn't understand why she thought that.

When she successfully gathered all the bunnies, she clapped her hooves happily. Then she saw something else on the screen. It mentioned another ending, and something about 12 and 4. Seeing as the device seemed to tell her things when she poked, she poked a few times.

Analyzing. ...Game has alternate ending between the hours of 12 am and 4 am, according to computer clock. Change clock to that timeframe? Y/N

Grinning, Yaazi pushed the Y key. She wanted to see what else Mom did.

Clock reset. Rebooting game.

Yaazi played through the game for a while, guiding her Mom through the Everfree Forest. Then it happened...

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An hour later, Fluttershy got back. "Pinkie, I'm back. How is-" She paused. Pinkie was still sound asleep. "Wow. It looks like Yaazi wore Pinkie out." She blinked. "I didn't think that was possible. I hope Yaazi's okay. Then again, with how security conscious Twow is and how protective of Yaazi we both are, I'm sure nothing in here can hurt her. I wonder where she is, though." She raised her voice slightly. "Yaazi, where are you?"

She heard a whimper from under the bed. "Yaazi?" She lifted the trailing blanket. "Are you-"

Yaazi tackled Fluttershy, holding tight to her. "Mom!" she cried in despair, clinging to her and weeping hysterically.

Fluttershy blinked. "Yaazi, what happened?" She quickly wrapped Yaazi in her forelegs and wings, hugging her tight.

Still trembling, Yaazi pointed to the computer.

Fluttershy walked over. "The computer? What's so scary about-" She froze. "Did Twow leave the Safe Search off?"

Yaazi shook her head. "The game...bad ending...Mom..." She burrowed her face into Fluttershy's wing.

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow, poking the screen. "Fluttershy's Bunny Rescue? How can that be scary?" She sat down, still holding Yaazi, to play the game. She didn't notice that the computer clock was still set to 2:30 am.

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An hour later, Twow returned to the lab, looking somewhat worn out. "Yaazi, Fluttershy, I'm home!" he called out. There was no response. "Huh? That's weird." He noticed Pinkie Pie, still unconscious, snoring gently. "That's odd." Walking into the bedroom, he flopped down onto the bed.

He hopped off when he heard what sounded like the bed squeaking in protest. He checked under. "Fluttershy? Yaazi? What are you doing down there?" He was taken off guard as both female's glomped onto him full force.

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Several hours later, Twow signed off of his computer after redesigning the safe search so that it would not allow any processes to run that were connected to the computer clock keyed to late night/early morning hours...as well as blocking any flash game containing ponies that he hadn't previously approved. He had managed to comfort Fluttershy rather easily, but Yaazi had been another matter. After a bit of discussion, everyone was staying in the lab that night. Fluttershy was already curled up on his bed, lightly dozing while he finished his work. He had set up a smaller, temporary bed for Yaazi nearby. She was curled up there under the covers. Standing up, he walked over, pulling the covers up over his daughter more securely.

"Sleep well, Yaazi," he said quietly. "No more nightmares."

Yaazi smiled in her sleep, shifting to a more curled position, the tip of her hoof in her mouth. Then she let off a quiet sneeze.

Green fire passed over her body. Where had been a Chageling filly there was now a small human girl, dark skinned with emerald green hair, quietly sucking on her thumb.

Twow stared for a time, blinking. "What the..." He rubbed his eyes. There was another quiet sneeze. When he took his hands away, Yaazi looked exactly as she always had. "...I must be working too hard," he mumbled to himself as he lay down on his bed, curling up to his marefriend.