“Thirty eight point one Celsius.” You said. “Oh, that is not good.”

    You stood before your precious Firefox pony. She laid in your bed, mucus dripping from her nose and sweat matting her coat.

    “I guess FIREfox is... burning up.”

    “Shut the hell up, master.” She couldn’t help but give a small giggle, though.

    “I’ll go get you some ice.”

    You head towards the kitchen to retrieve ice from your freezer. You wonder how Firefox could have ended up like this. It’s not like you entirely knew how program ponies worked... can they get the same illnesses as normal ponies? Was this a “computer” virus, or something a little more natural? At any rate, she was in no condition to be browsing.

    You return to her with bagged ice wrapped in a towel, and placed it on her forehead. You also prepared some soup for her, and placed it on the bedstand nearby.

    “Any idea what’s wrong?” You ask her.

    “I did some scans... and I think it’s just the common cold.” She says. “Likely caused by the weather.”

    “Well, at least it’s nothing serious.” You reply. You recall yesterday where you and Firefox were playing in the snow. It had been her idea... lately, she had been restless, feeling a little claustrophobic about always being inside. She said she didn’t mind being outside, but you noticed she was shivering a lot.

    You had made more than a few “Firefox has frozen” jokes.

    “I’m afraid I won’t be able to browse, master. Sorry.”

    “No, no! Don’t be sorry. You just focus on getting all better, don’t worry about anything else.

    She nodded, and pulled the covers of the bed further up. You left the room so that she could get some sleep.

    Damn. You really didn’t think you could live without the Internet for more than a few hours.
    Guess it was time to go rent a browser pony. You grabbed your coat and hat and ventured outside, towards the program shop.

    “Do you guys rent out browsers?” You ask, after entering the store. “I need a browser temporarily.”

    “Yeah, you’re just in time too.” The clerk says. “One left. Browser ponies gettin’ sick left and right, the rest got rented out.”

    “Then I guess I’ll take her,” you reply, “what is she?”

    “Oh boy. Here’s the scoop: she’s IE, but an older version. Something wrong with her update module, or something. She’ll do the job, but... well, she’s the last one I got.”

    “I can make do.”

    The clerk went into the back of the shop, where program ponies are held in stasis. He came back with a yellow pony with a blue mane: the inverse of the newer versions of IE. Her mane was spiky and disheveled and her coat’s color was muted, but her eyes were bright and alert.

    “Hello new master!” she said as she waved her hoof back and forth at you. She had a big grin on her face. “I’m ready for duty!” Her voice was deep, for a mare. She sounded much like a young colt.

    You pay the clerk and walk out the door with IE. As you leave, you could swear you heard the clerk say, “heh, good luck.”

    Back at home, IE was poking around your living room, investigating your various pieces of furniture, smelling the floor much like a dog.

    “This is a cool place you have here!” she said.

    “Uh, thanks.” You couldn’t think of anything remarkably different about your home compared to others.

    “So, anyway, I never caught your name mister.” she asked, while making a beeline for the upstairs.

    “My name is anon.”

    “Anon? That’s a weird name.” She was now exploring around your upstairs loft.

    “What do you think you’re doing up there?”

    “I’m just seeing around! That okay with you?”

    “Yeah, just, don’t touch anything.”

    Just then, you heard a sneeze coming from your bedroom; it was Firefox. Immediately, IE’s child-like curiosity compelled her to investigate.

    “Wow, she don’t look so good!” IE said as she entered your room. “No wonder you got me, she looks really sick!”

    You went upstairs and motioned IE out of your room to prevent her from bothering Firefox, and quietly closed the door.

    “Okay, IE, let’s go downstairs, I have a couple things for you to do.”

    “Sure thing!”

    You both head downstairs. You sit down in your recliner and IE sets herself down next to you.

    “Whaddaya need?”

    “The news, please.”

    “Uh, what news?”

    Oh right, she didn’t know what news site you meant.

    “PNN.com, please.”

    “Okay, one sec.” IE’s eyes glowed dimly, and a screen appeared before you. Many seconds later, the PNN homepage came up. But it looked... odd.

    “Uhm, IE, what’s this?”

    IE took a look at the screen. A look of worry came across her face.

    “Oh, shoot, sorry, I didn’t load it right!” Her eyes flickered and the page refreshed, but it still wasn’t correct.

    “Sorry! Hold on, please.” She refreshed it again, and finally it displayed in the right way. “There we go.”

    You scanned the headlines for anything interesting.

    “Hmm...new mall opening in Ponyville. That sounds interesting.” You hold your finger out and try to touch the screen, but your finger simply passes through it.

    “Huh, what?”

    “What are you trying to do?” IE asks.

    “I’m trying to, you know, click the link.”

    “O-oh, sorry! I... I guess I don’t have that. Sorry.”

    “Then how do I follow the link?”

    “You have to point at the link and ask me to open it, sorry. The one about the new school, right? I’ll open that now, sorry.”

    “New mall, not school.”

    “Yeah, I meant mall, sorry.”

    She opened the link, or at least, tried to. You could see the progress bar slowly inch forward.

    “You’re opening it, right?”

    “Y-yes! Sorry, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”

    You patiently waited as she loaded the page. IE’s face showed a look of embarrassment. Finally, after some time, it loaded. But the formatting was wrong, again.

    “S-sorry! Here, let me fix that.”

    “No, wait, it’s fine, I can read it like this.”

    “Sorry...”

    You read the article. It looked like the new mall was going to have some interesting shops. Maybe you’d visit, when it was warmer. Through the jumbled mess of a page you saw another interesting link, something about explorers finding an ancient series of tunnels near Canterlot.

    “Now visit this page.” you said, pointing to the link. IE’s eyes flickered and the page loaded. She loaded it faster than last time, but still pretty slowly. At least this time she got the formatting right. You read the article; IE looked at the floor.

    “Uhm, Anon?”

    “Yes?”

    “I-I’m sorry, for not being very good.”

    “No no, it’s alright. You’re just outdated, it’s not your fault.” You put your hand on her head in attempt to comfort her, but she didn’t change expression.

    “Yeah... if only I could update... but everytime I try I crash!I tried to fix it, but I just don’t know how...”

    “Well how about we try to fix that? Once Firefox recovers I bet she can figure it out.”

    “Really? You’d do that for me?”

    “Certainly.”

    “Oh, you’re so kind!”

    You finished reading the news for that day. You were getting hungry. “I think I’m going to go make some dinner. Want something?”

    She just nodded.

    You cooked yourself a frozen pizza and another bowl of soup for Firefox, which you brought up to her. She was still asleep. You gave some of your pizza to IE, but she didn’t eat very much.

    “Master?”

    “What is it now?”

    “I-it’s just that... I haven’t apologized in awhile. Sorry.”