Since When Did Your Dog Become a Haytuber?
It was later in the afternoon at the Canterlot Mall. The mall itself was busy as many young customers go to one store to the next, getting their shopping done for the day. Somewhere in the mall was a food court, where some shoppers hang out to get a bite to eat or to rest. One particular group who were sitting around the table at the food court was seven teenaged girls from Canterlot High, known as the Rainbooms. They were known to have Equestrian Magic and used them to save the day whenever something weird is going on at their school or around the town. But today, the girls decided to shop around the mall to do some ‘Retail Therapy’, as Rarity likes to call it, after their tough day at school to do a big test after days of preparing for it. It was thanks to Twilight of not only help them study, but also able to pass with a high grade.
Rarity took a sip of her soda through a straw and let out a satisfied sigh. “Ah… there’s nothing better than to do some retail therapy after studying for days!”
“I hear ya Rares!” said Applejack before she took a quick sip of her own drink. “And a little splurging at the food court doesn’t hurt either.”
“Except maybe our hips,” Rarity commented, causing others to chuckle at her joke.
Sunset turned towards her spectacles wearing friend with a warm smile. “On behalf of everyone here, we wanted to thank you again for helping us studying for that big test Twilight. I don’t think we could’ve pull off easily without your help.”
“Oh it’s not that big of a deal,” Twilight responded modestly with a blush on her cheeks.
“Are you kidding? Of course it’s a big deal!” Pinkie chirped, nearly leaping out of her seat. “You used the things we love to do normally as a way to help us studying! Your method even helped Rainbow Dash!”
“HEY!” Rainbow cried indignantly. “I have you know, I got As in the past before Twilight came along!”
Applejack smirked. “Yea sure did… one time when you made that tree painting back at second grade!”
“It was supposed to be a person!” Rainbow argued, not helping her case as the others laughed at her expense before she laughed as well with no hard feelings.
While they were laughing, two more teenaged girls were walking by their table, only to stop and waved at them.
“Hello girls!” greeted Bon Bon.
“Oh hey Lyra and Bon Bon!” Pinkie greeted back on behalf of the group. “Doing some retail therapy after that big test?”
“You know it Pinks!” Lyra responded before walking away with their best friend. “Catch ya later!”
They only took a few steps away from the gang, only for them to suddenly stop and then turned to face them again. “Oh, and Twilight?”
“Yes Lyra?”
“Be sure to tell Spike we said hi and that we requested him to open up packages of those cute swimsuits for pets next!”
“Yeah, and maybe we would like to see him wearing them too! I bet he’ll look sooo cute!” Bon Bon gushed.
Twilight nodded. “Oh okay, sure thin–” She stopped for a moment after she registered what they had said. “Wait… what?”
Before she could ask them what they mean, the two girls were already walked out of their hearing range, leaving the gang very confused.
“Well… that was weird,” said Sunset after a minute of silence.
“I’ll say,” said Rarity. “Besides, if the dear wanted a swimsuit, I would love to design one for that little pup!”
Most of the girls rolled their eyes from Rarity’s remark, thinking about fashion while completely missed the point of the unusual event.
Twilight shook her head. “Nevermind that. What I wanted to know is what was up with that strange request and what those two mean about Spike?”
Before any of the girls could answer, a loud voice interrupted them.
“Excuse me!”
They turned just in time to see a nerdy teenage boy with glasses, running up towards their table and then stopped to catch his breath.
“Oh hey Micro Chips!” Twilight greeted. “What’s up?”
Once he recovered from his mini marathon, Micro Chips looked at Twilight while he adjusted his glasses.
“Well Twilight, there’s something that has been bothering me for weeks and I just had to know if you wouldn’t mind me picking your brain for information as from one scientist to another?”
Twilight as well as the others looked at him strangely from his weird choice of words before Twilight responded slowly, “You… wanted to ask me for something for the sake of your curiosity?”
Micro Chips raised his eyebrow. “Yeah, isn’t that what I said?”
Twilight wanted to point out that what Micro Chips said doesn’t sound that way, but decided to let that go so she could get whatever he was asking for over with.
“Um… okay, what do you need to know?”
Micro’s eyes lit up excitedly as he took out his note pad and begin writing something. “Well, I want to know exactly how your dog was able to use everyday electronical devices and programs without a need for thumbs?”
“…Huh?” Twilight uttered, felt even more confused than before.
“How did your dog was able to use a camera and then your computer for editing his videos?” Micro clarified.
“…Videos?” Twilight responded with a baffled look.
Meanwhile the girls were just as confused as Twilight from Micro's weird questions about Spike. Rainbow placed her hand over her mouth and whispered to the girls.
“Oooooookay. I think Chips here just lost a few chips.”
Pinkie gasped. “Oh no! Not the chips! What kind of chips did he lose? Was it potato chips? Fish chips? Chocolate chips? Either way, we got ourselves a case of the missing chips!”
Micro turned towards the others with an annoyed frown. “Hey! I did not loose any chips! I was just asking Twilight about her dog!”
“Um… what about her dog? If you don’t mind me asking.” Fluttershy asked.
Before Micro Chips could answer, their table was suddenly engulfed in smoke and sparkles, making them all cough out loudly. Once the smoke was cleared, they soon realized who was the cause of it when they spotted a familiar white haired girl with a magician hat and cape.
“The Great and Powerful Trrrrrrrixie demands an answer from Twilight Sparkle!”
“Hey! I was here first!” Micro complained as Trixie shoved him away.
“Trixie doesn’t care!” Trixie snapped as she finally reached Twilight and slammed her palms on the table, starling Twilight. “Now tell Trixie how your dog did it!”
“W-w-what? What did Spike do?” Twilight asked frantically with a shakily voice.
Trixie scoffed. “Oh pa-LEASE! Don’t even try to play dumb after your dog become Internet famous!”
“INTERNET FAMOUS!?” Twilight cried.
“Yes!” Trixie confirmed. “Even though Trixie have a few followers… about twelve to be exact, your dog managed to get over a thousand followers!”
Trixie glared at Twilight for like a minute before she suddenly grabbed Twilight by her shoulders and started shaking her, while bearing a desperate expression.
“Please tell me his secrets!” she begged. “I wanted to be as successful as him!”
Finally reaching her boiling point, Twilight managed to break away from Trixie’s grasp and stood up from her chair. “Okay enough of this!” Twilight shouted while glaring at the newcomers. “What the heck is going on!? What were you all talking about!? And what does this all have to do with my dog!?”
Twilight knew she was making a scene, but she didn’t care as she continued to glare at Micro and Trixie, demanding for answers. No one said a word, as everyone was looking at each other in an awkward silence. It was so tense, you could cut it with a knife.
The silence was eventually broken when Twilight heard someone trying to speak up from behind her.
“Um…”
“WHAT?” Twilight snarled, turning to face whoever was behind her. Her demeanor then soften somewhat when she noticed a certain blue haired teenage boy, who had a look of fright from Twilight’s early exchange.
“Flash? What are you doing here?” Twilight asked.
Seeing that Twilight will not harm him, Flash relaxed somewhat. “I came over here when I heard the commotion. Mind telling me what’s going on?”
Sunset sighed. “That’s what we were trying to figure it out. Everyone keeps asking Twilight a bunch of these weird questions… something about Spike and videos?”
Flash’s eyes widened in realization of what this was all about, which the girls took notice.
Sunset narrowed her eyes with a suspicious frown. “You knew something… didn’t you?”
Flash blinked. “You girls… really didn’t know?”
“Know what?” Twilight demanded. “What did we not know?”
“Um…” Flash rubbed the back of his neck, feeling very uncomfortable right now. “Your dog… posted his unboxing videos from HayTube.”
“…what?” Twilight uttered, not sure if she heard him right.
Flash sighed before looking Twilight directly in the eye. “Your dog… did a vlogging series… on HayTube.”
“…WHAT?” Twilight uttered again, much more loudly.
With a sigh, Flash fished out his phone and opened it up the HayTube app. Once he found what he was looking for, he turned the phone over and showed it to Twilight. Twilight grabbed his phone to take a look at it while the girls gathered around her. What they saw made their jaws drop.
It was a screen shot of a thumbnail video image of her dog, looking happy with his tongue sticking out, an image of a random package next to him and some kind of fancy effects surrounding her dog and that package. There was even a text at the bottom of the thumbnail image which said, ‘Fancy Fetch Unboxing with Spike’, assuming to be a title of Spike’s web show.
The girls continued to stared at the phone’s screen for what it felt like minutes until Sunset spoke up.
“Uh… Twi? Since when did your dog become a Haytuber?”
Twilight didn’t answer as millions of thoughts ran in her mind. Since when did Spike become a Haytuber? How long was he doing this? Why was he doing this? Why did she not notice this until now?
One thing’s for sure, she won’t get any answers just by standing around.
Back at the Sparkle’s residence, no one was at home right now with no humans in sight. All except for this small purple and green puppy, who was currently sitting on his owner’s bed filming himself, while showing off a product he opened up one of the packages. Or at least what’s left of it, as he was eating it, leaving a few crumbs around his snout.
“Mmmmmm!~ Oh ho ho ho yeah! These Snickerdoodle Cinnamon Dog Treats are delicious!” He praised, licking his lips in the process as he look back at the camera. “I definitely recommend these for dogs who loves soft and chewy cinnamon foods. And they’re naturally made! Anyway thank you guys for watching. I hope you all enjoyed this video and I’ll see you in the next one!” He then winked. “‘Til next time Paw Pals!”
Spike turned off the camera with a satisfied grin. He managed to finish another unboxing video, making this the third one. He just need to film one more unboxing video and he is all set for the month. This particular day is the perfect opportunity to do so while Twilight is away so that he can record future episodes before she comes back. By the time he finished with the recording, Twilight wouldn’t know the wiser.
Suddenly, Spike heard a loud door slam from downstairs, making the poor pup jump due to the loud sound.
“SPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE!”
Spike eyes widened in a panic. “Oh crud!”
He knew that tone from Twilight’s voice. Twilight sounded very angry. Worse, it sounded like she was angry at him! The last time Twilight was ever angry at him, was the time he chewed on one of Twilight’s favorite book, tearing out the pages and cover. He was punished with no doggie treats for a month as a result. He had a pretty good idea of what she was angry at him for this time.
Just before he could do anything, he heard Twilight quickly running up the stairs and the next thing he knew, the door was flung open, revealing a very peeved Twilight.
Seeing that he had nowhere to run and that Twilight saw everything on the bed, Spike let out a loud gulp. “Uh…h-h-hey Twilight!” Spike said nervously. “I uh… thought you went to the mall with your friends today.”
“I was,” Twilight said calmly with a glare as she placed her hands on her hips. “But then I decided to come home early when I heard somebody, or should I say, somedog had been uploading videos of himself on the Internet!”
“O-oh really?” Spike said innocently, trying to play dumb. “I-I-I didn’t know that someone decided to upload a video of himself while wearing a dog costume! I swear, when it comes to online, you humans are so strange!”
“I meant an actual dog!” Twilight growled, already starting to lose her patience. “A dog who happens to be small, purple and green puppy who was filming in a bedroom that looks like mine!”
Spike was now sweating profusely out of fear. “O-oh wow! Uh… w-what a coincidence! I-I-I guess there are other dogs out there w-who can do videos too! A-a-and… also have the same owner who… loves purple and… books!”
Twilight narrowed her eyes. “Spike, I knew it was you!” Twilight then took out her phone from her pocket and showed off one of the videos of Spike towards him. “I recognize your face anywhere! And you’re the only dog who can talk!”
Realizing that he was caught, Spike sighed and hung his head in defeat. “Okay Twilight… you got me. I’ve been making vlogging videos.”
Twilight shook her head while placing her phone on her bed and gave her dog a look of disbelief. “Spike… why? Why are you making online videos? How long have you been making videos? How are you making online videos? Last I checked, dogs don’t have opposable thumbs to use a camera… let alone using a computer to edit and uploading a video!” Twilight’s eyes widened when she realized something crucial. “Wait a minute… you’ve been using my laptop too?!”
“Whoa whoa! Calm down Twilight!” Spike spoke up while raising his paws to calm his friend. “I can explain everything!”
“Then explain!” Twilight snapped.
Spike sighed again and began to tell his tale. “Okay… it happened about three months ago–”
“You’ve been making videos for three months?!” Twilight screeched.
“Twilight, please calm down and let me explain without interrupting,” said Spike.
Twilight just glared at him but kept her mouth shut.
“Thank you,” Spike said gratefully before continuing his tale. “Anyway, while you girls were at Equestria Land’s opening day, I was waiting for you by the front door so I can be the first one to see you come home. I grew bored at some point so I took a nap, until I heard the doorbell. I was disappointed that it wasn’t you, until I peaked through my doggie door and spotted a package that was left outside of our front door.”
Twilight thought for a moment before her eyes widened in realization. “OH! Was it that chew toy of a blue female dragon that I ordered for you weeks before?”
“The same one,” Spike confirmed with a nod. “Anyway, I decided to bring it in and opened the package with my claws to get, well… a box with that toy in it. That box looks so cool, especially the way it showed off that toy through that display plastic. I wanted to show you how cool it looks, but I couldn’t wait to chew it any longer. So I decided to borrow one of your cameras and filmed it, showing off every detail of the box. Then I filmed the toy itself before I bite all over it and covered in my slobber. After that, I figured I should load that video into your computer so we can watch it on the big screen later, but then I must of pushed the wrong button and accidentally upload it onto the Internet. I guess that’s what happens when you have a paw instead of fingers.
“So of course, I panicked and I wanted to take it down. At the time, it was so hard for a dog like me to figure out how your computer works, let alone using your mouse with my paws. Once I figured it out, I was ready to take it down. But to my surprise, my video reached over a thousands views within a hour! It got a lot of likes, hundreds of followers and I even got new fans complementing about the video and asking for another unboxing video. I was shocked to say the least and never thought anyone would like that simple video I created. But at the same time, I felt… excited and happy that they loved it. And making that video was fun too! So of course I decided to do another one. Since then, I ordered more pet products, taught myself how to use your video editing software and made more videos for my vlogging series… when you’re not around that is.”
Twilight just stood there with a surprised expression. She couldn’t believe that the reason her dog made a video was so he was going to show off his toy to her… only for his video to be uploaded to the Internet by accident and was encouraged by his “fans” to make more of them. She was slightly disturbed that so many people followed her dog just so they can spend minutes of their lives watching him unboxed a random package. Even with Spike’s explanation of how he became a Haytuber, there were still so many questions she wanted to ask him.
“I… see. But there’s some things I still couldn’t get.”
“Shoot!” Spike allowed.
“How did you managed to use my camera?” Twilight asked.
Spike grinned. “That’s easy! Your camera is small, light, and has huge buttons. Perfect for my paws. I’m surprised how good the quality came out from that little thing!”
“What about getting into my laptop?” Twilight pressed. “You shouldn’t even get in easily with the password I set up.”
Spike deadpanned. “C’mon Twi. It isn’t hard to figure out that ‘Smarty Pants’, the same toy you slept with every night, is your password for your laptop.”
Twilight’s face was now as red as a tomato. She had completely forgotten that Spike was the only one who knew of that embarrassing secret. No one else knew about that and she planned on keeping it that way. She made a mental note to change the password later.
“Ahem… well… what about using my video editing software?” Twilight demanded, desperately changing the subject.
“I’ll admit, it was a little challenging, but I trained myself to push certain buttons from your keyboard and mouse. I even used my tail sometimes. I eventually gotten used to the routine,” Spike answered.
Twilight raised her eyebrow. “And how did you get yourself more of those pets products?” Twilight pressed, dreading any upcoming answer.
Spike looked a bit nervous at that, until he reluctantly answered, “I… may have borrowed your credit card.”
Twilight’s eyes were as wide as dinner plates. “YOU USE MY CREDIT CARD WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!?” Twilight thundered.
“Well technically… they’re your parents’ credit card,” Spike corrected.
Twilight gave Spike a nasty glare, causing the pup to flinch back.
“Okay okay, I did! But I didn’t buy a lot I swear!” Spike cried, raising his paws up desperately in defense. “I only bought one small item from the pet store every week so I can use it for my video. I didn’t buy anything else outside of that!”
Well that explained why that bill from the pet store was higher than usual. Twilight thought.
While Spike was very skillful and reassuring, Twilight still wasn’t comfortable with the idea. So she decided to bring up the elephant in the room.
“Spike… you really shouldn’t continue posting videos of yourself online,” Twilight said sternly.
Spike frowned and his ears drooped downward. “Why not? Was it because I use your credit card? I swear I’ll try not to use it often!”
Twilight sighed. “It’s not because of my card! Well… kinda. It’s because you’re putting yourself in danger!”
Spike titled his head in confusion. “Danger? How can I be in danger?”
Twilight scoffed as she rolled her eyes. “Oh I don’t know! Maybe it’s because you revealed yourself to thousands and thousands of people on the Internet that you’re a talking dog?”
Spike simply shrugged. “So? Everyone at your school knows that I can talk.”
“That’s different!” Twilight argued. “The students of school are willing to keep it a secret to keep you and the portal to Equestria safe! You just pretty much showed yourself to many strangers around the world, which will risk leading them not only to you but to us!” Twilight then spoke at a higher volume, growing more anxious by the second. “I mean, what if we get a bunch of your crazy “fans” at our door, demanding to see you? What about random TV reporters? Or Animal Scientists? Or what about the Government!? They will take you away to their secret base, doing all sorts of unspeakable tests to study you! And I won’t be able to see you agai–”
Twilight’s ongoing rant was suddenly halted when Spike stood on his hind legs and placed his paws over Twilight’s mouth.
“Twilight… calm down!” Spike soothed. “Breathe.”
Twilight did just that and she calmed herself almost intently. Once she was completely calm, Spike started talking again.
“Twi… first of all, you watched way too many Sci-Fi movies,” He said with a little humor before his expression become serious. “And second… that will never happen! I’ll be fine!”
Twilight gave her dog a skeptic look. “What makes you so sure?”
“Because a lot of people believed I’m either CGI… whatever that means, or I was edited to make it look like I was talking.”
Twilight blinked. “R-really?”
Spike grinned as he pushed Twilight’s phone towards her. “Yeah! Take a look at the comments!”
Twilight picked up her phone and went to the comments section beneath Spike’s video. As she was reading through them, she became more and more surprised with every comment.
OMG THIS DOG LOOKS SO CUTE! 
This video was okay, but the talking dog animation looks VERY impressive!
I wish this dog is real… CUZ I WANTED ONE! 😍
I wanna hug him!
You know hes not real right?
I don’t care! I still wanna hug him!
What program did you use to create this adorable puppy?
I dont care if hes real or not, cuz im gonna follow him! 😀
Who’s voicing him, cuz I wanna hire him for one of my videos
WHOA! The dog talking editing here looks a LOT better than that dog movie I watched the other day!
SO CUTE!!!
Twilight slowly moved her phone away from her face while still bearing her shocked expression. “I… don’t… believe it.”
Spike grinned excitedly as he wagged his tail. “You see Twi? None of them thought I was real, but they still considered me cute and that’s good enough for me!” His then had a scowled expression and crossed his arms. “Except for some humans who prefers cats than dogs!”
“…I see,” Twilight said evenly. “But even so… I’m still uncomfortable with the idea of you making videos for strangers on the Internet.”
“Oh C’mon Twilight please!” Spike begged. “I had a lot of fun making them! I’ve been very careful and I promise you that I will continue to be careful. Don’t you trust me?”
Spike then pouted his lips and gave Twilight the biggest and saddest eyes he could make.
Nooooooooo. Not the sad puppy eyes! Twilight groaned, trying to resist Spike’s face.
No matter how she tried, she just couldn’t say “no” to Spike with a face like that. She finally let out a sigh in defeat.
“Alright, alright… I’ll let you continue doing your unboxing videos,” Twilight said reluctantly before giving Spike her stern expression. “But only under three conditions!”
Spike nodded. “Okay, name them.”
Twilight began listing her conditions, raising a finger as she does so. “One, after you put together your video, let me check it out first before you upload it online. Two, ask me permission before using my credit card!”
“Your parents’ credit card,” Spike pointed out.
Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “Do you still want me to let you continue making videos or not?”
Spike immediately shuts up and gestured Twilight to continue.
“And finally, if someone online suspects a thing and there’s a chance someone is trying to investigate you, I will pull the plug on your web show on the spot! No “ifs”, “ands”, or “buts”! Do you understand Spike?”
Spike let out a long sigh but nodded anyway. “Yes Twilight… I understand.”
Twilight nodded. “Good.”
When Spike had a solemn expression, Twilight sighed. “Hey.”
Once Spike got her attention, Twilight gave Spike her soft expression.
“I don’t mind you are having fun, but I’m only asking you these things because I’m worried about you and I wanted to keep you safe. You know that right?”
“Of course I knew that Twilight,” said Spike. “But I will be fine, as long as you trust me.”
Twilight smiled. “Of course I trust you. Even before I meant the girls, you’re my best friend.”
Spike smiled back. “And you’re mine as well Twi.” Spike then turned his attention to one of the packages. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to make another unboxing video of this package I just ordered.”
“Oh? And what’s in this package?” Twilight mused.
“It’s a pet package filled with various different pet products,” Spike answered before his eyes sparkled. “Hopefully it had that classic white ankle sock! Those are the best!”
“…right,” Twilight said simply. “Well you do that while I’ll go downstairs and let the girls know about the situation. Just let me know when you’re done! Okay?”
“Will do Twi!” said Spike as he was setting up the camera. “Oh! And the next time you come back up here, please bring me a peanut butter dog treats?”
Twilight chuckled. “You got it Spike!”
As Twilight climbed down the stairs, she couldn’t help but to think about her dog making videos. Despite that he nearly risked himself to the world, she was really impressed with his skills and dedication just to entertain his fans, despite that he’s just an ordinary dog. Granted, he was no longer an ordinary dog ever since he got hit with Equestrian magic from the Friendship Games. But she still love her dog all the same, with or without Equestrian Magic.
As she was making her way towards the kitchen, she spotted a bunch of letters coming through the mail slot of her front door and landed on the floor.
Oh! Mail’s here, Twilight thought as she made her way towards the letters.
She picked the letters up and went through each mail until she spotted one that was addressed to her… and it was from the credit card company.
“Ah… credit card bill,” Twilight mumbled with a sigh. Well Spike did tell me that he used my card for the products. Oh well, might as well check out the “damages”.
She proceeded to do that by opening up the envelope and take a look at her bill. So far, nothing out of the ordinary. There was a couple of bills from Sweet Shoppe, a bill from her local electronic shop and one from eHay. Finally, she reached the bills from the pet store Spike ordered from. For the most part, the prices of the products Spike bought wasn’t too bad, mostly range between ten to fifteen dollars. However, when she reached one particular product, Twilight’s eyes nearly popped out.
“Wait! What the… a Pet Deluxe Package!? …a dirty sock!?... TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS!?!”
Twilight nearly crumpled up the bill in rage. “SPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE!”
Author's Note
My first fanfic of the new year, based off on the first Equestia Girls video of the new year, involving a certain talking dog... making videos about opening boxes for the Internet.
...I'm surprised no one in the EqG universe ever questioned this, but whatever. At least it inspired me to make a funny one-shot story.
Anyway, critiques are welcome, but please be polite. 
