"So you don't know much about your mail system either. Ok... That's probably a good thing, because otherwise this analogy might not work. The first step to understanding all this stuff is knowing what the stuff does. All these different things we're talking about today transmit information. That's sort of the way the mail works. You take a letter (a packet of information), and I guess stick it in a mailbox or give it to the mailpony or whatever (this is like whatever's being used as a transmitter). Then the letter probably circulates around in the mail system a few days? Anyway, it gets shuttled from one place to another, the way information travels via our tech. And when the mailpony gets the letter to whoever it's for, that's like the receiver end of whatever system's being talked about."

He listened to the explanation of Spike with some surprise. "Wow, that's... ok. Did not know dragons did that."