Synch

by sunnypack

65 - Locus of Lost Litany

After lunch, we had retired to our rooms, a guard leading me to a fairly swanky guest room. I grateful and tired from the journey and the constant barrage of communication that Pinkie managed to keep up all the way until we had split to different rooms.

On the bed, I had gazed at my Synch.

Even though they knew it was my Synch device, I was fairly surprised that Luna and Celestia let me keep it. Of course, I never really wanted to draw parallels between the Equestrian government and our own the circumstances being so different, but the two rulers were very understanding. I don’t know what trials had been undertaken to obtain my Synch, or what my own Synch had been through to get here, I almost didn’t care at all, I was so happy.

I described before that it was a piece of home and I couldn’t have been more accurate. It truly did feel as if I had a piece of Earth back with me. The familiarity of the home screen, the central board, and the numerous knots I had installed, all there. The only differences I weren’t comfortable with were the folder named ‘Angel’ and the large space that it occupied. I had jumped to it being Angel’s but that may only have been a coincidence in naming. I could root-access delete the folder but I didn’t want to attempt that unless I had exhausted all possibilities in opening the folder and accessing the files themselves.

Thought-passwords were a complicated concept, yet they tended to be simple, in a sense. It could be an emotional state (although many didn’t like to use this option but it was great for professionals), it could be a memory (it tended to be a strong one but fairly unreliable if you weren’t the best at picturing the memory), more often than not it was just a word, or a made-up word (the most common form and also allowed it to be accessed by others).

For some reason I had hinged upon the folder being linked to Angel in some way. Something about it dragged me to the conclusion that I couldn’t explain in logical terms. Pass-thought after pass-thought was shot at the folder, her birthday, her favourite food, her address, etc. I tried every combination of likely pass-thoughts until I was locked out from trying for five minutes.

It was frustrating, it was infuriating but I knew I was missing something. Perhaps Angel was the sentimental type and had a thought-password to do with something we’d been through together. There had been so many times we’ve been together, that I couldn’t pin down a unique circumstance that I would call special. This theory had almost been shot down. I mean she didn’t really think of me as anyone special, did she? Oh well, I was fast running out of ideas, even with the five minutes to come up with a new angle.

I waited impatiently for the timer to expire. Thoughts drifting.

I guess you could count our first meeting to be special. I met Angel during internship interviews but I couldn’t for the life of me remember what the café was called. I vividly remember the cheer I made when I found out I was going to be a part of Synch Engineering Division.

I thought, heck why not? Give it a shot.

Here’s to being a part of Synch! Here’s to being the future! I recalled, as the timer expired.

Unexpectedly, with a sound of a lock snapping, the folder unlocked.

Then it really was from Angel?

I don’t know why, seeing as this was my Synch, but I felt guilty going through the files within the folder marked ‘Angel’. It felt like I was perusing through the contents of another’s diary and I would normally loathe to do that. Curiosity pulled me to explore further. I saw many folders labelled in Angel’s programming labels ‘Rubbish’, ‘Useless’, ‘Waste of Space’, ‘Never Touch Again’, were among the many names that Angel would use to describe her myriad of unfinished programs. My suspicions has crystallised to certainty when I saw the Black Box project. Angel had indeed been on my Synch.

I lifted the circlet over my head and placed it on my lap.

An enigma wrapped in a puzzle, drowned in leg- you know what? Never mind.

Seeing no other convenient place to store it, I decided to wear my Synch in standby mode. It gave an electric tingle that felt pleasant but it soon faded away.

Getting up I noticed Twilight just standing at the doorway.

I leaped back startled.

“Wow, woah! How? You know what? Don’t say anything. I’m trying to think of a reason why that wouldn’t come off as stalker-level creepy right now!” I shouted in surprise.

Twilight gave me her classic, ‘I’m pretty annoyed at you look but I’ll forgive you because we’ve been buddies this long… or I’m just used to you’, or something similar along those lines.

I grinned at her.

“Well yeah, it’s like we’ve known each other forever”, I say, as she looks at me in bewilderment.

“You know, that’s exactly what I thought”, I continued, as Twilight gave me an annoyed glance.

“I’m not annoying, you’re just thinking too deeply.”

Twilight’s ears pull back as she regards me cautiously.

“Don’t be ridiculous, if I could read minds I’d do it all the time. Stop devising an experiment to see if I can!” I replied irritably.

Her eyes widen.

“How are you doing that?” she asked, while shutting the door behind her, a tad ominously I might add.

“Not in the ways you’re thinking”, I replied nervously, backing away.

“But you don’t have magic, how?!” she presses me.

“It’s all in the mind… my mind to be exact!” I give in, tapping the circlet.

Twilight looks confused before noticing my Synch.

“You can read minds with that?”

“Kind of, not really, in a way but really not how you think”, I say evasively.

Twilight looks at me impatiently.

“You really wouldn’t understand…” I began, but Twilight shoots me a glare that could cut through glass.

Right. She’s a scientist. Should have known.

“I’m not leaving here unless you get all the details, right?” I ask meekly.

Twilight shakes her head, turning an obsessive grin on me.

It’s creepy.

“Gotta go, bye!” I yell, dashing out towards the balcony and thought gesturing to my Synch on the way.

Twilight screams in horror as I leap out into the darkness.

Oh the look on her face.

Author's Note:

Did I mention that the Synch had a pretty body language reader? Some expressions and vital signs are universal like heart rate, sweat and various eye twitches and micro expressions, the knot may have been designed for humans but it still had a ballpark guess for our equine friends.

Next Chapter: Pretty cool things happen.

As always, my evil and conniving I mean best people ever kind of readers, thanks for reading!

Comments

[PiMan]

Well since your 'next chapter' descriptions have always been wrong, I can only assume the next chapter will be uncool and/or boring...