//------------------------------//
// Ch. 18: Synchro What? 
// Story: Extraterrestrial #51 
// by TundraStanza 
//------------------------------//

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A/N: It's when you combine an Equestrian-
(Wait! I've suddenly stopped caring.)
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Synchro What?


---{51's POV}

Smatterday


????


The Shared Mind Space of Cier Dylan and 51


"So... you never answered my question."

I turned to look at Ninety-nine and blinked. "I'm sorry. What question was that?"

"What happened to your eye?" he asked, "Also, why are you short one fang?"

I slowly lifted a hoof to the right side of my face.  Gently, I rubbed against the smooth corner of my mouth.  In a mirror conjured inside of the mind, I watched the blue iris swivel around the white of a pony's eye.  The rest of me was still the same body that I was born with.  As far as I could tell, these were the only two differences.  But they stood out like purple fungi did back in the hive's caverns.

I sighed. "We haven't figured that out yet."

Cier Dylan held out his arms and shrugged his shoulders. "If it had happened on the day I woke up as a changeling, I would have chalked it up to an effect of the merge.  But they didn't change until just this morning."

"Did you try altering them back to normal?" wondered Ninety-nine.

"I did," Cier affirmed, "but then they went right back to looking like that after about an hour."

"It's as if my body has accepted these features as a new default," I commented.

"Hmm," my fellow drone hummed, "I wonder if Mab would know anything about this."

"I'd sooner trust Discord," spat my mind partner, "and we all know what he's bound to do with an inch of trust."

Ninety-nine tilted his head. "Perform a mile-long sprint with it?"

"Pour it into a shower made from the badlands' dust?" I guessed.

Cier scratched the back of his neck. "Okay, maybe we don't know what he'd do." He sighed. "It's just as well. Nobody, no pony, and no ling could possibly understand what the heck goes on in his mind except himself."

"You have an... interesting way of thinking yourself, Cier," Ninety-nine stated hesitantly.

To that, Cier chuckled. "Well, I'm sure my thoughts are nothing compared to whoever you got synced with."

...

Is anyling else familiar with unsettling silent moments? Such silence could be filled with pins dropping, balloons popping, or a phonograph's record needle scratching. Though, the presence of such things wouldn't make the moment any less awkward. In this case, the mental projection of a mirror decided to shatter and evaporate. I didn't even hear the shards of glass over the unsettling atmosphere.

"Synced?" echoed Ninety-nine.

"It's short for synchronized," elaborated Cier.

"No, I know that." Ninety-nine shook his head. "What do you mean by 'whoever' I got synced with?"

I think I performed a double-take. "Wait, surely the human mind you bonded with made itself known by now."

He shook his head. "There wasn't any new mind, aside from some of the noisier recruits in Mab's hivemind."

I stared at the mental floor in puzzled thought. How could that be? Everyling that Discord brought into this world was merged with a mind that was once in a human's body. Cier and I had thought that that was at least one constant in his ever evolving convoluted mess of a plan. Sure, he was capable of breaking rules whenever he chose. But, that had seemed like a consistent factor with everyling in her majesty Chrysalis's hive. It even applied to the pony that had merged with Cier's mother.

Cier brought up one other concern. "Hey, Ninety-nine? Where is your physical body right now?"

Ninety-nine blinked. "I don't know for sure. Last I checked, I was resting in something that the other lettered drones called a 'subway' tunnel. I was able to stay sustained from the energy in Mab's hive and some rats."

"Gross." Cier looked away briefly.

"Huh?"

I shook my head. "Don't mind him. It seems that in human culture, it is a taboo to eat rodents of any sort due to potential diseases, sickness, and poison."

"Oh," Ninety-nine answered. Though, I could still taste his confusion.

"Anyway," I prompted, "are you certain that you didn't hear another mind when you first woke up in the humans' world?"

"Well, I'm not entirely sure," the underling said, "I mean, I was almost immediately exposed to Mab's far-reaching hivemind after waking up. It's a little difficult to remember which thoughts were in my head and which were in someling else's altogether."

"I can't blame you there," I said with a humorless chuckle. "That faker's hivemind is harder to navigate than the Arctic North during blizzard season."

"Wait, you guys have the Arctics?" Cier interrupted.

I ignored him. "Maybe now that you've re-attuned to the true hivemind, you'll be able to hear your innermost thoughts more easily. Perhaps then, the human you have inadvertently joined can reveal himself without all of the background chatter interrupting his train of thought."

"I guess it's worth a shot," Ninety-nine said with a nod.

"Definitely, comrade," I confirm with a gentle smile. "I'm going to verify the situation back in our location, then we'll be back to assist you." 

Cier waved. "See you, Agent Double Nine!"

Ninety-nine returned the wave, albeit a bit more slowly. "To you as well, Cier of Dylan."

---{Cier's POV}

Smatterday


8:00 AM


The Inn Bedroom


I felt something wet and soft rubbing against my face.  When I opened my eyes, I saw a white cloth being held up by an off-white hoof.

"What happened while I was out?" I asked.

Spirit Redeemer's hoof pulled away suddenly. "Well, Fifty-one started tearing up. So, I'm cleaning your face. It...It was your mother's idea." She looked away.  Was that embarrassment I tasted?

"I didn't stay stop." I smiled cheekily.

"Y-You're clean enough," she stammered.  She quickly hopped off the bed.  She then proceeded to briskly trot to the restroom.

The room door opened as Dad stepped in. "Well, I haven't seen eye or foot of any potential P.A.P.A. agents, at least not around our area. The news still has smidgets of them here and there, but they're not exactly in high concentrations anywhere that we need to worry about."

"I can vouch for that!" called Peter from the restroom.

"So, was your mission a success?" Dad inquired.

"It's more like a work in progress," I admitted while flopping my chin onto the bedspread. "Fifty-one used up a lot of energy just to get to the core of one recruit's mind."

"Would another one of these help?" He procured another small sweet roll, partially unwrapped.

I smiled politely. "That's a good start." I started om nom nomming quietly.

"And hey! One out of several hundred isn't so bad," he proclaimed.

After swallowing, my head shook by itself.

"How do you do it?" asked the other voice in my throat.

"Do what?" echoed Dad.

"Look at such a slow development and remain so optimistic?" Fifty-one elaborated.

Dad shrugged. "It comes with experience. I've had plenty of days at work where I didn't get half the stuff done that I wanted to. But I always accomplished something."

"You are a strange man, Terry," Fifty-one concluded. "I can't help but like you."

Dad chuckled. "I could say the same about you."

Something tapped the window twice.  Fifty-one turned our shared body to look over.  I think if his sense of familiarity wasn't holding our seat steady, I would have fallen off the bed at the sight of another changeling hovering outside.

"Friend of yours?" asked Dad.

"Ninety-nine?"

Fifty-one made our wings buzz and he hovered over to the window.  Dad walked over and slid it open.

"What are you doing here?" Fifty-one blinked. "How did you get here?"

"I'm... not positive," admitted the other changeling. "But I think our hivemind is even stronger here than we gave it credit for.  I followed the link we had to each other straight to you."

I re-took possession and crossed the front hooves. "Heh. Friendship is Magic. Roll credits."

Ninety-nine and Dad tilted their heads. "Huh?"

I face-hoofed. "And I just remembered nobody here watches the E.W.W. videos." I shook my head. "Never mind." I gave a smile, hoping to save face. "Well, it's nice to finally meet you in person... in a sense."

Ninety-nine flew inside and stared really close. "Am I the only one unnerved from hearing the human's voice from Fifty-one's mouth?"

Fifty-one snorted. "Try living with it."

Dad closed the window. "Wait, doesn't he already?"

Ninety-nine shook his head. "I've tried to listen for them or search internally, but I can't hear another voice."

"Wait, what?" I dropped down to the floor on all fours.

The other changeling hovered down as well. "I mean... I saw another presence, but they have yet to speak.  So, I have no idea what they sound like."

I sighed. "Weird is starting to become the new norm these days."

Mom stepped out of the bathroom while rubbing a towel over her head. "Preaching to the choir there." That's about when she spotted our new guest. "Oh... hello there."

Ninety-nine scratched the back of his head. "Um... hi?"

"Maybe we should do a quick meet-and-greet." I tapped my chest. "My name is Cier Dylan."

"I'm Terry, Cier's father." Dad did a short wave with his hand.

"My name is Arlene, the mother." Mom waved with her left hoof and set it down.  The right hoof pulled the towel away as her other voice said, "And I'm Spirit Redeemer."

The guest nodded. "I am the Ninety-ninth Drone of Her Majesty Chrysalis." He looked back and forth between Spirit Redeemer and me. "Is it wrong for me to think that the human mind I saw in Cier's dream space had a stronger resemblance to Mr. Terry?"

"No offense taken." Mom chuckled. "I don't normally look like this.  This is Spirit's body."

"I probably should've guessed that." He looked down briefly before turning back to me. "Have you made contact with any of the others?"

Fifty-one clicked in. "Our Queen is at least in the same state-area, last I checked."

Ninety-nine shook his head. "It seems I can only hear her voice when I'm tapping into your hive mind connection.  Just how many things were stunted or rearranged upon our arrival in this world?"

Fifty-one made our wings buzz slightly. "Seven hundred thirty and counting, based on what he added to the humans' calendar days alone."

"I can't even begin to describe what's wrong with that." Ninety-nine sat down.

I sighed and attempted to shrug by reaching my hooves apart. "It's freaking Discord.  What can we really expect?"

"That is a fair point." Ninety-nine nodded. "So, what do we do now?"

Spirit hung her towel away. "We were trying to get in contact with as many other ponies and changelings as possible, then work from there."

"Find some kind of cure, separate us from our unintentional human hosts, and get us all home." Fifty-one counted the first two steps on his hooves, then moved his right hoof for the third step.

"There is merit to strength in numbers," agreed Ninety-nine, "but there is also a hindrance. Too many of us grouped together in one spot will make mobilization difficult."

"By then, we're hoping to have enough magic users to protect ourselves from potential threats." Fifty-one nodded. "It's not fool-proof, but it's better than waiting around, trying to hide in isolation, and ultimately allowing agents to pick us off one by one."

Ninety-nine blinked. "Wow. With initiative like that, I'm surprised you never moved up the hive's rankings."

Fifty-one looked at him directly. "It's because I never used my initiative to kiss hoof to save face."

Ninety-nine punched his hooves together. "I knew those top ten drones weren't all they were made out to be."

"So, are you guys both going to fall asleep and try to find other changelings with your minds?" asked Dad.

Fifty-one looked up at him. "That might work for maybe one more drone, but we should probably try another approach to avoid another Mab incident."

Ninety-nine nodded. "If we're serious about this wide-contact approach, we should explore as much of this city as possible with occasional 'pings' into the hivemind.  We're more likely to run into them on the move."

"Let's all stick together for today," I suggested. "A group of four should suffice for sufficient mobility and if necessary, covering tails."

"I guess that's okay." Mom ran a hoof through her mane.

"If that's what you gotta do." Dad walked around, grabbing a few small items around the room.

"Alright." Fifty-one turned us toward the door. "Here's to our first attempt."

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