//------------------------------// // 69 - What My Inner Human Is Telling Me // Story: Synch // by sunnypack //------------------------------// I woke up with a start, not knowing I had drifted off. The night had come and through the window I could see the gentle glow of Canterlot beneath the balcony and the pleasing light shed from the vast sky dotted with stars and celestial objects. I groaned and dejectedly slid the Synch off to dangle on my fingertips. Opening the large double windows and looking out at the landscape, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe. I don’t know if many other people do this but ever since I met Emilia I’d had an appreciation for beauty in almost anything. She gestured to both urban and rural environments and told me of the things that impressed her. The ground was teeming with life, the concrete and mortar was the result of billions of chemical bonds latticed in a complicated matrix and arranged by the aspiring mind of an architect. The trees were a vivid green that reflected peace and serenity but housed the complexity born of millions of years of evolution. The city was a bustle of life. The sky was a crowd of scintillating lights. The heavens and the earth were bounded but boundless. I found beauty in everything and it was that which drove me on, to seek more to further myself to be something more. So many things had weakened my resolve. When I tried getting home, so many times I had been told it was impossible. I needed to steel myself and face the truth. I needed to see all that Angel had to say. I was startled by a visit from Luna. She swooped down so quickly and silently that I had barely time to step back before she had already hopped down from the ledge she alighted on and approached me. “Hello there”, she smiled at me, turning around to regard the landscape as I had. “Enjoying the night?” I started scratching her behind the ears. “Mmph, oooh, unnecessary, but please keep going”, she moaned, pushing her head up closer to my hand. She was just like my dog! “How did you know I was here?” I asked her, moving onto stroking her mane. “Mmm, it wasn’t hard. I guard the night and I spotted you with an expression akin to my own when I usher in the night”, she answered, her tail starting to flick in a happy wag. I swear, exactly like my dog. “Yes, well, I was busy appreciating the beauty of the universe”, I replied, in a somewhat quietened tone. I was a little embarrassed, actually. Luna cocked her head in askance. “It’s… hard to explain”, I say, struggling to form a coherent sentence describing my experience. “It is kind of like gazing at something simple and wondering at the infinite complexities that flows beneath. It is both breathtaking and humbling at the same time.” Luna regarded me with a sombre expression. “Yes, I too have often done this. It is indeed a humbling experience, the world so vast but the mind so small”, she remarked, flicking a hoof out to encompass the expanse within her gesture. We both lapsed into a comfortable silence, both appreciating the wonders of the night sky and life. Luna suddenly shifted her wings and gave me an apologetic glance. She brushed a wing up against me in a comforting gesture. “I’m so sorry but I have other matter to attend to”, she explains, leaping onto the balcony ledge. I smile and nod in understanding. “No worries, Luna. I appreciate the company, however brief”, I reply easily. I watch as she launches herself into the night sky, quickly lost in the darkness. I finger my Synch, feeling the weight of years worth of information and perhaps, a little afraid at what that information may reveal. ---- “I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned this before”, Angel begins, taking a shuddering breath as she looks at the camera. “My boss he-“ she pauses then starts again “-he showed me the patients afflicted by Synchrony…” “It-“ she sighs “-It’s not pretty.” Angel looks tired. It looks like she hadn’t made a video blog post in a while. I could see why, I knew exactly what she was talking about. Synchrony, that infernal knot that drove us near madness in our bid to eradicate it. Synchrony, the arbiter of over half a million lives. I heard the strain in Angel’s voice and I longed to reach out to her and comfort her. The quality was impeccable. Either she got a new camera or she was using her Synch to compensate. I was saddened to find there were tears in Angel’s eyes. “I nee- I want to help them”, she said, sadly. There was silence for a while then she turned off the recording. Leaving me to my thoughts. ----- I decided to skip ahead a few weeks. I already knew what had happened in that time. ----- “He’s gone! He disappeared in a flash and no one knows where he is!” she starts, I’ve never seen Angel this angry before. I feel a pang of concern but I can't reach her. “I will find him though, they’re covering everything up. He’s not dead! I know he’s alive. I just know…” The recording cuts off. ----- “I began research into one of his last projects. The Black Box project has some interesting properties”, but she looked haggard and weary. “It acts completely different to what was originally designed.” She brought up a familiar device. I recognised it as my own Synch. “I don’t think even he could have predicted its properties”, she gave the camera a disturbing smile, the kind that reveals inner ambition. I shuddered, Angel what’s happened? The recording cuts off, once again.