Back in the Information Age, which we laugh at by the way, people used to be different.The Internet was one cohesive mass of a beast that swallowed new nodes and grew organically to encompass our daily lives. Humans would be connected to this regularly updating web of social conformity and a phenomenon, that back then we did not recognise as a problem, quickly became apparent when the Internet expansively exploded.

Facecook had a system for which people could post anything they wanted on their own space and people (friends) had the option whether or not to ‘like’ or ‘comment’ on the content.

Unfortunately, seeing the powerful motivation that drove people to get ‘likes’, companies encouraged stunts and random acts of spontaneity to advertise their products as well as provide small entertainment. Other social media websites popped up, BlueTube, Brine and Flitter, were all companies taking on the challenge of pandering to the Internet masses.

The ‘likes phenomenon’ got worse. People started performing more and more socially inappropriate or dangerous stunts all excused by the mobile camera they held. People stopped responding to emergencies and started recording people falling to the ground and having a heart attack. Instead of dialing the emergency numbers they hit the 'Upload' button. No longer were there videos of artistic merit or a display of incredible feats of human skill or ingenuity. Likes were infecting the public.

The problem was becoming so dire that the World Habits Organisation (or WHO) released a recommendation that the Internet be consolidated into a central framework. Essentially moderating the Internet, at least to the extent of human safety. After a huge debate across the nations, evidence eventually snowballed to which the leaders of the world nations could no longer deny. In a massive collaboration they all pitched in, creating a central databank that spanned borders and across the globe. The Internet became the extranet.

Of course, ‘extranet’ was not really the right word to describe the centralised Internet, the word stemmed from an internal engineer working on the central databases who referred to the collective rest of humanity as ‘part of the extranet’. The media picked it up and the usage spread across the world.

During the switchover, there was chaos, fear mongering and hysterics. The populace cried that it was the end of all freedom. Garbage, but sensationalism and money came hand-in-hand. It took a few years but eventually most accepted the extranet and it became a part of our daily lives.

The extranet made everything ordered and accessible whilst also making the founding company responsible for most of the construction, Grooble, rich and wealthy at the same time. Grooble became the leader of technology, pushing out new and creative innovations that took the world by storm.

I had been born a little bit before the transition between Internet to extranet it wasn't until I had met Emilia and gotten my Synch that I really began to take an interest in the world around me. Emilia had a dream. She talked to me about it sometimes when she wasn't teaching me how to make friends, or to do things that didn't involve studying or basic self-improvement. We went to movies, discovered recreational sports and had fun.

I changed. All for the better.

Emilia was a bundle of joy, a compact flask of righteousness and the soothing kindness of a mellow breeze. I had to say, we grew close. Though Dwayne never liked it, nor approved of it, he at least kept straight as an arrow and didn't interfere.

I started gaining an appreciation for things I used to consider useless or superfluous. Art through the lens of knowledge was cold and stale, I looked at it through the rose-tinted glasses of my heart and it spoke to me. Picasso, Michael, the Renaissance period and literatures of fiction and worlds of fantasy lilted their songs of emotion and passion. I listened to music, I picked up some basics in something other than the piano and I browsed social media websites that had not interested me before.

I felt happy and content.

Until she died.

It wasn't anyone’s fault. Though I liked to blame it on humanity, or perhaps our hubris or our ignorance. She had just been a victim of circumstance and fate. She came in for a routine operation after discovering a worrying lump. A lipoma they said, benign but was probably wise to remove. They had estimated a 99% success without complication.

I remember receiving the call from Dwayne. I was riding home on my bike, an activity Emilia got me to try recently. He sounded distraught, hesitant and not the confident almost overbearing individual that I knew. I was one of the last people he wanted to call but he did so anyway, feeling as if he owed me at least that.

He had told me it was Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA). They had tried to move her as fast as they could but it had spread like a noxious gas, diffusing and insidious. Before they could get her to hospital and on the right medication in time, she had suffered acute respiratory failure and died in the ambulance transporting her.

I had been devastated.

I didn't eat or sleep well for two weeks. I hardly felt any interest in anything anymore. I threw myself into the same pattern of indifference that Emilia so loathed. It took me a while to climb out of the dark pits of depression I had dug myself into but I told myself eventually that this would not be the person Emilia wanted me to be and this was not the person I wanted myself to be. I wanted to be like Emilia, a firm believer in justice, equality and humanity. I wanted to make a splash on the world. I wanted to say this is me! This is who I am right here!

I threw myself into the world of Synch and never looked back.

Author's Notes:

I'm so sorry for the short chapter but I'm on a roll with the creative juices flowing!

Thank you everyone for your comments and ratings both good and bad! They all inspire me to do better and to write more and more.

I enjoyed this chapter, mainly because I could think of random plays on real-world organisations, bear in mind that this universe is an alternate universe, for both the ponies and the humans. Policies, changes and timelines are similar but also drastically different. Also sorry I couldn't write more for this chapter, my hands are icing up due to the cold weather, despite the warm sun.

As always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

EDITED.