Vocaloid in Equestria: ReSTART
The steady clacks of my typing grind to a halt suddenly as I flick my eyes back through the paragraph slowly. I mutter the sentences under my breath as I read them, trying to make sure that what I wrote just now makes sense. I pause my reading as I find a stilted section, reading it once more to verify. With a sigh, I delete a couple words and move some others around. With the retooled sentence, I read it over again with a smile. Much better.
I lean back against my computer chair, stretching wide. My momentum has slowed, so I tab away from the writing document and over to some of my other tabs. I scroll idly through my tumblr before realizing that my dashboard hasn’t moved very much at all since the last time I checked.
I sigh, checking my scribblehub to see if there are any new notifications or comments there. There aren’t. I turn to the music playing on my youtube, feeling bored of it. After listening to the same song on loop for an hour or two, it does start to become boring no matter how much of a bop it is. Scrolling along the recommended section, I see a couple promising songs. They’re all things I’ve heard before though, and recently too.
I realize as I’m scrolling that I’m in the mood for something new. Or at least something I haven’t heard in a long time… A couple of the song suggestions that youtube supplies remind me inadvertently of something I haven’t listened to in a while.
Scrolling back up to the top of the screen, I type into the search bar *Vocaloid songs*. They cover a wide variety of genres, so if I can just get a large playlist and hit shuffle I’ll probably find something new. One of the first options on the page is exactly what I’m looking for. A playlist with five thousand vocaloid songs, more than I could ever ask for.
I smile, clicking on the playlist and setting it to shuffle. Truly wanting to leave it all to chance, I immediately let it load a new song. As the page starts to load, I see the name of the video change. Before I can properly read it though, I see my screen start to freak out slightly, glitching as the webpage starts to distort. I jump back slightly, shocked by the sudden image of flowers and grass growing out of my screen.
When I blink, the mirage disappears and my youtube looks totally fine. The video finishes loading and I read the video's title. I could have sworn it said something else when it loaded, but now it says that it’s called A World to Escape. The creepiest part is the picture for the video shows a laptop with flowers and grass flowing out of the screen, just like I thought I saw when my screen freaked out…
I chuckle to myself, slightly creeped out by what I thought I’d seen. I leave the song playing, morbid curiousity about what it sounds like outweighing my hesitation over the strange things I swore I saw. The song sounds fine though. It’s rather upbeat. Opening up a new tab, I open my email, my mind still lingering on the music rather than being ready to commit to doing anything else.
Is my derealization coming back for some reason? Seeing plants growing from my monitor is a more serious hallucination than the usual ants or spiders I usually think I see. Before I can think too much more about it, I see something that chills me to my core.
A new email at the top of my email list, sent a few seconds ago. The title for the email reads A World to Escape. Right next to that is the message’s sender, GoDoFcHaOs written in alternating caps because of course it is. I feel a small sinking in my stomach as I read that, the song in the background still playing.
A memory surfaces from years ago, a memory of writing a story with some of my friends several years ago. I’m stuck just staring at the screen for a few seconds while the song plays in the background. Despite myself, I click the email open and look at it.
The body of the message is largely empty space, with some large hyperlink text floating in the middle of my screen. The text is simple and straight to the point, only five words in all.
YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO
My mouse drifts towards the link, the music still playing in the background. As my mouse grows closer to the link, I can see green peeking out from the bottom of my screen. The grass is starting to come back, the world around me seeming hazy and unfocused.
I try telling myself that this isn’t normal, that I know something fucked up is behind this. I know that clicking this link is the worst idea possible. Clicking this link is signing myself up for any number of tragedies and hardships. Clicking this link is signing myself up for something more complicated and messy than I’ve ever dealt with…
But that’s not all of it is it? I know that won’t be it. I know that for every awful thing this experience sends my way, it will be an opportunity. A chance for a new experience. A literal escape to a fantasy, no matter how horrifying the fantasy ends up being. Adventure has come knocking on my door and I don’t know that I’m strong enough to resist the call. I know that I can’t be the only one. That there might be other people chosen who aren’t prepared for whatever is about to happen.
I take a breath, the world around me stabilizing as I stare at the link. My mouse is hovering over it and the grass and flowers sway gently in a breeze that comes from nowhere. I know it’s a bad idea, but I still can’t talk myself out of it. I know that I’m playing right into someone's hand, right into their expectations, but I can’t help thinking that I have a chance to help. I click the link despite my misgivings. The screen distorts further, expanding as I feel myself falling through a strange multicolored void, being stretched and squished every which way as I lose consciousness.
My eyes flicker open sleepily, my head spinning to a stop. I pick myself up from the hard floor as my brain catches up to my eyes. The scenery surrounding me is completely foreign to me, but also strangely familiar. This looks like Twilight’s castle, everything being strangely crystalline and bright. If that’s the case, then I wasn’t far off on my expectation of where I would end up. I turn my eyes towards my body and find it has similarly changed, just as I expected, but not into who I expected.
Standing up I twist my body this way and that, taking in how different it is to how I normally look. Two long aqua blue twintails swish gently in the air beside me as I do so, my hair now being far longer than I’ve ever been able to grow it out. I’ve turned into Hatsune Miku, outfit and all. As I’m looking myself over I notice that I’m also really fucking small.
I don’t have anyone to compare my height to, but I can just tell that I’m smaller. I’m tiny and skinny and petite, all things that I would not have used to describe myself before. As confusing as it is, it feels slightly euphoric to be in a body that feels more right in some key areas. A little saddening that my chest actually got smaller, but I think that it’s a change I can live with.
As I’m looking my body over, another strange and slightly uncomfortable thought comes to mind. Realistically, I should have understood this no matter what change I went through, but… I’m white now? Japanese technically, but my skin definitely doesn’t have the slight color to it that it once did. I frown at the thought, the discomfort from it cutting through some of the euphoria. I take a deep breath, trying to gather my thoughts.
I try to think if there’s anything else about Miku that I can remember and something does come to mind, her age. If I remember correctly, Miku is teen aged still? Sixteen or so? Considering how small I am now, I have to wonder if I’m actually underage now or if my body is actually the same age as when I was on earth and this is just how miku looks. Is there really any difference between the two? Wow, there are a lot more weird ethical questions I have to consider about suddenly being changed into the form of a virtual idol…
I cast the thoughts aside, testing my voice out. “Hello? Oh thank goodness it’s english.” I chuckle at my own exclamation, listening to my new voice. It does sound like Hatsune Miku, but my particular accent of english is strange to hear in her voice. “Alright, okay, I can do this.” I whisper to myself, looking around the room.
I wasn’t too far off in my expectations of what was going to happen, the question is just how much of what I expect is actually true?
I listen carefully, the castle around me quiet. As I stand still for several moments trying to hear anything, I can’t tell whether to be worried or relieved that I don’t hear anything. As I focus closer though, I realize that I can hear what I’m looking for. Maybe hear isn’t the right word though. It’s not a sound, so much as it is a feeling. A silent rhythm, a beat sitting somewhere between sound and emotion. It’s difficult to find and not constant and nagging like I had expected, but I can definitely tell that there’s something there that I couldn’t normally feel before.
Sighing, I fold my arms in thought. Things are… different. They’re almost, but not quite, how I expect them to be.
I nod to myself, stepping towards the door to the room I’ve woken up in. “Alright then. Step one is to find some answers… let’s hope that Twilight's castle isn’t as big as it looks…” I mutter to myself as I step into the hallway.
I consider trying to be sneaky, but… well, I’m looking for somepony anyways. Plus, trying to sneak around would probably make me more suspicious. I’d like to think that Twilight would be kind enough to ask questions first and hopefully not zap me with magic later, but… well, I definitely don’t want to scare her.
I fold my arms behind my head, letting my eyes wander and admiring the architecture of the castle. Being here in person is so different from seeing it in the show. It’s so… grand. The crystal that lines the wall is beautiful and just the right amount of transparent and opaque. The floors and walls glitter in the light of the midday sun that streams through a nearby window.
I pause to look out the window, taking in the grand and expansive landscape before me. It’s more beautiful than I could ever imagine, Celestia’s sun shining brightly in the sky with only a few clouds dotting the sky. Without all of the artificial lights from the city, I can’t wait to see Luna’s night. I bet it’s beautiful.
From my position here in the window I can see that I’m actually quite a few floors up right now. If I’m not wrong, I think that her library and the friendship map should be towards the ground floor? I turn away from the window, glancing out at the view once more before continuing down the hall. I look for a set of stairs that will take me down to the ground floor.
Author's Note
A World to Escape - by Aku P
Vocaloid in Equestria: ReSTART
Twilight's castle is far bigger on the inside than I was willing to give it credit for. I’m thankful that the halls and rooms are all so big considering how big I am compared to a normal pony. All of the doors and features of the castle are normal size to me, the windows are all a little low to the ground though.
I eventually find a spiral staircase that will take me to the ground floor and I’m able to piece together a mostly coherent mental map of the floor that I woke up on. The hallways aren't symmetrical and don't make the most sense at a glance, but thankfully I have fairly good spatial awareness. The architecture of the building makes sense in most of the conventional ways, but it seems strangely organic in it’s layout. That’s what you get when your castle magically sprouts out of the ground I guess.
I carefully make my way down the stairs to the ground floor. Despite being made for ponies, they’re not all that different to a normal set of stairs. If there is a difference then each step is probably a more shallow drop than the stairs I’m used to, but if it is I can’t tell. With my new smaller body, it’s hard to gauge the difference between how things should normally feel.
As I get to the ground floor, I realize that the hallways down here make a lot more sense than the ones further up the castle. I walk down the hall and make my way to the only intersection on this floor. One of the hallways to my right leads directly towards the door to the castle and the hallway I’m in continues forward until it ends. Turning to my left though is a large set of double doors where another hallway could sit.
I reach a hand out to push the door open, but it swings inwards before I can touch it. Stumbling forwards, I trip over the pony that just opened the door, falling on my ass somewhere just past them. “Ow… sorry!” I say, focusing my eyes on them. On her, Starlight Glimmer.
Starlight rubs her horn, turning to look at me. Her eyes go wide after a second of looking at me, her mouth very slowly opening as if to say something. She flicks her eyes to the side of the room where another door sits. Looking at the door, nothing stands out about it. Looking around the rest of the room I realize that I’m in the room of the castle that holds the table of friendship, as well as several sprawling bookcases filled with books.
“How- What-” I turn back to look at Starlight who is looking at the door I just stumbled through. She levels a very serious stare at me and I raise my hands in surrender. “How did you get here?” Thankfully, she doesn’t look too mad. Her expression has settled somewhere between incredulity and cautious excitement. My eyes flick to the book that she’s levitating in her magic just above the two of us and I have to wonder if she knows how threatening it feels.
“Well, ah, you see…” I say, chuckling nervously, “I’m not exactly sure? I’m pretty sure magic was involved, but… well, magic doesn’t usually exist on my world, so I’m not entirely certain.”
Starlight nods, once again glancing to that door to the side. “Well… I’ve never seen a human in Equestria before, so I think it’s a safe assumption that it was magic of some sort. I don’t suppose you’re from Canterlot High?”
My eyes light up as I realize what she’s getting at. I look over at the door she’s been looking at, piecing some things together. That must be where Twilight keeps the portal to Canterlot High. Starlight has seen humans before when she went over, so she must already be piecing together some pieces.
I get up from the ground, straightening out my outfit as I think of how best to phrase this. “I’m not. I’m also fairly certain that it’s not my world on the other side of that portal.”
Starlight looks back at me, narrowing her eyes at me. “But you know about the portal.” I watch as the book that she’s floating tenses and seems to point itself spine first at me subtly.
I hold my hands up, wincing slightly. “Woah, easy there. Please don’t hit me with a book. I can explain, it’s just a lot. I know a lot of things actually and it’s going to seem really suspicious, but I promise you that there’s a good reason. Well, okay, there’s a reason, I don’t know if you’ll really think that it’s a good one.” The book doesn’t move much, but Starlight does seem receptive to hearing what I have to say. I guess I might as well just skip to the point in any case. “You’re a cartoon character.”
Starlight seems to genuinely consider this for a few minutes before her eyebrow raises and she just continues looking at me. “A cartoon character?”
I nod, gesturing around us. “I mean, obviously not here, this is all very real. But in my world, you’re a cartoon character. I know about the portal because I’ve seen it and where it leads. That’s also why I’m fairly certain that it’s not my world.”
Starlight sighs, the book she’s carrying settling into a lazy orbit above her head while she looks down at the ground in deep thought. After a few seconds, she looks back up at me. The best I can offer her is another nervous smile, but it seems to do the trick. “Okay. You know what, I’ve heard weirder. Besides, you don’t seem especially dangerous. If you’re telling the truth about the cartoon character thing, though… how much do you know?”
I sigh, relieved that she’s willing to hear me out. I think carefully about how to respond, looking her up and down as I do so. “Well… I’m not sure. I think the best answer is a lot, but there are also things that I’m not sure how accurate they’re gonna be. The truth is… I wrote about a situation a lot like this at one point in time, but things are already different from how it went then.”
“You… wrote about this?” Starlight asks. I look down at her and I can see that she’s listening attentively. I flush a little at the attention, feeling suddenly very embarrassed by the fact that I’m talking about my writing to a pony.
“Um, yeah. I write. Sometimes. It’s okay-ish. I’ve been getting better.” I shake my head, trying to collect my thoughts about this. “Years ago, before your show ended, I helped write a story with a premise very similar to what’s just happened to me. I got a strange offer from someone proclaiming themself to be the God of Chaos and after accepting it, I woke up here in a strange new body.”
Starlight's eyes narrow once more, but at this point it isn’t at me. She gets up from where she’s sat listening to me, looking ready to hunt someone down. “God of Chaos? I know a god of chaos that we might need to have a talk with…”
I smile at her anger for my sake, but I shake my head. “That’s the thing though. The Discord I know from the show would never do this. For that matter, I assume he’s still reformed and gets along fairly well with Fluttershy?” Starlight nods, sitting back down. “Some things are like I expect them to be, but there are so many things that aren’t… You, for example.”
She tilts her head, gesturing at herself with a hoof. “Me?”
“You,” I nod. “You weren’t in the story that I helped write. Everything happened before Twilight even met you. Actually… where is Twilight?” I ask suddenly, just realizing that Twilight isn’t around here. Maybe she’s busy with her school? But then… wouldn’t Starlight be busy with her counseling?
“She and her friends are still in Canterlot. They wanted to help a bit with making sure everything is fine up there before coming back.”
Ignoring the differences between the story I’d written and my current situation for a second, I have another serious concern to worry about. When am I? “Make sure everything is fine?” I ask carefully.
Starlight nods, “yeah, Equestria was briefly taken over by some guy called the Storm King. It was kind of a whole thing.” She says this last part jokingly before pausing when she sees the look on my face. “Wait, do you already know about all of that?”
Wincing, I nod. “So that’s when I am… I think that I might know things that I shouldn’t know about the future. Oh goddesses, but by being here I’m going to alter how those things go, aren’t I?”
“Wait, you know what’s going to happen in the future?” Starlight asks, looking a little worried as she asks the question.
“Well, I may have some ideas, but…Butterfly effect and all that… Besides, I think that there are probably already things that will be different from how I expect. That’s how it was in the story too.”
Nodding, Starlight pulls a blank scroll out from somewhere behind her. “Is there anything else to be on the lookout for from this story? Any… unsavoury characters or anything?”
Folding my arms, I think carefully. “Well… there will probably be more humans like me. I don’t know how they’ll do, especially considering they’ll have their bodies changed as well.”
“More people…? Oh yeah, you mentioned earlier that this body is new?” Starlight looks me up and down, taking in what I look like. “What’s different about it?”
“Everything? I look very different from how I used to is the best way to put it. I actually know exactly who and what I look like now too. I’m now the virtual singer Hatsune Miku!” I pose dramatically, chuckling after a second at how cute that sounded. “Ah, but you can just call me Miku I guess.”
“Miku is a… virtual singer?” Starlight writes the term down, looking up at me expectantly.
I drum my fingers against my arm as I think about how best to explain this. “It’s kind of a lot to go into, but… I expect that all of the other humans that might show up will also be turned into a Vocaloid of some sort. Vocaloid also aren’t real in our world, they’re fictional characters. Kind of.”
“From a cartoon?” Starlight guesses.
I shake my head. “They’re… musicians. Vocaloid are basically synthetic voices that people have recorded. Their voices are then able to be used to make all sorts of music.”
“Synthetic voices…?” Starlight scribbles some notes, trying to wrap her head around the concept. “Okay, I might pick your brain about that later because that sounds fascinating as a concept, but… you think that there will be other humans like you that show up and they’ll be turned into a Vocaloid like you yourself have been?” I nod at her summarization, happy that it seems like she’s been keeping up with my explanation despite how hard it is to explain. She smiles, looking back at her scroll “Okay, so, how many of these Vocaloids are there?”
I frown, thinking about it. “A… lot. A lot of Vocaloids. At least thirty if I had to guess? That’s a very low estimate, there are definitely more than that. I don’t know if there will be that many humans though… It’s hard to say.”
“Hmmm… well I guess we’ll have to worry about that as it comes up then. Anyways, like I was saying. Anything we should look out for from this story of yours?”
I sigh, folding my arms behind my head. “It pains me to say it because they’ll likely be scared and confused, but… maybe keep an eye out for the other humans that show up. I can’t predict how they’ll act. I think that’s the point of whoever brought us here bringing them here though.”
Starlight frowns at her paper as she writes my suggestion down and I glance away, rubbing my arm uncomfortably. “Anything else?” she asks.
“Um… not really. I would suggest Discord, but… I’m not sure he’s the one behind all this right now. And if he is, well… I’m sure if I asked fluttershy to get him to send us back, he would.”
“I’ll write him down just in case.” Starlight continues writing some more things down on her parchment, pacing around the room as she does so. “Anything else you think is worth mentioning?”
My mind goes back to the rhythm I can feel in my very being, the music another me had been so incredibly terrified of. I don’t know enough right now, so I should keep a few of my cards close to my chest. I shake my head, “not currently. I’ll update you if I think of anything worth mentioning though.”
“Alright… well, I think I need to do some research on some things and get my thoughts in order.” she looks over her scroll, muttering to herself.
Smiling wide, I realize that I need to learn some things too. “I’m willing to help if you need! I’m invested in this issue too and I would love to learn a bit more about this world. Especially since I might have to be here for a bit while we figure this out.”
Starlight smiles at that, nodding approvingly. “Oh, where are my manners! I never introduced myself. I’m Starlight Glimmer and I guess allow me to officially welcome you to both Ponyville and Equestria.” She holds her hoof up for me and I can’t tell if she expects me to bump it or shake it.
I giggle to myself as I bump her hoof with my fist. “Thanks Starlight. It’s nice to finally meet you.” I look around myself at the walls of the room at the various bookshelves lining them. Stretching wide, I can’t help but be excited from all of the books that surround me. I love stories and there’s a whole world of new pony stories now at my fingertips. “What can I help you with first then?”
Author's Note
Hello Planet - by sasakure.UK
btw, April Fools! I'm not actually back to uploading.
At least, not consistently. See you next April fools. Maybe sooner if I feel like it.
However, if you want to read my non-pony stuff, I am uploading somewhat more consistently (Chat, what the hell is she on about? No the hell you are not.) over on my Scribblehub!
Thanks for reading anyways, hopefully see you around. 
