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.