//------------------------------// // Chapter 35: Dreams and Control // Story: Vocaloid in Equestria: beta session // by DerpyStarlet //------------------------------// I saunter into my bedroom after the days ordeals. After dying, I could really use some sleep oddly enough. I found a nice and empty room and promptly deemed it my bedroom, being sure to lock my door. I'm not sure if Twilight put any wards up to keep Jeff in and or out, but I'd rather he break through the door to get to me than just sneak in. That way I have at least a couple more seconds to get my wits about me. In battle, a couple seconds is the difference between life and death. I slump into the bed, glad for a reprieve from the days drama. Within seconds, I'm asleep. I know this because my eyes open to a black expanse, and because the second I appear a navy blue alicorn appears. "How dare she... the nerve... Oh, Hello Luka. I didn't see you there." Luna says with a wry smile. "How dare who?" I ask boredly, sitting in a chair that had since appeared and motioning for Luna to sit on a couch. "Just another human, she banned me from her dreams..." Luna grumbles. I blink in surprise and then growl in aggravation. This is wrong, something is very wrong. We're getting exponentially stronger, stronger than even the princesses. And where could all that energy be coming from? I know for a fact that I am not stronger than anything, or rather, I'm stronger than nothing. "I should have stayed dead." I should have, but I didn't. My void powers saved me, and even that feels wrong. "What?" Luna asks in shock. "Hmm? Oh, I died today." I tell her nonchalantly. "But you are here, so you must have been resuscitated. How did you die?" Luna asks with concern. "A stab wound. We had a killer in the castle and we had to stop him." I sigh. "A killer in the castle?! How did you come back? You cannot be resuscitated from a stab wound!" Luna cries out. "I forced my way back," I shoot her a slightly cocky smile. "Forced your wa- you humans really are something else. I must admit, your calm in your dreams unsettles me. But, you're perhaps the nicest dream to visit. The other vocaloid with blank dreams blocked me. And I see you still have that mirror." Luna nods to it and I scoff. "Yeah, but which vocaloid has blank dreams?" I ask. "A new one has arrived in Canterlot. I believe she has quite the 'loot' with her." Luna huffs. "loot?" I ask. "Many tons of Mithril..." Luna groans. "More sues..." I grumble. "I fear she may be upsetting the equestrian economy single-handed." Luna comments. "We're not supposed to interfere this much, it's what he wants!" I exclaim. "And yet, you seem to be the only one resisting every bit of this. You resist chaos, harmony..." Luna muses. "Because I don't want to lose those connections to earth." I sigh. "Earth? Is that the name of your home?" Luna asks. "Yeah, our home planet at least." I sigh. "Do you miss your home?" She asks. "Not really," she blinks in surprise at my answer. "Why not?" Luna asks confusedly. "It's a stinky mechanized hell hole where most people argue and fight. There's war, pestilence, suffering, torture, terrorism, and hate. So much hate." I tell her simply. "Then why do you fight so adamantly so as to keep your ties there. You worry about getting back, do you think it's worse here?" Luna asks. "No, here it is infinitely better. You have none of the tragedy earth does... that's why we have to leave." I tell her. "Why?" She asks. "I don't know if you noticed, but the humans here are getting to be stronger than most ponies, this new one seems to be potentially stronger than you. With great power comes great responsibility, and we humans have shown in our pasts that we abuse power and responsibility as privilege and authority. We're starting to disrupt the order of things... I don't want to see this world corrupted like ours is." I tell her. "You were never acting in your own interest, you act in ours?" She asks. "Why? Why are you different than the other humans? Magical knowledge, superior selflessness, and stubborn neutrality. You're starting to sound like my sister. You're starting to sound like a pony." Luna says. "I'll never deserve that right, I'm void. Ponies are inherently harmonic." I tell her. Then my thoughts drift to Nyx. "Something tells me you have already found your own exception to that rule." Luna muses. "Nyx. She is a void. I don't know how, by all means she should have succumbed to harmony by now. Even I struggle and my attempts to distance myself are barely enough." I tell her. "Nyx? Have you thought that maybe you needn't distance yourself to remain neutral? Nyx is Twilight's daughter. She is close to the paragon of harmony, as close as family. I'm positive that you can maintain your neutrality." Luna encourages. "I know, and I think I just need to believe it more. It's for those reason I let myself start a relationship." I tell her, she straightens. "Romantic inclinations? We thought you uninterested in such affairs to be honest... was it the purple haired one? Perhaps the blue haired one? Is it maybe not a male?" Luna asks mischievously. "No, it's... it's Applejack." I say a little reluctantly. "Hesitation? Does this mean you are unsure, or embarrassed?" Luna asks. "Well, I'm a little embarrassed. But I'm also a little uncertain. Being Asexual, I have never been in a relationship before. I trust Applejack to be understanding to my reservations, but... I don't want to hurt her." I sigh. "'Tis a natural worry. Just do as you feel fit, and keep her close. Both in heart and proximity, and you should be fine." Luna says. "Thank you, princess." I say. "Also, please keep the new vocaloid a secret for now. We shall update you on the status of that should the need arise." Luna tells me. "Acknowledged." I reply with a nod, Luna smiles. We sit for a while in silence before Luna speaks up. "I must leave, we may talk more at a later time, but for now I must patrol the dream realms." I nod and she smiles before departing. ~ I follow Nyx towards the castle of the two sisters, the spot she chose herself to train. I've still got a bandage wrapped tightly around my midsection, but the wound itself isn't that bad anymore. I refused to let Twilight use her magic, just to be wary of adverse reactions to harmony. But Zecora was on call and she had some excellent herbs. I've still got a giant gash, but it's healing surprisingly quickly. Probably from the inherent magic in the herbs, very passive usually. It definitely makes the wound more bearable. Nyx and I decided to vanish on our way there after I discussed my worries of a tail. I had to explain that I didn't mean an actual tail, but an unwanted follower. Nyx understood, and even the wildlife is ignoring us, which is good considering how dangerous a lot of the wildlife is. We talked a little on the way, nothing important, just casual banter. When we get to the castle Nyx turns to me and silences me. She pretends to have an authoritative air about her, I giggle at her attempts. "OK, so... I have no idea what to do... umm, what am I doing again?" She asks. "Your showing me all you know about void," I tell her. "Right, and... void is?" She asks. "Neutrality, it's not chaos or harmony" I explain. "Wait, but I like harmony. Mom's an element of harmony," Nyx argues. "It's not an opinion, it's a state of being. You are void. I don't know the how and why exactly, but I really kinda it has something to do with the fact Twilight still became a princess despite your presence. Though, things are different... meaning you are definitely an unknown variable... hmm..." I think on all I know about Nyx. Which is a fair amount Thanks to Nyx explaining a lot of it. "Does it have anything to do with that weird mare the princesses are friends with?" Nyx taps her chin thoughtfully. "Weird mare?" I ask curiously. "Yeah, there's this mare the princesses know... nightmare moon even knew her, kinda. I have a very fuzzy memory, but I know it's her." Nyx says, I stop at this. It couldn't be. "Starlet?" I whisper, she hears. "Yeah! That's her name. Now that I think about it, she mentioned a void once, I think... Hey! How do you know her?" Nyx exclaims. "How indeed..." my spine stiffens and the music lowers to a chilling ambience as I turn slowly. There, behind me, is the epitome of void. Starlet Mint. "It's her! What do we do?" Nyx gasps. "Hello Nyx, and... Luka, surprisingly. However you don't act like Luka, you are someone else. And that someone is very interesting. I've seen the other humans, vocaloids, subjects... running around. But I have to say, you are interesting. A magical expert, from a world without magic. Discord refused to tell me your true identities, but he told me a number of things." Starlet monologues, while profiling me. "You're a clever mare, I'm sure you can figure it out. After all, you were able to save humans from chaos, that's certainly a feat." Her eyes narrow. "I didn't do it alone, but you know that. So, who are you? You must have been there, right?" She challenges. "Actually, no. I wrote about it..." I tell her. "Wro- what have you gotten yourself into now, Skylar?" Starlet facehoofs. "I swear, your writing has an uncanny ability to drag you into messes, no matter the universe..." Starlet mutters. "What's she talking about?" Nyx asks. "Shes talking about a story I was working on with Pixel, I mean Rin, and I had to cancel it." I inform "Oh, you write?" Nyx asks excitedly. She certainly is Twilight's daughter. "I used to" I sigh. "But that's not important, I need an answer from you Starlet. Why is Nyx a void?" I demand. "Oh? I thought it was obvious. Such a harmonic being, born from dark and chaotic magic's. Natural polar opposites negating each other." Starlet says matter of fairly. "Oh, wow. It is obvious." I agree. "Well, I've got what I've come for. I'll be watching as Well," I want to call out, but she's gone before I can. "See, weird. She doesn't even use regular magic to disappear." Nyx scoffs. I just laugh at her comment. "What did I say?" She asks, lost. "Nothing, just teach me how to stop this dreaded music." I tell her. "The music? Oh, that music! You just have to be able to control it. I like to change the music sometimes, I can make it sound like Vinyls mixes!" Nyx proclaims. Control my music? I think on stopping the music, on silence, on any way to stop the sound. It doesn't work, so I look to the resident expert for help. "You have to be able to control it first. Like I said, like Vinyl. You know Vinyl, right?" I nod. "Yeah mix the tune up, change it. Make it faster, louder, change the ambience. Just make sure what's coming out is different from what is going in." Nyx explains. Music mixing? DJ'ing? Let's try it, how hard can it be? I think on a specific song, I feel the beat. I feel myself starting to drift, to lose control. I snap out of it and shoot my hand to my sleeve. I turn to Nyx "all I heard was faster, and louder." I say with a smirk. I let the beat out, and I maintain control by doing exactly what Nyx said, tweaking it. As the beat goes on I feel great, I'm not blacking out. I just let my body move to do what I want it to, even without any musical experience. I finish and Nyx stomps her hooves. I sigh and slump against a pillar. "That was awful... but at least it's something." I say. "Yeah, you'll be able to control it in no time!" Nyx smiles and I smile back, thankful for her guidance. ~ I sit, still frozen in place in front of a mirror. When I hear the music start, I can feel slight control slipping back. I move my head around and I start to make out faces in the static. Nobody in particular, just vague faces. It almost looks like they're laughing. That same painful smile is still plastered to my face, I turn back to the mirror and find outside me faced away, like usual. As I try to speak my voice gets caught in my throat, just like every attempt. The faces surrounding me are getting harsher, so harsh I can literally feel the pain from their judgement. Outside mes singing echoes in my own head as I look at all the faces. Tears try to brim, but They're suppressed. Why can't outer me see my distress, instead she continues to sing that song. Why is she...? I stop as I realize something, she's not singing the song. I am. Pain wrecks my body as I try to ignore the judging glares and look towards my only hope desperately. She doesn't look back and help. I listen to the silent taunts shot my way as I sing. One sticks out to me. "Hey get up you worthless circus monster!" ~ I lay in my own dream, just thinking. I think on the days events, yesterday I was helping Applejack help me move in with her. Actually, I was helping with the construction of a room for me at the farm just the day before that. And Just before that I helped Twilight finish off the spell form we'd been forming to exorcise Jeff from Kamui. It was strangely anticlimactic. It did warrant a visit from the department of magical defense on account of illegal magic, but they waived the charges once Twilight explained it. They did make sure Jeff was actually gone though. It's only been a few days since the incident anyway, and next Twilight wants me to help her with the Thaumic Circuit. She's got a lot of basics written down and even perfectly cut gems for enchanting. However, we figured it should wait until after we meet this new Vocaloid Twilight just got a letter about. Nyx has been mainly helping me with control of the music, but we've been working on sneaking around town as well. I have yet to find more benefits, unless I want to test them by dying again. I've noticed that I've stopped losing memories at such a frequent rate. I've also noticed something a bit more frightening. My pony reflection has become more independently active, jerking her head in different directions frantically at times. She even seems to be singing at points, but I can't hear a word of it. As I think on the strangeness of it I hear a sound come from the mirror. The first sound. "Hey get up you worthless circus monster!" I shudder as a crack follows the exclamation. I look to the mirror to find a distinct crack in the glass. My eyes meet with my reflection before I jolt awake. Was she... crying?