As soon as I asked myself that question, the question of which Vocaloid I was, it hit me in the face. "Sakine Meiko..." I said softly. I looked down at the microchip, and slid off the table, picking up the chip, and the microphone. I noticed a small slot in the side of the larger device, and shrugged, sliding the microchip inside. The microphone glowed red, and I set it at my side, the electronic device somehow latching to my side. "Okay..." I said, a little freaked out by the now-floating microphone. Looking around, I realized that what I thought had been upstairs, was actually to my right. "Stupid lack of directional sense...It's the exact same way with time..."
I started towards the door, looking around fretfully. I felt a spark from the headset, and yelped, my voice shrill, but quiet. "Ow!" I turned the knob, only to find it locked. It took me a few moments, but after jiggling the knob violently, the lock came undone. "Whoever built this lock is in dire need of seeing a proper locksmith..." I muttered, smiling.
I opened the door, wincing as it creaked, but quickly slipped through the doorway, grumbling when my new 'additions' didn't fit through the crack in the door. I opened it wider, and shut it hesitantly, the lock clicking loudly behind me. I said nothing, for fear of detection. There was likely little reason to fear being detected, considering how much noise I had already made, but I did a lot of shoplifting at Wal-Mart during my freshman year, and, although I didn't shoplift anymore, grew acutely aware of how traitorous sound can be.
I rounded a corner, and was greeted with a microphone to the face. I crumpled to the floor, biting my lip in pain, before I blacked out.
When I woke, something felt off. I didn't waste time thinking on it, however, as I stood up quickly, and looked directly into the eyes of- Who? My first response formed quickly, right after she started yelling.
"AHHHHHH!" She yelled.
"AHHHHHH!" I yelled reflexively, my voice sounding much more mature.
We continued to yell, and when we finished, I dove behind the corner, poking my head out quickly, looking up and down her. I ditched the corner, no longer so shocked, and stood in front of her, my mind drawing a blank. The first thing I did, was pure curiosity, wondering if I was dreaming, or if I was actually a Vocaloid, and had just been knocked over the head by one of the Kagemine siblings. I couldn't pull either name at the moment, which was no big surprise: My memory was worse than buying(Or lifting) a brand-new pack of batteries, only to discover they were all completely dead.
I started to poke at her hair, and the bow, still thinking it was all a dream.
"Who are you?" I asked, only to be met with her responding with,
"E~tsu?" Was what I ended up hearing, before her voice sounded again in my ears, through the headset.
"<Huh?>"
Odd...But I'll have to play along, until I can figure things out, I thought, before saying, "Who are you? And what is this place?"
"Rikai dekimasen." She said. For reasons I can't, and won't, try to place, her name clicked in my head, but I said nothing. If I was anything, I could be a very manipulative bastard. Or would it be bitch now?
My headset instantly provided a translation, breaking my train of thought, and her name slipped away. "<I don't understand.>"
I started pacing in taut circles, thinking aloud. "What did you do? Why she will not be able to understand me?" Thoughts were flashing through my head, but I couldn't keep track of them.
"Ano, osoreirimasu?" She asked, and I instantly snapped my focus to her.
"<Um, excuse me?>" Translated my headset. I made a mental note, that if I could remember the note, to later see if I could ditch the headset for something more compact, like a Bluetooth, as the tinny sound of translations was pissing me off.
"Anata wa nihongo o hanashite iru koto o ninshiki shite imasu ka?" Asked- Rin! That's her name! Finally remembered, but I'll have to keep acting clueless, which wasn't very hard right now.
"<Do you realize that you're speaking Japanese?>" My headset provided, which was starting to get annoying.
"Japanese?" I asked, bewildered.
"Un, ē to. Nihonjin. Anata wa sore o hanashite iruto watashi wa sore o rikai shite inai." Rin explained. Internally, I face-palmed when the headset translated.
"<Uh, yeah. Japanese. Your speaking it and I don't understand it.>"
'Thank you, you annoying piece of scrap!' I thought angrily.
"Could this be why he gave me this microchip, to better aid in a mutual understanding?" I said, pulling out the microphone. I noticed the switch below where the slot was, and did what any person who likes to push buttons and flick switches does: I flipped the switch. "Can you hear me now?" I asked, and smiled when she responded with,
"Ē!" She said.
"<Yeah!>" My headset translated. It was really getting on my nerves, but I remained calm. I noticed inside my head was painfully quiet, and it was bothering me: Where was the heavy metal I normally listened to, the verses that would get stuck in my mind, and loop?
"Oh, thank God," I said, rubbing my forehead, eyes closed. "So, can you tell me who you are now?" I asked.
"A, gomen. Watashi wa kagami nerinda. Anatahadare?" She answered, except I heard a bit of a stutter. My headset took longer to translate, but what it came up with was,
"<Oh, sorry. I'm Rin Kagamine. Who are you?>" I felt very tempted to pull off the headset, but if it was the only thing preventing a language barrier situation from occurring, so be it.
"I guess I'm Sakine Meiko." I answered, trying to sound doubtful.
"Sore wa namaeda!" She shouted. It was triumphant enough, I didn't need my headset to translate for me; She couldn't remember the name of the Vocaloid I now was, so she must've shouted something along the lines of, 'That's the name I was looking for!'. I jumped, for real, although I had intended to fake being startled. I frowned visibly, but my frown vanished quickly, as I regained my composure. "Otto, mōshiwake arimasen." She said, as I shook my head slightly.
"I-It's fine. Where are we, anyways?" I asked, looking around. I couldn't help but think it was a castle, or something like it. As soon as she spoke, it connected in my head.
"Ā, ē to, anata wa towairaito no shiro ni iru. Equestria de."
'I must be in Twilight's castle, which means this world, or hallucination, is post-Season Four.' I thought at the same time. Of course, I wasn't about to blow anything out of the water yet, so instead I responded with horror, as sincerely as I could muster, "E-Equestra!? You can't be serious!?
"Un, ē to. Watashi wa, anata ga, amarini mo migi kimyōna denshi mēru o eta koto o suisoku shite iru?" She asked.
I had a feeling she wasn't too certain, and my headset blasted my ears with white noise, before coming up with, "<Uh, yeah. I'm guessing you got a strange E-mail too, right?>"
I widened my eyes, and said, "Yeah, but how did you-" I cut off my own sentence, connecting the dots instantly. "Hold on. Are you one of the missing teenagers?!" I shouted, and grabbed her by the shoulders, making it appear as if I was caught up in excitement.
"Hai, ē to?" She said, and I accepted that as a yes. I didn't actually know Japanese consciously, but as it seemed I knew how to speak it subconsciously, I decided to piece together what little I did know: I knew 'hai' was 'yes', and that was good enough for me.
"Are the others here?! Did they change, just like us? Did Discord do the same to get you here in Equestria?!" I dropped the mic, and she instantly had a puzzled look in her eyes, as I continued to ask questions. I turned around, letting go of Rin, having heard footsteps. I was only a little surprised to see that they were not just footsteps, but hoofsteps as well. The purple pony's mouth opened, and my headset was instantly translating. That was new.
"<Wh- what the- Rin? Who's that?>" Twilight asked, and the people, one of whom I recognized as Megurine Luka , but the other sort of looked like Rin. I think his name was Len, but honestly, my memory was a bit fuzzy. I started to think hard about my favorite radio station from home, 94 Rock, but I was no longer paying attention to the conversation.
"<Uh, hey Twilight. This is Meiko. And strangely, she can speak Japanese.>" Rin said, gesturing towards me.
I must have said something, because when I snapped out of my thoughts, the guy said, "<Eeyup, that's Japanese, alright.>" A line connected, and confirmed: Yep, Len. That is definitely Len
"<Wait, Japanese?>" Twilight asked, sounding puzzled. I sent a quick thanks to Discord for at least giving instant translation to the headset.
When Luka spoke, I had to bite my lip, to keep from responding. "It's one of the many languages that humankind has created." She said. I blinked in confusion, because I could understand her just fine, even without the headset providing a translation. The tinny sound was gone too, which had me worried. I thought of my favorite song, from my third favorite band, Disturbed, and let the lyrics run through my head, but felt the need to have an input on the conversation.
"<Oh, okay.>" Twilight said.
"So, is that really Twilight, Princess of Friendship?" I asked, curling my fingers.
"<Can you pick up your mic, and say that again?>" Asked Rin, her fingers directed towards the microphone.
"Oh, sorry." I said, as I bent over to pick up the mic. Highly aware, I had one hand pushing my skirt down to make sure no one got a look at what was underneath, and when I stood up straight, I brushed my hands down my skirt, smoothening out the fabric. Since when did I care about little things like my clothes looking off, I wonder? I had to stop momentarily, before remembering what I was going to do. "As I was saying, is that Twilight?" I asked, watching everyone jump in surprise but Rin. I laughed on the inside, and made a mental note to learn as much as possible. I felt certain I hadn't already made a similar note, but just in case.
Rin looked at me, and said, "<Eeyup. That's Twilight, alright. And this is Luka and Len.>" She pointed at the other two respective Vocaloids, and I nodded in acknowledgement.
"Luka, and Len, Okay. Is there anyone else?" I asked, and stifled a snicker when Rin looked shocked. It was so fun watching them be so jumpy!
"<W-well, it's kind of a long story.>" Rin said, looking nervous.
"<Yeah, speaking of, where is Kaito? Did he stay back at the farm?>" Len asked, and I shifted my gaze towards Rin, and saw sorrow in her eyes. I knew something was amiss, as I myself had felt the same way many times before, even after discovering the joys of My Little Pony.
"Rin," Luka said, sounding (in my judgment) sympathetic, "I'll explain it to them. Why don't you relax in your room?"
Rin nodded, tears forming in her eyes, as she walked away. "<O-okay.>"
Luka said, "You're not going to like this," And I paid careful attention to the tale.
~
When Luka had finished the recap, I left, running my hands up and down the gloves. Something felt strange about them, like there was a secret hiding inside them. I stroked the circuit patterns, noting the ridges, and how realistic they felt. Wait. They were real; The gloves were conducting electricity, and I smiled. "This reminds me of that idea I had...Arceaon, who could generate technology from his very body. I never got a chance to think through the science, but I was sidetracked with my hunt for a new music player." I continued to mess with the gloves a while longer, before looking around.
"I wish I could listen to 94 Rock right now...God, I miss my rock and roll, and metal, I miss my music!" I shrieked, shivering. I chattered my teeth, and looked around. No music, no nothing. Things were all too quiet, and my hyperactive mind didn't like the silence. "Think, think, think, think, think...." I told myself, before thinking of the Walkman I had kept with me, no matter where I went. "Could it work?" I asked myself. I hadn't made note of it, but I was on top of the spire, I think it's called, so most of Ponyville might've heard me. I slammed my fist down, and winced, hearing the crystal crack. "Please, conjure a Walkman, with interdimensional capabilities..." I whispered, but had no such luck.
I laid back, and muttered to myself. "I can't escape this hell, so many times I've tried..." My mutter turned into a full blown song, although my voice was higher than the song's normal pitch. It didn't bother me, because I needed a musical release. It was spontaneous, but well needed, as the music was one thing I used to keep myself from snapping.
~
When I had finished singing, as if on cue, an explosion rocked the side of the castle. I slid down the spire, ending up in what might be the observatory, and dashed to the source. By the time I had gotten there, Twilight was already there, and Rin was sounding like a madwoman. I ignored the conversation, and waited behind Twilight. When she gestured towards me, I waved shyly, a little miffed that Rin got to harness something like the P.R.L(PRototype Laser) 412, only instead of being a laser gun from Resident Evil Four, she was the source of the blast.
I waved shyly, curling my fingers. I noticed something odd, as I felt the somewhat familiar grip of a hand-held weapon in my grip. I had felt it before, and my mind clicked instantly; How'd I get a taser? I thought, before stashing the taser in the back of my top.
"<So,>" Rin started, turning towards me. "<What do you want to do?>"