//------------------------------// // The Happy Deity // Story: Deities // by Chinchillax //------------------------------// "Kodo? Would you like to do things now?" He felt like he had been asleep for trillions of years. The memories and sheer weight of all that he had done and experienced felt... subdued. Like some past self had done all that. It really was over. It took him a long time to reply, but the voice didn't repeat itself. After a few moments, he finally opened up his sensors to a complete void. One of the quadrupeds was there again. Though at least this one looked different, or at least pink. "You've had a long time to rest, my friend," the Deity smiled. "Do you feel ready for more life? It'll definitely be different this time!" He initially wanted to object, but he really had been comfortably slumbering for eons. "I... haven't I done everything yet?" "What!? Everything!?" piped up the pink Deity. "As if! You've only scratched the surface of all the things you can do! Of all the creatures you could be! All the roles you could act. But most importantly, all the friendships you can make!" "I feel like I got most of those." All at once the darkness that surrounded the Deity and him exploded like a firework, a shockwave pulsar emanated around them and then scattered into a billion pieces, landing and fusing all around him. The pieces of everything started amalgamating around him, changing him, shifting him in every which way. He looked down at his hands... err... claws? "Ta da! Everybody loves dragon form! You like it!?" He opened his mouth and coughed out a fireball, which landed on the void and ricocheted out and formed a swirling starscape around him. "You haven't done that before, have ya'?" He shook his head. The new form was beyond his imagination. Which seemed frankly impossible. He had to have tried everything already before, right? "What even was that?" he asked. "Magic! That's definitely not something you could have encountered before. Your last universe didn't even have that system in place." He coughed out another fireball which somehow careened very far away, slamming into a distant star, making it go supernova and causing a blinding light to come over them. "See? Fun!" said the Deity, smiling. He stared at her. "Oh and don't feel limited by what form you wanna be. You can be a—," her horn glowed. Had that always been there? "Human!" With a flash, his form changed to something mostly hairless and bipedal. "Or a Jodikslurb!" suddenly he felt himself have way too many legs. "Or an Atrasurn!" he somehow felt like he was made of wings and only wings. "Or a Birnopian!" He felt his body shift into hot magma. "Or a—" "Stop!" He yelled, the rocky mouth making a harsh noise. His old form returned, and he felt much more comfortable. "Sorry, I often get pretty carried away. We can just scroll through a couple trillion species and you can pick the one you want to be." He stayed silent for several moments. The pink Deity looked like she wouldn't be able to handle silence, but then she busied herself elsewhere, focusing on shifting the distant stars into fantastical shapes which must have been more alien creatures. He shut himself off from the inside and rested for a few more moments. After some thinking, he finally spoke up, "I'd like to try out your form." "Me in particular? Or the pony race?" she asked cheerfully, jumping back into the conversation as if no pause had taken place. "A 'pony' you said? Yeah... I'll be a pony." With a flash, he suddenly found himself as the same species as the Deities, though he lacked wings and a horn, or any distinctive features. "Ooh! It's been a long time since I worked on a pony form! I love ponies so much! But I am kind of biased. I mean it was the first form I tried and I got really attached to it. I'm still wearing it too! Oh! I love me!" The pink pony somehow managed to hug herself, though he had no idea how her form was even capable of that. "Well anyway! Lot's of options here! You wanna be a mare or a stallion?" He stared at her, his face suddenly betraying the confusion in ways his previous form never had been able to. "Oh sorry, hmm... so... which feels more comfortable for you, this?" He felt himself change again. "Or this?" His form changed once more... but the difference was nearly imperceptible. A height and snout difference among other things, but the four legs were the real difference and they both had four legs. He supposed that being slightly bigger was nicer, so he eventually said "The second one." "Stallion it is! Okay! Next stop! Pegasi?" He felt wings somehow attach to himself. "Unicorn?" The wings disappeared, a single horn appearing in the middle of his head. "Or Earth Pony?" The horn disappeared, but he felt more... muscular somehow. "What's the difference?" he asked. "Short version: Flight, magic, or strength. Take your pick." "Can't I just have all three?" he asked. "That's something you'll have to earn once you get down there," she said. "Down where?" "Equestria! It's the main planet for ponies. I mean—unless you wanted to sleep for a couple more billion years. That's fine too." She smiled again. Sleep was very tempting. But he had already done that for a very long time. He shook his head. "I'll pick magic." "Unicorn it is then!" said the Deity, and a horn flashed onto his head. "Any preference for color or anything?" He shrugged, not sure where he had gotten the custom from. "Alright, leave that to me and maybe Rarity. Now... here's the interesting question. How much of a memory wipe do you want?" "Excuse me?" "Well... you have a LOT of memories, my friend! I don't think we can store all that inside a baby foal. Would you like a perfectly clean slate? Or as much as you can remember? Or just general... vagueness? Lot's of options here!" He stood there, unmoving for a few moments. All of his lifetimes upon lifetimes of experience weighing him down. It really was too much. "Can I get those memories back at the end of my life?" "Oh, for sure! We don't throw memories away up here. Twilight makes sure of that." "I guess... erase everything but my personality. I'd like to keep my ability to learn." "Sounds great!" The pink Deity's tail suddenly started twitching, and then suddenly a small green creature bit onto it. She plucked the creature off her tail and then jammed it against her face and gasped. "That's a great idea, Gummy!" she said, shouting at the green creature. He blinked. She turned to him. "I got something super duper ultra extra super special for you, Kodo! You'll do great in Equestria! You'll have so much fun, it'll be great!" He shrank back a little. "I— well... it has to be better than what I went through in my last life." He blinked and then suddenly he didn't remember anything about himself anymore. "I was wondering who Star Swirl the Bearded would end up being! Nice catch, Gummy!"