Kodo had been trapped in the Time Loop for hundreds of billions of years. He couldn't really comprehend the amount of time he had been there. It all didn't matter.
The first million loops he learned absolutely everything. He learned every language on the planet including the dead ones. Learned to play every single musical instrument. Learned every programming language. Read every single book and wrote sequels to every single one just to see if he could (he, in fact, could). He talked to every single sapient being on his planet. Hugged every living thing, even the things that he could only hug once before it killed him. He could speed up scientific, mathematical, technological and medical discoveries by hundreds of years
But every lifetime, it all reset. He died, and then kept his memories after his death and was reborn in that exact same body again after death, flung back in time to the moment of his birth. Depending on the loop, he decided to tell his story, made himself rich from knowing the future, or kept it all secret. He tried everything. He could see every branching path from every direction, and so he took every branching path from every direction.
At a certain point, somewhere along the fifty millionth loop, he started killing. It wasn't that he wanted to kill everyone, but he just wanted to see what it was like without certain characters in the picture.
It took a very long time, but eventually he was able to make himself immortal, even lasting until the end of his universe when everything dissappeared into a big crunch, unfortunately he woke up a few days later as a baby again.
It just kept going.
Life always kept going, and each and every lifetime he was always himself. Oh, sure, give him two years and he could introduce nanomachines that could transform anyone into anything else, but even that lost it's luster after the 10 millionth loop. He wasn't even sure how long it had been. Everything had been explored. Everything had been learned. Galactic civilizations founded and refounded in millions of different iterations.
For the last million cycles... Kodo had simply decided to die the second he gained consciousness as a baby. It didn't really matter anymore at this point. Everything had been tried in every single way. There really wasn't a point to it all anymore.
"No!" shouted a voice in Kodo's head. "NO! NO! NO! I'm so sorry! I'm SO SO SO SORRY! I—YOU—I'm SO SORRY!"
All at once Kodo felt himself transported somewhere... entirely new. The strange creature before him was quadripedal, pacing up and down on stars in the cosmos. His eyebrows shot up and he started crying. It wasn't what he meant to do, but he was a baby after all.
"I'm so sorry," continued the strange purple quadruped incessantly. "Oh! You need a better body, sorry about that!"
At once, Kodo felt himself become an adult again. It had been a few thousand years since he had let himself grow to such an age.
"I..." the quadruped sighed. "I'm so sorry, Kodo. Are... are you okay?"
He somehow found his voice. "O... okay?"
"Yes... you... well... I've left this subsection of spacetime alone for a little while... but you have somehow been trapped in a time loop for 897 million years."
He frowned. "I... no... I'm not okay."
All at once the creature embraced him. It was a very strange feeling. Her hair waved ethereally and wings wrapped around him. Had those wings always been there?
"I've stopped the time loop, Kodo. I'm so sorry you were there for so long. I... I know how hard too much time can be," she shuddered.
"Who are you?" he finally asked.
"My name's Starlight Glimmer, I'm the Deity of Time. But I think I... well..." she stared down at the ground. "I don't think I have failed someone this much since I was mortal."
Kodo felt like he should be angry, or annoyed, or upset, or something, but no emotions came out. It was just a calm, "Okay." He didn't understand the kind of organism the Deity of Time was, but she seemed very on-edge.
"Okay? Is— I— I'm so sorry." She reverted back to apologizing. He supposed she might deserve that. Perhaps one 'sorry' for every lifetime he lived? No... even that didn't seem like it was worth it.
"So is this the end?" he asked.
"The end?" she asked. "Oh yes! Of course! The time loop is over. You're done, if you want to be."
He looked down at himself. "I'm not sure what I want to be at this point."
"That's... not really my expertise," said the Deity of Time. "Do you want help deciding?"
He stayed silent.
"Twilight, I need your help," whispered the Deity.
A book sprung out of the ground and blossomed open to reveal another purple quadripedal creature. Though with the wings, perhaps they were actually hexapedal.
The Deity of Time stuck her horn against the other creature's horn, and the Deity of Time disappeared entirely.
He couldn't really tell the difference between the two, they looked so much alike.
"My name's Twilight Sparkle, Kodo. I'm the Deity of Knowledge. At this point, Time isn't your problem... but knowledge. You know so much."
He looked down at the ground, swirling stars appearing below.
"I suppose this is where I get a memory wipe... huh?"
"If that's what you want, but I don't think you're sure what you want, so it's best to take things slow after the ordeal you've been through."
He slumped to the floor. "It has been a long time since anything has been any different."
"This is a very personal thing to ask, but may I read you?" asked the Deity of Knowledge.
Kodo thought about it, one of the books he had written springing to mind. "I don't believe you can. I have billions of years worth of lifetimes and information. I think any book about me would take up the space of ten million universes."
"143 million universes," said the Deity. "I know how long it's been. But I don't know what you've gone through. I'd like to comfort you if I can. And the best way to do that would be to experience all you have experienced."
He shrank back. "You can't be serious!? You're going to absorb billions of years worth of me? Won't that overpower you!?"
"I have experienced the lives of 2^1000 sapient creatures. A few billion years won't even be a drop in the cosmic ocean. But it will matter a lot to you, Kodo. May I read you?"
He stared at her, and then nodded his head.
All at once he felt every single lifetime and decision packed into a single moment. Each and every decision passed by him and somehow passively went to the Deity.
The Deity sat down on the ground, and closed her eyes, completely absorbing each aspect of Kodo.
He was being judged... wasn't he? This was leading toward some kind of afterlife. He never planned for this. He never thought it would actually happen. He—what had he done? Would this Deity hurt me like he had hurt so many others?
She finally opened her eyes. "You've been through so much, Kodo."
Once again he felt himself embraced by a Deity. Her feathers felt so warm and comfortable as they enveloped him.
"I'm so sorry you went through all of that, it's been such a long, long time."
He... somehow felt at peace. As if all the bad things he had ever done were simply... over. And he didn't need to feel anything at all anymore.
And he felt nothing for a very long time...