//------------------------------// // Bonus Chapter: Raising a Goddess // Story: It All Started With A Big Bang // by Cipher800 //------------------------------// It was one hundred thousand years after the universe was reset, and I was once again out of things to do, and there was nothing but a thick particle soup, more like a fog stretching for miles without end. The madness inflicted on me for all that time gave way to boredom without anything else to do and I went sane, so very sane. At this point, you may be thinking about what would happen next. Well, I thought about my past, and I finally found out why I lost so much. I wasn't the brightest solider at the time, but, in all honesty, I could've used actual weapons in my arsenal for every minion, or put my place in the wrong location, but the biggest thing I lost was my entire world. Gone. My master plan to rule every pitiful corner of the universe has backfired. It looked beautiful without my rule, and I began to regret what I had done that fateful day. It burned me inside One thought echoed through my mind. "Was it all really worth it?" I said to particularly nobody. It was... kinda sad, to say the least. I no longer was in a fit of delusional insanity, and now, I'm solving math problems in my head to prevent boredom. First I started with basic multiplication and division problems, then I worked my way up to algebra, and then up to calculus. Each tier of math was harder than the last. I must have spent decades solving math equation after math equation. Of course, I have made a few errors, here and there, but eventually, I corrected my mistakes, and pretty soon, I mastered high school-level mathematics and stopped there. By then, the fog was a little less dense, and my line of sight extended further. One (day, week, year?), I began to experiment with the fog, arranging it into various animal shapes. A giraffe, a hippo, a spider monkey, a dolphin, a Sushi, a Goomba, you name it. The fog was surprisingly able to hold the shapes, and the last shape that I made was that of a horse. But then, there was something surprising. A single white bone poked out of the horse-shaped cloud I made. The thing dissipated, and right before my eyes, a small winged unicorn with white fur, a brick red mane, and blue eyes was right where what remained of the cloud once was. And judging by the looks of the small horse, it was just a foal, and the more prominent eyelashes were a clear indication that this creature was a female. I couldn't believe my own two eyes. At first, I thought I was in a fit of madness, but I found out that I wasn't. I was aware of my surroundings, and even thought I was still mad to begin with. Me and my apparent creation locked eyes as I looked at her in confusion. The filly just blinked at me a few times with a look of curiosity within in her eyes. Behind them, there was a sentient mind capable of decisions, capable of understanding. "I don't know what you are or how you came to life for whatever reason, but I really wanted company for thousands of years, and-" What I was about to say was interrupted by the filly propelling her wings to move up close to me. "Wow, you understand me, I guess you think of me as a father or something, do ya? Well, I should name you, shouldn't I?" I suggest to the filly. "I was thinking of something not to long, and really nice. So, how about Ellie?" I ask, the filly making a motion to say no to me. Guess she really does understand me after all. "What about Isabelle?" Another no. "Hmm... so, what about Faust?" I ask again. This time, the filly nodded. "Okay, so Faust it is, then..." I say as I look at the little winged unicorn, whom I recently gave her name to. Faust came up to me, and she was no bigger than the palm of my hand. She may not look even remotely like the Koopalings or Junior, but, they're gone now, and I guess this could be all the company I need about now. I was not intending to dishonor anybody by adopting the little pony, but I never got to fully raise my children since you know what. If she is a reincarnation, then I'd tear off my eyebrows and eat them. The filly was still a newborn, and could not speak yet. Faust was such a handful at her foalhood, but my experience as a father had paid off, even if she was a different race. Fortunately, there was no need for food or drink, and she was quite healthy. The fog wasn't very tasty to begin with, anyway. When she was a child, Faust grew to the length of my hand and wrist, and she was always full of questions. Just six and a half years after her creation, she was quite the little bugger, and when she was five she cast some sort of spell on a cloud of gas, turning it into what appeared to be a stuffed animal. In a flash of light, a picture of a quill and an ink pot appeared on her flanks, one for both of them. I was just as shocked at the little cutie's mark, which she misinterpreted the words as 'cutie mark'. I still miss my old children oh so greatly, though. When she was eight, she was about Junior's age before he died in the reset, and there was something that I didn't expect her to ask in a long time. "Daddy?" she asked. "Could you explain to me what it was like before I was born? Was it always a soup of fog, or was there something before it?" "Oh, I forgot about all that, Faust. I'll tell you what there was beforehand." I said, looking out into the fog. "Before there was this orange fog, there was a vibrant world, one teeming with life." I said. And I told Faust about a vibrant world full of grass, trees, animals, and all that. I also told her that the reality was reset, but I wouldn't tell her the whole truth until she will become sixteen. The filly loved my story, and held the stuffed bear she made right close to her as she grinned, her eyes filled with just as much curiosity as I wove a very wonderful tale. "...and who knows, when the fog dissipates, there could be a world just like it, somewhere out there." I concluded. "The future can give us a wild ride from time to time, and who knows what would happen next..." I said as Faust's jaw dropped. MANY, MANY YEARS LATER... A now-adult Faust walked across the halls of her castle and came opened a set of doors, entering a room with a single crib in it. She walked towards the crib and smiled at the little treasures inside. They were Celestia and Luna, her little filles, and her father's new grandchildren. Bowser was right about one thing, the future is, indeed, a wild ride, and she wasn't expecting marriage or motherhood.