Unmade By The Unknowable
Twilight swallowed her nerves as best she could while she walked to the Eldritch closest to her.
Even the names were hard to look at.
"Ftuiangftatt the ftunust-breaker"
"This Eldritch shall loosen mortal limitations, making you and your companions a degree more exceptional than the average member of your own kinds by increasing the power effect of Souls."
"Level 0, Level 1 Cost: 1 Elder Soul."
Twilight blinked as she took that in, realizing just how significant that was. That...that was like getting an eternal three-for-two sale! She could get stronger faster if she-
"Wait...how many Elder Souls do I even have?" She wondered, looking up in confusion and flinching at Ftuiangftatt's appearance. It was like Tirek's weakened form; only the top half was replaced by the ugly cousin of the tatzelworm, its tongues full of teeth with a giant eyeball down on its body. The equine half looked like it had been burnt, warped, healed, and fused with sandpaper.
Said tentacles were laughing at her question.
As if in answer, she felt a weight around her neck. She looked down and saw a simple brown and worn bag, hanging by a string and looking like it could hold no more than a baseball. She held it up and saw a blue-green number glowing on it:
9
Her eyes shrunk at that. She thought she'd get a bit more than that for getting up to Alicorn and everything.
Now more than ever, she realized how important it was for her to spend these souls wisely. And find the memory retention Eldritch.
The next one was a vaguely skull shaped creature that was either supposed to resemble an octopus or a jellyfish. Its translucent and bulbous body seemed to be stuffed with gore and blood- or that could be its organs for all Twilight knew. Its many tiny limbs had hooked ends covered in spines. She couldn't see any eyes, but she wasn't exactly looking either. If it had a true mouth, it was on the underside.
"Nuntsa the Tluuftt Collector"
"This eldritch grants you the potential to partially absorb and copy the abilities of defeated foes and even take their form if enough of the same enemies are absorbed. The higher the level of this Eldritch, the more likely the chance of absorption and the more it will be. Warning: These abilities do not carry across ascensions."
"Level 0, Level 1 Cost: 1 Elder Soul."
Twilight got the very, VERY distinct impression that this eldritch would be expensive to upgrade after the initial level. She decided to consider getting one later, but she suspected that would be true for most of the Eldritch.
She didn't even look up at the next one, merely looking at the name plaque.
"Gugftx Thhuftg"
"This Eldritch will increase your chances of becoming an Alicorn. Once the percent reaches 50%, you will become an Alicorn without fail after some time, barring premature deaths. All percentage after this point will add to the chance of being born an Alicorn."
Twilight's jaw dropped at that, before she looked up in amazement. Gugftx was some grotesque mockery of an Alicorn, made completely out of tentacles all curled together, its wings made of many long and thin spikes with one of the most twisted and bent horns Twilight had ever seen. It was reared back on its hind legs, revealing the monstrous mouths and many teeth on the bottom of the hooves. Its head had no mouth and only green oozing sockets for eyes.
"...This is going to be hard, picking which of you to invest in now," She said slowly as she continued on, not even sure she wanted to know what the next one was.
"Gnaut"
"Increases the effects and power of Discord, the Spirit of Chaos."
Twilight went wide eyed and looked up.
There he was. It was a distorted, sickening, all too fitting mockery of him, but that was definitely Discord's likeness. Paw to the chest and talon raised to the air, the mouth open as if to laugh or sing in victory, even in his defeat, against the fools that would dare oppose him.
The eagle arm and dragon leg were made of pieces of shattered bones, the lion paw and cloven hoof were furless, burnt black and cindering.
His tail had a see through skin and was filled with an orange liquid and an oozing purple mass within that made it look very much like a lava lamp.
His head was a patch work of different fish skins stitched together...some on backwards.
His deer horn looked like it was made of coral while the other was a solid, glowing, soft green light.
The zebra mane was of thousands of small porcupine quills.
Finally, the snaggle tooth was made of...nothing. It was a blank, colorless void that was more disturbing than any other part of the "statue" before her.
Twilight didn't know what to make of this, really. Was Discord an Eldritch? Or was Gnaut just using the form as a pun since he boosted Discord's power? She didn't know. And for she knew, she couldn't possibly find out for several life times.
Twilight scowled as she recalled Discord's words, how everything she did made things "easier" for him in a way, "...You love making me think irrationally, don't you?" She asked with an unstoppable smile as she shook her head and pulled an Elder Soul out of her bag.
And almost dropped it.
Someone forgot to tell her that Elder Souls were adorable but terrifying giant eyeballs with fish-like scales covering the sides and back, along with dragon wings to top it all off.
It gave a horrid yet strangely adorable squawk sound before flying out of her hoof, up toward the Discordish mouth of Gnaut. It chirped curiously, nudging towards it. Twilight almost laughed, but managed to just nod.
When the Elder Soul plopped itself into the mouth, Twilight half expected Gnaut to come fully to life and devour it but instead, the soul merely glowed and was absorbed into the statue. Apparently, the Eldritch were kind enough not to get too freaky on her.
She looked down at the plaque and found that it now said "Level 1, 100% increase to Discord, Spirit of Chaos. Level 2 Cost: 1 Elder Soul."
"Don't even know what Discord's statue does for me and I'm already upgrading it before I get it," She murmured, her tone devoid of regret, "That lug owes me for that one," She said before heading off to the next statue.
"Asaunung the Living Rftathftathk"
"This Eldritch allows you to retain a percent of your total memories across transcensions and ascension. Memory retention is prioritized towards the most impactful and important memories."
Twilight's gleeful smile morphed into a fearful scowl. If she could only retain so much memory, she'd...
She looked up and barely registered the appearance- a cross between a quartz eel and a changeling, with a millipede's worth of legs and a tongue that had a mouth and another tongue in it- as she practically shoved an Elder Soul to it. The smallest of the series of tongues within tongues grabbed it and retracted into the second smallest tongue without a single noise of eating or killing.
Twilight didn't pay much attention to that, looking down at the plaque as it changed.
"Level 1: 4% Memory Retention. Level 2 Cost: 1 Elder Soul."
"Twenty-four," Twilight murmured to herself, fixing her mind onto that. "I need twenty-four more Elder Souls here to get all my memories," She mused thoughtfully, latching onto making a plan as to not slip into the panic of having to transcend and remake the world so many times, "Keep calm, keep calm. I spent an Elder on Discord. I'm going to put at least one into the Alicorn one. That leaves seven, including the one I just spent. Seven times four is twenty-eight, over a quarter. But the memories I prioritized as most important is the stuff that would help me best probably. As much as I love every moment of my life with my friends, objectively, I know that over half of our memories are unimportant and unmemorable. So...if I put in one more, two at most, that should be most of the ones most important to me emotionally and in terms of important events...I think," Twilight reasoned.
She glared as she heard the rest of the Eldritch she hadn't visited yet making disturbing gurgling, grunts, and other noises she didn't want to dwell on, "Shut up, this isn't easy!" She snapped at them as she rubbed her forehead, not caring if she had just yelled at a collection of beings that possibly ate gods for breakfast. She sighed long and hard, "Okay in total...two for this Memory guy, one to Discord's helper, one to the Alicorn one...one or two to the Limit Breaking one..." Twilight mused to herself, "That's three or four still," She realized, glancing down the circular line before sighing, cracking her neck a bit.
Twilight had long since mastered Speed Skimming. It was, essentially, looking through pages and sentence to find key words. It wasn't any form of special talent per say, but she was very good at it, hence how she could just flip through pages of books to find a specific page.
So, with how hard the Eldritch were to look at, she galloped around the rest of the circle until she skidded to a halt and back pedaled, finding two Eldritch that fit exactly what she wanted. One was a headless and multi-armed Diamond Dog, holding egg-like gems in its hands while its chest had a jagged and distorted face seemingly carved into it with its heart visible through one eye. Its name was "Thhaal Gaaft" and it would cheapen the cost of all the Spirits by nearly five percent.
The other was a Blood-Mist Windigo with frozen-blood armor namedRassan the Ftuniat. All in all, the least horrible to look at...but standing in front of it meant the air tasted heavily of blood, making her lose her lunch at the unexpected sensation.
She muttered an apology to the Bloodigo, not wanting to take up too much of its patience. This one would enhance the number of souls she got from her transcendent soul rewards. Apparently, she got more souls just for the fact she transcended, "Discord was right, things will get easier," She said with a small, weak, but ultimately hopeful grin.
She shivered as she felt the blood collecting on her teeth.
She quickly fed an Elder Soul to both of them. Thhaal put down one of its massive gems to take the soul and put it in its mouth while Rassan just let the flying eyeball float into its red body.
"Thhaal Gaaft"
"-4.875% Spirit Costs."
"Level 1, Level 2 Cost: 1 Elder Soul"
"Rassan the Ftuniat"
"+10% Souls Rewarded From Transcendent Power."
"Level 1, Level 2 Cost: 1 Elder Soul."
"Hmm, most of the Eldritch seem to only cost one soul per level, so far at least," Twilight mused as she walked away from those two. Retracing her steps, she fed the remaining souls to her intended Eldritches. Another in the multi-mouth of the memory Eldritch, The Alicorn eldritch brought its hoof-mouth down on the little thing, and the tatzle-centaur...she didn't want to think about what it did when closed its main mouth on the two souls she gave to it.
"Asaunung the Living Rftathftathk"
8% Memory Retention.
"Level 2, Level 3 Cost: 1 Elder Soul."
"Gugftx Thhuftg"
"+3.33% of becoming an Alicorn."
"Level 1, Level 2 Cost: 1 Elder Soul"
"Ftuiangftatt the ftunust-breaker"
"+5% Soul Effect."
"Level 1, Level 2 Cost: 1 Elder Soul."
Now she had one soul left.
And she didn't think she had the mental energy left to go through them all for a new one.
She stood there for a good five minutes before sighing.
She decided to go to the center of the area and do something both in Discord's style and on his advice.
"Excuse, me, my Lord-and-Lady-Eldritches?" Twilight called loudly.
She could almost feel their curiosity.
"I have had a long, LONG and tiring day. I'm not sure what this whole thing is for you, but I probably want to get this over with more than any of you do," She explained, pausing briefly, "That said, I have one soul left that I don't know what to do with. So, of the ones I haven't looked at- and you know who you are!- could any of you give me a signal if your ability could make these cycles...not easier, but a bit more fun?" She asked hopefully.
There was dead silence in the air.
Then she got an answer, in the form of chomping teeth
A strange, monkey-like creature with a shark grin and bird feet, holding a black-crystal cane with very large spikes coming out of the back and a tail that looked disturbingly like a fresh umbilical cord.
"Hianan Thala"
"This Eldritch allows you to unlock additional global-norm forms. Forms include Biped, Furry, Anthro, Human, and Shift. Setting may be changed between ascensions for free, including back to Quadruped. Effects on the cycle may vary."
"All forms cost one Elder Soul, except Shift. Shift costs three and can only be unlocked by purchasing the first four."
"Level 0, Level 1 Cost: 1 Elder Soul."
Twilight raised an eyebrow at that. So, this Eldritch apparently changed the common physiology of sentient life forms, if she was right. Still, she didn't understand any of the new forms besides Biped and Shift. Well, she understood the word furry, but not in context of this.
"...You know what, I'll take a gamble and buy one, but...if you don't mind, I'm going to leave it off for at least the first cycle," Twilight decided curiously, giving the last soul to the monkey-thing. Curiously, the elder flew onto a spike on its back, the umbilical-tail reaching up and seeming to latch on it. Twilight didn't want to think about this eldritch drinking that soul alive, she really didn't.
She blinked and looked down, seeing five see-through orbs in front of her. One was yellow, the others were white. Tilting her head, she touched the yellow one and found an image of herself appear, "Huh, this must by showing my options. Well, at least that's handy," She mused as she moved to the next one. This was obviously Biped, as it looked exactly the same as her current self, except her body was subtly altered to stand on two legs. She also had on socks.
Humming, she went to what she assumed was furry. She rose an eyebrow as this one was much taller and dressed in a sweater and shorts and had large lumps on her chest, "Huh, clothes seem to be more the norm after biped," She mused. The next one, Anthro, was her in a very beautiful dress- her coronation dress if she was right. This form was a bit taller than the last and the form was different, just not enough for Twilight to place it specifically. Then the last...
Twilight blinked and tilted her head at the human her. She had this strange, furless skin, but..."Do humans only wear two black bars?" She asked herself, a bit confused after seeing the more covered versions in Anthro and Furry. Twilight shrugged to herself as she made her pick to the Hianan's chomping laughter.
Twilight shivered as she went back to the center, "So...do I leave the maze or do you all do something...?" She asked curiously.
They were silent as the grave.
If Twilight had to explain what happened next, it was like being gently disassembled. Like someone had lovingly took her apart like a precious toy.
Only they left parts of her together this time.
Her eyes and her ears and her voice and her nose and her tongue and her magic were gone. But only some of the memories fell away as she was unmade. Most, but not all. And as if peeling away dust and grime, she could feel others being uncovered.
When Twilight awoke, she didn't remember everything yet.
She was too busy crying her tiny lungs out for her new mother.
But in time, it'd come back to her.
Time and Place Unknowable
In a void, many great things hummed to themselves as they felt the fates shifting. They raised their heads or what passed for heads and followed the disturbance in the threads of reality. The path of the mortal realm had just taken a dark turn, the once bright future shattered and turned to dust.
Even among those most ancient of entities, few could know the cause of this sudden change in the rivers of time.
In that emptiness, The Great Serpent startled itself from its coiled slumber with wide eyes. It floated through the abyss and the throng of spirits made way for it, in fear or respect. It approached the small orb of dirt and water, shimmering just beyond their existence, its grand length practically encircling it. The world's local ball of light illuminated the ancient's enormous face, revealing the coy smirk and the gleaming red eyes as the light reflected off its snaggle tooth. It could feel the barrier around this reality, keeping him temporarily at bay, withering to half its power. It could feel so many entities, even those among his company, lose a power they didn't even know they would have been granted. But most of all, he sensed Her.
And he knew what She had done.
She had sacrificed Her work to move forward. And that could only mean one thing.
Then that terrible being spoke. Spoke words that those among him did not understand. Spoke words that would not even be invented for many ages.
"Thank you, Little Alicorn. I hope you remember me this time, so I can thank you down the line," It whispered with amusement into the world, as if willing her to appear sooner, "This shall be fun...!"
And throughout time and space, just beyond the realm of mortal comprehension, a Mad God's laugh filled all the trembling halls of creation.
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oh shit waddup
Well this is pleasant.
. . .
I wonder if they're bangable.
Here's to hoping you continue with this.
So, uh, more?
So....
More then?
Let the waiting begin
I am very much enjoying Twilight and Discord's interactions in this story. I also liked that touch at the end.
hmmmm this willb e fun cycle over and over again
Attention and interest acquired! Onto the watch list.
At the bottom of each chapter could you display Twilight's current stats similar to how fallout equestria fics do for levels?
Wow, that was awesome! I found a couple typos in this chapter.
Missing a space there.
Huh, I guess it was just one.
Wouldn't it be cool if in some lifetimes, discord would help out child twilight? And when she got old enough, he would vanish for a while and become in her memories an imaginary friend. And when she grew up and had to "fight" him, they would just run to each other and hug confusing everyone else.
I'd love to see that.
Only 8% of her memories? I guess 8% of all of one's memories can be somewhat significant, assuming Twilight is around 20 years old that'd be at least 1.6 years of memories that she'll retain, it's good that it specifies that the important memories have priority too.
I'm wondering what would happen if Twilight chose the human option and had guaranteed alicorn transformation, can humans ascend in a different way? Or maybe it's just similar to EQG where she'd be able to temporarily "pony up"?
Also increasing the effects and powers of Discord before even meeting the old him just seems like bad news, I'd assume he'd be closer to the Warhammer40k chaos gods without Twilight making him nicer or something with regular souls.
However it goes Neo-Cycle #1 Twilight is probably not gonna enjoy herself in this cycle, and assuming what memories she keeps will probably be pretty angry with Alicorn Twilight #1.
only 9?
I transcended and received 22 of them
i play too much ;-;
7560311
Heh, I got thirty. And then sank them all into the same upgrade.
+3000% idle bonus is awesome.
Is this based on a game perhaps?
7677603
Hmm, quite an inspiring premise this. Hope there's more to come!
This story has a hell load of promise
Two things. What form did she pick. I don't see it say. And then when is the next chapter?
I never knew i needed this in my life :)
Really looking forward to more, the first three chapters show a LOT of promise!
Gimme more please
Hooooooly crap this is awesome. Onwards!
Is this dead, or will there be more chapters? I glanced at the other stories written by the author and of 21 stories, 1 was a one shot and 20 were incomplete. This leaves me concerned.
7896966
I have a lot of ideas, but no, this fic isn't dead.
Dude this story is great, I love gamer fics, and I’m glad Twilight won’t have to worry too much about being bored because of knowing everything.
Don’t worry though, it may have taken me awhile to actually read this story but now that I have you can go ahead and post the twenty-odd chapters you’ve been saving till I get here.
Please update this soon. I MUST READ MOAR!
7897000
Please PLEASE tell me it still isn't dead.
If this is dead, I might cry.
8218446
Same.
pls make more this ia amazing
;-;
Well... at the very least, this works well enough as-is. Too bad there's nothing more, but it'd probably take another 80-100 chapters to get back here with new stuff, so... I'm not sure we're going to see that.
An interesting concept, to be sure.
I remember someone saying, that this fic isn't DEAD.
Someone is filthy LIAR.
I am so disappointed I did not read this sooner, because despite this not being updated in almost 6 years, this was very fun to read.
10067262
Maybe the author is dead perhaps now?
11516785
Author's doing fine, but mostly focuses on non-pony stuff at the moment. Their Star Wars fic on FF.net is what I saw first, I think.
This story has a amazing start i hope the author comes back to this some day.
Good story so far, is the author going to continue it at all?