Foreword
by Sunny Sparks
History, as we all know, is the collection of stories about the past told to inform or to entertain, or at least that's the definition I most prefer to use. When it comes to history from the Pre-Unification Era, pony historians seem to have forgotten this. They maintain that many if not most details about life in the era are inaccessible due to a lack of written records and whatnot, and thus there is little history to speak of. This is neither informative nor entertaining, and thus cannot be considered history as I define it. While we may not have many written records from the era, we do have many different legends and myths that tell entertaining stories and thus can be considered history. If anyone would like to disagree with me on this, I would be happy to send them on an all expenses paid visit to the sun. With this in mind, let us journey through the mystical land of ancient Equestria, home to various gods, monsters, demons, and great heroes of old where adventure is never more than a day's gallop away.
The Gesta Deorum, Unicornian for 'deeds of the gods', will tell the history of the world from its creation to the coronation of Princesses Celestia and Luna and the subsequent end of the Age Of Gods. Most names used in this book will be in the forms most recognizable for that specific character. For most characters, those names will be in Nimbic, the language of the ancient pegasi, for they are the source of many myths used here. Due to the conflicting nature of many myths from this time period, I will only use the ones I see as the most plausible and compatible. There will also be no dates for all but the latest of myths, as many of them cannot be accurately tracked on account of there being no pony civilizations, or any civilizations for that matter, to track years. Personally, I think they're overrated anyways.
Without further ado, let us begin.