//------------------------------// // Sparkle's Bestiary of Equus. // Story: Rabbit's Cornucopia // by TDR //------------------------------// Stories in Stone. Sparkle's Bestiary of Equus. By TDR “Are you sure that was all you needed from me Sparkle?” Jer'rahd questions. “Hmm, oh yes this is perfect, With what I got from you, Princess Celestia, Sunshine and the Ferry Mare I have all I need for this part of the book. I might need you back when I start the part on dragons however. I think you might be the only pony alive who knows so much about them.”Twilight rambles not even looking up as she made notes. “Know your enemy..... “Jer'rahd mutters. “Wouldn't it be easier for this thing to ask your former assistant? I'm sure he could just make the book you need.” “That would be cheating. And didn't you tell me when you were trying to train me in sword play that short cuts are bad?” Twilight grins. “Alright, you have been spending too much time with Celestia if you are throwing my own words back in my face.” “That makes one of us. I don't think I've been spending enough time with her to tell the truth.” Twilight pauses her writing, looking back at the gray unicorn soldier as he rises and heads for the door. “Jer'rahd......” “Hmmm? What is it Sparkle?” “Do you ever feel like you aren't really worthy of Luna's affections?” Twilight blurts out her face turning red. “All the time.” Jer'rahd admits. “But I found out she rather likes me for being me, so I try not to dwell on it and just do my best at anything put before me. I'm sure Celestia feels the same and Luna does. This book thing of yours isn't necessary.” “I know.... I just want to do something that I might think is worthy...” “Perils of being in love with a goddess.” Jer'rahd chuckles. “ You never feel adequate. Hate to say it doesn't get better.” “You're a god now as well. I would expect that would make it easier.” “Tends to make things harder. Besides according to that book I'm only a demi god.” Jer'rahd smirks slightly flashing his fangs. “Well best I can say is don't get too hung up on it. The kinda research you are doing is something that can take ponies a few life times. You only have the one and you should spend as much of it with her as you can.” He opens the door nodding to the Guard posted outside of room. “Have a good night Sparkle.” “You as well Jer'rahd.” Twilight sighs as the door closes looking back at her notes then to the blank book before her. Best to get as much done as she could. She lifts a hoof flipping the page her quill dipping into the ink the write the title on the first page inside. She looks over the name with a bit of disappointment. “The Bestiary of Equus........ I really need a better name than that” Twilight Sighs. Forward by the Author Twilight Sparkle Due to the content of this book the edition you are currently reading may be heavily edited. This book is being designed for mass distribution, but every culture has it's own taboos or things it does not speak of, as such some things may or may not be included in your version. There will only be three complete versions of this book produced. The original one that will stay with me,the one that will be given to the Princesses of Equestria, and one that shall be secured in the vaults of the Crystal Empire. With the distribution such as this at least one intact copy should survive pending any sort of disaster. This may be over preparedness on my part, as well as a bit of ego, but no one has seen fit to argue with me yet about it. At any rate the following book contains all of the gathered information that I have been able to compile about the creatures and races of Equestria. Everything from the gods to the common parasprite. Various sources will be sited including various other texts and from trusted individuals who have spent a great deal of time studying said sources. My goal is to create the most comprehensive listing of Equus Fauna that is possible. As new things are discovered or even created, I will perhaps add books to the series as need be provided I am still able. Chapter one Gods of Equus. Despite what may be thought about the gods of the world there are actually four to six differing types of gods perhaps more. The types are as follows in alphabetical order. Books Created First Inherited Natural Born Spirits It is a well known fact that nearly every race in Equus has or has produced a god. This was actually one of the requirements to be a member of the council of races that oversees the development of the world. After the War of Night this limit was removed due to number of gods that the Lunar Republic had killed. Currently admittance on the council has more to do with population and territory controlled as well as a desire to have representation. Though the gods themselves meet very infrequently their representatives meet every six months in order to help guide the world in a proper direction. Traditionally this meeting is held in a differing location every time, for the last thousand years or so it has primarily been held in either the Zebralands, Equestria, or the Griffon Empire. Currently the last tally of the amount of deities in the world is as follows. The Races of Pony have three gods, two Inherited and a created. The Diamond Dogs have eight, all Natural Born. The Races of Griffon and hippogryph were reduced to two following the death of one of their gods, but with the marriage of Princess Dustina Talon and the pegasus Breezy a new god has been born that is currently causing much issue within the Griffon nation as the child is a Hippogryph. This marks them as two natural born gods , and one inherited. The Zebra nation has no gods that are known to them. This is because they have systematically killed all of their gods in accordance to old traditions. However they are known to have at least one natural born god living in self imposed exile. The race of dragons is not part of the council, nor are they currently anything that could be called a nation. However due to the actions of their newest god they may be before too many more years pass. At current they have four gods, three natural born, and one inherited. The Sea Ponies have been particularly secretive about their gods particularly after the return of Princess Luna and her Royal Guard. However due to the events of the War of Gods and the skill of Equestria's ambassadors more information is known about the race. They currently are ruled over by three gods all natural born. That is all of the core races of the world. The other races vary considerably. Trolls are rumored to have gods of their own , but only one has ever been encountered and it was destroyed. It is unsure if they have developed another. Snow Ponies are a strange group and it is actually believed that the Windigo are their gods. There are very few Elk left in the world and they remain quite private and keep to themselves in the untamed reaches of the lands. Still they had no gods at the height of their power, and it is doubtful they do now. Orcs are another race almost driven extinct. While pigs are a common subrace of orcs there are pure blooded orc tribes still living in the far corners of the world. They and the Minotaurs still occasionally have conflicts for space. Minotaurs are another savage race that while is not on the council, they are recognized by it having one known god. It is believed however that he is a created god. Harpies no longer have the numbers they used to and as such now share the lands of the griffons, the two races having put aside centuries of animosity to work together. There are still the occasional conflict between the two, though it has been some time since anything violent has really happened. Mules and Donkey's have no gods of their own , being a sub-race of Ponies or Zebra as such they tend to fall under the domain of where ever they happen to be living at the time. Crystal ponies until recently had a created god, With King Sombra's death little has changed for them as they still fall under the umbrella of the pony kind. Half Dragons too are the same as the Crystal Ponies. They are the youngest race on record and as such are not counted very highly among the council. The currently fall under the same umbrella as the Crystal ponies, being counted as Pony Kind. There are numerous other races that exist though they shall be brought up later in the book. The races that have been listed are the primary ones with any sort of god. At this point I will be discussing the Created,Inherited and Natural born god types as they are the most common. I shall start with the most common type. The Natural born god. A natural born god is a type that is well, to put it simply born to be a god. These individuals will display the best aspects of their race and will often have a fairly strong power that is far above and beyond what one would expect. Known examples of this power include, the ability to pull meteors from Equss's orbit. The ability to cause volcanic eruptions. The ability to summon storms. The strangest concept of these powers is that there seems to be a finite amount of variation among them. It is not unknown for more than one god to have the same power as well. Supposedly the God of the Sea's Princess Aqua, and the Griffon God of Storms both possessed the same power in their time, but there is very little information regarding this time so it is impossible to know for certain. There are also powers that have only been seen once in memory as was the case with the Diamond Dog god's ability to pull rocks from the sky, and a known dragon gods power of producing smoke. While the latter has no clear use the former was shown to be quiet dangerous. Even the dragons smoke power was causing problems, proving that no god should be taken lightly no matter how weak they seem to be. As a sub note there are still members of the council who refuse to acknowledge what they deem to be lesser races that are ungoverned by a higher power. This has been a bit of sticking point with the council for some time The exception to this is of course the zebra's who were cruelly used by their gods for centuries and as such over threw and destroyed them to the point where they actively hunted newborn gods. Even the dissenters on the council will accept them if nothing else but from the fear of what might happen if the zebra's started to entertain the idea that all gods should be eliminated. More on that later. The next type of god is called the Inheritor. The Equestrian gods are of this type in more ways than one. A inheritor god is a god that has received their power by it being passed down to them or granted to them from an outside source. There are four known gods of this type in the world now. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna of Equestria. Grand Matron Steel Feather of the griffon lands, and Lord Spike the Dragon Sparkle, though he hates the title. The titles of both Grand Matron and Princess are passed on by the current bearer to the next in line that they deem worthy. It has been speculated that the powers can be stolen rather than given, though that has never been proven with any definition. There is speculation that the Natural Born gods can pass along their powers as well, though so far the only evidence for this is the Dragon God Spikes powers which belonged to a former dragon god who died at the end of the War of Night. No one is quite sure if she was a Natural born god or inherited so there is no way to verify. Inherited gods also tend to display the fully characteristics of their race as shown by the Princess having aspects of all three of the main pony races. Lord Spike also has this trait though his is less physical as that he has shown the ability to utilize all four types of dragconic breath weapons as well as a multitude of variations of them. The third type of common god is the Granted God. There are only two of these known to be alive at this time. One is the consort of Princess Luna, General Jer'rahd Kaisur, the other is the current leader of the Minotaur Race known only as Flex-a -Ton. Granted powers differ from Inherited gods as they are created through a ritual preformed using old magic. As the War of Gods has shown this way of creating a god nearly always results in tragedy. The creation and often the very existence of this type of god is a highly guarded secret and will be one of things edited from nearly every copy of this book.