Greetings to you, sirs and ladies, and allow me to humbly welcome you to the “Autobiography of Sir Pommel in The Times of Ancient Crystal Empire.” I am, as you may have guessed, Sir Pommel. He insisted on naming it so, although what we have in our hooves is clearly a memoir, rather than a more... let's say rigid, autobiography, see. Therefore, do not get confused, this is not a document, but rather a literary work.
Before we go on to my tale itself, I would like to clarify a few things. Firstly, a remark to those prudent enough to notice such details, I would have you know that at this day and age we do speak a rather different tongue from what was common in the days of my youth. I pity my editors here, as they would have much work rendering my writing into the modern speech for it to be more recognizable to you, readers. However, I specifically requested that some of the ponies I quote stay unedited. It is quite important that nothing is lost in transition, see.
Another thing you may or may not be aware of is that a thousand years ago there was a different dating system. The modern system begins with the Banishment of Nightmare Moon, while the old system was counting from the unification of the ancient pony tribes. The system was very much in use in the contemporary Crystal Empire. Consequently, the year of Nightmare Moon’s banishment would be the year 1487.
I suspect you would be also keenly aware that some of the locations I shall name further on may no longer exist. In modern times only Crystal City exists, but previously “Crystal Empire” was just that, an empire. My own homecity, sadly, no longer seems to be where I remember it was. Reasons for that I do not know. Perhaps the curse did not return the other cities, perhaps they were swept away by centuries of wind and snow. Sadly, my other contemporaries seem to have a rather fuzzy memory from the times before and my own account would be one of the last memories of the land that was.
Finally, I shall bid you good greeting and farewell, although I am sure my editor would have more to say.
As Sir Pommel suggests, I do, indeed, have something to say. Firstly, I would like to express my condolences to all late friends of Sir Pommel. This remarkable stallion has sadly, and unexpectedly, passed away a year before his book’s publication. Sir Pommel was working on an illustrations book to go with his work, sadly he wasn’t able to finish it in time. Sir Pommel constantly refers to his illustrations but he also has vivid descriptions to go with some of the pictures. With this, I join Sir Pommel and express my hope that you would find this, most remarkable, life story to your liking as have I.