What kind of powerful beings reside in Equestria? Does Tartarus have a pony Hades? What gave Luna and Celestia their gifts? What other ideas can you guys come up with... (can include long living creatures such as the princesses or anything that displays tremendous displays of power)

I'd like to think that the other races have their own Princess-like gods watching over them. Stops one side from roflstomping the other.

That's all I can think of right now.

Wasn't this topic already been done? Or did we just talked about the gods when we talked about the races?

The gods themselves do not really reside in the world they help craft, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. Above them all is the All-Father, below Him are the Four Seraphim, Helios, Gaea, Selene, and Caelus who are the gods of the Sun, Earth, Moon, and Sky. Below them are various other gods, some who are the patrons of the various races, others bond to the forces of nature.

For the ponies their patron goddess is Epona the Great Mother (she happens to look like the Fausticorn). The Alicorn are in a metaphysical way decedent from Epona.

As the inevitable religious wars, a race's patron deity is more likely to Smite the leader of the race they watch over than to support the war. Needless to be said religious wars are vary uncommon on Atlas.

It's my understanding that Tartarus, as well as being akin to modern concepts of hell, was also itself a deity, or recognized at least as a primal force. It may have its own embodiment in Equestria, Hades being the general lord of the underworld (also called Hades) and not specifically Tartarus. The entirety of the Greek pantheon could exist in some form or another. So many stories where ponies meet death out there—has there been one yet where a pony met Thanatos?

878961 Selene is called Luna in this universe and Helios Celestia. Also you should know that as matriarchal as this world is it dosn't have an all father, it has an all mother and her name is Harmony, also sometimes known as Faust, or the lady of order, and is an alicorn like being that is none the less far more powerful then Celestia and Luna combined, oh and her chaotic counterpart is called Discord and he... wait you already know him right?

878918

In my universe, I do have a set of Gods and Godesses residing over the universe.

Mostly works like this.

Birthrights - Law, Reality. They gave birth to the universe, Law creating its logic, rules and physics, while Reality 'drew' the universe as we see it. Reality presides over all Life in the universe, being its 'mother', while Law presides over the Gods of the universe, him being the 'father'. Reality's quite caring, given the form of a warm light, and uses a strange language to communicate. Law is perfection personified; cold, logical, calculating, and never wrong, holding the form of a perfect cube and speaking in binary. Their colors change to represent emotion, but their tone never changes.

Greater Gods - Goddess of the Night (Luna), Goddess of the Day (Undecided), God of Time (Time). Celestia isn't Goddess of the Day. Still deciding on this one. Time is obvious, he keeps track of how time passes in the universe, and works with the Goddess of the Night to make sure her agents strike down the right souls at the right times. Veeeeery punctual. The Goddess of the Night presides over Life and Death, and her agents work to bring souls to the afterlife on a punctual basis. Also employs Law's weapons to prevent threats to the universe becoming a problem.

Gods - Death (Reaper), Order, Logic, Life. These four Gods preside over the operation of the universe, controlling how things go.

Lesser Gods - Elements of Harmony, Scribes. The actual Elements, not the Bearers. Scribes are life forms that were born with some of Law's essence in them, making them a sort of 'halfbreed', and they write stories that can modify Reality's painting of the universe. Kinda like drawing over an original to make your own idea come alive.

Spirits - Ghosts, poltergeists, etc. The dead, basically.

Mortals - The living beings that inhabit the universe.

In my universe, there's also the possibility of someone being born under Law, rather than Reality, such as the Scribes. These Lesser Gods can only 'modify' Reality's painting, which can be promptly reset by removing the central character that the 'story' revolves around (Main characters in fanfics.)

All Gods have been around since the beginning of the Universe, some even before it (Law and Reality have been around ever since the First Creation, this Universe being around the Eighth.) Reaper's been around for two Creations, Luna four, Order and Life about six (they had original iterations for the first two), the Elements were created this iteration, as well as Scribes, and Time has been around as long as the Birthrights, being their first creation.

Gods can interact with the real world, but they operate on a strict set of rules. Reaper breaks them from time to time, but on a very small scale, namely, he doesn't randomly steal souls away. Pretty rough job. This interaction extends to a God giving themselves an immortal body, and interacting directly with Mortals, just like Luna.

As for Celestia, she's a halfbreed, born with a majority of Law's essence, but not enough to be classed as a Greater God. She sits on the level of Order, Life, Death, and Logic, so she maintains their abilities.

And more and more details that I'll likely reveal along the way of my new fic...

878998
My universe is what I explained in my first post. The big thing about my world is that it is in our world.

Personally, I'd like to think that Celestia and Luna only have their power as a result from their connection to the Elements of Harmony and they aren't goddesses in the traditional sense. The only character I think qualifies for godhood is Discord, since his power is seemingly unlimited control over reality itself, but I still like to think that he was just a mortal pony at one point. As for the other races... I don't really think they have a REAL god so to speak, but it's easy to imagine that they have leaders or heroes they worship or honor like gods. Part of my head-canon is that the changelings believe in the "All Mother" who was the first changeling queen and gave birth to the first changeling swarm.

879009

Intriguing, but considering that, the Elements must be immensely powerful. Probably calls for a very close watch by the Princesses.

The Elements capable of doing anything on their own in your headcanon?

879020
I don't believe the Elements have their own intelligence if that's what your asking, but they do have a sort of "rule" system that may make it seem like they do. To me, they are just artifacts of immense power, but they only work for someone who can truly represent them and can only be used for the sake of peace and harmony.

879047

Yeah, wasn't really talking about sentience, just relative power. What they can do when singled out from the group, for example.

Loyalty could incite more strength in Rainbow's wings, Kindness might shift the actions of others around Fluttershy, Magic might... well, give Twilight a huge power-up, etc. Could just be personality or mental effects, or physical, even.

I like to think of the Elements as turning that aspect of their bearer to the extreme, though. Rainbow's so loyal, she can't help but help her friends, and Fluttershy's so nice, she couldn't harm a fly. Rarity's so generous, she'd give up her own freedom to save a city, and AJ's so honest, she couldn't tell a lie to save her life.

Pinkie? Probably try to be friends with everyone, not really knowing an enemy infiltrating her inner circle from another pony.

879085
Hmm. I never really thought about that before. It's interesting concept, but I feel the elements are connected to them because they already act that way, They were chosen by each element because they represent it in how they live their lives. Perhaps the elements do give them some sort of "power-up", but I don't think it would be making them more like their like element.

879165

Fair enough. But keep the extremity aspect in mind, it's great Dark-fic fuel.

With every light, there's a shadow... and with every pro, there's a way to twist it into a con.

For my universe, it goes like this:

Primodials: Chaos <-> Harmony
True Foals of Chaos and Harmony: Discord <-> Celestia, Luna, Cadence and (more recently) Twilight Sparkle
Foals of Chaos and Harmony: Spirits <-> The ponies of three tribes (including the later Crystal Ponies)

The primodials are the true gods over the world they both helped to create (Chaos "helped" on a technicality).

The True Foals of Chaos and Harmony are physical gods or goddess but not demi-gods or true gods and they wield large control (in time) over the aspects they control.

The Foals of Chaos and Harmony are mortals but are capable of ascending to a True Foal, which Cadence (originally a pegasus) and Twilight Sparkle (originall a unicorn) did. Partial ascension results in Pegacorns and Earth pony-unicorn hybrids in the case of a Foal of Harmony and "Super Spirits" (I don't have a name for them yet) in the case of a Foal of Chaos. Cassia is a partial case as she was forcefully ascended.

Also, food for thought: Each world in this universe has its own "Chaos" and "Harmony", each with its own rules to the three tiers and ascension (what I've shown is for the world which Equestria is a part of). Now, imagine if our world exists (unlikely, given that the description Twilight gave for the constellations/asterisms hints that Equestria is on an Alter-Earth) in the universe...

It's easier to write a world when I follow this rule:
[youtube=ZLeqO23-TsU]

My headcannon is the creator of the universe (the place for stuff to exist in) is Faust, but the ones who broke supersymmetry and allowed matter to form were the Draconequi. These "Elder Draconequi" created the "Lesser Draconequi" (Discord's species). The Lesser Draconequi then manipulated the DNA of the microbes of the world, and evolved them into the various races of the world. Faust personally requested the creation of the alicorns.

Ooh. Interesting topic.
For Celestia and Luna to truly do the things they claim to do, they have to be incredibly powerful. I like to think they just maintain orbital and rotational mechanics for the planet on which Equestria resides, because that helps me picture how they do what they claim without breaking down from the sheer scale of it all, but I'm aware that my view is relatively rare and I've encountered a number of interesting alternatives in different stories- "Equestria is a plane rather than a planet and has something more like a celestial sphere than a cosmos analogous to ours", "those really are stars in the night sky and Luna (and Celestia in her absence) really have placed every damn one of them" and probably more. In the latter system it's hard for me to picture anything that would be on par with the princesses' powers without overlapping, but in other cases a larger pantheon might make sense.

I've seen a number of fanfics, probably most notably Dangerous Business, which portray deer and/or other woodland ungulates as Equestria's version of traditional depictions of fairies- mysterious, magical, playful, skilled in illusion, sometimes curious about "mundane" society but never quite in tune with how it works. It'd be interesting to explore their society- I think traditional Summer and Winter Courts might be a bit too close to aligning directly with Celestia and Luna as Day and Night, but perhaps they have Spring and Autumn Courts instead, with birth/death and growth/recession as the central matching themes without the complications of hot and cold. (Another thing I liked about Dangerous Business was the consistent correlation of horns and spellcasting within Equestria and surroundings- unicorns and narwhals are pretty darn magical, deer and pronghorns even more so, and buffalo are mentioned as having some magic, but so little that they're practically invulnerable to illnesses that attack it.)

We've never seen an ocean on the pony world in any canon medium aside from the map of Equestria that came out with the season two posters, so that's a very open ecosystem for fan creators to work with. I think if it follows the general trend of sapient ungulates running most of the biosphere, there probably are sea ponies, and I imagine they'd likely align themselves with Luna, as She Who Draws The Tides.

At one point it occurred to me that Celestia and Luna are specifically referred to in the opening of episode one as using their unicorn magic to perform the tasks for which they're best known, and I started to wonder whether there might be other alicorns who align themselves more with earth pony and pegasus roles. We've since learned from Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell that Princess Cadance was originally a pegasus before her ascension to alicornhood, but from what we've seen she doesn't really fill that role, being more aligned with the magic of love which powered her transformation. Still, that doesn't mean there isn't merit to the idea. The royalty of the Spring and Autumn Courts of deerkind would fit well in the earth pony role, with Spring being connected to birth and growth, the foundation of plant life, and Autumn being connected to decomposition and aging, integral parts of soil and rock formation. So what about the pegasi?

Chuckfinley's excellent Banishment Decree takes Gilda as the central character and establishes quite a lot of griffon lore through exploring her personal history. In that Equestria, the closest thing griffons have to living goddesses like Celestia and Luna are Chingis (a creator figure who's described as hooves-off with her creations, to the point of smiting anyone so foolish as to pray to her, in the style of the Lady from the Discworld novels) and the Four Winds, which are never really explained. A lot of fairy tales do anthropomorphize the North, South, East and West Winds, though, and while creating everything from simple clouds to thunder and hailstones seem to be simple pegasus feats involving working water into shape with one's own hooves and mouth (rainbows being a notable exception), pegasi are rarely depicted creating the wind, so perhaps four griffon-shaped wind spirits really are out there, managing troops of hippogriff zephyrs and always on the lookout for errant windigoes...

As for Celestia and Luna themselves, and how they got their powers, I'm going to cite Lauren Faust on this- she's said in Q&A sessions that she never wanted to define what Princess Celestia was capable of, even to herself; she wanted to keep her unknown and basically unknowable, the quiet and loving shepherdess of all ponykind with a plan and destination she simply hasn't shared. And I have to be honest, I love running with that. Except when something else turns out to be more interesting.

878961 There was one about religion, but not gods specifically.

Went to change comment... accidentally pressed back, lost a paragraph of writing lol

The following is opinion/headcanon only... though it does apply to my stories unless indicated otherwise.

The Firstpack are canine deities who gave Diamond Dogs the knowledge of digging. Lassie, Benji, Rin Tin Tin, all names every pup learns and every dog reveres. While the true nature of the pantheon is uncertain, entities who identify themselves as avatars of the Firstpack have been known to appear in great times of need to lead the Diamond Dogs to glory and riches.

As befits a quasi-insectoid species, changelings reproduce quickly. A single generation lasts five to ten years. As a result, much information regarding the changelings' origins has been lost. One name has been preserved: Rosedust, the All-Consuming Queen. Nothing is remembered of the queen of the flutterponies but her name, now attributed to a deity worshipped as the creator of the changelings, eternally ravenous for emotion and matter alike.

Discord worship is much more prevalent than one might think, especially among griffins, minotaurs, and other chimeric races. Whether or not the draconequus actually created them is a matter of debate; history of the Discordant Era is difficult if not impossible to verify. Still, the spirit of disharmony is revered by races that embrace aspects of chaos, whether they be conflict, change, or some other facet. Discord's opinion of this has yet to be made public. Rumor has it that he finds it amusing, if vaguely creepy.

i think chilest and luna may have ascended to devinaty like Hercules.

One idea I was toying with was that Celestia and Luna were the last surviving members of an alicorn and dragon pantheon, which was made up of themselves, their cousins, the rest of the family going back to a single ancestor (a unicorn who pioneered literal world-building and thereby ascended), and their dragon neighbours. Each member of the pantheon discovered their own laws of world-building, and were thus given custody of one celestial body each. They were allowed to rule it in any way they deemed fit, so naturally, most of them simply abused their powers and started wars and tortures for their own amusement.

Back in those days, Celestia was simply another planet-keeper. Her name was Jovia, after the world she was charged to maintain, and her sister Luna had not yet ascended. Luna was simply kept in her elder sister's custody - much to her chagrin - until she was old enough to be given her own celestial body. This was to be a recurring theme in their lives; Celestia would be granted power Luna herself never enjoyed, and Luna would always be following in Celestia's hoofsteps. Over time, this would grow more unbearable until Luna eventually acted upon it and recast herself as Nightmare Moon, but that was not to come for another thousand years.

As the second-eldest of the pantheon, Jovia was senior to all the others except Venusia, who was physically and magically more powerful than Celestia, but nowhere near as smart or as kindly. Jovia regarded her with respect at first, but increasingly that respect gave way to disdain when she discovered her cousin's love of brutal gladiator fights and her vicious attitude towards prisoners and dissidents. Venusia was loyal to the pantheon, and would sooner die than see it implode, but she was not above lopping off branches of the family tree and oppressing her citizens if that was what it took to keep the family from losing power.

Next up was Neptunia, a literally cold-blooded alicorn who had pioneered new forms of metallurgy and magical warfare, and was beginning an ambitious campaign of conquest and destruction. Neptunia was responsible for most of the pantheon's self-destruction, and her tactical brilliance in battle was rivalled only by her excessive bloodlust and mindlessly destructive habits. Neptunia would one day meet her end at Jovia's hooves when she unwisely held Luna's life hostage during a campaign on Jovia's own world.

Ascending the levels of power was Mercuria, a notorious trickster who was not above manipulating the other alicorns even into killing each other. She was also adept at covering her own tracks and throwing off suspicion, and kept her evil traits hidden beneath a jokey and bombastic veneer. Sometimes, she would don a costume and play the jester at a pantheon family gathering, and give out excellent mechanical gifts and jewellery made by the craftsmares from her world. Despite this, she was the most dangerous of the pantheon and manipulated both Venusia and Neptunia for her own benefit, using her elder cousins' strength and power in her own favour.

Lastly, there was Saturnalia, who was reclusive and well-meaning but ultimately driven to nihilism and despair as the other sisters began to destroy their worlds. She was a long-time ally of Jovia's, and frequently tipped her off before one of the other alicorns made a move. However, the death of her elder sister Martia - also an ally of Jovia's - drove her into depression, and Mercuria's taunting and trickery convinced the poor mare that even Jovia would become corrupted and go after her. Before the end, she would attempt to give Jovia nightmares in an attempt to drive her insane, only to be resisted and ultimately to be left to die of grief, despite Jovia's attempts to save her.

There were also various other members of the pantheon, but most of them were killed off as a result of Mercuria's schemes and lies.

The other species come in when Discord, a protrusion from the D-continuum, arrives on the scene. At the time, most of the sentient species were kept segregated on different continents, but Discord was the first to mix them up, and the only being ever to have done this purely for fun. He was also the first creature to ascend twice. He himself was once simply a dragon guardian, but then he began to mix and match his own body parts out of curiosity, and was renamed a draconequus.

Discord was ultimately a kid playing with toys he didn't understand, but his recklessness, combined with his astonishing power levels, caused several conflicts and wars, and when Discord discovered that he could harness the animosity into even more power, he began to give the alicorn worlds sideways glances. It didn't help that, having had no contact with the beings he was tormenting, he was utterly oblivious to what it was like to get caught up in conflict. Inevitably, his growing powers, his lack of sympathy, and his desire to meddle in things for his own amusement drove him to attempt a coup on the other planet-keepers, and because he was double-ascended, he had a power advantage over the lot of them.

The Mother, Queen of the Pantheon (actually the grandmother of all the alicorns, but named Mother out of respect) was forced to do battle with him and his encroaching chaos. She rewrote the inheritance laws before she went, appointing Jovia as her successor and regent until she returned from fighting Discord. This enraged Venusia, and Mercuria took advantage of that to suggest that the surviving pantheon form a tetrarchy in response. Unfortunately, Mercuria had already encountered Discord in person, and realizing this was not a foe she could defeat or outwit (because Discord was essentially her times ten), she swore allegiance to him instead. Even more unfortunately, Discord couldn't care less and simply warped her already-twisted mind until her plan was nothing more than the total implosion of the pantheon - herself included.

Jovia and Luna were shrewd enough to keep tabs on all four of the other alicorns, but were unable to stop the in-fighting that resulted. As she travelled from world to world, Jovia was forced to defeat each of them one-by-one, saving the inhabitants of their respective worlds and taking them to her own for their safety. Eventually, only Mercuria was left.

Yet they had played right into Discord's hands, and the divisiveness of the pantheon had bought him enough time to overthrow the Mother and capture the last remaining world - Jovia's, where all the surviving inhabitants had been placed for safety. Without the guidance of the Mother, and with the rest of the pantheon either dead or corrupted, Jovia led the charge against Discord and Mercuria...

And that's about as far as I've got. Presumably, Mercuria gets killed during the struggle, and naturally Discord loses in the end, but I haven't worked out the details yet. It was after the defeat of Discord that Jovia was renamed Celestia, and Luna acquired custody of the moon. Mother was not killed by Discord (he's not the killing type), but until she returns, Celestia remains a Princess Regent, and Luna a Princess-In-Waiting, hence the two princesses of Equestria.

881646 Great concepts, almost sounds like something you'd find in Greek Mythology or something like that, seeing as the show has a few allusions to it, is quite fitting

882023

Thanks!

True, I was going for a Classical-style pantheon, but with more in-fighting and political intrigue. Overall, I think it owed more to Roman mythology and politics than to the culture of the Ancient Greeks (give or take the fact that the Romans borrowed heavily from them in the first place). But the idea was that, basically, Celestia and Luna came from a very dysfunctional family.

882040 Well yeh, probably leading more Roman. Seeing as all the bad stuff wasn't caused by a very 'active' god... (who slept with his sister) 90% of heroes and cursed women were caused by good ol' Zeus in Greek lore. Dysfunctional families of god-like beings? Aren't they all?

880688 Now to have another brainstorm,

The planet of Equis is full of rich and vibrant history dating back eons. If the old books are to be believed there are five beings who protect and watch over all.

Nature herself was the first to breath her precious air of creation to form the trees and flowers that gave life to the barren land. Her creations continue to this day, the lush green lands of Equestria a sign of her continued presence.

The harsh deserts and lava fields were furrowed by the cloven hoofs of Terra, the cracked ground was symbolic of the strength needed to forge the mighty volcanoes and the deep caverns within the crust. He entrusted a lesser portion of his power within the dragonkin that made the earth their homes.

The chilling wastes of The Frozen North and the temperate waters of the Golden Sea were created by the eldest of the five, Torrential. His calm demeanor was like that of flat waves but could quickly grow into cyclonic waters. The sea ponies claimed dominion over the depths, much to the interest of the ancient god. He gave them a set of lungs so they could keep the oceans clean of earthbound filth.

Harmony was the next in line with her gifts of love, unity and friendship. She witnessed the bitter feelings of Equestrian life, the anger, hatred and the pain. Her words of wisdom were passed down from generations of pony-kind, held in check by her dutiful constructs the Windigoe's. After a long battle with her twin brother Penumbra, she separated her soul into six parts and used the power of mortals to banish him from the mortal plane. She remains within the Elements of Harmony, her duty to protect those who stay evil's hand.

The last and youngest of the elder forces was Penumbra, who forged the dark places beneath the surface. The realm of Tartarus was his alone to guard, the most fiendish creatures of power and evil were imprisoned here. He felt betrayed and seethed with jealousy at the hand he had been dealt. In secret he birthed many foul creatures to destroy the creations of his brothers and sisters. The most dangerous of them all were the Nightmares. Pony-like creatures with burning hooves and blood-red eyes, their combined might was enough to start a war that would ravage the land. Harmony sent her powerful Windigoe army against them in a clash that would last a thousand years before finally with the power of mortals Penumbra was banished. The dark lord was no more, but his plans would still catch many flies in it's webbing... for chaos and darkness will always remain behind closed doors.

Beneath these five were the alicorns, those of mortal blood who transcended above the rest. Ten of them exist today with a new arrival now among them, they are in order, Celestia, Luna, Terestrian, Fae, Nyx, Iridescence, Helios, Discord (Corrupted), Cadence, Siria and now Twilight Sparkle.

Sorry for the long comment, my idea sorta grew a bit... Man, would I get along with Twilight

884411
Ooo... creation story...

885211 Actually the world was formed naturally as were many of the early ancestors of pony, griffon and whatnot. My gods simply added a few details to 'liven' the place up a bit as it were. Order from the Chaos and all that jazz.

885254
Still. I've tried to make one up myself but just haven't been able to pull it off

885267 Ah right, yeh it's hard to pull of a good world creation story isn't it? I'm still messing around with my crystal pony creation story trying to form an easy to understand version... mine tend to get a bit complicated. Though I find that religious concepts of creation can help with all that stuff, heck some are just plain odd compared to what we writers can come up with...

885282
Yep

In my history of the world, the "gods" are beings of tremendous power who held dominion over the world for almost two millenia - from about 4500 years to about 2700 years pre-show. Although the planet itself long predates them, it was they who set sun and moon in the sky and restored life to the long-barren surface. And a majority of current species, particular sapient ones, bear greater or lesser traces of their meddling - not content to just resettle the surface, they shaped animals in their images, accelerating and directing their evolution.

Creation aside, the godly activity which left the greatest mark on the world today was their battles. Gods fought dragons, who had ruled the world in the barren times - although said matches tended to be quite one-sided, sometimes an old or cunning dragon impressed a god enough to be granted a bauble for their horde. Gods fought the Forgotten Ones who had ruled before that, raiding deep into their vaults and bringing out the ancestors of almost all modern species as plunder. And gods fought each other, directly or through various proxies and games - battles between dragon thralls were common enough to almost be a sport at one point. (Dragons find this era somewhat embarrassing, which sadly for historians means they pass down few tales of it.)

In the end though, it was the dragons and the mortal races who remained and the gods who faded to legend. it's still not fully understood why - certainly many were killed in their wars, and others are recorded as leaving the world or going into slumber, but historians often speculate at a greater cause - the current theory in fashion is some kind of plague which affected them but not mortals, or a predator who hunted them.

One thing known to very few learned creatures is that the steady motion of sun and moon weaves a powerful spell around the world, lulling the few gods which remain to sleep, or at least making them lethargic. Sufficient disruption of said cycle - say, by Discord, a demigod himself and perhaps the most inherently powerful being not affected by it - might allow them to stir - which would not likely be to the benefit of the mortal races.

Okay, it's time to necropost and share some headcanon. In general, I'm not a fanof creating mythic mythologies and divine deities for MLP world, so mine is quite messy... thanks for a reason to write it down and organize.

Despite the aforementioned dislike of MLP gods I have five generations of them... not actual generations directly following each other, but groups with a lot of common traits.

1. The Gods Existent. They are the oldest and have nothing to do with the ways of the modern world. In their times there was no magic so these being have power which works different way, more like presence and law of nature. Whatever it is, it cannot be drained, stolen or dispelled, has no resource or any other quantitative measure. And because there were gods when there was no magic world even then was not completely realistic as one may think. It just worked differently from the magic ponies know. But then...
2. The Gods Praised. These are the World Tree, its 12 children and a lot of minor spirits all over the planet. The tree had just appeared at some point from the seed which came from the realm of dreams, and as it grew it spreaded magic and changed the world, naturally breaking its old rules. The "regular" animals were created during this time and given full sentience similar to what remained in cows and sheep, clouds were made avaliable for lying on them, kicking and so on. But still there were no ponies, and their place of superior mortal species was held by deer "elves" who were made in the image of their gods and helped them to build the world (hence these gods are Praised). This culminated in a celestial war which they won, but had to made new sun instead the one they slayed, and with it came a giant barrier between their domain and the void outside which is the known sky. After this the deer gods chose to retire and leave the remaining work to their children. But they did not take into account how childish the children still were, and then...
3. The Gods Summoned. These are cruel, power-hungry beings, which could be described as living ideas who live in the realm of dreams and try to rip and devour all the other side. Windigoes, Pony of Shadows, Sombra and that spiky book with posessive spell - all of these are their work. Because not only friendship and love are magic, but fear, hate and other nasty things, and if a single powerful unicorn can manifest her anger and infect others by it, a whole highly magical species can make much worse. And they did, almost purposely, by deciding to have fun with all the abilities they achieved. The result was very unpleasant and the space for ponykind has ben freed and a lot of that beautiful and organized nature was destroyed and reduced to chaotic wilderness. Animals lost their minds an turned into monsters, griffons and dragons were marked with their significant flaws and alicorns who were minor species in the second era launched their own project to save the world.
4. The gods imagined. They reflect beliefs of yong tribes from the third era such as ponies, zebras and others. Some of them have little to no power like all pre-equestrian norse and classical pantheons of earth ponies and pegasi (because why do you need a thunder god if you can make a thunder by kicking clouds and why do you need a sun god while the sun is moved by these unicorns nearby?). Others are more real like zebrican spirits who were made just by the ways of their species' magic, or a sole abyssinian solar deity who inherited its power from ancient sun-moving (and of course holy but now broken) artifact and the sun itself.
5. The Gods Designed. Oh, this is simple. The Tree of Harmony is this. A purposely created entity with huge magical power and devotion to its creators. There are others around the world but they require too much background for this post.

There are the Spirits and the Immortals, both of whom have been called "Gods", individually accepting or denying such a title.

Discord is a spirit, Celestia and Luna are Immortals, Twilight and Cadance are neither (Likely jossed by the series finale with Twilight's ethereal form but I prefer my version because it mine so neh)

Spirits are of the Aetherial and not the Material, body and physical forms are choices for them and they perhaps have greater claim to the implied title of 'immortal' as even "killing" one merely lessens them. Immortals are firmly of this world, material solid beings. Against the implication of their names, they can die, though it's never easy and they are otherwise ageless.

Spirits can have children with material beings. (Almost) All children of Spirits are Immortals but not all Immortals are children of Spirits.

Discord's more accurate title is the Spirit Of Chaos, Freedom And Havoc, as he is supposed to represent the good and the bad side of the uncontrollable, but he chose to be bad. His opposite and brother is Order, Spirit Of Law, Safety And Tyranny. Their sisters are Harmony, Spirit Of Love, Friendship And Empathy, and Strife, Spirit Of Hatred, Conflict And Apathy. Their last sibling is Accord, Spirit Of Balance.

Their cousins are numerous, from the Elemental Spirits, Flame, Sky, Sea, Land and Forest, and the many Emotional Spirits, Melancholy, Rancor, Jubilee, Glory, Avarice, Desire and the youngest of them, the newborn Spirit Of Fear, Nightmare.

Celestia and Luna have peers. Cerberus is an Immortal Diamond Dog, once the ruler of diamond dog kingdom of Pluto until he dug into Tartarus and was struck dumb. There is Ahuizotl, Immortal Chubacabra. The Minotaurs had Ahribull before he was immolated inside of his armor, and now have the far saner living armor Heavy Metal. The Gryphons have the Argent Empress, born when a gryphon hen meditated under a tree for thirty days, died of thirst and hunger and her spirit was replaced by something enduring. Sombra was a Lich-Type Immortal, who also died and was replaced by something else, that something else going mad as it was unable to accept it was not Sombra. Mind, even before going mad, Sombra was always a bastard.

7197371
OK, I have to ask... if you don't like them, why so many?

7272020
I used to consider Discord something like that (albiet a petty one), but he turned out to be far too attached to one bodily form, so I demoted him to demigod.

Of known Immortals or Immortals of known races from my ‘verse:

Luna Moonmaster & Sundottir and Celestia Sunmaster & Moondottir are daughters of Order and Harmony respectively from a mortal mare, Laurel Huf (German, Huf: Hoof, Faust: Fist). Laurel was a tribeless pony who made herself into an alicorn, albeit mortal. Order and Harmony are merged with Sun and Moon, respectively.

Nightmare Moon was an insane amalgamate of Luna and the infant spirit of fear. Luna sought power to finally outshine her sister and tried to absorb the demi-plane of terror in the astral plane to make herself a queen. She didn’t know a nascent spirit was developing inside and the unwilling fusion drove them both mad.

Cerberus the Plutarch was the son of Avarice, the greed spirit, and a diamond dog. He was the king of Pluto, the diamond dog kingdom, and one of the stewards of the Celestial Wheel before he dug into Tartarus and everything went to Hell before the ponies took over.

Ahribul the Maddest Bull was the son of Rancor, the rage spirit, and a minotaur. He rampaged across the World until they blew up a volcano on top of him. He roasted inside his armor and his lifeforce came to inhabit it, creating the far more sane Immortal Heavy Metal. He acts as a guardian of the minotaurs.

The Argent Empress was born when a gryphon, Grizelda, fasted under a tree for thirty days and perished. Another soul came to inhabit her body and her lifeforce. Where Grizelda had desired order within, Grizeldottir desired order without. She sought to unite the warring gryphon kingdoms after the decline of Griffonstone. She brutally conquered the northern kingdoms until Celestia stopped her at Griffonstone.

Ahuizotl is an Immortal but no one is sure where he came from, save that he is a chupacabra. He has no interest in ruling, guiding or protecting his people and they have no interest in him.

Sabbata Waka is an Immortal homonculi made my zebra alchemy. She has rainbow stripes and is a candy mogul, employing a loyal population of orangutans as helpers.

The cows and bulls had King Haggard the Wretched, son of Melancholy, the sadness spirit. His son, Prince Haggarda the Red Bull, made himself Immortal to escape his father and grandmother’s depression. He became a mad creature incapable of doubt or remorse that tore down the kingdom of Bovaschia until Lady Amalthea of Unicornia ended his rampage.

Sombra sought Immortality so that he could fight the Celestial Sisters and spread his tyranny unopposed. He died and a mad specter with his name and face took his place.

Tiamat The Destroyer is the oldest Immortal. She often sleeps, guarded by a few of her dragon children. Other Immortals can rouse her awake and she will tell them stories. She will tell them of the past, when the Twin Suns danced across the sky and the Worlds danced around them, before the Elder Sun died and did so violently, its shrunken corpse entombed behind the Moon and made into a counterweight for the remaining Sun. She will tell them of the future, when the end of days draw near and the World groans in agony. She will arise and turn the days into hours, the groans into short, terrified screams and bring the World a last mercy.

7272138
This is a good question. Probably I dislike not the idea of MLP gods itself, but rather generic MLP mythologies like most posted there. They are heavily based around copying canon and closest implications like calling alicorns gods and giving every species a similar god of their own, or creating weird gods which represent some philosophical concepts similar to the Elements of Harmony like god named Logic.

7272930
First of all, thpffft!

Second, well, I dislike several things too. Grand epic creation myths, especially ones where, if Celestia or Luna are a part or descendant of it. They’re a measurable, repeatable phenomenon, rather than these incarnate goddesses. And certainly not the only one of that group, there are others. Not every race has one but given time a lot of races produce one or more by one method or another. It just happens. Special but also not. Some are older than the Sisters, some are younger.

As for spirits like Discord, well his name was on the nose so I figured if there were more like him they’d have names like his, spelling out a trait they embody. I’d make it clear that they’re not really gods either, they emerged from the World, not the other way around.

I just have a distaste for creator deities.

In my mind, most societies in Equestria and its world aren't terribly religious in the sense that historic human societies have been -- there aren't really any temples or churches, or universally accepted faiths. There certainly aren't holy texts or state religions. Part of it is that there isn't much of a need to try to explain how the world works when your next-door neighbor makes the weather, your other one has friends in the council that moves the sun and moon, and your cousins make the plants grow. Part of it is simply a matter of how pony mindsets work. Part of it is also that divine and semi-divine entities do demonstrably exist, have made helps or nuisances or themselves on numerous occasions, and aren't always the types to engender a great deal of religious awe. Religion mostly exists in the form of mystery cults, secret societies, and some oddball faiths on the fringes of society, but many of these groups have also existed for a very long time and aren't likely to go anywhere anytime soon.

Insofar as actual gods go in my personal headcanons, the earliest divine entities were likely the ones that created the world. Equestria's planet isn't old compared to Earth -- I don't have particularly hard headcanons here, but I tend to think of it as being probably more than a hundred thousand years old and probably less than a million, purely because I like round numbers. I also don't have very specific ideas about how it all started -- goodness knows the show doesn't -- but I like to think of it terms of Greek myth. The earliest things were entities like the protogenoi -- Gaea, Ouranos, Erebus, Hemera, Nyx, Pontus and Thalassa, those guys. To draw from other mythologies, Ymir, Abzu, Tiamat, and Pangu are also good examples of what I have in mind. These would have been vast, primal, probably not fully sapient god-place-concept-things that came into being through unknown means, interacted and fought with one another, and created the world partly as a way to have somewhere to stay and partly as a side effect of their own interactions. Whatever these things were they're not active in the world anymore -- they may be the world, in which case their inactivity is a good thing -- and are mostly a subject of interest for historical and metaphysical research without much relevance to most people.

Then you've got people like Discord, Tirek, and the other big villains. I always liked thinking of these guys as unique, primordial beings who don't really belong to any actual species, and were born very long ago in the early periods of the world. To continue the Greek myth analogy, these would be the Hundred-Handed Ones, the elder cyclopes, Typhon and Echidna and their brood, the three gorgons, and the like. These are beings who were born or created at various points in ancient history -- some very early on the earliest periods of the world, some much later but still in distant prehistory, a few even in historic or almost-historic times. When they resemble other creatures, it's usually either a coincidence or a sign that the species takes after them rather than the other way around. This category would include, as said, Discord, Tirek, Scorpan, the Sirens, Grogar and, if we're including G1 personalities, Squirk, Arabus, Crunch and Lavan. They're not the ones who built the world, but they probably go to the same family reunions.

These ones have much more of a following among mortal races than the distant primordials do. Firstly, most are still quite active or were so at some point this side of the invention of writing, which helps keep them relevant in the popular imagination. Secondly, they're much more prone to interacting with mortals and offering rewards for services rendered. Thirdly, at least some -- most notably Discord and Grogar -- were responsible for the creation of at least some modern-day sapient species.

To borrow 880761's idea, Discord has some cults among chimeric species such as griffins, tempered by the fact that said species are fairly aware that he made them either by accident, as a joke, or to screw with someone else. Grogar likewise has a following among several monstrous creatures -- a fair few changeling suspect him to have created them, way back when, to serve as spies and to sow fear, mistrust and paranoia. Grogar-homage, for obvious reasons, saw a very sharp downfall after the 'lings reformed. Cults to Arabus exist among several flying species, including griffins and pegasi, but he's also very popular among unscrupulous unicorn wizards; these tend to either view his as an actual religious figure or as more of a historic example, someone whose work is to be admired and mistakes are to be learned from and avoided. Sombra has taken a very similar role in the last thousand years, and there's increasing antagonism between the Sombra cults and Arabus cults for the faith and time of unicorn warlocks -- ironically enough, as Sombra himself kept a shrine to Arabus in his early days. Squirk is worshipped by a number of coastal and aquatic settlements, it's all very Lovecraftian. He's not very popular -- he's been trapped and sleeping for a very long time -- but Squirk cults persist in particular among the seaponies, out of the belief that when he inevitably returns it will pay to be on what they believe will be the winning side of the conflict. Crunch is followed by a fair number of diamond dogs, and arguments over whether his reformation was real or an insulting heresy have resulted in more religious conflicts than surface-dwellers have ever heard about.

Alicorns are a much more recent development. With the exception of Flurry, I see them all as having been born as regular ponies and having ascended later, becoming something like a "perfected" equine form. Luna and Celestia were probably the first -- their birth tribe/s is/are lost to history and known only to them; they'd gladly tell Twilight and the others if they asked, it's just never occurred to them to do so. Parabola may precede them -- records are spotty and Equestrian historians don't have her timeline down very well, although zebras have better records -- but their respective reigns almost certainly overlapped. Ponies are aware that alicorns aren't gods, but their immortality, sheer size, and obviously magical and transcendent natures mean that for most people on the street they're close enough for government work. Luna and Celestia are the main targets of this, simply due to their age. Celestia in particular, despite her dislike for being openly worshipped, is the subject of most of Equestria's pseudo-religious awe simply by virtue of having actively ruled it for a thousand years. She discourages actual cults and worship, but she's still the subject of the nation's not-quite-religious but still faithful awe and pseudo-oaths ("as Celestia is my witness", "Celestia knows where", etc.). Gods tend to be exaggerated parental figures anyway, and Celestia is essentially Equestria's collective mother figure.

For the other alicorns, Luna's absence and fall mean that she has a lot less to deal with on this front than Celestia does. Nightmare Moon had a lot of cults, however, and what bits of her awareness were able to trickle out of the moon encouraged them -- anything that fed her ego was good in her book. Luna's defeat and reformation within a couple hours of her return took a lot of wind out of their sails -- a few have hung on and insist that Luna is still the Nightmare and just biding her time or that she was brainwashed and needs their faith to return to full power, but it's all half-hearted at best by now. Twilight and Cadence don't have anything in this sense, but Twilight will end up in pretty much the same situation as Celestia as she ages.