Have you ever wondered how Equus came to be? How the great nation of Equestria came to be founded at last? How the other races came to exist? Sadly, most of that knowledge is lost to time and each of the ancient Alicorn race claims something different, their memories having been horribly tampered with during one of the many ages of chaos.
Indeed, there are many myths and legends about the creation of Equus. Most of them are false. Some of them are mistakes and others are outright lies. This account, however, was found by an intrepid archaeologist deep beneath the crust of the planet, in what appears to be the archive of Scolaris the Wise himself. Take it with a grain of salt, but this could be, truly, how our world came to be.
Perhaps... but we may never know for certain
- Archmage Silver Pentacle, C.R. 1858
(For the Most Dangerous Game contest.)
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In Greek Mythology, Thanatos was basically the Grim Reaper, aye. And Hades was Lord of the Underworld.
This is freaking awesome.
I love a good cosmogony, and this definitely qualifies. It's actually more or less S4-compliant, if one takes into account the alicorns' Lethean slumber.
Poor Thanatos. Next time, try equusynchronous orbit.
Also, I have to wonder about Cadance's origins. Part of me hopes she's one of Materna/Chrysalis's demigod babbies, because it adds this wonderful undercurrent of an insufferable, interfering mother-in-law to the royal wedding.
In short, loved it. Thank you for it. Good luck!
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As Professor Plum said, yes, Thanatos was basically the Greek version of the Grim Reaper. There's been a lot of mythological references in MLP, especially to Greek Mythology (at least there were pre-Season 3). It gave the show a very neo-classical feel and made it feel like it was based in some larger substance. Additions like Cerberus and Tartarus in "It's About Time" or the Hydra in "Feeling Pinkie Keen" or even just background elements like the prevalent columns and architecture seen in Cloudsdale (city of Pegasi, which are also a classical Greek creature) made the world feel very mythical.
A lot of this origin myth I took inspiration from Greek myth. Only one thing was directly lifted though, and it actually hasn't shown up yet. >_>
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Interitum is basically the pony version of Hades. Like the actual mythological Hades, he's a very gloomy, stoic character that is often looked down upon and feared, but he's in no way actually evil, and is actually a pretty decent dude.
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Thank you
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*shrugs* My friend said there was some sort of issue with Tirek, so I dunno.
I guess tragedy, but it's written (purposefully) in such a detached and storybook-mythological style that it doesn't resonate as much as it would if it were written in the more traditional, up-close style.
And even if it was S4 compliant that actually brings up another issue. If it's not AU then what do I tag it?
I ended up characterizing and fleshing out Thanatos far more than I ever meant to :/
My Origins for Cadance are directly ripped off from Greek Mythology and were actually foreshadowed in the text. It's the only thing that I ripped off 100% from myth.
Thank you! Good luck to you as well
Funny, that's the same picture I used as the cover art for one of my stories for a while.
The story itself was great, but damn, that's a lot of children.
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So it goes with mythologies. Usually there ends up being a whole pantheon springing from only a sparse few guys.
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The entire point was to be detached and sorta "storybook-ish." I kinda pictured this as something conceptually similar to the opening scene of the show. I mean, let's face it; just saying "over time the younger sister grew jealous because the ponies played during the day but slept through her night" isn't going into much detail about the actual workings of the event. And the hundreds if not thousands of fanfictions trying to spell out the details of the rise of Nightmare Moon are proof of that.
I suppose I could-have-should-have gone into more sexy areas. At the very least with the Alicorns having sex with the various mortal races. I dunno how much I would have gone into the incest thing (though it's worth mentioning that I did say that Ridiculum had a little fling with his sister). I guess you're right and I went through it far too fast. I probably shouldn't have given such a sense that they were living in some permanent state of peace and harmony, because believe me when I say I picture them all having a fair number of squabbles.
I will say that one thing I was considering was eventually revisiting this mythology and going much more into depth about the various myths and legends. If I were to do so, you'd see a lot more of the things you like.
do tell!
Finally got around to this. While not your best work, it does feel very much like a Greek myth in terms of style and content. My only major complaint in regards to these parallels is, as others have remarked, the relative lack of incest.
You can has review!