Codex Equus / Adaptational Badass

Being a Massive Multiplayer Crossover, Codex Equus gives the badass treatment to not only characters from all four generations of My Little Pony, but also characters from non-MLP works.

Ahuizotl is presented as a much larger threat, to the point he managed to clash with King Brachion in wits and power. In terms of personality, he was someone who only wanted to Take Over the World in canon. Here, he's an Omnicidal Maniac who wants to perpetuate the Cycle because destruction is the only thing that's appealing to him.
The various members of G1's Ponyfriends toyline are depicted here as 'Parental Deities' who uplifed their respective species to sapience.
- Queen Mzazi is the Mother of All Zebras, having been responsible for uplifting mortal Zebrakind into sapience, and is an incredibly powerful and ancient goddess who once shredded an armada with a lightning storm. She's also regarded as one of the most powerful and skilled divine alchemists in the world, having had taught many divine and mortal alchemists herself. She's also G1 Zigzag, one of the Pony Friends from G1.
- In G1, Satori was known as Cha Cha, a female Llama who loved ice skating. Here, she's reimagined as a bonafide Llama goddess who was born as Cha Cha in the First Age, but has since changed her name after Ascending to godhood under Mzazi/Zigzag's guidance. Among the powers Satori has are spirit manipulation, psychic powers, and meditation/yoga-based racial magic, which notably has spells similar to Unicorns'.
- Sultana Sahra' was known as Spunky, a female G1 Camel whose backstory depicts her as a lover of exploration. Here, she's reimagined as a bonafide Camel goddess who was born as Spunky in the First Age, but has since changed her name after Ascending to godhood under Mzazi/Zigzag's guidance. Among the powers she has are sand manipulation, magical navigation, and Camel-based racial magic, which is noted to be similar to Earth Pony magic.
- King Baarish was known as Edgar, an Elephant whose backstory depicts him as a lover of flowers. Here, he's reimagined as a bonafide Elephant god who was born as Edgar in the First Age, but has since changed his name after Ascending to godhood under the guidance of his friend Mzazi/Zigzag. In addition to being extremely smart to the point of being able to remember anything with clarity, he possesses strong water magic and is the fourth-strongest of the "Ponyfriends" behind Mzazi, Tiara, and Isati.
Queen Dazzleglow of the Glimmering Isles was originally a G1 unicorn mare that was part of the "Glow 'n Show" pony toyline. Here, she's a Sparkle Pony, a type of mutated pony that could manipulate light and stardust, and is an Alicorn (though she did appear as an Alicorn in the My Little Pony Tales series).
In canon, Thorax physically transforms into a Changeling King after defeating Chrysalis with The Power of Love, but is still rather meek, dorky, and struggling with being a leader. Here, Thorax's confrontation with Chrysalis resulted in him becoming a newborn Royal Changeling, the Changeling equivalent of demigod, and the 'Progenitor' of his own hive, which contains purified changelings. He has so much potential that he accidentally blasted Changeling King Zorpheus across Avalon with a magic beam that would have killed anyone else. When Luminiferous briefly unlocked his potential to fight Apertus during the "Revenge of Apertus" arc, Thorax emerged from his cocoon as a Changeling Emperor.
Prince Blueblood in canon was a boorish Prince Charmless who mistreated Rarity when they first met at the Grand Galloping Gala. Here, he's a clairvoyant unicorn noble who's the Commander of the Royal Equestrian Navy and a respected hero known for saving wounded comrades in heated battles; an excellent tactician and diplomat; and a skilled water mage... none of which showed up in canon.
The Equestrian Alicorn Princesses are more active than they were in canon. Even though they mostly handle the politics of ruling Equestria, they still participate in major battles if need be. BrutalityInc has stated in response to a question about their "uselessness" that they do help whenever they can, it's just that they have to tone down their power because they don't want to inflict collateral damage upon their mortal subjects.
Prince Léon, originally a one-shot Alicorn character who appeared in a French magazine as Celestia's very young cousin, is a divine Godling in the Codexverse, being capable of powerful empathy and divine purification. For one, he accidentally purged the current host of Mr. Hide, one of Ispita's Fallen angels, significantly harming Mr. Hide and defeating him. However, while he's got a lot of potential, he's still a toddler, so he wouldn't be fighting much for the time being until he's older.
In Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Jushtin Butterfly had brief access to magic thanks to his mother, Queen Skywynne, allowing him, having held high hopes for him as a potential King... only to be superseded when Skywynne gave into peer pressure and gave birth to a daughter, because her subjects didn't want a male ruler in a matriarchal kingdom. He was able to become a diplomat, but he faded into obscurity after that, with his only reputation coming from his being an "un-queen". As Jushtin's Expy, Sparkling Wing shows what could've happened had someone continued showing faith in Jushtin and giving him a chance to show off his own potential, instead of letting him fade into obscurity because of his sex. While Sparkling Wing wasn't able to inherit the throne from his mother, he still showed signs of becoming a great leader and king, and the influence of Luminiferous and his many adventures and good deeds were what eventually allowed him to become an Alicorn and a powerful mage.
Being inspired by the Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service team, the members of the Black Heron Corpse Investigation Team are much more capable and powerful than their character inspirations. Namely, their good deeds in helping the dead got them recognized by the Shinseina pantheon, who decided to "promote" them and turn them into demigods as a reward.
Depending on the Writer, the Emperor of Mankind is a Humanoid Abomination bordering on Eldritch Abomination, though it's implied in canon that he's actually a rather normal-looking human (albeit one with enormous psychic powers) hiding behind a glamour. Here as Golden Scepter, he's an ancient, bonafide god of Ponykind, Judgement, Leadership, and Psionics, is a divine 'prodigy' whose creations are so advanced they can only be crudely replicated, and has lived far longer than even most divines on Equus. Of note, seeing Golden Scepter's famous Power Armor made Crazy Ant go absolutely gaga. Before founding the Imperium of Ponykind, Golden Scepter's first empire was far more advanced than many other empires, kingdoms, and realms ruled over by his peers, which is saying something about how talented he is.
While the Primarchs, clone-sons of the Emperor of Mankind, have always been badasses, here, the Terran Princes are very much so, being powerful, legitimate demigods who achieved their own Ascensions in different ways. Presently, they have the potential to become full-on divines like their father if they choose to. They are also much stronger psychics than in canon since the Terran Empire is much more tolerant towards psychics in general.
Compared to Great-Aunt Charlotte, Scarlet Bell takes a more proactive role in the Codexverse than her character inspiration. Notably, unlike Great-Aunt Charlotte, she would get in a magical fight with her teachers as a foal, saving her classmates from being experimented on by them. And years later, the moment she discovered that her former teachers were in the same country as her and still preying on young foals and teenagers, including the young son of a neighboring family she knew, she immediately called the authorities and tried finding Midnight Bell, her grandniece, by herself after the latter ran away from home to save Page Wheel alone. She even punched a now-magically powerless Noble Grace in the face for all the horrific actions she had done to her loved ones during their public confrontation, something she doesn't regret.
Unlike Peter, whose magical transformation into a magic-eating Blob Monster was completely reversed with a spell, restoring him to normal, Crystal Prism was revived and turned into an Alicorn demigod after he was killed. Due to embodying Rebirth and Transformation, his magic is centered around light and butterflies, and since gaining his divinity and new powers, he has been doing a lot of good deeds in the world thanks to the benevolent influence of those who cared for him, despite the incredible trauma he went through. Notably, he played in a role in Button Mash's victorius defeat of CreepEntity513, and with the help of Luminiferous, Gavisus Manes and Audens Manes, he personally traveled into the video game realm to rescue Button Mash and all of the gamers CreepEntity513 had imprisoned and tortured over the Ages. He also participated in the "Battle of Hornbridge" event, where he and his friend, Midnight Bell, helped drive away the tribalist Scions of Hurricane and Children of Platinum factions from their hometown.
Sigvald the Magnificent in Warhammer is an ageless mortal whose powers were only made possible by becoming Slaanesh's favored champion. Here, Prince Stoltur Skjöldur, who is based off of him, is born a demi-divine son of an Evil Bogolenya Deer goddess of Lust and Pride through a mortal father, but eventually Ascended to true godhood.
Downplayed with Ruby Heart. In Story of the Blanks, she would teleport Apple Bloom to the safe edge of the Everfree Forest to make up for accidentally leading her into danger. Here, she was turned into a Psychopomp by the Three Deaths and became a "Confessor" who listens to people's sins and helps them earn repentance, with a few additional abilities like Intangibility and the ability to see people's sins in the form of bound chains. However, she doesn't have much in the way of combat due to being a ghostly filly, making her weaker compared to Mitta, who became a powerful Guardian of the Everfree Forest in the Codexverse.
Mitta, Ruby Heart's older sister, is a straighter example. In Story of the Blanks, she would suddenly intervene while Apple Bloom is fleeing the overgrown ruins of Sunnytown, holding off the zombies trying to get at the filly by herself. Here in the Codexverse, it's explicitly mentioned that after centuries of enduring psychological abuse from Grey Hoof and his followers, she would finally gather the strength to break herself out of the building she was imprisoned in as soon as she heard Apple Bloom's cries for help. And when she confronted Grey Hoof himself, she would reveal her hidden strengths for the first time by unleashing her plant magic and hordes of timberwolves onto the villainous Sunnytowners, further hampering their efforts to "protect" Apple Bloom. She would proceed to become a divine champion, thanks to Celestia and Luna empowering her as a reward from Pakak for breaking free of his curse and redeeming herself, and as Guardian of the Everfree Forest, she is an experienced and powerful fighter in her own right.
In canon, Twilight Velvet is only a supporting character. The Codexverse greatly expands on her personality, role, and abilities, turning her into a benevolent and fiercely protective noblemare who commands power, respect, and fear as an Equestrian Duchess. She is also an incredibly powerful Magic Knight with impressive magical talent and skills in swordsmanship, enough that she became Rarity's personal tutor when the latter approached her out of concern that she Can't Catch Up with her friends, who are either descendants of gods or have helpful mutations.
While Dragon Lord Ember is already quite badass in canon, here she is involved in a war (The Storm King Crisis) and helped avert catastrophe in two story arcs, the "Revenge of Apertus" arc and the "Dr. Toxikon" arc, demonstrating potential to achieve far greater things that some would like to see realized in full. She is also a proficient sword fighter.
In Greek mythology, Anteros is a minor god of Requited Love who's a son of Aphrodite and Ares, being created to be a brother/playmate for Eros on the reasoning that Love cannot thrive if it is not reciprocated. Canteros, his Codex counterpart, is the Preeminent/Primeval god of Requited Love and Reconciliation, as well as the eldest son and child of Amareros, who is the Grand Primeval god of Love and thus the most ancient Love deity in existence.
In the MLP comics, King Aspen was just the ruler of the Deers of Thicket, skilled in wielding plant magic. In the Codexverse, he's an Ascendant Godling, a powerful Seer (specifically, he's a god of Prophecy), and a prodigy in druidic magic such as animal control, nature manipulation, and potion-making. Of note, a group of Hydianite Covens suffered a decisive and brutal defeat at the hooves of a vengeful Aspen, who paid them back for what they did to his fawnhood kingdom by decimating them down to the last warrior, and then forcibly converting their headquarters into forest territory by sprouting trees, displacing and killing those who were in the area of impact.
In the MLP comics, Urtica is an ordinary Changeling librarian from Thorax's Hive who helps Princess Twilight protect an ancient document addendum from a treacherous Griffon Lord. Here, her actions combined with being in the presence of multiple deities during a public ceremony celebrating said actions led to her Ascension to demi-godhood. She also neutralized a surprise assassination attempt on herself by dropping an entire library's worth of books on her attackers.
Also in the MLP comics, Blacktip is just an ordinary Dragon bureaucrat who helped foil a treacherous Griffon Lord's plot to seize the land of Equestria. Here, he's a demi-Ryujin, the Dragon equivalent of a demigod, with powers based around teaching and passing on knowledge to others, as well as encouraging noble traits in others. He's also a decent fighter and very intelligent overall.
Mary from Dreaming Mary is implied to be a Reality Warper of some kind, a power inherited from her deceased mother, but is otherwise a little girl who is helpless against her abusers in both her dreams and the real world. Here as Rosy Dreams, she unlocked her psychic powers after trying to escape her abusive father multiple times, and killed 'The Chaser' with a psychic burst after losing Mr. Penguin in a Heroic Sacrifice (which references the game's 'Bonus Ending' where Mary kills the Chaser with a Hadouken). She successfully drives off and psychically injures Rose Knot's astral form after the latter tries invading her mind, and helps Sleep Well kill Rose Knot by luring her to a great demon that feeds on 'psykers' like her. And when she, Hopeful Moon, Gliding Butterfly, and Mercy come under attack by a Dream Demon, she is temporarily turned into an Alicorn goddess of Dreams, Guardianship, and Art by Hopeful Moon's accidental Super-Empowering, revealing she has potential to Ascend to godhood like many of her adoptive family members. However, it's downplayed as she's still a filly recovering from physical and mental trauma, so whether she realizes her true potential or not remains to be seen.
In addition to everything she did in My Little Pony 'n Friends, Masquerade also served as a spymaster under Queen Majesty and fought Abbadon, an ancient Fallen deity and one of Amareros' many sons. She also managed to Ascend to godhood at some point as Princess Maya Dolos Ponyland, and secretly involved herself in many historical events over the Ages before resurfacing as herself in the Fourth Age.
In My Little Pony (G3), Sunny Daze is a brave, athletic Pony who loves surfing and wears sunglasses. Here, she's one of the four Seasonal Maidens, with her holding dominion over the summer weather, and worked as a superheroine during the summer season. Under Luminiferous' tutelage, she would Ascend to godhood as Princess Soleia, the Alicorn goddess of Summer, Sports, and Rest, and become a founding member/leader of the Kaluan Pantheon once she revived the ruined Second Age island of Tropica, now called Pulau Tropika.
Prince Ivory Star starts off as just a ponified version of the Gentleman, being mostly a Flying Brick in terms of superpowers, though he does have a psychic connection with Innocent Heart that allows him to sense when his daughter's in danger and teleport to her location. After learning of his origins as a living psychic projection of a young filly's dead father and being forced to make a choice, he ultimately chose to keep the world's belief in superheroes alive, leading to him becoming an Alicorn god.
Besides his actions in stopping Arabus in canon, Knight Shade would go on to become an 'Angel of Death' after dying of old age, before Ascending to godhood as an Alicorn Prince. A Codexverse scene also has him rescue an imprisoned goddess from a long-destroyed pantheon, as well as fight two of Surtr's children and free their devoured captives, both living and dead.
The Dark Purveyors from Lollipop Chainsaw were superpowered Revenant Zombies with abilities that pertain to the music genre they're based on. By contrast, the Dark Purveyors of the Codexverse are bonafide gods.
- Lewis Legend is a superpowered elite zombie who can wield a guitar-gun and drive an elephant-themed Mini-Mecha, and is a Marathon Boss who takes seven finishers to kill him. Here, he's a god who embodies the harmful, enduring aspects of fury, especially when it's applied to things like music and technology. Lewis' Elephant-themed Mini-Mecha is depicted here as a powerful 'One-Winged Angel' form where he transforms into a gigantic, demonic, twisted, Elephant-like beast with pieces of technology forcibly grafted onto his body. He's also a skilled guitarist who was tutored by Blue Suede Heartstrings himself, and was a powerful Super-Soldier in his youth, which granted him enhanced physical capabilities, greater magic reserves, and deadly combat skills.
- Mariska is a superpowered elite zombie who can play the sitar and, out of the Dark Purveyors, has more mystical powers like illusions, teleportation, and levitation. Here, she's a bonafide goddess who embodies the consequences of Addiction, as well as the harmful aspects of Enlightenment, Love, and Nature. In addition to being a skilled musician who was personally tutored by Moon Ray Vaughoof, one of the greatest Blues musicians of the Second Age, she has even stronger Psychic Powers, can conjure illusions to Lotus-Eater Machine degrees, and is a 'prodigy deity', being a prodigy in plant magic in her mortal youth. She also has a One-Winged Angel form where she turns into a gigantic, enthrallingly beautiful butterfly-like creature, something that Mariska didn't have.
Donovan Baine is a Buddhist Dhampyr monk who is a master swordsman, has telekinesis, and can summon elemental spirits whose respective powers revolve around Fire, Ice, Lightning. In the OVA, he is strong enough to hold together a bisected cliff with Dhylec to save people from falling over. Here as Silver Bane, he can do all of the above, with the addition of transforming into a vampiric monster when under stress, which gives him enhanced physical capabilities and greater magic reserves. Once he accepts his half-vampire heritage, he gains a permanent power boost (along with a new appearance).
Glory from G1 is a Unicorn whose main ability to magically teleport herself and others by "wishing", though she does use magic comet rays to save Sparkler from being turned invisible in one G1 comic. Here, as Queen Magus Kawan, she's an Alicorn goddess who embodies Magic, Belief, and Friendship with a huge plethora of spells in her arsenal, and is skilled in fighting with a rapier. Her teleportation ability is described as one of her most powerful and dangerous, as she's not only exprienced in using Weaponized Teleportation, but she can also empower her teleportation through belief. Following the "Cosmic Prophet Debacle", she became an eldritch goddess whose powers became strong enough to affect eldritch beings with no ill side-effects.
Magic Star in G1 canon was an Earth Pony with no special powers, but was a Badass Normal and natural leader. Interestingly, her toy's backcard story showed her doing feats like enchanting a young filly with Pegasus wings so she could fly, having the Milky Way pour a glass of chocolate milk for the filly, and making a slide of stardust to lead the filly back home. Here, Magic Star (now Princess Magicum Ponyland) is the greatest enchantress and wand-maker in the world, and at some point, she became an Alicorn goddess of Enchantments, Wand-Making, and Faith. She later re-Ascends as a divine reincarnation of Plasmatio Equus, giving her an additional domain in Creation.
Though their canon counterparts are no slouches themselves, the Mane Six in the Codexverse are much more powerful and competent than they are. It later goes even further when all six of them Ascend to godhood.
- Much like her parents and older brother, Twilight Sparkle (now Princess Amicitia Sparkle Equestria) receives this treatment in Codex Equus. In addition to everything she did in canon, the Codexverse expands on them and ups the scale so that her feats are much more impressive. The Codexverse also specifies that she spent almost the entire show a demigoddess; it's during the 'League of Domination Crisis' that she Ascends to true godhood by realizing that friendship is essentially 'magic' itself, which allowed her to connect with and become the reincarnation of Mana Equus, one of the Thirteen Empyreans.
- Rainbow Dash in canon is the fastest pegasus alive, an Element of Harmony, and is the only one capable of pulling off a Sonic Rainboom. Here, she's a Rainbow Pony, a type of mutated pony that could manipulate light, energy, and rainbows, though she remains unaware of her full potential. Luminiferous is interested in unlocking her development so she could perform the Rainbow Ponies' fabled "Rainbow Warp".
Ragyō Kiryūin is a human woman whose body was heavily infused with Life Fibers, and was powerful enough that it took an entire school (including its own Absurdly Powerful Student Council and a scissors-wielding teenage girl who wasn't even an official student) to take her down. Here, her Expy, Silk Dawn, is an ancient, bonafide goddess of Primordial Light, Fabric, and Beauty who is a daughter of one of the oldest deities in the Equusian Galaxy, who took even more people to defeat in both instances where she is directly confronted. She also "stitched" the remains of an eldritch god to her own body, empowering herself even further.
Pink Diamond is essentially a goddess among Gemkind due to possessing a multitude of destructive powers, and following her epiphany, her powers changed to match her affinity for nature and life. While disguised as Rose Quartz, she proved herself to be a powerful warrior skilled in both sword and shield. Here, as Rose Regalia, she is a bonafide goddess of Primordial Light, Nature, and Fabric who is extremely powerful and skilled on top of being millions of years old, in addition to being a granddaughter of a Grand Primeval (specifically, Urun, the Light Primeval).
Rarity from My Little Pony (G3) was one of the show's stronger characters thanks to her Rainbow Wand, but was still a young Unicorn filly without it. Here, Rarity is not only an Alicorn goddess, but also an extremely powerful one due to absorbing the Rainbow Nexus to protect it from being destroyed by the Oceanaiads' suicide gambit, thus saving Equus's colors. Even before that, she served as one of the foremost defenders of both Unicornia and the Third Age's Ponyland following her Ascension, defending both places from threats like the Old Cryptan Empire and the Shadowpact Empire. Her duty as a Rainbow Princess was also changed from creating rainbows each season to restoring the world's colors so the world itself isn't destroyed from the sheer ecological collapse that would follow if all the colors were lost.
Unlike their canon counterparts, all of the Stardust Crusaders are more powerful and competent in this setting, as they all overcame their worst flaws and made different choices that contributed to their maturity. This especially applies to the Runaway Girl, who is made a permanent member of the group in place of Iggy and becomes a Stand user herself, and Hol Horse, who was originally intended to join the Stardust Crusaders after Avdol's death, but was made a Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain in the final product. The group is also not subjected to tropes like The Worf Effect or The Worf Barrage to make the villains more dangerous and threatening, meaning all of the Stardust Crusaders' strongest attacks are capable of killing, or at least severely injuring their enemies.
- Jotaro Kujo was a stone-cold badass, having a powerful Stand and the ability to stop time, as well as an excellent poker face. Unfortunately, what prevented him from stopping the bad guys easily was his advancing age, the strain time-stopping has on his body, and being slapped with The Worf Effect to make the villains he fights more threatening. Here, he doesn't have these problems due to massive changes in setting — while he still has a powerful Stand, he gains star magic instead, allowing him to hard-counter villains like Godly Brand by using gravity magic to burn through their time-based powers. He is also a skilled karate fighter, something his canon counterpart doesn't have.
- Unlike his canon counterpart, a bumbling gunslinger with very poor aim, this version of Hol Horse is not only a seasoned mercenary and assassin, but also a very good shot due to not undergoing Villain Decay. Of note, this Hol Horse gave Polnareff's Expy, Gracious Stone, an even harder time and severely injured Avdol's expy, Khadim Madh, who didn't rejoin the Stardust Crusaders until after they started fighting the last of Dio Brando/Godly Brand's minions. Once he betrays Godly Brand and joins the Stardust Crusaders, defeating Godly Brand's forces become much easier, with Hol Horse playing a huge role in Godly Brand's defeat and death by using time magic to strip his ex-boss's Stand of its time-stop ability. What's more, his time magic came from being the mortal reincarnation of Prince Tempus Finis, an ancient Alicorn god and an adoptive son of a Grand Primeval — specifically, Ourophion, the Time Primeval.

Adaptational Badass / Codex Equus

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