Codex Equus / Awesome

Being a worldbuilding Fix Fic for My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, there's bound to be a lot of awesome moments in Codex Equus.

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General (lore, nations, etc.)

The Cutesauruses of Sauropoda have had very few attackers in their entire history. Gilded Chalice, a griffon warlord, found out why the hard way. The result can't even be called a battle. This is elaborated on in this story, which shows their Queen more disappointed at how stupid he was than angry at being invaded, or even proud of being the one to kill him.
Queen Immensa: "Hmph...the thankfully few times I've had to crush a foe underfoot, I've indulged in a quip that they were lucky I didn't sit on them instead...but with this Griffon? I honestly think I should have done that, childish and unroyal as sitting on a smaller foe is."
Mixed with Heartwarming, the Bogolenya pantheon's origins. This divine Deer group was formed by Belyolen as an act of defiance towards his arrogant and emotionally abusive family that was made out of love for his younger twin brother, the dark Temnobog, because he wanted to give him a place where he was loved and respected despite being a God of Evil.
In the Second Age, a malevolent Dragon demigod woke up and thought that the Pony civilizations of the era would be easy prey for him with his draconic might and Semi-Divine heritage, and arrogantly bragged about it. He ends up getting blown out of the sky over Communist Bloc territory by a Hooviet supersonic bomber armed with a nuclear-tipped cruise missile.
Dragon Demigod: Ha! My teeth are swords, my scales are shields, my wings a hurricane and my breath death! What makes you think your little toys can fell the likes of OH MOTHER TIAMAT MY EVERYTHING - !!!

Characters

Amour-De-Soi

It's later revealed that part of the reason why Belyolen's group left to form the Bogolenya pantheon was because of Amour's doing. She was extremely disgusted by the Elternteil deities' emotional abuse of Temnobog, and helped Belyolen come to the decision to get his brother out of their toxic home. It's really saying something when even non-Deer gods show great displeasure towards the Elternteil pantheon's behavior.
Also mixed with Heartwarming, the fact that Amour wasn't disgusted or repelled by Temnobog's innate Evil nature, and genuinely wanted to help him recover his self-confidence by essentially serving as his therapist.

Belyolen, the Radiant One

Belyolen, was born to be The Paragon of his family and was lavished with love and praise for it, while his "evil" twin brother, Temnobog, was emotionally abused and shunned for being Belyolen's cast-off. Despite his innate compassion, Belyolen eventually got fed up with the toxic behavior his family and friends were exhibiting, and after receiving some encouragement from Amour-De-Soi, he shocked his family by confronting them, announced that he and Temnobog would be leaving to form their own pantheon, and called everyone out on their abusive and petty hypocrisy. And while mixed with Tear Jerker, the final clincher would be Belyolen shaming himself for letting his parents form his opinions on Good and Evil, as well as his own inaction towards Temnobog's emotional abuse. This would result in the Elternteil Deer pantheon splitting up - several of Belyolen's brothers and sisters, ashamed and guilty towards what they themselves had done to Temnobog, would join him in forming the Bogolyena Deer pantheon, while the rest would go another way form the Hoyklan Deer pantheon, which would be led by the divine moose, High King Kaldr. This incident shows the strength of Belyolen's character; his father, High King Irminsul, purged him of all his flaws so he would become a God of Good and develop the righteous hatred of anything evil like the other divine Deer. However, the plan horribly backfired, as even without flaws, Belyolen wasn't blind to how everyone was mistreating Temnobog and rebelled against his family anyway. Not only did Belyolen prove himself to be a true paragon, it also revealed the hypocrisy of his fellow gods' "benevolence" in rejecting and mistreating someone who really hadn't done anything evil in the first place.
In one incident, a bunch of hot-headed divine allies of Poena tried assassinating Temnobog under the deluded belief that the Deer God of Evil's death would "save" Equus. Belyolen responded by swiftly defeating the would-be assassins, but he gave them another chance by stating that he's willing to forgive them if they would stop attacking his twin brother. Unfortunately, the same gods would try again, going after Belyolen's surviving nieces and nephews, the Four Terrors, as well. Now out of both mercy and patience, an incredibly disappointed Belyolen would give Temnobog and the Terrors his full permission to punish their attackers as they saw fit, which they gleefully did.

Blood Fang, the Dark Conqueror

Blood Fang, despite being the evil reincarnation of his heroic ancestor, Blood Feather, and being regarded as one of the most feared villains in his homelands, is treated as a central figure of Hyrule's stories and legends for a reason.

He played the evil usurper Malus Tenebris, the Expy of Zant, like a fiddle by appearing to him like a god and "blessing" his fanatic worshiper so Malus could do his dirty work. Then, when Malus's plans to conquer Hyrule and plunge Equus in twilight were made clear, Blood Fang sabotaged his pawn and left him at the mercy of Gleaming Shield and his then-current ally, the usurped Queen Onyx Flare. It would've been an awesome moment if Malus didn't use his magical bond with Blood Fang to kill him by snapping his own neck in despair and revenge.

Blue Suede Heartstrings, the King of Music

Being based on Elvis Presley, one of the most famous and most recognizable rockstars of all time, Blue Suede Heartstrings shows what could've happened if he became great and stayed great, instead of letting himself go down the drain as his real life counterpart had.

The fact that Blue still kept to his values of humility and compassion even while living the high life as a celebrity, which tends to be full of debauchery, hedonism, and other vices. Despite being surrounded by people who became arrogant and cruel from their successes - including some of his own friends - Blue never let himself develop the same hubris and swore to never follow their examples. It got to the point where, after he met Luminiferous during a low point in his life and started traveling the world, he became an Alicorn and gained the divine domain of Humility.
While holding a concert post-Ascension, Blue noticed a group of tribalists terrorizing and attacking his fans. Tribalism/racism being one of his triggers, he confronted the tribalists despite their threats to ruin him, and proceeded to sing one of his old songs, "Hound Dog", as a "The Reason You Suck" Speech dedicated to them. This enraged the tribalists so much that they tried attacking him instead... only for Blue to turn the fight into an impromptu yet highly-acclaimed performance that left the tribalists bruised and completely humiliated, while his fans raved.
Blue Suede Heartstrings: (to the tribalists) You can knock me down, step on my face... Heck, you can slander my name all over the place. You can do everything that y'wanna do to me, but fer Heavens' sake, stop this nonsense an' lay offa my friends, ya yellow-bellied squares!
In another post-Asecension incident, Blue disguised himself as a mortal Deer stag and persuaded a few Deer from the Alvslog Deer Herds to abandon their prideful, racist, reactionary, and self-righteous ways while still keeping their love for nature. The fact that he succeeded despite attracting the wrath of the Elternteil Deer Pantheon - or perhaps because of it - makes it that awesome, especially when it showed that the Elternteil Deer deities' arrogance and contempt towards non-Deer races and their ways are putting them at risk of being overrun by the progression of the outside world.
In the Second Age, Blue (who was then a mortal) heard news that a few tribalists brutally lynched a teenage Earth pony colt, Garden Spade (who is the expy/ersatz of Emmett Till), for supposedly whistling at a unicorn mare, and were allowed to go free by the judges who tried them. He was so furious that when reporters asked of his opinion, he delivered a scathing public speech towards the people responsible for the cruel act as well as those who willingly turned a blind eye to it out of racism and/or cowardice. It was noted that this was one of few instances where Blue showed clear anger and upset instead of his usual Tranquil Fury, and became one of the factors in his development of hatred towards tribalism/racism in general.
Blue Suede Heartstrings: (angrily) What do I think of the lynching? I think it was a STUPID and CHILDISH and SENSELESS act. If those two hot-blooded fellas actually CHECKED what that poor colt was doin' instead of trustin' a horned mare's words an' goin' after him with barbed wire an' a loaded gun, an innocent life would've been spared. Now, I can't say anything that'll offend the King in Heaven, but anyone who does something so AWFUL like that and thinks it's okay doesn't DESERVE t' be called a 'good citizen of Ponyland'. Same for those who turn a blind eye an' let their fellas commit such acts because they don't like certain folks or have the heart t' speak up.

And as for those who killed that colt, an' the judges who let those same killers walk away free... You fellas oughta be ASHAMED of yourselves.
In the Fourth Age, a group of Griffon Autorists attacked an Abyssinian settlement for no reason other than to subjugate inferior races to their superior and honorable culture. Blue confronted them and initially tried getting the Griffon Autorists to leave the Abyssinians alone peacefully and diplomatically, but the Griffon Autorists refuse to listen to him and continue spouting their racist beliefs, causing Blue to gradually get angrier and lose his patience with them. After one more attempt results in the Griffon Autorists deciding to make him their first victim for defying them, Blue snaps and heralds his true Alicorn form with a powerful sonic scream, presumably leading to a righteous beatdown for the Griffon Autorists.
Blue Suede Heartstrings: Now fellas, I can understand anger where it's warranted, but in this case, it's not. You hooligans have caused QUITE a bit of trouble here, terrorizing the innocent folks here for merely existing. So please, kindly stop this nonsense and leave this place before more people get hurt.
Griffon Autorists: Who are you to tell us what to do, Pony scum? We are the master race of Equus! And we bow to NO ONE!
Blue Suede Heartstrings: Master race? I see no master on this planet, save for the King in Heaven. Now leave. Don't force me to take drastic action against you.
Griffon Autorists: There will be no 'King in Heaven' but us once we're done with all inferior races on this planet! It is our sacred duty to spread our honorable culture over the uncivilized curs! Now move aside! Unless you want to join those mewling, cowardly hairballs!
Blue Suede Heartstrings: ...I think you misunderstood me. Get Out!. NOW.
Griffon Autorists: Pfft, foolish cur! You're outnumbered! Ready your weapons, men! This Pony scum will serve as an example for those who defy us!
Blue Suede Heartstrings: I said GET OUT!!!
During a tribalist attack on the School of Friendship, after overhearing members from the Children of Platinum faction spout their racist beliefs in front of the terrified students, Blue would confront the unicorn tribalists and admonish them for saying such things to young children. He was even reportedly seen covering one of the students' ears while doing so.
Blue Suede Heartstrings: Now fellas, that's QUITE ENOUGH from you. I don't even wanna HEAR another nasty name or ugly word come out of your mouths EVER AGAIN.
During a conversation with Lamperielpida, a Poenan goddess, Blue calls her out for enabling her mortal followers' fanaticism and other worst traits by using religious faith to encourage them to justify their actions with self-deception and excuses, while ignoring their own moral bankruptcy. An angry Lamperielpida accuses him of not preaching the "King in Heaven" to the masses like she is despite worshiping him... but this gets Blue rather angry, and he proceeds to give her a brutal deconstruction of her beliefs and behavior by comparing them to tribalists. This reveals how utterly hypocritical Lamperielpida was in accusing Blue of not doing something she herself isn't doing properly. What's more awesome is that Blue's speech expands on Applejack's earlier "The Reason You Suck" Speech by showing the consequences of the "faith" Lamperielpida preaches and what it could mean for her and her followers in the long run; she could only come up with a feeble response, knowing that both he and Appejack are right yet doesn't want to acknowledge it.
Blue Suede Heartstrings: Faith is more than believin' in somethin' like a cause or a person, ma'am. It's like havin' complete trust and confidence in somethin'. Think of it as havin' a friend - you love 'em, you trust 'em, and you have confidence that your friend can support you as much as you support them. To pick you up when you're down and make sure that you're doin' okay when the goin' gets tough.
Lamperielpida:Then does that mean you understand what our mission and purpose is, then? To bring faith, hope, and justice to those who are helpless and downtrodden?
Blue Suede Heartstrings: Yes... and no. I know you have good intentions, ma'am, I really do. But you're forgettin' one thing about faith - helpin' somebody recognize their flaws by pointin' out their mistakes, and teachin' 'em to become better. I know we all ain't perfect, no one is, but we can at least try to do good even when we're tempted. And if it gets hard, our friends will be there to help. I understand you wanna do that for others... but what I DON'T understand is your use of faith as a way to teach 'em how to be high and mighty about what they're doin' and ignore all their flaws and mistakes when confronted on them! This is not true faith you're preaching, ma'am! You're ENABLING them!
Lamperielpida: How DARE you accuse me of spreading lies and blasphemy?! There are too many people out in this world who are left without anything to hope for in their darkest days, and I'm only doing my best to help them! You claim to worship this... this god you call the 'King in Heaven', but I don't see YOU preaching about him to the masses!
Blue Suede Heartstrings: That's 'cause I don't WANNA be all high and mighty! I don't wanna brag and boast 'bout how the King in Heaven is a great guy and everyone should follow him! My Ma and Pa raised me BETTER than that. It'll break their hearts if I started gettin' all uppity, and I KNOW it'll offend the King in Heaven if he were to see me doin' it, too. The King in Heaven may not be perfect himself, but at least he knows it and TRIES to do good when he is tempted. THAT'S why I follow him. I'm no preacher. I'm no good at doing their fancy word stuff like Written Word or Star Echo. I'm just an entertainer. I only teach folks how to follow the values and examples shown by the King in Heaven, nothing more. [...] You know what I think about your faith, ma'am? I think it's no different than those TRIBALISTS I had to deal with back in my day. Goin' after certain folks they didn't like for some reason and doin' HORRIBLE things to them, all while pattin' themselves on the shoulder for a job well done, only to get all uppity when called out on their actions. And instead of realizin' the error of their ways and gettin' better, they lie to themselves and tell each other what they're doin' is right, enabling the ugliest sides of themselves until they become utter monsters. THAT is what I'm seein' in you and your followers, and frankly, I'm ASHAMED of the fact that you think you're doin' the same thing as me and other folks who know what REAL faith is. Ever wonder why folks yell at you and even beat up your followers? Well, look in the mirror and tell me your answer.
Lamperielpida: ...You'll see our side someday. You'll see.
Blue Suede Heartstrings: I probably won't, and frankly, ma'am, I hope that day NEVER comes. There's still a chance for you to think about everything you've been doin' and become better, because I know that more than anything, you wanna help others and put a smile on their faces. But until you take that chance... don't you EVER come to me and talk to me 'bout doin' somethin' you're not even doin' yourself.

Celestia, the Sunraiser

As an immortal Alicorn goddess and one of two ruling Princesses of Equestria, Celestia has a long list of awesome moments garnered in her lifetime.

During a day in her court, Celestia took notice of a white unicorn colt who looked particularly sad, tired, and depressed. After learning of the emotional abuse that was being heaped on Blueblood, Celestia would show off her Mama Bear side by adopting him, and declaring House Platinum persona non grata in her court. When Blueblood's parents protested, Celestia would make it quite clear that she would not allow any mistreatment of a foal to occur under her roof before having her Day Guards escort Blueblood's parents out.
Blueblood's mother: You can't just take our son!
Celestia: You're right, I can't. Or rather, I could, but I would never... but I can have the entire child services department do an in depth investigation of your parenting and little Blueblood's home life. And they have declared it, and I quote, an 'incredibly toxic and abusive environment unfit to raise any child.' There is a very long, detailed list of transgressions in their report, which I have read several dozen times to ensure I was not misreading it. My assistant will provide you with the complete transcript. A proper trial will of course happen, but with the evidence provided it has already been declared that Blueblood spending another moment in your home would be detrimental to his mental and spiritual well-being. I suggest you hire a good lawyer.

Crystal Prism, the Butterfly of Rebirth

Despite the trauma he would suffer at a young age, Crystal Prism is already on his way to becoming an exemplary individual.

After Button Mash defeated and killed CreepEntity513, it turns out CreepEntity513 is a Load-Bearing Boss, which results in its video game realm falling apart. Unfortunately, Button Mash loses his Alicorn form as his Ascension was temporary. Cue the arrival of Crystal Prism, who was sent by Luminiferous to retrieve Button Mash, as well as the living and dead gamers from inside. The awesome thing is that Crystal managed to rescue all of them, allowing two of the "Three Deaths", Gavisus Manes and his older sister, Audens Manes, to take all the dead gamers to their respective afterlives while the living gamers would get psychiatric help to recover from what they went through.

Dr. Endless Dreams, the Horror Eater

Even in a setting filled with horrors and gods, Dr. Endless Dreams serves as a strange example demonstrating that mortals can still not only sting, but rise from their seemingly bug-like insignificance to rival and even surpass them.

How Endless Dreams became 'The Horror Eater': when the Cult of Ymlezt'xix tried to summon their eldritch god back into the real world using her as its host body, rather than letting her mind be shattered and soul be absorbed, Endless Dreams not only resisted assimilation with sheer force of will, but overpowered and assimilate the the eldritch god back, consuming it, taking its powers and nature and in the process becoming an eldritch goddess herself. That's right, mares and gentlecolts: against all odds, Endless Dreams, an ordinary mortal, managed to completely subvert a Cosmic Horror Story!

Elske Titanna

Despite being a motherly Jotunn goddess, Elske can be still as deadly as her older, warmongering sister

When her magical empathy caught wind of the hatred being sowed by cultists of the god Propagare between two mortal Deer kingdoms in her realm, she immediately set out to stop it herself. Much like the battle between Queen Immensa and Gilded Chalice, it ended badly for the enemy side - one army was completely stomped on when she arrived, while the other army was sat on, just so Elske could explain Propagare's deception to the Deer citizens. As for the cultists? They were slowly crushed to death underneath her hoof as they begged for mercy, showing Deerkind what happens to those who gave in to hatred. Then she got rid of all the hatred Propagare tried stirring with a strong blast of love throughout the realm, causing everyone to celebrate her victory and make love all over the streets at the drop of a hat.
Khakiston, the Giant god of Amoral Warriors, Military Dictators and Warmongers, decided one time to try and court Astrid again by going after Elske, getting his associate Censura to arrange the kidnapping of Elske's adopted children so he could share them with Astrid as "snacks" despite Astrid only seeing him as a completely Abhorrent Admirer and being in fact enraged by the attempted kidnapping. Cue Elske, pissed off beyond comprehension, stomping over while LITERALLY burning with rage and beating the absolute living crap out of the smaller Giant Divine (even more viciously then Astrid was doing) and warning him to stay away from her kiddies, before jumping high in the air, enlarging herself even more and flattening him with her rear (and Astrid as well, though she apparently had it coming, too).

Flœrð, the Maker of Mischief

The benevolent adopted son of Kaldr, High King of the Hoyklan Deer Pantheon, shows just what happens when you make a Trickster God with illusion, shape-shifting and size-shifting abilities out of a Jotunn Divine:
- Flœrð was once challenged in a contest by a conquering, power-mad Deer Runelord who demanded that he 'show him the path into divine power' if the Runelord won. Naturally, Flœrð has no intention whatsoever to let the Runelord win by playing fair, but was forced to forfeit when the Runelord caught him cheating. Still, Flœrð was able to avert disaster and have the last laugh. As per the bargain, Flœrð directed the Runelord and his fleet of longships carrying his armies to sail up a river and into a large cavern by a mountainside, where supposedly divine power is contained within. Flœrð neglected to mention that he happened to BE that mountain in disguise, at his true size, and the cavern was in fact his open mouth. Cue Flœrð swallowing the Runelord and his entire force in one gulp. As noted by Flœrð, he technically fulfill his side of the bargain; it's just that he interpreted 'the path into divine power' as 'straight into the endless bowels of a Jotunn god'. Then he ate the Runelord's evil empire for good measure.
  Flœrð: Hubris and blind loyalty had never tasted so good.
- In another case, he dealt with a minor pantheon of Fallen deities and a flight of Fallen dragon demigods in a similar way. First, he played both sides into thinking the other is out to get them, then worked his way into their confidence as their trusted ally (Presumably in disguise), and then convinced them to an outrageous plan of hiding inside his belly while he goes deal with the other faction, which they agreed to. With both sides out of the way, he goes to clean up their territories starting by rescuing all the oppressed populace and enslaved innocents they have, ending with eating everyone and everything else that's left in all the wretched hives and corrupted kingdoms and picking the places clean down to bedrock. That's right, he's so good a Charm Person and Manipulative Bastard as the Hoyklan god of deceit and mischief he can convince his enemies into letting him eat them. And they STILL haven't figured out they had been duped after all that time trapped in his guts.
The fact that despite being prophecised to bring about the Hoyklan Pantheon's Ragnarok, thanks to Kaldr's and Haust's upbringing, Flœrð not only flatly refuses to play any part in it, but actively fights to make sure it never happens by becoming a heroic Trickster God. Leads to an awesome moment in its own right: a group of Fallen deities, presumably unwitting pawns of the 'Shadowed Ones' approached and enticed him to try bringing about 'Ragnarok' as he was meant to do. At first, it appeared that he agreed... but in reality he used this opportunity to learn about their plans, then back-stab them at first opportunity.
Kaldr and Haust's efforts to raise their boy right paid off massively, as despite being a Chivalrous Pervert who Really Gets Around, unlike his predecessors Flœrð too treats all his partners and children with utmost respect and love. This leads to another Awesome/Heartwarming moment down the line when this in turn pays off as prior to the Hoyklan Deer Pantheon's climatic confrontation with the Shadowed Ones, a WHOLE ARMY of Flœrð's children and grandchildren answered his call for aid, significantly bolstering their forces for the Final Battle.

General Pincer

Due to General Pincer being... well, an experienced ex-General who is now the leader of his own mercenary company, he has been collecting a lot of awesome moments.

The very fact he was able to maintain any sort of morality (even a professional/pragmatic one), in Chyrsalis' Hive, let alone instill that in his troops. Knowing what kind of regime Chrysalis ran, that's impressive.
After getting a base to operate from, a vizier rose a stink about mercenaries on his borders. These stopped when he found his personal yacht surrounded by "dolphins"...that turned into Changelings, boarded his ship, and held him in the brig for two days. The vizier suddenly became much more accommodating to Pincer's mercs.
Pincer's rather unprofessional answer to the Storm King's offer, delivered by crystal ball, was, "As my daughter would say, 'blow it out your ovipositor'," before throwing the crystal ball in the Storm envoy's face and blasted him out a fifth-floor window! His mercs were deployed to fight the tyrant immediately. He and his mercenaries would then prove essential in liberating Las Pegasus, proving their worth in battle and becoming heroes the world over.

Golden Scepter, the Radiant Emperor of Ponykind

His entry notes that at one point in the Fourth Age, a group of Pony Autorists attacked his empire, targeting his non-Pony subjects. He would go confront them, but instead of giving the Autorists a harsh punishment for their actions, he instead chose a more merciful yet equally effective option by showing them the pain and suffering they inflicted upon their victims, causing many of them to instantly surrender out of guilt and shame for what they had done. The only exception was the leader of the Autorist group, a genuinely repulsive and unrepentant bigot who was imprisoned and punished for her crimes. When confronted about it by his firstborn son, Prince Blazing Hoof, who thought his Father let the Autorists off easy, Golden Scepter simply responds that 'hatred only begets hatred' and points out that save for the mare he imprisoned, all of the Autorists had only been led astray by hatred and bigotry, so the only thing they needed was a push in the right direction. It really shows just how far Golden Scepter had come in terms of Character Development in comparison to how he behaved in the Imperium era, where he would have harshly and ruthlessly punished all of the Autorists regardless if they were truly in it or not.
Prince Blazing Hoof: Do you think they would sufficiently learn from that, Father?
Emperor Golden Scepter: Oh yes. Unlike that genuinely repulsive and unrepentant mare who now resides in my dungeons, her followers had been simply led astray. By giving them empathy, they would feel the pain of remorse and guilt that would inevitably follow. For that is my final judgement upon them - for every life they had taken and ruined, they would live each day with the true horrors their hatred and bigotry had wrought, never able to truly forget them as long as they live. The only way they can brighten their dreams and atone for their sins, is to go out into the world and sin no more.
Mixed with Funny, one incident had Golden Scepter be confronted by Poena, the goddess of Punishment, and a small group of her followers for decrying them publicly as deluded extremists. He proceeded to utterly wipe the floor with them... then Katharsis showed up shortly after to take pictures of the losers, confusing the hell out of Golden Scepter as if he had never heard of people humiliating their enemies like that before.
The fact that Golden Scepter had nineteen sons, and all of them managed to Ascend to demi-Alicornhood by gradually and successfully overcame their own flaws. What makes this feat even more awesome is that Golden Scepter and his sons are both based on the Emperor of Mankind and his Primarchs - by being a good father and giving his children the love and respect they all deserved, while also properly disciplining them for bad behavior, Golden Scepter had succeeded in doing what the Emperor of Mankind could not, resulting in his sons rising far beyond what the Primarchs could only hope to achieve.
Once, Golden Scepter was visiting his friends in the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon, when he overheard a nasty argument Belyolen and Temnobog were having with their father, High King Irminsul. Unaware that Golden Scepter was listening, Irminsul proceeded to say horrible things about Temnobog, the Bogolenya pantheon's non-Deer residents, and their "bastard" hybrid children. Golden Scepter was so furious that he immediately confronted Irminsul and humiliated him in front of everyone by revealing his true divine form, and giving him an epic dressing-down for his haughty, puristic, and racist behavior. Irminsul was left so terrified of Golden Scepter that he now avoids the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon entirely on the off-chance that the Alicorn Emperor might be there if he were to visit again. For all the horrible things he had done to others and even his own children, like Temnobog, he certainly deserved what he got.
Temnobog: I've never seen Father look so pathetic in all my life, knowing him.

Guiding Light, the Dead Revealer

At one point in their lives as demigods, Guiding Light and his friends got in a fight with a Hydianite sorceress, who trapped them all in a powerful illusion that preyed on their worst memories and experiences. It also becomes a Moment of Funny when Guiding Light became so desperate that he broke what he thought was a wall to save his friends... only to discover shortly that the "wall" turned out to be the very illusion he sought to save his friends from. In other words, he discovered an ability related to his domain of Truth by complete accident.

High King Bogolenya, the Dual Sovereign

Bogolenya is full of awesome from the get-go. His first action upon appearing via Belyolen and Temnobog temporarily fusing together during the 'Final Ragnarok' crisis is to reject the name 'Korolbog' that his father, High King Irminsul, had planned to give him after his birth. Then Bogolenya follows up with a well-deserved "The Reason You Suck" Speech, calling out Irminsul for trying to turn him into the 'perfect' and flawless heir he desired and irreversibly changing his child's destiny out of pure selfishness, while pointing out how he shall forever live with that mistake. It's a rather cathartic moment, especially when considering Irminsul's treatment of his other children.
High King Irminsul: Korolbog... My beloved son...
High King Bogolenya: No.
High King Irminsul: No?
High King Bogolenya: My name is not Korolbog, Father, and it never shall be. You tried shaping fate to fit your own selfish desires, and you changed my destiny irrevocably the moment you decided to cast that spell on Mother's womb. And for that, you shall forever live with that mistake.
(Irminsul bows his head in grief and regret)
High King Bogolenya: From this day forth, my name shall be Bogolenya. Though 'impure' the pantheon my halves ruled over may be, the Bogolenya deities, both Deer and non-Deer, have been more of a family to me than you and your pantheon had ever been.
- Even better, since Belyolen and Temnobog are his living good and evil halves, respectively, it's heavily implied that they're both calling out Irminsul for how he treated each of them as fawns, with Bogolenya as their mouthpiece.

Mercy, the Holy Blade/Eater of Worlds

When an Earth pony tribalist tried going after Rosy Dreams, Mercy protected her younger adoptive cousin by literally falling onto the tribalist, using her own heavy weight to pin the mare to the ground long enough for the Terran Princes to arrive with proper authorities.
Earth pony tribalist: Get... OFF ME!
Mercy: NO! You'll hurt Rosy!
During a confrontation with the mortal followers of one of the Poenan deities who helped craft her, Mercy proceeds to tell them off with a short Badass Boast, before striking at her opponents by summoning several powerful arcs of lightning. Prince Red Blade was noted to be so proud of his adoptive daughter.
Mercy: I am not Mercy, the Holy Blade! I am MERCY, THE EATER OF WORLDS! And YOU are just a BUNCH of POOPY-HEADS! KA-BOOM!!!

Moon Ray Vaughoof, the King of Blues/Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya, the Sovereign of Cycles

In his mortal youth, Moon Ray rose to stardom by reviving the stagnant Blues genre singlehoofedly, bringing it to the mainstream and reintroducing the genre to future generations of listeners. This not only brought older, experienced Blues musicians back into relevance, but also inspired a new wave of younger, talented musicians to maek their own breakthroughs. There's a reason why Moon Ray is regarded as "the King of Blues".
Moon Ray overcoming his drug and alcohol addictions is a moment of awesome. His father, Sunny Mane Vaughoof, was a violent alcoholic, and after he rose to stardom as a musician, he fell into the extremely common trap of Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll in part thanks to surrounding himself with toxic people. While it took him nearly dying for it to happen, Moon Ray realizes what he was doing and breaks the cycle of substance abuse, cutting off all the toxicity in his life (including his first wife, Crystal Light) and working on getting sober. Even more awesome is that his experience had such a profound effect on him that he would stay clean for three Ages.
Moon Ray forgiving his abusive father, Sunny Mane Vaughoof. After spending almost his entire existence living in utter fear of his father's drunken rages, Moon Ray finally gathered up the courage to confront his father's spirit in Malus Manes' Hell-Realms and forgive him for what he did in his foalhood, all while making it clear that he's only doing it to let go of the anger and fear he felt for so long. Moon Ray even punctuates his forgiveness in case his father decided to tune him out. His words are so powerful that, much like the supervillain Calculous upon being forgiven by Bon Bon, Sunny Mane was left quite shaken over being forgiven by someone he once hurt and terrorized.
Moon Ray Vaughoof: I forgive you.
Sunny Mane Vaughoof: What?
Moon Ray Vaughoof: You heard me, old mane. You've been a shitty parent and you kept scaring us and everypony with that anger of yours, that much I know. But if you hadn't met Ma, me and Big Brother Fields would've never been born, and I'm thankful I had such a wonderful time while alive. I ain't forgiving you just to let you off scot-free for your shenanigans, oh no. You still ain't off the hook yet. I'm forgiving you because I've let your mistakes rule me and define me for FAR too long. So when I say 'I forgive you', I mean it, Pops. And if you think you can just shut me out, I'll say it again and again: I forgive you, Pops. I. Forgive. You.
- What makes this even more awesome is that Moon Ray's decision to forgive his father triggered his Ascension to demi-godhood then and there, becoming the Alicorn demigod of Forgiveness.
Letting go of his past. Until that point, Moon Ray resented how his life ended just after getting sober (though part of it was his own fault), and grew so homesick that he started shirking his duties as a Reaper. This strains his relationships with his biological and adoptive families/relatives, such as his cousin, Historical Fiction/Prince Fulgur Deus Cahaya, who estranges himself from Moon Ray following a heated argument. Then Moon Ray gets a rude wake-up call during the 'Applewood Rescue', when he sees the stallion he could've become in his idol, Double Helix. Realizing he was going down a dark path, Moon Ray visits his own grave (with Bossa Nova Heartstrings accompanying him) and accepts that there's no way for him to return to how things used to be. This moment allows him to Ascend to true godhood.
- What makes it even more awesome in hindsight is the contrast between Moon Ray and most of the revived celebrities - the latter group descended into evil trying to resume their old ways, and refused to take responsibility when confronted on it. Moon Ray, on the other hand, not only owns up to his mistakes, but also acknowledges the reason why he wanted to return to life: He missed the limelight and the adoration people gave him. It took a lot of guts for him to do something like recognize his own failings despite knowing how much it hurt, something many people are unwilling to do.
After three Ages of seeing himself as 'unworthy' of his title as "The King of Blues", Moon Ray finally accepts it when, while performing in Kerajaan Cahaya onstage with Double Trouble (whose members were turned into Angels/Archangels by this point), he looks at the adoring crowds and is both reminded of the people he helped and realizes he earned his title through his own merit. This unexpectedly leads to him manifesting his repressed Prophecy domain in full, leading to him being crowned a Prince by the Church of the Stars. Unfortunately, the awesome is lessened when the same incident knocks him into a coma and leaves him sickly and tired afterwards.
Moon Ray's re-Ascension. After spending a month rampaging across the Glimmering Isles as the stoned Caelum Filum, Moon Ray is cured, but later falls into a much longer coma. It turns out his own Prophecy domain trapped him in his own mind, furious with Moon Ray for repressing him for three Ages, while blocking off anyone who tries to enter psychically. While the circumstances behind the repression weren't as black and white as they seemed, Moon Ray still acknowledged he was still wrong to do what he did. He doesn't even try to defend himself for what he did as Caelum Filum, just acknowledge he was wrong to take the drug that 'birthed' Caelum Filum and that his actions will have consequences, regardless if he was aware of them or not. Finally, Moon Ray realizes that that no matter what he and others do, they will always end up making mistakes and thus need someone to remind them. His epiphany leads to him forgiving and reconciling with his Prophecy domain, which not only frees him from his coma, but also turns him into an eldritch Alicorn^note.

Prince Crimson Star, the Red Scholar

While visiting the Bogolenya Deer pantheon, Crimson Star would find himself playing a "game" of temptation with Pokhot, Temnobog's youngest daughter and child, who tried luring him into sin with offers of forbidden knowledge and a way to cure his blindness. However, Crimson Star, having achieved a huge amount of Character Development at this point, realized that he'll have to pay heavy prices if he accepted and turned her down. Turns out that Pokhot was giving him a Secret Test of Character, so when Crimson Star refused to give in, she was so impressed that she lavished the demi-Alicorn Prince with genuine words of praise, and even gifted him a tome full of information on lost and ancient civilizations. It shows how far he had come from the Insufferable Genius who would obsessively pursue even forbidden knowledge for the sake of knowledge itself.
While confronting a group of Autorists who tried to kill Star Flower, Crimson Star asked them why they want to render the entire Flutter Pony race extinct. When he receives a very racist answer, Crimson Star proceeds to throw their own words back into their faces and thrash them for participating in hate crimes. This shows that while blind, he's still a demi-divine son of Emperor Golden Scepter and a psychic prodigy.
Prince Crimson Star: Why do you keep attacking her? She has absolutely no quarrel with you, so why insist on her death?
Autorist: She is an abomination! A mistake created by the gods and goddesses of this planet! We seek to correct that mistake by ensuring racial purity for all Pony races!
Prince Crimson Star: ...Ah, I see. Well, let me tell you something: That 'backwards hick philosophy' of yours is an abomination. A mistake created by individuals who let their own hatred turn them into bigoted monsters. My Father cannot stand racism, and because of this, hate crimes are often severely punished in this empire. You wanna try your luck? Go right ahead. I cannot guarantee that you'll survive what happens next.

Prince Fanged Paw, the Savage Wolf

A group of young Poenan followers tried attacking and killing Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon for being bullies on the reasoning that a "greater evil" was waiting to emerge from them, not caring that the two fillies had already atoned for their actions. A furious Prince Fanged Paw would intervene, and after declaring that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are under his protection, he proceeded to thrash and humiliate those who ignored his warnings to back off and attack anyway.
Prince Fanged Paw: STOP RIGHT THERE! Those two fillies you seek to destroy are under MY PROTECTION!
Poenan followers: Says who?!
Prince Fanged Paw: Says I, PRINCE FANGED PAW, SECOND-BORN SCION OF THE RADIANT EMPEROR! If you bunch of MILK-SOPS even THINK about raising your weapons against my young protectorates ONE MORE TIME, then I will show you WHY my enemies call me THE SAVAGE WOLF!
During a diplomatic conference in the Principalities of Equestria, a group of unicorn tribalists from the Children of Platinum faction tried assassinating Prince Crimson Star for being a Category Traitor who "sullied" his unicorn blood by Ascending to demi-Alicornhood. Prince Fanged Paw intervened, and in the ensuing fight, he discovered that one of the unicorn tribalists is a So Soft Pony. The sheer hypocrisy of the situation made Prince Fanged Paw extremely angry.
Prince Fanged Paw: So... what was that about my younger brother being a 'freak of nature' again?

Prince Healing Song, the Divine Teacher

At one point in his mortal life, Healing Song's friendship with Blue Suede Heartstrings made him a target for War Rock, who tried pulling a Revenge by Proxy on the blind stallion by hurting him just to hurt Blue. However, instead of being understandably terrified, Healing Song displays Nerves of Steel by not only refusing to back down, but also giving War Rock a scathing "The Reason You Suck" Speech that exposed him as just a petty, entitled bully who is nothing without attention. Healing Song may be blind, but that act took massive balls on his part.
- Even more awesome is the fact that Healing Song's "The Reason You Suck" Speech managed to affect War Rock and leave him greatly unnerved and angered, in the process distracting the Magic Stallion long enough for an angry Blue to arrive and drive him away.

Prince Night Shade, the Unrelenting Judge

His Ascension to demi-godhood in Nocturna is a Moment of Awesome: After a large group of Poenan followers managed to track him down in Nocturna, Night Shade discovered that not only do they want to punish him for abandoning his group in the Terran Empire, they also want to kill him before he turns into an insane monster who butchers his foes indiscriminately, and destroy Nocturna for being a "stain" in the world. Night Shade refuses to let them do it, and in the ensuing fight, he is dealt a harsh blow by a Poenan. The Night Haunter appears to him in this moment and offers Night Shade a way out of the battle in return for giving into his inner bloodlust and vengeful urges. Night Shade almost gives in, but after remembering the Pony family he befriended and the number of people he saved, he calls out the Night Haunter for claiming to be supportive of justice and morality only to become as monstrous as the criminals he chased. This, combined with his changed perceptions of justice and mercy, and his conviction to protect people from those who are genuinely evil and self-righteous, led to Night Shade Ascending and driving the Poenan followers away from Nocturna with his new powers.

Prince/Captain Polistes Lyonnesse, the Gentlecolt Corsair/Pirate Prince

Prince/Captain Polistes of the Summer Court may be an air pirate, but ever since he was young, he has done many awesome deeds.
- Even as a colt, he would draw blueprints for airships and even prosthetic wings, which is pretty impressive for someone his age.
- When a group of intolerant mountain pegasi fanatics formed a lynch mob to kill Polistes and his pegasus mother for the "blasphemous" act of tinkering with technology, Polistes saved them both by quickly cobbling together a ramshackle airship that managed to fly, despite its incredibly hodgepodge condition.
- When he realized that Blackthorn's offer of revenge against the pegasi fanatics included razing the village he grew up in, Polistes launched a gambit that involved secretly forewarning those who weren't involved with the lynch mob and evacuating them with his airship, all under the guise of "scouting" the place. When Blackthorn's raiders arrived at the village the next morning, they only found the pegasi who tried to kill Polistes, bound and blindfolded in the middle of a deserted town. It also counts as a moment of Pay Evil unto Evil.
- During a raid on a luxury liner, he came across a married pony couple where the heavily pregnant wife had just gone into labor. Instead of robbing them, Polistes instead told his crew to help the mare give birth, resulting in a healthy foal. The newly-made parents reportedly shook his hooves and thanked him out of gratitude.
- His greatest heist ever, the "Stolen Starlet Caper", involved the rescue of famous Griffon actress, Helga Greywing, who was suffering under her brutish director Colton Marentino yet barred from revoking her contract with him. Polistes and his crew disguised themselves as cameramen and "kidnapped" her from the trailer she was confined in, and escaped the screaming Marentino by riding in an armored truck off a stunt ramp and into a net carried by Polistes's crew. While a "captive", Helga had the time of her life, partying with Polistes and his crew and even giving them autographs as thank-yous.
  - The incident led to Helga's own awesome moment - she planned a pretend-escape from her own "captors" (Polistes helped with rehearsals) and flew back to Applewood by herself. She also used the moment to expose Marentino's horribly abusive treatment of her to the public, famously quipping, "It’s truly a sad state when getting kidnapped by pirates is a relief!" With the public adoring her as a hero for saving herself from air pirates, and Marentino disgraced and possibly blacklisted for his crimes, Helga became a bigger star after replacing Marentino as director. The result was the beloved film classic based on her adventures, Bitalian Holiday.

Prince Red Blade, the Master of Wrath

When his older brother, Prince Night Shade, expressed his desire to throttle Sweet Words for sexually abusing Rosy Dreams, Red Blade helps him snap out of his anger by reminding him of his duties as a judge and Terran Prince, despite wanting to do similar things to Sweet Words himself. It shows that even in an emotionally-charged situation, Red Blade still manages to control himself and live up to his title as "The Master of Wrath".
Prince Red Blade: (to Prince Night Shade) You are not the only one, Brother. I, too, want to deal with that poor excuse of a stallion for what he did to Rosy Dreams. But I lost control of my anger once, and I am not going to repeat it again. It is our family's job as sovereigns of Terra to set an example for our subjects, and you, as a judge of Father's empire, are no exception. If you keep lashing out like this at every criminal you drag into our courts, eventually, you are going to end up benefiting no one but yourself.

Prince Stoltur Skjöldur, the Shield of Perfection

Despite being an Evil god by nature, he manages to stick by the oaths he makes even though he has been presented with many opportunities to go back on them, which is pretty impressive since many Evil deities don't do this. After hearing of the crimes his depraved father committed in life - including unrestrained cannibalism - he completely swore off meat and became a vegetarian, refusing to let his mother and siblings convince him that eating meat in general won't automatically turn him into his father. And in a more notable instance, despite embodying Pride, Perfection, and Potential, he swore never to let himself become as depraved as Morning Star or misuse his divine domains like the Fallen Alicorn did after hearing Golden Scepter's stories about him.

Prince Vladimir Polaris Blueblood

Despite being a deeply hated pony in-universe, Blueblood shows that unlike his canon counterpart, he's a badass who truly cares for the well-being of Equestria and its inhabitants.

In general, Blueblood is a Guile Hero who makes good use of his Special Talent, which is direction/guidance - he's an excellent manipulator and negotiator who can sway even the most corrupt nobles into supporting seemingly backwards laws that look like it'll support them, but are actually reforms designed to expose and eliminate the corruption in the Equestrian system. While the use of masks has massively turned off the public's opinion of Blueblood, it did work for the nobles, who often don't even realize that their greatest supporter is actually their greatest enemy.
It's noted by his entry that during his career in the Equestrian Navy, he was an exceptional soldier and proved his loyalty to his comrades by never leaving anyone behind, even during extremely dire situations. As a result, the entire Navy chapter is loyal to him, even after he was promoted to Commander.
It's noted by his entry that sometime after the events of "The Best Night Ever", Blueblood personally visited Rarity to explain to her why he acted like a complete Jerkass to her during the Grand Galloping Gala, and apologized for his behavior. Though he could have chosen not to do it, he still went anyway, which took guts on his part considering he had wronged Rarity in a huge way. Rarity for her part was allowed to part with her former crush on more civilized terms.
Because of his military training, Blueblood has sufficiently defended himself against assassins sent by enemies and rivals multiple times. In one incident, he thwarted an assassination attempt on Twilight Sparkle and Spike by having Luna deploy Night Guards as their bodyguards, and having a few of his loyal entourage be his undercover spies. The result was a failed assassination attempt, with one of Blueblood's surviving relatives being exposed as a willing accomplice to a unicorn tribalist faction called "The Children of Platinum", and the Mane Six developing a much better opinion of him, especially with Rarity, who tearfully hugged Twilight and Spike after hearing of the news.

Prince Written Word, the Messenger of Faith

One of Written Word's crowning achievements was when he liberated a backwater Pony kingdom from an extremely corrupt religion.
- After earning the faith and trust of the local residents by helping them and treating them kindly, Written Word would learn of the atrocities that were committed against the locals by their corrupt Church and rulers, and that the benevolent "deities" being worshiped were actually demons in disguise. This would cause him to disappear for a while, presumably to do some more investigating, until he found an arch-priest about to send off a crowd of forcibly conscripted and barely trained soldiers to fight another "holy war". Despite attempts to stop him, Written Word pushed through the crowds without a single scratch on him, and when he finally got close, he glared at the now terrified arch-priest, and publicly humiliated him with one word: "LIAR."
- Then, Written Word would kick-start a rebellion with the soldiers he rescued, and they proceeded to execute everyone who willingly participated in the depraved religion, including the Pony kingdom's deeply insane king... only for them to be confronted by the demons and their Queen. This caused Written Word's group to expzerience their Darkest Hour - having not been trained to kill Demons, let alone confront them, his soldiers were massacred, causing the survivors to alternate between crying for a divine savior and letting themselves get killed in their despair. This caused Written Word to realize that his father, Golden Scepter, had been right about the Blind Obedience religion tended to encourage, so he delivered an epic Rousing Speech where he pleaded for his surviving soldiers to give each other the faith and trust they previously showed him. This not only magically empowered everyone with faith and trust, it also shocked the crap out of the demons themselves.
  Prince Written Word: BROTHERS AND SISTERS-IN-ARMS! You, your friends, and your loved ones have spent your ENTIRE LIVES under the cruel dogma of tyranny, wallowing in despair and hopelessness, only to cry to the heavens for help once you are finally FREED! If that is what your former leaders taught you to do, then... NO MORE! You all got this far because you decided to put your trust and faith in a complete stranger who came to your homes one day, and helped you when you needed it most! So I ask for you- no, I PLEAD for you to take that same trust and faith you previously showed me, and use them to empower yourselves! Empower EACH OTHER! For when we are standing together, united as ONE... NOTHING COULD HOPE OR DARE TO TRY STOP US!
- What's more, Written Word's speech allowed his surviving soldiers to fight and kill the demons, having their physical and magical capabilities boosted tenfold. Although the demon Queen tried to physically and psychologically break him, Written Word never gave up, and managed to wound her and even kill her with the help of his soldiers, even though he himself had no training in fighting demons whatsoever. This caused Written Word to Ascend and become an Alicorn demigod in front of everyone, and though he collapsed shortly after due to exhaustion and untreated injuries, he survived because the soldiers - many of them people he previously treated kindly - gave him prompt medical attention. Golden Scepter was noted to be "proud beyond measure" when he visited and heard of what Written Word had done, as in his eyes, his son had finally matured.
After discovering that a Pony priestess was really an Autorist who had been misleading her followers into committing hate crimes against non-Ponies under the guise of a righteous cause, Written Word was so angry that he proceeded to confront her and give her a vicious dressing-down in public.
Prince Written Word: You LIAR. Preaching racial supremacy to your people in the guise of righteousness, misleading them to believe that what horrific crimes they would do were for the greater good, while YOU ALONE revel in the cruelty you perpetuate... You are a DISGRACE to your position and title.
- Then, after that, Written Word proceeded to protect the Pony priestess from a bloodthirsty mob as her followers, now aware of her true colors, tried to kill her until proper authorities arrived to arrest her. When asked why he did so, Written Word responded: "The sheer humiliation she received for her actions would end up hurting her more than whatever her once-adoring crowds had in mind for her." The implication being that by exposing her as the bigot and charlatan she really is, while making her live long enough to see the consequences of her crimes instead of letting her be torn apart, Written Word caused the Pony priestess to suffer a Villainous Breakdown.
Written Word once furiously lambasted a religious Terran congregation of Mag'nean religions for portraying the 'King in Heaven' as a psychopathic, egomanical tyrant who demands submissive, fanatical worship/obedience from his worshipers. His speech effectively shamed the entire sect, convincing many worshipers to leave while the priests changed their texts and tune to properly reflect the King in Heaven's merciful and fatherly love for his 'children'.
Prince Written Word: The King in Heaven that you worshipped... he does NOT demand blind obedience. He is not a harsh slave-master or robot-maker who wants his keep creation ignorant, childlike and compliant to his whims and wishes. He wanted his children to think for themselves, to take the effort and responsibility to learn from the world and from their own deeds and follies, and in doing so, become better, and make the world a better place. He was a parent who wanted his children to grow up, and be able to find their own way in the world... let this be how he is revered.

Rhiannon, Lady of the Moon

After High King Irminsul and High Queen Arvan find her in the Grittish Isles and try to persuade her into coming back home, Rhiannon refuses, and the entire Coltic Pantheon rushes to her defense and stonewall her parents. When Irminsul accuses his daughter of spreading lies about them, she proceeds to call them out on their hypocrisy and other toxic behaviors that she passively supported for eons out of duty, as well as trying to justify their own misdeeds with flimsy excuses. It is utterly damning in both words and context, and shows how much of a spine Rhiannon had grown since leaving home with her older twin brother, Cernunnos.
High King Irminsul: Is this what you and Cernunnos have been up to since you left home, Rhiannon? Spreading lies and blasphemy about our so-called misdeeds?
Rhiannon: A lie is less damning than the truth, Father. And if I have to choose between either, I would rather choose the harsh truth than the honeyed words of deception. I may have not have much blood on my hooves, but the fact remains that for eons, I had supported those toxic beliefs and traditions that killed one of my brothers and caused another to run away in sheer terror. Cernunnos realized it after you tasked him to hunt down Kúzelník. And it took hearing the truth for me to realize it, too.
High Queen Arvan: We would never do such a thing! To use magic in such a debased manner would make us no better than the foul goat who defiled our lands once!
Rhiannon: And yet you did so anyway. Tell me Father, Mother, were Belyolen and Temnobog born by sheer accident? The product of a curse invented by one of our enemies? Or were they the result of our hubris and desperation? I have not met Grogar, because I was born after the wars. I only know of him through the stories you told me and Cernunnos to make us behave. But he is not here, is he? For all I know, he could have been dead for eons and we may know not a thing about it. And yet, you still bring him up, time and time again. [...] You may call yourself wise and benevolent, Father, Mother, but the world will never see you the same way once they learn of what you've done. And for all the hatred you two bear against this Grogar... I clearly and truly see no difference.

Scarlet Bell, the Whistleblower

When she was a young filly, Scarlet Bell noticed that many of her friends and classmates had mysteriously gone missing with no one doing anything about it, so she decided to investigate... which led to her discovering Noble Grace and Bubbling Beaker's secret laboratory and finding the missing foals. Though she was understandably terrified for her own life, she ultimately pressed on and confronted her once-beloved teachers despite them being more powerful and intelligent than her, not only succeeding in besting them, but also freeing her friends and classmates. She did get permanently scarred in the ensuing school fire, but she survived in the end. Even though the experience left Scarlet Bell with quite a bit of trauma, what she did took guts, and she was rightly lauded In-Universe as a hero for it.
- Then, years later, after discovering that Noble Grace and Bubbling Beaker traveled to the Grittish Isles like she did by sheer coincidence, the first thing Scarlet Bell did was call the authorities, then run to find her grandniece Midnight Bell after she ran off to try save the kidnapped Page Wheel from "those evil teachers". Sure enough, Scarlet Bell finds Midnight Bell defending a magical cocoon from a now wizened and completely magic-less Noble Grace and Bubbling Beaker, and she would confront her former teachers one last time. A drabble in her entry notes that she punched Noble Grace in the face afterwards, and didn't regret it at all.
  Scarlet Bell: You two have never changed since I last saw you. Instead of learning from the folly and horror of your actions, you two just... ran off somewhere and continued your disgusting work, bringing harm to not only more foals, but also my neighbors' son and possibly my own grandniece as well, had she stayed around you two long enough. Did you really think that you could get away with your actions and expect everyone to immediately side with you once they saw the 'end-results' of your work, no matter how many bodies were buried in the process? Like my friends you both touched in Pferdia?
  Noble Grace: You don't understand, Scarlet! Bubbly and I wanted to bring a FUTURE for Ponykind! One where everypony can live freely without fear of having their potential dashed by those who seek to kill or enslave them to their whims! And yet, YOU and that interfering FILLY of yours ignored our good intentions, only focusing on how 'wrong' our methods are! Now get out of my way! I need to see that cocoon!
  Scarlet Bell: Not so fast, you old prune. You're not going ANYWHERE near Page Wheel, or my grandniece for that matter. Not while I still breathe.
  Noble Grace: Please! It's extremely important for our research! I don't know how that colt ended up like that, but if he landed in such a state, that must mean he has so much potential! So much power! With a bit of tweaking, he's going to bring our people's salvation!
  Scarlet Bell: A salvation built on the bodies of the foals and teenagers you ruined... You disgust me.
When she learns of the Alicorn Ascendancy's intentions for Crystal Prism, she becomes fiercely protective of her neighbors' son. Thus, when members of the Ascendancy come knocking at her door for information, she attacks them with a baseball bat before handing them over to the authorities, proving that despite her elderly age, she still lives up to her title as "the Whistleblower".
Alicorn Ascendancy member: You're...! You're that 'whistleblower' my colleagues had been talking about!
Scarlet Bell: Yes, that's me. I've tangled with your thrice-damned group before. I've saved many of my classmates from a gruesome death as a filly back in Pferdia, and I saved the son of two of my dearest friends from a deranged mare who was once my teacher. If you think you're gonna go after Crystal and tear him open to answer those silly questions in your head, you've got another thing coming.

The Scourge of Hell

From what we know of him so far, the world of Equus' most mysterious, relentless and dreaded demon-slayer is a walking, breathing, brutal and merciless Crowning Moment of Awesome incarnate.

During the Void Sovereign's attack on Equus at the end of the 'Second Age', this guy held off an entire front singularly, slaying countless numbers of the cosmic destroyer deity's hordes by himself (Which other entries had noted numbered in the MILLIONS upon MILLIONS). Over the ages he had done it again and again, wiping out whole hordes and destroying entire hell-realms and diabolical empires while defying all attempts by Demonkind to kill him back.
Had been around as far back as the 'Twilight of the Alicorns', fighting Morning Star and his Fallen Alicorn factions' demonic minions and partners as an independent combatant with only occasion support from the good Alicorns. Did we mention the war itself lasted ten Ages (That's roughly 100,000 years!)?
The fact that he's so full of Unstoppable Rage and is such a Determinator that he would not stop, EVER, his crusade/rampage against all of Demonkind, no matter how eternal or futile his war is. It's implied that the reason for his immortality and being so hard to kill - apart from divine and demonic empowerment - is that he's simply too furious to die. Needless to say, he has more than earned his reputation as one of the few beings on Equus who could consistently scare the infernal crap out of Demonkind.

Silver Bane, the Dark Hunter

Sometime after defecting from the Poenan Pantheon and accepting his vampiric heritage, Silver Bane got into a heated argument with a Poenan deity, who was furious with him over abandoning their "righteous" teachings and throwing away his potential to become a god of Justice. Silver Bane's response is to essentially tell the Poenan deity where to shove it.
Poenan deity: You had SO MUCH POTENTIAL, Silver Bane! You were among THE GREATEST of our mortal champions! We even RAISED you so that one day, ONE DAY, you could become ONE OF US! AND THEN YOU TURNED AND THREW EVERYTHING AWAY!
Silver Bane: If I recall correctly, that same potential nearly KILLED ME. Call me 'ungrateful' if you like, but I would rather save lives as a BLOODSUCKER than Ascend to godhood by being a hypocritical, extreme, and self-righteous murderer like YOU.

The Storm King

While the Storm King's overall brilliance is subject to the readers' views, his background from the 2017 movie was expanded a lot here, revealing that the Storm King managed to accomplished quite a bit during his initial rise:
- Playing his rivals in the Yeti band against each other to get ahead.
- Using an avalanche to wipe out an entire rival Yeti band.
- Becoming one of the Yeti band leaders' lieutenants.
- Surviving an attempt to kill him and leave him for dead;
- Suckered a Monkey-Bear clan-tribe who found him into believing he is a returning 'Storm-Spirit' Prince;
- Walk into a death-trapped and undead-infested tomb and came out alive wearing an old Yeti 'Mountain Emperor''s regalia;
- Strong-arming/persuading his Yeti band into making him their leader with the help of the Monkey-Bear clan-tribe;
- Defeating his father who challenged him, cementing his rule, and caps it all off by declaring himself the Storm king.

Temnobog, the Dark One

Mixed with Heartwarming, his treatment of his friend, Golden Scepter, is this. As the embodiment of mortal Deerkind's lustful tendencies, Temnobog finds Golden Scepter "incredibly handsome" and has lusted after his physical body many times, even delighting in the potential bragging rights he might get from sleeping with one of the most powerful and ancient Alicorn gods in existence. However, he has devoted all his effort in suppressing his baser urges despite having the power and opportunity to do so, because he absolutely refuses to break his own principles as a "constructive Evil" god and ruin the friendship he has by forcing himself onto Golden Scepter. The love and respect he has for Golden Scepter for treating him kindly is just that deep.
"You know, I COULD choose to bed Golden Scepter, anytime, anywhere. Why? Because I'm the living embodiment of mortal Deerkind's inner Evil, and one of the things I cover is LUST. With that in mind, I COULD indulge in my own basic nature. I COULD approach Golden Scepter and persuade him until he gives in... Or, I could outright FORCE him to fulfill my whims and desires until I am completely satisfied. But I won't do that.

"Why? Because even though we're completely different, he, above all else, is still MY FRIEND.

"I do admit, for a god that's far older than many of us, he's INCREDIBLY handsome. And saying, 'Guess what, guys? I banged the Radiant Emperor of Ponykind' DOES have a certain ring to it... but that would completely violate the trust, respect, and aid that Golden Scepter gave me so willingly. Not to mention, it would also fall in line with the 'Careless/Destructive Evil' that I hate so much. My brother, children, and peers would never forgive me, and my actions would prove to my oh-so-beloved 'FATHER' that I am no better than the Evils that MUST be destroyed for the benefit of mortal Deerkind. And NOTHING angers me more than validating that senile old stag.

"Golden Scepter is among those few who saw me for who I was despite my Evil nature, and treated me accordingly. Even though he had the option of turning me away in disgust for what I embodied, he still chose to help me, even at the cost of bearing the wrath of so many people. A kindness like that is something that I could NEVER buy, or steal, or coerce, and I will always treasure such individuals whenever I find them. If he wants to sleep with someone he loves mutually and completely, then I will not begrudge him for it, for he has every right to do so. Considering all the things he and his people had done in the past, I think it's understandable why he would make those decisions.

"And it wouldn't feel right if I didn't give him an equal amount of respect and dignity in return."

Thorax, the Sanctified One

Thorax, known as the meek and Adorkable Changeling King in Friendship is Magic, gets badass treatment here in Codex Equus.

Here, his confrontation with Chrysalis using The Power of Love actually transformed him into a Royal Changeling, which means he's the Changeling equivalent to an infant demigod. Because of his actions, he became known as the "Sanctified One", revered by his people for being the first to break his racial Curse and influencing the rest of Chrysalis's hive to follow his example. Even the Summer Court was impressed with him!
When the Summer Court decided to test his new strength by pitting him against Changeling King Zorpheus, who was infamous for his "iron-clad" defenses. Thorax blasted him half across Avalon with a single arcane blast, leaving Zorpheus half-dead in a crater from an attack that would have killed a normal Royal Changeling. The incident served as a Break the Haughty experience, teaching Zorpheus that despite his incredible endurance, there are still things that can kill him.

Forge-Wrathfire Clan

As noted below, the Battle of Shifting Sands is considered a Crowning Moment of Awesome for the entire clan in general, but there are more than a few specific moments as well, though most of them are (for now) relegated to one side of the family in particular.
Really, just about anything Gabriel D. Griffin does in retrospect. A former warlord who went and raised a family in Meridia, he’s explicitly noted to be just a normal, regular griffon with no ties to divinity [[save for being a member of the House of Boreas]], isn’t hyper-intelligent like his co-patriarch, or even a dedicated magic user. The only things that make him so dangerous are his combat skills, his refusal to ‘fight fair’, and an absolutely insane and utter refusal to just die. But for specifics…
Mixed with heartwarming, but really, the fact that Gabriel willingly gave up being a warlord to be a father. He could have easily left the cub with his current partner at the time and bailed, but Gabriel refused. This single event in all likelihood is the catalyst for practically every single victory the entire clan has earned.
The awesome even continues with Gabriel’s son, Taran. Before he even turned eighteen, Taran helped his family during the Battle of Shifting Sands, operated as a scout/skirmisher during the Talon Bàis War, actually survived engaging Hrottí, the Unfettered Warrioress, and rescued Queen Saorsa II, who turned out to be his birth mother. And post war, he would end up aiding classmates in escaping Canterlot during the opening hour of the Second Equestrian Civil War by fighting back against REMIS agents. This in turn would lead to rogue REMIS agents trying to kidnap him and his sister Rhiannon. That backfired horribly, as Taran simply grabbed his sister and fled, eventually ending up in none other than the Terran Empire, under the protection of Golden Scepter and his family.
A moment of awesome for Numidium, who during the Battle of Shifting Sands, went face to face with an ancient, eldritch evil almost as old as the Primevals. And even better, she won.
An understated one for Clockwork Forge, but in one drabble, the pony had been run over by his own battletrack, a pony version of a main battle tank. His reaction? To get back up and begin running over the idiots stupid enough to try and kidnap his daughter, his nephew and niece with the very battletrack used to run him over.

Events

Storm King Crisis

Despite being considered one of the worst invasions Equestria had experienced in its history, it also spawned plenty of awesome moments.

When one of the Storm King's generals successfully invaded and conquered the kingdom of Hyrule, a dark Alicorn by the name of Blood Fang approached him with a request of a possible alliance. The general accepted... only to realize too late that Blood Fang purposely set him up to fail. Before he knew it, his armies were utterly massacred, leaving the general vulnerable to the combined might of Radiant Primrose and Gleaming Shield, who both killed him. Even better is that despite being a villain himself, Blood Fang is savvy enough to see the Storm King as the demented fool he actually is to even consider actually allying with him.
Blood Fang: Only a naive and mad fool such as the so-called "Storm King" would try lay eyes on a territory that I called dibs on first.

The Giant Wars

The Battle of Moroz Valley - in this prelude event of the Giant Wars, the Cloven Empire decisively stopped a 'Rampage' of Giants bearing down upon Moroz Valley, and it isn't a victory over the Giants involving so much a defeat of them, or even a rout - the Clovenists near-completely annihilated the Giants with virtually no casualties on their side.
- Their strategy deserves recognition - recognizing directly fighting over fifty or more Giants at Moroz Valley is undesirable, they blocked off the entrance on one end of the valley, forcing them to march towards the other end, where the Clovenists set up an elaborate trap. Using sniper fire and rocket-barrages from from their armoured vehicles, they lured the Giants into the middle of a huge clearing - which, as it turned out, is a frozen-over lake. Then the Clovenists opened fire with every artillery piece and dropped bombs from every airship they have, felling dozens in the resulting barrage and scattering the rest. Then the frozen surface of the lake finally cracked, sending most of the rest falling, sinking and drowning in the icy depths. By the end of the battle, the handful of Giant survivors were reduced to 'traumitized, terrified and crippled' wrecks shuddering in fear of the Tinies they had previously crushed and devoured with impunity.
- Special mention should be given to certain elements of the operation:
  - The sniper, 'Wolf-Eye', who took out the Giants from afar? Not only is she considered the best marksmare in the entire Cloven Empire's military, she managed to do it in this battle with a heavy artillery cannon. The only reason she didn't get the leader of the Giants in her first shot is due to Imperial intelligence misidentifying who was leading the 'Rampage' - she actually did hit her target, across an enormous frozen lake, through a forest, and straight through the throat.
  - Since There Is No Kill Like Overkill, some of the Giants managed to scamper onto islands in Lake Moroz when the ice broke. The Clovenists saw that coming and mined all of them with Blastfire explosives. On the one island where the explosives failed to detonate, the Clovenists directed artillery and airship bombardment towards it and the Giants on it, flattening the island so thoroughly that by the time dust settled, the island disappeared beneath the surface. The whole lake remained stained with Giants' blood and body parts well after the battle was won.
- The leader of the Giant rampage, Khaligan the Brutal, and his Giants band had bullied and terrorized Moroz Valley for generations, and the whole thing that set off the battle was when the people of Moroz Valley, tired of his and his lackey's extortion and torment, flat-out refused to hand over their food and materials and called them out for their cruelty. After the battle was won, the people of Moroz Valley designed and assembled the contraption used to finally execute the defeated Khaligan, now reduced to a terrified wreck begging for mercy, for his crimes.
- The Cloven Empire deserves kudos for living up to its reputation as Well-Intentioned Extremist anti-heroes for once, defending the masses and destroying the tyrants with whatever means necessary as is their creed, instead of over-zealously spreading their ideology and empire across the world. In-universe, this overwhelming victory is celebrated within the Empire nearly as much as the Empire's victory over the Storm Empire, though not without undercurrent of ominous foreboding.
Clovenist Opinion: "There is only one true colossus in this world, now!"

Toxikon Crisis

After arranging events to get to this point, Dr. Toxikon challenges Dragon Lord Brutus for the right to lead their flight, which the latter accepts, thinking he'll get in an easy Curb-Stomp Battle against this 'wimpy dragon'...until the dragon scientist takes off his coat to reveal he is built as all hell. Cue No-Holds-Barred Beatdown with Brutus not being able to get even one hit in. Even better? For hundreds of years, everyone from his race has been dissing his progressive ideas for evolving Dragonkind as worthless and pointless, thinking that their natural strength is that they need to get on in life. In just one fight, Toxikon destroys this idea and proving EVERYONE who has ever doubted him wrong.
Dr, Toxikon: The problem with dragons like you? You view 'lesser' races as not worth learning from. You view them as 'beneath' you...you never think perhaps learning from other species may be in our best interest and help us evolve. You will find that I have no such handicap.
Dragon Lord Ember had many, many awesome moments over the course of this arc as she fought with other heroes, champions and forces to stop her former mentor's madness, but one moment stands out above the rest. What can possibly top fighting on the side of High Prince Thorax against her mad mentor personally, twice, and near the end persuade Dr Toxikon to stand down and even sacrifice himself to stop his own plan? Why, when all's said and done, turning and marching up to the Changeling Progenitors - the parent deities of Dragonkind's hated racial adversaries themselves - looking them straight in the eyes, and said three simple words that even Changeling Emperor Blackthorn did not see coming. Three words that essentially summarize the central theme/lesson of the 'Changeling-Dragon Trilogy':
Ember: "I forgive you."

Final Ragnarok

The whole concept. After countless pantheons and civilizations of the Nine Realms had perished in the 'Ragnarok Cycle', the Hoyklan with their allies are finally going to put an end to the Vicious Cycle once and for all. Especially by exposing and defeating those who manipulated and exploited it, the Shadowed Ones.
High King Kaldr, once the goofy Oakley of the Ponyfriends, proved his mettle as a God of Wisdom and the leader of the Hoyklan Deer Pantheon with the Long Game he played to end the present Cycle and bring its perpetrators to heel, first by successfully and spectacularly screwing the prophecies to derail the coming of Ragnarok, and then, once he discovered who are truly responsible for this travesty, began a complex, multi-layered, centuries-long plan to foil them and take them down.
By Equus, Emperor Blackthorn, did you and your sons actually managed to scam the Shadowed Ones and partly-subverted their Ragnarok Cycle from right under their collective noses?!
Mjolna, wielding her mighty hammer Mjolnir and channeling not only her godly might but that of countless Thunder Gods who came before her, smashed the Loom of Fate to bits just as the Shadowed Ones activated it, causing a magical backlash throughout the Nine Realms which weakened the Fallen Deities and their allies severely, officially kick-starting the Final Ragnarok.
The enormous, elaborate deception campaign the Hoyklan pulled to trick the Shadowed Ones into activating the Loom so that it can be destroyed and cause an arcanic backlash deserves mention:
- Getting help from the Cloven Empire and the benevolent Changeling Spring Court, they staged an imminent conflict where the former seemingly seek to invade and 'liberate' Cervidia, which justified all three Deer Pantheons to gather their members together supposedly to 'discuss' how the gods should handle this situation, while getting the realms and nations of Cervidia to mobilize and prepare for conflict without needing to tell them and risk exposing their game to the Shadowed Ones.
- Kaldr, using his power over winter as part of his domain, single-hoofedly faked the coming of the Fimbulvetr (the 'Great Winter') that is prophesized to precede Ragnarok.
- Flœrð and Ljoss staging Flœrð's foretold 'betrayal' to decisively begin Ragnarok. With the help of Changeling Queen Ithomii and his own cunning deceit, Flœrð managed to fool everyone not in the know to have 'betrayed' the Hoyklan and throw his lot with the Clovenists, then 'stabbing' Ljoss in the back when she attempt to negotiate with People's Empress Zora at the field of battle to everyone's 'shock'. By his own standards, this deception had been nothing short of a masterpiece.
Flœrð: "I do believe I've outdone myself this time."
Ljoss, as soon as the Loom is destroyed, gets back up from where she 'fell' and declared her second hidden name: 'Hefna, Avenger of the Dead' be spoken, empowering herself with power of those who died in previous Ragnarok and thirst for vengeance. Ljoss then used this power to begin the 'Final Ragnarok' Operation by literally tearing open the skies and create a rift in space-time straight into the Shadowed One's Realm, allowing the allied forces present, both gods and mortals alike, to launch an all-out assault on the Shadowed Ones.

League of Domination Crisis

When Chrysalis got a power-boost from Grogar's Bell and achieved her 'Ultimate Chrysalis' form, she believes she now has the power to overcome her mother and sisters, which she plan to do in order to seize control of the Changeling Spring Court and use its resources and forces to take over Equestria and the world. Before invading Changeling lands with a contingent of renegade forces who rallied to the League while her allies King!Tirek and Alicorn!Cozy Glow do other things, she would send an Ultimatum to the Spring, Summer and even Autumn Court, arrogantly demanding they all submit to her, the 'Ultimate Empress of All Changelingkind', or else. Their response?
"DEATH TO THE FALSE EMPRESS!"
—- Warcry of many Royals, champions and warriors of the three Changeling Courts during the 'League of Domination Crisis', when facing Winter Court Changelings and other allied malignant forces of the League.
- And the best part is, from Chrysalis' updated entry, the Changeling Courts managed to score an early victory for the forces of Harmony during the Crisis, not only by decimating the League's renegade armies with cunning stratagems and superior numbers of their own forces, the Royal Changelings managed to catch Ultimate!Chrysalis in an elaborate trap, offsetting their disparity in power through skill, tactics and preparations, wearing her down and holding her off long enough for the Changeling Progenitors to prepare before dealing with her with their full might and wit.
- Chrysalis' updated entry indicates that although Ultimate!Chrysalis performed surprisingly well, when faced with not one but two Changeling Parent Deities, with many Royal Changelings and entire armies of mortal Changeling warriors supporting them, there was a very realistic chance the Changeling Courts might have taken out Ultimate!Chrysalis, in spite of her empowerment, were it not for her allies King!Tirek and Alicorn!Cozy Glow intervening at the last moment. And even with them on her side, the League was ultimately forced to withdraw and focus on their more successful plans since while the Changeling Courts cannot destroy them yet, neither can they defeat the Changeling Courts yet. All they managed to achieve is lose a significant number of minions, exhaust considerable amounts of their power, and kill the few Royal and Common Changelings they captured in that battle out of spite, all for ultimately little gain.
- This is also an Awesome moment for Chrysalis herself; thanks to her power upgrade, she became such a threat by her lonesome that it took the Changeling Court that much effort, numbers, resources and planning just to have a shot at killing her. Even if her cred as a competent, legitimately dangerous villain had been questionable before, there's no doubt now with her Ultimate form that she had finally lived up to that cred.

The Dark Crystal Conflict

Dark Crystal creates a perpetual eclipse, threatening to destroy life on Equus. The solution is to have Giant Leap (an Expy of Lance Armstrong) fly the Tales Seven, Build Rider, and the Butt-Ugly Maretians into space to destroy the magical barrier surrounding the moon to both save Tellus and all those trapped on the moon colony. This results in an epic battle with one of Crystal's Sin Constructs in lunar orbit with a space fleet backing them up, ending with a Combination Attack by the heroes that destroys it as the Seven keep going and destroy the barrier, freeing the moon. Of note, while not the Seven's first time ending a crisis, it's the first time they legit saved the world, something they did in their early teens.
Dark Crystal's world-ending spell takes effect, creating a miles wide sphere of destruction powered by sapientkind's collective sins that will destroy all civilization and taint the world with evil if allowed to burrow into it. Metamare's response is to catch it, leading all the heroes in holding the massive apocalyptic attack back to give the Tales Seven a chance to stop Dark Crystal.
After spending the entire fight brutalizing the Tales Seven (and even killing and absorbing them) and in control, things finally turn against Dark Crystal when the Tales Seven escape and resurrect themselves, earning the favor of the Grand Primevals who give them a gift. What is that gift? being merged into one and temporarily ascended to godhood, resulting in the majestic birth of Fairytale, the Goddess of Virtue.
In the whole thing Overmare battles Void Traveller to keep him from stopping the heroes holding back the Most Wicked Spell in an epic showdown. She ultimately wins, even giving Void Traveller an epic "The Reason You Suck" Speech before the coup-de-grace, although he does eventually comes back from it. Also, this serve as one for Void Traveller given she came out of it pretty battered and damaged in the process.

New Crypta Conquests

The whole concept: After the cataclysm which destroyed the old Crypta Empire, the Cryptans were reduced to a nation of Undead secluded within an evelasting-sandstorm among the ruins of their dominion, bereft of their past greatness and future glory. Then, their Empire's original founder - Sekra the Indomitable, High Queen of Crypta, the greatest conqueror of the Third Age - returns, and the Undead Cryptans practically roared back to life in a new age of rebuilding and reconquest. The long night is over; no longer shall Crypta wallow in their tombs. The Sun had risen over Crypta once more, and the world will once again beheld its might.
- Sekra the Indomitable's Rousing Speech to her Tomb Kings/Queens and subjects upon her return deserves mention, referencing her inspiration Settra the Imperishable's own words. Unlike Settra's declares, which was a promise of a golden, glorious reign which never truly come to pass, here Sekra's speech was more an affirmation: that YES, it WILL come to pass. Sekra has proclaimed it, and none will defy HER will.
Sekra the Indomitable: Hail to you, my loyal subjects - you who now stand before me, you who stood watch over me, you who had waited while I slumbered - for I, Sekra of Hapshetsutra, High Queen of Crypta, have at last reawakened to command you in this new world that now awaits us.

Hail to the Tomb Kings and Queens who stood loyal, proud and true to their lands, their oaths and their gods. Hail to the commanders of my armies, returning from your graves to join me in restoring Crypta's dominion. Hail to the warriors of my legions, rising from the sands once more to form unyielding ranks; make ready your weapons for war and to fill the air with the sound of your adoration. Your standards are pleasing to my sight and that of the Divines. See how the light of the blazing Sun shines upon them.

Remember them gleaming this day, for soon we would march towards distant lands and raise them before those who would stand against us. Fear not what we must do, for we are the glory of Crypta, and we shall rise again to reclaim our greatness and fulfill our manifest destiny to rule over all lands.

There are work that remains undone, foes yet to vanquish and triumphs yet to come. So it was promised... now, it shall be done. I, SEKRA, have proclaimed it... AND LET NONE DARE OPPOSE MY WILL!

Talon Bàis War

Simmerian, Prince Forging Scale's reformed Black Dragon friend, goes on a rampage against Talon Bàis' forces, utilizing everything the Terran Empire provided him on top of his natural power, wiping out many of them...while also working hard to go out of his way to limit collateral damage and spare surrendering enemies. This is a moment of awesome in and of itself, as Black Dragons, especially from Prometha, are considered some of the most vicious, cruel, and agressive of all dragons, so restraining himself like that is an amazing show of how hard he's tried to change for Forging Scale's sake.
In one aerial skirmish set during the war, the Silvertails squadron of the 123rd Terran aerofighter wing, commanded by Captain Slipstream (call-sign Silver-1) took on six 'Dragonkiller' aerial cruisers of the Talon Baisian as well as their mix Talon Mais and Autorist 'Volunteer' aerofighter escorts, facing weapons platforms heavily-armoured and armed enough each can slaughter flights of 'old school dragons' and winning. One major moment was using their rocket-powered 'Tailburner' booster engines on top of their twin afterburning Vortex Engines to rocket past the enemy escorts - leaving them in the dust and too far out to fly back - to get in range of the now unescorted and vulnerable Dragonkillers, and Captain Slipstream ending up in a dogfight with a female Griffon Ace Pilot. Despite initially being outnumbered, reinforcements arrive from the rest of the wing to make it an even battle, and they ultimately left the field with only moderate damage but no losses. All in all, it's a huge, epic dogfight.
In another aerial skirmish, a squadron of Angel Vale Aeroforce Pony-Dracosaur partnered armed flyers led by Commander Storm Wing and Seraph Säbel took on another squadron of Talon Baisian Dragonkillers as well as their escorts and pulled a similar victory, using many daring manuvours and trained techniques to take out or evade the escorting aeroflyers and aerofighters and giving them a clear shot to blow the cruisers out of the sky with Blastfire Breath Missiles. This is noted to be an even bigger blow to the Talon Baisians and their Autorist/Tribalist allies than the now famous engagement by the Silvertails squadrons earlier as they lost four aerial cruisers designed to fight dragons to dragons who were working with Ponies to battle them, all of which contradict their racist worldviews and would serve to be massive propaganda coups and morale blows on top of the dents the loss of the expensive Dragonkillers are to the Talon Baisian war effort.

Angel Vale Retcons

After having her memories rewritten by Zähmen and being Made a Slave, Aerri gets payback after Dove, Edel, and Ronga free her. Namely luring him in and beating the crap out of him, ending by pinning him down with a refrigerator and threatening to castrate him with her killing claw if he doesn't talk.
After Heilung is killed, he finds himself confronted by Fret Pick, who turns into a terrifying draconic form to chase him down. He runs into Askar, who he arranged to die by having him given the wrong meds for his Bestial Regression Syndrome. Turns out, Askar became a Reaper, and alongside his fellow victims of Heilung beats and corners him to allow Fret Pick to send him to a Hellrealm.

The Darkest Hour Crisis

The premise of the Undeath Core Arc: the party, reduced to powerless mortals, are forced to survive an entire Hell-Realm full of doomed souls, many of which are out for their blood, with only their wits, cunning, and a few gadgets.
After Cinder I holds the line against King Maul and is about to be killed, the rest of the party, who have successfully gained the Legendary Power of Undeath and had their power restored. They battle Maul together, destroying his weapons, and finally setting him up for Cinder II to finish off with an Aether Fury and Electroplasm to seal away his soul. Of note, this was the first major victory they'd gotten since the conflict with the Darkness started.

Stories

Battle of Shifting Sands

The entire premise of the battle: The Forge-Wraithfire Clan, one of the most Badass Family on Equus, take on one of the most ancient evils of Equus (billions of years old, only slightly younger than Nekelmu, the Evil Primeval themselves) and its hordes with their neighbours in the Shifting Sands settlement of Meridia and other heroic beings and forces. And in the end, they WIN.

Codex Quest(s)

Despite Sherlock, Jade Shell and Mirthful Stone being a trio of civilian researchers, they found themselves rising to the occasion in midst of many dangerous situations or adventures throughout their jobs and travels and achieved many incredible and heroic feats.

The entire story was triggered by an assassination attempt from a group of Autorist assassins for writing objective but damning entries on the Autorist movements and groups. Despite expecting easy kills, the trio and others who intervened proved more than they could handle.
- Jade Shell sensed the assassins tailing them with her claivoyance, which gave the trio a forewarning and ruining their element of surprise. This led to the trio hurrying to the magic shop they were going in order to get potions and wands/staffs, allowing them to make a stand.
- The shopkeeper of the magic shop deserves a mention. When the trio hinted to him that they are being threatened by assassins, rather than turn them away to save his own skin he agreed to hide them in his shop and try to divert the assassins away. When his deception is blown, he attempted to defend himself and his daughter with his own wand.
- Once the trio got their wands and staffs, they surprised the Autorist assassins and fought back against them. Highlights include Mirthful Stone fireballing one the moment he showed up through the door and beating up another with a metal baseball bat. Sherlock meanwhile uses his tail-spray, a magical seed he has, and later a noxious Skunk spell to restrain and incapacitate the Autorists non-violently. Jade Shell uses her wand to blast the Autorists with water and her Durability Potion-enhanced shell to block bullets, and her foresight allowed the trio to rush in and save the magic shopkeeper and his daughter before the Autorists could kill them.
- Others present also lended their aid. Stygian of the Pillars, who was browsing in the shop, intervened to save the shopkeeper's daughter and later saved the entire group from being gunned down, revealing that between his return from Limbo and the present he had been mastering his shadow-magic. And then the Autorist assassins were finally subdued when they tried to flee by the Fourth Age Shadow Sentinel, who had been tailing them and single-hoofedly beat them into submission - and this was right after he had to divert to a nearby emergency.
The Researcher Trio and the Pillars (Stygian, Meadowlark and Mistmane)'s arrival in Ashfall and Angel Vale is also a great moment by implications. Two years after the supervolcanic eruption is averted, the Vale falls and Ashfall's skies were cleared, Ashfall is finally recovering as life returns with the sun, while Angel Vale is prospering from trade through the portal and with the outside world with Cherub Cove itself becoming a Boom Town.
The Diner Brawl at Brecher's on their first day is a crowning moment for all present and caught up in it.
- How it happened in the first place involved Brecher throwing out instigator of the brawl, a belligerent Equestrian Dragon, out of his venue for harassing an Ashfall Pony patron - As in, he literally grabbed him and bodily tossed him out of the restaurant, causing him to land face first in the pavement.
- The other restaurant patrons' response when said instigator returned with a mob of anti-Ashfall protestors is an awesome moment in itself: when the Equestrian Dragon called his backup to attack, he was struck in the face by a tureen full of soup thrown by one dragon from a table of counter-protestors who were dining in the restaurant. At least half the guests present ended up standing foward and by Brecher and his staff to defend the venue rather than stay back out of danger.
Instigator: It's time we do some spring-cleaning! ATTACK - ! [Is smashed in the face with thrown tureen]
Counter-Protestor: [Stands up with colleagues] Like HELLS you will! It's bad enough you muckrakers come here with your protest, you wanna mess up our favourite restaurant too? YOU HAVE ANOTHER THING COMING!
- Rongoa, despite being a pacifist, proved more than able to defend himself and his friends without resorting to violence, using his ice-powers to cause his opponents to slip and thrown into each other and even into a dragon-sized dustbin. And when the fight is broken up by Chief Tere and his drakes, Rongoa had the anti-Ashfall protestors dead-to-rights by revealing he recorded the whole thing on his Ixamane Sphere, leaving no doubt over which side is the aggressor responsible.
- Jade Shell took on a pair of grown Red Dragon siblings (in succession) who tried to eat or fry them, with Jade Shell using her wand and water powers to literally hammer them and block their assaults with summoned solid water warhammers and walls, while her shell proved more resilient than their own fires. It should be noted that red dragons are the strongest of the Chromatic Dragons, so this is even more impressive.
- Sherlock himself is no slouch despite also being a pacifist like Rongoa. He took out dragons with his skunk spray fired up their nostrils, which proved more than capable of incapacitating them.
- Mirthful Stone, isolated from the others, fought off multiple dracosaurs by himself in running battles using his own wand-casted rage-flames, notably taking out of three Deino-Dracosaurs who surprised and disarmed him with nothing more than his bare claws and anything in the vicinity he could grab. He even saved Stygian from being backstabbed by one of them with a steak knife (beating the snot out of him), and then together helped defend a group of children separated from their parents in the mayhem, even grabbing and dual-wielding a fire axe with his wand to hold them off when he finally hit his Rage Breaking Point.
Mirthful Stone: Come on then, you fuckers! WHO ELSE WANTS SOME?!
- The Pillars of Equestria present with the trio proved their credentials as experienced, legendary heroes by holding their own and helping fight the protestors off: Mistmane put a red dragoness literally on the ropes using her vine seeds to restraint her after using ethreal Jade Serpents to distract her. Meadowbrook gave Mistmane an invisibility potion to use and helped provided first aid, and Stygian used his shadow magic to literally make a rampaging Triceratop-Dracosaur disappear before he could trample/gore Mirthful.
In one Flash Forward, Mirthful Stone found himself in trouble with an infernal noble while the trio and their companions were on a research trip to Malregnar, and the devil duke challenged Mirthful to an honour duel to settle a perceived slight. Despite knowing he doesn't stand a chance and being given the option to quit as guests of the Vicearch, Mirthful accepted the challenge for the sake of his companions' safety, but managed to even the odds by goading the infernal duke into fighting in mortal form with sabres, leaving him vulnerable when Mirthful's friends take pictures behind Mirthful like he asked using their cameras with flashing lights on at the moment the duel begins (as was allowed) to disorienate him, creating an opening Mirthful needed to cut him, trip him and pin him down with his sword to his neck. Through cunning and trickery, Mirthful Stone had managed to defeat a Malregnarian Archdevil, and he gets away with it because everything he did was still technically within the rules and impressing the Malregnarian audience, up to even Prince Excelsius, with his cleverness, bravery and resolve. And to top it all off, he simply invokes his right over the vanquished to have the devil swear officially (invoking his patron Prince Excelsius) he would back off from claiming any vengeance against him and his friends, family and associates, decisively settling the matter while giving his stupefied opponent both his life and some dignity back, even though he had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to demand just about anything from said archdevil.

Awesome / Codex Equus

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