Characters / Codex Equus Moon Ray Vaughoof

Here is a list of tropes sorted under Moon Ray Vaughoof, now King Tunglið Hreinsar Innlausn-Heimdrasil.

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Warning: Unmarked Spoilers Ahead!

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Moon Ray Vaughoof, the King of Blues/King Tunglið Hreinsar Innlausn-Heimdrasil, the Sovereign of Cycles

Classification: Elemental/Ethereal/Ascendant/Eldritch

Portfolio (Alpine Cycle): Death, Forgiveness, Closure, Destruction, Endings

Portfolio (Equus Cycle): Reincarnation, Balance, Cycles, Fate, Preservation

Portfolio (Silicon Cycle): Life, Renewal, Hope, Creation, Beginnings

Rank: Divine (Tier IV/Greater; resembles a "Preeminent"-ranked deity)

"Everyone makes mistakes, but no one is beyond a second chance. And I'm living proof of that." (as Moon Ray Vaughoof)

"Lettin' go's hard. Believe me, Ah've done the same thing many times an' it still hurts. But we all need ta let go in order ta live." (as Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya)

"Everything runs on cycles - from plants, ta societies and creatures like us, even ideas. We just don't know they exist most of the time." (as Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya, post-Eldritch Transformation)

King Tunglið Hreinsar Innlausn, born Moon Ray Vaughoof (his entries here, here, and here), is an eldritch Alicorn god of cyclic nature, yet is a genuinely benevolent god in spite of said nature.

Born in Gallas, Lonestar during the Second Age, Moon Ray's foalhood was not a happy one. His father, Sunny Mane Vaughoof, was an ill-tempered alcoholic who terrorized both friends and family alike, and was both physically and mentally abusive to him and his older brother, Sunny Field Vaughoof. Sunny Mane also resented looking after Moon Ray as he didn't want a second child. When Moon Ray became interested in becoming a musician in his teens, both his parents and high school faculty opposed this and tried making him choose a more respectable career. Fed up, Moon Ray dropped out of school and left home to pursue his dreams, eventually moving to Silicon Valley to join Sunny Field, who moved there some years before.

Despite a rocky start, Moon Ray would go on to be one of the most talented and influential Blues musicians of the Age. [WIP]

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• Abstract Apotheosis: Moon Ray first Ascended to demi-godhood by forgiving everyone who hurt him in some way, such as his abusive father and first wife. Then he Ascended to true godhood when, while visiting his own grave in Gallas, he realizes he was obsessing over his past and comes to terms with it. In the Fourth Age, Moon Ray manifests an additional domain, Prophecy, by working in overcoming his flaws. However, Prophecy's sudden emergence left him constantly tired, setting up his re-Ascension as an eldritch god as he realized that people make mistakes in a neverending cycle.
• Absurdly Sharp Blade: Pride and Joy's scythe blade is sharp enough to slice anything, even armor, and free souls from tethers to the mortal planes. It can also create portals to other planes by cutting the dimensional "fabric" separating them, and be spun with psionic telekinesis to shred enemies alive.
• The Ace: Moon Ray is an incredibly talented musician who singlehandedly revived the stagnant Blues genre in the Second Age. He went on to become one of the most powerful Seers of his generation, and one of few deities who managed to re-Ascend. He also became a famous divine therapist, helping countless mortal and divine patients while leading his own group of therapists, the Redeeming Six. However, it's deconstructed as an abusive childhood left Moon Ray with numerous issues that he struggled with all his life. It's thanks to his friends and family that he's able to work on overcoming them.
• Ace Custom: Moon Ray's main weapon is Pride and Joy, named after a song he wrote in the Second Age. Resembling his old Second-Age Fender Stratocaster, "Number One", Pride and Joy is a Magitek weapon that gives him Soul Power finer control over his water magic via Magic Music. It's noted it was given to Moon Ray in the Third Age as a reward for Ascending to true godhood, a common tradition among the Trimortidae. After Moon Ray became an eldritch deity, Pride and Joy became warped and more powerful thanks to his eldritch influence.
• Acrophobic Bird: After Ascending to demi-godhood as an Alicorn, Moon Ray felt reluctant to fly due to lingering PTSD from dying in a helicopter accident. Thankfully, both Gavisus Manes and the Trimortidae helped him overcome this.
• Action Dad: Moon Ray is the father and patriarch of the Liberi Lunae, many who were adopted from harsh or abusive situations. He's also an eldritch god, making him one of the most powerful members of any group he's part of, such as the Trimortidae and the Church of the Stars. Despite his flaws, he loves all his children dearly and tries to do right by them.
• Addiction Displacement: After becoming completely sober, Moon Ray has turned to drawing as a substitute outlet whenever he feels too depressed to play his music. Due to possessing divine immortality now, he has become a very skilled artist as a result.
• Addled Addict: While initially a Functional Addict, Moon Ray's addiction to drugs and alcohol grew until his guitar-playing was severely impeded, and he became prone to making dumb choices. His response to having prophetic visions of himself drowning is to suppress them with more alcohol. Eventually, he collapsed, causing people to predict he would die before reaching forty. Fortunately, Moon Ray cleaned himself up, and while he still died in a different way, he was able to stay sober for tens of thousands of years before relapsing once in a moment of weakness.
• Adopting the Abused: Moon Ray's experiences growing up with an abusive father often led to him sympathizing with and taking in various abused children, wanting to give them the love their parents didn't. The Liberi Lunae was formed as a result.
• Adoption Angst: After becoming an eldritch deity, Moon Ray became insecure over not being a "true" Death god anymore, as he would now only embody it periodically in an endless cycle. He also freaked out after foreseeing alternative paths where his birth father was actually a loving father instead. Fortunately, his adoptive family assured him that they still love him no matter what.
• Adventures in Comaland: After falling into a long coma, Moon Ray goes on a Vision Quest where he meets a mental representation of his Prophecy domain, who chews him out for repressing parts of himself while indulging in others. From this, Moon Ray realizes the cyclic nature of things and owns up to his mistakes, allowing him to forgive and reconcile with Prophecy as equals (and vice-versa). This allows him to wake up and re-Ascend as an eldritch god.
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: After learning of how Lucky Shot's biological parents died via Telepathy, Moon Ray gives the poor colt a few comforting pats on the head.
• Affectionate Nickname: Moon Ray is called "Moony" by friends and family, with variations like B.B. King's "Lil' Moon" and Lampyridae/Firewing's "Unka Moo-Moo". Moon Ray himself does the same for his loved ones, like "Big Brother" for Sunny Field, "Lil' Cloud" for Cloudy Brush, and "Healey" for Healing Song. "Ivory Clawed" Jägerin was also able to identify him through this, which understandably disgusted him.
• Age-Gap Romance: Deconstructed. When Moon Ray foresees an alternate timeline where Velvet Heart is decades younger than him, he freaks out over the idea of his Velvet Heart being similarly young. Thankfully this isn't the case, but Moon Ray is still upset enough that he involuntarily manifested bits of his eldritch nature while explaining his vision to her.
• Age Without Youth: Post-re-Ascension, as a god of Death, Moon Ray can invoke this as a punishment for amoral Immortality Seekers.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: During the "Big Comeback Tour" event, Moon Ray got on his knees and begged Gavisus Manes to let the revived souls enjoy their second chance at life, not wanting to cut their lives short like his was. Gavisus gently turned Moon Ray down and warned him that desiring to live at all costs will create a dark path. He later learns why, in the worst possible way.
• The Alcoholic: Deconstructed. Growing up with a violent, alcoholic father influenced a young Moon Ray to follow in his hoofsteps. When he became a famous musician, his alcoholism grew out of control, even responding to precognitive dreams about his possible future by drinking more. This leads to his collapse and hospitalization. Fortunately, both the experience and Velvet Heart's positive influence spurred Moon Ray to get sober and cut out all bad influences from his life. When he Ascended postmortem, he did so with the desire to help other alcoholics recover as well.
• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: During his music career, Moon Ray's alcoholism grew to where he became an emotional mess prone to making dumb choices. Not helping was how he had easy access to it due to being a celebrity. It took a near-death experience for Moon Ray to wise up and get sober.
• Alien Geometries: As Kelahiran Semula Cahaya, Moon Ray's "face" that is overlaid with different versions of himself from various dimensions, their voices speaking as one. However, his true face is a mixture of water and prismatic glass in the shape of his normal head, revealing that his other faces are projections of what could have been layered over each other.
• Alliterative Name: Following his re-Asension, Moon Ray's three forms each have a name that start with "K" — Kematian Cahaya, Kehidupan Cahaya, and Kelahiran Semula Cahaya.
• All-Loving Hero: According to a Codexverse writer, Moon Ray reconstructs it. Despite seeing the worst sides of sapientkind, Moon Ray still helps them because he knows they can do better. He also accepts that he isn't so different from sapientkind because he can make mistakes, too, which the "Cosmic Prophet Debacle" made clear. What helps is that Moon Ray has friends and family to support him and call him out on his mistakes if he screws up. However, Moon Ray acknowledges that there are truly wicked beings in the world who deserve to be punished for their sins, and fights them to protect everyone else.
• All Your Powers Combined: As an Alicorn, Moon Ray has the combined magics of all mortal Pony tribes, including lesser-known tribes such as Musical Ponies, Flutter Ponies, and Sea Ponies.
• Alternate Self: During the Equus cycle, Moon Ray becomes Kelahiran Semula Cahaya, the Alicorn god of Fate. It's through Kelahiran that he is able to see and perceive multiple alternate versions of himself.
  • One alternate version came about when Moon Ray traveled through the Time Crash to prevent his younger self from boarding the helicopter on the day of his death. Thanks to Moon Ray's warnings, his younger self decides to wait and has a Jerkass Realization regarding his impulsiveness. The younger Moon Ray later Ascends to godhood under his main self's tutelage (and later, Luminiferous and the main Redeeming Six), becoming the Alicorn god of Mental Healing, Addiction, Cycles, and Future and gaining the means to help others.
  • Arch-Prince Caelum Stella Equus of the "Cosmic Timeline" is an alternate Moon Ray who also survived, but lost his eyes. The despairing Caelum is introduced to the Architects, who show him a profoundly different view of the universe that makes Caelum realize he was taking everything for granted. He Ascends to godhood under them (though not without consequences) and becomes a Big Good of the "Cosmic Timeline". Like the other alternate Moon Ray above, Caelum played a role in the "Void Aeon" by predicting the Void Sovereign's arrival and exposing his weaknesses, allowing Tellus and its allies to kill the Void Sovereign. This ends up those who died in the prime version of the crisis, like Diamond Glow.
• Always Someone Better: Moon Ray is this to his older brother, Sunny Field. While Sunny Field is a skilled musician in his own right, Moon Ray is a prodigy who became one of the most iconic Blues musicians of the Second Age. Sunny Field would also gain Psychic Powers of his own and become an Archangel postmortem, but Moon Ray is a far stronger psychic and already a god by then. This is deconstructed as constantly playing second fiddle to his more talented younger brother caused Sunny Field to resent Moon Ray, creating a history of fighting, Poor Communication Kills, and heartache on both sides. Once they're both dead, they realize how much they screwed up and apologize to each other.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Downplayed; Moon Ray was very amused when Dissonant Tune kept denying that he cried the day he was adopted, even teasing his son about it during a Codex Equus interview with Jade Shell.
• And I Must Scream:
  • Prior to the "Null Crisis", Moon Ray had a disturbing precognitive dream where he was trapped alone in his own house without an exit. He recounted the dream to his wife, Velvet Heart, and admitted the dream made him wary of doors for a time. Fortunately, he recovered with his friends and family's support.
  • Moon Ray would invoke this as a power post-re-Ascension — by combining his Ending domain with his Death domain, he can trap people in loops where they die repeatedly in different ways and feeling them all, or witness the repeated destruction of their homelands like what happened with the first Gael.
• Animalistic Abomination: After re-Ascending, Moon Ray becomes an eldritch god whose appearance changes to match the cycle he's in, such as the rotting corpse of an Alicorn (Alpine cycle), an Alicorn covered in healthy plant foliage (Silicon cycle), or an Alicorn made of clouds and space (Equus cycle). The most consistent traits he has in all three forms are his electric guitar Cutie Mark, ten wings, a purple wing gradient, a white streak in his hair, a multilayered halo, and a pair of great antlers. Because his true forms tend to drive people mad, he uses his 'default' Alicorn form or his mortal Earth Pony form so he can interact with them safely.
• Animate Dead: As a god of Death, Moon Ray can control spirits of the dead, especially through Magic Music. This caused his fellow Trimortidae to request that he play "Thriller" many times, to his annoyance. This ability later carried over into his new portfolio as Kematian Cahaya following his re-Ascension.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Deconstructed. Moon Ray is Sunny Field's younger brother, but while he idolized Sunny Field, Moon Ray frequently got on the latter's nerves. As colts, Moon Ray's idea of emulating Sunny Field involved sneaking into his room and stealing the only electric guitar they had at the time. As adults, Moon Ray not only outshone Sunny Field musically, but also became an addict and frequently ignored Sunny Field's advice. As a result, Sunny Field deeply resented him and often wished he didn't have a brother. This leads to heartache on both sides until they're both dead, after which they had a Jerkass Realization and reconciled with each other.
• Anthropomorphic Personification: Pre-re-Ascension, Moon Ray embodied Death, Temperance, Water, Forgiveness, and Prophecy, the last which he didn't get until he overcame his aversion to worship. After re-Ascending, he gains three portfolios related to the cycles they're connected to:
  • During the Alpine Cycle, Moon Ray embodies Death, Forgiveness, Closure, Destruction, and Endings.
  • During the Equus Cycle, Moon Ray embodies Reincarnation, Balance, Cycles, Fate, and Preservation.
  • During the Silicon Cycle, Moon Ray embodies Life, Renewal, Hope, Creation, and Beginnings.
• Anti-Magic: As a god of Forgiveness, Moon Ray can nullify magical contracts created by Fallen deities and demons as well as wrongful punishments created by corrupt and/or puristic judges. However, he has to be truly and genuinely forgiving for it to work. This carried over into his new portfolio as Kematian Cahaya following his re-Ascension.
• The Anti-Nihilist: After re-Ascending as an eldritch deity, Moon Ray became this. He acknowledges some are bad, but believes cycles in general help sapientkind evolve and learn from their mistakes. He also is an All-Loving Hero who understands how precious life is. This extends to Moon Ray's Alpine form, Kematian Cahaya, who embodies Death, Destrucion, and Endings, but believes they have beneficial purposes, like destroying evil, letting new life be born, and providing relief to those suffering from pain and misery. He hates nihilism, but understands why people would feel that way and tries to help them through it.
• Apologizes a Lot: After accidentally transforming Sunny Field into an eldritch Alicorn, Moon Ray was so guilt-ridden that he constantly apologized for it. Sunny Field forgave him after coming to terms with his own Eldritch Transformation.
• Arch-Enemy: At some point, Moon Ray would oppose Závislost, one of Ispita's sons. This is because Závislost embodies Drug Addiction, the same vice that nearly killed Moon Ray in the Second Age when he was still alive.
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: Should have guessed that witch would have a kid like you.
  Závislost: What can I say? I'm popular with just about every-pony.
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • Moon Ray delivers one to Ruya Clearfeather after she started denying her similarities to the Griffon Autorists who tried exploiting her budding foresight, drawing parallels between Ruya's fear and hatred of said Autorists and his own initial feelings towards his abusive birth father.
    Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya: See this? This here's the scar mah Pops gave me fer drinkin' from 'is bottles as a colt. Should Ah have done that? No, Ah wasn’t supposed ta. But mah Pops was a raging drunk, an' he beat me black 'n blue 'til Ah was nearly dead on the floor. It's 'cause of his abuse that Ah feared mah Pops fer many years, an' after Ah died, Ah started hatin' folks who acted like 'im.
    Ruya Clearfeather: What's it to you?!
    Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya: Point is, by fearing 'im an' later acting like 'im, Ah let mah Pops win. Over n' over again. An' that ended up holdin' me back more than the drugs in mah day ever did. With yer constant movin' an' swindlin', wouldn't ya say the same thing can be applied to you an' those Autorists who tried takin' ya away?
  • When Edel becomes frustrated with tarot card-reading and wishes she had his brand of foresight, Moon Ray asks her if she and Shining Dove are okay with knowing how their marriage and potential family might turn out in perfect detail. Edel realizes that no, they wouldn't be, and the resulting shame and guilt sends her crying.
  • Moon Ray/Canticum also does this combined with Armor-Piercing Response with Shining Dove after he expresses worry for Edel's well-being during a stunt-flying tournament. Because Shining Dove started unconsciously wishing he still had Ourophion's Time Twirler, Moon Ray asks him questions until Shining Dove remembers why he gave back it back — if he used it to fix all of his friends' mistakes, everything they did together, including defeating Razorbill, would be rendered pointless.
• Armor-Piercing Response:
  • Moon Ray delivers one to a then-deceased Muziki after listening to his attempts to justify his drug-dealing, causing Muziki to realize that he had given up instead of trying harder to succeed:
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: Ah found another way, didn't Ah? Lots of ponies have hard lives, kid.
  • While discussing Edel with Shining Dove, Moon Ray finishes Shining Dove's sentence by saying, "...Ya wish ya had the power ta control time or somethin?". This leads to Shining Dove being asked a series of questions until he remembers why he gave the Time Twirler back to Ourophion — if Shining Dove used it to fix all of his friends' mistakes, everything they did together, including defeating Razorbill, would be rendered pointless.
• Ascended Fanboy: As a young colt, Moon Ray admired not only his older brother, but also several musicians like B.B. King and Double Helix. Years later, he himself became a beloved and incredibly talented musician just like his idols.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance:
  • Both Moon Ray's poncho and (first) royal cloak are black, white, purple, and gray. Said colors make up the asexual pride flag, which is rather fitting since he is asexual.
  • Moon Ray's original Cutie Mark was an electric guitar with water splashing behind it, symbolizing his status as a Water god and prodigious skill in water magic. Following Moon Ray's re-Ascension, his Cutie Mark changed to match the natures of his three forms, such as an old, broken, and rusted electric guitar surrounded by decay (Alpine cycle), a newly made, polished guitar surrounded by healthy growth (Silicon cycle), and a constellation-like outline of an electric guitar on a dark patch (Equus cycle)
  • After re-Ascending as an eldritch god, Moon Ray gained three eldritch forms that have unique traits pertaining each aspect of the natural cycle of life, death, and reincarnation, such as the rotting corpse of an Alicorn (Alpine cycle), an Alicorn covered in healthy plant foliage (Silicon cycle), or an Alicorn made of clouds and space (Equus cycle). Moon Ray's regalia also changes to reflect this, such as being rusted and tattered, new and polished, or alien and otherworldly.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: After working tirelessly to help the Nine Realms recover from their collective torment under the Shadowed Ones, Moon Ray is crowned as King Tunglið Hreinsar Innlausn-Heimdrasil by the Grand Primevals, who all deemed him worthy of being High King Ragnarøkkr's potential Redeeming Replacement.
• Awful Wedded Life: Moon Ray's relationship with his first wife, Crystal Light, was this. While they initially loved each other, a series of bad decisions strained their marriage until Moon Ray made a big mistake that made Crystal Light become emotionally abusive to him as "punishment". Crystal Light also cheated on Moon Ray in frustration with his asexuality and enabled his drug addiction, leading to Moon Ray nearly dying. When Moon Ray called her from rehab, she refused to visit him. Moon Ray eventually divorced Crystal Light, but while he eventually forgives her, it's clear he doesn't love her anymore as he leaves her to be punished for her sins in the Hell-Realms.
• Back from the Dead: This is subverted at first. After dying in a helicopter accident, Moon Ray Ascends to godhood after accepting his death and forgiving those who hurt him. However, he Ascended as a Death god, meaning he's still technically dead. It's later zigzagged when Moon Ray re-Ascends as an eldritch god, bringing him back to life but making him go through a trio of cycles where he's either alive, dead, or reincarnated, with different powers depending on his current cycle.
• Badass Cape: Moon Ray often wears a purple poncho, and after dying and Ascending postmortem, he wears a divine version of it. He dons a black cloak after joining the Church of the Stars and becoming a Prince. After re-Ascending, Moon Ray starts wearing three variations of his black cloak during his three cycles: a dark tattered cloak (Alpine cycle), a light cloak (Silicon cycle) and an alien, eldritch cloak (Equus cycle). He is also massively powerful due to his re-Ascension and one of the strongest Seers of his generation.
• Badass Family: Moon Ray is a divine prodigy and presently an eldritch Alicorn with three different portfolios determined by the cycles he goes through. Many family members, including Moon Ray's biological and adoptive children, are Ascendant deities; even Velvet Heart and Sunny Field, his wife and older brother respectively, were originally Archangels before Ascending to godhood as eldritch deities.
• Badass in Distress: During the "Silk Dawn Crisis", Moon Ray was kidnapped and tortured by Silk Dawn, who intended to dissect and destroy him for the "crime" of embodying the natural cycle. Despite this, Moon Ray provoked Silk Dawn into a prolonged Villainous Breakdown that contributed to her eventual defeat and death. He is rescued and healed, but the damage Silk Dawn inflicted left him with permanent scars.
• Badass Teacher: Moon Ray is presently a "Preeminent"-level eldritch Alicorn and one of the most powerful Seers of his generation. He taught countless students, like Cloudy Brush, Prince Lenost, and Muziki, and after joining the Church of the Stars, he mentored young aspiring musicians in Kerajaan Cahaya. As many wicked beings learned the hard way, Moon Ray is [[PapaWolf very protective of his students.
• Bad Powers, Good People: At first, Moon Ray started off purely as a God of the Dead, giving him power over death and souls. After re-Ascending, he gained "evil" domains like Destruction, Endings, and Cycles. This lets him not only predict bad endings, but also trap people in endless cycles and destroy even Perpetuals. Unfortunately, Moon Ray's powers made him so similar to High King Ragnarøkkr that many in the Nine Realms feared he was Ragnarøkkr's second coming. Thankfully, Moon Ray was able to prove he isn't, and was later accepted as King of the Shadowed Ones' tenth realm, which he had restored.
• Balance Between Good and Evil: Moon Ray believes Good Needs Evil; without it, nothing can properly thrive. It's also why he believes in cycles, as they help creatures learn and grow. His present nature reflects this, as he cycles through death, reincarnation, and life in accordance with the seasons. By Moon Ray's own admission, he already knew why natural cycles are important, but he eventually took them for granted. Turning into Caelum Filum shocked him to his senses and in part made him appreciate these cycles more.
• The Band Minus the Face: In-Universe. Moon Ray was the guitarist/singer of his band Double Trouble, and thus its driving force. His sudden death in a helicopter accident left an absence that couldn't be filled. Fortunately, he reunited with all his bandmates in the Heaven-Realms.
• Baritone of Strength: As a former resident of the Ponyland state of Lonestar, Moon Ray has a deep, coarse Southron accent. He's also presently an eldritch god with three, perpetually cycling forms and incomprehensible power.
• Barred from the Afterlife: Invoked. As Kelahiran Semula Cahaya, Moon Ray can use his Reincarnation domain to deny someone the ability to reincarnate. This makes him dangerous against those with "Resurrective" or "Born-Again" forms of immortality.
• Barrier Warrior: As a god of Water, Moon Ray's water-based abilities involves creating barriers out of water. While he lost his Water domain upon re-Ascending, he replicates it using psychic hydrokinesis.
• Bear Hug: On the receiving end.
  • After Moon Ray acknowledges Gavisus Manes as his true father, Gavisus hugs him so hard that Moon Ray swears he heard his own body squeak like a foal's toy.
  • After Moon Ray joins the Church of the Stars, an ecstatic Healing Song proceeds to hug him as hard as he can. He is amusedly sympathetic when Princess Melody is subjected to the same thing.
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: Hehe, you too, kid?
    Princess Melody: Ugh... I forgot how hard Healey can hug!
• The Beastmaster: As Kehidupan Cahaya, Moon Ray can use his Life domain to control both non-sapient animals and Planimals like Timberwolves. At his most powerful, he can command entire forests' worth of non-sapient beasts.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: Moon Ray was a god of Death and Temperance who helped usher the dead and rehabilitated addicts. He also believed it's better to live and adapt to the future than try predicting everything. After manifesting his Prophecy domain, Moon Ray eats a divine drug made by Joyous Freedom and Princess Voľná Láska in hopes of curing his chronic tiredness. He turns into an stoned Eldritch Abomination who tries to predict everything. Moon Ray is later chewed out by Prophecy while recovering from his drug trip, making him realize his mistake and spurring him to set things right.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Much of Moon Ray's problems stemmed from both his desire to live and/or be healthy, and his unwillingness to accept his condition(s). He wished he was a celebrity Blues musician again, only to discover exactly what that entailed during the "Applewood Rescue" event when he learned Double Helix went down the same path. He wanted to recover from his chronic tiredness that came from manifesting his Prophecy domain far later than he should have, and ended up becoming a stoned Eldritch Abomination with the power to see everything. According to one of the Codexverse writers, Moon Ray ultimately re-Ascends and returns to life like he always wanted, but now his mere presence drives people mad and he constantly changes between different forms in an endless cycle of life, death and reincarnation, something he can't control. It's no wonder Moon Ray developed a Guilt Complex afterward.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: A big reason why Moon Ray fell in love with Velvet Heart is because she empathized with his struggles and supported him while he was in rehab. Moon Ray also genuinely accepted Gavisus Manes as his father because the latter truly cared for him, which starkly contrasts his relationship with his birth father.
• Benevolent Abomination: Moon Ray is presently an eldritch "Preeminent"-level Alicorn with changing forms, but while he does have flaws and his mind is a bit alien, he is a Nice Guy who is very forgiving and desires to help people overcome their traumas. He is also Happily Married and is a loving father to the Liberi Lunae, despite making mistakes as a parent.
• Berserk Button: Moon Ray doesn't take kindly to people messing with his hats. In one incident, he chased after Bossa Nova Heartstrings in a rage after the latter glued his hat to his head as a prank. It's deconstructed as Moon Ray later realized how his anger was becoming a problem, so he tried reining it in.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Originally a troubled Jerk with a Heart of Gold, Moon Ray mellowed out and helped countless people overcome various psychiological issues, including addiction. Multiple entries and supplementary materials also depict him with a fondness for kids. After re-Ascending, Moon Ray developed a deeper appreciation for all life. All these serve to make him utterly terrifying when enraged, as his power is now comparable to the Thirteen Empyreans. This also applies to his three forms; Kematian Cahaya is the creepiest of the three, but cares deeply for everyone and wants to bring closure by ending their pain.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: As Kematian Cahaya, Moon Ray is very somber and quiet due to constantly seeing bad ends and the worst sides of sapientkind. Because he's physically a "Preeminent"-ranked god, he can be terrifying if pissed off. He's also sill prone to swearing up a storm when he's upset.
• Big Brother Instinct: Moon Ray is Blue Suede's brother via sharing the same adoptive father with Blue Suede's older twin, Bossa Nova, and much of their interactions consisted of Moon Ray either being worried or enraged on his behalf. He was understandably enraged when learned the Elternteil Deer Pantheon abused Blue Suede for petty reasons.
• Big Brother Worship: Moon Ray's admiration for his older brother, Sunny Field, was how he got into music. Even when Sunny Field was a Big Brother Bully, or had to leave him behind, Moon Ray often credited him as a major inspiration. However, following his own death, Moon Ray learns how Sunny Field treated Velvet Heart in his absence, and loses all respect for him. It's after a talk with Gavisus Manes and receiving a prophetic vision of himself mistreating Sunny Field that Moon Ray reconciles with him. While still maintaining his respect for Sunny Field, he's now more aware of his flaws and takes care to help temper them.
• Big Damn Reunion: After dying in a helicopter crash and coming to terms with it, Moon Ray kept tabs on his loved ones, but didn't visit them until they died because he didn't want to make it look like he came Back from the Dead and then crush people's hopes later on. This changes when, after the Third Age's end, Cloudy Brush convinces Moon Ray to visit a despondent, grieving Healing Song to give his friend some closure. Healing Song understandably freaks out, and they share a tearful hug afterward.
  Prince Healing Song: ...Moony? That you?
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: Yes, Healey, it's me.
  Prince Healing Song: B-By Mag'ne... you died, Moony! You DIED!
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: I know.
  Prince Healing Song: I still remember where you crashed! We walked there one night and the next day, I heard...! You...! YOU...!
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: C'mere, kid.
• Big Good: Moon Ray is this, both due to his ties to the Church of the Stars and the sheer number of people he helped as a teacher and a therapist. He is also one for Angel Vale, having a hoof in events there due to resonating with its theme of character growth. Moon Ray's status is further cemented when he is crowned as King Tunglið Hreinsar Innlausn-Heimdrasil, ruling over the tenth realm of Innlausnheim that was once the Shadowed Ones' home and becoming a Big Good for all the other Nine Realms.
• The Big Guy: A "Class 2" example. Moon Ray is the "oldest" of the Trimortidae post-Eldritch Transformation, surpassing many of his adoptive siblings in both height and sheer divine power — save for those like ALICE/Adelais, who towers over even him as a divine Humongous Mecha. He is also a Gentle Giant, though not somebody you'd want to provoke.
• Big Little Brother: Moon Ray is Sunny Field's younger brother, but is presently an eldritch god so big that even after Sunny Field Ascends to godhood, he's still the shorter one of the two. Despite this, Moon Ray insists on calling him "Big Brother". This also applies to the Trimortidae, save for those like ALICE/Adelais, who is taller than even Moon Ray by virtue of being a divine S Gundam.
• Blessed with Suck: As Kelahiran Semula Cahaya, Moon Ray's domain of Fate practically makes him The Omniscient as he can predict everything, even the outcomes of minute choices. However, he calls it an "impossible burden" because sometimes the outcome of one's choices may lead to a Bad Future. When Edel expresses her wish to have his kind of foresight instead of tarot card-reading, Moon Ray dissuades her by explaining how knowing the future in all its forms is not always a good thing.
  Kelahiran Semula Cahaya: ...Edel, Ah wantcha ta know somethin'... sometimes knowin' everything ain't the best. Ah see a lotta things, but some of 'em ain't pretty. Ah see outcomes of different choices, good n' bad. Ah see what happens if Ah or others made the wrong choices an' go from there. Sometimes Ah see death... but sometimes Ah see creatures go down a dark path an' come out a villain. There are days, nights even, where Ah feel like... like fallin' apart, knowin' a friend o' mine could be dead or evil or both.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Following his re-Ascension, Moon Ray became... a little weird. While still a Nice Guy, he has a different sense of time, views the concept of cycles in an ultimately positive light, and is The Omniscient due to his vastly enhanced precognitive abilities. This not only includes fate in general, but also aspects of it like beginnings and endings. His three cyclic forms are also alien in their own ways, with Kematian Cahaya being the creepiest of the three. It's ultimately subverted as Moon Ray tries to remain connected with even his non-eldritch family members, and genuinely believes it's possible for even eldritch beings to be kind and benevolent.
• Body Horror: As Kematian Cahaya, Moon Ray resembles the rotting corpse of an Alicorn, with a Skull for a Head and some parts having rotted away to the bone. Despite this, he managed to make Princess Hnignun fall in love with him while in his Alpine form, though that's because she's a Nightmare Fetishist with a similarly ghastly appearance.
• Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting: As a colt, Moon Ray was constantly abused by his bad-tempered, alcoholic father, leaving him with physical and mental scars. By present day, Moon Ray is Happily Married and the father of the Liberi Lunae, many who were either orphans or abuse victims. While flawed, he genuinely loves all his children and tries to do right by them.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Deconstructed. While undoubtedly talented, Moon Ray can also be somewhat lazy. Despite showing promising talent in art, he constantly slept through his classes due to music rehersals conflicting with school and later dropped out to pursue music full-time. Years later, after Ascending to demi-godhood postmortem, Moon Ray obsessed over his Glory Days and shirked his Reaper duties in favor of visiting places he performed at in life. This not only got him in trouble with his adoptive family, especially the Three Deaths, but also factored into his near-Face–Heel Turn. Fortunately, Moon Ray ultimately chose not to side with the revived celebrities, and his experiences made him develop a better sense of responsibility.
• Broken Ace: Moon Ray is an incredibly talented musician and artist who mentored countless students, and helped many others with their PTSD. He's also Happily Married with a huge family, and leads a group of True Companions. However, he struggled with addiction for much of his mortal life, and an abusive foalhood created some serious psychological issues that haunted him for three Ages. After re-Ascending, Moon Ray had to deal with crushing guilt over the circumstances that led to it. Fortunately, what keeps him going is his huge support network and access to divine therapists.
• Broken Pedestal: Moon Ray admired both Sunny Field and Double Helix deeply, and frequently credited both of them for inspiring him to take up music. Sadly, he lost faith in them when he discovered their biggest mistakes — Sunny Field's emotional abuse of Velvet Heart, and Double Helix's choice to side with the wicked revived celebrities. While understandably angry, Moon Ray gradually comes to an understanding and forgives them both, helping Sunny Field and Double Helix atone for their mistakes.
• Brown Note: Justified. As a god of Death, one of Moon Ray's powers involves unleashing sonic howls and screams that inflict negative satus effects, such as existential dread/fear, unconsciousness, insanity, and/or instant death. After re-Ascending, Moon Ray becomes a Brown Note Being whose true forms invite insanity; the only exceptions being Angels, other eldritch deities, and those who are blind and/or visually impaired like Healing Song.
• Brown Note Being: After re-Ascending as an eldritch Alicorn, Moon Ray gains three divine forms that are so incomprehensibly ancient that looking them invites madness for mortals and even for young deities. This forces him to restrain both his presence and powers around them. Those who can resist his eldritch presence seem to be Angels (who have their own eldritch forms), other eldritch deities, and those who are blind like Healing Song.
• Brutal Honesty:
  • After the "Big Comeback Tour" ends, Moon Ray tells a despairing Prince Dissonant Tune the harsh truth that bad things sometimes happen to good people "with no rhyme or reason" at all, despite efforts to prevent them. Dissonant takes it to heart, later repeating the same advice to snap Moon Ray out of his own depression over failing to prevent Blue Suede Heartstrings' near-Fall.
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: Bad things just happen sometimes. Ain't no rhyme or reason to it; that's just how life is. You can have it all good an' still have shit thrown at ya by somethin' or some-creature. We can't all predict ev'rything. Trust me, Ah've tried. Best we can do is get up, dust ourselves off, an' move on, y'know what Ah mean?
  • Moon Ray also doesn't mince words as he calls out Dissonant Tune for his overindulgent parenting, noting that it put his increasingly spoiled daughter, Hudba, at risk of becoming another War Rock. This makes Dissonant realize his mistake and try to set things right.

C — E

• Calling the Old Man Out:
  • While confronting Sunny Mane's damned spirit in Malus Manes' Hell-Realms, Moon Ray calls him out for his abuse before genuinely forgiving him. Moon Ray acknowledges that he and Sunny Field wouldn't be born if their parents never met, but makes it clear that Sunny Mane deserves his fate and that he's only forgiving his father to let go of his abusive influence.
  • During his recovery from drug abuse, Moon Ray would get into a bitter argument with his mother, Pepper Cook, and call her out for enabling Sunny Mane's abuse instead of putting an end to it just because "some dusty ol' book" told her not to divorce her abusive husband. This forces Pepper Cook to realize how much her inaction affected her sons, and she became The Atoner to make up for it.
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: If Ah ever become a father, Ah'm gonna make sure mah kids are loved, safe, n’ cared for, instead o' sittin' on mah flank an’ lettin’ some dusty ol' book tell me how ta live mah fuckin’ life!
• Calling the Young Man Out: In a heated argument, Moon Ray bluntly spells out to Dissonant Tune that his overindulgent parenting turned his daughter, Hudba, into a Spoiled Brat like War Rock, her biological grandfather. Dissonant realizes this and does what he can to set Hudba straight.
• Came Back Strong: Following his stint as Caelum Filum, Moon Ray falls in a coma in part due to his failed attempt to blind himself. He goes on on a Vision Quest and is confronted by his Prophecy domain, who chews Moon Ray out for his acions. After realizing the cyclic nature of things, Moon Ray owns up to his mistakes and reconciles with Prophecy, allowing him to heal. He ends up re-Ascending as an eldritch, cyclic god with raw power comparable to the Thirteen Empyreans, though unlike them, Moon Rayvastly inexperienced.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Downplayed; Moon Ray stutters while calling Gavisus Manes "Pops", feeling both shocked and embarrassed by Gavisus' fatherly love. He does get it out, however, which immediately prompts Gavisus to give him a big (and tight) hug.
• Celebrity Power: Moon Ray Vaughoof (now King Tunglið Hreinsar Innlausn-Heimdrasil) is a Ponified version of Blues musician Stevie Ray Vaughan. While his early life is heavily similar to his real-life counterpart's, Moon Ray is presently an eldritch god with three cycling forms thanks to a series of changed circumstances and choices. He also has tremendous precognitive power, becoming one of the most powerful Seers of his generation.
• Celibate Hero: Justified. While Moon Ray does have sex with his wives, he only sees it as his way of expressing his love for them. This was deconstructed with his first wife, Crystal Light; part of why Moon Ray divorced her is because she cheated on him out of frustration that he wasn't having sex with her more than she liked. Fortunately, Moon Ray's loved ones helped him recover, and his second wife, Velvet Heart, was much more understanding.
• Character Catchphrase: When angry, Moon Ray tends to say "sonuvabitch" or, if referring to multiple people, "sons-of-bitches".
• Chastity Couple: Zigzagged. Moon Ray is Happily Married to Velvet Heart, but is asexual and sees sex as his way of showing his love for her. The feeling is mutual as Velvet Heart is demisexual. Sadly, it's deconstructed with Moon Ray's first wife, Crystal Light; according to him, they divorced partly because Crystal Light cheated on him in frustration with their (relatively) Sexless Marriage. It helped destroy Moon Ray's self-esteem and left him feeling ashamed of himself, until Velvet Heart came and helped him through it.
• The Chosen One: A Tales of Equestria story reveals that Grand Primevals saw Moon Ray as High King Ragnarøkkr's Redeeming Replacement, and paired him up with Princess Rainbow Dash/Fidelitas, who embodies Breaking Cycles, to foster his potential. Moon Ray fulfills their expectations by helping the Nine Realms overcome their trauma from the Ragnarok cycles, leading to him being crowned as King Tunglið Hreinsar Innlausn-Heimdrasil and becoming the ruler of Innlausnheim, the Shadowed Ones' former tenth realm.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: Deconstructed. According to Fret Pick/Proclivitas, Moon Ray once tried helping people by himself, only to burn himself out. Fortunately, his loved ones intervened by forcing him to rest, saving him from having a psychological breakdown like Blue Suede Heartstrings did.
• Classical Anti-Hero: Moon Ray is a kind, intelligent, and forgiving stallion, but an abusive foalhood left him with numerous issues that stunted his physical and mental growth. He also made a lot of mistakes that hurt his friends and family, such as getting addicted to drugs and ignoring helpful advice which led to his death. Much of his character arc involved acknowledging and overcoming his flaws, while learning the importance of forgiveness and taking responsibility for one's actions.
• Close to Home: Due to his Dark and Troubled Past, Moon Ray despises Abusive Parents and abuse in general. He also hates unrepentant drug dealers and people who abuse forgiveness (e.g. demeaning people for practicing it and/or forcing them to "work" for forgiveness). On the other hand, he greatly sympathizes with those who died young before they could achieve their dreams because he once went through the same thing. This gets deconstructed at one point when Moon Ray lets his past influence him into making pretty bad decisions, such as attacking an abusive mother for killing her own foal and nearly siding with resurrected celebrities to bring back his Glory Days.
• Clothing-Concealed Injury: Moon Ray often wears hats to hide a huge, jagged-looking head scar he received from a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown given by his abusive father as a young colt. While it healed long ago, the memory of how he got it still hurts. It's after forgiving his father and receiving psychiatric help from Mentálne that he comes clean about his scar to everyone.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Justified. At one point, Moon Ray consumed a divine drug so powerful that he transforms into an eldritch deity named Caelum Filum. He proceeds to go on what is essentially a month-long Mushroom Samba, completely stoned out of his mind and rambling about prophecies while blissfully unaware of how he became a Walking Wasteland. After re-Ascending, Moon Ray is still this to a degree, having a different perception of time on top of vastly expanded precognitive powers. The difference is that he's much more sane and emotionally stable than Caelum.
• Color Motif: Moon Ray is heavily associated with purple, which symbolizes spirituality, power, and royalty. He's a prodigy in both art and music, and his re-Ascension turned him into an eldritch god with power comparable to the Thirteen Empyreans. Presently, he is also the ruling King of his own realm. Purple also symbolizes cynicism and immaturity; Moon Ray's foalhood abuse left him with numerous issues that were brought out by his sudden death, influencing him to make pretty bad decisions throughout his life. It's after learning the power of Forgiveness that he starts gaining Character Development. Purple is also one of the colors of the asexual pride flag, fitting Moon Ray's status as a Celibate Hero.
• Combo Platter Powers: Following his re-Ascension, Moon Ray gained three portfolios that are tied to the four seasons, giving him different domains and powers depending on which season he's in. It's justified as Moon Ray's epiphany regarding the cyclic nature of things inflenced his re-Ascension, turning him into a god that cycles through three forms in a neverending loop to reflect his new understanding. Unfortunately, he's Unskilled, but Strong due to him re-Ascending much later in life.
• Commonality Connection: Many of Moon Ray's friends tend to have interests and hobbies similar to his, like Healing Song (music) and Princess Mese (art). He also reportedly befriended Princess Twilight/Amicitia Sparkle over undergoing a big transformation that gave them new insights and powers they had little experience with, though the difference is that Twilight reincarnated as a dead goddess while Moon Ray became an eldritch god.
• Companion Cube: Downplayed with Moon Ray's main weapon, Pride and Joy. It heavily resembles a Fender Stratocaster named "Number One" Moon Ray owned in the Second Age when he was alive, so he treats it with sentimental value and is almost never seen without it. However, he isn't overly attached to it and doesn't treat it like an actual character.
• Conditional Powers: Moon Ray must be genuinely forgiving in order for his Forgiveness-related powers to work; otherwise they wouldn't work at all. This influenced his belief that forgiveness must be given unconditionally, not superficially.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror: Being an adoptive son of Gavisus Manes and a god of Forgiveness means that Moon Ray often visits the Hell-Realms to help sinners earn redemption. This also means he's exposed to various ways the children of Malus Manes punish the damned shades for their crimes in life. As a result, Moon Ray isn't particularly affected by the horrific cruelties Lord Knechten and his fellow Deti Uzhasov inflict upon the damned.
• Convenient Coma: Moon Ray undergoes this twice — first he falls into a coma when he manifests his long-repressed Prophecy domain during a concert he was performing in; he wakes up, but suffers from chronic tiredness. After an attempt to cure it goes horribly wrong, Moon Ray falls into a coma again when he is prevented from blinding himself to stop his visions. This time, his coma lasts long enough that everyone fears he'll never wake up again, worsened by repeated failures to enter Moon Ray's mind. Thankfully, Moon Ray recovers by accepting his mistakes and realizing the cyclic nature of things, triggering his re-Ascension as an eldritch god.
• Cool Big Bro: Moon Ray is this for both Cloudy Brush and Sola Mors by virtue of being an older deity and sharing the same adoptive father, Gavisus Manes.
  • Moon Ray saved Cloudy Brush by stopping her from committing suicide, listened to her problems, and taught her how to forgive, setting up the circumstances of Cloudy Brush's postmortem Ascension. When Cloudy Brush developed Fantastic Racism towards the Oceanaiads for their role in the Third Age's end, Moon Ray got Blue Suede Hearstrings to show Cloudy Brush her own reflection in a mirror to teach her a lesson on holding grudges. Generally Moon Ray serves as her source of emotional support, but ironically, Cloudy Brush sees him as a father-figure.
  • Moon Ray also helped Sola Mors get over her worries of not being a true Seer by pointing out the future is not set in stone, and that knowing the future is actually more of a burden than it seems. Sola Mors would pass this information down to her oldes son, Montem Morte, when he started having the same issues.
• Cooldown Hug:
  • During their Big Damn Reunion in the Fourth Age, Moon Ray hugs Healing Song after the later freaks out, not wanting to see his old friend have an emotional breakdown in front of him. It doesn't work as not only Healing Song starts crying, Moon Ray cries during the hug, too.
  • Moon Ray gives another hug of this nature to a then-mortal Princess Voľná Láska, after she breaks down crying from realizing that her childhood friend Tiszta is Dead All Along. Even after she stops crying, he never lets go of her.
• Cool Teacher: Moon Ray is a kind, fatherly teacher who is very supportive of his students and, like Blue Suede, was responsible for many of them becoming Ascendant deities. While he doesn't shield them from the consequences of their mistakes, Moon Ray still takes the time to help his students see where they did wrong so they can grow as creatures. Him joining the Church of the Stars, a sub-pantheon full of divine Mentor Archetypes, only cemented his status as this even further. One drabble had him encourage a completely baffled young student how to play guitar like him.
  Young music student: My guitar can't do that...
  Moon Ray/Canticum: Hehe, yer right, it can't... but you can. An' ya will, if yer willin' ta learn how.
• Cool Uncle: Due to his fondness for kids, Moon Ray often acted fatherly around them, earning him the nickname of "Uncle Moony". Lucky Shot, Prince Maestro II/Metal Maestro, and Shifa' Alhabi Moufette are just a few examples of this. Family-wise, Moon Ray is also the uncle of not only the children of his older brother, Sunny Field, but also the children of the rest of the Redeeming Six and his extended family. This includes Blue Suede/Caerulus and Prince Stoltur's son, Prince Perfect Tone; one Nightmare Night saw Moon Ray fawning over Perfect Tone and complimenting his pumpkin costume.
• Create Your Own Villain: A positive example; Moon Ray played a role in Prince Dissonant Tune and Princess Voľná Láska becoming constructive villains, whether directly or indirectly. The former was inspired by stories of Moon Ray's struggles with addiction, while the latter was one of Moon Ray's students.
• Cruel to Be Kind: While gentle about it, Moon Ray breaks a then-mortal Princess Voľná Láska out of her grief-fueled delusions by informing her that her friend Tiszta was Dead All Along. Voľná breaks down in tears once the reality hits her, prompting a sympathetic Moon Ray to give her a hug.
• Creepy Good: Moon Ray is currently an eldritch god who can drive people mad via either his apperance(s) or his own power. And as a god of Cycles, Moon Ray has powers similar to High King Ragnarøkkr. He's still the same Nice Guy he was before his Eldritch Transformation, and deeply loves his family, friends, and subjects. While he does have an alien view of things, he's also an All-Loving Hero whose has a deeper appreciation and understanding of all life.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: During an interview with Jade Shell, Moon Ray goes on a distracted tangent about how various civilizations and races can't claim dominion over Equus because there are beings older than them. He apologizes for going completely off-topic, but he later turns out to be right given the presence of entities far older and more powerful than even the Grand Primevals themselves.
• Curtains Match the Window: As shown by his page image, Moon Ray's eyes have the same shade of purple as his mane and tail.
• Cynicism Catalyst: Moon Ray's sudden death in a helicopter accident was this for both himself and others. Sunny Field never got over it and retired from music altogether, becoming a bitter, angry stallion who blamed everyone for his loss. Moon Ray's friends and fiancée at the time felt similarly to where they either fell into addiction, attempted suicide, or strongly considered it. Moon Ray's trauma regarding his own death brought his nastier traits to the surface, influencing him to nearly pull a Face–Heel Turn to bring his Glory Days back. He eventually lets it go once he realizes his obsession with the past was hurting him and others, leading to him Ascending to true godhood.
• Damned by Faint Praise: The only reasoning Moon Ray gave for buying the highly controversial Cosmic Cataclysm comic was "Ah like the art". He otherwise hated it for portraying him and his friends/family as incompetent idiots for the sake of plot.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Moon Ray was abused by his alcoholic father as a colt, and his religious mother enabled the abuse. He ran away to join his older brother in Silicon Valley, where they both rose to musical stardom, only for Moon Ray to nearly die from his Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll lifestyle. He also married a Hard-Drinking Party Girl-turned-emotional abuser who "punished" him for real and perceived mistakes. Things finally turned up when Moon Ray got sober and fell in love with Velvet Heart... only to shortly die in a helicopter crash in bad weather because he was too impatient to heed his older brother's warnings and wait. The event left Moon Ray angry and bitter, and despite Ascending to demi-godhood, he continued spiraling downwards, making more bad decisions until he is forced to revaluate himself during the "Applewood Rescue" event, when Moon Ray finds one of his idols being among the wicked celebrities he was supposed to corral.
• Dark Is Evil: Ruya Clearfeather initially thought Moon Ray was this, due to her fear of being exploited by Griffon Autorists and having a dream where she was "caught" by a figure dressed in black. She eased up when Moon Ray consistently showed he bore no malicious intent towards her, and eventually let him adopt her as one of his daughters.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Moon Ray is a benevolent and kind Death god who often wears black hats and clothes. Many people he comforted were either afraid of death or, like Ruya Clearfeather, afraid of him. After re-Ascending, Moon Ray gained three cyclic forms — one of which is the black-furred corpse of an Alicorn that embodies Death, Destruction, and Endings, among others. Despite this, he's mostly still the same person before his re-Ascension, give or take a few things.
• Deal with the Devil: Inverted; a Second Age rumor goes that Moon Ray is such a good guitar player that the Devil himself sold his soul to him in order to learn how to become just as good.
• Death and the Maiden: Moon Ray is "Death" to Velvet Heart's "Maiden". Moon Ray fell in love with Velvet Heart when he was alive, but it wasn't until after he died and became a Death god that he married her. It's later zigzagged when he re-Ascends as an eldrich god who only becomes a Death god for a while as part of his cyclic nature, while Velvet Heart comes Back from the Dead as an eldritch goddess of Love, Conscience, and Healing under his tutelage. Despite this, they're still Happily Married.
• Death Glare:
  • When Queen Dazzleglow reveals to Moon Ray the existence of the Void Sovereign and shows a magical image of the Mad God in his prison, Moon Ray's response is to glare at him. He mentally notes that compared to everything he's seen and experienced so far, the Void Sovereign means nothing to him.
  • Moon Ray gives a withering glare to Ruya Clearfeather when he catches her stealing a Magic Staff from a store, which scares Ruya into returning it. Moon Ray also does the same to Dissonant Tune when he starts supporting his adoptive sister's actions, making Dissonant shut up immediately.
  • During a fight with Meli’āki, Moon Ray levels an angry glare at the Draclawa who "adopted" Meli’āki when he sees her heavily scarred paws and realizes what happened.
• Defiant Captive: As one of Silk Dawn's prisoners, Moon Ray managed to provoke her into a narcissistic rage despite being horrifically tortured and close to death. Silk Dawn has a Villainous Breakdown so bad that it contributed to her defeat and death.
• Deity of Human Origin:
  • Moon Ray was a mortal Earth Pony who became a Death god after coming to terms with his sudden death, forgiving those who wronged him, and letting go of his past. He later re-Ascends as an eldritch god via a combination of factors like realizing the cyclic nature of things, reconciling with his Prophecy domain, and eating a powerful divine drug that unexpectedly and irrevocably warped his previous divine nature.
  • This happened to Moon Ray's character avatar, a Necromancer named Lonestar, during a session of Ogres & Oubliettes. After helping kill a villainous god who tried committing deicide on the setting's other gods to give mortals the freedom to change the world to their liking, Lonestar became a Death god by taking on his deceased predecessor's mantle. It's treated as a Heroic Sacrifice as Lonestar had to give up his old life to help restore the universe. Moon Ray admits to basing Lonestar's fate on his own experiences as a Trimortidae member.
• Dem Bones: As a Death god, Moon Ray can shapeshift into an Alicorn skeleton wearing his clothes — whether to make himself look more frightening or give himself a 'costume' for the Nightmare Night holiday. Following his Eldritch Transformation, Moon Ray gains an alternate form in Kematian Cahaya, who essentially is a rotting corpse with bones exposed in some places and his head being an Alicorn's skull with black antlers.
• Descent into Addiction: Moon Ray started drinking at age six thanks to his Alcoholic Parent's influence, and it worsened when he became a famous Blues musician, during which he also took drugs. When he received precognitive dreams of his potential fate, he tried suppressing them with more alcohol, leading to his hospitalization. Moon Ray learned from the experience and got clean, only to relapse three Ages later when he was weakened by manifesting his Prophecy domain. Desperate to get well again, Moon Ray took a divine drug made by a friend and one of his constructively evil daughters to test him... but the drug was so powerful that he became a completely stoned Mad God. The drug also warped his divine nature so much that he was no longer the god he once was. Realizing that people relapse and learn from their mistakes in an endless cycle is in part what triggers Moon Ray's re-Ascension into an eldritch Alicorn.
• Destroyer Deity: As Kematian Cahaya, Moon Ray embodies Destruction, which allows him to destroy anything — even divine spells and (according to rumors) Perpetuals. He can also level entire landscapes with a Shockwave Stomp, and sing/play powerful melodies of destruction and ruin. Because of this, Moon Ray, on Luminiferous' suggestion, was appointed the Glimmering Isles' local god of Destruction by Queen Dazzleglow, destroying things like wicked kingdoms, overgrown foress, etc.
• Determinator: Moon Ray's style of guitar-playing is so aggressive that in his mortal life, he often ended up breaking a string or two. And even then, he'll still keep playing with the remaining strings until he finds an opening in his song that allows him to switch guitars quickly without missing a beat.
• Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: Moon Ray's re-Ascension turned him into an eldritch, "Preeminent"-ranked Alicorn with three cyclic forms that drive people mad if looked at in their true capacity. Despite this, he's quite friendly and desires to help people with their issues. He also relies on his friends and family to keep him grounded.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?:
  • Moon Ray's response to learning of the Void Sovereign's existence and being shown a magical image of him in the Cosmic Void is to [Death Glare glare angrily at him]] and express his wish to shoot the Void Sovereign dead.
  • Moon Ray also defied the Nemesis Crown, an antediluvian Artifact of Doom that originated from the days of the Alicorn Civilization, by rejecting its temptations and telepathically driving it insane as punishment for its crimes. All to protect his adventuring party from donning the crown and being inevitably corrupted by it.
  • In the "Silk Dawn Crisis", Moon Ray is kidnapped and tortured by Silk Dawn, who wanted to give him a Cruel and Unusual Death for embodying the natural cycle she despised. Despite this, Moon Ray laughs at Silk Dawn, points out the fallicies in her beliefs, and predicts she will die. This not only sends Silk Dawn into a murderous rage, but also contributed to her defeat and death. However, Moon Ray didn't survive unscathed as while rescued, his torture left him with permanent scars.
• Did You Just Romance Cthulhu?: Played with. Moon Ray's relationships happened while he was mortal, and he was already Happily Married to Velvet Heart by the time he re-Ascended as an eldritch god. Still, he is fiercely devoted to Velvet Heart and would do anything for her.
• Discard and Draw: Moon Ray's transformation into Caelum Filum warped his original domains into new ones — Death became Reincarnation, Temperance became Balance, Water became Fluidity, Forgiveness became Cycles, and Prophecy became Fate. Then Moon Ray re-Ascends and gains three portfolios where his old domains were either kept, altered, or lost entirely. This included his Prophecy domain, which was split into Endings, Beginnings, and Fate, and his Water domain, which can only be invoked via other domains like Forgiveness, Balance, and Renewal. While he does learn his re-Ascension didn't take away the Sea Ponies' water magic or the psychic hydrokinetic abilities, Moon Ray was still pretty disheartened and had to be given a pep-talk.
• Divine Parentage: After becoming an Alicorn and joining the Trimortidae, Moon Ray was adopted by Gavisus Manes, the youngest of the Three Deaths. This means that by adoption, Moon Ray is a grandson of Obitus Equus, one of the Thirteen Empyreans and the oldest Equid Death god. In a roundabout way, he himself became the loving father of the Liberi Lunae, which includes Prince Dissonant Tune, Princess Voľná Láska, and Ruya Clearfeather.
• Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: While he sent Silk Dawn into a prolonged Villainous Breakdown, Moon Ray's time as her hostage still left him with permanent scars as Silk Dawn is much older than him. Moon Ray himself stated after the end of the "Silk Dawn Crisis" that it was one of his most frightening experiences ever.
• Don't Fear the Reaper: Though a Death god, Moon Ray is a loving husband and father, and a Nice Guy who desires to help people with their issues. Even after becoming an eldritch god with three forms (one of them being a rather ghastly-looking God of the Dead), he is more or less the same. He used to be a much angrier Jerk with a Heart of Gold, but he Took a Level in Kindness upon learning about fairness, forgiveness, and mercy under Malus Manes.
• Dragged Off to Hell: As a Death god, part of Moon Ray's duty involves dragging wicked souls to the Hell-Realms. By Moon Ray's own admission, he was among the Trimortidae who helped Malus Manes drag War Rock's damned soul off to his eternal punishment in retaliation for what War Rock did to Healing Song. He also did this in the "Talon Bàis War" to various wicked Talon Bàis Griffons, including "Ivory-Clawed" Jägerin, under the claim that he didn't want to leave his fellow Reapers in the mortal planes short-staffed.
• Dreadful Musician: Downplayed. While Moon Ray is an incredibly talented guitarist and singer, he admits his songwriting is hit-or-miss.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: Justified; Moon Ray was born a Seer, which gave him dreams and visions of the future, but didn't know about it at the time. It was after dying in a helicopter crash that he became aware of his power. Many of his dreams and visions would prove crucial in resolving many crises throughout the Known Ages, such as the "Kingdom of Ice" event, the "Null Crisis", and others. Moon Ray's precognition would gradually increase until he manifested his Prophecy domain, then it evolved into Endings, Beginnings, and Fate after he re-Ascended.
• Dreaming the Truth: After getting into a fight with Sunny Field over the mistreatment of Velvet Heart, Moon Ray had a precognitive dream where he only said hateful things to his older brother, symbolizing what his anger could lead to if not controlled. This, combined with a talk with Gavisus Manes, influenced him to apologize and reconcile with Sunny Field (and vice-versa).
• Drugs Are Bad: As a former addict, Moon Ray believes this, which is why he is so dedicated to helping addicts and preventing people from falling into addiction. Sadly, he relapsed in a Moment of Weakness, and realizing his mistake led to him re-Ascending. Even so, Moon Ray never lost sight of his original goal, though he now acknowledges that people will learn and relapse in a constant cycle. Naturally, Moon Ray utterly despises malevolent drug dealers like Závislost, the Abominable Alignment, and others; the only exceptions he makes are constructively evil ones like Princess Voľná Láska, his adoptive daughter. He used to hate all drug dealers, but Malus Manes taught him to show mercy toward those who show genuine repentance.
• Eldritch Abomination: Moon Ray's corrupted form, Caelum Filum, is this due to being warped completely in body, mind, and powers by a powerful divine drug he ate. He re-Ascends as an Animalistic Abomination after being cured. However, in a Tales of Equestria story, Ourophion uses his powers to see what Moon Ray and Rainbow Dash would look like in a potential future — Rainbow Dash is a ten-winged Alicorn, while Moon Ray is a completely incomprehensible yet still benevolent being.
• Eldritch Transformation: Immediately after taking a divine drug made by Joyous Freedom and Princess Voľná Láska, Moon Ray turns into the completely stoned Caelum Filum, his mind, body, and powers warped by said drug. He is turned to normal, but later re-Ascends due to him realizing the cyclic nature of things and the drug warping his original divine nature irrevocably.
• Elemental Embodiment: Moon Ray was once a god of Water, his domain thematically tied to his resolve to help prevent others from falling into addiction. Naturally, he had water magic andeldritch traits like a mane, tail, and feathers made of purple, perpetually-looping water. He lost his Water domain following his corruption and re-Ascension, but his other domains still evoke water magic to a degree as a trade-off.
• Elemental Hair Composition: As a god of Water, Moon Ray's mane, tail, and feathers became composed of purple, perpetually-looping water, with his traits developing early due to him being a "prodigy deity". It's later averted when Moon Ray three true forms gain manes and tails made of energy from other domains following his re-Ascension.
• Elemental Shapeshifter: As a god of Water, Moon Ray can turn himself into an entity made of pure water. He lost his ability after re-Ascending.
• Elvis Lives: Zigzagged. Moon Ray still died in a helicopter crash like Stevie Ray Vaughan did, but Ascended to godhood by accepting his death. However, he Ascended as a Death god, so he's technically still dead as his nature is tied to the afterlife-realms he looks after. This fueled not only his initial need for secrecy, but also his longing for the Glory Days. Then it's zigzagged when Moon Ray re-Ascends as an eldritch god who shifts between cycles of life, death, and reincarnation throughout the seasons seasons. He and Sunny Field would poke fun at this during a Codex Equus interview.
  Sunny Field Vaughoof: I remember some folks talkin' 'boutcha after yer death, lil' bro. They said Mag'ne herself took ya wit' 'er that day 'cause she wanted t' learn how t' play them strings or somethin'.
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: Hah! I remember that, too. If Mag'ne wanted guitar lessons, the lil' lady could've just come up t' me an' asked, not make me crash into a ski hill.
• Emotional Regression: Moon Ray was so traumatized by his foalhood abuse that he would regress to his colthood mindset, flee the area, and hide somewhere whenever he was confronted by reminders of his birth father. This continued even after his death. Eventually Moon Ray would stop this when he finally gathers the courage to confront his birth father's damned spirit and forgives him.
• Emotion Suppression: As a god of Temperance, Moon Ray can project an empathic aura that ebbs negative feelings like anger, lust, and greed, making him a calming presence. However, he later admitted to relying on his Temperance domain to regulate his own flaws, feeling doubtful of his own ability to do it himself. Once Moon Ray loses his Temperance domain, controlling his flaws — and the emotions associated with them — became much harder. Fortunately, he is resolving this with therapy.
• The Empath: Moon Ray is a powerful empath, and as a god of Temperance, he can use his empathy to ebb negative feelings like anger, lust, greed, and envy. After re-Ascending, he loses his Temperance domain (which becomes Balance) but gains the domain of Hope which allows him to sense/encourage hope in others.
• Even the Guys Want Him: Moon Ray got married twice to mares and gained an admirer in Princess Hnignun after re-Ascending. One of Moon Ray's old friends, Prince Healing Song/Medela, fell in love with him due to being among those who helped him with his recovery.
• Eye Scream: Narrowly averted. After the end of the "Cosmic Prophet Debacle", Moon Ray was bombarded with so many visions that he tried blinding himself to make them stop. Fortunately, Moon Ray was stopped in time, but fell into another coma his family and friends feared he would never wake up from.

F — I

• Facepalm: Moon Ray facehoofs when he learns the Church of the Stars never had a Death god looking after the departed souls in Kerajaan Cahaya. When Queen Dazzleglow explains she hired angels and demons from Demiurge Afterlife Inc., Moon Ray — and a nearby Steel String who was listening to the conversation — starts imagining an afterlife-realm on fire while overworked angels and demons run around screaming.
• Face Your Fears: Moon Ray's father abused him so badly as a colt that he developed the instinct to run and hide whenever he thought his father was there or something reminded him of the abuse. Even after dying, the instinct still persisted. Thanks to the Trimortidae, Moon Ray finally gathered the courage to confront his birth father's damned spirit and forgive him, allowing him to Ascend to demi-godhood then and there.
• Failure Is the Only Option: Discussed. Moon Ray thinks Vicearch Iniquitous' goal of making Iniquitism a global philosophy is doomed from the start due to the world's Balance Between Good and Evil. The same thing applies to Virtuecrat Fairyale's goal regarding "True Good". Iniquitous concedes Moon Ray's points, but her infernal nature and sheer determination makes her both unable and unwilling to truly accept them.
• Fainting Seer: This became Moon Ray's problem well into the Fourth Age. His Prophecy domain manifested at the cost of putting him in a coma and then leaving him prone to falling asleep (and getting a white stripe in his hair). After re-Ascending, Moon Ray became even sleepier because he is now an eldritch god possessing three powerful precognitive domains. Worse, he didn't have time to grow into his power naturally because his re-Ascension aged him up rapidly by divine standards.
• Family Theme Naming: Moon Ray and his male biological family members are named after cosmic bodies. In his case, his full birth name is Moon Ray Vaughoof. His Alicorn names also words that translate to "moon" in different languages, like "Lunae" (Latin) and "Tunglið" (Icelandic).
• Fantastic Racism: Defied. While understandably furious with the Oceanaiads for their role in the Third Age's end, Moon Ray chose to let it go when his fellow Trimortidae became racist towards them, reminding him of how he initially felt about his abusive father. This epiphany helped Moon Ray snap Cloudy Brush and others out of their own bigotry.
• Fertile Feet: As Kehidupan Cahaya, Moon Ray embodies Life. He can project an aura that encourages growth and fertility, which has the side-effect of inducing more growth wherever he steps.
• Fertility God: As Kehidupan Cahaya, Moon Ray embodies Life and Creation. The former gives him the ability to magically encourage growth and fertility (including Fertile Feet), control plants and animals (including Timberwolves), and be empowered by life. The latter lets him create things, and he can channel his powers through Magic Music. His domains have gotten him pressured into sleeping around by people who expect Life/Creation deities to do so, much to his annoyance.
• First Love: Moon Ray was this for Velvet Heart. Velvet loved Moon Ray as much as he did her, but when he died in a helicopter crash thanks to a stupidly impulsive decision, Velvet was devastated. While it wasn't the sole cause, Moon Ray's sudden death became a contributing factor in Velvet's Despair Event Horizon, though she recovered and married someone else. It's not until the Third Age that Moon Ray and Velvet finally marry postmortem, but by then they had both overcome their respective issues, and Tranquil Dream, Velvet's first husband, gave them his blessings.
• Foil:
  • To Blue Suede Heartstrings. Both are musical prodigies with unstable careers, except Moon Ray was a drug addict, whereas Blue Suede was abused by a corrupt manager. Moon Ray died young in a helicopter accident, while Blue Suede Ascended to godhood and became a Living Legend. Moon Ray bore his flaws openly and became more honest with himself, while Blue Suede hid and internalized his own flaws until he broke down. Moon Ray is asexual and Happily Married to his second wife, whereas Blue Suede is presently in an open marriage with King Stoltur Skjöldur and other partners. They both re-Ascended, but Moon Ray became an eldritch god, while Blue Suede reincarnated as Mana Equus.
  • To Twilight Sparkle. Moon Ray came from an average family, whereas Twilight was born to Canterlot nobles. Moon Ray specializes in Psychic Powers (especially precognition) while Twilight specializes in magic. Moon Ray was an angry, bitter stallion who learned how to forgive, while Twilight was an introverted shut-in who learned to open up to people. Moon Ray, as a god of Fate, can "break" prophecies and toxic cycles, while Twilight is the named centerpiece of a prophecy as "She Who Will Unite Us All". Moon Ray's status as an eldritch god is well-known to the public, while Twilight's status as a divine reincarnation of Mana Equus was kept a state secret for a time.
• The Force Is Strong with This One: As a god of Prophecy, Moon Ray could sense precognitive power in others no matter how faint. He would go encourage such abilities in his students afer joining the Church of the Stars. Moon Ray lost this ability when he re-Ascended, which caused his Prophecy domain to evolve and split into three related domains.
• Foreseeing My Death: This happens to him twice.
  • Towards the end of his life, Moon Ray dreamed of himself being dead and buried in view of thousands of mourners.^note This also happened to Stevie Ray Vaughan; according to bandmates and crew members, he felt "terrified, yet almost peaceful". Sadly, it became a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy when, while rushing to get back to Velvet Heart, Moon Ray boarded a helicopter in bad weather and died in the resulting crash.
  • Sometime after adopting Dissonant Tune, Moon Ray dreamed of himself working on a puzzle depicting his family and friends, but the pieces that showed him were missing. Moon Ray took this as a sign that he will die again. This sort of comes true — he re-Ascends and comes back to life as he wished to, but his old identity as a god of Death, Temperance, Water, Forgiveness, and Prophecy is irrevocably rewritten, turning him into a completely different god.
• Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Defied and deconstructed. While acknowledging that some don't deserve forgiveness, Moon Ray believes in practicing it anyway as it is the only way to heal. This doesn't mean letting people off the hook, but rather letting go of harmful grudges. Forgiveness also must be unconditional, and clinging to hatred will only lead to bad consequences. Naturally, Moon Ray hates those who force people to atone by withholding forgiveness until they "earn" it out of a twisted sense of catharsis.
• Forgiveness: A crucial part of Moon Ray character growth involves forgiveness. After getting in trouble for an inciden where he lashed out in anger insead of doing his job as a Reaper, Moon Ray starts realizing that Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse even for him. He proceeds to forgive everyone who wronged him in life, including his abusive father and ex-wife, leading to him Ascending as a demigod of Forgiveness. It's after the "Big Comeback Tour" and "Applewood Rescue" events that Moon Ray realizes that forgivenss also involves letting go in general. While he acknowledges that people need to face their sins, Moon Ray believes unconditional forgiveness can help break The Chain of Harm and give closure to the wronged parties.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: Moon Ray appeared in various mortal forms over the Ages, but his go-to form is a brown-furred Earth Pony stallion wearing a black gaucho hat and a purple poncho or suit, which he was in life. After re-Ascending, Moon Ray still uses his Earth Pony form because his true form is an eldritch god who can drive people mad on sight.
• Freakiness Shame: Moon Ray's initial aversion to manifesting traits of other Pony tribes came from not wanting to look like a "freak show". He gets over it by the time he becomes a Prince, as he took to manifesting Musical Pony and Sea Pony traits.
• Freak Out:
  • Moon Ray was prone to this due to suffering from intense abuse-related PTSD. As a colt, he was abused by his father so badly that he developed the instinct to run and hide even in death. This finally stopped when Moon Ray, with help from the Trimortiade, confronted his father's damned spirit and forgave him.
  • Sometime after re-Ascending, Moon Ray freaked out when he saw alternative paths where his father was actually a loving parent instead. It took Gavisus Manes' assurances for Moon Ray to get out of his resulting depression.
• Freudian Excuse: Many of Moon Ray's worst flaws — such as his stubbornness, his impulsiveness, his temper, and his tendency to hold grudges and obsess over the past — came from not only an abusive foalhood, but also from how he was treated by everyone else outside his family. This is deconstructed as regardless of the reasons for his flaws, they still held him back and caused him to hurt the people who cared about him. Overcoming his flaws and forgiving those who wronged him allowed Moon Ray to grow as a stallion.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: What led to Moon Ray's first and second Ascensions was his realization that he cannot use his abusive foalhood or the suffering he went through to justify his present-day actions. The only thing he can do is learn from his mistakes and not repeat them. Moon Ray would later teach this to addicts and abuse victims so they can become better people.
• Friend to All Children: Various entries and supplementary materials show that Moon Ray is very fond of kids, likely due to his abusive past. He also tends to call babies "lil' cutie[s]", even those who are part of his family.
• From Zero to Hero: Moon Ray went from an abused colt to one of the Second Age's greatest Blues musicians, and then later an Alicorn god famous for helping addicts and abuse victims. Then Moon Ray became an eldritch god with potential to replace High King Ragnarøkkr as god of Cycles and a constructive force of nature. He later fulfills that destiny as King Tunglið Hreinsar Innlausn-Heimdrasil, becoming the ruler of the tenth realm Innlausn, which was occupied by the Shadowed Ones prior to "Final Ragnarok".
• The Gadfly: In one incident, Moon Ray pretended to not know what Belyolen was talking about when he said he wanted to take home his adoptive daughter Cudnost (whom Moon Ray befriended). It's noted Moon Ray did it to mess with him.
• Generation Xerox: Much like his mother, Pepper Cook, Moon Ray ended up marrying someone who became toxic and abusive later on. Crystal Light was a Hard-Drinking Party Girl who played a role in Moon Ray's descent into drug addiction, stole money from him to fund her own drug habits, and cheated on him out of frustration with their Sexless Marriage. She also emotionally abused him for a mistake he did despite his genuine repentance. Unlike his mother, however, Moon Ray divorced Crystal Light as soon as he learned of her wrongdoing.
• Gentle Giant: Pre-Eldritch Transformation, Moon Ray's true Alicorn form was tall due to his age, but was still short by divine standards. After it, he became the second-tallest member of the Church of the Stars after Prince Arcaniss, being as big as the Thirteen Empyreans. While originally a troubled Jerk with a Heart of Gold, he becomes a Nice Guy after receiving therapy for his issues and overcoming his flaws. A drabble reveals it apparently runs in the family, as Moon Ray's maternal ancestor, Tayshan "Tex" Border, was one of the First Age's Big Brother Ponies.
• Ghostly Goals: Moon Ray never got over his early death, and his goal was to go back to his old life and resume performing. To his loved ones' growing worry and concern, he fixated on his goal so much that he nearly pulled a Face–Heel Turn during the "Big Comeback Tour" and the "Applewood Rescue" events. Fortunately, he stops when he realizes he can't return to the past, leading to him Ascending to true godhood.
• Give Away the Bride: After accepting Moon Ray as her father, Edel asks him to walk her down the aisle on her wedding day. He happily fulfills her request, and walks her down the aisle to Shining Dove when that day arrives.
• Glory Days: Deconstructed. Moon Ray deeply resented dying young in a helicopter accident shortly after becoming sober, and wanted to return to the days where he was a famous Blues musician planning to marry his beloved Velvet Heart. He obsessed over it so much that he nearly pulled a Face–Heel Turn during the "Big Comeback Tour", letting the revived souls run free instead of returning them to the afterlife-realms like he was supposed to. It's not until he participated in the "Applewood Rescue" and saw how far his idol, Double Helix, had fallen that Moon Ray realized his own folly and let the past go. Fittingly, this turned out to be what he needed to Ascend to true godhood.
• God in Human Form: Justified. Like his fellow Trimortidae, Moon Ray's Death domain lets him appear as a mortal so it'll be easier for him to comfort the living and the dead. His favorite form is his pre-Ascendant self: a mortal Earthpony stallion wearing a black gaucho hat and a purple poncho/suit. After turning into an Animalistic Abomination, Moon Ray starts doing this more so he doesn't accidentally drive people into insanity.
• God Is Flawed: Moon Ray is bad-tempered, foul-mouthed, and impulsive, and he tended to hold grudges. Growing up with an alcoholic father influenced him to become a drug addict in adulthood. He also took his loved ones for granted, and due to trauma from his sudden death, he became so obsessed with his Glory Days that he nearly damned himself. Despite this, Moon Ray is a kind stallion who genuinely wants to help others and, unlike his father, is willing to overcome his flaws. After turning into an Animalistic Abomination, Moon Ray acknowledges that he will always make mistakes despite his efforts to avoid doing so, and focuses on making up for them instead of dwelling on them.
• God Is Good: Despite his flaws, Moon Ray is a humble and kind god who likes playing music, seeks to help others overcome trauma and/or addiction, and is a loving father and husband. He is also a benevolent Death god. Even after becoming an eldritch Alicorn, he remains mostly the same and defies the standard Blue-and-Orange Morality despite perceiving things differently now.
• God of the Dead:
  • After letting go of his grudges and past, Moon Ray became a Death god, giving him power over death as well as a new family. However, he is technically still dead as he is bound to the afterlife-realms he helped look after. After re-Ascending, Moon Ray not only returned to life, but also gained a new form in Kematian Cahaya, who embodied the deathly aspects of the natural cycle. His second form, Kelahiran Semula Cahaya, can also be considered a Death god in the sense that he embodies Reincarnation.
  • Moon Ray's character, Lonestar, became a Death god during a Ogres & Oubliettes session. After the previous Death god was killed as part of a plan to give mortal sapientkind the freedom to literally change the world, Lonestar took on his predecessor's mantle to save the universe from unraveling without the necessary Concepts. Moon Ray admits Lonestar's fate was based on his experiences as a Trimortidae.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: Despite being cured, Moon Ray's time as Caelum Filum left him constantly bombarded with maddening prophetic visions, pushing him to try blinding himself. After re-Ascending, Moon Ray could now drive people mad, whether by power or sheer presence, as shown with what he did to the Nemesis Crown. However, this only applies to wicked people, as he doesn't want people to drive themselves mad with the same future knowledge he now possesses. When Edel expresses her wish to have his kind of foresight instead of tarot card reading, Moon Ray asks her if she and Shining Dove would be able to live with it. Edel comes to realize that no, they wouldn't.
• Good Counterpart:
  • Moon Ray is this to High King Ragnarøkkr. Both are antlered, eldritch deities who embody certain aspects of Cycles, except Moon Ray embodies constructive cycles, while Ragnarøkkr embodies stagnant, destructive ones. Moon Ray is a loving husband and father, while Ragnarøkkr was monstrously abusive to his wives and daughters. Moon Ray is a Living Legend, while Ragnarøkkr hid his presence until he was forced to reveal himself. Moon Ray is a Humble Hero who believes in defying fate, while Ragnarøkkr is a narcissistic sociopath who hates even slight deviations in his cycles. The contrast becomes clearer when Moon Ray becomes Ragnarøkkr's Redeeming Replacement as King Tunglið Hreinsar Innlausn-Heimdrasil after Ragnarøkkr's death, ruling over the Shadowed Ones' former realm and creating positive cycles that help people grow.
  • Moon Ray is also this to constructively evil deities like Duchess Vyléčit, Lord Knechten, and Princess Voľná Láska. Both Vyléčit and Voľná embody the evil aspects of Medicine and Addiction, including drugs, with Voľná embodying Higher Understanding Through Drugs. Knechten embodies all forms of Slavery, including self-enslavement. Voľná and Knechten also had parents who indulged in the evils they now opposed. As a former drug addict who suffered under an abusive Alcoholic Parent, Moon Ray opposes Vyléčit, Knechten, and Voľná to prevent people from falling into addiction, though he understands their roles and has no hard feelings towards them. Voľná was even a former student of his who later became his adoptive daughter.
  • Moon Ray is also the opposite of War Rock. Both were musical prodigies with raging flaws, and had parents who were either abusive (Moon Ray) or didn't teach them good behavior (War Rock), affecting them as adults. War Rock represents what Moon Ray could've become if he refused to change, being a narcissistic sociopath who wanted to become a god so he can be praised and adored eternally. Moon Ray avoided going down a similar path by having enough empathy to care about his loved ones and realize his obsession with his own Glory Days was hurting them, which let him earn godhood. This is further emphasized by their ultimate fates — War Rock ended up marking himself for eternal damnation in Nekelmu's Hell-Realms upon death by stealing someone's godhood, while Moon Ray became an eldritch god by taking responsibility and realizing that mistakes are cyclic.
• Good Hair, Evil Hair: As his folder image shows, Moon Ray has a small, purple goatee. While he has his faults (most of it stemming from his Dark and Troubled Past), he's a benevolent god who wants to help addicts and sinners redeem themselves.
• The Good King: Presently, Moon Ray is now King Tunglið Hreinsar Innlausn-Heimdrasil, an agent of the Grand Primevals and ruler of Innlausnheim, which formerly belonged to the Shadowed Ones. Unlike his predecessors, Moon Ray/Tunglið desires to heal people and made Innlausnheim a Truce Zone with this in mind. Even evil people and factions are welcomed so long as they use their evil constructively. He's also an eldritch god who can destroy entire realms and more if he chose to, but only shows it if a crisis is too great to ignore or a harmful, destructive cycle needs to end. For bonus points, Moon Ray/Tunglið has the far humbler title of "King" compared to Ragnarøkkr's title of High King.
• Good Needs Evil: Even before realizing everything runs on cycles, Moon Ray doesn't see good or evil as the dominant force because the world doesn't work that way. He notably disagreed with Virtuecrat Fairytale's plan to globalize "True Good", since "True Good" dictates that sapientkind will no longer need even "constructive" evil and vice. He compares it to destroying the Hell-Realms while keeping only the Heaven-Realms. As indicated by this drabble, Moon Ray believes Vicearch Iniquitous' plan to globalize "Iniquitism" will also fail.
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: So basically ya keep the Heaven-Realms but throw out the Hell-Pits. Not a good idea if yer thinkin' 'bout the long-term.
• Good Parents: Played realistically. Due to an abusive upbringing, Moon Ray had numerous flaws that he struggled to moderate all his life, and his entries make clear how hard it was and how his flaws affected his loved ones. However, Moon Ray still makes genuine effort to break the cycle of abuse his birth father started by being a good father to his own children — many who were abuse victims themselves. Even constructively evil children like Dissonant Tune and Voľná Láska are treated as part of the family.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: As an ancient god from the Second Age, Moon Ray developed a purple wing gradient while growing feathers made of purple, looping water. Post-Eldritch Transformation, he becomes a massive, eldritch Alicorn with ten wings, though their appearances depended on the three cycles Moon Ray shifts through — the Alpine cycle has rotting wings with feathers falling out, the Equus cycle has starry wings made of dark space energy, and the Silicon cycle has healthy, shimmering wings.
• Grand Theft Me: Moon Ray once had a disturbing prophetic dream where something took over his body and did whatever they pleased with it, leaving him utterly helpless. This foreshadowed the discovery of the Striga Family's usage of necromancy to transfer souls into host bodies, at the expense of the host bodies' original owners. Thus, Moon Ray and his fellow Trimortidae got heavily involved in locating souls that were using host bodies, willingly or unwillingly, and ushering them into the proper afterlife-realms.
• Grave-Marking Scene: After Gavisus Manes reminds him of how he Ascended to demi-godhood, Moon Ray travels to Lonestar to visit his own grave, where he acknowledges his obsession with his Glory Days was hurting his loved ones and causing him to forget the good things he gained in the present. Letting go of his past causes him to Ascend to true godhood then and there, something his friends and family were proud of him for when they learn of it.
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: As Kelahiran Semula Cahaya, Moon Ray embodies Cycles, which gives him a degree of time magic. This includes sensing, altering, and creating time loops, which he can use to punish evildoers for their crimes. According to Moon Ray, what Pakak did to Sunnytown is a form of Cycle magic.
• Growing Wings: Moon Ray would grow both wings and a horn upon Ascending to demi-godhood, due to being born a mortal Earth pony. Three Ages later, a series of events and a personal epiphany regarding cycles would turn him into something resembling a "Preeminent"-ranked deity, with ten wings and other eldritch traits to boot.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Deconstructed. While not to Sunny Mane's extent, Moon Ray still had a bad temper thanks to an abusive upbringing and other factors. It became worse after he died, his anger compounded by his bitterness and resentment over not only his sudden death, but also everyone who hurt him. After getting in trouble for attacking an abusive mare who killed her own foal, Moon Ray was sent to Malus Manes to learn about fairness, understanding, and mercy. This made him realize he had to forgive the people who hurt him in order to move on, and thankfully, his friends and adoptive/biological families helped him. After adopting children like Prince Dissonant Tune, Moon Ray starts reining in his temper more, realizing it might reflect poorly on him if he didn't keep it in check.
• Handicapped Badass: Deconstructed. After making considerable Character Development, Moon Ray manifested his long-repressed Prophecy domain, but entered a coma in the process. Because he didn't grow into his domain naturally, Moony became narcoleptic upon waking up. His tiredness takes such a toll on him that he later takes desperate measures to get well again... which only leaves him in worser shape than before.
• Happily Adopted: Both on the receiving and giving ends. After Ascending to demi-godhood, Moon Ray was adopted into the Trimortidae by Gavisus Manes, giving him a more loving family that Moon Ray wholeheartedly accepted. On the flipside, Moon Ray himself would adopt many children, caring for them like they were his own flesh and blood. Many of said children were abuse victims like he was.
• Harmful to Minors: Moon Ray's birth father often drank around him and his older brother, and had no problem beating them over minor slights. It contributed to Moon Ray's overall PTSD and influenced him to continue the cycle of addiction as he grew up.
• Hates Their Parent: Moon Ray both hates and fears his birth father, Sunny Mane, who abused him as a child. His trauma was so great that even after dying, he would flee and hide whenever his Trauma Button was pressed. Eventually it's deconstructed — by continuing to remember what Sunny Mane did, Moon Ray became "addicted" to the fear and pain he felt. With help from the Trimortidae, Moon Ray forgives Sunny Mane and moves on from his Dark and Troubled Past, allowing him to gradually heal.
• Healing Hands: As a god of Forgiveness, Moon Ray can heal physical, mental, and emotional wounds. However, in order for it to work, he must be truly and genuinely forgiving. Later, following his re-Ascension, this ability would carry over into his new portfolio as Kematian Cahaya.
• Healing Spring: Justified and invoked. As a god of Water, Moon Ray can turn any pool of water into a healing spring. This ability would later survive in some form as part of Kehidupan Cahaya's portfolio following his re-Ascension, with a few additional effects.
• Heal It with Water: As a god of Water, Moon Ray can use water to purify poisons and most forms of pollution, which he can use on himself. He can also heal himself via contact with water, and turn any pool of water into a healing spring. When combined with his Temperance domain, Moon Ray can create water that reduces magically-enhanced thirsts and appetites when drunk. Despite losing his Water domain, his ability survived in some form following his re-Ascension.
• Hellish Copter: Like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Moon Ray died in a helicopter accident caused by a combination of poor weather, pilot error, and his own impulsiveness just before his career could really take off. His death has devastating consequences on his psychological state, yet at the same time kicks off a series of events that allowed him to overcome pre-existing trauma and other issues.
• Heroic BSoD: Moon Ray was devastated once the ramifications of his death via helicopter accident sank in, causing him to nearly pull a Face–Heel Turn out of desire to return to his Glory Days. Fortunately, Moon Ray backs out during the "Applewood Rescue" event, and later starts having these in response to real and perceived mistakes as a sign of his increased empathy. Among them include not preventing Blue Suede Heartstrings' Rage Breaking Point and near-corruption; learning of the damage he caused as Caelum Filum, including turning several friends into Eldritch Abominations; freaking out over seeing alternative futures where Sunny Mane Vaughoof was a loving father instead; and blaming himself for accidentally turning his older brother, Sunny Field, into an eldritch Alicorn by using his own Spark to trigger the latter's Ascension.
• Heroic Lineage: Both Moon Ray and Sunny Field are maternal Fourth Age descendants of Tex, one of the First Age's Big Brother Ponies. This means they both inherited the "Big Brother" gene from him. This means that one of their distant ancestors is Tex's son, Mountain Mane, though it's not known whether Moon Ray and Sunny Field are directly descended from him or are merely (very) distant relatives.
• Heroic Sacrifice: A non-fatal example. During a session of Ogres & Oubliettes, Moon Ray's character avatar, a Necromancer named Lonestar, took on the mantle of a murdered Death god to keep the universe from literally unraveling without its Concepts. While this saves the world, Lonestar would not be able to be with his adventuring party again. Moon Ray admits he based Lonestar's fate on his experiences as a Trimortidae member.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: Deconstructed. Moon Ray tends to be very self-deprecating, making jokes about how "ugly" he is and seeing himself as a mere "amateur" compared to the musicians who inspired him. It became toxic when it started stunting his divine growth, creating an incomplete portfolio with his Prophecy domain (initially) missing. Letting go of his self-deprecation tendencies is what allowed him to grow as a god.
• Heroic Willpower: Deconstructed. After spending a month as Caelum Filum, Moon Ray was cured and turned back to normal. Unfortunately, the divine drug he consumed to cure his chronic tiredness (and turned him into Caelum Filum) had irrevocably altered his divine nature. Which means trying to fight his Eldritch Transformation left Moon Ray in constant agony. Accepting the changes completed his transformation and healed his pain.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Defied. Moon Ray believes that focusing on revenge will only create a Cycle of Revenge that will turn people into becoming like those who wronged them, which also lets the wrongdoers continue exercising power and influence over their victims. Only by letting go of grudges can the cycle be stopped. Many people Moon Ray had helped, like Cloudy Brush, Lampyridae/Firewing, and Bright Book, were abuse victims and those who otherwise suffered great injustices at the hands of wicked people.
• Hidden Depths: While a talented Blues musician, Moon Ray is also a skilled artist. He's also very intelligent and perceptive despite his casual demeanor and foul mouth, being able to recognize signs of addiction, grief, and abuse. Also, one of his favorite Second Age songs is "Let Go", which heavily influenced his beliefs and outlook on life; the irony is that "Let Go" is a Pop song.
• Higher Understanding Through Drugs: Moon Ray accidentally turned himself into Caelum Film when he took a powerful divine drug to cure his chronic tiredness, gaining nigh-omniscient knowledge of the future. However, it also led to him realizing the cyclic nature of things and resolving to take responsibility for his mistakes after making them again, leading to a more permanent Eldritch Transformation.
• Holy Halo: Moon Ray originally had a halo made of Temperance energy. After re-Ascending, he gained a magnificent, multilayered halo due to turning into an eldritch "Preeminent"-ranked Alicorn, though depending on the cycle he's in, he either has a dark halo (Alpine cycle), a radiant halo (Silicon cycle), or a halo made of starlight (Equus cycle).
• Holy Hand Grenade: Originally, Moon Ray possessed a degree of this; his Water domain let him purify poisons and pollution with water, while his Temperance domain is effective against vice-based corruption. He can combined his powers with those of other deities to create powerful purifying seals, as he did with Dark Illustration's remaining malicious taint on Bright Book's childhood carnival. After re-Ascending, Moon Ray gained the domain of Renewal and Hope, which gives him similar purifying powers, but at the cost of losing his original domains.
• Holy Water: As a god of Water, some of Moon Ray's abilities involve purification and healing, even creating healing springs. He loses this when he transforms into an Animalistic Abomination, discarding his Water domain permanently.
• Home of the Gods: Moon Ray has a divine realm that resembles his childhood home in Gallas, Lonestar, with space for him and his growing family. It also has a study full of sketchbooks he uses to record his future visions. The simplicity of his divine realm reflects his humble and modest character.
• Honorary Uncle: Due to his fondness for children, Moon Ray often found himself becoming an uncle-figure to countless mortal and divine children, who simply adore him. Among many examples include Lucky Shot, Maestro II/Metal Maestro, Shifa' Alhabi Moufette, Lampyridae/Firewing/Clementia, Songbird, and Atropa Moufette.
• Honor Thy Abuser: Moon Ray eventually forgives his abusive father, leading to his Ascension to demi-godhood. Then it's subverted; while acknowledging he and Sunny Field wouldn't have been born if their birth parents hadn't met, Moon Ray makes it clear that he's only forgiving his father so he can let go of the fer and pain he held for years. He wants his father to suffer the consequences of everything he had done in life.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Had Moon Ray known that Crystal Light was ultimately a hedonist focused on satisfying herself and her drug habits, he never would have married her. Then again, he wouldn't have met Velvet Heart.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: As an Alicorn, Moon Ray is bigger than his second wife Velvet Heart, a mortal-turned-Angel. Moon Ray's re-Ascension made him grow to the point of utterly dwarfing Velvet Heart even after she Ascended herself.
• Humble Hero: For all his flaws, Moon Ray is incredibly humble, seeing himself as an amateur compared to the musicians who inspired him and being embarrassed by the worship he received from others. It's later deconstructed as like Blue Suede Heartstrings, Moon Ray's humility prevented him from truly appreciating his own skills, accomplishments, and merits. Thanks to his loved ones, he accepts his pride and developing healthy humility, a lesson he retains even after becoming a divine Animalistic Abomination.
• Hypocrite: According to his Prophecy domain, Moon Ray denied/repressed parts of himself yet willingly indulged in others. Notably, he took a powerful divine drug in hopes of recovering from his narcolepsy despite knowing that Drugs Are Bad. While Prophecy does learn things aren't as simple as they appeared, Moon Ray nontheless acknowledges his mistakes and has an epiphany regarding the true nature of cycles.
• I Am What I Am: Like Blue Suede Heartstrings, part of Moon Ray's character arc involved this. Due to his Heroic Self-Deprecation, Moon Ray saw himself as unworthy of all the things he genuinely earned, such as his titles or the worship of his mortal admirers. When faced with suggestions from friends and family that he help revive the Blues genre in Kerajaan Cahaya, he took a temporary leave of absence in order to figure himself out. Thanks to his loved ones as well as Gagal Moon Ray started appreciating his accomplishments, skills, and merits which allowed him to manifest his long-repressed Prophecy domain.
• I Call It "Vera": Moon Ray named his hybrid scythe, Pride and Joy, after a song he wrote for his first studio album in the Second Age. He also owned an electric Fender Stratocaster he called "Number One" when he was a mortal.
• Iconic Outfit: While he has worn different outfits and barding over the Ages, Moon Ray's most frequent and most famous outfit is a black gaucho hat and purple poncho, which he wears whenever he appears as his mortal self.
• I Coulda Been a Contender!: Deconstructed. Despite knowing he'll die one day thanks to his visions, Moon Ray still became incredibly bitter over how his life and career abruptly ended in a helicopter crash, which was compounded by Rock Opera's toxic influence. It got to a point where Moon Ray nearly sided with the wicked celebrities during the "Big Comeback Tour" out of deep longing for his Glory Days. This alienates his friends and family, who are horrified by the dark path he was taking. Fortunately, he later realizes his error, acknowledges that his death was his own fault, and lets the past go, allowing him to Ascend to true godhood.
• Identifying the Body: Moon Ray's body was left so mangled by his helicopter accident that his older brother Sunny Field and friend Sunshine Cream were called by the morgue to identify him. They could only do so because Moon Ray wore his iconic hat and purple poncho at the time of his death.
• Immortality Begins at Twenty: Subverted. As a "Tier IV"-ranked god from the Second Age, Moon Ray is tens of thousands of years old and thus has eldritch traits like a wing gradient, a mane and tail made of looping water, and a Holy Halo. Later, Moon Ray re-Ascends as an eldritch god that's roughly equal to the Thirteen Empyreans after taking a divine drug that permanently altered his divine nature. One Minotaur researcher of Codex Equus who tried figuring out his exact age ultimately gave up and left.
• Immune to Mind Control: As a god of Temperance, Moon Ray possesses an indomitable will that protects him from mind-control. He once beat up a Virtue deity and their cohorts for trying to brainwash him into rejecting all "evils", including his own constructively evil children. He lost this ability after re-Ascending as an eldritch god.
• Incompatible Orientation: Moon Ray has his own share of admirers, but he always ends up turning them down because he's asexual and already married to Velvet Heart.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: Defied. As Kematian Cahaya, Moon Ray admits to wanting to drink to cope with the horrors of his destroyer duties, which is worsened by the loss of his Temperance domain. Despite this, he still refuses to do it because he remembered how well that turned out for him. Fortunately, he's been resolving this problem with therapy.
• In-Series Nickname: Moon Ray is usually called "Moony" by family and friends, with variations depending on the individual. He was also called "the stallion with the wide-brimmed hat" by a dying Pony village in the early Fourth Age due to his black gaucho hat, which would later inspire the enigmatic character 'The Stallion with the Wide-Brimmed Hat'.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • Like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Moon Ray would also die of a fatal helicopter crash when he was 35 years old. Unlike Stevie Ray, he became an "Angel of Death" and then an Alicorn god sometime after.
  • While Moon Ray/Canticum was able to fix his greatest mistake by convincing his younger self not to fly back home in bad weather, some things stayed the same — for one, the alternate Moon Ray still ends up marrying Velvet Heart (albeit much earlier than his mainline counterpart due to not dying) and is still asexual, with his children being adopted. The alternate Moon Ray also became a therapist and Ascends to godhood like his potential future self, but it happens under the tutelage of his potential future self (along with others like Luminiferous and the future Redeeming Six after Moon Ray/Canticum fell sick).
• Instrument of Murder: Moon Ray's main weapon is a divine guitar-scythe hybrid named Pride and Joy that unfolds to reveal a scythe's blade. It gives him soul manipulation and, before his Eldritch Transformation, finer control over his Water domain. Moon Ray's re-Ascensionion warped Pride and Joy and made it even more powerful.
• Intergenerational Friendship: As a "Tier IV"-ranked god, many of Moon Ray's divine friends are younger than him due to how aging works for deities — some of them like Munditia, Shifa' Alhabi Moufette, and Lenost are "Godlings" or "Tier II" at their youngest, while others are either "Tier III" or on the low end of the "Tier IV" rank. Moon Ray also has mortal friends, which also counts as being Pals with Jesus. This ends up being zigzagged as some of his friends, like Healing Song, are "older" than him by divine standards due to them Ascending first. After re-Ascending, Moon Ray became far bigger and older than all of his friends. His friendship with Rainbow Dash in particular is what partially gets the Grand Primevals' attention as they both had potential to break toxic cycles and create healthy ones despite their opposing natures.
• Interspecies Adoption: Many of Moon Ray's adoptive children are either racial hybrids or members of non-Pony races such as Griffons and Deer. This didn't stop Moon Ray from being a loving father to them, which resulted in his children loving him back.
• Interspecies Friendship: Moon Ray is presently an eldritch Alicorn, and many of his divine friends are either of different races (Munditia), hybrids (Muziki, Shifa' Alhabi Moufette), or Draconequui (Cudnost, Prince Lenost).
• In the Blood: Like his birth father, Moon Ray would develop an alcohol problem (with the addition of drug abuse) later in life, and suffered from anger issues that took him a while to overcome. This would eventually be defied and averted after death, making it a case of Like Father, Unlike Son.
• Invisibility: As a god of Death, Moon Ray can turn himself invisible to all but the most spiritually and/or psychically sensitive, explaining how he was able to sojourn in the mortal planes unnoticed after his death. It's noted all Death deities can do this, too.
• Involuntary Shapeshifting: Following his re-Ascension, Moon Ray became tied to the four seasons, making him constantly shift between a decayed god of Death, an eldritch god of Reincarnation, and a fertile god of Life in a neverending cycle. It's noted this is due to him reaching an epiphany that everything runs on cycles and that people would lapse into bad behaviors no matter what they do, causing his appearance and powers to reflect all aspects of the natural cycle.
• It Amused Me: Moon Ray's reason for pretending not to understand Belyolen's intent to take Cudnost home? It was purely to mess with him.
• It's Okay to Cry: Moon Ray gives this advice to Edel when she's left fuming and sobbing from her birth parents cruelly rejecting her invitation to her wedding with an apathetic copy-and-paste letter, stating what she needs is to let it out and vent. He then lets her cry on his shoulder until she feels better.
• It's Personal: Deconstructed; Moon Ray's temper meant that he has a tendency to lash out and hold grudges against those who wronged him or his loved ones, such as his abusive birth father, his older brother Sunny Field, the Oceanaiads, and Double Helix. Part of his character arc involves letting go of his grudges so he could move on and heal.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: After his disastrous first marriage with Crystal Light, Moon Ray met Velvet Heart, fell in love with her, and got engaged to her. He originally planned to marry Velvet Heart, only to die in a helicopter accident before he could. When he learned she married Tranquil Dream in his absence, Moon Ray did not take it well, partially factoring into his near-Face–Heel Turn. It's after being called out by Velvet Heart herself (among other things) he finally realizes his error and apologizes to her for his selfishness. Ironically, they would get together again postmortem when Tranquil Dream, who initially hated Moon Ray but had his own Jerkass Realization, gave Moon Ray his blessing to date Velvet Heart again, leading to them marrying as intended.

J — O

• Jailbait Taboo: After foreseeing an alternate timeline where he got engaged to a teenage version of Velvet Heart, Moon Ray was so upset that he manifested bits of his true eldritch nature on impulse while explaining his dream to his wife. According to one of the Codex writers, this was intended as a Take That! to the thirty-something musician Stevie Ray Vaughan's Age-Gap Romance with the seventeen-year-old model Janna Lapidus.
• Jerkass Realization: Like his older brother, Sunny Field, Moon Ray would undergo a gradual one over the course of three Ages. While he loved and cared for his friends and family, he was a troubled Jerk with a Heart of Gold who was impulsive, vindictive, bad-tempered, and stubborn. He also took his loved ones for granted, and his frequent tendency to ignore their advice led to his death in a helicopter accident. With his early death, Moon Ray became increasingly bitter, resentful, and angry, compounded by his friend Key Tap's self-righteous criticisms and discovering his old fiancée, Velvet Heart, married someone else. He ultimately realizes how far he had fallen when he encountered his foalhood idol, a revived Double Helix, forcing him to see a dark reflection of himself. Moon Ray proceeds to let go of his past and work on overcoming his flaws, becoming the Nice Guy he is today.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In his mortal youth, Moon Ray loved his friends and family, including his older brother Sunny Field and then-fiancée Velvet Heart, but was very impulsive and hot-tempered. He got addicted to drugs and alcohol for a time, took his loved ones for granted, and frequently ignored helpful advice, which eventually led to his premature death. It was after his death that Moon Ray's nastier behaviors surfaced. While his behaviors largely came from his abusive upbringing, they still didn't justify how he acted, as Moon Ray alienated his loved ones and, after Ascending to godhood, stunted his own growth as an Alicorn. Learning the importance of forgiveness kicked off a series of events that forced him to realize the error of his ways and change for the better, transforming him into the kind, merciful stallion he presently is. It also allowed him to unlock his full power and potential, even if the choices he made had unexpected long-term consequences.
• Junkie Prophet: Inverted; while Moon Ray's precognition emerged during his addiction period, it was to warn him of the dangers of abusing drugs, which he initially ignored until it was nearly too late. That didn't stop him from jokingly calling himself a "junkie prophet". It would be ironically played straight later on, but in a weird way — Moon Ray took a divine drug made by Princess Voľná Láska and Joyous Freedom in a Moment of Weakness, and accidentally corrupted himself into a stoned, omniscient Eldritch Abomination for. Though cured and restored to normal a month later, the drug warped Moon Ray's divine nature to such an extent that he transforms into an eldritch god for good, with his Prophecy domain splitting up into three new domains that represent aspects of the original.
• Karmic Jackpot: This happens to Moon Ray a lot as a result of his good deeds.
  • Though it was an incredibly difficult process, Moon Ray worked hard to break the cycle of abuse and addiction started by his birth father. He got sober, cut out all toxic people in his life, and learned the importance of mercy and forgiveness. He also became more considerate of others' feelings, listened when people [[called him out on his failings, and learned not to obsess over the past. His efforts are eventually rewarded when he Ascended twice — first as a demigod, then as a true god. He also went on to inspire others long after his death, as a young Prince Dissonant Tune became a constructive villain after hearing of his story.
  • Moon Ray's choice to become a divine therapist in order to help abuse victims and addicts would attract countless mortals and deities to him, many who became his students, lifelong friends, and even his adoptive children. This not only turned him into a Living Legend as he originally intended, but also saved Moon Ray's life when he was kidnapped by Silk Dawn and tortured to near-death; Blue Diadem, one of Moon Ray's adoptive daughters, was among those who came to his rescue, confronting her abusive mother to give Moon Ray enough time to be rescued and healed. It also put him on very good standing with pantheons like the Great Skunk Pantheon, and attracted mortals who would come to worship him like the kingdom of Kreislauf.
  • Despite his initial anger and heartache over his old fiancée, Velvet Heart, marrying someone else after his death, Moon Ray realized how selfish he was and chose to stay friends instead. Eventually, he gets his chance when Velvet Heart's husband, Tranquil Dream, has his own Jerkass Realization and gives Moon Ray his blessing to date her again, having realized Moon Ray isn't some creep who had the hots for his wife. Moon Ray's efforts in becoming a better stallion also ensures that his marriage to Velvet Heart becomes loving and long-lasting, unlike his first marriage to Crystal Light.
  • While in a coma following the "Cosmic Prophet Debacle", Moon Ray is called out by his Prophecy domain for hypocritically repressing parts of himself while indulging in others. Moon Ray not only accepts his mistakes, but also realizes that even mistakes are part of a cycle. This allowed him to reconcile with Prophecy and wake up from his coma, re-Ascending in the process. Moon Ray also earns his subjects' forgiveness when he genuinely apologizes for his month-long stint as Caelum Filum, even though it was a complete accident, and helps reverse the damage he caused.
  • Moon Ray catches the attention of the Grand Primevals, who see him as High King Ragnarøkk's Redeeming Replacement. After he impresses them with his efforts in helping the Nine Realms heal from the Shadowed Ones' torments, the Grand Primevals crown Moon Ray as King Tunglið Hreinsar Innlausn-Heimdrasil, and he becomes the ruler of the tenth realm, Innlausnheim, which formerly belonged to the Shadowed Ones prior to their collective demise.
• Large and in Charge: Moon Ray was already huge due to being a "Tier IV"-ranked god, but later, he turns into a gigantic, Empyrean-level eldritch Alicorn. He's also the leader of the Redeeming Six/Council of Redemption, and, despite his eldritch nature, a benevolent member of the Church of the Stars. Later on, as a reward for his good deeds, Moon Ray is crowned as King Tunglið Hreinsar Innlausn-Heimdrasil, becoming the ruler of Innlausnheim, the Shadowed Ones' former tenth realm that he repaired and transformed with the help of friendly deities.
• The Leader: Moon Ray is the leader of Redeeming Six (now the Council of Redemption) and is an "Experienced" and "Charismatic" example. As a divine therapist, he has three Ages worth of experience in treating victims of abuse and addiciton, and, while he was a god of Temperance, was the most level-headed of the group. He is also a Magnetic Hero whose kindness and empathy for others attracts those who were under great suffering. Naturally, Moon Ray is the one who keeps the Redeeming Six together, though he also relies on them to keep him in check and call him out for his mistakes and failings, especially after he re-Ascended.
• Leaning on the Furniture: When not ushering in souls of the dead to their respective afterlives, Moon Ray could be found lounging on furniture while playing his guitar, Pride and Joy, his black gaucho hat tipped downwards.
• Life/Death Juxtaposition: Because he had an epiphany regarding the cyclic nature of all things, Moon Ray's divine nature changed so that his appearance and portfolio shifts through three cycless of life, death, and reincarnation. His first form, Kematian Cahaya, is a ghastly-looking God of the Dead who embodies death, the inevitability of fate, and coming to terms with it. His second form, Kehidupan Cahaya, is a healthy Fertility God who embodies life, the potential of beginnings, and the need for hope and renewal. His third form, Kelahiran Semula Cahaya, represents the universal system of reincarnation, balance, and cycles, and fittingly, this form is considered to be the most 'balanced' of his three forms.
• Lifesaving Misfortune: This happens twice. During the "Live Alive" tour, Moon Ray collapsed from a gangplank and was rushed to a hospital, where it was discovered that his body was severely damaged by drug and alcohol abuse. This motivated him to go into rehab and become sober. Moon Ray also took the last seat in the helicopter meant to take him and his family back home; this gets him killed, but saves Sunny Field and his wife. Unfortunately, Sunny Field was so affected by the news of his younger brother's death that he never really got over it, mourning for the rest of his life.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: Unlike the ill-tempered Sunny Mane, he's much nicer, and while he did have flaws similar to his birth father, he overcame them thanks to various people who helped him become a better person. Notably, while Sunny Mane died from his alcoholism, he worked on getting sober following a near-death experience caused by his own addictions, and nowadays he helps rehabilitate addicts. And unlike Sunny Mane, he's a loving husband and father, which influenced his relationships with his wife and adoptive kids.
• Literal-Minded: Moon Ray once saw Philosopher's Stones, magical stones created whenever someone Ascends to godhood, as divine excrement. This ends everyone, including the Codex Equus researcher who was interviewing him, into complete hysterics.
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: So y'mean ta say that ev'ry time some-creature turns into a god, they shit rocks?
• Little Brother Is Watching: Moon Ray's alcoholism and drug abuse, and many of his worst flaws, came from watching his violent, alcoholic father as a young foal. Fortuantely, he wised up and became sober after nearly dying from his addictions, and after dying for real, he would gradually overcome his worst flaws as well.
• Living Is More than Surviving: Moon Ray personally believes that living life to the fullest is ultimately better than just focusing on survival because you miss out on things that make life worth living. Part of his duties as a divine therapist involve helping people realize and accept this. His beliefs regarding this would carry onto his Death form, Kematian Cahaya, following his re-Ascension.
• Living Legend: In the Second Age, he was a guitar virtuoso who saved the increasingly stagnant Blues genre singlehoofedly, and one of the greatest Blues musicians to have ever lived. His popularity increased when he overcame his drug addictions and helped other people overcome theirs. Then he suddenly died in a helicopter accident, cutting his career short and leaving him very depressed, bitter, and resentful about it. But with help, he gets over this and becomes a therapist for both addicts and abuse victims in addition to ushering/comforting the dead. Following his re-Ascension as an eldritch god, his good deeds have earned him enough repute that even the Grand Primevals know about him and are interested in his potential as a Redeeming Replacement for High King Ragnarøkkr, since much of his actions involved breaking free of toxic cycles and helping others do the same. He exceeds their expectations in helping the Nine Realms recover from the Shadowed Ones' torments, and being crowned as King Tunglið Hreinsar Innlausn-Heimdrasil made him an extremely beloved Big Good of Heimdrasil's Ten Realms once the people get over their fears of him.
• Locked into Strangeness: The sheer stress of suddenly manifesting his Prophecy domain marked Moon Ray's mane and tail with a permanent white stripe. After re-Ascending as an eldritch god, the white stripe in his hair becomes a trait that changes its appearance to match his current form(s) depending on which seasonal "cycle" he's in.
• Lovecraftian Superpower: After re-Ascending, Moon Ray's very nature became tied to the four seasons, making him shift through three phases of death, reincarnation, and life in an endless loop. As a result, his appearance and powers change to correspond with each season (i.e. death = winter; reincarnation = spring and fall; life = summer). Notably, as Kelahiran Semula Cahaya, his domain of Cycles lets sense, create, and manipulate cycles, among other things.
• Love Hurts: Twice.
  • He was deeply in love with his first wife, Crystal Light, but it initially blinded him to her flaws and toxic habits, in part causing him to fall into drug/alcohol abuse. After he entered rehab following his collapse and hospitalization, he learned Crystal Light not only refused to visit him, but also stole his money to support her own drug habits and cheated on him with other shady stallions out of frustration with his asexuality. He was so angry that he divorced her. While this freed him from a bad influence, it understandably left him depressed and ashamed of his perceived faults for a while.
  • He met Velvet Heart during his Darkest Hour, and as it turned out, Velvet Heart genuinely loved him and supported him while he was in rehab. This caused him to fall head-over-hooves for her, and they became engaged sometime after. Unfortunately, he suddenly died a fatal helicopter crash before he could marry her, caused by a combination of factors such as bad weather and his eagerness in getting back to her. And when he finally reunites with her in the afterlife, he discovers Velvet Heart married someone else. Despite his sorrow, he decides to do the right thing and just stay friends with Velvet Heart. He does eventually get the chance to marry Velvet Heart when her husband gives them the okay to date, leading to them getting married in a wedding personally overseen by Gavisus Manes.
• Love Makes You Dumb: Twice.
  • He fell deeply in love with Crystal Light, who would become his fillyfriend and later his first wife. While he acknowledged not all of their moments were bad, he was initially blind to her flaws because he loved her so much, which led to him becoming an addict and falling in with those who encouraged his vices. His lack of interest in sex also frustrated Crystal Light, driving her to cheat on him with shady stallions in addition to stealing his money to support her own drug habits. When he learned of this, he understandably divorced her, but he was left depressed and ashamed for a while until he met Velvet Heart, who genuinely loved him and supported him while he recovered.
  • This also ultimately got him killed. He was so eager to go back to Velvet Heart (then his fiancée at the time) that he boarded a helicopter during bad weather, leading to him dying in the resulting crash. When he reunites with her in the Heaven-Realms years later, he learns to his heartbreak that Velvet Heart moved on and married someone else. He ultimately decides to stay friends with her instead of pressuring her to resume their old relationship, though he does get his wish when Velvet Heart's husband gives them the okay to date, leading to them eventually marrying.
• Love Redeems: This is what allowed Moon Ray to grow as a Pony — through his friends and family's love and forgiveness, he overcame his addiction and worst flaws, which led to him Ascending and re-Ascending. Moon Ray himself would redeem others (or at least motivate them to act constructively) by showing them love, mercy, and kindness, earning their Undying Loyalty; Princess Voľná Láska, Blue Diadem, Ruya Clearfeather, and Meli’āki are a few examples.
• Magic Hair: Originally, Moon Ray had a mane and tail composed of purple, perpetually-looping water. After becoming an eldritch god, he gains three forms with hair made of different energies depending on which cycle he's in.
• Magic Music: Despite not being a god of Music, Moon Ray still has a degree of music magic. His main weapon is a guitar-scythe hybrid named Pride and Joy; playing it allows him to bend souls to his will (including living people) and manipulate water in more intricate ways. He can also manifest this power through his Musical Pony gem, one of his chimeric Pony traits. After becoming an eldritch god, Moon Ray's musical powers became warped, allowing him to sing melodies that either kill or drive listeners to insanity, or ease the minds of the dying.
• Magitek: Moon Ray's main weapon, Pride and Joy, is a magitech guitar-scythe hybrid made in the Third Age. While made in emulation of the electric guitars of the Second Age, it's sustained by magic instead of electricity. This presents problems when used to fight magic-devouring entities or those who possess Disruption magic like Prince Fanged Paw.
• The Magnificent: Moon Ray's original title was "the King of Blues", which he earned by reviving the increasingly stagnant Blues genre in the Second Age. He initially didn't like it due to his own humility, but came to accept it. Three Ages later, Moon Ray gained a second title, "the Chalice of Temperance", due to his efforts in helping people break free of addiction and overcome their flaws. Then he re-Ascended, upon which Moon Ray's title changed to "the Sovereign of Cycles" due to becoming a cyclic god who shifts through the cycles of life, death, and reincarnation. His three cyclic forms would also gain titles of their own to differentiate them from each other, all of them beginning with "the Prince of ____".
• Making a Splash: As a god of Water, Moon Ray is a very powerful water magic, with more unique abilities revolving around healing and purification. His main weapon, Pride and Joy, lets him control water on a finer scale via Magic Music. He also learned psychic hydrokinesis under Golden Scepter's tutelage, including hydromancy. Later, Moon Ray's Water domain turns into Fluidity when he transforms into Caelum Filum, then he loses it permanently when he re-Ascends as an eldritch god. While he learns that he never lost his water magic completely, Moon Ray was still pretty disheartened and had to be given a pep-talk by Golden Scepter.
• The Marvelous Deer: Moon Ray notably and inexplicably gained a pair of great Deer antlers after re-Ascending. While it does add to his eldritch appearance, it's strongly implied that Princess Voľná Láska, who was directly responsible for his current state, had something to do with it. Nonetheless, he's a benevolent Eldritch Abomination who subverts and defies the standard horrifying Blue-and-Orange Morality common among eldritch beings.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: As part of the Trimortidae (specifically Gavisus Manes' branch), Moon Ray has countless divine adoptive brothers, sisters, and cousins — including two of his own bandmates, Fret Pick and Whipper Snare, who were adopted by Malus Manes.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Moon Ray is named after the moon, which fits his biological family's Stellar Name pattern. The moon symbolizes emotion, rebirth, insight, and purification; despite his flaws, Moon Ray is perceptive and empathetic due to his experiences with addiction and abuse. His actions eventually lead to him re-Ascending as an eldritch god who constantly shifts through different phases just like the moon, changing his appearances and powers. Many addicts, sinners, and criminals often end up pulling a Heel–Face Turn after being treated by him. Moon Ray's family name, Vaughoof, is a Punny Name derived from Stevie Ray Vaughan's last name, which fits someone who's based on the Blues musician.
  • Moon Ray's main weapon is a guitar-scythe hybrid named Pride and Joy, which In-Universe is named after a song from his first studio album in honor of a prized Fender Stratocaster that he owned and called "Number One". Fittingly, it is his most treasured possession, a reminder of his days as a mortal musician. Contrary to popular belief, however, Pride and Joy's name is actually a two-parter.
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: This blade right here is my 'Pride'. An' this lil' ol' guitar right here is my 'Joy'. This whole thing I'm holdin' in my hooves right now? It's my 'Pride and Joy'.
  • Moon Ray's first Alicorn name, Canticum Lunae Cahaya, translates to "song of the moon" in Latin, which fits him as a Blues musician. His second Alicorn name, Tunglið Hreinsar Innlausn-Heimdrasil, translates to "moon purifies" and "redemption" in Icelandic. This refers to both his efforts in helping the Nine Realms overcome their collective PTSD from the Shadowed One's torments, and how he later took over the Shadowed Ones' former realm as king and transformed it into a sanctuary. Heimdrasil refers to the World Tree that houses Moon Ray himself, his friends/family, and the Nine Realms in general.
  • Following his re-Ascension, Moon Ray would shift the three cycles he goes through after places he knew or grew up in. They are the Alpine cycle (named after the Alpine Valley Resort where he died), the Silicon cycle (named after Silicon Valley, Lonestar's capital city where he rose to stardom), and the Equus cycle (named after the planet Equus). Fittingly, his cycles would also be given Malaysian names to separate them — Kematian Cahaya ("death"), Kelahiran Semula Cahaya ("reincarnation" and/or "rebirth"), and Kehidupan Cahaya ("life")
  • Moon Ray's Ogres and Oubliettes character is a Pony Necromancer named "Lonestar" after his birthplace, the Second-Age Ponyland state of Lonestar. It's also a pun on "lone star", as he's the only one in his party to Ascend to godhood by taking on a slain Death god's mantle.
• Meaningful Rename: Moon Ray's full birth name is Moon Ray Vaughoof, a Punny Name take on Stevie Ray Vaughan in accordance to the setting. After becoming divine royalty, he gained two Alicorn names that fit his stations and locations at the time.
  • His first Alicorn name as a Prince is "Canticum Lunae Cahaya". Canticum Lunae translates to "song of the moon" in Latin (referring to his birth name, Moon Ray), while Cahaya refers to the kingdom of Kerajaan Cahaya.
  • His second Alicorn name as a King is "Tunglið Hreinsar Innlausn-Heimdrasil". Tunglið Hreinsar translates to "moon purifies" in Icelandic, referring to both the purification spells he possessed before and after his re-Ascension, and his actions in "purging" the Shadowed Ones' influence by creating positive cycles and helping the Nine Realms overcome their collective trauma. Innlausn translates to "redemption" in Icelandic, referring to how he as King took over the Shadowed Ones' former tenth realm and transformed it into a sanctuary for all those seeking his aid. Heimdrasil refers to the World Tree that houses the Nine Realms, and how it became a home for both him and his friends/family, the Redeeming Six.
• Mellow Fellow: According to Cultura, he is this. He's generally relaxed and nonchalant, which can make him look rather stoic at times, and can be fairly difficult to rile up. However, it's subverted in that he's actually more emotional than he appears, and he suffered from anger issues that he struggled to control for a long time. By his own admission, a huge factor in this trope is his reliance on his Temperance domain, which helped keep his temper and flaws in check. Once he re-Ascended, he lost his Temperance domain, making it much harder to control his flaws naturally. Fortunately, he's been resolving this problem by receiving therapy.
• Mentor Archetype:
  • Even before his death in a helicopter accident, Moon Ray had been helping people overcome their addictions and preventing those at risk from falling into addiction. This is what inspired people throughout the ages and (to his initial embarrassment) influenced them to worship him since the Second Age.
  • He would become a mentor to Cloudy Brush. Ever since they met on the Golden Gate Bridge, Moon Ray had been a source of emotional support for Cloudy, including helping her gain closure for the death of a friend of hers, and snapping her out of her anti-Oceanaiad racism after the Third Age's end by having Blue Suede Heartstrings show her her own hateful reflection in a mirror. He was also responsible for teaching Cloudy how to use water magic in relation to her domain of Mourning.
  • He would become a mentor and friend to Prince Lenost, one of Pokhot's infernal hybrid sons. Moon Ray helped Lenost overcome the bullying he received for being a 'lazy' god and his psychological avoidance of the subject, which led to Lenost forgiving those of his siblings who bullied him. And like with Cloudy, Moon Ray taught Lenost how to use water magic in relation to his domain of Sloth.
  • He mentored Muziki, an Equestrian Abada musician who idolized him through stories of his accomplishments in the Second Age. Because Muziki genuinely regretted his actions as a drug-dealer, Moon Ray was sent by the Three Deaths to redeem his soul and help him atone for his sins in life. This led to Muziki becoming an Angel of Temperance to help people break out of drug addiction and learning how to Ascend to godhood under Moon Ray, who also taught him how to play the Blues. Moon Ray's influence is what led to Muziki realizing he's very similar to his greedy, racist manager, Fair Cut, and forgiving Fair Cut for the abusive treatment he received under him, leading to Muziki's return to life as an Abadalicorn demigod.
  • Princess Voľná Láska is also one of his students, having met her on the streets when she was a mortal, drug-addicted runaway. Moon Ray took Voľná under his wing in hopes he could rehabilitate her, but grew increasingly irritated with her self-destructive behavior and refusal to be cured. However, once Moon Ray learned of Voľná's deceased friend Tiszta, he worked on helping her overcome her grief before moving on to her addiction. It was under his tutelage that Voľná honed her music-playing skills and learned of the Second Age's Hippie movement, which later led to her choosing to become an infernal punisher and Ascending to godhood. He would also nurture Voľná's Psychic Powers and stamp out some of her worst flaws, like her bigotry. Because Moon Ray is more honest with her about his own flaws, Voľná never suffered the same feelings of Broken Pedestal as many did with Blue Suede Heartstrings, and remained loyal and faithful to her mentor. And when Moon Ray chose to adopt Voľná as his daughter, no one complained, given how Voľná's birth parents were incredibly abusive to her in life.
  • He would become a mentor to Shifa' Alhabi Moufette, the young divine daughter of Moufette and his lover Wibeti. Moon Ray met Alhabi after Moufette introduced the latter to him, both out of gratitude for helping Wibeti and desire to find a teacher to help Alhabi explore her Love domain. Under Moon Ray's tutelage, Alhabi's powers flourished, influencing her to become a therapist who treated abuse victims just like him. This led to Alhabi fondly seeing Moon Ray as her uncle-figure, which Moon Ray accepted.
  • Sometime after moving to Kerajaan Cahaya, he would become a part-time music teacher who mentored students how to play guitar when not ushering in the dead or helping people break free of addictions. This led to him becoming a beloved, trusted figure in the kingdom, though he was initially uncomfortable with the massive following he got as a consequence. After getting over his discomfort with being worshiped, he revived the Blues genre in Kerajaan Cahaya and afterwards became a mentor for young aspiring musicians, teaching them how to avoid the pitfalls of fame that he once fell into.
  • Following his manifestation of his Prophecy domain, he would accept Queen Dazzleglow's offer to join the Church of the Stars. Part of the reason behind this is because he realized how much he loved teaching and inspiring others, besides playing music.
• Metamorphosis: His re-Ascension is essentially this. The drug created by Joyous Freedom and Princess Voľná Láska turned out to be so powerful that when he ate it in an attempt to cure his narcolepsy, it irreversibly changed his fundamental divine nature. Trying to fight the changes left him in extreme agony. Once he accepts his Prophecy domain and the cyclic nature of things (as well as owning up to his mistakes), he was able to transform painlessly, turning into a cyclic, eldritch deity whose appearance, nature, and powers shift through three cycles depending on the state of certain planes. According to one of the Codexverse writers, his transformation would've gone much worse if he didn't do what he did.
• Mind over Matter: Moon Ray has psionic telekinesis, which he gained from training under the Three Deaths. After re-Ascending, his psionic telekinesis became so powerful that he could bend reality itself.
• Mirror Character:
  • He had largely gotten along with Princess Winter Opera due to the fact that they both have a father who negatively affected them and were of similarly flawed character.
  • He befriended Munditia, the Novellus Minotaur goddess of Hygiene and Sanitation, over having similar natures and cleansing/purification powers. One incident had them team up in cleaning/purifying a Griffon realm that was heavily polluted by the mortal worshipers of the Tyrannos Diamond Dog god of Pollution, Avarita, something that they did extremely well.
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: Whoa, what a dump.
    Munditia: It won't be a 'dump' anymore once we're done with this place.
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: Mmhm. Wanna lead the way, Miss?
    Munditia: Gladly.
  • Despite having several traits that set them apart, both he and Princess Twilight/Amicitia are ultimately very similar: They are purple-haired/furred prodigies who were forced by loved ones and external circumstances to overcome crippling, self-destructive flaws. By doing this, they end up Ascending to godhood, turning them into Living Legends. Eventually, they would Ascend even further by doing something under great duress — Moon Ray would re-Ascend into an eldritch god by realizing the cyclic nature of things and reconciling with his Prophecy domain while he was in a coma, while Twilight/Amicitia became a Reincarnation "aspect" of Mana Equus by realizing that magic essentially runs on The Power of Friendship during the "League of Domination Crisis".
• Mistaken Identity: A visiting Victorious Princess once mistook Moon Ray for her old mentor, 'Altocard', because he was dressed up as a Vampire for Nightmare Night at the time. Once the misunderstanding was cleared up, Moon Ray and Victorious Princess would team up to protect innocent Ponyvillers from a pack of bloodthirsty Vampires who tried attacking during the holiday.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: As an Alicorn, Moon Ray has the combined traits of all Pony tribes. Initially seeing his traits as freakish, he mellowed out and took to manifesting the Sea Ponies' gills and tail, and the Musical Ponies' chest gem. Following his re-Ascension, he gains a pair of Deer antlers that changes appearances depending on which cycle or form he is in, which unnerved a lot of people due to how unnatural he looks.
  Deer god: How?! HOW?!
  Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya: wHaT?
  Deer god: (points at Canticum's antlers) HOW?!
  Prince Canticum Luna Cahaya: oH... yEaH, mE tOo.
• Mix-and-Match Weapon: His main weapon, Pride and Joy, is a Magitek guitar-scythe hybrid that was made in the Second Age. At first glance, it looks heavily similar to a Fender Stratocaster named "Number One" he used to own, but a hidden switch reveals an extended neck and a sharp, curved scythe blade. Pressing the switch again will fold the scythe away until next time. Following his re-Ascension, Pride and Joy has become even more powerful, yet warped thanks to his eldritch influence.
• Modest Royalty: Despite being an Alicorn, he initially preferred to wear divine versions of the clothes and hats he wore as a mortal instead of divine barding. This sometimes got him into arguments with older and/or traditionalist deities who wanted him to look like a "proper" deity. He later relents after joining the Church of the Stars and becoming a Prince, but struck a compromise — he wears new clothes/barding appropriate for his rank when working with the Church, yet go back to his normal clothes outside of it. His "throne" in the Church is a simple armchair, while his divine realm resembles his childhood home in Gallas, both which reflect his humble, modest character.
• Momma's Boy: He's very fond of his birth mother, Pepper Cook. While acknowledging Pepper Cook isn't perfect, he still loves her because of her willingness to protect him and his older brother from their violent drunkard father. Whenever he visits Pepper Cook in Gallas, he does things for her like mowing the lawn or buying groceries, and while he recovered in rehab, he decided to move in with his mother until he became sober. After dying in a helicopter accident and becoming a 'Reaper', he personally showed up to usher Pepper Cook into the proper Heaven-Realm when she died of old age.
• Morality Pet:
  • Moon Ray serves as this for his older brother, Sunny Field; while normally a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, he becomes much nicer and protective when Moon Ray is around. However, it's deconstructed as both brothers' respective flaws and mistakes turned their relationship into a toxic, borderline-codependent one, with Sunny Field getting close to Knight Templar Big Brother territory and Moon Ray taking him for granted. Once Moon Ray dies, Sunny Field becomes a bitter and hateful stallion, while Moon Ray longed to return to his past Glory Days. Thanks to Character Development, however, their relationship becomes healthier. Moon Ray matures enough to take responsibility for his own actions, while Sunny Field learns to trust his younger brother's capabilities.
  • Moon Ray also is this to addicts and abuse victims. As a divine therapist, he helps his patients with their problems, which results in them becoming better people even if they're not necessarily "good". Examples include Ruya Clearfeather, Dissonant Tune, Blue Diadem, and Voľná Láska, all who idolize and/or love Moon Ray and became his adoptive children.
• Mundane Utility: Pre-Eldritch Transformation, being a god of Water means that he has the ability to automatically generate water. This allows him to provide drinkable water for himself and his allies; he stores his own drinking water in a canteen. He can't do this anymore after losing his Water domain.
• Mutants: Both he and his older brother, Sunny Field, are maternal Fourth Age descendants of Tex, one of the First Age's Big Brother Ponies. This means they both inherited his "Big Brother" gene, making them naturally bigger, stronger, and tougher than the average Pony.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • His Prophecy domain's chewing-out causes him to feel incredibly remorseful for his mistakes, including his stint as Caelum Filum and his repression of his Prophecy domain, and he acknowledges that he hurt people regardless if he was aware or in control of himself or not. And once he learns of the full scope of what he did as Caelum Filum, as well as the ramifications of his re-Ascension as an eldritch god, his response is much more emotional.
    Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya: N-no... NO! wHaT hAvE aH DONE!?
  • In relation to the above, once he found out he corrupted many of his friends into eldritch deities with his mere presence, he felt so guilty that he became unwilling to look them in the eye. He also felt similarly towards his return to life, as he felt he was mocking both his adoptive family in the Trimortidae and those who worked hard to get what he got.
  • He took it very hard when he helped Sunny Field Ascend to godhood, but accidentally transformed his older brother into an eldritch Alicorn because his Primordial "Spark" turned out to have gained eldritch properties, which he didn't realize until it was too late. As a result, he blamed himself for what happened and constantly apologized to Sunny Field. Sunny Field eventually forgave him for it after coming to terms with his transformation, and reconciled with him.
• Necromancy: In-Universe, he played as a Pony Necromancer named "Lonestar" for a session of Ogres & Oubliettes hosted by Spike, based on his experiences as a Death god of the Trimortidae. It ends up being discussed between him and Healing Song.
  Prince Healing Song: Necromancer... I'm surprised you didn't choose Bard, Moony.
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: Well, that's 'cause yer a Bard. No sense havin' two of 'em in the same team.
  Prince Healing Song: Touché.
• Never My Fault: Deconstructed. He felt bitter and resentful over dying right after he became sober and had a career revival, when his impulsive decision to board a helicopter in bad weather (and ignoring his older brother's advice not to do so) was a huge factor in his early death in the first place. Fortunately, he wised up after participating in the 'Applewood Rescue' event, having seen the harm such attitudes can inflict on others, and acknowledges that his death was his own fault. He also apologizes to his older brother, Sunny Field Vaughoof, for ignoring his advice that fateful day.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Justified. His character arc revolves around him letting go of toxic habits and behaviors, and good things tend to happen to him whenever he does so, such as Ascending to godhood or manifesting a new domain. It also plays a huge role in the aftermath of the 'Cosmic Prophet Debacle', when his realization/acceptance of the cyclic nature of things and his reconciliation with his Prophecy domain leads to him re-Ascending as an eldritch god with three different portfolios. He even lampshades it.
  Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya: Why do Ah suddenly have a bunch o' powers that Ah don't even know how ta use?
• Nice Guy: Zigzagged. He's a compassionate, humble, and forgiving stallion who wants to help abuse victims and addicts, but he's also a very flawed person who struggled to deal with his flaws for much of his existence. When he was alive, he was a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who got himself addicted to drugs and, while he did get sober and learned his lesson from that, constantly ignored Sunny Field's advice, which led to his early death in a helicopter crash. His death brought his flaws and childhood traumas brought to the forefront, and he turned him into a bitter and resentful stallion who longed for his old life. However, thanks to the positive influence of his friends and adoptive/biological families, as well as receiving help from people like Mentálne and Gagal, he gradually accepted his death and let go of his past, and took steps to overcome/regulate his various flaws. While he's still a nice guy, he does make mistakes every now and then — this led to him re-Ascending after becoming Caelum Filum and realizing that even those who try to stay good would end up lapsing into bad behavior in a never-ending cycle and needed to be reminded of it.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Moon Ray is essentially a ponified version of Stevie Ray Vaughan, his life and accomplishments being more or less a parallel to the latter. This includes growing up with an alcoholic father, becoming the leading member of a band named Double Trouble, and going through a period of drug abuse during his music career. A few of his songs, both original and covered (like "Look at Little Sister" and "Life Without You"), were adapted in to the Codexverse. However, things diverge after he dies in a helicopter crash, first with him becoming an Angel of Death, then turning into an Alicorn god after learning the importance of forgiveness and balance, and going up from there.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: As he told a horrified Queen Krásná Tradice, he received one from his abusive drunkard father, Sunny Mane Vaughoof, as punishment for drinking from one of his bottles, landing him in the hospital and giving him a permanent head scar. While the scar itself has healed a long time ago, the memory of it never stopped hurting, despite him forgiving his father for the abuse. He would eventually come clean about the scar with everyone else after forgiving his father and receiving psychiatric help from Mentálne.
• Not Afraid of You Anymore: After spending his entire mortal life and much of his post-life existence fearing his violent drunkard father, he finally gathers the courage to confront Sunny Mane's damned spirit in the Hell-Realms thanks to the Trimortidae's encouragement, and forgives him. He even makes it clear to Sunny Mane that he's only forgiving him because he wants to be free of his father's influence. This moment is what allows him to Ascend to demi-godhood. However, it's subverted as while he may have forgiven Sunny Mane, he still holds lingering trauma from his foalhood abuse, such as his fear of being yelled at. Fortunately, he would get over this thanks to his adoptive family and Mentálne.
• "Not So Different" Remark:
  • After the end of the Third Age, he sees many people, including some of his fellow Trimortidae, letting their anger and grief towards the Oceanaiads fester into outright Fantastic Racism. He realizes what they're doing is very similar to how he initially felt towards his abusive birth father, so he lets go of his own anger and starts grieving his losses in healthier ways. His epiphany later inspired him to snap Cloudy Brush out of her own bigotry by having Blue Suede Heartstrings show her her own hateful reflection through a mirror.
  • He subtly accuses Dissonant Tune of this by bringing up War Rock's parents. Much like Dissonant, who spoiled his daughter Hudba until she became a Spoiled Brat, War Rock's parents spoiled him as a colt, gradually turning him into a monstrously narcissistic sociopath who damned himself by refusing all attempts to help him get better. It makes Dissonant realize how much he screwed up with Hudba as a father and spurs him to try fix his mistakes.
    Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya: [...] Y'know why War Rock got dragged down ta yer Great Uncle Malus' Hell-Pits after he died?! It's 'cause 'is own parents never bothered ta raise 'im right n' proper! An' 'cause of that, he ran himself into the ground so hard that he died a monster, all while refusin' ta listen ta those who did their best ta redeem 'im!
• Odd Friendship: His relationship with Knechten, one of Phykti's infernal sons, is this. Despite Knechten embodying everything he hates, he's pretty tolerant and understanding of the former's role, having personally known what it's like to be enslaved to even one's one vices. While he opposes Knechten, it's as Knechten intended and they share no hard feelings for it. In stark contrast, he hates Závislost, a Fallen god of Drug Addiction who leads people into addiction For the Evulz.
• Official Couple: He falls in love with Velvet Heart as a mortal for supporting him while he was in drug rehab. Despite the two of them being separated for years by his death, they eventually do get together, and they marry in the Heaven-Realms. They also adopt a few children over time due to Moon Ray's asexuality.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Moon Ray freaks out when, after re-Ascending, he starts seeing alternate futures where Sunny Name was actually a good father instead of the violent drunkard he knew. He gets out of his funk when Gavisus Manes assures him that he still has a father-figure who still loves him.
  • When Moon Ray sees one timeline where he gets into an Age-Gap Romance with a teenaged version of Velvet Heart, he is so upset that he manifests bits of his true eldritch nature while explaining his vision to his wife.
• The Omniscient: Post-Eldritch Transformation, he now embodies three variations of his Prophecy domain — Endings, Beginnings, and Fate — which allows him to predict possibly everything. His Fate domain also gives him the ability to perceive alternate realities and dimensions. However, he claims he can't be truly omniscient because it's impossible for him (or anyone else) to predict everything.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: According to Sunny Field, getting a phone call from Double Trouble about his younger brother hiding himself in a stadium bathroom in sheer terror set off alarms, because his brother never did that since they were colts living with their violent, drunken father. Once Moon Ray was successfully coaxed out, he came out a scared, traumatized colt, and proceeded to cling to Sunny Field and cry.
• Open-Minded Parent:
  • He's pretty okay with his adoptive son, Dissonant Tune, being a follower of 'Constructive Evil', due to influence from Malus Manes' family and the Bogolenya Deer Pantheon, who both contain infernal punishers of the wicked. It's a huge factor in why he lets Dissonant befriend Eephus, though on the condition that Dissonant "stays within reason".
  • He's also okay with his adoptive daughter, Princess Voľná Láska, being an infernal goddess of Addiction, which is notable since she embodies the very thing that nearly killed him as a mortal. However, the difference is that Voľná uses her domain of Addiction for constructive purposes, while someone like Závislost gets people addicted For the Evulz. And while she was a drug addict in her mortal youth, her addiction was self-destructive and she was suffering from other pre-existing issues, necessitating the need for someone to intervene and break her out of them.
• Oppose What You Suffered: He grew up an abused colt who was utterly terrified of his drunkard biological father, and years later, when he became a musician, he fell deep into drug and alcohol addiction and nearly died from it. He would spend three Ages opposing both after his death, rehabilitating addicts and helping abuse victims overcome their trauma while opposing (and helping) abusers. It's noted that he used to be more hateful and vindictive towards Abusive Parents due to his own trauma, but after it started causing problems for him, he made efforts in letting go of his trauma and forgiving his abusive father. Even after re-Ascending as an eldritch god, he never lost his desire to do this.
• Our Gods Are Different: He's an 'Ascendant deity', described In-Universe as being the rarest of the three main types of deities. Like all deities, he becomes more powerful and eldritch the older he gets, except as a 'prodigy deity', his physical and magical growth rates are accelerated far beyond those of a normal deity's. Originally, he was classified as an 'Elemental/Ascendant' deity due to being a mortal who Ascended to become an Alicorn god of Water. Now he's one of few recorded examples of what happens when a deity manages to re-Ascend into a completely different being — in his case, he consumed a powerful divine drug that not only corrupted him, but also turned him into an eldritch god permanently because the drug altered his fundamental divine nature completely. Trying to fight the changes only caused him extreme pain, which was resolved by accepting the cyclic nature of things and reconciling with his Prophecy domain.
• Our Hippocamps Are Different: As an Alicorn, Moon Ray can manifest the gills and tail of a Sea Pony, giving him water magic and the ability to breath and swim underwater.
• Our Titans Are Different: Following his re-Ascension, he physically aged up until he became a "Preeminent"-ranked deity, putting him on par with other deities of that age like the Thirteen Empyreans, Equinekind's first pantheon. Chronologically, though, he's actually quite young by divine standards compared to them, having Ascended to godhood during the Second Age and thus is between 10,000 to 100,000 years old.
• Oxymoronic Being: He's called a "fledgling God of Destruction" Prince Derelict Dive, despite being a "Preeminent"-ranked god and thus much older than the latter. However, Derelict Dive might be referring to his inexperience, as he had re-Ascended within a relatively short time and gained the domain instead of growing into it naturally.

P — S

• Papa Wolf: Moon Ray is very protective of his family and friends, even constructively evil ones; hurt one of them and he'll come after you in a fury. This was deconstructed in one pre-Ascension incident; a furious Moon Ray tried attacking an abusive mother who killed her own foal, which reminded him of his own abusive foalhood. His fellow Angels and an overseeing Bossa Nova restrained him, and the Three Deaths taught him some valuable lessons in fairness and mercy to curb his Hair-Trigger Temper.
• Paper Destruction of Anger: Once, Moon Ray and some pre-Double Trouble bandmates were left stranded by Ham Hock, ZZ Top's manager, with no way to get back home. Worse, Ham Hock had the gall to demand reimbursement from Moon Ray for equipment expenses. Moon Ray got so angry that once everyone finally made it back, he tore up the contract he signed with Ham Hock and left.
• Paralyzing Fear of Sexuality: Averted. Moon Ray makes it clear that while he is asexual, he doesn't think of sex as "gross". He merely sees it as another way to express his love for his wife, Velvet Heart.
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: (to Jade Shell) When Ah say Ah'm not interested in sex, Ah'm not sayin' it 'cause it's gross or somethin'. Ah mean it like... like Ah don't see sex the way as many folks do. Ah can still get aroused like any-creature, but fer me, sex is like... eating when yer hungry. Laughing when yer tickled. Wanting ta relax when yer stressed. When Ah have sex with mah wife, Ah see it as bein' no different than givin' 'er a kiss or a hug. Ah love 'er, an' it's mah way ta express that.
• Parental Substitute: Like Gavisus Manes, Moon Ray would become the adoptive father-figure of many deities and mortals, who would become collectively known as the Liberi Lunae. Many of them were either victims of abuse, former addicts, murder victims, or orphans. Even after Moon Ray re-Ascends to eldritch godhood, his adoptive children genuinely love him back.
• Parents as People: Moon Ray is a very flawed person largely due to his abusive foalhood, and has made mistakes that alienated and even hurt his loved ones. Once he re-Ascended, controlling his flaws became much harder for him because he previously relied on his Temperance domain to do so. That said, Moon Ray genuinely loves all of his children, even those not of his blood, and tries to be the best father he can be for them.
• People Puppets: As a god of Death, Moon Ray can use Soul Power to control living beings. However (and thankfully for everyone else), he rarely uses the ability if at all since he recognizes how easy it is for him to abuse it. This ability later carried over into his new portfolio as Kematian Cahaya following his re-Ascension.
• Perpetually Protean: Presently, as the living embodiment of the natural cycle, Moon Ray constantly shifts between three forms as a decayed god of Death, an eldritch god of Reincarnation, and a fertile god of Life in a never-ending cycle. It's later revealed that this is because his new divine nature is keyed to the four seasons, affecting his appearance based on which season he's currently undergoing.
• Personality Powers: Moon Ray's Psychic Powers stem from the need to make himself aware of the harm his drug abuse caused in the Second Age. His original divine portfolio of Death, Temperance, Water, Forgiveness, and Prophecy comes from his desire to help people come to terms with loss, control their flaws, recover from addictions and/or past traumas, and forgive those who wronged them so they can forge a better future. Following his re-Ascension, he gained three portfolios that reflect certain aspects of the natural cycle:
  • The Alpine cycle turns him into a God of the Dead who embodies Death, Forgiveness, Closure, Destruction, and Endings. His portfolio revolves around death, the inevitability of fate, and coming to terms with it, as well as the necessity of destroying things that need to be destroyed.
  • The Equus cycle turns him into a god who embodies Reincarnation, Balance, Cycles, Fate, and Preservation. His portfolio stems from his realization that everything thrives on cycles (save for completely unnecessary ones such as the cycles perpetuated by Surtr and High King Ragnarøkkr), as well as his new appreciation for the Balance Between Good and Evil.
  • The Silicon cycle turns him into a Fertility God who embodies Life, Renewal, Creation, Hope, and Beginnings. His portfolio stems from the importance of life, the potential of the future, and the need for hope and the renewal of damaged things.
• Physical God: As an Alicorn god from the Second Age, he is this. He is an extremely powerful water mage with the ability to eliminate poisons and pollution, and being a Death god automatically gave more power on top of that. And through his domain of Forgiveness, he can nullify magically-binding contracts and wrongful punishments, among other things. Outside of his domains, he is a powerful psychic — with his most famous ability being precognition — and is believed by many In-Universe to be one of the greatest psychics of his generation. Later, a series of events would lead to him permanently turning into an Eldritch Abomination (albeit a benevolent one) with three portfolios, but he would either use his 'default' Alicorn form or his mortal form in order to interact with mortals and young deities safely.
• Pillar of Light: Moon Ray's re-Ascension was heralded by a great pillar of arcane energy that appeared after he reconciled with his Prophecy domain.
• Point of Divergence: Invoked; during Mistletoe Dreamer's Time Crash, Moon Ray Set Right What Once Went Wrong by convincing his younger self to listen to Sunny Field's advice for once, creating a timeline that diverged completely from the main one. In general, many alternate timelines involve a version of him who either survived the fateful helicopter crash (like his "Cosmic Timeline" self) or avoided it entirely through different choices and circumstances.
• Poor Communication Kills: While he kept tabs on his friends and loved ones after his death, Moon Ray didn't visit them until after they died of old age, because he didn't want to give the wrong impression that he came Back from the Dead as if nothing happened, leading to new expectations and crushed hopes. Eventually, Moon Ray relents when Cloudy Brush convinces him to visit one of his old friends, Healing Song, so the latter could receive closure and not feel like he's constantly losing everything. This leads to Healing Song breaking down after reuniting with Moon Ray in the Fourth Age and demanding to know why he never visited him or anyone else after Ascending. They reconciled after Moon Ray explained his reasons for his absence.
• Portal Pool: As a god of Water, Moon Ray can teleport through bodies of water, though his mobility is limited by how much water is present. Ironically, he often dreamed of himself drowning in water when he was a mortal. He lost this ability when he re-Ascended.
• Post-Victory Collapse: Of a sort. After ending his Vision Quest and reconciling with his Prophecy domain, Moon Ray wakes up from his coma and re-Ascends as an eldritch god... only to be extremely confused by his new form and his surroundings before collapsing from the sheer shock. Fortunately, his loved ones caught him in time.
  Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya: wHeRe...? WhErE aM aH? wHaT's GoIn' On? WhAt HaPpEnEd tA mEEEEeeee...?
• Power Gives You Wings: He gains a pair of wings in the Second Age after forgiving everyone who wronged him in life, triggering his Ascension to demi-godhood. Three Ages later, he gains a total of ten wings after a series of events causes him to transform into an eldritch deity, making him resemble the Thirteen Empyreans in appearance. This is considered normal in the Codexverse, where the older an Alicorn is, the more powerful and more wings they get.
• The Power of Hate: Subverted. Moon Ray believes the opposite of love is apathy, which he explains to a tearful Edel after her birth parents apathetically responded to her wedding invitation with a copy-and-paste "we can't make it" letter. Since Edel's dilemma involves old scars being reopened, the best solution he could offer is a shoulder she could cry on.
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: Some friends of mine like ta say this: the opposite of love ain't hate, it's apathy. A parent hatin' ya is one thing, them just not carin' is another. They don't rule ya, but that don't mean they can't hurt ya... Ah think all ya can do for this kind of hurt is let it all out.
• The Power of Love: Though in this case, it's forgiveness. Forgiving the people who wronged him in life was what allowed him to Ascend as a god of Forgiveness. This domain gives him unique abilities such as healing, purification, and Anti-Magic against magical contracts and wrongful punishments. It also applies to the dead, including letting them leave the Hell-Realms to be reincarnated or moved to the Heaven-Realms. However, he must be truly forgiving for his powers to work. Letting go of toxic behaviors and other things allowed him to repair his relationships with those he hurt and become more powerful over time, which culminated in his re-Ascension.
• Psychic Link: Moon Ray shares one with his older brother, Sunny Field, which they gained by accident while performing together in an afterlife concert by connecting their minds unconsciously. While they can communicate psychically, they can also block each other out for privacy by "closing the door". Being linked to his own brother gradually influenced Sunny Field to forgive their abusive father. Unfortunately, their link caused problems later on, as Sunny Field fell into a coma and became somewhat insane from exposure to Moon Ray's Eldritch Transformations. When Sunny Field Ascended as an eldritch god using his brother's eldritch 'Spark', the process was agonizing for both of them.
• Psychic Powers: Moon Ray has a variety of psychic powers like psychic telekinesis, telepathy, Psychic Teleportation and empathy, but his most famous power is precognition, which he manifested as a mortal during his addiction phase. He was supposed to have a Prophecy domain when he Ascended, but he didn't manifest it until three Ages later because he was unwittingly repressing it with his traumas and flaws. Only by letting go of them was he able to manifest it in full. Initially, his powers were enhanced by domains from his original portfolio like Temperance and Forgiveness, and at one point he started developing water-based psychic attacks under the tutelage of Golden Scepter. But after becoming Caelum Filum and re-Ascending as an eldritch god for good, his psychic powers were warped/enhanced to a massive degree, alowing him to bend reality as he wished and splitting his Prophecy domain into three related domains. It's believed by many that he is one of the most powerful psychics of his generation, and there may be evidence to it.
• Psychic Teleportation: One of Moon Ray's abilities is psychic teleportation. His re-Ascension made it so powerful that he could bend reality if he wanted to.
• Psychologist Teacher: Moon Ray is known for helping divine and mortal addicts and/or abuse victims, having been both himself, with many of his patients becoming his students. Prince Lenost, Princess Voľná Láska, and Muziki are just a few examples.
• Punched Across the Room: After discovering Sunny Field blamed Velvet Heart for his brother's death to the point of emotionally abusing her, an enraged Moon Ray would go and punch him straight into the wall of a Heaven-Realm.
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: (roaring) Ya SHIT-FACED SONUVABITCH!
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
  • When he forgives Sunny Mane for his foalhood abuse, Moon Ray repeats himself by punctuating his words in case his father's spirit decides to ignore him. It worked, as it's heavily speculated that Sunny Mane was left shaken upon being forgiven by his youngest son that he once mistreated.
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: (to Sunny Mane) An' if ya think ya can jes' shut me out, Ah'll say it again n' again: Ah forgive ya, Pa. Ah. Forgive. Ya.'
  • Sometime after becoming a Prince, Moon Ray catches his adoptive daughter, Ruya Clearfeather, stealing a Magic Staff from a local shop, he repeatedly orders her to put it back. When Ruya tries to justify her theft, Moon Ray, fed up, glares at her and tells her to put the staff back now, scaring Ruya into finally returning it.
    Moon Ray/Canticum: Put. The staff. Back. Now.
• Punny Name: Moon Ray's family surname, Vaughoof, is a play on Stevie Ray Vaughan's last name, but modified to be spelled with "hoof".
• Purple Is Powerful: Moon Ray is a stallion who's heavily associated with purple, and he's considered to be one of the strongest psychics of his generation. He later re-Ascends as an eldritch god who not only has power equal to the Thirteen Empyreans, but also constantly shifts between states of life, death, and reincarnation, giving him different powers in each form. As such, he is physically the 'oldest' and most powerful member of the Trimortidae as well as any group he is part of (deities in the Codexverse get Stronger with Age), though he is very inexperienced due to re-Ascending so late in life without growing into his power naturally.
• Queer Colors: Moon Ray's poncho and royal cloak(s) bear the colors of black, white, purple, and gray, which make up the asexual pride flag. Various entries and drabbles explicitly describe him as asexual, though it's noted that unlike stereotypical asexuals (who avoid and/or feel repulsed by sex), he sees sex as a way to express love for his beloved wife, Velvet Heart.
• Rags to Royalty: He starts off as an abused son of a violent drunk, then works his way up to become the greatest Blues musician of the Second Age... then dies young and spends three Ages overcoming his own flaws and abusive past, during which he becomes an Alicorn. Then he overcomes his humility, which leads to him joining the Church of the Stars and being crowned a Prince. His coronation also kicks off a series of events that leads to him becoming an eldritch Alicorn.
• Rapid Aging: A positive example. His reconciliation with his long-repressed Prophecy domain and realization/acceptance of the cyclic nature of things triggered his re-Ascension as an eldritch deity, accelerating his aging to phenomenal degrees. This is normal for deities since they only get Stronger with Age in the Codexverse. It's noted that his consumption of a powerful divine drug made by Voľná Láska and Joyous Freedom completely altered his divine nature, and both his reconciliation and epiphany helped influence his growth into what he is today.
• Reality Warper: After re-Ascending and becoming an eldritch deity, his psychic powers became so strong that he could bend reality itself on a whim.
• Really Gets Around: Defied and averted. Despite becoming an eldritch god where one of his three forms is a god of Life and Creation, he refuses to sleep around. One, he's asexual, and two, he's already Happily Married to Velvet Heart. Not helping is how several cults tried summoning him with the intent to make him impregnate random mares and create powerful offspring, tearing him away from his family in the process. He's annoyed that people pressure him to have sex just because it's normal for gods of Life and/or Creation to do so.
  Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya: Yes, Ah'm a god of Life. No, Ah'm not gonna jump into creatures' beds 'cause of it. That's one thing 'bout me that's never gonna change.
• Recovered Addict: After years of drug and alcohol abuse, Moon Ray collapses during the "Live Alive" tour and nearly dies. Fortunately, he wises up and devotes himself to becoming sober, attending rehab, swearing off drugs and alcohol, and cutting out all bad influences from his life. By the time he died, Moon Ray was completely clean, and he proceeded to use his experiences to help people as a divine therapist after Ascending.
• The Redeemer: He is very kind and merciful toward sinners, especially addicts, and believes no one is above a second chance. This stems from his own experiences as a former addict and the efforts he took in redeeming himself. Among those he helped are Tribalists, Autorists, and even villainous deities. He gained a reputation for being a redeemer of sinners because of it, which made him an enemy of hardline judicial purists like the Poenan Pantheon who believe that criminals deserve neither mercy or forgiveness. That being said, he has helped some Poenans change their ways by making them see the harm they were inflicting and forgiving them for their own sins.
• Redeeming Replacement: Moon Ray is seen by Ourophion as this for High King Ragnarøkkr due to being a benevolent god of Cycles with more constructive views on natural cycles. He later exceeds the Grand Primevals' expectations when he helps the Nine Realms recover from the Shadowed Ones' torments and restore their faith in cycles again. As a reward, the Grand Primevals crown Moon Ray as King Tunglið Hreinsar Innlausn-Heimdrasil, and he becomes the ruler of Innlausn, the Shadowed Ones' former tenth realm that he fixed up and transformed with help from friendly deities.
• Related Differently in the Adaptation: Stevie Ray Vaughan was engaged to his beloved girlfriend, Janna Lapidus, at the time of his death. Here, the helicopter accident still happened, but Moon Ray and Velvet Heart (Stevie Ray and Janna's expies, respectively) got married in the Heaven-Realms thanks to Velvet Heart's first husband giving them the okay to hook up again.
• Related in the Adaptation:
  • Many of his adoptive family members within the Trimortidae are either fictional characters or based on real-life people, such as James Dean (Bronze Gear), Death of the Endless (Sola Mors), Alan Rickman (Sir Curtain Call), etc. Thus, while they're related in the Codexverse, they're completely unrelated to each other in both their respective canons and real life.
  • This applies to family and relatives outside the Trimortidae, too, such as Sigvald the Magnificent (Prince Stoltur Skjöldur), Elvis Presley (Blue Suede Heartstrings), and Mariska (Princess Voľná Láska). As is the case with the Trimortidae, all of them were completely unrelated to each other in both their respective canons and real life.
• Reformed, but Rejected: Downplayed. After recovering from his re-Ascension, he apologizes to his subejcts for the 'Cosmic Prophet Debacle'. While he is forgiven by a majority (mostly due to his genuine remorse and him being very sick prior to the event), others like judicial extremists and hardline monster hunters have assumed the worst and tried attacking him again to get rid of a 'great evil'. There are also unconfirmed rumors that agents of the Changeling Courts have been sent and poised to eliminate him should he become a genuine threat.
• Relationship Upgrade: He met Velvet Heart following his hospitalization for drug addiciton, and her help in getting him sober caused him to fall in love with her, leading to their engagement. Unfortunately, his love for Velvet Heart and eagerness to be with her led to his death when he tried boarding a helicopter in bad weather. His second entry reveals that when he reunites with Velvet Heart in the Heaven-Realms, he is heartbroken to learn she moved on and married someone else... but ultimately decides to stay friends with her instead of pressuring her to resume their old relationship. This leads to Velvet Heart's husband giving them the okay to date. They eventually get married in the Heaven-Realms, and they've been Happily Married ever since.
• Required Secondary Powers: His Sea Pony traits give him greater water magics and the ability to swim incredibly fast. As a god of Water, he is also resistant to water pressure.
• Richard Nixon, the Used Car Salesman: While he did start out as a Blues musician like Stevie Ray Vaughan and is still something of a musical Living Legend, Moon Ray is also a therapist who rehabilitates addicts (especially drug addicts) and helps abuse victims overcome their traumas.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: A Codex drabble reveals that being a god of Cycles protects his memory of previous timelines, whereas his fellow Death gods kept going to Angel Vale (in preparation for the supervolcanic explosion that was ultimately averted) without really knowing why. This allowed him to remember his previous interactions with Edel, whose soul he ushered after she died to an injury the day she was racing in one time loop, and later adopt her despite his memories causing him grief.
• Rockers Smash Guitars: While he doesn't smash guitars, he would develop an extremely aggressive and ferocious style of guitar-playing that would wear on the strings until they break. And even then, he's skilled enough to keep playing with the strings he has left until he finds an opening that allows him to switch guitars quickly without missing a beat. Rolling Stone magazine writer Pen Rating believes that this is why he's called "the King of Blues". And according to him, he once accidentally cracked a guitar neck by gripping it too hard.
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: The way I played back then, I went through... 'bout a full set [of guitars] in a year. One time I accidentally cracked a guitar neck while playin', an' turns out, I was grippin' it too hard. Whoops.
• Rock Trio: His band, Double Trouble, was this, consisting of himself as the guitarist/singer, Fret Pick as the bassist, and Whipper Snare as the drummer. It was later averted with the inclusion of Key Tap as the keyboardist, making the band a Rock Quartet.
• Rule of Three: Following his re-Ascension, he presently has three forms, each of them representing three specific aspects of the natural cycle such as life, death, and reincarnation. Ironically, all of them are connected to the four seasons, with Kematian Cahaya being tied to the winter season, Kehidupan Cahaya the summer season, and Kelahiran Semula Cahaya the spring and fall seasons.
• Russian Reversal: In the Second Age, there was an In-Universe rumor about him being such a talented guitar player that the Devil himself sold his soul in order to learn how to be good as him.
  Common Second Age rumor: Moon Ray didn't sell his soul to the Devil. The Devil sold his soul to him!
• Scare 'Em Straight: In the Second Age, after finding a group of teenage foals who acquired a bag of Psycoke from drug dealers, he tries to convince them to stay away from the stuff so they wouldn't get addicted like he did. When one of the foals scoffs at him, he proceeds to telepathically show them his own memories of drug/alcohol abuse, while giving them an in-depth explanation of the harmful effects of taking Psycoke, including hallucinations and crystallization within the intestines. This scared the foals so much that those who didn't do drugs swore off them, while those who did quickly checked themselves into rehab.
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: Whoa there, kids. You BETTER not touch that white powder you have in that bag there.
  Teenage Pony 1: What's wrong with it?
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: If it's what I think it is, that powder is mighty dangerous, and a good way to get yourself killed down the road if you sniff it.
  Teenage Pony 2: How do YOU know, old man? It's not gonna do anything!
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: You really think nothing's gonna happen? I did the EXACT same thing when I was younger, and I nearly died from it. DIED. And I have the memories to prove it!
• Scars Are Forever: He has an ugly head scar that he covers with both his mane and his hat. He got the scar as a colt from a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown given by his furious father, Sunny Mane, who caught him drinking from one of his bottles one day. While he healed thanks to prompt medical attention, the scar itself never went away, and few people know about it because he's wearing his hat almost all the time. It's after forgiving his father and seeking psychiatric help from Mentálne that he publicly comes clean about it with everyone else.
  Queen Krásná Tradice: Did it- did it stop hurting? Your head wound?
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: Yeah. Doctors patched me up real good. But rememberin' how it got there? (shakes head) ...No, it never does.
• Screw Destiny: He personally believes that no one, not even himself, can predict everything, which likely came from his experiences during the 'Big Comeback Tour' event. Ironically, when he became Caelum Filum, he became so immersed in the threads of fate that he tried predicting everything. After re-Ascending as an eldritch god, he acknowledges the future as being part of a cycle, but still claims he isn't omniscient because it's impossible for him to predict everything. As a god of Fate, he can break fates (including malicious ones) by "denying" them.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
  • As a young colt, Moon Ray would be quick to hide whenever his father, Sunny Mane, went on a drunken rage. This would have a profound effect on his life later on, as he locked himself in a stadium bathroom and refused to come out after hallucinating a shouting fan as his violent, drunken father during a concert. Double Trouble called in Sunny Field to coax him out, and when Moon Ray finally did come out, he essentially acted like the scared, traumatized colt of his youth by clinging to Sunny Field and crying.
  • Moon Ray would do this again after dying, choosing to flee and hide to spare himself the pain of enduring Sunny Mane's wrath whenever he tried visiting his damned spirit in the Hell-Realms. Eventually, with help from the Trimortidae, Moon Ray finally gathers up his courage to confront Sunny Mane and forgive him for his abuse. This triggers his Ascension to demi-godhood.
• Seasonal Baggage: A motif example. Unlike most eldritch beings seen in the Codexverse, he is unique in that his very nature is connected to the four seasons. This makes him go through three cycles of death, reincarnation, and life in an endless loop while giving him three portfolios associated with each "cycle".
• Second Love: Velvet Heart, his second wife, is this for him. His marriage to his first wife, Crystal Light, had become so miserable that he had a mental breakdown by the time he divorced her, and was close to the Despair Event Horizon afterward. Velvet Heart proved to be everything Crystal Light was not, and her kindness touched him so much that he fell deeply in love with her. Despite various obstacles that prevented them from marrying each other for many years, they eventually do get Happily Married in the Third Age, with the blessing of Velvet Heart's first husband, Tranquil Dream.
• Secret-Keeper: Being a member of the Church of the Stars means that keeping secrets are a given. The first secret is the existence of the Void Sovereign, who is currently sealed within the Cosmic Void yet will break out to destroy Equus eventually. The second secret is Princess Twilight/Amicitia's status as the first Reincarnation "aspect" of Mana Equus, which would turn her into a target for those who resent her for being born "special" if it got out. This also applied to other reincarnation "aspects" like the twin Kings Blue Suede/Caerulus and Bossa Nova/Rubeus, the Alicorn Queen Glory/Magus, and Prince Shining Armor/Aegis until the Church of the Stars deemed it safe enough to be released publically.
• Security Cling: After Sunny Field successfully coaxed him out of the stadium bathroom he locked himself in after a massive Freak Out, he quickly clung to his older brother and cried while Sunny Field held him. Sunny Field recalls being "mighty scared" for him during that incident.
  Sunny Field: And when he came out, Moony clung to me fast and he cried like he did at home while I held him. He was mighty scared, and so was I.
• Seen It All: He is rather unaffected by the horrors of slavery contained within Lord Knechten's hell-fief. This is because he had seen the same thing occur in Malus Manes' Hell-Realms. He does understand that Knechten's actions are Necessarily Evil, though.
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: Honestly, that Knechten fellow don't affect me none. I've seen enough of that shit in Uncle Malus' hell-pits already, an' I have cousins who do the exact same thing. So I've mostly gotten used to it.
• Seers: One of his Psychic Powers is his ability to predict the future, which first emerged during his addiction period, though he wasn't aware of it until after he died. After Ascending, his visions were enhanced through domains like Death and Temperance, and he learned how to use hydromancy under Golden Scepter. He was supposed to have a Prophecy domain, but he unwittingly repressed it for three Ages; he manifested it in the Fourth Age after letting go of some of his worst behaviors, though it came with severe side-effects and his attempt to cure them goes horribly wrong. He later re-Ascends with three precognitive domains after owning up to his mistakes and reconciling with his Prophecy domain, which allowed him to perceive alternative dimensions and realities (among other things). Because his visions are very clear and far-reaching, he is regarded as the most powerful Seer of his generation, though he's rather contemptuous of this because he sometimes sees his visions as a huge burden and believes it's impossible to predict everything.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy:
  • His dreams of drowning in water were supposed to warn him of the deadly consequences of his drug/alcohol abuse if he continued. Not knowing he was a latent Seer at the time, he continued doing abusing alcohol and drugs in a vain attempt to suppress his dreams. He ended up nearly dying when he collapsed from a gang plank, and a trip to the hospital revealed the full extent of the damage he had inflicted on himself. Fortunately, he was able to turn his life around from this.
  • Shortly before his death, he dreams of himself being buried in front of thousands of mourners. His vision ends up coming true when, in his haste to go back to Velvet Heart, he boards a helicopter during bad weather and dies in the resulting crash.
• Semi-Divine: After forgiving his abusive birth father's spirit, he Ascended to demi-godhood. He would Ascend to true godhood after letting go of his broken dreams and grief over his sudden death.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Moon Ray is the "Sensitive Guy" to his older brother Sunny Field's "Manly Man". Moon Ray is kind, empathetic, and trusting, whereas Sunny Field is level-headed yet stubborn and hot-tempered. Fittingly, Moon Ray is a therapist who is gentle with his patients, while Sunny Field focuses more on Tough Love. This is reflected in their hobbies and Personality Powers; Moon Ray is a water mage, artist, and musician, whereas Sunny Field is a fire mage who collects vintage cars and is interested in technology.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: During the "Dark Ages Crisis" (specifically Mistletoe Dreamer's Time Crash), he went to correct one of his greatest mistakes by convincing his younger self to heed his older brother's advice and not fly back to Velvet Heart in bad weather. This created a ripple effect where the alternate Moon Ray, thanks to the advice, became a more mature and empathetic stallion who appreciated his loved ones more and enjoyed a longer, successful career. The alternate Moon Ray also helped fight many threats of the Age thanks to discovering his Psychic Powers early, allowing him to save Healing Song from being kidnapped and raped by War Rock, and eventually Ascended to godhood as the Alicorn god of Mental Healing, Addiction, Cycles, and Future under the tutelage of various deities, including his potential future self.
• Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll: Deconstructed. Like Stevie Ray Vaughan, he took drugs and alcohol during his career thanks to factors like stress, lack of inspiration, and being around toxic people like his first wife, Crystal Light. When he received prophetic visions of himself drowning, he tried suppressing them with more alcohol. His drug habits also drove him and his friends deep into debt as they focused on getting high instead of playing music. Eventually, he collapsed from a gangplank during the Live Alive tour, and a medical diagnosis revealed he severely damaged himself with his habits. Fortunately, he wised up, cut off all the bad influences in his life, and made a full recovery in rehab, after which he revived his career. He still died relatively young, but it was from a fatal helicopter crash and not the drugs. Now he spends his (after)life helping addicts overcome their vices like he did so they could clean up and make amends for their mistakes, while preventing others who are at risk from falling into addiction.
  • In-Universe, he also believes that this is why many Trimortidae members tend to be musicians and/or Music deities. While a music career looks glamorous, it's also very stressful and precarious, making it very easy to die from. Many music celebrities don't realize this until it's too late, and after they die, most of them try to make amends for their mistakes by doing good deeds as psychopomps.
• Sexless Marriage: Justified and zigzagged. Despite being married twice, he's asexual and thus sees sex differently. However, he makes it clear that sex to him isn't "gross", but merely another way for him to express his love for his wives. This impacted his relationships with his wives — Crystal Light, his first wife, deconstructs the trope in that she grew frustrated with what she perceived as a lack of sex and resorted to cheating on him with other stallions to get her fix, contributing to their eventual divorce. Velvet Heart, his second wife, downplays the trope; while she does have sex with him a few times, she's much more accepting of his asexuality and understands that he shouldn't be pressured as a husband into having sex.
• Shapeshifting Failure: After re-Ascending to eldritch godhood, he usually appears in his mortal form or his 'default' Alicorn form to protect mortals and young deities from going mad upon seeing him. However, there are times where his eldritch nature starts showing through, especially during moments of upset — such as when he confronted the Nemesis Crown to protect his friends, or explained his vision of getting engaged to a teenager in one timeline to his wife.
• A Shared Suffering: Many of Moon Ray's friends — even fellow gods like Temnobog and Cudnost — tend to be either abuse victims, former addicts, or those whose lives were tragically cut short for some reason, because he was once in their situation. This is also the reason why many of his children, the Liberi Lunae, are adopted. This is deconstructed with Moon Ray's friendship with Rock Opera; Rock Opera's own resentment at the time turned him into a Toxic Friend Influence, enabling Moon Ray's own flaws and making him almost as bad. Fortunately, Moon Ray snaps out of it and encourages Rock Opera to do the same, even calling out the latter for constantly wallowing in self-pity.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: When he isn't wearing a purple poncho, he's wearing a purple suit. Even after moving to Kerajaan Cahaya and joining the Church of the Stars, he's sometimes spotted wearing a purple suit when not working with the Church.
• Shipper on Deck: Downplayed. While he doesn't press the issue, Moon Ray is open to the idea of Steel String getting together with Healing Song due to their closeness. This annoys Steel String as he only sees Healing Song as his "little brother".
  Steel String: Goddammit! Again?!
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: Honestly, with how close you two are, I ain't surprised...
  Steel String: I don't swing that way!
• The Shrink: An "Awesome Shrink" type. Moon Ray is a gentle and kindhearted stallion who specializes in treating addiction, abuse, and loss, and functions as both a Psychologist Teacher and a Warrior Therapist. Due to the rarity of divine therapists compared to mortal ones, this was sorely needed. A lot of Moon Ray's students and adoptive children were also former patients of his who overcame their worst traumas with his help.
• Shorter Means Smarter: According to one of the Codexverse writers, he was rather short for a stallion as a mortal and was the shortest of his bandmates in Double Trouble. Even Healing Song, one of his friends, was taller than him despite being biologically younger when they first met. He's a very talented Blues musician who eventually became an Alicorn and gained many more skills over the Ages. While he eventually grows as big as the Thirteen Empyreans upon re-Ascending, the fact remains that he's pretty powerful, and in fact is considered one of the most powerful psychics and Seers of his generation.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: When the Nemesis Crown tries to tempt him and the Church-sponsored research party he was with the time, he decides to engage it in a psychic battle of wits to protect the party and gives the crown a piece of his mind before telepathically driving it to insanity — revealing a fraction of his now eldritch divinity in the process.
  Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya: (telepathically) {The power ta control mah destiny? Listen here, chump — Ah've been having enough trouble dealin' with mah foresight as it is, and Ah spent a MONTH lookin' into the threads of fate, so that doesn't even compare to the load of bullshit yer offerin' me right now. And Ah already got all that Ah ever wanted — a family, some friends, and the respect of mah peers and subjects.
  
  {Ah know what ya really are, Nemesis. Yer just a parasite lookin' ta enslave yer wearers by offerin' them the illusion of freedom, not carin' for the pain and suffering ya cause 'em. If ya think you can fool me — fool all of us — into puttin' ya on, ya got 'nother thing comin'. So here's mah answer: yER a LiL' bITch, so sHUt ThE buCK UP!}
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Zigzagged. He's emotional, trusting, and impulsive whereas his older brother, Sunny Field, is level-headed, rational, and cautious. Of the two, he preferred to tag along while Sunny Field was more assertive. During their music careers, he kept ignoring Sunny Field's attempts to keep him away from the Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll lifestyle, until he ended up in the hospital from drug abuse. Their hobbies also contrasted — whereas he's an artist, Sunny Field is a car collector who eventually became interested in technology overall. However, the dynamic is switched around post-mortem — he becomes the mature and level-headed sibling after overcoming his own flaws, while Sunny Field, who suffered from the same flaws as his brother's, ultimately started following his example to improve himself and make up for his own mistakes.
• Sickbed Slaying: Following the end of the "Cosmic Prophet Debacle", he was bedridden and in extreme pain due to the divine drug he took permanently altering his divine nature. Many judicial extremists and hardline monster hunters have tried exploiting his ailing state to kill him so they can get rid of his "evil", forcing the Church of the Stars to increase security to protect him.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: He and Velvet Heart love and are so devoted to each other that they can come across as obnoxiously affectionate at times.
• Signature Headgear: Moon Ray is most recognized by his penchant for wearing black, wide-brimmed hats. It even allowed his brother Sunny Field Vaughoof, and friend/associate Sunshine Cream to identify him after he died in a helicopter accident. Even after Ascending to godhood and becoming royalty, Moon Ray still wore wide-brimmed hats; his re-Ascension would cause his hats to change appearances based on the cycle or form he's in at the time. He himself would admit to being a hat lover in general, though he was deeply embarrassed when he recalled the time he wore a war bonnet for a concert.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: Initially, he wore divine versions of his gaucho hat and poncho because he felt too humble to accept worship and wanted to stay close to his mortal roots. After spending three Ages overcoming his issues, however, he would join the Church of the Stars and become a Prince, after which he starts wearing a more regal black plateau hat, purple barding, and a black cloak with purple, gray, and white designs. He would later wear variations of this outfit after re-Ascending as an eldritch god, with their appearances depending on the form and cycle he's currently in.
• Single-Target Sexuality: Moon Ray only loves Velvet Heart and no one else, with his various Alternate Selfs ending up with a version of her one way or another. While his asexuality is part of it, Moon Ray's attractions came from Velvet Heart being the one to help him recover from his drug addiction and divorce. Unfortunately, his attraction to her created a lot of problems, and he didn't take it well when he learned Velvet Heart married someone else after his death. He soon realizes his error and lets her go, but he gets his wish in the end when Velvet Heart's husband, Tranquil Dream, gives them his blessing, leading to their marriage in the Third Age.
• Sinister Scythe: Moon Ray's main weapon is Pride and Joy, a divine Magitek guitar-scythe hybrid that unfolds into a scythe through a hidden switch. He used a standard-issue scythe while he was an Angel of Death, however. It's subverted as he uses his scythe(s) to help usher the dead the proper afterlife-realms or free them from whatever is keeping them from passing on.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: For such a Nice Guy who helped countless abuse victims and addicts, Moon Ray has a very coarse mouth. Even his Character Catchphrase is "Sonuvabitch" or (if referring to multiple people) "Sons-of-bitches". He admits it's a habit he picked up from his father, Sunny Mane Vaughoof. It's gradually deconstructed; as he started adopting multiple children, Moon Ray realized his swearing might reflect poorly on him, so he tries to do it less. That said, he will curse up a storm if sufficiently provoked, as he did with a group of Jerkass Gods who demeaned Healing Song for being a rape victim.
• Sleepyhead: Justified. Because his Prophecy domain manifested in full without warning and granted him a lot of power that he didn't have time to grow into, he spent several days in a coma trying to physically adjust to it. Afterwards, he developed narcolepsy and became prone to falling asleep if he exerted himself. It's hoped by many that he will overcome this weakness later on. His condition later drove one of his adoptive daughters, Princess Voľná Láska, and his friend, Joyous Freedom, to try create a divine drug that would cure him... Unfortunately, it backfired spectacularly.
• Small Parent, Huge Child: According to one of the Codexverse writers, Moon Ray was rather short for a stallion and was barely taller than Velvet Heart as a mortal. Even after Ascending, he was still short by divine standards. Then Moon Ray re-Ascends as an eldritch, Empyrean-level Alicorn, dwarfing not only his children, but also his adoptive father, Gavisus Manes, and most of the Trimortidae.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Moon Ray's actions in helping a then-mortal Blacktip overcome his cynicism end up saving both Dragon Town and Fillydelphia, as ex-Dragon Lord Isona would have never exposed and killed the Dragon Town Slasher if Blacktip wasn't there to stop her attempted suicide. Moon Ray also contributed to the outbreak of the "Talon Bàis War" by directing a remorseful Sacred Swan to Blacktip, allowing the truth of the first Gael's actions to be exposed.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: Following the "Cosmic Prophet Debacle", Moon Ray and Healing Song would rip on each other's respective Eldritch Transformations (though in a good-natured way).
  Prince Medela Cantor Cahaya: It's a good thing I didn’t get antlers when I transformed, 'cause that would mean I could've gotten... hornier.
  Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya: oH, hAr HaR. aT lEaSt Ah dOn'T lOoK lIkE a BuCkIn' night-light.
  Prince Medela Cantor Cahaya: Says the one who can't decide what his powers should be.
  Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya: hEy! Ah hAvE a reason fEr ThAt.
  Prince Medela Cantor Cahaya: And what is that?
  Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya: aH rE-aScEnDeD aFtEr rEaLiZiN' tHe WoRlD's PoWeReD bY cYcLeS. tHaT's WhY aH cHaNgE pOwErS iN a NeVeR-eNdIn' CyClE.
  Prince Medela Cantor Cahaya: Does this mean we should break the cycle, then?
  Beat
  Prince Canticum Lunae Cahaya: ...sHuT uP, hEaLeY.
• So Proud of You:
  • Moon Ray gave Cloudy Brush a big hug after she succeeded in Ascending to godhood and was made a member of the Trimortidae for it.
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: I'm so proud of ya, Cloudy! You've come so far...!
    Cloudy Brush: Thank you... for everything, Moony.
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: Always glad t' help, lil' Cloud.
  • Despite Dissonant Tune being a villainous Alicorn, Moon Ray is very proud of him for what he is and what he does. As a result, Dissonant vastly prefers Moon Ray as a father over his birth father, War Rock.
  • Despite knowing the consequences of Edel participating in a riddle game with Aldhika Moufette and losing, Moon Ray was still proud of her because she did it together with Aerri, showing their improved relationship as friends and adoptive cousins.
    Moon Ray/Canticum: Edy, Ah'm glad you and yer cousin are gettin' along now, even if ya came out of it stinkin' ta high heaven. Peeyew!
    Edel Vaughoof: Yeah, Aerri was a good sport about winning. Yeah, she bragged, but she didn't make fun of me. What can I say? She skunked me as bad as Aldhika.
• Soul Power: As a god of Death, Moon Ray can summon spirits of the dead and control them through music, including those whose souls are not their own. By extension, this allows him to invoke People Puppets by controlling living people through their spirits. However, Moon Ray mostly uses his power to help people grieve and come to terms with death. This power would carry over to Moon Ray's Alpine form as Kematian Cahaya following his re-Ascension.
• Spam Attack: As Kelahiran Semula Cahaya, Moon Ray embodies Cycles. While this lets him create time loops, Moon Ray can also spam his own attacks, similarly to High King Ragnarøkkr.
• The Sponsor: Moon Ray is one of the most prominent examples of the setting. After nearly dying from drug and alcohol abuse, Moon Ray wised up and decided to help others avoid the same fate. He would spend three Ages working tirelessly in helping addicts get clean, giving him a reputation of being The Redeemer but making him a fierce enemy of judicial extremists like the Poenan Pantheon. Even after re-Ascending as an eldritch god, Moon Ray kept to this goal, but now acknowledges that people will relapse and then relearn from bad behaviors in a never-ending cycle.
• Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Justified; Moon Ray's Death domain lets him summon magical copies of weapons from thin air. This ability carried over into his new portfolio as Kematian Cahaya following his re-Ascension.
• Star Power: Moon Ray is so psychically powerful that Queen Dazzleglow believes he has potential to learn how to hear/speak the "voice of the stars", and is planning to teach him.
• Sting: Played for Laughs. One of Moon Ray's favorite joking methods is to play silly tunes with his guitar during funny moments, which enhances the hilarity.
• The Stoic: Subverted. Moon Ray looks stoic, but he's actually a relaxed, Mellow Fellow; he's far more emotional on-stage. He becomes much friendlier, if still mellow as his character developed, with his stoic aspects going to his older brother, Sunny Field.
• Stop Worshipping Me: Justified; Moon Ray initially didn't like being worshiped out of humility and shame for his past misdeeds. But thanks to Gagal, he eventually accepts it and joins the Church of the Stars. While he does unfortunately become the object of worship for the fate-obsessed Cosmic Acolytes, Moon Ray rejected them and founded his own religion, the Cult of the Moon, which focused on using fate in positive ways. Sadly, this caused the Cosmic Acolytes to try to create a god they can worship in his place, resulting in a tortured, ghastly-looking abomination that rampaged through the Glimmering Isles until it was put down.
• Storm of Blades: Pre-Eldritch Transformation, Moon Ray can summon multiple water blades that fly around him before honing in on a chosen target(s) by playing Pride and Joy.
• Straight Gay: Moon Ray is a heteroromantic asexual, but due to him being Happily Married, no one can tell unless either they discover his sexuality or he brings it up himself. When Princess Daphné Odora Moufette expresses surprise at his asexuality, Moon Ray's response is to patiently explain that yes, he is married, but he isn't interested in sex the way others are.
• Summon to Hand: Like all Death deities, Moon Ray can "call" his weapon to him should he be separated from it. This ability carried over into his new portfolio as Kematian Cahaya following his re-Ascension.
• Super-Scream: As a god of Death, Moon Ray can unleash sonic howls and screams that can either kill instantly or inflict various status effects upon his targets, including existential dread and insanity. This later transferred over to his new portfolio as Kematian Cahaya.
• Superpowered Evil Side: Subverted with Moon Ray's corrupted form, Caelum Filum. While a divine Eldritch Abomination with omniscient precognitive power and a reality-warping presence, Caelum is Obliviously Evil in that he's stoned out of his mind and blissfully unaware of his surroundings. This forced everyone to protect Caelum from judicial extremists and factions looking to exploit his power until they could find a way to turn him back into Moon Ray.
• Symbolic Serene Submersion: A few of Moon Ray's early precognitive dreams and visions involved him drowning in water, symbolizing his overindulgence and what it could lead to. The first time, it involved drugs, and Moon Ray choosing to ignore it led to his near-death. The second time, the dream ended with Moon Ray being pulled out of the "water" by a helping hoof and gaining wings, symbolizing his Ascension and so much more besides.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Due to his Dark and Troubled Past, Moon Ray often connects with people who were victims of abuse. This includes villainous individuals such as Temnobog, Joyous Freedom, and Shadow Seherin. Many of them would go on to become either his students or his adoptive children.

T — Z

• Talking the Monster to Death: After seeing Meli’āki's scarred paws and realizing the implications, Moon Ray reaches out to her and tries convincing her that Count Draclawa is a horrible father figure. He even offers to adopt her himself. Moon Ray eventually succeeds as Meli’āki, having finally found someone who cared for her, betrays Count Draclawa and kills him with the full power of her hybrid heritage.
• Tame His Anger: While not to his birth father's extent, he suffered from serious anger issues that made him defiant and vindictive towards those who wronged him, causing multiple problems for himself and others. After furiously attacking an abusive mother for kililng her own foal, he was lectured by the Three Deaths for it and sent to work under Malus Manes so he could learn some lessons in fairness, mercy, and understanding. This put him on the path to realizing he needed to practice forgiveness in order to move on and heal. It's later revealed his anger issues were part of the reason why his Prophecy domain was repressed for three Ages — by clinging to them, he was subconsciously stunting his own growth. Letting go of his anger and controlling it better is what allowed him to finally manifest his domain in full.
• Telepathy: One of Moon Ray's Psychic Powers is telepathy, with his domains of Temperance and Forgiveness giving him their own variants. Later on, his telepathy grew to a point where Dazzleglow believes that he has potential to speak the 'voice of the stars', and plans to teach him. After becoming an Animalistic Abomination, Moon Ray loses his Temperance-based telepathy but gains other variants through new domains like Hope and Closure.
• Therapy Is for the Weak: Defied. It's thanks to proper therapy that Moon Ray was able to recover from his foalhood abuse and other issues. Much of his present emotional maturity and wisdom can be traced back to those who helped him like Mentálne and Gagal; if he hadn't seen them, he would have eventually snapped like Blue Suede Heartstrings did.
• These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know: Moon Ray generally sees the future as this, especially after re-Ascending, because he often receives visions of things that would've driven normal Seers insane. When Edel expresses her wish to have foresight like his instead of tarot card reading, Moon Ray asks her if both she and Shining Dove are both willing to live with the knowledge of how everything would turn out in the future in perfect detail. After some thinking, she realizes that no, they wouldn't be.
• Thousand-Yard Stare: Watching Wibeti's memory of Fik'iri's No-Holds-Barred Beatdown caused Moon Ray to stare ahead blankly because it reminded him of when his own father did the same thing to him. He snaps out of it when he hears Wibeti sobbing, prompting him to comfort her.
• Through a Face Full of Fur: Despite being brown-furred, Moon Ray blushes red in embarrassment after Gavisus Manes revealed he adopted him because he wanted to be the good father that Sunny Mane wasn't. He tries to hide this from Gavisus by turning away, bowing his head, and tipping his hat down to hide his face, but his Telepathy tells him that Gavisus already knows how he feels.
• Time Abyss: Subverted. Moon Ray's re-Ascension made him look as old as Thirteen Empyreans, but he's actually much younger than them chronologically. This caused complications as a Minotaur researcher of Codex Equus who tried determining his true age ultimately gave up and left.
  Minotaur researcher: You know what, buck this, I'm out.
• Time Dissonance: After re-Ascending, Moon Ray gained a different sense of time which, combined with his now vastly expanded precognitive powers, can make him seem distracted and detached from his present surroundings.
• Took a Level in Badass: Due to changes in circumstances, Moon Ray became an Angel of Death after his death, then Ascended to godhood after letting go of his past and forgiving everyone who hurt him in life. A Moment of Weakness led to him realizing the cyclic nature of things and re-Ascending as an eldritch god who constantly shifts between life, death, and reincarnation. Notably, he is roughly on par with the Thirteen Empyreans in terms of raw power.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: As a mortal, he was mostly a Nice Guy, then leaned towards being a Jerk with a Heart of Gold thanks to his drug addictions at the time, which led to him getting in a public fight with his older brother, Sunny Field. He got better after becoming sober, but then he died young in a helicopter accident, leaving him depressed, resentful, and homesick, and also apparently brought some of his worst traumas and flaws to the forefront. It's deconstructed as those same traumas and flaws would prove to be detrimental to himself and others, and due to lacking access to a proper therapist at the time, he struggled to overcome them for three Ages. He even lampshades this during an interview with Codex Equus researchers.
  Moon Ray Vaughoof: ...Ah guess y'all can say that dyin' early brought the worst outta me.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Eventually, despite his struggles, he would succeed in overcoming the trauma of his abusive foalhood and learning how to rein in the flaws that plagued him, thanks to various people in his life like his adoptive/biological families, and therapeutic individuals like Mentálne and Gagal. His letting go of all the toxic behaviors led to both his manifestation and reconciliation with his long-repressed Prophecy domain, which not only transformed him into an eldritch deity, but also got the Grand Primevals themselves interested in his potential. He's now a Nice Guy as he was before his death, but he's more emotionally mature and wiser, and completely at peace with himself. By the time he becomes the King of his own realm, he has grown meaningfully as both a god and stallion enough that he can handle ruling said realm, and established himself as a neutral party who grants aid to all who seek shelter and healing, including evil people.
• A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: Some of the hardships Moon Ray suffered throughout his life stemmed from his own impulsiveness — his eagerness to fly back home to Velvet Heart led to his death because he was too impatient to listen to Sunny Field's warnings about the bad weather. The "Cosmic Prophet Debacle" happened because Moon Ray really wanted to recover from narcolepsy, leading to him consuming a divine drug without considering the consequences. To be fair, neither of them could have predicted the disaster that followed or the drug's potential effects on him, but the "Cosmic Prophet Debacle" could have been avoided if Moon Ray had been more cautious.
• Trapped in Another World: Downplayed. Once, Moon Ray and some pre-Double Trouble bandmates were left stranded in Maressissippi (the Second-Age equivalent of Mississippi) by ZZ Top's manager, Ham Hock, with no way to get back home. Worse, Ham Hock demanded reimbursement from Moon Ray for equipment expenses. Once everyone finally made it back, Moon Ray angrily tore up the contract he signed under Ham Hock and left.
• Trauma Button: Anything related to his abusive foalhood is this for Moon Ray. In particular, being yelled at, especially in anger, will cause him to remember his alcoholic father and immediately flee the area. Even after dying, Moon Ray's fear was so great that he couldn't bear to visit his father's damned spirit in the Hell-Realms. He also attacked an abusive mare during his stint as an Angel of Death in a rage because her act of killing her own foal reminded her of his own abuse. He eventually overcame his trauma and forgave his father, but anything pertaining to abuse, especially familial abuse, will definitely get a strong reaction from him.
• Traumatic Superpower Awakening: He believes that his Psychic Powers (especially his precognition), first emerged during his period of addiction to warn him of the dangers of abusing drugs and alcohol. This might explain why he kept having symbolic dreams, usually of himself drowning in water. Not following his dreams, as well as choosing to suppress them with even more alcohol instead, nearly led to him dying.
• Unhappy Medium: Despite his precognitive abilities proving their use multiple times, Moon Ray generally sees them as a burden due to how surreal and violent his visions often are. This led to him unconsiously repressing his foresight, which caused lots of complications later on when he inevitably manifested his Prophecy domain. While Moon Ray realized his mistake, he re-Ascended shortly after, gaining three precognitive domains and thus making his visions so powerful that he became more prone to falling asleep.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Moon Ray's re-Ascension made him as strong as the Thirteen Empyreans, the ancient progenitors of Equinekind, but his original domains were lost and he is wholly inexperienced with his new ones. Moon Ray's precognitive powers were also boosted to such a degree that he was constantly bombarded with visions of even alternate timelines and dimensions, making him prone to fallng asleep. He reportedly befriended Princess Amicitia Sparkle Equestria over this, as she's still learning how to handle the power she inherited as Mana Equus' reincarnation.
• Unstoppable Rage: Deconstructed. When Moon Ray found an abusive mare who killed her own foal, he flew off the handle and had to be restrained. The Three Deaths, disappointed with his behavior taught Moon Ray valuable lessons on fairness and mercy. He would later state that he felt ashamed of his past actions due to him ignoring the souls who needed him in favor of validating his grudge against his birth father.
• Vicious Cycle: Defied. He believes from personal experience that it's easy for someone to get addicted to something no matter what it is, leading to a vicious cycle that harms both themselves and others. This includes emotions like hatred and fear. This is why he believes in the power of forgiveness — by letting go, people can break free of pain and toxic influences so they can finally heal. He does acknowledge that forgiveness takes time, however, so he helps people come to terms with their grief so they can get to that point.
• Villainous Lineage: Defied. While many of Moon Ray's worst flaws were influenced by his violently abusive Alcoholic Parent, the difference is that unlike his father, he actively made efforts in recognizing and overcoming them whenever he could, even relying on others to set him straight. This comes a long way in breaking The Chain of Harm, leading to Moon Ray having much better relationships with his own family and friends.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: As a god of Death, Moon Ray can change into various forms to make his job of ushering souls into the afterlife a little easier. His favorite form is that of the mortal Earth pony stallion he once was pre-Ascension. This ability later transferred over to his new portfolio as Kematian Cahaya.
• Walking Spoiler: As a character who went through considerable development throughout the story, it's hard to talk about Moon Ray without bringing up important points in his life, like the sudden emergence of his Prophecy domain, the circumstances and choices that led to Caelum Filum's birth, his eldritch re-Ascension, and the Grand Primevals crowning him as King once he fulfills his destiny as a potential Redeeming Replacement for High King Ragnarøkkr.
• Walking Wasteland: After taking an extremely powerful divine drug, Moon Ray turns into Caelum Filum, a god so eldritch that his mere presence starts warping the lands around him into Eldritch Locations. As Kematian Cahaya, however, he can project an aura that kills anything in its vicinity, leaving lands dead and barren.
• Walk on Water: As a god of Water, Moon Ray can run or walk on water. He lost this ability when he re-Ascended as an eldritch deity.
• Warrior Prince: During his time as a Prince, Moon Ray was one, as he was a powerful combatant and psychic in part thanks to learning under the Three Deaths. Even after his re-Ascension, he retained his combat skills. Later, Moon Ray is crowned King by the Grand Primevals when he helped the Nine Realms recover from the Shadowed Ones' torments, though it didn't damper his fighting ability.
• We All Die Someday: Moon Ray believes that nothing lasts forever, as everyone dies one day and even "good" societies will fall — whether through natural calamities, conflict, or being transformed beyond recogntion. However, he doesn't see this as a bad thing as the world would be affected by severe imbalance and stagnation without death. This is why Moon Ray embodies Forgiveness (and later Closure) — to help people accept death when it comes so they can move on.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: When he was younger, his choice to become a professional musician like his older brother invited disapproval from his parents, especially his birth father. To appease them, he took up a "normal" job at a local food stand, washing dishes and dumping trash for a meager hourly salary. He eventually grew tired of the job and quit to pursue music full-time anyway after he fell into a barrel full of grease.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Moon Ray had been on the giving and receiving ends.
  • Moon Ray implusively married Crystal Light based on a precognitive dream he had. Sunny Field was not happy to learn of this and "tore [Moon Ray] a new one" for it.
  • After he nearly attacked an abusive mare for killing her own foal in a rage, Moon Ray was lectured by the Three Deaths for letting his anger get the best of him. He was also sent by Gavisus Manes to learn under Malus Manes some important, if uncomfortable lessons on showing fairness and mercy towards the dead. This causes Moon Ray to realize that he needed to forgive the people who wronged him in life in order to move on.
  • Moon Ray would furiously punch Sunny Field into the wall of a Heaven-Realm after learning how his older brother blamed and emotionally abused Velvet Heart for "causing" his death. While the Trimortidae intervened in the fight that followed, the damage was done and Moon Ray clearly lost all respect for Sunny Field.
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: (roaring) Ya SHIT-FACED SONUVABITCH!
  • Moon Ray would receive a small, disappointed one from Bossa Nova Heartstrings after the latter found him shirking his duties as a 'Reaper' in favor of hanging around places he used to live in and/or frequent out of homesick nostalgia.
    Bossa Nova Heartstrings: What is this place?
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: This... this here is the El Mocambo, Boss. Ah used ta come an' play here a lot. Ah remember givin' it mah all with Double Trouble an' shreddin' my guitars to the point where the strings snapped. 'Course, that always happens 'cause Ah play so hard, hehe.
    Bossa Nova Heartstrings: That explains so much... ya kept slackin' off an' disappearin' from the shifts 'cause yer always goin' here.
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: "..."
    Bossa Nova Heartstrings: Why're ya doing this, Moony? Ah thought ya moved on.
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: ...Ah wanna remember how things were before this all goes away.
  • During the "Applewood Rescue", Moon Ray is enraged and heartbroken when he discovers his idol, Double Helix, was among the celebrities who took over Applewood and tormented its citizens. He furiously chews out Double Helix for his actions, only for Double Helix's response to hit a little too close to home.
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: Helix...? You- you were...?!
    Double Helix: Who're you?
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: Ah'm Moon Ray... but... why? Why'd ya do all this?!
    Double Helix: What?
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: THIS! Ah looked up to ya, Helix! You were mah muse growin' up! Ah was happy when Ah heard ya came back from the grave... but then Ah find you an' yer friends became a bunch a' buckin' nutjobs who did all this shit!
    Double Helix: "..."
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: Wh'’d ya turn, Helix? Why?!
    Double Helix: ...I wanted to live, mane. I wanted to live.
  • Moon Ray gets called out by Velvet Heart (who was still a mortal and alive at the time) for not only his growing selfishness and obsession with the past, but also his actions in condoning the wicked celebrities and not bothering to hear her reasons for marrying Tranquil Dream instead of him. By his own admission, this in part snapped him out of his toxic mindset and led to his epiphany that triggered his Ascension to godhood.
  • Moon Ray later chews out Velvet Heart for Emotion Bombing his older brother, Sunny Field. Not only was he angry at Velvet Heart for hurting his brother (which got him hurt as well due to the two sharing a Psychic Link), but he was also angry at the motive behind it (wanting to punish Sunny Field despite knowing of the latter's remorse), which reminded him of his emotionally abusive first wife, Crystal Light. This led to Moon Ray breaking up with Velvet Heart until she genuinely made amends for her action.
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: So ya wanna 'punish' me, too, just fer bein' 'is brother?
    Velvet Heart: No, I...
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: ...Crystal would've been proud of ye.
  • In the aftermath of the "Cosmic Prophet Debacle", he was in so much pain from having his divine nature destabilized and being bombarded with prophetic visions that eventually, he falls into his second coma. He meets a mental representation of his Prophecy domain, who proceeds to chew him out for hypocritically denying/repressing parts of himself yet willingly indulging in others, such as eating the drug that turned him into Caelum Filum. While things weren't as simple as they seemed, he nonetheless acknowledges and owns up to his mistakes, and realizes the cyclic nature of things because of it.
• What You Are in the Dark:
  • Despite personally disagreeing with Vicearch Iniquitous' views on Good and Evil, he chose to respect them and listen to her instead of trying to shut her down, even while explaining why he opposes her views. He gains Iniquitous' respect as a result.
  • He had the opportunity to just use his Psychic Powers to glean from Edel why she was extremely upset, but chose not to because it would violate her trust.
• Wild Take: His entry notes that he often distorts his own face into wild expressions while playing intense guitar solos. This is because he believes that if a musician isn't willing to emote and put their heart and soul into their own music, they would end up disconnecting themselves from their audience. That being said, he tends to jokingly call himself "an ugly sonuvabitch when on stage".
• Winged Unicorn: Prior to his re-Ascenison, Moon Ray was a "prodigy" Alicorn with eldritch traits like a mane and tail made of purple, looping water, a purple wing gradient, a halo made of Temperance energy, and wing feathers made of water. After his re-Ascension, Moon Ray became a massive eldritch Alicorn whose appearance and powers are determined by the three cycles he shifts through, due to being connected to the four seasons. Of his three forms, his Equus form is the most eldritch, though his Alpine form is rather ghastly-looking. His most consistent traits are his electric guitar Cutie Mark, his purple mane and tail, ten wings, a white streak in his mane that he got from his Prophecy domain's manifestation, a magnificent multi-layered halo, a purple wing gradient, and, unusually, a pair of great antlers.
• Wowing Cthulhu:
  • His actions in owning up to his mistakes and letting go of toxic behaviors, especially post-Eldritch Transformation, eventually end up impressing the Grand Primevals. Ourophion is especially interested in him because as a benevolent god of Cycles, he has the potential to become a Redeeming Replacement for High King Ragnarøkkr. He eventually exceeds theiir expectations when he moves to the Nine Realms and helps the people there recover from the Shadowed Ones' torments, leading to him being crowned King of his own realm.
  • During their philosophical debate, he chose to respect Vicearch Iniquitous' viewpoints on Good and Evil and listen to whatever she had to say, despite his personal feelings on the matter. This earns him Iniquitous' genuine respect.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
  • He would confess to his old friends that he doesn't deserve the title of 'the King of Blues' because he felt it should go to the more experienced and talented musicians who inspired him as a colt. Many of said friends, including B.B. King, encouraged him to keep the title; in their eyes, he did more than enough to deserve it.
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: Ah don't wanna be the King of Blues anymore. You guys... y'all inspired me. Yer the reasons why Ah decided ta go play in Silicon Valley. Compared ta y'all long-time players, Ah'm just a colt who snuck into Big Brother Field's room to pick up 'is guitar. If there's any-Pony who should be 'King', it should've been one of you.
    B.B. King: Don't put yourself down like that, Lil' Moon. Blues was dyin' by the time you came along. Loud noise and big hair was becomin' the norm, and no-Pony wanted to listen to a bunch of old stallions who played something that couldn't keep up. Then you opened them doors, and I swear to the King in Heaven, we were relevant again. If anything, YOU'RE the reason why the Blues survived for so long. You took our music and played it in ways we never could. So I'd say you rightfully earned that title as King. The King of Blues!
  • He himself would comfort Meli’āki when she starts fearing getting rejected by him for being half-Dragon, assuring her that she's far from the strangest thing he's ever seen. Mei’āki is so moved by this that she cries out of sheer happiness.
    Moon Ray Vaughoof: Look kid, Ah've got a giant robot for a cousin. Ya bein' some big ol' cat dragon? Don't matter ta me none.
• You Cannot Grasp the True Form: As an eldritch god, he now has three divine forms that will drive even souls and young deities mad when looked at in their full capacity. To prevent this, he usually appears in either his 'default' Alicorn form or his mortal Earthpony form.
• Younger Than They Look: Zigzagged. Moon Ray's re-Ascension turned him into a ten-winged eldritch Alicorn, making him resemble the Thirteen Empyreans. He's actually much, much younger than them chronologically, even though he was still pretty ancient due to coming from the Second Age. A Minotaur researcher from the Codex Equus project attempted to determine his exact age and ultimately gave up.

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